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 Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 8:34 am
Prompt 9 It’s all over the news that a dangerous convict has escaped from the state prison. Television and radios alike warm the residents to stay indoors until authorities can locate and apprehend the criminal roaming the local neighborhoods. It just so happens to fall on a terrible evening to be stuck anywhere - the weather has taken a turn for the worse and thanks to a wayward falling branch, the power has gone out. Scratching and creaking around your doors and windows keeps you on high alert…could the nefarious individual be trying to get inside your residence?
House sitting for her parents was like a blessing and curse all in one. Having so much more space to lounge in was a delight - especially since it was her childhood home, chock full of happy memories. Her parents always left the fridge stocked with things to nibble on, her bedroom was always just how she'd left it... it was nice.
Being further away from campus wasn't very fun, nor did she enjoy glancing out her window to see the familiar flicker of the nearby window slit of her neighbor's basement. While she'd moved out after high school and tried to become the independent woman her parents had raised her to be, her childhood friend had seemed thoroughly pleased to continue mooching off of his parental units. Reckless and carefree, he was everything Sophia was not and thinking about him always brought an uncomfortable flip to her stomach that she didn't want to think about.
Tonight, however, she couldn't help but think about it -- especially with all the loud creaks and scrapes going on in the house. The news had earlier warned of a dangerous criminal out on the loose - which hadn't made things any easier for her nerves. Stuck in a home, all by herself with some killer running around???
No thanks.
When a particularly loud burst of thunder boomed through the sky, a flash of light was all she saw before her bedroom was plummeted into almost total darkness. She shrieked as an effect - oh god - of all times to lose power!!!!
A quick glance out her window had her checking to see if the power was out elsewhere. The basement light that had been on for hours was out - the Lynch's house looked about as dark as her own. Wait -- what was that?
White light flickered around and it took her a moment to realize what she was seeing. Flashlights! Austin had flashlights!
He also had muscles and a super, super tall frame. No doubt both intimidating features for any recently-broken-free prisoner.
Hasty decisions were made, Sophie tugging on her large coat before slipping her way out the back door of the house, locking it behind her. The rain beat down as she scurried her way alongside the path separating the two homes from each other, making her way up her neighbor's porch and out of the rain.
Three quick raps on the door and amethyst eyes darted around the neighborhood.
"Please answer", she pleaded quietly, dragging the jacket up closer to her, "Please, c'mon, Aus."
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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:27 am
The night was supposed to be a lazy one, with Austin intending on binging something on netflix while he browsed his phone for sweet deals on car parts or check out the car subreddit, but the weather had been garbage and at some point the power had gone out.
Annoying.
Luckily his phone was fully charged, now pulled free of the phone charger, and he kept a flashlight in his bedside drawer. Why? He didn't know, just that he did and the chances were that one of his parents had put it there and it happened to be one of the few things that Austin managed to keep where it belonged.
It was handy when it came to navigating around his admittedly messy a** room and when someone came knocking on the entrance to his basement apartment he was suspicious.
But when he peered out the peephole he could see that it was just Sophie.
Wait. Why was she here?
The door opened and he looked at her with furrowed brows. "What's up?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:42 am
As soon as the door opened up and tall, handsome Austin peered down at the soaked, shivering girl, Sophie felt a rush of relief... and total, complete embarrassment.
She hadn't practiced a speech, hadn't planned anything out to say. She'd gotten scared of the dark and the fact there was some crazy axe murderer out on the loose and wanted to run to hide in the strong arms of the only guy she trusted who was also only yards away from her bedroom.
Ugh, she was such a crybaby - what a dumb thing to do in the first place.
"I... I, uh... I saw on the news where there was a convict on the loose and when your lights went out, I was worried t-that maybe..."
Shoot! He didn't need to know that she'd been staring out at his window!
"I mean, I saw a flash and the light went out, I wasn't staring or anything -- I was just y'know, wanting to check on you and things and make sure...everything was alright and... y-yeah."
Smooth, Sophie. Real smooth.
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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 11:02 am
It took Austin a moment to realize that Soph was soaked and without another word he'd stepped back to usher her inside .The door was shut without too much fuss, the tall boy handing her the flashlight before he fished out his phone and used it's flashlight to light the way to his closet before he tugged one of his old track shirts, something that would definitely fit and cover his old friend, and offered it to her.
"Change." He didn't mean to have it come out like a demand but after he realized he just shrugged at her.
"Things are alright, but if you wanna hang out, feel free." He told her, crossing the room to flop onto his California-king. There was shifting and him positioning himself against the headboard with his hands tucked behind his head.
"What are you doing over here anyway? Don't you live on campus?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 12:23 pm
She didn't put up any fuss when he invited her in, thankful that he didn't call her out for her stammered story and leave her out in the cold, wet, scary world where someone could have been lurking. Even hearing the scrapes of the bushes or whatever it was on his basement window had her jumping from effect, eyes wide as she stared curiously to his flashlight hand-off.
Her free hand took the offered shirt, his order echoing in the back of her mind as her cheeks grew hot. It was only then that she realized just how wet she was -- and the fact that she'd scampered out of her house in nothing more than her night shorts and a t-shirt, on top of the jacket that had served little purpose to shield her from the water.
"Thank you."
The words were quiet as her gaze fell to the floor, then to follow after his backside as he retreated to flop unceremoniously on his bed. Despite his attention not being on her for the moment (or that she was holding the flashlight), the girl still retreated to the depths of the young man's closet to tug off her soaked night shirt and pull the warm, oversized fabric over her head. Hands flew up to readjust her glasses, legs still shivering from the residue coldness of having been wet.
