A/N: I don't usually do an author's note but I wanted to thank you for the reviews. It encourages me to write more chapters sooner. I've just started writing for fun to help improve my writing skills more and create stories. I'm still working on things when it comes to writing, like going more in depth and such, but I hope you enjoy my story. Thanks for reading!
This chapter is mostly just filler for what I've got planned for the next chapter. Things will pick up more then.
Taryn looks at his torso for a quick minute taking in how perfect it is. She knows she's blushing terribly because he was right, she did want to look and now she didn't want to look away. After a few more seconds of admiring John's body she pries her gaze away and looks into his eyes, "Okay, I looked. Happy now?"
He chuckles in a conceded but playful way. "Yeah. For now." He knows she liked what she saw and he likes that. But he also feels kind of guilty for teasing her like that. He knows they should stay just friends and housemates. It wouldn't be fair to her for them to be more, he's done too many bad things, and she's just too good. He came here to get a new start though, so maybe one day he can change and be good too.
He grabs his shirt off the chair and puts it back on. He can't help but smile at the way her face looked when she turned around. She looked in awe of him and he knows he doesn't deserve that. She was unlike anyone he had met and yet she was in many ways just like him. She had lost her parents; she had spent her whole life locked up. Just like he had. He'd known what it was like to lose your parents and to be trapped. He was also very different from her. He did a lot of bad shit, while she had done nothing to anyone.
Her voice pulls him out of his thoughts, "I'm going make something to eat, and then do you want to watch a movie with me?"
"Sure Taryn." He likes the sound of getting to just relax. He'd not been able to do that since he was a kid. Watching a movie sounded perfect, he wouldn't have to watch out for grounders, and wouldn't have to worry about camp Jaha. He hated the looks everyone there gave him. Yeah, he was pardoned for his crimes but everyone, including the remainder of the 100 looked at him like he was trash. Taryn never looked at him that way and that relaxed him.
She just smiles in response and leaves the room. After Taryn makes food for them they sit down to watch a movie
"So have you seen any movies before? Did you have them on the Ark?" She asks as they get comfortable on the couch.
"We only had like 5, so we could watch anything and I'm sure I haven't seen it." He sits far enough away from her as to not make her uncomfortable. They were still very much strangers to each other.
"Okay, hmm…" what kind of movie would a 17 year old boy watch? Taryn had no idea. Surely he wouldn't like anything girly, and she'd watched a majority of the feminine movies they had already anyway. Oh she knows just the one. She scrolls through the library until she finds the movie Gladiator. That's manly enough yet Taryn could still enjoy it too. She starts the movie and the next thing she remembers is John's voice.
"Taryn…Taryn…" Murphy shakes her shoulder lightly.
"Hmm…" She stirs but doesn't open her eyes.
"Taryn."
"Huh, what?"
"You fell asleep."
She then opens her eyes and realizes her head is on John's lap. She fell asleep on him during the movie. She quickly moves to sit up feeling embarrassed that she was lying on him. They hardly knew each other enough for that. She smiles, "Sorry. I don't sleep much…I guess I was tired."
"It's okay, I didn't mind." He puts his hand through his hair pushing the pieces out of his face.
"So did you like the movie?" She stretches her arms out in front of her.
"Yeah I did good choice."
"Well I thought you'd like it better than some girly romance." He laughs, and she thinks about how she loves the sound.
"Taryn, I'd gladly watch anything with you, it's just nice to relax for once, and not have to be fighting for my life every second of the day."
"You're safe here John."
"Why don't you get some more sleep, you look tired."
"Oh. That's alright I'm fine." She thinks about how she never felt safe sleeping after her parents left. Yet it was so easy to fall asleep with John there, that she hadn't even realized she'd done it.
"It's, okay. I'll keep an eye on things. You don't have to worry."
How does he know? She must be easier to read than she thought. She nods, "Thank you."
He doesn't say you're welcome because that's just not like him. But he gives her a nod as she goes up to her room.
Taryn falls asleep as soon as she hits the bed.
Hours later she is awakened by a panicked Murphy.
"Hey, hey. Taryn wake up." His voiced laced with worry.
He's sitting on the bed next to her and she sits up, "What's wrong?"
"I was downstairs listening to music, and playing pool and the power went out. I thought maybe it was just the living room like before but the whole house is down." Her bedroom is dark so she can't see him that well but he sounds worried. She had told him he was safe here and then this happens, and she's worried too.
"What? No that's impossible, there's backup generators run by a water system to keep the fridge and the greenhouse going. Did you check the greenhouse?"
"Yeah, I did. It's not running."
"Shit," she gets up frantically pulling the blanket away and forgetting she was sleeping in just a long t-shirt and underwear.
John can't help but glance at her legs for a second, but she's moving out of the room before he can look at them for too long anyway. He notices that they're really nice; she must work out more than she let on. Maybe she does it to relax; Murphy always liked throwing knives to help him relax. He gets up and follows her as she's going down the stairs.
"This has never happened before…" she mumbles quietly.
Since none of the lights are working its dark in the staircase and Murphy bumps into her as she gets to the bottom and she almost falls. He catches her so she doesn't and since it's so dark he accidently catches her with one hand on her butt. She gasps at the touch and his eyes meet hers with an intensity she's never seen before. No one has ever really touched her, and especially not there. Neither of them says anything. She stands up on her own, instinctively pulling her shirt down as far as possible before continuing to walk.
She regrets forgetting to put pants on because she feels awkward having John see her so exposed, but she needs to check the control room to figure out what's going on. Her dad had studied the engineering in the lighthouse and had figured out how the solar power worked, and that there was also a backup system. He had told her about it some but she was no engineer and didn't know if she would be able to assess the problem. Especially now that her mind was distracted by her new companion.
Murphy silently follows her. He feels guilty about what happened just now. Not really guilty for touching her because he is a guy after all. But more guilty that the touch made her feel embarrassed. The fact that she wasn't wearing any pants didn't help him forget about it easily either. She was the only person in his life right now and he didn't want to ruin that by making her uncomfortable to be around him. He thought about her sleeping on his lap during that movie. She had fallen asleep on his shoulder not half hour into it. He had moved to use the bathroom and when he got back he laid her head on his lap. He could have woken her up but he'd noticed she hadn't slept since he got there. It was easy for him to understand why. He had to be alert at all times since he's been on earth. Back on the dropship, at the grounder camp and at camp Jaha. He couldn't sleep for long at a time because there was always a threat out there. He concluded that Taryn must have felt similarly being that she lived alone and could never know if someone would come to the lighthouse and try to hurt her. So he let her sleep peacefully through the rest of the movie before waking her.
He follows her into the kitchen where she gets some candles and then goes down the hall into another room that he hadn't checked out yet.
"This is the control room, I don't know much about it. My dad always handled things like this and the power has never completely gone out like this…" her voice is curious but mostly worried. If she didn't get it up and running soon the plants in the greenhouse might die. And then she really might have to leave this place.
She turns to Murphy, "Can you hold these candles for me?"
"Oh yeah," he takes the two candles from her trying to ignore how soft her hands are when they brush on his.
"Okay, come over here," Taryn gestures to some panels on the wall.
She tries to act like she knows what she's looking for, but it's really hard with nothing working. Her dad showed her how to do a system reboot; if she can't get that going then she might be able to see what the problem is and why everything shut down.
"I'm going to try restarting everything." She says looking up to John.
"Go for it."
She goes to press the necessary controls, but nothing happens. Then suddenly the one of the screens behind them beeps on causing them to both turn quickly.
A voice comes from the screen. "You're not going to get rid of me that quickly Taryn, dear."
