Page 44 of N8
He nuzzled the damp hair along her neck. She responded by arching her back, pressing closer to him. The still damp strands were cold on his face. “Can’t sleep either?” she murmured.
“Sort of. I’m too wound up.”
She moved her head slightly, as if to look at him, and softly laughed. Turning over to face him, she ran her hand over his cheek. Their candle had snuffed itself out. Her features were barely visible in the dim light streaming through the window.
“I wish we were back in your car,” he admitted.
“It would probably be more comfortable than this floor,” she admitted.
“No. Not that. I miss the open roof. It was…nice.”
“We can open the window, if you’d like.”
“And have something crawl inside while we’re sleeping? No, thanks,” he chuckled.
“Put it on the list. Install screens over the windows,” she quipped.
He bent his head to kiss her. Her lips were firm, but there was no pressure. He pulled her closer, and her arms went around his neck. She smelled of soap, sex, and lake water. Nuzzling the side of her face, he sighed contentedly.
“I never imagined it could be this good,” he muttered. If she heard him, she didn’t reply. It didn’t matter. His brain blanked out on all further thought, and he sank into another bout of restless sleep.
23W8
“What doyou think’s going to happen to us?”
K8 opened her eyes to see F8 staring at her in the semi-darkness. Their one candle provided only a modicum of light, but it was enough to see each other’s faces.
“I don’t know. And to be honest, I’m scared to think about it.”
F8 adjusted her position, pulling her blanket tighter around her. “I don’t want to go back there. Never again. But this world frightens me.”
“It frightens me, too,” K8 admitted. She had to get her dearest friend’s mind off of their improbable future, and knew a way how to do it. “Hey, if you could have any job in the world, what would you do?”
The trick seemed to work. F8’s face took on that look of intense concentration before she answered. “I think I’d like to be a teacher.”
“A teacher? What subject? What grade?”
F8 gave a slight shrug. “I don’t know. Elementary maybe? Definitely the little ones. I’d like to be able to see the expressions on their faces when they learn something new.” She turned her head to look back at K8. “How about you?”
“I’ve been thinking I’d like to travel. If I can do it as part of my job, that would be even better.”
“What if you went to work for an airline? Like a stewardess? Or a pilot?”
“No. I don’t want to fly the plane, but I wouldn’t mind meeting the people on the plane.”
“How about becoming a journalist? Like Lois Lane?”
“You mean, working for a newspaper?” K8 chewed on it. “That’s an idea.”
“I wonder if the guys have thought about what they’d like to do,” F8 remarked.
“Oh, I’m sure they have.”
“But you don’t know for sure?”
“I haven’t asked them, no, bu—”
“Shhh!”
