Left Behind -Gally-

Chapter 21

"I know Gally, plenty, actually." Emma tilted her chin up, not backing down as she normally did when Jordan crowded her. Something brewed in her stomach, a primal desire to protect Gally from Jordan's harsh words against him. "I get everyone else is too scared to approach him, but I'm not." Aggressively, she ripped her arm from his grasp. "And I've told you to stop before. I'm not going to say it again." Jordan stared at her blankly, almost shocked by her outburst against him. Although, Emma wouldn't call it much of an outburst. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I'm going to talk to Gally. Go find someone else to bother."

Without waiting for his response, Emma was on the move. She should have regretted her harsh words to Jordan, but for some reason, she didn't. Telling him off was oddly rewarding. He had been bothering her for weeks and hadn't gotten the hint. Maybe he finally would.

Shaking off the encounter, she slowly approached Gally. Emma made sure to take gentle steps, not wanting to alert him to her presence just yet. Gally had stopped pacing and was hunched back over the table. His fingers gripped the edge so tight the knuckles were white. His jaw was clenched, and the flush on his neck went to his ears and cheeks. Luckily, his eyes were screwed close as he tried to steady his breathing.

Emma felt a frown pull at her lips at the sight of him. It wasn't just anger but pure frustration. His body was tense. She concluded quickly that she didn't like seeing him this way. "Gally," she addressed him carefully. "Everything all right?" Gally's entire body tensed further. Emma felt a jolt of panic, fearing she was overstepping. Maybe Gally needed alone time to decompress.

"Fine," he gritted. By now, he had opened his eyes but refused to meet her gaze. If anything, it seemed like he was trying to hide his expression from her.

Glancing down at the table, she noticed several different things—pieces of broken wood and shattered, rusted nails. There were scattered pages of paper with dozens of pen marks—scratching things out and different notes in various colors. "Well, that's clearly not the case." Emma decided to be bold. There was no sense in beating around the bush. That wouldn't work, not with Gally. "What's going on?" Taking a risk, she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. She let it slide down his arm, nails grazing against his warm skin.

The action caused all of the tension to leave his body at once. She felt rather than saw him lean into her touch. It wasn't much, but it was just enough to be noticeable.

Gally took a minute to gather his thoughts. His breathing slowly evened out, and he managed to drop his head forward. Emma kept her hand on his arm, nails trailing up and down. Finally, he spoke. "Everyone's an idiot," he said lowly. "Everyone is a Shucking idiot except for me."

It wasn't the response she was expecting, and it surprised her. Emma couldn't help the laugh that escaped her, short and sweet. It wasn't condescending. Simply full of surprise. Her hand fell to her side limply. Gally glanced at her, feeling a smile of his own appear. "Okay," Emma said. "I'll bite. Why is everyone besides you an idiot?"

There's a fondness in her expression, something that Gally's always been familiar with. He's seen her look at many things that way, including him. He finds himself liking when she looks at him like that. "The other Builders don't know Klunk. Can't do Shucking anything right." Gally found himself venting out his frustrations without question. Any other time, he would find the level of trust between them terrifying, but right now, his mind is jumbled. "All of the measurements they did are wrong. I have to redo them myself, again. I have to repair everything broken in the Glade because nobody else can be trusted to do it right on their own. On top of that, Alby asked for two new benches. They made chairs. Shucking chairs!" He took a deep breath. "And now I have to do it. Fix the mess everyone else made." The last part was muttered under his breath.