"Mom and Dad went out of town yesterday -- got an Auntie who's sick over in Arizona, so they few out there for a couple weeks to visit."
Her shorts were still soaked and she debated asking to borrow some shorts or something of his in the meantime - surely he had something from before he sprouted into the GIANT he now was. Judging by the chaotic state of his room and closet, the man didn't throw anything away.
Making an executive decision without consulting the basement owner, she shimmied out of her wet shorts and swiftly pulled up what looked to be his old gym shorts from Meadowview. They were still a little big on her tiny form but they didn't sink too bad - especially after she tugged a knot into the waistband.
"They asked me to house sit, so I guess I'll pass out treats from here instead of my apartment, come Halloween time."
The flashlight led the way for her exit from the closet, glancing first at the sprawled out man and then towards the mess on the floor.
".... How do you even know what's clean and what's not?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 9:06 am
He hadn't thought about shorts, figuring that it wouldn't have mattered with how his t-shirt was likely to swallow her small frame. He didn't pay attention when she retreated into his closet and instead was browsing something on his phone. They didn't have power but he had data. And text messages.
If he were a more thoughtful person he would have found a clean towel for her, but Austin wasn't very thoughtful.
"s**t, which auntie?" He asked, green eyes flicking up and over. He knew most of Sophie's family, it was a side effect of growing up together, but he didn't know if he actually cared or if the response was a conditioned, automatic one. His level of caring probably depended on who it was.
His attention went back to his phone, a s**t eating grin illuminated by the phone light when he got a provocative text.
"Huh?" He looked up again, brow furrowing before he shrugged. "If it doesn't smell, it's probably clean."
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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 8:13 pm
"Marie," she said idly, bending down and plucking up the wadded up shirt. She held it at a distance when she cautiously sniffed it, deciding it was... fairly acceptable, as laundry standards went and proceeded to drop it on the end of his bed, creating a pile for the deemed clean clothes to go. "She and Uncle Hubert moved out that way a couple years ago."
A scratch to the window had her physically jumping and letting out a small squeak, despite the fact she was now warm, indoors and standing within reach of a lazy, oversized college student. No shadow revealed itself - maybe another wayward branch?
Resuming her task of sorting clothing, her nose wrinkled as she found her first "dirty" piece of clothing, discarding the offensive piece into the nearby (notably unused) linen hamper).
Casually glancing over in his direction as both piles continued to grow (and the carpet was slowly coming into view), she tilted her head.
"What are you even doing on there?"
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Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 7:20 am
Marie didn't really ring any bells for Austin, nor did Hubert and just like that, the tall young man was no longer interested in what was going on with Sophie's 'sick' aunt. Still there were some noises that could have been taken as grunts of understanding or affirmation, like he knew who she was talking about.
He didn't, but that didn't matter.
He did notice, however, that the girl had started to pick up the things splayed across his room in an untidy fashion. If she glanced over, she'd find him looking rather amused, though he made no move to help.
"Still got data," he said, instead of giving her a straight answer. "Stuff you wouldn't care to know about, girls, cars, the like."
Soph probably didn't want to hear that he was sexting while browsing for car parts so he didn't say it outright. "Could find a movie on netflix to watch, if you wanna crowd around a tiny screen."
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Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 8:43 am
She wasn't sure what answer she expected to get back from her question, but she supposed it shouldn't have come to any surprise to hear that he was doing... well. What Austin tended to do.
He was into women and fast cars so the two were probably always on his mind. It was a fact of life - it's how he'd been for the past few years, if not longer... so why did it make her sad to think about it?
Bet I don't even rank a three compared to some of the girls he's looking at.
Her self-pitying thoughts were interrupted by what sounded like a large thud outside. She almost dropped the shirt she was folding, fingers quickly scrambling to refold it and stack it alongside the other clean ones.
The offer of a movie was sorely tempting, especially considering how anxious she was getting at all of the noises going on outside. After a quick deposit of the clean clothes into his very empty dresser drawers, she timidly made her way onto the side of the futon bed, glancing over at the bored looking boy who was still scrolling past god knows what kind of images.
"M-Maybe something that isn't very scary?"
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Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 10:45 am
The thudding earned a glance upwards, Austin's green eyes flicking over to the sole window of the basement apartment before he went back to looking at his phone. The noises didn't seem to spook him the way it was spooking his friend.
Still, he patted the empty space on the bed beside him.
"C'mon, I'll even let you pick," he told her, before he messed with his phone and put everything on like do not disturb so that any raunchy texts would flash over his screen's display while they were watching the movie.
"It'll distract you better."
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Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 1:04 pm
"Yeah, o-okay."
Small hands grabbed the pillow Austin's back wasn't pressed against and clung to it, pushing the fabric close to her chest like she normally would with one of her stuffed animals back in the safety and security of her own apartment. Inching further onto the bed, she reluctantly was forced to crawl closer - super closer - towards the young man until she was settled close enough nearby to see at least most of the screen.
Picking a movie was difficult when the screen was so tiny so she simply went with the most appealing image that she could see from the small details. It ended up being some sort of comedy, which was fine - better than some romance flick, she supposed - but twenty minutes through the movie and her eyeslids were growing suspiciously heavy. By the time the movie was halfway through, Sophie was sleeping soundly in the crook of her neighbor's shoulder, eyes closed and snuggled up tight between both boy and pillow.
Morning time would no doubt bring with it more than her fair share of awkward moments but for now, she reveled in the safe feeling surrounding her, warm and snuggly as she instinctively curled up against the heat source resting quietly beside her.
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