Outer Limits | ✓

◦ seamless

JUDE ASHER WAITED aside, adjacent to the back door of a darkened, nondescript building. He'd been standing there for eons, as Darcy checked through windows — no movement inside, though a dim light still shone — before creeping back over.

⠀⠀⠀ The building's back door was locked, so she took two pins out of her hair and quickly picked it. A skill she had learned in her rebellious days back in Birmingham that had proven useful many times over the years.

⠀⠀⠀ She tinkered enough with the door to hear a distinct click, and another before she heard the hinges of the door give way and the door creak open, spilling light into the gloom, before she gestured for the dark-haired boy to follow her closely.

⠀⠀⠀ She scanned the small and general vacant building, it was largely empty aside from a forgotten desk and some scattered papers and littered chairs. "Hello," she whispered in the dimly lighted room, and there was no response. She spoke aloud, nearly shouting, "is anybody here?" But nothing stirred.

⠀⠀⠀ "Okay," Jude said. "Now that you're certain we're alone, what the hell are we doing here — what is this place?"

⠀⠀⠀ After driving passed a sign that read Welcome to Birmingham! Jude had silently wondered why he was brought all this way, back to the redhead's hometown. He'd waited patiently, not bothering to ask questions that'd most likely remain unanswered. And he'd done well doing so, because if he had the slightest inkling that he would be trespassing inside an abandoned building with the same girl that nearly killed him months ago, he would have turned right back around. Or simply would have ignored all the red flags going off in his head. The same that have been calling at his attention for some weeks now.

⠀⠀⠀ It wasn't instantaneous. There was a process to switching from genuine animosity to... to whatever it was he'd been feeling whenever he felt gravitated toward the orbit of Darcy Sumpter. Instead of dissecting it, he watched it unravel.

⠀⠀⠀ It was the same for the events that followed.

⠀⠀⠀ "Someplace epic." Darcy answered.

⠀⠀⠀ She knew what he was thinking, but instead of explaining it, why not just show him?

⠀⠀⠀ "If memory serves..." Darcy scuttled around in the dark, weaving corners, rummaging through dust and old trinkets and gimcracks, she'd glimpsed it. There, neatly tucked in a cobwebbed corner, was a stack of bone China plates that she'd left months ago. Tucking some beneath her arm, she quickly returned to Jude who gave her a bewildered look once he'd beheld her.

⠀⠀⠀ "Okay, sure." He said, brushing a hand through his hair. "Please elaborate."

⠀⠀⠀ Darcy did just that. "The days after I got discharged from the hospital were the worse days of my life. If I had issues before, they were small compared to what my life looked like now. I was scared, and feeling guilty, and dealing with trauma I didn't know how to unpack." She shook her head, trying to clear it, trying to make sense of what she was saying. "How I found this place is a long story, one I'm sure I'll tell you someday. But long story short, when I would start feeling like I am at my wit's end, my absolute limit, I would drive here and let it all out. I would run, I would scream. I would..."

⠀⠀⠀ She narrowed her eyes, setting the stack of plates on the ground for once, then with a glint of mischievousness in her eyes, she told him, "I would let go."

⠀⠀⠀ Glass shattered against a stoned wall. Jude jolted at the sudden sound, his jaw dropped and Darcy thought if he didn't already think her insane, he sure as hell did now.

⠀⠀⠀ "Sumpter!" He said, and Darcy braced herself, until she noticed his mouth lifting into a full blown, incredulous smile before the melody of his laugh filled the silence. "That was — "

⠀⠀⠀ "Insane?"

⠀⠀⠀ "I was going to say badass," he said, "but same difference. Hand me one of those."

⠀⠀⠀ Darcy gave him one, "Let go, Jude. Of all your problems, all your anger, all your sadness, your grief. It's too heavy to carry. Let go."

⠀⠀⠀ It was enough encouragement for him to fling his plate across the room and watch it splatter flat against the hard wall. Darcy followed suit and they had somehow fallen into a competition on who could throw the fastest, the hardest, with more expertise, with intricate ways, until they ran out of stock.

⠀⠀⠀ It's thereafter that the teenagers both sunk simultaneously onto the cool, hard ground, chests heaving with bubbling adrenaline and lopsided grins adorning their lips while they both gazed at each other. Darcy's head spun at their proximity as the room and Jude both swayed at a standstill.

⠀⠀⠀"You know," Jude said quietly, his hoarse voice only a whisper in the silence, "this was my first time breaking and entering."

⠀⠀⠀ Darcy cocked her head to the side, taking in his words and the way her cheeks warmed at them. "You know," she echoed. "It was my first time going into a forest. Usually I'm too scared to go inside them, too many bad movies with bad things that happen in them."

⠀⠀⠀ He scoffed at this. "I have a hard time imagining you scared of anything."

⠀⠀⠀ "How come?"

⠀⠀⠀ "You always look so..." he  trailed, no doubt searching for a word Darcy knew she would hook herself to. "Fearless."

⠀⠀⠀ Her hands, that were braced behind her and flat against the cold floor, curved into themselves before she pulled up and plopped her arms onto her knees. Jude echoed her movements and for a moment, Darcy heard her heart hammering against her chest. Trying to drown out the noise, she figured she out to make some of her own. "I'm far from it," she managed to muster under bated breath and hoped that he'd heard her. "I'm afraid of so many things."

⠀⠀⠀ Thinking him sympathetic and trying to console her, Darcy felt Jude's knuckles brush against the cut of her cheek and she allowed herself to close her eyes and fall into the feeling, into his touch. "I am too," he said before she felt his hand slide beneath her hair, onto the nape of her neck. "You've no idea how many."

⠀⠀⠀ Darcy blinked her eyes open, smiling slightly, still welcoming his touch. They stayed there for a moment, close and quiet, as Jude had his hand on her cheek again, his thumb sliding over her bottom lip. Darcy's parted lips pulled into a quick grin, trying to hide how shaken she was. "Like what?"

⠀⠀⠀ "I am," he said in the lowest tone she'd ever heard his voice, "so damn afraid of you Darcy Sumpter."

⠀⠀⠀ Between the slide of his fingers that were once holding her head and were now braced down her waist, and her hands that were now clasped down in the curve of his neck and broadened shoulder, Darcy let out the quietest of whimpers before she allowed the space between them dissipate with all but the press of his lips.

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A'S WORDS

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! - my thoughts while writing this scene, would love to read yours! Comment below!

Yours temporarily, Avrielle