There's a Certain Loneliness in Your Company

Toxic closed her eyes tighter as she became aware of the sunlight shining in on her. She groaned and stretched her legs out, turning over on her side away from the light. She yawned and snaked her hands up under her pillow, hugging it to her face. She felt surprisingly rested and oblivious to the world around her; that glorious moment before the brain actually catches up with the body, leaving you in a temporary, ignorant bliss. After those few moments, her eyes slowly opened and she had to stop the audible gasp that almost escaped her.

She was lying face to face with a shirtless Fun Ghoul. She went to sit up, only to realize she was also naked under the sheets. Glitch pulled the thin material up to her chin and began to blush furiously. Last night came back to her in a hot wave that rushed over her skin. It was great. Better than great. More than she wanted to admit. He looked so peaceful now compared to his midnight counterpart. She bit at her lip as a sly grin spread across them. She slowly sat up and retrieved a towel from her pile of laundry and wrapped it around herself. She looked over her shoulder at Ghoul who was still sleeping soundly.

Glitch tiptoed to the bathroom and hopped in the shower. The cold water felt great against her burning skin. It was going to be another hot one; the sun was barely up and it was pushing 90 degrees for sure. Her fingers ran through her hair, rinsing out the dirt and the sweat from yesterday. She started to reach for the soap when she heard the door creak open. She smirked as she continued to wash the grime off of her skin.

Something happened last night. She wasn't sure what triggered it, but she was different. She was confident, fearless. She felt dangerous. When just yesterday she would have been mortified by someone walking in on her bathing, today she had to hide the fact that she was getting a thrill from it. She could feel his eyes watching her distorted image through the shower curtain as she lathered the soap in her hands. She shivered as he pulled the curtain back sending a wave of cool air over her. She turned around to face him and he smirked.

"Care if I join?" He raised an eyebrow at her. She ran her tongue over her bottom lip, and just stared up at him through her lashes. He stepped in, closing the curtain behind him and reached down to take the bar of soap. "Turn around."

She nodded and did as he said, not trusting herself to say anything. His hands began to message the suds onto her shoulders and he worked his way down. Her head lulled back and she sighed, the hairs on her arms prickling up at his gentle touch. He moved out of the way of the stream of water and let it wash the bubbles off of her. As they ran down her body, he followed them with his lips. His hands reached around and grabbed her by her hips, pulling her against him. She groaned as she leaned back into him, grinding her hips against his. He latched onto her neck and bit down just hard enough to make her gasp. His hands held her against him for a few more moments before releasing her, to her disappointment.

"Get your things. We'll leave after this."

Glitch turned to face him, unable to hide the pout on her lips. She huffed in frustration and reached for the curtain. As she went to step out, he pulled her to him one last time and quickly attached his lips to hers, his other hand firmly gripping her backside.

"If we do this now, we'll never leave. Later; I promise." He gave her a quick squeeze before finally letting her go. Her cheeks were flushed and her skin hot after the quick, unsatisfying encounter. She wrapped back up in her towel and headed back to her room.

She was quick to gather everything up and throw on some clothes. Ghoul entered the room with a towel draped loosely around his waist, and she couldn't help but think he was teasing her on purpose. He threw on the clothes from yesterday and helped her carry her stuff out to the car. They jumped into Eight Legs and headed back for the guys hideout.

Glitch stared aimlessly out of the window while Ghoul concentrated on the desert in front of them, always scanning for Draculoids. She realized she should seem more concerned for Skyla, but she knew she would be fine. Ghoul didn't know that. She started to wonder what he thought about it. She straightened up in the chair as she continued to stare out into the desert.

"I'm sorry we came out here for no reason."

"What were you hoping to find?" He asked, sitting back casually in the driver’s seat. She bit at her lip.

"I don't know. Anything. Maybe someone." She lied convincingly. "You think she'll be fine?"

"That's all we can hope for." He gave her a sympathetic look before turning back to the road in front of him.

Eight legs came to a halt under the car port of the hideout and Glitch quickly exited the car, not waiting for Ghoul. Though she had talked to ONE and knew Skyla would recover, she still needed to see her for herself. She walked straight back to the room Poison had taken Skyla last night and gently knocked on the door.

"Come in." A familiar voice said quietly from the other side. As Glitch pushed the door open, she saw Skyla sitting on the bed, cross legged, cleaning her gun while Poison slept sitting up in the chair in the corner of the room. Glitch walked across the room and sat down on the bed in front of Skyla.

"How are you feeling?" Glitch wanted to reach over and hug her, but didn't want to disturb her gun and its parts lying on the bed.

"Better. Still a little fuzzy about everything, though."

"How long have you been up?"

"Awhile I guess. Long enough to clean this."

Glitch did a double take when she looked down to see Skyla popping the cartridge back into the gun, already finished putting it back together.

"And to watch him sleep for a bit." She added as she glanced over at Poison, his mouth hanging open slightly. Glitch was surprised that he hadn't woken up to their voices, but she could only imagine that he had sat up all night, barely taking his eyes off Skyla. She felt guilty as her memories flashed to how she spent last night without any worry. The hardest part was not being able to tell Skyla she would be alright.

"I think he's been there all night." Skyla said, still staring at him with a small smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. Glitch shifted on the bed as she heard Poison start to stir. His eyes opened with some difficulty, but as soon as he saw Skyla sitting up on the bed, he immediately sat up straight and pushed himself out of the chair. He came over to her side and squatted down next to her, looking her over.

"Are you feeling alright?" He asked as his hand came up to the side of her face, pushing the hair back. His eyes were still bloodshot from lack of sleep.

"I'm fine. Really." Her hand came up to meet his as she cradled it to her face.

Glitch smirked and stood up from the bed. She figured they might want a minute together. As she turned to leave the room, she caught sight of something on Poison. Her eyes widened and her eyebrows furrowed with confusion. There, strapped to his hip, was his gun. The same one she had taken from him yesterday. How did he get it back? Did ONE come here? Did he do something to Poison? Glitch swallowed the lump in her throat and turned to walk out of the room, startled at the sight of Ghoul leaning against the doorway. She blew out a jet of air from her pursed lips and walked past him. He raised his eyebrow as he turned to follow her.

"Is everything alright?" He asked, following her to the front room. Glitch glanced outside and saw Jet Star and Kobra sitting on the front porch talking.

"I'm fine." She didn't turn to look at him, still puzzled from seeing Poison's gun.

"I meant Skyla."

She shut her eyes and shook her head.

"That's what I meant. Skyla's fine. Sorry, I'm just a little ... distracted." She felt her cheeks flush in frustration. She was more than distracted. It was eating at her. How could he have possibly gotten his gun back?

"I'm sure she'll be fine. She slept through the night and looks one hundred times better than yesterday." He attempted to reassure her.

"Yeah, you're right." Glitch couldn't help but clip her words, not sounding quiet concerned for her friend anymore. She jumped slightly as she felt Ghoul's hands wrap gently around her arms, pulling her back against him. She really did feel better just from his touch, but nothing was going to clear her head. Not until she figured out what was going on.

"You're tense." He stated as his lips came down to meet her shoulder. Her eyes fell close as she sighed, letting her weight rest against his chest trying to relax herself. His lips moved up over her shoulder to her neck until they came to rest just below her ear. His hot breath on her skin made all the hairs on her arm stand up, but her blood ran cold as he whispered in her ear. It was a single word that she felt as he mouthed it rather than spoke it out loud.

"ONE?"