The End

Six

Six

About another week passed by, and Mark and I were still doing the usual. On a couple days, we stayed in to watch movies and play video games. On other days, we went to the rec center and took walks around campus. We went out into town to get more ammo for our weapons as well as some other random things we realized we needed on one day. Living this way had become normal. I was even becoming accustomed to living with a guy - for the most part.

I almost always woke up after Mark had already been awake for a while, but I was up early for once. I had decided to stay in bed and read for a bit. Mark got up about twenty minutes after me.

"'Morning," he said when he noticed that I was already up.

"Good morning," I replied. I went back to reading until I noticed him get up to go to the bathroom while still shirtless. I couldn't help but look, and I looked again when he got back into the room. I was almost disappointed when he came back from the shower a while later fully dressed. I hated that I was attracted to him. I tried to push any romantic thoughts out of my brain while I was around him as much as possible, but sometimes it just didn't work.

"Where's the nearest liquor store?" he suddenly asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Why the sudden interest in alcohol?" I questioned him, surprised.

"I don't know. We've survived together this long, so I just thought we should celebrate. We're at a college, after all. Why not party a little?"

"Good point."

"Also, with nobody working at the stores here, you don't need a fake ID to get alcohol and I don't have to buy it for you either," he smirked.

"Oh, shut up. You were twenty, once."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyways, I was thinking we could pick out some alcohol, maybe get some speakers for music, some cool lights and decorations..."

"All of that for just the two of us?"

"Why not?" I shrugged. It was best to not argue with him, so I hopped into the shower and got ready so we could head out and get what we needed. Once we both were ready, we headed out. I made sure to get to the car first so I could drive this time.

Mark and I made a few stops. We went to Party City where we got decorations and fun lights. Then we got some snacks from the grocery store, which mainly consisted of chips, cookies, and frozen foods. We also got a good stereo system to play music. When we got back, I helped Mark decorate the basketball and volleyball courts in the rec center. When it came to the lights and technology, he insisted that he didn't need any help, so I went back to the room to get the food ready. I put the pizza rolls in the oven (the kitchen on our floor was practically across the hall, which was handy) and I listened for the timer as I got ready. There was no real reason for me to look good for our little party - there wasn't anyone to impress and Mark was the only person who would see me - but I wanted to anyways. I hadn't even gone to a party yet this year, and I missed the experience. For probably the first time since the apocalypse had happened, I put on makeup.

I did the makeup routine that was once normal to me - a little foundation, brown eye shadow fading into black towards the outer part of the eye, black liner on top, and mascara. I also put on what I could consider to be a party outfit - it was what I was going to wear to the next party I attended. A black, long-sleeved crop top, distressed black high-waisted jeans, my favorite shiny black combat boots, and my leather jacket on top for warmth. I put some purple lipstick on as the timer went off for the pizza rolls, and I was ready to go. I put the food in tupperware containers and stored those and our other snacks in a bag with the alcohol before walking back over to the rec center to join Mark. As soon as I walked through the doors, music was blaring and lights were going crazy.