"Com' on," Luke said, walking into my room while throwing his coat onto the back of my desk chair. "We're going into the city."
"Do I get a say in this or-"
"No," he replied bluntly, a smirk carving its way onto his face. I sat up from my slouched position on the bed, resting my back onto the headrest after discarding the book that my mind couldn't have been more disinterested in. "You've been stuck in here for the past four days so I'm not taking no as an answer."
"You haven't actually asked me a question though," I laughed, irritating Luke further as he stalked further toward me.
"Can't you just accept the fact that I haven't seen my-" he began, stumbling on his words before he continued. "You, I haven't seen you properly for days, so I want to go out."
"I've seen you at meal times," I grinned.
"I don't classify sitting in silence with your family as us spending time together," he retorted, lifting his fingers as he began unbuttoning his black shirt.
"That was one time!"
"Yeah and for all the rest I was just watching you," he stated, before jumping back to correct himself. "Like because I was on shift, so I kind of had to." A succession of laughs escaped my throat, enjoying the light hearted conversation, something I had missed out on during the past few days.
"How far out are we from the city?" I changed the topic, deciding that Luke had been tortured enough.
"Thirty, forty minutes," he replied, lifting the fabric from his shoulder as he pulled of his shirt. I glanced away not wanting to stare, though a bandage on his left wrist caught my attention.
"What happened there?" I said, pointing to the area.
He glanced down, waiting a beat before he answered, "Caught it during the raid, so I covered it up to avoid infections and stuff." I nodded; concerned that I hadn't noticed that he had been injured.
"So it's safe to be going into the city?" I called as Luke walked to his room, presumably to get another shirt. He came back a few seconds later, lifting the fabric over his head. "You're wearing a t-shirt; I've never seen you wear one before."
Luke shrugged, a laugh skipping through his lips, "It's warm, but yeah it should be safe, we'll just avoid cameras when we can."
"And my dad's cool with this?"
"He took some persuading, gave him a bit of a story about you needing new books and what not," he explained, emptying the contents of his pockets onto the desk in the far corner of my room that had accumulated a selection of his items, following his frequent, yet brief visits. "He wanted to send Michael-"
"Michael's here?"
Luke nodded as if it was obvious, "tall, brown haired guy, usually on duty at lunch with me." His words didn't shout out to me, I had no clue as to who he was referring to, considering that I hadn't met Michael while in New York. "I'll introduce you sometime," he dismissed my confusion and continued. "So I gave him some crap about Michael being on duty and him needing all the men he can get," Luke rambled on, stuffing a pistol into the back of his trousers before turning back toward me. "We good to go?" My reply came in motions as I headed through my door, my feet speeding down the stairs with Luke in tow.
The humidity of the weather hit me instantly as we left the house, heading toward Luke's car. Despite it barley being mid-morning, the ground was scattered with oily prints under the suns gaze, the barren landscape surrounding us cackling with crickets. Few clouds were pinned against the azure backdrop, allowing the sun's rays to scintillate throughout the panorama. In the distance, the peaks of mountains were shielded by the gentle layer of fog at their extensive heights, a range of plantation battling for survival in the unruly area.
