Reading Your Pages, Prologue and All
While working your typical shift at your job, a girl and her uncle walk in. The uncle, in particular, catches your attention.
Pairing: Tommy Miller x F!Reader
Rating: Explict
Warning: MINORS DNI, just smut with plot
Author's Note: lowkey forgot to post this here, but whoops... oh and im going to college!!!
The hot summer air distorts your vision. Waves of heat shimmy into the air while you prop the door open to the large garage. You rush out to your friend’s open truck, filled with three large cardboard boxes. Carefully, you stack the boxes on top of each other. Groaning as you lift heavy boxes of book donations, you pick up the books and bring them inside. While walking inside, you kick the door stopper away and you slip the box tower onto your desk. You sigh as you remove the first box and rest it on the ground. Rummaging around the desk drawers for a pair of scissors, you find nothing. Instead you pat yourself down, checking your incredibly tiny pockets of your keys. In the front right pocket of your light blue jeans, your hands pull out your keys by the black lanyard. The tiny nazar beads, that dangled from the layard’s ring, jingle and hit each other as you walk back over to your box. A tiny grunt leaves your mouth as you bend your knees. You press the key into the box’s packing tape and slice it off, dragging the tiny piece of metal towards you.
After cutting open the boxes, you tuck them underneath the desk for you to handle later. Quickly, you slip back into your chair to check out some books for young jumping kids. Two kids hand you their library cards and a stack of books. You smile at them as you scan their books. Once you’re done, the kids run off with their mom.
Slipping out of your chair, you bend down to pick up a pile of neatly stacked books. The silence of the place stresses you out as you grab the few books and add them to the inventory, prior to printing out a label for the respective book. While you are doing this, a man and a little girl walk in. She must have been at least eleven years old, still filled with the love of reading most kids will start to lose around this age. Her tight curls, free from any relaxer, bounce as she runs off through the maze of book shelves.
The man himself looks a little bit older than you. He’s clean shaven with his curly hair slightly gelled back. Out of the corner of his eye, he catches you staring at him and he smiles at you. Your cheeks heat up while you flash him an awkward smile as all of your blood rushes to heat up your cheeks. Cursing underneath your breath, you return back to adding the books to the library's inventory.
One box and twenty three boxes in, the same girl from before catches your attention. You perk up from behind your stack of books. “What can I getcha?” Looking down on her, you smile–revealing your snaggle tooth. “Is there a book that’cha looking for?”
“Where’s Twilight ?” Your brain stops working. You just stare at her, giving her a blank face. Again, the child continued her thought, “You know, the book with sparkle vampires?”
“Yeah, I’ve read it. Seriously, how old are you, kid? Does your dad approve of you reading that?” Thankfully, the man with curly black hair approaches your desk. “Hey, I’m so sorry to ask you this, but do you know that your daughter wants to read Twilight ?”
The man laughs. “Oh, she’s my niece.” Your previous embarrassment resurfaces. “Well, I was gonna ask you, if you know if it’s appropriate for an eleven year old.”
Shaking your head, you sigh. “In a couple years, yes.” You lean over the desk, accidentally pushing your chest up with your arms. “Between you and me, I’m not a fan of the franchise. Edward is kinda a creep. I don’t know why everyone loves him.” You look down at the girl. “Why don’t you try the Percy Jackson series? I know we still have a couple copies of the first book left.” The girl sighs, dejected, but returns to the mountains of books–while her uncle stays with you. “It’s nice you took your niece here. She seems like an avid reader.” Grinning ear to ear–as if she is his own daughter–the man is proud of his niece. “She’s so smart.” He laughs. “She has Harvard written all over her.” His voice is filled with a sweet Texan tang. His laughter is filled with the warmth of tea, sweetness of sugar, and depth of the sea. As his laughter calms down, he asks “You don’t sound like you’re from here. Where are ya from?”
You run a hand through your thick dark brown hair, pushing it back. “D.C. Born ‘n raised there.” You hold back a school girl-like giggle. “Senior at Rice.”
“Will you be returning back to D.C.?” You shake your head. “So, Rice. What are ya majoring in?”
“Oh, it’s nothing special… Just double majoring in Art History and Neuroscience.” You laugh. “Drastically different, I know."
“Damn, we gotta smartass right here.” The two of you laugh in unison. “Name’s Tommy Miller.” In response you give him your name. “Pretty name.” He repeats it, as if he’s trying to commit it to memory. “I like it.”
