Blackout • NH

Chapter 15

(12 hours later)

We end up eating the fish that Elliot had caught. It was honestly the best thing I've ever eaten and I hate fish. I guess when you are surviving, any type of food you stumble upon will taste better than anything. Your next meal may not be for a few days.

Me and Niall don't talk all night. Probably because we don't want to bring up what had almost happened earlier.

I have a feeling that Niall has some feelings for me. Unless that was totally just a spur of the moment thing. I will admit, I do feel something for Niall. But I barely know who he is.

He hasn't really told anyone about himself. He's usually so quiet unless something involving rocks happens, he's there to the rescue.

Then again, I haven't told anyone about me and Ellen's life. I know Ellen hasn't told Liam or Elliot about it. It's a very touchy subject for the both of us.

Me, Ellen and Elliot were playing poker. Liam and Niall were over by Niall's sleeping bag having what seemed to be a very serious heart to heart chat.

Liam had his hands on Niall's shoulder, rubbing it as Niall whispered to him. Liam looks over at us and quickly looks back to Niall whispering something in his ear.

He gets up and comes over to us.

"Well guys I am going to go to sleep. I am beat." Liam said yawning.

"I think I'm right there with ya." Elliot said.

"I'll go to bed soon." Ellen spoke. I decided to braid Ellen's hair for the time being and talk to her about random stuff.

"Jodie, do you think we will be fully safe at this safe haven in the Appalachians?" Ellen asked quite curiously.

"I will be honest with you because I have no reason to lie. I am not quite sure I can answer that Ellen." I tell her.

"I will admit, this whole situation sucks. But we seemed to have met and bonded with some great people. I'm really glad we met Niall, Liam and Elliot." I say honestly.

"I'm glad too. Niall, Liam and Elliot are great friends." She smiled. I continue to braid her hair and then she speaks up.

"You know Niall has a huge crush on you, right?" She says, smirking.

"Yeah and Liam is secretly an eggplant." I say laughing.

"I'm not joking Jodie. Niall has the hots for you. He's always smiling at you when you're talking to the group or staring at you when you're playing cards with us. He's always holding that stupid rock that he found the other day. Looking at it and then looking back at you. It's quite creepy sometimes." She says giggling.

"Niall stares at me?" I question. I look over at Niall and low and behold, he is looking right at me. He then looks down and pretends to dig in his backpack for something.

"Okay maybe you're right." I say, laughing awkwardly.

"Jodie if you feel the same about Niall, you should tell him. I'm sure he won't mind" She says tiredly.

"I'll keep that in mind. Why don't you get some rest. We have a long day tomorrow." I say. I cover her with a blanket as soon as she lays down and I hug her goodnight.

I make my way over to Niall and begin making my little bed. Niall is laying down looking at that geode he found. I sit down when my bed is made.

"Hey Niall." I greeted him.

"Hey Jodie." He says looking over to me and putting the geode back in the bag before sitting up and looking towards me.

"So I'm just going to bring up the elephant in the room, but thank you. For helping me today." I say looking down at my hands.