𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍 & 𝐄𝐂𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐘-𝙜𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮

SEVENTEEN

On my break I decided to pay Newt a visit. He was sitting up in the bed, scribbling in a notebook. When he heard me come in he shut the book and set it aside. He smiled at me and I felt myself relax a little. He definitely was doing better today. Though he was still pale and I could tell that he had skipped out on a few meals.

"Hey Newt." I sat across from him on the bed.

"Hi Florence. You look better."

"So do you." I had so many things to ask, but I knew that he wouldn't answer my questions. Not totally true anyway. So I just sucked in a breath and smiled. "I have something to tell you."

"Yeah?"

I leaned in close, almost as if I was telling a secret. As if everyone didn't know. "Gally and I kissed."

His eyes went wide and he smiled. "I was wondering when you shanks were going to figure it out."

"What do you mean?" I felt the blush creeping up my neck to my cheeks.

"You guys were so lovesick for each other. It was actually gross," He joked. "But anyone with a good pair of peepers could see it plain as day. Your guys' feelings went past just mutual caring. Though, I think Gally has it worse."

I smiled, thoughts of last night filling my mind. I wondered how long Gally had wanted to do that and if he had fantasies about it as well. Newt traced his finger along the spine of his book. "What's that?"

He stared at it absently as he explained, "Clint said it was a good way to get my thoughts out. But it's also little stories about us here."

"Got a few of me in there?" I teased.

He smiled and then his face fell, a dark look plaguing his brown eyes. "Yeah, there is."

I held his hand, turning his face so he was looking at me. "Hey, I don't want you to blame yourself anymore. Okay?" He nodded and I didn't know if had actually taken in any of my words. "Do you think you'll be out of here soon?"

"Maybe. I'm just trying to take it day by day." The bell rang, signaling the end of the break. "You should get back."

I stood. "I'll come by later."

"I know you will."

I took Newt's words into consideration and decided that I would live day by day. I couldn't worry about the past or what might happen tomorrow. I had today and that was all that mattered. After lunch Gally and I built my own chest. It was actually easy and he had sent his Builders away to do whatever for the rest of the day.

They teased Gally as they walked away. He shook his head at them.

It took us until dinner to get it done. Or really Gally. When I saw how fast he was going through, I sat back to watch him work, and he didn't seem to mind. When it was done, I held the door open for him as he carried the chest in. He put it against the wall that would face the foot of the bed. But the space was empty. "We'll have to put a bed in here for you, but other than that, it's pretty much done."

I wrapped my arms around Gally's middle, his arms closing around me instantly. "Thank you."

"Of course. Though, I am going to miss you sleeping next to me."

"You could stay in here with me. I mean it has more privacy than your hut."

Gally tilted his head. "That's true. Come help me move my chest."

My heart fluttered. "Really."

He frowned. "Yeah, why not?"

"I don't know." I picked at the seam of my shirt. "It's just...what are we exactly?"

"Each other's."

I smiled. "Okay. I like that."

"Good." He turned in my arms and bent so his face was close to mine. I had expected him to kiss me so I stood on my tip toes, but he just pulled back smirking. "Eager are we?"

I pouted. "I thought that's what we were doing."

"I just like looking at you." But he bent down and kissed me anyway. "There you go."

I smiled. "Thank you."

By the next day there was a bed in my hut and Gally and I had moved into there. Though now, he would sleep in the bed with me instead of on the floor and I found it was easier to fall asleep like that.

After breakfast Alby had called a gathering. All the Keepers were attending and I realized that I would be getting my Job today.

"We'll keep this short and sweet." Alby said. Florence's Keeper step forward."

Clint stepped forward and they all clapped. I was now a Med-Jack.

Newt was waiting for us outside the Council hut and I was so happy to see him up and walking around. Clint had him walk around with makeshift crutches and he stood with them now, leaning his weight onto his good foot.

"Hey look at you." I exclaimed.

He gave me a small smile. "Look at me. I heard you're getting your job today."

"I'm a Med-jack."

"Congrats. Come on, I gotta show you something." He hobbled away on crutches, the uneven patches of grass had to be horrible to walk on.

I followed him. "Where are we going?"

"To the wall of names. The greenies put their names on the walls after they get their job. Yours just took a while." We got to the West Wall. It's doors still open and I felt a chill run down my spine from being so close to the maze. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a metal pick and hammer. I moved over to where he was and looked at all the names on the wall. There were about fifty names on the wall and I spotted my friends' names. They were sloppy and I had to give them some credit. It couldn't be easy to carve into this stone. Much less carve it neat.

I put the tools to the stone and hesitated. My name was quite long and I didn't feel like spending the rest of the day here. "Do I have to put my whole name?"

"No. We got shanks here who don't even go by their actual name. They just put their nickname. You can just put Flore."

I nodded, hitting the hammer against the pick. It made an awful sound and hurriedly carved out my name. I understood now why no one was neat. I stepped back to examine my work. "Not too bad Greenie." I laughed at Newt's joke and he gave a small chuckle.