Natural Disaster

Chapter 3

Launa woke slowly, squinting against the sun that filtered into the room and groaning. Ugh, she hated mornings. She reached to her left for her nightstand to grapple for her phone, only to have her arm swing into something warm and snoring. She yelped when she made contact with it and sat up, eyes wide, horribly confused as to why there was a man in her bed. It hit her, after a moment- the memory of everything that had happened. The earthquake, the fear, being pinned under the building and getting help from a man named Avi- who was currently snoring softly with his back to her- and then raiding the town for supplies. And the bodies of the other stragglers. Launa nearly heaved at the memory.

Jesus, she thought, rubbing her face and smushing her cheeks, I have some seen some shit.She stood to readjust her jeans that had been twisted in the night, cringing slightly at the thought of having slept in someone else’s bed- but what could they have done? They’d squabbled a little, both insisting that the other take the bed and refusing to sleep in separate rooms, both wanting to watch the other’s back- but really, they were too scared to be alone, but neither would admit it. So, they ended up here, back to back in the master bedroom of the house, talking quietly before drifting off.

Launa stretched and cracked her spine, looking back at him, admiring the way his curls fanned out over the pillow. She allowed herself a small smile before snapping her focus back to the situation. You need to not do that, kid, she berated herself, Ragnarok waits for no one- especially little girls with crushes. She sighed as her stomach growled. Ugh, food.

She knelt beside her bag, digging through it to find something resembling breakfast. “Score.” she murmured, pulling out a can of Spaghetti-o’s and dashed down the stairs to see if the microwave would work. As luck would have it, it did- she thanked the universe for being kind to her, thus far- and she heated it up in a little bowl she found and quickly dug through the cabinets in an attempt to find coffee.

"Coffee," she sang under her breath, "Coffee coffee coffee coffee. Where are you, coffee?" She groaned. There wasn’t a single ground or bean in sight. Not even a coffee machine. "Okay, how about caffeinated tea?"

A monstrous yawn from the stairs behind her made her jump. She whirled around, a spoon in her hand, and found Avi standing there, ruffling his hair and squinting at her. “‘Morning,” he mumbled, “You raiding their cabinets, too?”

"I’m looking for something caffeinated," she explained, blushing at his accusation- however true it may be, "coffee, tea… caffeine pills…"

The corners of his mouth dropped and a deep furrow appeared between his eyebrows. “Ugh, I hate coffee.”

Launa gasped dramatically and mimed clutching her pearls. “You hate coffee?” he nodded, the comical frown still etched into his features. She pointed to the door. “Get out, we can’t be friends.”

He just laughed at her and glanced at the microwave. “How the hell is the electricity still working?” he wondered, “I thought all the power lines went down.”

"I’m not gonna ask, and I’m not gonna complain," she said, opening the microwave door before it beeped, "I just know that if we’re Sam and Frodo-ing it to Cali, it’s not always gonna be this easy. Spaghetti-o’s?" She offered the bowl to him.

Avi shrugged. “Sure. Is there another can?”

She simply handed him the bowl and spoon, opting to give him the stuff already prepared and went to fetch herself another. As she was heating it up, he sat at small table in the kitchen. “Mmm,” he hummed, “Tomato sauce and floppy, shaped spaghetti that smells like vomit. The breakfast of champions.”

Launa made a disgusted noise. “You sound like my mother.”

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"