Serendipity & the Serpent

Double Trouble

You felt the wind in your hair first. Then you heard the other cars, and the soft musical air of the radio wafting through the crisp California fall breeze.

Slowly, you opened your eyes. You took in your surroundings, confused as to how you got where you were.

You sat in the passenger's seat of Johnny's car. He drove silently, tapping his finger to the beat of the song coming from the console. You recognized it as I Want to Hold Your Hand by the Beatles. You didn't exactly take this as his particular style of music, so you found it amusing in your grogginess.

A small laugh escaped between your lips, bringing Johnny's attention to you. His smile grew when he saw your eyes on his.

"Good morning sunshine. How'd you sleep?"

You groaned and sat up a little straighter. Brushing off his sarcastic comment, you addressed the situation at hand. "How long was I out?"

"About an hour."

That's it?

You felt like you slept for days. It was hard to understand how exhausted you actually were until this very moment. You should've expected to crash the way you did, you hadn't slept at all last night after discovering the family truth.

Your eyes wandered over the interior of his car. The top was down, and the wind brought a cool rush to your face, waking you up just enough to make your eyes widen.

"How did I get in here?"

Johnny chuckled, almost as if you should've known the answer. "I carried you."

You squeezed your eyes tight in embarrassment before bringing your hand to the bridge of your nose. Johnny saw this and let out a laugh.

"It was quite amusing princess, I wish you were awake to see it."

"Shut up, Lawrence."

He continued to laugh as he drove down areas you hadn't recognized. You were about to ask him where he was headed, but you were interrupted by Johnny out stretching his hand toward the radio. As he turned it down to an almost inaudible volume, he turned to you with an air of caution in his eyes.

"Do you remember what you said to me while I was carrying you?"

You raised an eyebrow, clearly confused. When Johnny didn't continue right away, you gulped.

"No... why? Did I say something embarrassing?"

"No..." he stammered, "no. Nothing embarrassing, you just-," thinking over his words carefully, he spit it out hesitantly, "you just said something that made me concerned, that's all."

"Concerned?" Oh no.

"Yeah... you mumbled something about my sensei. You said not to trust him for whatever reason. And you also mentioned something about me not knowing the truth about him?"

Your heart hammered in your chest. This was not good. You had to cover your tracks, quickly.

"I was exhausted, Johnny... if I can't remember saying it, then it's probably not important."

"But..." his words drifted off, "I just can't help but feel like you're hiding something from me."

"I'm not hiding anything," you lied, "it was just the sleepiness talking."

His eyes bore into yours, somehow conversing with your mind that he knew the truth. But luckily for you, Johnny ignored those signs and nodded his head. He accepted your answer even though he knew it was far from correct.