rockabillyboy | AU

They're studiously not putting labels on anything, which makes Blue's extra pause over hair and clothes feel silly even to her. Still, when she leans on the window ledge at the familiar sound of wheels on gravel and sees Jack looking up at her window, she's okay with having chosen pretty.

Picnic! :) she had texted back, this morning. She hadn't had plans, and she still doesn't know where they're going, and there's something that twists delightfully in her stomach about that. There's not very much room in this city to be unplanned. To explore.

Blue steps out the door, sweep of lace from the tea-dyed slips and doilies she'd cobbled into a totally new dress and smiles, holding out a canteen. "I thought I should bring something," she says practically. "Sweet tea." And then, quieter. "Hi."

They don't kiss. Blue's explained and Jack thinks he gets it, but, mostly, what it boils down to is that they don't kiss. Instead, he leans in and grazes his thumb against the corner of her mouth, smiling down at her.

"Hey," he says, taking the canteen from her. He tucks it under his arm and leans down open Ghost's passenger side door. "Your chariot, ma'am."

It would be the easiest thing, to stand up on her toes and kiss him hello, but it's pretty easy to pull a trigger too. So far Jack's been really patient and understanding about things. More, maybe, than Blue is right now with him smiling down at her and his thumb on her lips.

She leans her cheek into his hand, lets their fingers brush as he takes the canteen.

Blue rolls her eyes at 'ma'am' but it's entirely fond. "Oh, well thank you, kind sir," she grins and gets in. "Where to?"

"Just out of town, I thought," he says, waiting for her to get into the chair and then slamming the door and jogging around to slide into the driver's seat. "Into the country? See if we can get a little bit of privacy?"

She smiles as the car starts up under his hands, a rumble that announces a little that it's not contemporary. The country sounds nice. Sometimes she misses Henrietta, being around city so much. Privacy sounds nicer. "I like the way you think," she says with a grin, even though that implies a confidence she doesn't exactly have.

"It'd be nice to be able to drive -- anywhere," she comments as they get started, resting her hand lazily on the gearbox. "You know? Just be able to get on the highway and be somewhere else?"

"I miss that so much," he admits. "California's got a lot of places to go." He slips Ghost into gear and pulls away from the curb. The city spins by. On impulse, between gear shifts, he reaches out and grazes his fingers against Blue's knee. "You look incredibly pretty."

"You should tell me about them. I've never been out of Henrietta, not far anyway, besides here," she admits, feeling a little country-bumpkin. "But I want to go so many places. The west coast. The arctic circle. South America, Australia, some island no one knows the name of yet." She walks her fingers over an invisible map. It's not the first time she's mentioned it, but it's so important to being her.

It's a dream, a fantasy, but there are lots of things she dreams about that she can't do.

His fingers against her skin send a warm thrill through her and she tips her head up into the wind, smiling over at him. "Yeah? You look pretty good yourself." She adds, confessionally, "I kind of tried."

"I can tell," he says, and he has to take his hand away from her to shift, but he does it with regret. "My favourite place is this place just down the coast? There's enough road to really open her up and then you're like...it's like you're the only person in the world. It's beautiful."

She smiles at the way he speaks about it, the a little wistful. "It sounds like it. You'll have to show me sometime," she says with a little private smile for him, as though that's remotely possible. Why not?

"In Henrietta there's this rise where you can see the Milky Way on a clear night," she shares. "The sky goes on forever."

"I bet we can find somewhere beautiful around here, though." The city's giving way to more trees around them and Blue stretches, tips her head up into the wind.

Edited 2016-04-18 21:53 (UTC)

Stranger things have happened and Jack isn't about to write it off as a possibility. He just smiles, and drives, enjoying the road and the company, how familiar the car is.

"I have a spot in mind."

"Do you." She raises an eyebrow at him with a questioning expression, but she doesn't push. Half the fun of this is not knowing everything. The road unfurls in front of them, the day sunny and the sky open, and nothing feels pressured or planned.

Jack looks really content, in his element, and it's good to watch. Blue curls closer on the seat, reaches over while everything's flat and empty, lacing her fingers with his.

They've been spending a lot of time together. Jack has spent a handful of nights half-sleeping, desperately aware of his body as he lay full clothed in her bed. They'd touched, teasing. They didn't kiss. So, yes, he's got plans, and he hopes that Blue will be into them. He doesn't have to shift for a moment or two so he leaves his hand where it is, warm and tangled with hers.

"Tell me again," he says, "Why I'm not allowed to kiss you."

