ALEX WASN'T GOING TO LIE. She had been avoiding Gally for about a week now ever since she realized how close they were getting. She didn't really know exactly why she got all freaked out by it. She was close with a lot of people around the Glade, or she thought she was until she thought about it. 

The only people she was actually really close to were Winston and Minho and now, apparently Gally. It was hard to get close to people, especially in the conditions they lived in. It could be ripped away with you in the blink of an eye.

She tried to make it not obvious that she was avoiding him, but she was pretty sure he had noticed. He had begun looking at her a lot more often, and whenever she saw him coming she tried to walk the other way. That was why she groaned out loud when Newt told her that Gally had scheduled a training session for that day.

He caught up with her on her way to the Weapons Range, and she realized that she couldn't run away then. She was careful not to look him in the eye as she walked. He turned to her, falling into line with her. "Are you avoiding me?"

"Why would I be avoiding you?" she scoffed. She mentally cursed herself since she was usually such a great liar, but for some reason, she absolutely sucked at it at that moment.

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking you," he responded with a shrug. "But the other day, when I saw you walking to lunch, I wanted to join you, and you ran which was pretty weird since you hate running."

She shook her head. "I didn't run."

"I'm pretty sure you ran," he chuckled with a smile that didn't last long when he realized that she wasn't smiling either. She acted almost upset because of what he said.

She glanced at him finally, but not for long. "Well, I wasn't running from you. I didn't even see you. I was running toward the smell of Frypan's delicious cooking of course."

"Whatever you say," he mumbled, but she could tell that he wasn't really convinced.

They walked in awkward silence for a moment, the only sound being the crunching of leaves and snapping of twigs under their feet. Finally, she spoke up. "Why would you care if I was avoiding you?"

"I wouldn't," he answered, but the reply was way too fast to be true. He seemed almost nervous about something. Luckily for him, she was not really paying attention to that aspect of his answer.

She furrowed her eyebrows as she stared up at him in question. "Then, uh, why'd you ask?"

"No reason," he replied with a sigh. After she didn't say anything in response, he continued. "It's just that if someone was avoiding me, I would want to know why, you know?"

"Well, I'm not avoiding you," she assured him, and she was afraid that she was saying it a few too many times. She was starting to sound suspicious.

He nodded as they finally reached the Range. "Good."

"Good."

《 ✢ 》

ALEX WAS SO HAPPY WHEN THE MOST awkward training session of her life — well, the three years of it she could remember — ended and she could go ignore her troubles by hanging out with Winston.

"I forgot to ask you how the Greenie did when he came here," she spoke up, saying as a question as she watched the boy cut up one of the pigs that used to be outside in the pen for dinner and breakfast.

"Oh, the poor kid couldn't take it. He threw up and klunked his pants within the span of ten minutes," Winston answered with a sigh. "How'd he do with weapons?"

Alex leaned her head back, remembering how Chuck had reacted to being around not only a bunch of weapons but also a girl. "He was shaking so much with everything. I felt so bad. Now, I still haven't seen this place. Give me a tour."

"Okay, okay. Just give me a second," he told her, and she waited for him to finish up with the pig and order one of the other Slicers to bring it over to the kitchens to be stored.

Then, he gestured for her to follow him as he led her through each of the four rooms and explained everything that he was using or planning on using them for. In the last room, they came across a table that had a big, fat crack down the middle. She exclaimed, "Oh, my God. What happened here?"

"One of the newbies forgot to use a cutting board and sliced a little too hard," he explained as the girl examined the table that was almost about to break. "I still haven't broken the news to Gally yet."

"Oh, yeah. He's not gonna take it very well. The Builders worked really hard on these tables. They even tried to make them extra sturdy so their food wouldn't fall on the ground," she informed him.

"Yeah, that's why I haven't gotten around to telling him," he responded with a nod before his eyes widened like an idea just came to his mind. She could practically see the light bulb above his head. "Oh, here's a good idea. Why don't you tell him?"

She furrowed her eyebrows, her gaze shifting from the table back to him. "And why is that a good idea?"

"Well, he hates me, so he's definitely gonna overreact," Winston pointed out, shooting her a pleading look, but what he was saying made her even more confused.

Gally was just the kind of person that didn't really get along with anyone. That was why she was a little thrown when she realized that he was talking to her a lot. "He hates everyone. That's, like, his thing."

"I know, but he likes you," Winston told her. "He doesn't get as mad at you as he does with the rest of us."

"That's shucking crazy. Of course, he does. Of course he gets as mad at me as he does at you," she scoffed. She swore that she could remember many times that Gally gotten mad at her. she just couldn't think of any at that moment.

He sighed. "Uh, no, he doesn't. You remember that time a couple of months ago when you dropped that crate while y'all were unpacking the Box? He put down his own crate and came over to help you."

"So what?" she asked. "He helped me. It's what Gladers do."

"Yeah, but not like that. If it were any of the rest of us, he would've just yelled at us and kept moving," he pointed out, which was probably true. In fact, she had probably watched that exact scene play out before.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head before deciding that her best option was just to lie her ass off. "That's so not true." That just cause him to mimic her actions and lean against one of the poles.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."