Nepenthe | Sapnap |

Boundaries

It's been days. Days of no patrol. No going near the stables. I couldn't even visit my own horse and brush or feed her. When everyone is on patrol, it's like time moves significantly slower. A second feels like a minute. A minute feels like an hour. You get the point.

I can't even past time by helping out my family during their jobs since now everyone in this fucking town sees me differently. Either I'm this glass doll that can shatter at any moment and must be wrapped around in bubble wrap or I'm the devil incarnate and shunned for not immediately handing myself over.

I spend a little of my free time in the morning with Luke every now and then. He needs something to do just like me so why not help each other out.

He has been upgraded from just being able to stay in his room and the ensuite bathroom to the entire first floor of Phil's house. The guard that used to sit at his bedroom door is now at the front door. The back door is padlocked with two keys in both Phil and Kristin's pockets.

Luke is a good guy. At least, I believe he is. I am the one who has spent the most time with him, and I was most likely the hardest person to win over in this place with... ya know... the fact that he was originally signed up with the task of killing me.

He's always wanted a dog. He has the name Teddy picked out since he was a kid. He likes cats but he knew that he was allergic to them. However, it's been years since he's touched one and he hopes that he outgrew the allergy. I told him about Patches and he decided that the first thing he does when he graduates from Phil's house, he's going to meet Patches. His eyes might get all swollen but apparently to him 'it's completely worth it'.

I bring him a new book each time I see him. I was pretty sure he's not a fan of my type of books, so I had the thought in my head to grab some of Nick's mangas to let him read. He mentioned watching anime briefly when we talked about the before times.

Nick isn't too fond of the idea of me spending so much time with Luke, but I think that if Nick went to go visit him just once they would become really good friends. I can see them working well together. Dylan is also pretty fond of Luke. I walked in one morning to find them just bullshitting at the kitchen table together over cups of tea.

I think Nick is just a bit jealous, and maybe a tad bit possessive. But at the same time, I've been obsessed with him as well. The second he is dismissed from patrol, he is on his way to me wherever I am, which is usually either at his place or hanging out with Luke and Dylan. The other day I met him at the end of the gravel road that led the way to the stables, and the smiles he had on his face when he saw me waiting right after he rode through the gates on Arion made my entire week. Made it even better when he fell off of Arion due to him not even realizing his foot was stuck in the stirrup after dismounting.

We've been making up for lost time by pretty much just hiding out in his room for the rest of the day after morning patrol hours, only coming out to grab food from Darryl's when the group was planning to go or to snag some snacks from the cabinets in the kitchen. The number of movies that we've gone through while just lying in bed is ridiculous. I mean most of the time the movie goes unwatched due to us talking... or...

I'm not going to lie, most of the time it's us messing around in bed. Finding out what the other likes, dislikes, where the line to stop is, where we definitely keep going, but overall, it's just a genuinely great time. The years we've lost to pinning and crushing from afar were behind us and it couldn't be better.

Like right now. Nick was flat on his back with one hand behind his head and the other was twisting some of my hair around his fingers as I was curled up against his side with my head on his chest, attention completely on the tv in front of us that was playing the movie that was next on the shelf from the cabinet downstairs. I think it was called Red Eye or something like that. It was actually pretty interesting.