𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖣𝗂𝗇𝖾𝗋 𝖦𝗂𝗋𝗅 ❥𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗮 𝗔𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝘆

Ch26: Trying New Things

Though, she was surprised to meet Five's direct gaze, his hand still on the On and Off switch for the blender as he looked across the counter at her, an interest that almost looked spookily similar to concern present in his expression, as well as slight confusion.

"What? What is it?" he questioned, referencing whatever deeply contemplative look was on her face before. She hadn't realized she had looked that in the dumps. She moved in her seat to look less slouchy, and held a much more nonchalant air to her than she probably did moments ago.

"Just, a lot on the mind," she shrugged simply. She didn't need to act dumb or lie. Well, she did need to lie, but she didn't need to pretend like everything was all sparkles and rainbows right now, because it wasn't. Five knew that.

"Yeah." He nodded and looked down at the switch his thumb was pressed against, ready to get back to blending once the uncomfortable feelings talk was over. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense when your entire worldview is altered."

Yeah, you could say that. Why was everything so complicated in that one exact moment of time? Comprehending everything wasn't easy. She wished she could just move on, but distracting herself was getting harder and harder.

Weren't things supposed to get better once the apocalypse was over?

It was like some metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel. Once it was over, everything would be happy and dandy, and all the pain and stress and damage was worth it, but it felt like nothing had changed.

She was still sitting here, an empty feeling inside of her that she couldn't even manage to describe.

The only thing that made it half as doable was not being alone. She knew Five was a pain in the ass when he wanted to be, but she couldn't imagine what it would be like if he was still unconscious, wrapped up in his bed right now, and she was all alone.

A bleak time would probably be a good description.

He must have been able to sense it or something, because he wasn't actually half as bad as she remembered him acting. He was actually being pretty chill.

Was he always like this? Did she just manage to bring out that enraged part of him whenever she had been around him before? Maybe it was the stress of the end of the world that had made him so grumpy. Maybe he was never actually as bad as she had thought. Maybe, just maybe, she had made him out to be some kind of villain in her mind, before she had actually seen his point of view.

Either way, she didn't mind it. Sure, it was weird, but it was better than the talking about all the problems they had in the world that felt like they were absolutely consuming her whole.

She didn't want to go back to that. She just wanted to forget her problems.

That's why she lied. Again.

"Actually, I'm thinking about how this is definitely the longest we've gone without arguing. We've officially broken the record," she nodded, forcing a proud grin onto her face as she sat up even more. "That's a big accomplishment you know."

Five looked back at her with a half-hearted smile that looked oddly suiting for someone who was always scowling. "Well, then I guess we'll just have to try to break our new one," he countered, repeating what he had said all those nights before, during a time that felt like a millennia ago.

Angelina could feel the corners of her mouth turning upwards involuntarily. She recalled those conversations shared between them in the late hours of stalking the night. When things were simpler.

"Oh really?" she raised a playful brow. "I think you just enjoy talking to me."

She could see in his face that he too looked back on that moment fondly, even though he tried to act like a hardass half of the time.