Louis
This isn’t happening right now. Time seemed to decelerate as my pulse quickened. The encaged canary that was my heart banged furiously against my ribcage and I could feel my palms growing clammy. All our problems were forgotten in that short moment and the entirety of my thoughts had evaporated into fog. She was first to pull away, a coy smirk evident in her expression. I was positive I had flushed redder than a beetroot, whereas Leila appeared somewhat unfazed from the incident that had just occurred. I was unsure how I felt about that.
“Well…” she began after a long moment of undisturbed silence, “That was unexpected”.
I smiled shyly, rocking on the balls of my feet. I’ve never, ever done anything as spontaneous as that before, but the adrenaline seemed to eclipse every logical thought in my mind.
I didn't realize that I felt that way about her before – let alone the raw intensity of it – until that screaming match we had just exchanged. I didn’t realize until it was too late.
Too late.
The minute that phrase rung in my ears, all our problems returned in an instant, subsequently causing me to grow nauseous.
“Leila, what are we going to do?” I was pretty sure she knew what I was referring to. My premonition came to fruition when she let out a long sigh, followed by the click of her tongue. How can she be so casual about this?
“Well you know what I want you to do”.
No. I know what she is insinuating, and it is absolutely, positively never going to happen. I will die before that happens. “I'm not doing it, Leila,” I was proud at how stern I sounded.
“I'll just do it myself then. I mean, obviously I'd prefer for you to, but if you're gonna be so–”
“No. I'm not going to let you. Especially when there is still a possibility that we could get the cure in time”.
“Listen, Stripes–”
“You're not going near a single gun unless it is to kill a Breather and that is final. End of conversation. Understand?”
It was clear she was stunned as her mouth clamped shut. She cleared her throat before speaking. “Wow, I like this new dominating Stripes. You've changed a lot since I first met you – grown a pair of balls, I see,” she joked. As much as I tried, I couldn't bring myself to smile. All I saw in my mind was the bite on her arm slowly spreading, the infection entering her DNA, the gradual process of her body shutting down before my very eyes.
Stop it, Louis. You're not doing yourself any favours by picturing that.
“Leila, I'm not going to let this happen to you. I mean it. You're going to be okay,” I hoped my voice sounded more sure than I felt.
She pursed her lips, averting her gaze from me. “Whatever you say, Stripes,” she paused, “Anyway, there's nothing we can do about it now. Let's just get some sleep and we can start heading to the lab early tomorrow morning”.
I nodded slowly. “Okay”. My eyes were unable to tear away from the teeth marks punctured into her once-smooth flesh.
She followed my gaze and exhaled loudly. “I'll go patch this up again”.
As she headed towards the Jeep to retrieve the bag filled with medical supplies, I ripped my shirt off over my head and discarded it carelessly onto the ground beside me. I returned to the position I was previously in on the blanket with my hands behind my head.
I repeated the plan over and over again in my mind. We get up tomorrow, head to the lab and we'll most likely get there within a few days. We'll inject Leila with the antidote and everything will be alright. It has to be. It all turns out okay in the end, right?
My racing mind halted along with the beating of my heart when Leila lay down beside me. She kept her distance, as usual, and I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around her and hold on tightly, but I know she hates it. My fingertips itched and I found them subconsciously inching towards her before I had to retract them. She rolled over so her back was facing me.
“Night, Stripes,” I heard her mumble.
“I love you”. For God's sake, Louis, why did you say that? I mentally slapped myself in the face and dreaded her response, waiting for the mocking laughter or sarcastic remark. After all, that's all that can be expected of Leila half the time. She was like snow: beautiful but so, so cold.
“How?”
My eyebrows pinched together at her sudden response. “What do you mean?”
She turned to face me, leaning up on her elbow. “How? How could you possibly love me? What is there to love about me?” Her voice was coloured with self-loathing. It caused my heart to rip at the seams for her.
“What are you talking about?” I shook my head slowly in perplexedly.
She sighed loudly, sitting up. “Oh, come off it, Stripes! Look at me! I'm rude, I'm bitter, I'm sarcastic, I'm an absolute bitch–”
“You are. You are, without a doubt, the biggest bitch I know,” I agreed, nodding. I cautiously lifted my hand, extending it forward to hesitantly tuck a stray tendril behind her ear. She flinched at the contact but didn't recoil away or punch me in the face. “You are all of the above. But, with that being said, you are also strong, you are brave, you are honest and you are Leila Grey. And I am in love with you”.
She chuckled breathlessly as her gaze flickered from the ground to return to my eyes. We were both kneeling now, the proximity between us slimming. The moonlight cast shadows onto the right side of her face, sculpting the sharpness of the cupids bow of her lip and her arched brow. Her skin glowed a healthy bronze and even without a slap of makeup on her face, she was, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful women I have ever encountered in my twenty-one years of life. I wasn't sure if it was because of the goggles of infatuation I was wearing that made me see her as so positively stunning, or if she genuinely was, but either way I didn't care. That was how I saw her and I highly doubted that was going to change any time soon.
“I suppose I hate you less than most people,” she smiled softly, resting her palms on her knees. I subtly eyed the white bandage wrapped around her arm.
“That's as good as it's gonna get, isn't it,” I laughed lowly.
“You know it, Stripes,” she smirked amusedly, leaning forward to pepper a soft kiss onto the corner of my mouth. Her hand reached up to cup the side of my face gently, proceeding to slap my cheek multiple times until I backed away. Blinking profusely to recover from my daze, I opened my eyes to watch her giggling at my reaction. She looked pretty. “Now come on, get your ass to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow and if you're not up, I'll drive off without you”.
I couldn't even tell if she was joking or not, but either way, the next moment I found our arms and legs tangled in a collective mess of limbs as we escaped from the harsh reality we were enduring together underneath the stars.
YOU ARE READING
Gory Glory // l.t au
Fanfic"Please tell me what's going on," I didn't bother to hide the pleading tone in my words. I was desperate and terrified. "Let me enlighten you," she began, extending her hand out for me to shake. "Hi, I'm Leila Grey, and this is the end of the world"...
