I'm kind of board not being able to finish off any of my story's, so here are some new ones.
Road to Everywhere
He shifted in his sheet, the squeaking leather breaking the layer of silence that had coated the car interior for the last two hours. His eye's snapped up to the rear vision mirror curious about what her reaction had been, but no eyes met his own and she continued to drive. He sighed, relieved that he had more time to collect his thoughts and turned his head to the window.
He didn't see the blue eyes move to the mirror as he sighed, or the tiny frown that decorated her features as small gloved hands gripped the wheel a little tighter. She watched his expression through the mirror comparing it to the expression she had long ago memorised.
He shifted again and her eyes went back to the barren road, her frown clearing immediately. The second sigh came but she did not look up this time, aware from habit that he was once more checking to see where her concentration lay. She longed to break the silence, to perhaps ask him what was wrong, but feared the repercussions of such a simple question. So instead she did the most sensible thing she could before the silence could send her nerves over the edge.
"May I ask where we are going, Sir?" She never dared address him by his name as she had been trained to do. Mr. Shields, felt too formal, and she doubted she was meant to know his first name at all. Besides, it would have been unprofessional to call him Darien.
"Just drive." He replied, his usually angry voice empty and dry.
She swallowed down the sudden lump in her throat and pressed her foot a little harder onto the accelerator. The speed dial hitched above the legal limit and she pressed down a little harder. His presence at the back of her mind didn't change and she doubted he noticed the increase in their speed.
Her eyes fixed determinedly on the long stretch of road before them.
He had woken her up and ordered her to start the car late the night before. He hadn't even looked at her. She had bit out a complaint about the hour, fumbling to find a clock in her small apartment. She hadn't meant for him to hear the complaint but he had, and unexpectedly had told her not to bother, to just give him the keys.
She had been forced to pause in her desperate search for the time, then muttered that he should 'give her five minutes' and closed the door in his face. It had taken her two, two minutes to be ready for him. She hadn't showered, hadn't brushed her hair or done any of the other things she would have liked to do, but she had thrown her uniform on, found her keys, and managed to find a watch. It had been 2am.
And then she watched him, out of the peep hole in her door, his distorted figure leaning over the railing of her veranda. Even through the curved glass she could see the dejected stance his body took and was glad she had made him wait. She rallied her nerves, calmed her self and put on the blank expression she wore more often then not those days.
And he had kept his silence as she walked down to the car's opening the garage up and waited for him to decide what car he wanted. But he hadn't moved or gone to chose and she had taken her own pick. She had avoided the Limo, she hated the limo, it was to impersonal, and that was something she absently avoided when around him. Instead she had chosen the servants car, clean and well tended, but small and inconspicuous. He hadn't argued, she doubted he noticed as he slipped into the back seat and she into the front.
And the drive had begun, she hadn't asked for directions and he hadn't given any.
That was how they had ended where they were. He wanted solitude, and although her company was not rebuked she had known and taken him out of the city, onto the roads that went forever. The desert around them rattled with nothing, and ever few hours they would drive past a rickety petrol station.
Haruka had brought her here once, to show her what freedom in a car really was. No race tracks, no one to stop you, not even the odd police look out if your car was fast enough. Serena's foot pressed into the accelerator a little more. To drive as fast as your reflexes could control was an exhilarating experience she often wished she could recapture.
A petrol station sign flashed up on the left of the road and she glanced down at the meter, a fifth of a tank left, but she didn't want to risk running out. She watched with hawk like attention, fixated on the task to keep her mind from the brooding man behind her.
Her foot eased onto the brakes as they approached the station, and she felt his attention alight on her.
"What's wrong?" His casual voice asked, and she twisted her fingers around the wheel a little tighter, absently flicking the blinker on.
"We need petrol." She replied as calmly as she could. She trembled a little, worried that she may have upset him more especially when he made no reply. Still she pulled into the station, switched off the ignition, unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car. Automatically her body flexed to stretch muscles that hadn't moved since two that morning. She glanced at her watch, 8am. Her shoulders shifted as she arched her back stretching her arms into the air above her head.
