Unexpected

chapter thirteen: issues

A pair of feet softly land on the ground beside Elara, waking the light sleeper up, and she pops her head out to see someone leaving. She glances at Echo, who's sound asleep just like the others, and sighs as she slips out of the bed.

She notices that Fives's bed is empty and quietly leaves the room. Lucky for her, she catches Fives turn a corner and follows as quickly as she can. The only wound still healing is the hole in her side, though the pain is significantly less.

"Fives." She whispers as she gets closer. Where on Grange could he be going at this hour, she wonders. "Fives!" She repeats.

He turns to face her at the sound of his name and furrows his eyebrows. "What are you doing out here?"

"I should be asking you that." She says, stopping to catch her breath once she reaches him. He looks away to avoid her gaze and she raises an eyebrow. "What's going on?" She asks but he doesn't answer. "Is this because of your.. Issue?"

Fives clenches his jaw as he looks down at her. "I don't have an issue."

"Then why did-?"

"It was an excuse to get rid of Echo and talk to Kix alone." He states. "So that I could bring you more pills without Echo knowing."

Elara's eyes widen slightly.
"Still, you couldn't come up with anything else?"

Fives clenches his fists at his sides. "Kix came up with it to get back at me." He whispers angrily.

"Clearly it's working." Elara sighs to herself. "If it bothers you that much, just prove that you don't have any issues."

"Right." Fives laughs. "And how am I supposed to do that?"

Elara shrugs. "There's plenty of girls at 79's. Bring one back with you." She suggests. "If you keep them up all night with that, they'll have no reason to believe Kix's lie."

Fives has to admit, it's a good idea. He'd never expect something like that to be suggested by Elara.

"The night is still young." Elara smiles. "C'mon."

Fives raises an eyebrow as he follows her. "Why are you helping me?" He asks.

"Because you helped me." She says. "Plus I kinda feel like it's my fault that this started in the first place."

Fives doesn't buy the excuse but he shrugs it off. "It is your fault."

Elara suppresses her laugh as they approach the hangar. Her reason for helping Fives wasn't completely a lie, though it's mostly to get him to stop bothering her. The sun is definitely long gone, but it's only about 11pm. They jump onto a speeder and head to 79's.

*

"I bet you hear that a lot." The rodian man says, referring to his compliment of the girl's eyes.

"Too much." Elara takes a swig of her drink. She has to admit, the alcohol does help numb the pain that she's in. Chasing after Fives and piloting the speeder definitely didn't do her any good.

"What do you say we get out of here?" The rodian suggests.

"Maybe just you should get out of here." Another voice interrupts as the rodian is pulled away.

Elara turns her head to find the familiar '5' tattoo and rolls her eyes as she turns back to the bar. "Couldn't find anyone willing to put up with you?" She asks.

It was her idea to come here to help Fives solve his problem with his brothers, but after the first hour she got bored and now she's just miserable.

"More like I can't find anyone worth my time." Fives says, making Elara laugh. "Let me buy you a drink." Fives leans closer to speak, sending chills down her neck.

Elara turns to face at him, knowing that he won't leave her alone judging by the look in his eyes. "Fine." She agrees. "Just one."

Fives nods and makes a gesture to the bartender. He hands Elara a glass of spotchka as he holds his own. Once their glasses are empty, they head back to the barracks. Neither of them drank much, only having two or three drinks, so they're only a bit tipsy.

"Maybe this didn't work for you because you do actually have an issue." Elara teases as they jump off of the speeder.

Fives glares at her. "I do not have an issue." He huffs.

"Relax, di'kut." She furrows her eyebrows at him. "I'm just teasing you."

"You do plenty of that as it is." Fives mumbles but Elara catches it.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She crosses her arms. Fives just rolls his eyes at her. "What's the big deal if your brothers tease you anyway, isn't that what you guys do?"

"Not like this." Fives points.

Now Elara rolls her eyes. "But if you weren't the subject of the joke, you'd be laughing with them." She points.

Fives shakes his head as they continue to walk.

"Y'know, you think you're so big and bad but you're really just an arrogant shabuir." Elara huffs.

Fives freezes. Ever since the first time she muttered that word months ago, it's had an affect on him. "A shabuir?" He asks. "And what makes me such a terrible jerk?"

Elara glares up at him.

"We both know what happened wasn't my fault." He steps closer to her. "Part of me thinks you're trying to convince yourself otherwise because you're.. Scared."

"Scared?" She scoffs.

"Scared of the way you feel about me." He glances down at her as she furrows her eyebrows. "You can't deny it. I see it in the way you look at me." He brushes her cheek with the back of his fingers.

Her hand reaches up to wrap around his wrist and she pulls his hand away from her face. "Touch me again, and I'll make sure that those rumored issues of yours become a reality."

Fives smiles, knowing that he's getting to her. "The truth will come out eventually, cyar'ika."

Elara pushes his hand away as she lets go of his wrist and turns on her heels in the hangar's direction. Fives sighs, rubbing his wrist as he watches her walk away.

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Author's Note:

We're finally getting closer to knowing why Elara hates Fives so much! I hope you're as excited to find out as I am to reveal it.

Anyway, I hope you're all enjoying the story!