“So,” you pause for a moment, “What do ya do?”
“Construction with my brother.” He points back to the shelves. “Sarah’s dad.”
“Damn you much be fucking strong.” You clasp your hands over your mouth. Sighing, “I said that out loud didn’t I?” Tommy nods. “Just fuckin’ fantastic.” You ramble on, “First I spilt hot coffee on my shirt, then I missed my bus, and now I just fuckin’ embarassed myself in front of a cute guy! Just perfect!” While you groan, Tommy bursts into laughter. You rub your temples. “Just perfect…”
“So, you think I’m cute?” Cringing inside, you freeze. “Or would handsome be better?”
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to say that out loud. Sometimes my mouth has a mind of its own and–” You’re caught off guard. Tommy slips you a note with his phone number on it. “Tommy, you don’t have to.”
“No, I insist. I would love to hear your mouth run on, but unfortunately, I think my brother would want his daughter home soon.” He flashes you a kind and genuine smile. “Call me?”
Grinning, you nod. “Will do.” Sarah runs up to your desk and hands you her book. Quickly, you check it out before handing it back to her. You give her a little wave “I hope you enjoy your book,” then you turn to Tommy, “Bye Tommy.”
After your shift ends, you take the bus back to your apartment. The moment you lock the door behind you, you press your hands against the chest while squealing. Out of the bottom of your bag, you find the note Tommy has left you. Slowly, you walk into the kitchen while still staring at the note. Once again, your hand digs through your bag and pulls out your phone. You stare at your two year old iPhone 4, staring at the blank screen. Minutes pass by, before you unlock it and dial Tommy’s number. It rings for a couple moments. You hold your breath until he picks up. “Hey Tommy, it’s me from the library.”
Even through the phone, you can feel his infectious smile in his voice. “What’s up Beautiful? Did you finish unloading those boxes?”
“Yeah, thank you for asking. Did you get your niece home on time?”
Just as you finish your sentence, you hear shouting from his side of the phone. “Tommy! What the fuck are you doing? Get over here! You’re food’s gettin’ cold!”
“Holy shit, did I interrupt your dinner? I’m so sorry…”
“No, not at all Beautiful.” Your heartbeat calms. “My brother probably just finished making it.” Tommy’s brother can hear the conversation happen over the phone. Angrily he storms up to Tommy and yanks the phone out of his hand. “Joel, you give that back! Piece of shit!”
You stay silent.
“Is this the girl Sarah told me about?” Your eyes widened. “C’mon Tommy! Tell me, is this your girlfriend?” Your cheeks heat up. Tommy’s brother speaks to you now. “Hey! Are you my little brother’s girlfriend?!” You can hear the man laugh at Tommy’s embarrassment. Honestly, it’s kind of funny how audibly flustered Tommy is getting. “Hello?” There’s a muffled voice, “I think she hung up.”
Sighing, you pinch the skin between your eyebrows. “No, I’m still here.”
You can hear light footsteps grow louder. A little girl’s voice comes from the other side of the call, “Uncle Tommy, have you asked the library lady out yet?”
Laughing, “Joel, right?” There’s even more commotion going on over the phone. “Can I talk to Tommy?” After a couple seconds of perfect silence, you speak. “Tommy?”
You can hear him groan. “Yeah, it’s me. Sorry ‘bout them?” After you give him a light chuckle, he laughs along with you. “Why don’t I call you back later?”
“Sounds perfect. I hope Sarah enjoys her book.” You make sure to hang up.
After you put your phone down on the tile counter, you rest your head right next to it. Screaming into the off-white tile, you let out every ounce of embarrassment. Quickly, you take out leftover take-out from your fridge and pops it into the microwave. While waiting the longest minute you’ve ever experienced, you pace around the kitchen. Once the food’s done, you flop on your old leather couch and eat your luke-warm food.
As you’re dozing off, with your CD player humming in the background, your phone rings. Unlike every morning when you need to wake up on time, you jump back to life to pick up the phone. “Tommy?”
“Hey Beautiful.” Your heart skips a beat as you process the nickname. “Sorry about my brother. He’s something else. And he’s probably mad at me for missing work yesterday.”
“Oh, don’t worry ‘bout it.” Cool leather comforts your bare legs. “It was kinda funny.”