If teenage boys think that girls aren't just as consumed by want as they are, it's probably just the fault of bodies that can hide it better. The upshot of not being able to kiss is a fantasy life filled with slow heated kisses, each one Blue's choice, and a guilt trip the length of route 64 about this beautiful boy choosing her to spend time on despite it.

Right now, that feels like a really good question.

"Once upon a time," she says, looking at him from under dark eyelashes. "There was a house full of seers. And all of them saw that the youngest one would kill her true love if she ever kissed him." Her storytelling is wry.

She turns over his hand, tracing the life line. "I don't know anything about true loves, Jack Vincent, but I'd rather not find out you're it when you drop dead."

He loves kissing, loves it, but he also likes Blue enough that he's happy to put that to one side. For now at least. They're out of town now, in the countryside and Jack slows down, careful not to hit the point that will just turn them back the way they came.

"Here," he says, pulling in the side of the road, a river, a copse of trees. "This is us."

She leans up to see, lighting up a little at the trees and the water, as he parks the car. "This is beautiful," she corrects, grinning, getting out of the car slowly and then faster as a grin spreads over her features. "How did you find it?"

It's lovely, and far enough outside everything to feel like it could be anywhere. Could be just for them, like he'd said. She turns to wait for him.

"Just out for a drive."

He kills the engine but leaves his keys in the engine. He gets out of the car and grabs the bag from the trunk, jogs around to open Blue's door for her, smiling when she steps out. "Just thought it might be nice to get some time alone."

"It is nice," she says, stretching up on tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck. There's a moment, close enough to kiss, where her breath sort of catches every time. She just presses her face against his neck instead, breathing him in: paints and car and something softer, something that's just Jack.

She Let's herself down to look up at him "I can take that," she nods at the bag. "If you want." She doubts he does, but Blue always asks.

That closeness is dizzying, and Jack slips his free arm around her waist, holding her close for a moment before he lets her go. "I've got he," he says, but he does offer her his hand, wiggling his fingers.

She grins and accepts his hand instead, tangles her fingers with his. It'd be easier, safer not to be close. To not be close to anyone, and she'd tried that for a long time. But when has Blue ever been really happy with the safe option? What about her suggests someone who doesn't want to have to catch her breath a little?

"You think," she says, "seeds and grass ever travel here from different worlds, like we do?"

"I don't think about it," he says. drawing her with him through the trees to the spot he'd picked out days ago, down by the water, sheltered by the trees and the long grass. "I like the idea though. Cross-pollination. Nothing's ever really lost."

She wanders down, drawn in by him, the peaceful place around them. It feels a little sacred, or maybe magical; not like Cabeswater and its magic as dangerous as it is wild, just -- separate from everything.

Blue nods, smiling at the idea, and that her whimsy and love of biology isn't irritating. "Maybe just becomes something new, here."

She plucks a dandelion clock from the long grass and holds it up between them. "Hey you. Make a wish."

Jack thinks about it for a moment and then he leans in, pursing his lips to blow, scattering the seeds to the wind. He makes his wish and then he sets the bag down and picks up the blanket, spreading it out on the soft grass.

"Shucks," he says, fluttering his eyelashes at her. "I hope it comes true."

She watches him lean to blow the seeds free, the way he thinks about it first, and there's something about that little gesture that turns over her stomach.

"Gosh," she says back with a teasing grin, letting out a bit more of the Virginia-Appalachian accent she grew up with. She smoothes out the edges of the blanket and kicks off her shoes, neatly, off the edge, wriggling her toes in the cool grass before sitting down. "Must be a real nice wish, looking like that."

He's not about to admit it outloud, but he kind of loves it when her accent does that. His, hopelessly Californian, never does that. He toes out of his chucks and then bends to tug off his socks, too before sprawling out on the blanket beside her. He smiles up at her.

"Looking like what, exactly?"

Blue looks down, grinning. "You know exactly like what. All bashful and Bambi eyes and that smile." She grins and flutters her lashes at him in demonstration. "If you tried, you wouldn't have to make wishes too often." She can feel her face flush, but it's funny, mostly because it's true.

He looks good, stretched out, all lean muscle and bright smile below her, and she shifts to lie on her side closer, elbow bent to prop her chin on one hand. The slip part of her dress is pushed up a little and she's very aware of there only being some uneven swathes of crochet between her skin and his body, the warmth of him next to her. Blue reaches to trace the lines of his tattoo, concentrating on that instead, and looks over at him. "You make good plans."

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