Work Text:
An hour later, Patricia’s SUV is bumbling down the gravelly road from Cowpoke Corral. The sun has long glazed over the horizon by now, giving way to a gentle darkness, stars powdered across the sky. There isn’t much light inside the car, give for the static glow of the radio screen centered in the dashboard. The new SeoulM8s album is still filtering through the car’s speakers, the dulcet instrumentals wrapping the car in a unanimous rhythm.
From the backseat of the car, Scott leans against the window and watches the moonlit desert pass by. The music in the background is nice, he guesses – he’s not as much of a SeoulM8s fan as Hailey and her mom are, but he thinks the band's pretty sick. So is the song that’s playing now, which is sick in a really soft kind of way.
“Baby, I’m yours for life, and you know that I want you to be mine, but for just this night..”
He closes his eyes. “Can you stay by my side? For just this night? Baby, I’m yours for life..”
The music is turned down, growing fainter, but still resonating through the car. Scott doesn’t realize the reason for this until he feels a head on his shoulder. He opens his eyes, and a tiny breath leaves his mouth.
It’s Hailey. With her brown hair cascading down her shoulders lazily, and her glasses tipping off of her face. Her eyes are closed gently, and Scott feels her chest rising and falling against his right side. She’s asleep, in the hoodie that he lent her after she aired complaints about the weather in the more deserted parts of San Diego being as cold as anything at night.
Scott doesn’t know why thinking about Hailey’s head resting in the crook of his neck makes him feel weird. But it does – he feels his cheeks burn up, and he leans back nervously. She’s fallen asleep on his shoulder plenty of times before. During late-night movie marathons, evening picnics in Hailey’s backyard under the sunset, and even when they’d finish an extremely grueling science project, she’d lay her head on his shoulder, and moments later, he’d hear softer, slower breathing.
But this feels different. Now, it’s just Scott and her alone in the backseat of a car together. Now, she’s dozing off in his favorite hoodie. Now, the way her hair falls down her shoulders is so perfect, and the light catches on her face in such a manner, it’s almost as if he’s looking at someone completely different from the girl he’s known for most of his life.
But it’s still Hailey. He’s the only one who’s different. He just.. wishes he knew why.
He leans his head against hers, and closes his eyes in tandem. Maybe one day, he’ll figure it out.
“Baby, I’m yours for life…”