“Well, I would love to talk to you in private–”
“So your brother was right? You’re asking me out on a date?”
“Was I that obvious?”
Laughing, you throw your head back. “I think the ‘Hey Beautiful’ was the only hint I needed.” You pause. “Don’t worry ‘bout it. It’s kinda funny. Have you forgotten about my stupid mouth?”
Tommy laughs, making him feel slightly better, “So maybe you’re the one asking me out?”
“Name a time and place. I’ll be there.”
“I’ll pick you up at the end of your shift.”
“Six o’clock. I’ll meet you at the garage entrance.”
“Perfect. I’ll see ya there. ‘Night Beautiful”
“Good night, Handsome.”
Tying back the front strands of your hair and reapplying kajal, you try to make yourself more presentable. After a couple moments where you stare at your deeply tanned skin to check for pimples, you rush out of the bathroom to the garage entrance. Your boot heels click together while you wait.
A dark green pick-up truck poorly parks in front of you. Your face brightens up as you see Tommy get out of the truck. He jogs over to you and the two of you hug. As you step back, you take in every ounce of ruggedness Tommy’s emitting. Smiling, you greet him, “Hey Handsome.”
“Hey Beautiful, you look amazing.” Both of your cheeks heat up at the same time while you’re staring at each other. “You ready to go?”
“Ready as ever.” Tommy opens the passenger’s seat to his car for you. Smiling at him, you whisper “Thanks.” Once he gets into the driver’s seat, you ask “So, where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.” You stiffen up, but as he smiles at you, all of your worries melt away. His tanned skin and freckles crinkles as he flashes his teeth at you. A few strands of thick curls flop into his face as he turns around to drive off from the local library. For a brief moment, you stare into your lap before watching the road and the sunset.
After the car stops, Tommy hops out and scurries over to open the door for you. As you get out, you thank him. Hesitantly, he holds your hand as the two of you walk into the restaurant. Once you sit down, you finally get a good look at Tommy. Finally, you can just find the constellations hidden in the galaxy of freckles all over his face. The dim light of the restaurant highlights the loose strands of hair. All you wanna do is to run your hands through it as you kiss him. Like that’s ever gonna happen. While you’re staring, the waiter comes over to your table, “What can I getcha to drink this evening?”
Tommy gestures to you to order first. “Diet Coke, please.”
“Is Pepsi okay?”
“Can I just have a water then?”
The waiter nods.
“And I’ll take a Budwiser.”
“I’ll be right back with your drinks.”
Once the waiter walks out of ear shot, Tommy chuckles, “Don’t like Pepsi?”
“Fuck no. It’s disgusting.” The smile on his face grows as you continue your rant about how Diet Coke is superior to Pepsi. “I refuse to trust anyone who likes Pepsi over Coke.” Sighing, you push some hair back, “Oh since you’re drinking, do you want me to drive you home?”
“I’ll be fine.” You look at him, absolutely filled with concern. Nervously pushing back his hair, Tommy swallows a lump in his throat. “Are you sure? I don’t want to impose on you.”
“It’s better to impose on me and be safe than to get in a car accident. Just make sure you have a glass of water with your drink.” You flash him a light toothless smile. “I’m perfectly fine with driving you home.” Laughing, you wink, “As long as it keeps you safe, Handsome.”
Tommy laughs along with you, “Well, I’ll have to make it up to you. Maybe, if this goes well, we can go on another date.”
“Sounds perfect. Is there anything you would like to do?” Tommy shakes his head. “I’m thinking too much about the future, maybe–”
“Thinking about the future?” You nod, slightly confused. “So what does your mind say about our future?”
“That was smooth, Miller.” A genuine laugh, that fills the room, falls from your chest. While you continue to laugh, Tommy smiles at you. “Well, my mind says it sees us going home, and…” You intentionally stop, you literally have no thoughts left in your brain.
“And what?” He grabs your hands, your chubby fingers interlock with his calloused ones. Before he can continue, the waiter places your drinks in front of you. “Thanks.”
“Thank you.” The waiter leaves. “C’mon Tommy, let your imagination run wild.”
“That’s a dangerous thing, Beautiful.”
Uncontrollably, you begin to laugh. “We’re really bad at flirting, aren’t we?”
“Maybe it’s just you.”
“‘Cuse you?”
“I said what I said.” He shrugs. “I can pick up any girl if I wanted to.”
Rolling your eyes, “Sure. And I’m the Queen of Mars.”
