Lucian was overwhelmed. Sensations bombarded him—chatter rang in his ears, as he stared at a crude drawing of a phallus, strange smells assaulted his nostrils, and a stuffy kind of warmth filled the inside of the beast—
'School bus?'
He somehow knew what it was even though he'd never encountered such a thing before. His memory was foggy, but he was certain of that much. The bus was a strange—
'machine?'
It happened again, the thought popped into his head like a memory, like something he had alway known, but he knew for certain that he had never encountered such a thing before this day.
"Lucas." his eyes snapped away from the phallus, and turned to the sound as if responding to the name. It was the girl beside him, her captivating brown eyes framed by her big round glasses.
Giggling to herself with a sweet innocent smile she said, "Is that drawing of a d**k, really that interesting?" Lucian just stared at her, partly because he hadn't expected such words to come out of her mouth, but mostly because he found himself lost in her eyes. When he didn't respond, her smile faltered slightly and with another breath she said.
"I'm sorry." Slightly grinning. "Jesus wouldn't like these kinds of jokes very much, would he?"
...
Her joke fell flat as another awkward silence followed. Finally, Lucian spoke with an uncertain tone.
"Um, who's Jesus?..."
"Seriously?" she asked, chuckling a bit thinking it was a joke. Then she looked at him, staring at her with genuine confusion and concern flickered in her eyes. Lucian just stared at her, still trying to wrap his mind around everything.
"Lucas," she said, worry creeping into her tone. Instinctively, he responded to the name as he listened.
"Are you okay?" she asked, leaning in slightly as the bus rattled down the road.
"I-I'm fine," he answered, his voice a bit shaky. Her intense gaze made him avert his eyes. She was studying him closely, like she knew something was off but couldn't quite figure it out what. Lucian's heart sank at the thought—had she already noticed? He'd barely been in this body for a minute.
"You sure don't seem like it," She said, her eyes lingering on his face causing him to panic. What would she do if she realized he was an intruder in this body? She had to be a friend of whoever owned this body with how touchy she was getting.
'Lucas was it?'
She definitely wouldn't like the fact that someone else had taken over. Her gaze was intense, his heart raced as she opened her mouth to speak again, this was it.
'Can this body go through walls?' He thought, contemplating his options. maybe he could use magic now- but before he could finish the thought she said.
"How much sleep did you get last night?"
"uh..wha?." The question threw him off. She cupped his cheeks, pulling his face closer to hers, touching her forehead to his, making him gasp.
"You're not sick, are you?"
Lucian's heart pounded as warmth radiated from her hands, panic turning into nervousness. He was flustered, which felt strange—he'd never felt anything like this for as much as he could remember, but this body was buzzing with a high. She pulled back, her soft hands lingering on his cheeks.
"Thank goodness, at least you don't have a fever," she said, letting go and resting her hands on his shoulder leaving Lucian a bit disappointed at the loss. Lucian struggled to keep his composure—this body was like a bundle of bumbling nerves.
'How could anyone live like this?!'
"Lucas."
"Yes?"
"You're not sick, so what's going on? you're acting weird so spill it." The girl was direct, he could see that she was really worried about him. Or more accurately, the owner of the body he possessed. But Lucian wouldn't compromise himself. He needed to gather his thoughts, and figure out what to do next. Laying low in this body was probably the best way to do so, involving this girl-
"Nora." he blurted her name as it suddenly popped into his mind.
"Yeah? I'm here for you, you know that right. Tell me what's wrong?" Her hands slid down to his palm and took his hand into hers and squeezed it gently. Lucian was about to answer when his mind blotted black and a whirlwind of memories filled his head. Memories seemed to stitch themselves together right in front of him as each one filled the dark void with scenes from his life, no-not his life, Lucas' life, all of them having to do with nora.
smells, tastes, and feelings infected his consciousness making his sense of self slightly falter. He saw it like he was Lucas himself, experiencing the events in the moment.
"Luca~" moments that assaulted him with a rush of emotions. As all the noises and smells in the bus faded away as he sunk deeper into the whirlwind.
"Luc~" The first time they met, how she stared at him-no Lucas, she stared…at Lucas—
"Lu~" They were best friends. her and Lucas, but it felt like it was her and him. Scenes continued to stitch together then rush past him creating a hurricane that threatened to drown his consciousness into someone else's. Was this body trying to reassert its original host? the whirlwind threatened to snatch him from the center when, Suddenly the hurricane of memories dissipated leaving him standing on a serene scene.
An endless expanse of calm waters, and above him a void of white. His eyes looked down at his reflection in the serene sea. Short curly black hair and those same silver gray eyes of Lucas stared back at him. Then the reflection smiled, causing him to step back but the reflection didn't follow. It seemed as though it was about to say something but his mind violently ripped out of the space, where ever that was. his eyes snapped open as he pulled a sharp breath into his lungs.
"Lucas!"
"I'm fine-I'm great." he blurted, but he really wasn't feeling fine. He felt Nora's gaze even more piercingly as she squeezed his hand tighter. He looked at her and he could see that she wasn't the least bit convinced, if anything she was even more worried now.
"Lucas." she said softly, "I can tell you're not fine but..." she paused for a bit, her eyes lingering on his hand that she was holding, wondering if she should let it go then said. "If you don't wanna talk about it, I'll leave it alone." she looked up, staring into his soul with her captivating gaze, adding "For now at least." promptly releasing his hands and resting her hands on her lap.
He'd just met her but it felt like he'd literally known her for forever. A knot of guilt bundled up from the pit of his stomach, he knew it wasn't right, making her worry this much. Her soft brown eyes are still scanning his face.
"I'm fine, Nora." he affirmed, making his voice sound a bit more confident as he rested his other hand on top of hers. Nora seemed to be a little relieved, she still had the worried look on her face but it was less straining now. He looked at her for a while not noticing that the bus had come to a stop.
'Beautiful,' he thought.
"Lucas." she said a bit of exasperation in her voice.
"Yes?" he answered with a smile.
"Are you really fine?"
"Like I said," he answered confidently.
"Well…It's your stop."
"My stop..." The words didn't seem to process, 'my stop?'. Then a thought popped into his head 'A bus stop.' and realization dawned on him. He quickly got to his feet startling Nora by the sudden movement. "ofcourse, It's my stop!" The sudden outburst made some heads turn, students giving him weird looks, but he paid them no mind as he turned to leave when Nora suddenly grabbed his hand. He hesitantly looked at her thinking, 'what now?'
"Your bag." she said holding it out for him.
"Oh, right." he took the bright red bag pack and slung it over his shoulder like a leather satchel. He looked at Nora, smiled politely and said.
"Good day, lady Nora." Then he left before she could get a word in. Nora sat there, perplexed. digesting those few parting words as she watched him stumbling down the aisle.
"...Good day?" she mumbled to herself as the bus began to move again. Now she knew for certain that something was definitely wrong.