Day 3 in August 17, 2017
Time: Unknown

When they came back to the clinic, everybody was already there. They were standing outside of the room, their back against the wall and their body stiff in tension. They only seemed to relax when Laine and Josh finally showed up. Something in Laine's chest pinched in hurt. They didn't seem to trust her enough that they would be willing to go extra lengths just to make sure she didn't "stabbed" Josh to death while they were alone. Just seeing them waiting not inside but outside the room made her sort of sad and they really thought that she would do something, seeing how they were stressed a moment ago.

The only one who seemed to be a ray of sunshine among the dark clouds was Sammy. Yes, she was outside, too, but she was waiting with a smile on her face as if she was expecting someone important. And the brightness of her eyes and smile never faded when it landed on her.

"There you are!" Sammy said and she ran towards them, meeting them half way through.

They stopped where they met and she stared at the bunched up cloth that they were carrying. Josh uncovered it for her, letting her to take a look at the weapons they had gathered.

She gasped in happiness even though what they did was no amazing feat. Her smile never wavered as she dipped her hand in the cloth, taking one weapon for herself.

She took a knife out and held it close to her, her eyes finding Laine's. "Thank you for bringing us these weapons. With this, I can finally try out a theory I had in mind," she said,  and her eyes talked to her, the message that said: thank you for not breaking my trust, clear as day. The secret message warmed something inside her, and she felt like she had won a prize. Someone had put their trust on her and here she was, thinking no one ever tried to put one on her from the very beginning.

Laine nodded, trying her hardest to keep the dam of emotions that's swirling up inside her. They resumed their walk and entered the room to let the others pick a weapon for themselves. When all of it was laid out on the floor, James took the first move and gave Laine the frying pan, raising it all of a sudden in front of her face that she almost got slammed with it.

"This pan is yours. I can't have you stabbing our backs literally, this time," he said, voice serious and stern.

Well, it turned out, she was the unfortunate owner of pan. She stared at it, eyes bored and uninterested as her nose got harrased by it's poignant smell of meatloaf, cooking oil and other mystery condiments.

She didn't snap back at him with the words that was hanging at the tip of her tongue, instead, she used the pan to salute to him, her movements dull and her lips on a thin line.

"Sure," she said, taking a step back. "I'll take first watch, then," she added and finally went outside. Sammy just told them that they should stand and guard one by one just to see if anything happens, or if anything remotely changed around them and that she thought that it would be a good idea to be the first one to take the job. The earlier she does it, the faster things get done.

Guarding with atleast one partner was advised but now thay she's in this predicament, she doubted anyone would want to stay out with her. That's what she thought when Josh' head peeked out of the clinic's door, walk straight up beside her and grinned from ear to ear.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, her squating stance reminicent of those of gangster as she held her pan in front of her.

"I'll stay on guard with you," he said simply. He pushed the shelves that's decorated with throphies farther to the side, allowing more space beside the door and giving him more floor to sit on.

He sat with her, silently watching nothing in particular. The halls were empty and no one was even walking outside. Everything was green out there and their sight couldn't go any further than that.

"Why did you do that earlier?" Laine asked all of a sudden. "Why did you saved me? I know you don't know how to throw a punch but you still did it anyway."

Josh mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water and his eyes turned to look sideways. "Uhm, I--  ah. I saved you because you're part of the team," he said, his fingers pointing at her, slightly shaking and his eyes begging her to just take his reason and do not ask further.

But sadly for him, Laine decided to push further.

"Bullshit," she said, a chuckle left her lips and it made Josh nervous. It wasn't said in a harsh way, it was jokingly delivered, actually. But it couldn't stop him from shaking in his boots for the possibility that she might've already put two on two together and it made Josh wish that he died right then and there. The words that he said when he was fighting those monsters already sounded chessy inside his head that he wanted to take his brain out and throw it in a blender.

"I'm just a member of the team that was already thrown out by her own leader, but still, you insisted on saving me. Could it be that you..." He heard her gasped and he braced himself for what's to come. "Is it because you like me?" she asked with wonder in her eyes, a soft smile etched on her lips and Josh couldn't help to see it in a radiant light, everything around Laine seemed to morph into a ray of glorious shimmer, even the greens distorted itself in such a way that made her look like a goddes. Yes, she had some flaws but she's working her way through it, trying to fix it and that ability of hers was the reason why he liked her--

"Do you like me, Josh?" she asked again, her eyes sincere and trained on his face.

He closed his eyes and nodded. He nodded fast that his glasses almost fell off his face and Laine's hands cupped his cheeks to stop his head from moving. He leaned to the touch. It was cool and soft. It was like a mother's touch whenever you had a fever-- all the hotness and pain dissipated in the area where her hand laid and you feel better again. Breathing comes a little easier and you're lulled into something safe and comforting.

He heard her laugh and when he opened his eyes, her face was almost touching his own. She was smiling, her expression too soft to be on her angst striken face. Her eyes were on a slanting slits and her lips curved up perfectly, showing her slightly crooked two front teeth that resembled of those of rabbit's. She's pretty this way and Josh stared at the sight with bated breaths.

"I get it now," she said, chuckling. "But... if it's alright with you-- can I... know how you started liking me?" She let her hands fall by her side and she looked away.

"Sure."

"What?" Her eyes snapped back at him, surprised at how fast he processed things. He's actually doing it?! He didn't even give her the time to breath and he started again.

"Do you remember the time when your voice recorder broke?"

