I don't write this for anyone. I do it because of stress. If you like this enough, then thank my life for being annoying currently.
I don't remember falling asleep, but waking up was a different story. One moment, I was in this palace I'd seen in one of the dramas I'm addicted to. I was a princess being forced to study ancient royal literature, secretly loving it because I was married to a handsome prince. Then suddenly I was in a car, alone, dim light showing me that it was nearly daylight, but too cloudy to see the sunrise.
The soft patter of rain comforted me at first, but then I began to wonder where exactly we were. And where had that guy gone off to?
I reached into the back to get the umbrella but it wasn't where I was sure I'd left it.
Maybe. . . Maybe I left the umbrella at home and it's not really a problem, I thought hopefully.
Sighing, I looked out the window, scanning the surroundings. We were at another fuel stop, but we were parked next to the station instead of at the pump so he must have went in to get something.
But I really had to use the restroom. Sighing again because of the missing umbrella, I got out of the car and ran into the station. The inside was warm and smelled like coffee. Appreciating the scent, I inhaled deeply and smiled. The bathroom was easy to locate as it was right near the entrance. Once inside, I did my business and washed my hands while checking myself in the mirror.
I pulled my rain-matted bangs out of my face and forced a smile.
"The only reason you're here is to get over yourself and enjoy life, Hinata," I said quietly, staring at my reflection. It didn't seem like me looking back at myself. The reflection was someone I knew perfectly, but it wasn't me at all.
Outside, the rain had gotten heavier. Sprinting back to the car, I hopped inside quick enough to avoid getting the upholstry soaked. Something warm touched my cheek. I jerked away to see Sasuke holding a coffee cup at me.
For a moment, I just stared at it.
"Yes, it's coffee," he said, sighing in aggrivation. "Just take it."
The warmth it emitted into the palms of my hands was enough to make my slight shivering stop. There wasn't a chance of me taking a sip of it, though. One, it was still probably scolding hot. Two, Sasuke didn't know that I preferred loads of sugar and vanilla creme in my coffee. I was also partial to strictly only Columbian.
Yeah so, I'm picky.
We were on the road again before I realized that Sasuke was totally dry while my entire upper body seemed soaked to the core. In a flash, I was leaning over my seat, trying not to spill the coffee, and looking for my umbrella.
It was right where it should be.
Slowly, I moved back into the passenger seat, staring at Sasuke.
He didn't say anything or even seem to notice.
"You," was all I said.
Is it me, or is he really good at pretending I don't exist? I thought to myself after not receiving any kind of comment from him.
"You used my umbrella," I accused, still looking at him. I tried making my gaze fierce, but I'm sure it failed because once he finally looked at me, he only rolled his eyes before returning them to the road.
"Of course. It was raining."
"You didn't even ask permission." My insides were turning around in lumpy circles.
"It's an umbrella, Hinata," he stated in a way that told me to grow up. "Besides, I bought you coffee. Stop complaining, idiot."
"But that umbrella-"
"Drink your coffee."
How. . . How dare he? I began feeling even more sick to the stomach, my stare becoming a glare in an instant.
My glaring didn't bother him in the least. "I spent five minutes putting seventeen sugar packets and two french vanilla creme drops into that so you better not waste it."
Woah, that's too far. Too creepy. Too unsettling for me.
"How do you know what I like? Right down to the amount I put?" My glare became a look of confusion and suspicion. I could already feel the early pains of a huge migraine due to my constant changing emotions. So annoying.
"I've watched you make your coffee before," he replied, rolling his eyes again.
"Oh." Focusing my gaze out the window, my creeped out feeling faded into a dull background emotion. It's still weird that he'd even watch me. I sipped the coffee quietly, enjoying it more than I meant to. A heavy shiver went down my spine, and he looked at me.
"Eyes on the road, Sasuke," was all I said, taking another ship.
"Aren't you cold, idiot?"
Where does this rudeness come from? I thought incredulously, keeping my head facing out the window next to me.
"Change before you get sick."
My head snapped toward him quick enough that I thought it'd break away from my body. "What?"