“Fine, choose any girl for me to try and pick up.” Your left index finger points to yourself. Tommy grins, I like a challenge. “I like a challenge.”
After the date, you walk Tommy to his front door. He invites you in, and you accept. The moment the door closes behind you, the now sober man presses his lips against you. While you try to process what’s happening, you kiss back. The moment Tommy pulls away, he asks “Did I read the situation wrong?”
“No, no. I wanted it, I was just surprised.” Giggling, you whisper, “Just shut up and kiss me.”
Tommy smashes his lips back onto yours. They’re soft and gentle yet hungry. Slowly, your arms wrap around his neck–pulling you closer to him. Smiling into the kisses, you back up and press yourself against the wooden door. His lips slip away from yours, leaving you breathless and panting, and starts to trail downwards. He carefully sucks little love bites into the soft flesh of your neck. While you’re too busy clinging onto his hair, Tommy’s hands make their way down to your waist. To your surprise, he squeezes your ass through your jeans. Gasping, Tommy takes that change to slip his tongue into your mouth. You let him guide you along in this tango. While you’re tugging on Tommy’s hair, he starts to button your jeans. As you let go of any concerns you had, Tommy pulls away and guides you to his room–and leaves you shuffling along the floor with your pants pooling at your feet.
Even before you can enter his room, the two of you are already practically naked; Tommy’s only left on his red boxers and you only have black cotton underwear. Soon enough, your bodies are colliding as you fall back onto his mattress. The two of you laugh as you continue to pet each other. Slowly, you crawl backwards enough that the bottom half of your legs dangle from the edge of the bed. His hands grope your chest as you try and sit up. Tommy’s legs rest on either side of your lap. Your eyes flicker down, just for a moment, and to your surprise you catch a glimpse of his bulge, his dick trying to free itself, and a tiny wet spot on the fabric. With the addition of this sight and the cool air, your nipples harden as your dark neck hair sticks up. Goosebumps cover your body. Tommy clearly sees his affect on you. You’re basically an open book for him to read.
With dark hair in your face, you try to hide your embarrassment. Before you can return to kissing him, Tommy uses his index finger and forces you to look at him. Smirking, he leans down–his face mere centimeters away from your face–and takes in the sight. He can see each thick eyelash as you blink up at him through your dark eyes and how your thick eyebrows can convey how much you’re enjoying this than the thinner–over plucked–eyebrows some other women had. He can see how perfect your hooked nose is. Grinning at your soft expression, Tommy pushes some of the hair out of your face, and tucks it behind your ear. “You’re so beautiful.” He presses a light kiss on your lips. “Seriously, I mean it.”
Chuckling, you smile. “You sure know how to make a woman feel special.”
Slowly, Tommy backs away and his finger hooks itself on the elastic of your underwear, pulling it off as he continues, “I want to make you feel more than special.”
As Tommy discards your underwear on the floor. Honestly you expected him to whip off his boxers and just go in, without any preparation; instead, he lowers himself and spreads your legs far apart. Soon enough you can barely see his hair as he buries himself right against your cunt. He takes his time and teases you with a few kitten licks across your clit. Warm shivers run across your spin as he presses a gentle kiss on the same place. Carefully, his lips lock on the sensitive and swollen bud, forcing a breath sigh out of you. Slight stubble rubs against your skin as Tommy smiles. The extra simulation knocks extra air out of your lungs.
His tongue caresses your clit in all the right ways. Soft moans fill the room. Ever so slightly, your back arches a little more, and you grind your hips against Tommy’s face as he pulls away to look up at you. His eyes, darkened with lust, stare directly at your half-lidded eyes. While you’re propped up on your elbows, panting, you see Tommy smirk. “Tommy, please. Please!”
“Please what, darling?” Groaning, you buck your hips up but Tommy pushes you back down. “C’mon, use your words. You’re a smart girl, I know you can.”
“Fuck,” you mumble underneath your breath. “Tommy, just please continue. Please suck my clit, it feels so good.”
“That’s what I like to hear.”
