Someone's Been Hiding You

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

December 31st, 2014

Penelope Blaise had an obvious schedule. She slept early and woke up equally so. Lucy was sure the idea of staying up for the beginning of the New Year was something she never really saw herself doing. She doubted it was anything she'd ever truly considered before. So when she seemed interested enough to do it, Lucy was considerate enough to not joke about it. She refused to point out how impossible it seemed, but she was grateful. She'd hoped this would happen. She had plans.

Or rather, a plan. And it involved leaving the campus that night. Burlington wasn't so completely out of reach given the fact that the ink manipulator could drive, but she had a relatively lousy track record when it came to instances with Penny in the car. The town's celebration was a lot more extravagant than the Australian immediately expected, but that didn't matter. She wasn't driving to a point in Burlington, she was driving through it.

Passing familiar streets and the people that cluttered them.

"Trust me," She said, seemingly idly, but her mouth matched her thoughts at any given moment; "I've got this."

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

New Years was never a day of importance to Penny; she had stayed up a few times for the year, but it was never of her own accordance. Fortunately her brother had learned better than to make the attempt after the inevitable failure of a couple of tries. Celebrating something like the turn of a clock just wasn't worth it.

Admitting any sort of interest was a hurdle within itself. She never thought she'd wish to go out and do anything for the occasion, but offering the idea of staying up flagged her interest when it managed to slide into conversation.

Honestly, Penny hadn't expected being in a car on that particular night. Bright lights and loud celebrations flashed through the streets. For such a small city, Burlington certainly tried their best to make the night special. It was loud. Lots of people. Everything Penelope Blaise didn't like. So as Lucy kept driving, Penny found herself thankful for the fact, thumb brushing idle patterns against Lucy's thigh as her hand rested there.

"I do trust you." She pointed out, sparing a glance away from the streets and back to her counterpart as she tried to hide the involuntary crease at the bridge of her nose at the improper use of grammar.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

The anxious connotations the psychometrist wore weren't lost on Lucy. Idle patterns on her own thigh drew her attention in a new way; like for once she wasn't the only one who couldn't stop moving. Fingers idly tapped at the steering wheel.

Of course Penny trusted her. But she had to keep talking.

"I'd never drag you out this late to chuck you into a busy street with me." Lucy reasoned, lightly. Given how inept she was in most social settings, and the prior story about the impending concert she could have gone to for a birthday years ago, Lucy doubted being in the thick of such celebrations would suit her.

She laughed, as lightly as her tone implemented the all important information; "So don't stress."

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Unaware of just how much the movement of her thumb caught Lucy's attention, Penny continued with it. She barely registered it herself, oblivious to the obvious meaning behind the inability to remain still.

Her gaze lingered a few spare moments before looking forward again, dark eyes taking in everything the streets had to offer before letting it go just as quickly. None of the celebrations cold hold her mentality, and certainly not like the ink manipulator sitting next to side. She knew well that Lucy wasn't about to push her into a busy street; more than anyone, she knew the anxiety it caused the Brit. Even smaller social settings would bring on a wave of stiffness, let alone anything to this scale.

"I'm not stressed." She tried, although the barely noticeable shift of her tone likely gave away that there was an underlying level of nervousness. "It's just new."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

A spare sidelong glance and Lucy noticed the simple way Penny's attention wavered. Away from her and to the window, likely looking without really taking a single thing in.

Perhaps mentioning stress was the wrong word. There were others she could have easily chosen in its place, but it felt the most fitting. Lips dragged to the threat of a frown; she wasn't sure how to feel about the inflections in her tone. Still, she knew this would be completely worth it once they got where they were going.

"What's new?" Lucy asked her, "Being up this late? Being out? Or actually wanting to be here?" After all, she doubted just anyone could actively drag Penelope Blaise from her usual schedule.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

It felt like a straightforward answer, and Penny hadn't honestly been expecting much a reply to it, much less a question. Her eyebrows rose, despite keeping her gaze forward, movement of her thumb never coming to a halt.