Laine's racing mind stopped on it's tracks and it recoiled back.

A smile found it's way on her lips and a story came to mind. It involved a very pissed off her and a boy that's too nerdy for his own good.

Laine wasn't the type of person who write down notes during a lecture. She preferred to daydream in class and leave all the information gathering to her trusty voice recorder. But that trusty voice recorder broke on her just two days before the exam and she was a mess back then. So, her being the gangster she was, had the brilliant idea of snatching a few notes from one of her classmates. And lo and behold, right when she was thinking about it, the most nerdy student, the pinnacle of the word "study" had  walked in front of her and she couldn't help herself but to grab on. That's the first time his glasses shone back on her face and she had to squint an eye just to not get blinded, that's the first time she tried to talk to one of her classmates, and that's the very first instance she asked for a name, and his name was, "Josh".

"... So you asked for my notes and threathened me to get a xerox copy of it. When that didn't work, you moved on to your next plan and that is bribing me. You even slapped those wad of cash onto my face just to get your point across."

She came back to the present and listened to his retelling of the story in his own perspective.

"Then, the xerox machine decided to ran out of ink that day," Laine deadpanned, catching up.

"Yeah, and that's the day I saw how hard you worked for the things you wanted. I adored how you ran to the library and copied all my notes by hand in a span of an hour just to not to break your promise that you will return it to me before I go home. You kept on muttering, I'll beat Samantha, I'll beat Samantha, while you wrote that it made me laugh several times. You... you really know how to strive for your goals and I like that about you. You look like a deliquent and a model at the same time. You could easily bully someone but you never did. You never broke the dress code, never had been rude to teachers, heck, you've never even been late! You always ranked second in class-- even though I know you wanted to rank first-- but still, you're always a rank higher than me." His hand waved frantically in the air, not wanting to infuriate her in any way. But honestly, it didn't. So she just laughed at it.

"Go on," she said, a wide grin on her face.

"I can't beat you, I always came in third but then, I watched you do that agressive studying thing and it made me realize one thing: you're a closet nerd. You're a nerd mixed with a little of everthing and that makes you... you."

She laughed at that and she elbowed him, making him let out an audible guh hah. "I don't know if that's a complimemt but I'll take it."

"I like you, Laine." Her eyes was caught in his when he said that word and he smiled at her, the softest she ever saw him did and she couldn't help but stare at it. "I just want you to know that so I can stop being all weird and cheesy trying to hide it."

"Well, you sorta suck at hiding anything in general," she said and she quickly put a pan on her face. Staying behind it until she felt the burning heat on her face disappeared. She heard him laugh and when she emerged again, her eyes found his glasses and she noticed that the metal that lead to his right ear was about to come off it's hinges.

She took it off his face and quickly replaced his glasses with her own, placing the pink rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose neatly.

"He-hey!" He raised his arms trying to take it back. "I can't see with this glasses," he said.

"Really? You can't see through those?" She pointed at Josh, his arms still raised in front of him. "Maybe it doesn't match what your eyes needs," she said, brows furrowing.

"And you can't take your glasses while we're out here. That's dangerous," he added.

She laughed. "Don't worry this'll be fast. I'd just fix your glasses for you." She dug her hand in one of her pockets and took out three strips of flowery band-aids. "I always get scratches on my knees so I always brought these with me and I think this'll work as good as tapes," she said with Josh not having any idea what it is due to his blurry vision. She peeled the cover off and wrapped it around the almost broken metal part of his glasses, her lips twisting as she did it tightly, avoiding making any creases to her work.

"There," she said with satisfaction, her fingers touching the twirled flower prints as she admired it. Her face turned back towards him again and she slid the newly repaired glasses onto his face.

She took hers back and wore it on her face too, a smile formed on her lips when she saw him wearing the flowered glasses she made. "It looks cute and dandy," she said as she touched it's details and Josh laughed.

"Dandy? That's some word," he said, chuckling. "But thank you, though," he added and she noticed how his head sort of dangled a bit to the side, the look of exhaustion already spreading over his features.

"You can sleep, you know," Laine said. "Samantha woke us up in the middle of the night to scan this place and now that we're done you can sleep it off until morning arrives. "

"But you'll be alone," he said, his eyes already drooping.

"It's fine. Don't worry about me. And I won't be able to kill you in your sleep. I got a pan for a weapon, remember?" she joked, raising the pan by her side.

He shook his head on a weak chuckle. "Then, I guess it's alright, then. Goodnight, guard well," he said before his voice started trailing off, his back was straight against the wall as he slept and his head hung low that his chin reached his chest.

She shook her head fondly and smiled as she booped his glasses back up his face, worried that it might fall off. His hand laid next to her, open and waiting to be held but she chose to hold on to his shirt instead. Her fist gripped his sleeves, his warmth reminding her that someone willingly sat beside her.

Everything became silent for real, only someone from inside the clinic made some kind of roar that could only be interpreted as a snore when it finally made it's way out in the hallways. The others were sleeping again and she was left alone. Her eyes traced the green rays that came through the windows and stared in awe at the little speck of dust in the air that sparkled once underneath it. It sparkled like crazy and she didn't know if that's what she was really seeing or that it was just drowsiness finally getting to her and messing up her vision. She blinked fast trying to get rid of the weight on her eyelids. Her sight fluttered as the light turned on and off and like a fuse going out, she failed to notice that she didn't open her eyes again. Her lids stayed closed and the lights that she was staring at earlier, were now imagery in her dreams.