Tommy sinks back down and locks his lips back on your clit. He swirls his tongue around. The combination of the sucking and swirling has a tiny coil forming in your core. Carefully, he nudges your left thigh as he brings his hand up. A breathy moan echoes around the room, “Tommy~”
Slowly, he inserts his middle and index finger into your folds, and curls them. Each curl hits the right spot. Your breathy moans grow into loud begging and whimpering. The coil tightens more and more. Just before the coil could let anything out, Tommy pulls his fingers out. Glistening liquid drips down as he licks his fingers clean. He presses a wet kiss against your mouth; you could taste yourself and you whimper at his gesture. For a moment he stands there, taking in the sight. “Jesus, you’re gorgeous… I wish I could take a photo of this moment.”
“Come here, Handsome.” Giggling, you pull Tommy back down for another kiss. “Well, then. Maybe if you can make me finally cum, then maybe we can continue this.” You lean forward, looking up at him, and your fingers play with Tommy’s waistband before pulling his boxers off. The moment you pull the boxers down, Tommy’s dick springs free. You stare for a moment before pressing a light kiss on his tip. Ever so slightly, you swirl your tongue around, collecting a little bit of pre-cum. For a moment, Tommy shudders before you pull away. “Tommy, just fuck me.”
Laughing at the depravity laced in your voice, Tommy smiles. “Happily, Beautiful.”
You spread your legs out as far as you can as you lay back down. Tommy follows your downwards direction. Within moments of laying back on his soft, cool sheets, Tommy slips inside of you; you gasp. It’s a little bit of a stretch, but he’s able to fully fit inside. Once you’ve adjusted to his bigger than girth and average length, Tommy starts bucking his hip. He moves in and out of you. That familiar coil returns and begins to quickly tighten.
While his dick hits the right spot everytime, you squeeze around him. The two of you moan together in unison. Tommy watches you as you tilt your head back and arch your back into him. He caresses your cheek while you gasp and grab onto his back. One of your hands latch onto his hair, tugging on it. “Fuck. Tommy-” you barely able to get out in between moaning. “Please! Don’t stop!” The coil inside you reaches its tightest feeling that it's ever been. You let out a final loud moan before everything gets caught in your throat. “Tommy!”
With one final tug at his hair, you come undone right underneath Tommy. You let go and ride out your high as Tommy finishes inside you, calling out your name. He flops to the side of you, panting. The two of you lay there for a few moments before he turns to the side of you. “That was amazing.”
Laughing, you grin. “Maybe we can do this again sometime?” Tommy just presses his lips on yours. Once he pulls back, you look at him through your eyelashes. “So is that a yes?”
He wraps his arms around you, grinning like an idiot. “I thought I was obvious?” You lose it. A heartfelt chuckle, that comes from the pit of your stomach, fills the room. Tommy just looks at you laughing.
Unknowingly, you shimmy closer towards Tommy’s naked body. “I gotta say, I think this was the best date I’ve been on.”
Tommy turns you around to look at him. He’s absolutely over the moon. “Really? Well, then I’ll just make each date better and better.”
“You don’t need to do that, Tommy.”
“C’mon, you deserve to be treated like the queen you are.”
You burst out into laughter. “I already am.”
“Well then, it’s my duty to treat ya like a goddess.” Rolling your eyes, you gently push his shoulder back. “I’m serious.”
While pressing a kiss on his cheek as your cheeks heat up, you run your fingers through his still slicked back hair. “Damn, that gel is strong.”
“Wanna give it a run for its money?” Laughing together, you and Tommy slip under the covers. His arms wrap around you. For a moment, the two of you just lay there–taking in the soft yet sweaty moment–and you fall asleep right after you hear a “Good night, Beautiful.”
Even months after your first date, Tommy is still tormenting you at work.
As you sort books on the selves, your phone rings in your pocket. Sneaking a peak at your screen, you see a message from Tommy.
‘Hey Beautiful. Are we meeting at your place or my place tonight?’
‘We can do my place. Ain’t yours under the heavy watch of Joel? I don’t wanna upset him.’
‘Don’t even get me started. Just because I left a little early from work…’
Rolling your eyes as Tommy continues his rant about how mean his older brother is, you send him a quick reply. ‘Just remember to pick up the food this time. Oh, and what movie do ya wanna watch? <3’
‘Why don’t we make our own movie? ;)’
‘As much as I would love to, Handsome, can we talk about this later? I gotta work. Love ya.’
You stifle a laugh as you slip your phone back into your front pocket and you return to putting the books back into their proper homes.
Throughout the day something in your gut is telling you to do something. You just don’t know what that something is. And by the end of the day, your stomach is rumbling; you forgot to eat your lunch while you were helping Sarah with her homework. After she finished, you watched her walk home before you finished up your tasks. In the late evening, you were finally finished and you just immediately drove home.