The thump of a car door closing and her body snapped back into control, her hands falling to the top of her own door as she glanced out of the corner of her eye at her boss. He lent against the car for a moment, eyes skimming their surroundings then moved past her to station's double doors, smudged in grease.
A large man lazed by the door's a crocked grin on his features as he approached her.
"What can I do for you boy?" He asked with a laugh. Serena paused for a second, her eye brows ready to shoot up when she caught herself and nodded back at him.
"Just taking a break from the road." She managed as roughly as she could and stepped away from the car, closing the door behind her with a snap. She heard both men laugh at her, but was effected by only one laugh. Her soft blue eyes slid across the car roof to the dark haired beauty as she walked around to the petrol pump. The small sparkle she had seen ignited in the blue depths of his eyes was gone only a second after it was born. She felt a little empty as it disappeared then reminded herself that the expression hadn't been for her, but against her. The uniform did little to complement her figure, her hair pilled in under the cap, she wondered if he had ever mistaken her for a boy, perhaps on their first meeting before she had spoken, or perhaps for a longer time then that, only realising by chance.
Her mind taunted her, that she had stood up to Haruka and said it was shameless having to pretend to be a man to be a race car driver. Taunted that she had given up the profession because she didn't want to be mistaken for a man, and now this local was doing just that. But sometimes it was safer to be a man, and sometimes it was just easier.
She unscrewed the petrol cap and jammed the pump in, squeezing the release button as she watched the two men over the car roof. Mr. Shield's walked away from the building, moving out onto the sand where the stark sun could beat down on him, but he didn't seem to notice. She pursed her lips in thought then glanced back to the owner only to find he too was watching her boss.
"Get many visitors?" She asked reflexively trying to take his attention from the brooding man. It was a strange protectiveness that compelled her to keep attention from him, but she knew he wanted his privacy and it was a request she would not deny him.
"Here?" The large man asked his voice full and ruff. He gave a laugh and slapped his thigh, a small sheen of dust puffing out from the collision. "Some, four or five machines on a good day."
A harsh breeze blasted her bare checks, hot and sandy, making her wince. Automatically her eyes went to the dark shadow standing out of shelter, inviting the elements to destroy him. "How do you keep a living?" She asked casually, her grip on the pump tightening, eyes flicking to the numbers that rolled over.
"The locals. Least, as close to locals as you get 'round here. They come by once a month to stock up then go back to their homes and family's." He scratched the back of his neck lazily, his eyes going back to the shadow that was her boss. She bit down on her sigh.
"Anywhere to stay around here?" She hoped for a yes, she had been up late the night before, but she doubted even if it was a yes that they would be stopping before petrol ran out again.
"Not for miles. You going up North?" He waited till she gave a quick nod and continued. "Well, there's a nice place, 'bout seven hours up. Mate of mine runs it, though I haven't seen him in ten odd years. Give 'im a yell, his name's Anthony, Anthony Redford. Old class mate of mine."
"Radio school?" The pump in her hand jerked slightly then clicked, she shook it watching the station owner, then pulled it out, slipping it back into place.
"Nahh, boarding school, up north, same as 'im. When my parent's died I came back here. Haven't left since." He made a big gesture as if to brush to topic away uncaringly. She could see in his eyes that he wasn't pretending it didn't bother him, it was kind of strange but he looked oddly peaceful in his exile.
"It must be quite." She breathed, and his eye brow hitched at her for a moment.
"You're a girl!" He proclaimed a little surprised, then broke into laughter. "Sorry for calling you a boy before girl. Your uniform doesn't do anything for you. What?" He raised an eyebrow towards her still silent passenger. "Don't he let you dress properly?"
Serena brushed the question aside with a hand motion and walked past him into the quaint shop. There was little selection, and inside the fridge was warmer then outside.
