Gladiolus ~ The Maze Runner

1~6: My Stress Levels Going From 0-100 Are Giving Me Whiplash

 I didn't meet with Greenie until much later in the night. In the meantime, I was busy bothering Frypan while he made tonight's dinner. I sat at the high counter while he diced up vegetables for stew.

"When I tell you their chemistry is strong, I mean like radioactive waste that's going to explode any second."

"That bad, huh?" Frypan laughed, tossing carrots into the pot. 

I roll my eyes. "Jeff damn near had an aneurysm when I asked him to stitch up Winston. Not to mention, Winston was jumping out of his skin with excitement when Jeff walked in. And get this," I pause for dramatic effect, "Winston winks at Jeff and goes, 'See you at the party later,' and walks off with a little smirk while I know Jeff is SCREAMING inside."

"You're cruel for that, woman," he laughs.

"Fry! Someone had to get them talking! Getting Jeff to voluntarily go up to Winston and strike up a conversation is like pulling teeth."

Frypan finishes mincing the onions with impressive knife skills and shrugs. "Hey, I'm not hating. It was a good move because those two slintheads will never get together on their own."

"Who knows? Winston seems to be getting more confident every day." 

Fry nods at that and decides it's time to tease me. "Soooo, any new boys I gotta know about?"

"Dudeee, there never have been any boys. And there never will be."

"What about the new Greenie? He's kind of a looker." Shut the fuck up right now.

"Well, you date him then," is all I say. 

Just then, Gally storms into the kitchen in his usual brooding mood. He plops down next to me and says, "That Greenie is so damn curious it's driving me up the wall."

Uh oh. 

"What happened?" Frypan asks.

"He was drifting over by the doors. It looked like he was about to go in there too! I came over and pushed him outta the way. Accidentally sent him flying though. Then he lost his mind and was all like, 'Why won't you tell me what's out there,' blah, blah, and then on cue, the doors shut. Safe to say nobody really answered him, but with that stunt he pulled as soon as he got out of the Box, we're going to have to keep an eye on him."

Frypan shrugged, continuing his work. "Some of 'em are just curious."

"Well, he's too curious," Gally sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. "What do you think, Hanna?"

"Hmm?"

"About the Greenie. Have you met him yet? Whatcha think?"

"Oh!" I suddenly became very interested in the grooves in the countertop. "I dunno. Seemed nice enough."

"Well, 'nice' isn't gonna cut it in the Glade. Hope he'll pull his weight," Gally scoffed.

"He will," I said. "It's his first day and he's scared, Gally. He's in an unknown place, doesn't know any of us, and he certainly doesn't know the first thing about himself. Cut him some slack."

Gally rolled his eyes. "You're too soft on Greenies."

"You were a Greenie once too, you shuck-face."

"I didn't try running away."

"No, no you didn't. You cried for about three hours."

Frypan hoots aloud at that and Gally shakes his head. 

"She gotcha with that one!" Fry exclaims. "Now get outta my kitchen you shanks. I got work to do."

***