"All three." Penny gave after a moment of thought. She first thought to answer with the most prominent; that she wanted to be there. Excitement never wore well on Penelope Blaise, but she wasn't one to offer a normal reaction to just about anything an average eighteen year old would.

"Specifically in combination of one another." She continued regardless, taking in a slow breath. It hadn't been the first time she had stayed up late, but the idea of ever leaving the comforts of a room so late in the evening had never crossed Penny's mind as a possibility. Not because of a curfew of sorts, but rather because there was never need to. Until now. "I'm okay, don't worry." She added in for her comfort.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

The response Penny gave forced any remote negative connotations away from Lucy's expression. Despite knowing that she'd never do anything she didn't want to, it was still comforting to hear it. To know that she didn't mind being up, or being out, and that above everything she actually wanted to be there with her.

Lucy felt the urge to ask for the combination in question. She thought to question how they all linked together and allow the course of the conversation to continue, but she didn't. She let it settle, for now.

Through the town. To the quiet of the life just outside its reach.

Releasing a hand from the steering wheel, she placed it on hers instead. "I'm not worried. I know what I'm doing." She replied, an obvious ounce of confidence to her tone over the fact. Lucy was rarely one to take pride in her plans. But then, she was rarely sure she ever did anything good enough.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penelope Blaise rarely tried new things; a bit of a manic, she followed a schedule. It was easy to fall into a pattern, it made things predictable. Safe. But arguably the best thing to happen to Penny was the most unexpected of all. The same person who she let her trust fall on as she drove out of the small city.

Penny wasn't sure if the confidence Lucy displayed was for herself for the Brit, but regardless it worked to ease away some of the stress, as did the hand that moved to her own. Her thumb paused in its movements, fingers spreading to let hers fall within the space between them.

Finally, she spared a glance back to Lucy. Dark eyes lingered on ones focused on the road, down the length of her jaw and to the curve of her neck. A second later, at their hands together before flicking back up. "I know."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Instinctual measures kept Lucy from staying quiet for too long. Surprises were strange, and really, she didn't think to count this as much of a surprise in the first place. At the offer, she couldn't stop the way she worked her hand so perfectly into her counterpart's hold. How she curled her fingers into the space provided and gave her hand a light squeeze. Driving with one hand must have seemed dangerous, but it didn't feel so. And it wasn't hard.

A glance to the clock. Not long, now.

"Okay, so," Lucy started, "I know you don't like harsh loud noises, and crowds and stuff like that." Quieter connotations of outside life quelled any potential anxious feelings she might have had over the fact. Lucy shrugged her shoulders, "But fireworks are sorta essential to this kinda thing."

Slowing to a halt, the ink manipulator settled the car in the correct gear and hauled the brake up. A relatively secluded ridge for the already-hilly terrain. She turned the lights off and dragged her seatbelt free. "So we're gonna watch from up here. Just you and me. We don't have to leave the car or anything."

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Now outside the city, Penny felt instantly calmer. The cheering crowds and noise were no longer there to get caught up in; even in the darkness outside the window, she appreciated the drive. At one point hating everything to do with it, Penny found herself enjoying what Vermont had to offer. There had been too much focus on simply leaving, never giving the state a chance to prove just how beautiful it was.

She looked to Lucy again as she spoke, but not without another look to their hands. Never one to promote driving single handedly, she wasn't about to let go of the one she held.

Listening carefully, Penny offered a nod. It was obvious about her feelings on everything Lucy listed. She spent most of her life avoiding them, but eyebrows flicked up curiously as the Australian continued. Fireworks, in general, included everything her counterpart had just mentioned. Crowds gathered for them, everyone jamming together to get a glimpse of loud explosions in the sky. Memory of seeing them when she was younger proved them to be a most unenjoyable experience.

But the car slowed, and her mechanical mind was working to piece together everything moments before Lucy said it, and even so, as the ink manipulator spoke it did everything to actually get it into her mind. Dark eyes widened as stared at Lucy. It hadn't been a surprise to go out, as her counterpart had asked, but the thought Lucy put into this successfully ripped the air from Penny's lungs. The lack of oxygen drawing her mind to a blank. "Really?"