"And no." He said now, leaning on the inside of the doorframe, not really watching her. "It don't get lonely out here, you meet some interesting people from time to time, and I've always got Bronze at my side." He made a sharp whistle noise and out of nowhere an big dog bounded to his side, looking more playful and carefree then dangerous. Glancing at the man in the doorway Serena seriously doubted he needed a dangerous dog, he wasn't exactly a small man.
She gave the dog a little smile, and pulled a bottle of water off one shelf in the fridge and a bottle of cola of another, then strolled over to the register, ignoring the poor assortment of treats.
"Any stops between here and there?" Serena asked as the man squeezed in behind the bench and punched a few numbers into the register.
"Yeah." He replied quickly, frowning down at the weary register for a minute. "They got one of them fast food places about four hours off. Those things just pop up out of no where. Last week, I could have sworn it wasn't there, but it's defiantly there now." He punched a final number and gave her a big smile. She didn't even listen to the price just handed him the bank card she was supposed to use for petrol and smiled a little as he swiped it. The moment he was transfixed with numbers once more, she turned from him looking out the smudgy glass windows to see her passenger already walking back to the car. A sigh escaped her, she didn't want to interrupt his privacy but she wanted to get moving. Her stomach wanted food, her body wanted a shower, both where options this quaint little stop wouldn't allow her.
"There you go dear, having a good day."
She turned to receive the card and receipt, slipping the paper into her wallet with the card. Grabbing the two bottles she left the shop.
"Good to meet you." She called as she moved back to the car. Already he was waiting for her, staring out the window into nothing. Her chest constricted and she pushed the feeling away, sliding into place and throwing the drinks onto the passenger seat.
Her fingers lingered on the key's, eyes drifting to stare at his figure in the rear vision mirror then caught herself. Sharply the engine came to life and she pressed her foot down onto the accelerator, slowly increasing the speed as they pulled out from the station and continued on the road to nowhere.
Silence.
It was playing at her nerves again, two hours of uncomfortable silence, and she wondered if he even noticed it was uncomfortable. His eyes continued to flick across the horizon, seemingly memorizing though not noticing the landscape.
She cleared her throat, watching his expression with determined fixation. His brows drew together but his head did not turn. She dropped her gaze from the mirror mentally tumbling through every curse word she could think of for the man. Sure she was obsessed with him, perhaps in love but she would never admit it, but that didn't mean her patience couldn't be drawn thin by his behaviours.
Her foot pressed in lightly against the accelerator, her eyes fixing along the straight road.
"Where are we going?" He asked quietly, his voice soothing the tension she had begun to feel in her bones.
"I thought that was your job." She snapped. No matter how soothed she felt, it was still agitating that he had sat in near silence for three and a half hours, and that wasn't counting the time before the petrol station. Her eyes scanned the sides of the roads for a fast food place. At the speed she kept letting herself increase to it would take less than the four hours to get there.
"Yeah well." He muttered quietly.
Her eyes skipped up without permission to see him wetting his lips, eyes cast down to the car floor. Silence threatened to push in again, she was unwilling to answer his question, he seemed unwilling to remedy the situation.
"I got you a drink back there." She murmured quietly, and even though her eyes had turned to the road she knew he had looked up at her.
"I'm not that thirsty, thanks." Was the calm reply that made her chuckle in spite of herself.
"Okay." She replied with another chuckle, her right hand reached for the passenger seat, her left clinging to the wheel for security. Fingers closed over a luke-warm water bottle and she held it between the front seats and him. "But, I don't want it, so maybe put it back there somewhere. No?" She felt the bottle tug out of her fingers and her attention belonged to the road once more. Sure she was aware he was drinking it but that didn't mean she was consciously paying attention.
"Thanks." His silky voice whispered to her.
She breathed out softly, relaxing her grip on the wheel as the tension left her body. "It's my job." She replied with equal softness, refusing herself the right to look at him again.
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As always. Please review.