Fragile Hearts [DANGEROUS FELLOWS]

⚠️SIXTY-FOUR: WORLD'S BIGGEST ASSHOLE⚠️

You didn't waste any time looking for your first searching spot.

There was a hall to the left, and the first door closest to you was slightly ajar, a warm yellow light peeking out. Curiously you went over, glancing in, and you realized it was one of the bathrooms, a battery-powered nightlight the source of the glow.

It probably wouldn't, but... just out of curiosity, you turned the faucet handle to see what would happen. A few weak bursts of water came out, but it was milky in color, and definitely not safe for drinking.

When you looked up you came face-to-face with your reflection in the medicine cabinet's mirror. It'd been awhile since you'd seen yourself. There were a few scrapes on your face, but that wasn't what caught your attention. On your neck, you could see a faint ring of bruising. You could imagine the hands around your throat... Your lungs screaming for oxygen.... Your vision blacking out.....

No... now's not the time to think about that. You shook your head to clear the thought, opening up the cabinet. Inside, just as you had hoped, were various bottles of vitamins and pills. Some of them were prescriptions, which would probably be dangerous to take, but others, like cold medicine, sleeping medicine, and pain medicine could be useful.

You took them all down, placing them on the counter before shutting the medicine cabinet.

And instinctively you gasped, hands flying to your mouth upon seeing someone standing behind you in the mirror.

"Did I scare you?" Lawrence asked from the doorway with a laugh.

"It's not funny," you scolded, putting your shaking hands over your chest, feeling your pounding heart. "Aren't you supposed to be searching?"

"You don't seem very happy to be speaking with me right now," he observed, tilting his head to the side.

"I'm kinda busy right now," you said, gathering up all of the bottles. "We're supposed to be splitting up."

You turned toward the door to leave, but Lawrence was standing in the frame, blocking the way.

"Are you angry at me, (Y/n)?" Lawrence asked. "Is it about the other morning?"

Maybe he could tell that you'd been avoiding him ever since then.

"I'm not mad," you told him. "You were just acting... weird, I guess. I don't know."

"I never got the chance to formally apologize for that. I'm just a little more stressed than usual these days. I know it doesn't make up for it, but I hope I didn't hurt you or upset you." Lawrence had a regretful look on his face.

"I mean..." You wanted to ask him what he'd really meant by what he said. Sure he was apologizing, but it'd just been so... strange.

Ugh. Whatever. It was probably just stress, like he said.

"It's okay," you finally relented.

Lawrence broke into a smile of relief.

"I'm glad to hear it," he said. "I know I can be a bit spontaneous at times. And my words don't always come out the way I'd like them to. So don't be afraid to let me know if you feel like I'm stepping out of line, okay?"