"If you keep wearing those wet clothes, you'll get a cold. I'm not taking care of you." He took a second to face the road before looking at me again. "So change."
My eyes widened, I leaned away like I had before when the old woman had waved at me. "N-no."
He sighed, finally looking away from me. "I'm not going to look, idiot. Just do it."
"So you're telling me?" I said in shock. What is this? A demand?
"Yes. Now hurry up."
"I'm not going to," I said, sipping my coffee.
"Give me the coffee." He reached over, holding out a hand to take it.
"No. It's my coffee, you have your own." I held it away, glaring daggers a him.
"I don't want it. You can't change unless you put it down." Trying to snatch it from me, he ended up hitting my shoulder with is hand.
"Ow." My glare hardened. "Back off. I said I wasn't changing. Are you trying to wreck us?"
He sighed heavily again, taking his hand away. "Change. Right now." His demand made me snort.
"You're a creep, Sasuke." I named him, pointing a finger at him from behind my coffee. "All this time we've went to school together and you've been watching me make coffee. Now you want me to get naked in front of you. You're a total pervert."
"Shut up. I already told you that I'm not going to take care of you if you get sick. That's why you need to change." It was his turn to glare at me, but then. . . he smirked. "Besides, why would I ever want to see you naked, Hinata? I can't imagine you'd have anything worth peeking at."
"Hmph." The scenery outside the window as things began to get brighter with the beginning of a new day became a lot more interesting than putting up with Sasuke all of a sudden.
"You're not going to listen to me?" His words floated toward me, and I wished it were possible to punch them back into his face.
"Why should I?" I retorted, keeping myself turned away. "You're not my father."
Silence filled the car like water in a swimming pool. I was drowning in it, waiting for him to say something, anything that would make me hate him more than I was already beginning to.
"You're right," he said quietly. "I'm not."
"E-exactly." What just happened? He gave up just from that comment? He doesn't make sense.
"We'll stop at the next place we come across, and you'll change there, right?" There was some kind of hopefulness in his new quiet voice that made me agree with the nod of my head.
I drank the last of my coffee, and sat it in the cupholder. Pulling down the sun visor, I looked in the mirror at my reflection. It was a lot worse than I had thought. The parts of my hair that had dried some were sticking up in random places. Selfconsciously, I patted it down, taking a peek at Sasuke to make sure he didn't notice.
This is embarrassing.
"Did your father know you were running away?" Sasuke asked. The way he said it made me think he'd been thinking about this question for a while.
"What?"
"You heard me. Did you tell him before you left?"
Of course, I knew better than to just leave and take all my stuff without warning him in some way. My father was one of those that had the power to find me if I had really tried to leave and plan to never come back. "I didn't tell him anything, but I left a note saying I'd come back eventually and to not try to find me."
"Why'd you run away in the first place?"
"That's my business," I said, then I hesitated for a moment. "Did you tell your parents?"
For a few minutes, he didn't say anything.
"Yeah, I told them." Was his eventual reply. "I packed all of my stuff and hugged them before I left. They wished me luck."
"That sounds nice." I silently wished that it were that easy for me. "And why did you run away from home with parents who allow such freedom?" I didn't expect an answer since I had refused to answer him.
Instead, he said, "I want to find myself."
I raised an eyebrow. "W-what do you mean?"
A thoughtful look went about his face, as if he were considering what to say before he spoke. "I want to walk past a store window or stand near a water fountain and see my reflection and think 'That's me. I've found you, Sasuke.' Then I can continue with life. That's all I need."
All the tension seemed to have left the car at that point. I allowed what he'd just said to sink in slowly, and I milled over it in my mind. It didn't make much sense to me, but I guess that was a good reason to leave home.
"How did you know I was running away on the same day?" I questioned, the thought suddenly popping into my head.
Shrugging, he replied, "I didn't. I just got lucky."
Got lucky. . . He thinks he's lucky that we ran away on the same day. . .?
This pervert was a lot more thoughtful than I'd imagined.
Yeah.. Now, I'm hungry.