The drive was bumpy to say the least. I was there to lend Geraldt a couple of good standing legs and so I became his holder for a bit. When he practically shuffled onto the seat of his bike and bid me to come (mind you, no helmet nor any form of protection), he asked me to hold onto him. Morning events played through my mind and, when I held him, he pressed his back against me as though he relished the contact more than he should have. We inched back a bit before finally riding off the premises. When we had gotten to the gates, a guard stopped us and asked what it was that we were doing. Geraldt explained the Nurse's advice to go the GP and, after a minute or two on the phone, the Guard reluctantly let us go out.

The ride to the town wasn't that long either, but it was a great world away from the sterile modernity of the school. It was homey, ramshackle at worst, but homey. The walls were painted with warm colours and some even had murals. There was a coffee shop next to the pharmacy and, judging by the smell, it was in the heat of baking. Geraldt moved his bike in front of the coffee shop specifically, looking into it from afar. Another girl, behind the counter, heard the revving and practically dived out into the kitchen. There was a scraping and we saw her pop her head out from an alleyway that was previously closed off. Geraldt squeezed my thigh, prompting me to lift my leg so we could continue driving into the alleyway where we would then park and the redhead would close the gate behind us.

That was the morning, but it wasn't the only thing. That proximity to Geraldt gave me a smell of him. It was warm, musky, but had a distinct scent of cedar to it and I could only manage so much with the combination before nearly falling asleep on him while we drove. He must've noted it because he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a hug as we got off the bike. Again, the thoughts of 'what are we' or 'what am I' haunted me. There was, however, a gentleness in this that I loved more than life itself. There was a silence that came whenever he held me. He rubbed my back, holding me closely while he supported his weight on his still well leg.

"You smell weirdly nice, y'know?" he muttered into my hair.

"You too," I responded, my face pressed against his chest while his arms held tightly onto me. The girl was back, and her high-pitched voice broke the silent air.

" 'Righty, so I got you two coffees and some nice little eclairs straight from the bakery. Compliments of Marnie since you helped her with the stove last time," she declared, not minding the two of us being close. I pulled away from Geraldt and his eyes flashed briefly with hurt before he finally turned to face the girl.

"Thanks, Tris," he said as he took the box with the eclairs and the small paper holder for the coffees. He set them down on the seat of his bike, awkwardly balancing them as he tried to maintain his own balance. I took the coffees so he wouldn't get burned, almost instinctively, and that earned a look from him. The corner of his lips twitched in a half-smile at the sudden display of "protectiveness".

"So, who's your sweetheart, Gerry?"

"My sweetheart?"

"Don't think I didn' see you two huggin'" she teased, spinning on her heel and leaving the alleyway into the kitchen.

"Who's that?"

Geraldt (Jer, Gerry) looked at me with an eclair in his hands.

"Cousin on my da's side. Apparently the only one with red hair in this entire family, except for my gran and her mom," he explained as he took a bite from the eclair. There was some cream left on the side of his mouth and, before he could wipe it away with his sleeve, I quickly swiped it with my thumb. I brought it back to my lips and cleaned it off. The cream tasted sweet, vanilla-flavored but it also had a mild floral taste under it. Looking back at Geraldt, he was still eating the eclair but wouldn't look me in the eyes. In fact, he was looking down at the floor, his face red and his hand shaking as he tried to eat the thing.

I never thought I'd see him this way. Our day's worth of interaction thus far made him seem like a stoic. Like this, however, he looked adorable. It was like watching a 'gentle giant' at play. I took my coffee from the paper holder and sipped at it quietly. I kept looking at him from the side of my eyes but a hard silence had fallen over us and it didn't look like it was going to break.