Nothing But Each Other (book 2. of Nothing But Trouble)

25) Not Mine

At some point during the night we must have fallen asleep, because his legs were tangled in mine. Still holding hands, we were practically one person.

Laying my head back on his chest, I kept my eyes close even when I felt him hug me a little tighter before kissing my temple. Shaking my head, I yawned before slowly opening them to see Minnie just standing there with a smug grin and her arms crossed.

“I knew it,”She said in a sing-song voice.

“Knew what?”

“I knew you would get together-”
“No. We're not . . .  together,”Aris trailed off.

“Cut the act. You're cuddling while hidden away from the group. You know who does that?”

“Who-”
“Not friends. Definitely not friends,”She repeated.

“What's going on over here?”Newt interegated.

“Have you ever run off with someone just to sleep beside them?”

“I’ve never been in a relationship so no. Why?”

“Why do you think? Them. They're together.”

“It was platonic,”I sort of lied.

“Yeah right,”She scoffed.

“It's not our business, and we already know how that’ll end so let's get going,”He suggested.

“Next thing you know they’ll be platonically making out,”She shrugged.

“Funny,”I mumbled, pulling my scarf up before adjusting my backpack over my shoulders. Grabbing my scarf, I tried to push everything out of my mind as I kept reminding myself that he's not mine.

Not yet.

Pretending there was no depth to her remarks, we grabbed our stuff to get ready for the day. As I went to tie my scarf he was behind me, taking it in his hands to do so for me.

“One day,”He whispered in my ear as he moved my hair.

“One day,”I agreed, not needing him to say more.

“Wait, hang on,”He said at a normal volume, pulling my hair completely out of my neck and tracing his fingers over my skin.

“What?”

“Have you always have a tattoo?”He slowly questioned.

“A what?”I asked quickly, turning around to look at him.

“The back of your neck. I didn't notice it before, but there's some kind of tattoo,”He repeated.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah. Here, turn around,”He repeated. Doing so, I felt him draw a square in the middle of my neck before tracing lines and dots around it, like some kind of symbol. “Do you think that they did it?”He suggested as he skillfully tied my scarf for me.

“I don't know. Just let me see if you have one,”I instructed. Turning around, he looked at the ground as I pulled his hood down, revealing a symbol that I had never seen before. Taking my thumb, I tried to see if it could somehow be wiped away only for absolutely nothing to happen. It was there to stay. Same spot, same size, same shape, same everything.

“What do you thin-”
“Hey shanks! We’d like to get to these mountain people while we're still alive!”Newt called.

“We're coming!”I yelled back, picking all my stuff back up.

“Do we tell them? I mean if we both have them then they probably have them too, right?”He quietly pointed out.

“Maybe, but there's already a lot going on. I don't really think that we should put anything else on that list.”

“What if they're something dangerous though?”

“What could we even do then? Cut off our skin?”I pointed out. Watching his face pale at the thought, I added that I wasn't being serious.

“I know. The thought’s just really, just ow,”He grimaced, scratching the back of his neck. Definitely agreeing with that statement, I just nodded as we sort of lagged behind everyone. Staying beside each other, I subtly kept my hand in his as we got lost in our own heads.

ᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗ

The entire day was just so much different than any other. It's just that Winston's gone, and all we can do is act like it didn't happen. I know that there's nothing else to do, but the way nobody seemed afraid they would be next threw me off. I just didn't expect everything to seem so normal.

“You doing okay?”Minnie asked.

“Yeah,”I shrugged, deciding to not blurt out everything in my mind.

“If I was a journal, would you still be?”

“Well, you're not a journal so I guess you’ll never know,”I shrugged, moving over so that she could join me under the rock. Taking a seat, she leaned her head back as she took a breath. Doing the same, I watched Thomas mumble something to Teresa who shook her head no. Just a few feet off, Minho was sitting with Aris, the two of them almost in a huddle as they talked about who knows what. Finally, Frypan was just eating a granola bar with Newt in silence.

No Winston though, which just seems wrong. Everything is wrong. There's no Sonya and Harriet. No Rachel and Flora. Just us now. How did I start out living with 52 people to walking with only seven, most of which I didn't actually know. I mean what the hell was that about?

“We're going to be okay, Y/N. It’s going to take a minute, but it's going to work out,”She spoke up, patting my shoulder. Watching the way I almost dodged her touch without realizing, she pulled her hand back and gave me a comforting smile. Returning it, I moved a little closer and sighed.

“What happened to pessimistic Minnie?”I pointed out.

“Realism Y/N’s been leaning a little too far on that side. I figured she needed a little sprinkle of optimism.”

“And you were the one best able to give me that?”

“Probably not, but you need it,”She shrugged.

“Well, thank you for trying to make me feel just a little more stable,”I sincerely told her.

“Anything for you. Now let's go. We have a long way to go and who knows who long to get there,”She said, standing up and clapping her hands before pulling me up. Letting her, I just sighed as we all got ready to continue this journey through hell.