Til Death Do Us Part [10kxOC]

13. The good ole' arm across the shoulder trick

                           ~Hailey's pov~
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It was about a day and a half after the whole morgue fiasco. And after saving some of the food Murphy found, we set off North to try and get back to where we were before the zunami. Along the way we found a truck with a little bit of gas left in the tank. Now driving down an abandoned road, trees on either side of us, I didn't really know where we were. But I didn't really care enough to ask.

I sat in the farthest corner, away from the window of the truck, in the bed of the truck, with Cassandra and 10k, letting Murphy have the entire back seat to himself. I was re-reading Dead Poet's Society for the millionth time. In all honesty I had grown tired of the book over the past week. I have read it so much that I could practically recite the entire book, word for word. But there was something that kept drawing me in, making me read it over and over again. Maybe it had something to do with the memories. Or maybe the poem my father "wrote" inside of it. Either way, I wouldn't tell anyone that I was growing tired of the book, beacuse I keep going back to it.

Cassandra sat in the corner opposite of me, picking af her fingers without saying anything. 10k sat in the corner next to me, fiddling with his gun as her sat there, looking down. Because there weren't as many zombies to kill down this road, he decided that standing up was getting to tiresome. So he sat down.

We all sat in silence, all doing our own thing. I didn't even hear anyone up front say anything. Not even Murphy. Which is a suprise but I didn't question anything and took in the peace and quiet. Flipping a page, I couldn't help but glance next to me, seeing what 10k was doing. He was now cleaning his rifle. A dirty rag in his hand as he rubbed it against the gun. His arm tensing when he pushed harder against the rifle. I watched as his muscles basically pushed against his camo shirt. The veins in his hands completely visible from where i'm sitting. My eyes went wide as I watched him, my cheeks growing warm.

Stop it. Look away. You're going boy crazy in tbe apocalypse, you know what'll happen if this keeps going. You're going to get hurt. Or worse.

The voice in my head echoed on repeat in my brain. Telling me everything I was doing wrong. And I guess the voice was right. I need to look away. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. It was as if I was hypnotized by him. Completely mesmerized by what he was doing.

But I wasn't boy crazy. Not in the slightest bit. I have never been boy crazy and I never will. Especially not in the apocalypse, and definitely mot with 10k. I was just glancing over to him. That's all it was. Though I guess now it wouldn't be glancing, it would be staring now. Because I couldn't tear my eyes away from him. Even when he was doing the simplest task ever. But there was something about the way his muscles tensed, that kept me watching. But I definitely wasn't boy crazy.

Oh my god what is wrong with you?! Look away, are you crazy?!!

And as if he could hear my thoughts. His head turned towards me slighty, his eyes meeting mine for a split second before I turned back to my book, letting a fake cough and continued to read my book. The almost completely faded words staring back at me.

'poety, beauty, romance, love.... these are what we stay alive for.'

I have always loved poetry and books, ever since I was six years old reading some old handme-down books from the city library. It seemed like it was the only way I could find peace. Picking up one and flipping through the pages, the feeling of its weight in my hands, the smell of the paper, was all I really needed to get on through life.
Though beauty, romance, and love were stuff that I definitely could live without. It wasn't because nobody thought of me as anything more than a friend, but because I never found someone to love nor have I ever needed, wanted to love.

beauty, romance, love....... I stared at those words again, wondering why they looked so weird now. Almost as if they weren't even real words at all. The words didn't move or change, but I couldn't seem to point out why they looked so different. They were the same three words from the first time I read this book, all those years ago. They couldn't have changed. It was impossible. Words written on paper can't just magically change out of nowhere. Especially not in the apocalypse.

But as I reread those words, again and again, my eyes moved from the book. Without even really knowing what was happening, my eyes landed on 10k, the words on the book replaying in my head. He wasn't cleaning his rifle anymore. He sat with his arms spread across the edge of the truck, his eyes closed as he looked up at the sky. I watched him for a maybe a second longer than I should have, feeling like everyone knew I was staring. They would probably make fun of me for something so stupid. So I quickly looked back down at my book and turned the page whith annoyance.

A few minutes went on without a single word. I continued to read my book and the others sat there, doing whatever it is they do these days. Which from what I could tell, was looking at the things around them, or just sitting quietly. I didn't even look up at 10k anymore. Not even once. Mainly because I told myself it was stupid, and that I had absolutely no reason to even give him a glance.

But all hat I told myself was thrown off the side of the bed when the truck stopped abruptly, almost throwing us to the front of the bed. Cassandra had gripped the edge before she hit the wall, but I wasn't so lucky. Sliding against 10k as he hit the front. His arm stretched across my shoulder tightly as we moved until the truck stopped fully. I looked at 10k, and he looked at me. We didn't say anything which made the incident more embarrassing. But no matter how hard I forced my body to move, I couldn't. To focused on his arm across my shoulder, and his eyes looking into mine. It was something out of a romance novel. I could feel my ears growing hotter by the minute and I cursed at myself for having stupid ears.

10k's mouth opened to say something. Maybe to apologize stupidly or to ask if they could stay like that. Something stupid like that. But before he could get a single word out, Doc stuck his head out of the window.

"Sorry! It was a Deer." He called out as a deer crossed to the other side, prancing into the woods as if it didn't almost get ran over. I rolled my eyes and finally pushed myself away from 10k. Sitting back where I was in the beginning.

"Yeah! I got that!" I yelled back, annoyance in my voice. Though I wasn't really sure why I was annoyed. It wasn't like I was mad at Doc for stopping. I knew he didn't want to hit the deer. And I knew I wasn't mad at 10k either. It wasn't his fault that they were pushed into eachother, that his arm landed around my shoulder. I wasn't sure what I was annoyed at in the slightest. So I just grabbed my book again and opened up its pages.

I only looked up once, to look at 10k even though I told myself it was stupid. But to my suprise, he was already looking at me. For only a second we stared at eachother without saying anything. My eyes fixed on his. Until I blinked hard, looking back to my book and brought the pages up to my face. Hiding my eyes from him. Making sure I couldn't look at him again. And it worked. I didn't look at him once. But I wasn't looking at the words in my book either. I wasn't looking at anything really. I couldn't focus. Especially when something like that just happened.

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A/N

Just a weird awkward little filler chapter. I don't even really like it that much but wtv 🤷‍♀️  i hope you guys like it tho!

pls comment and vote it means alot.
love yall lol

-moonANDdeath333