"Well, I guess people lie then. Not specifically anyone, just people." Phoenix shrugged, drumming his fingers along the steering wheel. "Though, I trust you aren't lying to me right now." He hummed, turning on the radio at a low hum.
"I'm not, I promise," Cicada responded with a light laugh and a slight smile. She listened to the radio play for a moment as she hummed a little, "And I agree a lot of people lie. And I hope you're not one of those people."
"I try not to be… if I am, I lie to myself, too." Phoenix told her, pulling up a soft smile. Of course, he wasn't typically a liar. Every once in awhile he had to shift the truth, but typically it wasn't a normal thing. "I avoid being a hypocrite when I can."
"That's probably smart on your part," Cicada kept smiling as she tapped her foot to the beat. She leaned back in the seat and looked out the window, "And if you don't know your lying is it really a lie?"
"It is, it's just a lie you didn't mean to tell. It's kind of like gossip, I guess." Turning on to the highway, he sighed weakly. "Lying and gossiping can hurt someone eventually though, I know from experience. I have a feeling you do too."
"Yeah, I know that far too well," Cicada let out a long sigh. She kept looking out the window and tapped her fingers on the armrest, "Are we heading back to the cafe? Or are we taking a quick trip somewhere else?"
"I didn't have anywhere else in mind, but if you do we can hold off heading back." Phoenix hummed, his headlights lighting up the almost empty road. Though he was still paying careful attention while driving. "Got something in mind?"
"Nah," Cicada shook her head as she looked up to the starry sky. She glanced back over at Phoenix, "I just didn't recognize the route we were taking so I wasn't sure if you were going back to the cafe. But we're fine."
Phoenix glanced over at her, smiling softly. "I was just taking a different way." He hummed out, trying not to let his mind wander too much. Of course the more he tried, the more of a danger it could be. "You said you had homework to do?"
"Yeah, I just have to look over the teacher's syllabus by the next class period," Cicada responded giving him a slight smile. She felt around in her boot and was reminded of the knife she had kept in there. At least she didn't have to use it tonight.
"Oh, well then never mind." Phoenix hummed softly, making a mental list of what he had to do before he could crash until morning. It wasn't a long list, but too long for his tired self. "I have a feeling you'll wait until tomorrow to do it then?"
"Probably," Cicada laughed as her attention turned to him. She had a smile on, "What about you? You said you have homework too right? Is it just reading the teachers' syllabi as well?"
Phoenix felt her eyes on him, but not bothered by it in the slightest. "Not just that, but basically yeah. I've got a little more expansive work, though it won't take long." Once he felt comfortable turning, he smiled over to her.
"Ah, so you probably can't just do it tomorrow?" Cicada asked him when the two we're making eye contact. She had a bright smile on as she kept looking at him, "That's sad. You're already tired enough."
“I’ll be fine. Like I said earlier, I’ve had later nights before.” Phoenix insisted with her, pressing his lips up into a smile. “I can handle a little bit of a later night.”
"It's the first day of the semester," Cicada responded looking back over at him. She was a little worried about him but figured he was going to be okay, "Guess you'll have a rough start."
“It gets me prepared for the rest of the semester.” He shrugged a bit, trying to hold a yawn back that he felt coming on. “Once I get use to it, it’ll be my new normal.”
"Yeah, I guess that much is true," Cicada responded holding back a groan she felt coming, "Once the semester gets into full swing it'll be my normal too. Goodbye 8 hours of sleep."
Chuckling, he blinked away the glaze of tears coming over his eyes from the suppressed yawn. “You’ll have to get extra over any breaks you get. Or the weekend.” Phoenix chirped with a smile.
Cicada laughed as she glanced at him, "Yep. Probably going to be doing 12, 13 hours of sleep on the weekends. Who knows, maybe I'll sleep a day away."
"Well, don't get ahead of yourself. You don't want to sleep in too much." Phoenix hummed, pulling on to the street right before the cafe. "But making sure you get enough is good."
"You mean something I consistently due at least a week into the semester?" Cicada responded with a raise of her eyebrow, "Okay, I can try not to do that. I doubt it'll happen though."
Shaking his head, he let out a little laugh mixed with a sigh. "Alright, well, thanks for attempting to do so. We're almost back, do you need to go anywhere first?"
"I don't think so," Cicada responded. She looked over at him grinning, "Thanks for taking me out and showing me around the town."
"Of course, I'm happy to help out. And just getting to hang out with you was fun. Though there's lots more to see… so if you'd wanna do this again, I'd be down for that." Phoenix informed her, trying not to sound super pushy.