re·cov·er

verb

return to a normal state of health, mind, or strength.

Hours ticked by, the drive leading them late into the night. Far, far away from the diner and gas station brawl, Emilia felt a thousand times better. Releasing the pent up anger, allowing the joy of being there with Jonathan and the music wrapping around her like an old friend, she began to recover from the hiccup in the day. As the sun finally began to disappear, it was a very late hour now, Jonathan pulled off of the highway and down the off-ramp.

The first motel that popped into sight with it's tacky neon lights, they pulled into. That parking lot was scattered with cars that didn't look too different from Jonathan's. There was the odd one that looked too nice to be at this dingy little motel, and Emilia had a thought about who might be in there. Some rich bloke cheating on his wife, like in the movies.

They walked into the lobby, it smelled of cheap cigarettes and must. Stifling a laugh, knowing that their budget wouldn't allot for much more than a motel like this, she hoped the rooms were at least clean. Waiting at the front desk of the "Paradise Motel", Emilia and Jonathan looked around. The clock, which had a spider residing on it, said it was half past nine. She stepped up to the counter, which was up to her shoulder -why was it so tall?- and rang the little bell.

A grumble from the back, followed by a groggy voice, "What is it?!"

"We'd like a room, please," Jonathan straightened up as larger woman came into view. Her big hair was squashed on one side, revealing that she was probably asleep somewhere before they rang that bell. Her make up was heavy, but underneath it she was quite comely.

She lit a cigarette and glanced between the two of them, "Aren't you two a little young?"

"For wanting a room overnight while we continue our drive North?" Emilia asked, trying to sound kind, but really she was tired.

"Mhm," the woman didn't sound like she believed their story. "Hourly, or the whole night?"

"The whole night," Jonathan's voice sounded strained now, he felt guilty about coming to a motel that allowed hourly payments. The whole place made his skin crawl. "Unless, there is another place close by?"

"Not another one for miles, hon," the woman seemed to lighten up, sensing that maybe they were just two kids. "You guys on the run or somethin'?"

"No-" Jonathan replied right as Emilia said, "Yes."

They looked at each other, then started laughing as they remembered what had happened earlier. Shaking their head simultaneously, they looked at the wide eyed woman. She shrugged it off and shook her head, "That'll be $20 for the night."

Both Emilia and Jonathan pulled out ten dollars each, handing her crumpled bills. She took them and flicked through them, making sure they were real. Raising her eyebrows as she finished, as though she was surprised to find they were real, she opened a drawer with a key around her neck, and pulled out an old metal key. Handing it to them, she told them, "You're in 21B, top floor, far right corner over there."

"Thank you," they said in unison.

"Hey kids," the woman said as they were leaving the dingy little lobby. "Stay safe."

As they were walking across the parking lot, warm summer night air caressing their skin, Emilia looked to the sky. "Why do adults always think teenagers are so stupid? Like we're looking to be self destructive. Weren't they kids once? Didn't they live a little? They made it to be adults, I'm sure they weren't all perfect kids."

"Maybe something changes when you hit adulthood," Jonathan continued with her trail of rambling. "Some big realization that the world isn't as big or as exciting as we were led to believe as kids. You remember when you were little, and you could imagine so many wild things? Now... the world is boring, it's mundane."

"Not in Hawkins," Emilia mumbled as they reached their room.

He laughed, but there was some lingering fear there. He wrestled with the key and the door for a few seconds, and then it finally gave. To their surprise, the room smelled clean. When they turned on the lights, which cast an ugly orange glow in the room, it was dated but it looked clean and well made. "Who would have thought that the world's most boring town would be the epicenter of something out of science fiction?"

"Maybe that's why they chose it?" Emilia flopped down on the bed, the springs squeaked and the bed frame groaned. Jonathan put his backpack down on the table, and then joined Emilia on the bed. He straddled her and kissed her lips, playfully, lightly. His hands moved the hair from her face, showing off all of her, and he looked her over so delicately. Jonathan was the only person that Emilia was okay with looking at her like this. Not just because he looked at her with love radiating from him, but because he looked at those scars and saw her, just her.

"I don't want to talk about Hawkins," his voice changed, and he kissed her deeply this time, his hands clutching her dark hair.

When the duvet was a wrinkled mess and the pillows were scattered on the floor, the room smelled of sweat, Jonathan and Emilia laid on the bed, tangled against one another. Jonathan's fingers ran over and over a lock of her hair. The gentle touch tickled her, sent her into a serenity.

There had been a time when Emilia thought she would live and die in Hawkins. Although, she never really considered the life she anticipated as living. She imagined barely getting through school, not having enough money to run away to some university or college. She'd get a boring, minimum wage job, and she'd find a roommate in the same situation. She'd live in Hawkins until her last relative -her father- died, and she'd still somehow be tethered there.

Now she didn't think she'd be stuck there forever. Jonathan showed her that she was more than what reached the eye, she could be so much more than Hawkins. Staring at the ceiling above, the spackle making shapes like bunnies and trees, she smiled and shut her eyes. Jonathan's embrace around her was all the warmth she needed, the duvet was underneath them, their clothing scattered all over the room. She turned to face him, resting her head on the rise and fall of his chest. His slowing breath on the back of her head, the gently stroking of his hand; this was bliss, this was the future. 

Sort of a boring chapter, sorry guys! I have not been writing at all, I'm a bit overwhelmed with things. I took on a third job, and it really cuts into my time (and I'm exhausted at the end of the day). Also had my adopted four year old brother's birthday day yesterday, and my sister announced she was pregnant! 

Question of the day: Do you want kids? If yes, how come? If no, how come?