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Putting thought into anything she did might have seemed a little strange, given Lucy's penchant for acting without much rationalism. Had it been something just pertaining to herself, she might have kept up the usual style. But this was an idea with Penelope Blaise in mind. When being considerate of a person who did everything with reason - everything precisely - no amount of contextual planning would be a waste.

And as Lucy caught the expression she wore, she was almost positive she'd been right.

In a small moment she caught the question and drew the driver's seat down a touch. Then she laced both hands together, reeling them back to rest them behind her head.

"Yeah, really." Lucy replied, raising her eyebrows with a spare look to the psychometrist before her eyes were taken to the silent darkness still in front of them. There was still time.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penny had spent most of her life avoiding celebrations of any kind. Working to remain fixed in her room, rather having not take part in any extent than go venturing out and drive herself into a state of pure panic. Those around her, the few that cared enough to want to have the Brit experience such things, tried and failed. Shutting down offers of concerts. Independence day fireworks in New York.

Because nobody had taken into consideration how she struggled to handle it. Not until now.

Lucy rarely looked into the future. She rarely planned to any extent. The first glimpse she had gotten of some sort of definite plan was in March. A painted galaxy in an art room. Such ideas were seldom, but every bit appreciated.

Penny withdrew her own seatbelt, nodding in response to the confirmation. It wasn't needed, and she lost Lucy's gaze with the shift of her gaze outside. "Okay." She offered quietly, and although the word could have been taken poorly out of context, her tone offered every ounce of appreciation she could manage as her gaze settled out the windshield and into the darkness.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

It was admittedly difficult to be in such proximity to her counterpart and not reach out. Given where Lucy had left her hands, it made doing so impossible. A console between them hardly made things any easier, but for that exact moment, she tried her best to look as content as possible. The familiar sound of a seatbelt unbuckling caught her attention, too, but she didn't look.

She just caught a single word. Okay.

"Okay." She agreed, or rather she supported the notion entirely. It didn't make silence any easier to cope with. Nor did distance suit her favour in any capacity, but she was proud of herself, and so the form of a decent smile wouldn't leave her mouth.

"Were you already asleep?" Fifteen minutes before the next year began, "This time last year, I mean."

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

With Lucy's hands preoccupied behind her head, the Brit didn't have the chance to take them. Instead she brought her own hands to herself, resting on her thighs. For once, she didn't work to ease out any wrinkles that might have been in the material, settling for stillness instead. Unlike her counterpart, silence didn't faze her, but a quick glance to the clock proved there was time to spare.

"I--" New years, last year. Penny took a breath at the falter. "No. I was staying at my brother's." She explained shortly, although the Brit had no doubt that Lucy knew the reason why. Upon returning to Pilot Ridge after Christmas, the Brit had spent the better part of the winter break outside of the school. Avoiding Hammel at all costs. Avoiding her.

"He lives downtown Burlington. Close to the university, so it was...loud." Bright. People everywhere, even as walls divided them, it was impossible to escape the noise. It had made it impossible to sleep for the psychometrist who struggled to do so in the first place after the turn of events days before.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

It was a potentially dangerous question given the way Penny and Lucy had left things at the end of the prior year, but Lucy felt no worry in asking. She recalled the things that had been left behind in her dorm for weeks between one year and the next.

"Mm." She mused. Of course it'd be loud. It seemed like a thing the town did every year, or something.

Still, she felt the need to continue. To fill the air else it land on something remotely awkward. If it were to be so, she'd at least like a hand in make it that way; "There was a party in the dorms." Immediately, Lucy couldn't stop the way her smile grew to an amused smirk. She remembered how Sawyer tried her absolute best to keep the ink manipulator standing in more ways than one.

"So you weren't home." She reasoned, an inquisitive sense to her expression as she considered the details, "I'm so sure I came looking for you."