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"Am I high or am I low?
Maybe I'm feeling both this time.
I'm too high when time is slow,
but still too low to check the time"
Gunner and Rory walked home in the dark, silent for half of the time their bodies were moving. The air was thick and Gunner had already taken off his beanie, leaving himself with hat hair that he could care less about. Rory was either angry or upset and Gunner was genuinely unable to tell one from the other. He thought about talking to her a few times, but he figured their weird day needed to be brought to the abrupt halt and just left the atmosphere to do the talking. Yes, the atmosphere spoke to them in hot air and a pitch black sky that was lit up in moonlight illusion. There were no stars and it wasn't cold. No, it was hot out and Gunner had already removed his big denim jacket to wrap it around his waist. He actually looked a lot smaller without it on, almost like a kid, even though he was almost 17.
The sound of thunder ripped through the air and caused the two to look towards the sky, drops of rain starting come down so lightly that they hardly noticed its presence. Rory unfolded her arms and stepped closer to Gunner at the sound, not being the type to find thunderstorms calming, even as it was an interesting sight. She kept close to her freckled 'friend', absentmindedly latching onto his arm with a scared look in her eyes.
"Are you okay?" Gunner asked, not really caring about the storm. What were the chances of getting struck by lightning anyway?
She looked over at him with her cheeks burning red. Once she realized what she was doing, she jumped away from him. "Are you stupid? There's nothing with me! Why would you jump to that conclusion?" Then she crossed her arms again.
"Hey, I was just asking if you were alright-" Gunner told her defensively.
"I'm fine," She looked away from him.
The boy with hat hair held his hand out to touch the rain that was falling from the sky. It was cold compared to the hot atmosphere.
"I'm sorry for this crazy day, Rory," Gunner admitted meekly, shaking his head.
"Mm." Was her only response as she watched lightning light up the world.
Despite the belief that it was a small world, there was so much more out there. The unknown was something truly spectacular.
"Yeah, I probably deserve that response," He shrugged, going to put his jacket back on over his Red Hot Chilli Peppers T-Shirt.
It was halfway through doing so when he saw that she didn't have a jacket. He didn't really want to let her wear his prized denim jacket, but it was the nice thing to do. So, he held it out in front of her.
"Here, so you don't...I dunno...mess up your hair," Gunner mumbled.
"Mess up my hair? Do I look like-" She started.
"Dude, just put on the jacket," Gunner rolled his eyes.
Rory sighed, then hesitantly took the denim jacket with the black cloth hood from Gunner, putting it on just to get him to leave her alone. She pulled the hood over her head, covering her yellow and red hair. Her hair was actually a sort of weird thing and all with it dyed like that. Gunner was actually curious as to what her natural color was. Brown, blonde, black? Maybe he would never know.
"We're not friends," She told him. "Just so you know."
"I'm fine with that. I don't want to be friends with you anyway." He responded casually.
"Good, because we're not," Rory went on.
"You just said that," Gunner blinked.
Rory went silent for a moment, looking up at the sky. "I'd say my parents would be wondering where I am right now, but my dad doesn't really care where I am most of the time. He's always working."
"My parents are probably worried sick. I don't normally stay out this late," Gunner told her. "What about your mom?"
"Don't have one," She stopped, then jumped over a puddle. "You probably do though, with your perfect looks and hair and all"
"What does my hair have to do with having parents?" Gunner watched her, just walking around the puddle instead of jumping over it.
"No idea," She turned around so that she was facing him, causing Gunner to come to an abrupt halt. "You ever think about running away, Nelson?"
"Me? No way," Gunner shook his head finding her too close for his own comfort.
"Yeah I thought so. You don't seem like the type to run away." Rory sighed, then turned around again.
It was right before Gunner was going to reply when lightning struck the ground in the nearby field. Rory's eyes lit up and went out like a Christmas light being stepped on.
"Maybe we should hurry and get home. I uh- where do you live, Rory? I can walk you there before I go back to my place." Gunner seemed way too calm.
No response.
"Rory?" Gunner looked over and she was already way ahead of him on the path, running as fast as she could.
"Hey!" The freckled teen ran after her, but maybe running wasn't a good idea.
He ran as fast as his legs would carry him, wondering how Rory could even run that fast, considering the path was sludge and the rain made it hard to see. It took him a while to even catch up with her, but when he did, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back.
"No!" Rory shrieked without meaning to, not liking how Gunner just grabbed her hand.
"You still have my jacket. At least give it back if you're going to run away," Gunner sighed, letting go of her hand.
Her eyes looked like they had seen the depths of Hell and her words were full of the fear that the devil's wrath imposed.
"Just take me home, I'm sick of this day and I'm sick of you," She groaned.
"Okay-" He nodded slowly, patting her back awkwardly. "Just calm down."
"I am calm," She insisted, stepping away from him.
"You say that now, but when you remember that we're caught in a thunderstorm you're all like 'Oh Gunner, protect me please' " He rolled his eyes.
"Am not!" She huffed.
"Are too," He responded.
"Whatever, Nelson," She crossed her arms like always.
The rain poured and they went silent after that
And so they walked...
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