Fallout: Born Unto Trouble

2. Rare Occurrences

Gloria rushed home as soon as her father let her have a break for lunch, almost knocking Amata over in her hurry.

"Woah, hey, what's the rush?" Amata laughed and Gloria caught herself on a metal beam at her side, her hands jittery with excitement and a look in her eyes that gave them life.

Gloria held up the taser after checking to make sure no one else was around, and Amata stepped back on instinct, "I hope you're not going to use than on anyone."

"Geez, you have so much faith in me," Gloria smiled.

Gloria smiled, Amata realized, and her heartrate began to race as she flushed. Shit, she always did blushed when she smiled.

It was a rare occurrence, and everything other than a permanent frown burned into Amata's memory to treasure forever.

She looked beautiful as she grabbed her hand, slightly sweaty and she could feel the other's heartbeat race, too, as Gloria led Amata to her home and set the taser at her desk, locked her bedroom door, and closed the curtains.

"Why do you need a taser anyway? You could get in trouble-"

"I've been busted for less, trust me. I need it to finish the gun I was showing you yesterday," She glanced over her shoulder at Amata, flicking on the desk light and removing her glasses to get a closer look at the taser.

"Hey, so, um... do you want to help me out?"

Amata tried not to blush. The way Gloria's eye shined was something she hadn't seen in a long, long time. "S- sure," She stuttered out.

"Awesome, take a seat," Gloria sat in her desk chair and Amata dragged the extra chair up next to her and sat down.

"Okay, well, give me the screwdriver."

Amata picked up one of the two lying next to each other, giving her girlfriend a confused look, and she laughed, "No, the flat one."

She picked up the other one and handed it to Gloria. Gloria took it out and unscrewed something on it, and a flap opened up.

"Okay, there's a magnifying glass under my bed, can you get it for me?"

Amata nodded, then laid down on the floor to look under her bed.

There were a ton of boxes, so she had to dig through them. She didn't mind too much, but Gloria still apologized about the mess.

They sat in silence while Gloria tinkered with her gun, trying to connect the taser to her already established gun and make actually work. She set the taser down and bit her lip, then pushed her bangs back and leaned back in her chair. Amata looked up from her desk and into her girlfriend's eyes.

"It's been a while since I've... you know... not wanted to—No, never mind. Sorry," She shook her head and continued working, accidentally shocking herself on something, cursing and waving her hand in the air to numb the pain.

"What were you going to say?" Amata knew full well it was something along the lines of "I don't want to kill myself" which was probably a strange and foreign thing for her to think, let alone say. Amata bushed a few strands of Gloria's hair out of her face and brushed the back of her fingers against her acne-covered cheek. Gloria froze from the contact, gripping her pliers tightly and trying not to flinch away.

"Amata," Gloria placed her tools to the side and faced her girlfriend, gulping and biting the inside of her lip, "Do you, um, are you, uh..." She sighed, "Do you really want to be with me?"

"What do you mean?"

"I- I'm me, and you're you! You shouldn't be wasting your time with me-"