Heavily panting, you run away from your apartment building. While you’re scrambling to your car, with your largest kitchen knife in your left hand, you try to yank out your keys. The moment you slip into your car, you lock it and call Tommy but he doesn’t pick up. Next thing you do is call Joel. Once again no answer. You just sit there in the car, staring at your phone. After a couple minutes, you get a phone call from an unknown number. “Hello?”
Tommy’s voice echoes into your ear, “Hey Beautiful, I’ll just cut to the chase. Can you come bail me out of jail? Look, I know I sound crazy, but some dude went beserk and tried attacking some waitress and I punched the fucker.” You sigh, Tommy’s always been a gentleman. “And if you don’t come pick me up soon, I’ll be stuck here all weekend.”
“I’m on it. Right after, we’re picking up Joel and Sarah.” You shake, “Tommy please tell me you’re not hurt.”
From the jail’s phone, you can hear Tommy smile. “Of course not. That fucker didn’t have a chance.”
After you pick up Tommy, you speed through every red light to get to Joel’s house. Outside, his car is nowhere to be seen. While Tommy’s frantically calling his brother, you kick down the front door. Hesitantly, you scream, “Sarah! Sarah!” You run upstairs to Sarah’s room, she’s still asleep. Gently, as if you were telling her to wake up for school, you shake her. “Sarah, we need to go. Tommy’s in the car trying to get a hold of your dad.” Realizing how this situation may seem after seeing one too many episodes of ‘Dateline’, you hide your knife behind your back. “Please trust me. Please.”
While she’s still trying to wake up, you pull her out of bed and drag her downstairs. As Sarah’s trying to get into the back of the car, one of the neighbors stumbles outside. Tommy’s still trying to get a hold of Joel. Before you could ask the old lady what’s happening, she runs at you. Almost animal like, she claws at you. Even though you’re initially knocked off guard, you grab your knife and jab it into the right side of her neck. Little blood comes out. Shocked, you take the knife out and slice across her neck. As her head falls to the ground, you stand there–watching how mushrooms are growing out of her wound.
Before anyone else could run at you like that old woman, a dark green truck rapidly speeds by before the driver slams on the breaks. As soon as the truck comes to a halt, Joel runs out. Glancing over at him, you see the clear distress on his face. Sarah leaps out of your car, and runs over to her dad. While they hug, you quickly slip into Joel’s garage and grab a free ax that is just begging to be used. If your knife couldn’t slice through those people’s head, you’re fucked. You run back to help Tommy out of your car, but he’s already hugging his brother. You stand there, watching the shared family moment. Sighing, you push all of your hair back and tie it back with your spare hair tie. All you want to do is figure out what the fuck is going on. While you’re thinking, Tommy snaps you out of your train of thought. He’s shouting for you to get in the truck, and you do; you sit in the back with Sarah.
Even combined, both you and Tommy are short on ration cards. That’s the moment he decides to tell you, “There's a town out west. It’s filled with survivors. I want you to come with me.” You look up at him, not knowing what to say. “There’s a chance to leave tomorrow.”
As you nod, you swallow a lump of saliva growing in your throat. “What about Joel? We should take him with us. He’s your brother.” Tommy shakes his head. You pause. “He’s lost his daughter, think about how devastated he may be. He can’t lose his brother too.” He doesn’t say anything. “Tommy? Tommy, please say something. Please.”
“I want you to come with me. Please. I love you. I can’t envision a life without you.” Tommy cradles your cheeks, and tucks some of your dark hair behind your ear. His mustache curves upwards as he smiles. “I love you.”
Hesitantly, you kiss him. As you press your lips on his, hope and dread fill your gut. Slowly, you pull away. “I love you so much. I love you Tommy.” Your dark eyes stare into his equally dark eyes. “I would love to go with you…”
“There’s a ‘but’. Isn’t there?” You nod.
“It’s not safe. What happens if either of us get infected? I don’t think I could kill you.”
“We won’t. I’ve been planning this for a while. There’s a car that we can use. It’s just half ‘n hour away from the QZ.”
“Fine. I’ll come with you. Just please promise me that you’ll tell Joel where we’re going. He deserves to know.”
“I will. I promise.”
“Alright. Name a time and place. We’ll leave then.”