"Why?" she asked, looking up at him.
"You need a coat. A nice thick one."
"What? Why? It isn't even that cold yet."
"I suspect we will have a harsh winter here on Earth....now that hell has frozen over," he said, trying to keep his face serious, but at the last second, he burst out laughing.
"You are such a jackass!" she yelled as she pulled away. She grabbed her pillow and hit him below the stomach.
"Ow," he said, but he was still laughing.
She put the pillow back down and laid her head on his chest again, becoming familiar with the sound of his heartbeat.
"That wasn't very nice," he said.
"Well, I'm not a nice person," she said back.
"You are a lot nicer than me if that's any consolation."
"Not really. You're definitely the rudest person I've ever met," she teased.
"I've been called worse," he said, but his voice didn't sound light anymore.
She let it drop, knowing that he probably had been called worse. But so had she.
He picked her hand up off of his chest and studied it for a few quiet moments. He ran his thumb across a scar she'd gotten on her journey here. He brought her wrist up and kissed it lightly before putting it back down.
"I'm sorry all this happened to you."
"It's okay," she whispered.
"Tell me."
She looked up, a little confused. "Tell you what?"
"Tell me about what happened," he said, running his hand up and down her spine.
"I already did."
"You gave me the short version. Tell me...tell me about what it was like when you got here. How you felt, being on Earth. What you thought when you realized there were people? How did you survive?"
"Why?"
"Because you said that you've been lonely for a long time. You were their leader. I'm sure you put up a front, kept your feelings to yourself. Tell me about the worst day, the best day. Everything you've kept to yourself. But-but only if you want to..."
She looked at him for a few moments, noting the curiosity in his eyes and the little scar above his top lip. And then she told him.
She told him about how it felt to breathe real air for the first time in her life. The way she felt when she heard twigs and leaves crunching beneath her boots when she took those first few steps out of the metal cage she called her home. How scared she was when they saw some of the animals. What it was like to drink rainwater out of a giant leaf. The first time she plucked a flower from the ground and inhaled its sweet smell.
The fear that clawed at her chest when she came across human bones in a clearing. How she felt when she knew she'd never see her home again.
She told him about the blisters she'd gotten after walking for days—the hopelessness that had engulfed her and how she hated herself for giving up.
After talking for what felt like hours, she finally stopped. It was late. Very, very late. She was pretty sure that the sun would rise in a few hours. But he listened the entire time.
"Not what you expected to hear?" she asked after he'd been silent for a few minutes.
"Not exactly," he said, peeking down at her. They were on their respective sides of the bed. He had his arms crossed behind his head while her hands were clenched in fists at her sides.
"I-I heard about you. We may live in our own corner of the world. But it's not every day that people crawl out of the ground. So, I heard. And it made me curious," he said, still looking at her.
She knew what the Terra had thought of them. They were invaders, intruders.
"Well, I guess we were both expecting a totally different version of one another," she said, looking over at him.
"No, Aria," he took his hands out from under his head and placed one on the side of her face, caressing her cheek before tucking a wisp of hair behind her ear. "You're exactly what I expected. Thank you for telling me," he said, placing a soft kiss on her forehead.
He shifted until he was pressed up against her side again, his arm draping across her stomach while she unclenched her fists and relaxed beside him.
"Goodnight, Aria," he whispered.
"Goodnight, Lex," she whispered back.
Chapter 28
When she woke the next day, the sun was already well into the sky. She figured that she would sleep late; they had stayed up way later than usual the night before.
So she wasn't that surprised to find that she was alone, that he was already gone. For a second, she felt a little nervous. But the memories from the night before resurfaced, and she calmed. I like you, he'd said. I want it to be real.
Judging by the sun's position in the sky, she figured that it was past midday. Probably around two or three in the afternoon. She got out of bed and got ready. She looked through her dresser and decided to wear another dress. She felt unnaturally giddy. She put it on and glanced at herself in the mirror.
She looked rested. More rested than she'd looked in a long, long time. The dress was loose and flowy, stopping about half an inch from the bottom of her feet. It was made of sheer material, the color of clear blue water. Her hair was down, now going a little past her shoulders in waves.
She looked, quite simply, like a 19-year-old girl. She wasn't sure what the date was; she wasn't sure of the month, either. But she knew that her birthday had passed.
She walked out of their rooms and down the hallway, thinking about what she'd say to Lex when she saw him. She wasn't nervous, exactly. It felt more like anticipation.
She was so deep in thought she ran right into him when she turned down the corridor that led to the throne room.
"Hello there," he said after her forehead smacked
