Devious | Eric Coulter

25

UNEDITED

C H A R L I E

I wiggled my way into the chair located beside my bed, my hair getting tangled on a metal post as I did so. I sighed angrily, what am I supposed to do for two whole days full of boringness, fluorescent lights, and bitter medicine?

"You know, you could've asked for my help," Eric muttered as he watched me try and get my hair off the metal post.

I shot him a look, "You know, you should just get here and help me instead of implying that I'm a dumb person,"

He chuckled and shook his head lightly before helping me untangle my hair. He fixed my position on the chair and handed me an apple, "Here. Figured you'll be hungry."

I smiled gratefully, "Thanks, all they serve me here are hamburgers. You know that the brown mush isn't exactly appealing to my taste buds,"

He grinned and settled on my bed. Eric scratched his stubbly chin before turning to me, "Tomorrow is the final day for the simulations. After the last initiate is done performing, I'll be sneaking you out of here so that we can practice one last time."

I sighed tiredly, "Do I have to? I mean, I didn't exceed two minutes--"

"No exceptions, Lottie," He drawled, "You'll be practicing with me tomorrow whether you like it or not."

I frowned at the thought of facing my fears again. Slumping on the chair, I began imagining what the other initiates fears were. I heard that someone was afraid of the dark, and that someone was afraid of spiders. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head.

"Hey, Eric?" The leader turned to me with his pierced eyebrow raised, "Yeah?"

I bit my lips before continuing, "What are your fears?"

Eric stiffened at my question. I sucked in a breath when I realized what I was doing. Stupid, I thought as I watched him awkwardly, He's probably going to murder you for asking that question.

"My fears are quite... common," He tested the word on his lips.

I shot my head up in surprise. He was actually going to tell me his fears.

"I've got eight in total," He cleared his throat slightly, "My first fear is... please don't laugh at me."

I almost laughed at the pleading look on his face. "Why? Is your fear like... of arachnids or something?"

The look he gave me was priceless, "How the fúck did you know?"

"It is?" I laughed loudly, "You're afraid of spiders!"

"Damn it, woman," He hissed, "Keep your fúcking voice down. I don't need you to announce it to the whole damn faction."

I laughed again, still not over the fact that the Big Bad Wolf was afraid of arachnids. Eric glared at me the whole time I was laughing.

"Alright. I'm done." I said breathlessly after a few more laughs and gestured for him to continue.

He shot me a glare, "Really? Do you really think I would spill my fears to you after how you reacted to my first one?" He asked, unimpressed.

 I raised my arms in surrender, well, tried to anyways. "Ahh, shít," I hissed when my arms started to burn from my attempt to hold them up.

Eric immediately went over to me, "See? This is what you get for making fun of me." 

I rolled my eyes as he helped me get back on the bed, "Yeah, yeah. You had your revenge. Now, tell me your other fears,"

He sighed and settled into the bed next to me. I widened my eyes at his action, "What are you doing? Get your butt in the chair," I demanded.

He grumbled from beside me and even had the audacity to push me towards my left, so that he could have more space. "You arse," I hissed, "Make yourself comfortable, why don't you?"

He smiled sarcastically at my remark, "I'm already very comfortable, Lottie. Besides, do you want me to tell you my fears or not?"

I turned to him, careful not to hurt myself, "Of course I want to! Who would miss the opportunity to be able to taunt you?"

He rolled his eyes, "Be quiet, alright? Well, you already know my first uh-fear," I snickered lightly, "My second fear is not being good enough."

I kept silent as I heard him take a deep breath, "Being ex-Erudite, that's already expected of me." He cleared his throat, "Anyway, my third fear is fear of isolation. For me, being alone with no one to talk to isn't so bad, but being completely isolated," He shook his head, "Not my thing."

He shifted on the bed and placed his arms behind his head, "Fourth fear, fear of being laughed at."

I hanged my mouth open, "Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh at you a while ago--"

"Not that kind of laughing," He interrupted me softly, "It's the kind of being laughed at for doing something embarrassing or...something," He trailed off.

"Look, you don't have to tell me," I looked at my hands, "It was stupid if me to ask you that ques--"

"My fifth fear is actually weird," He ignored my comment and laughed slightly, "I was afraid of needles until I gained the courage to get a tattoo."

I watched as he traced the tattoo on his neck, "That was quite the fear." He grinned and turned to look at me, "Sixth fear is the fear of drowning, seventh fear is the fear of being in tight spaces."

He paused for a while, "And last, fear of death. Although I'm quite over it already."

Silence descended on us as we kept our thoughts to ourselves. Several minutes have passed, but neither of us had spoken a word. Eric suddenly sat up and clapped his hands, "That was quite... depressing, don't you think?"

He pulled me up and supported me as we walked to the door. I tugged on his arm, "Where are we going?"

He smiled at me, not a smirk or a small grin, but a real smile, "You said that all they serve you are hamburgers, right?" I nodded hesitantly,

"Well, I'm going to take you to a hamburger-free place."

I followed him out of the door with a smile on my face.