ALPHA STRIKE |rooster x oc|

chapter 23- not eating

The sun peaked just above the distant waves. Clarke's stomach churned as she saw the light streaming into the sleeping quarters through the few small portholes. She had barely slept, her mind continuing to run a million miles a minute. Every time she closed her eyes all she could see were visions of the mission ending badly. Nothing could stop it. So instead of sleeping, or even crying, she stared out the window all night. She heard rustling in the bed next to her and turned to see Phoenix sitting up. She turned so they faced each other. Neither of them said anything for a long while. A distant ringing signaling breakfast broke the silence. 

"I'm definitely not eating today. I don't need everyone on board to see me puke my guts out when you guys leave." Clarke thought aloud. Phoenix let out a small laugh.

"Me neither. I don't need to have up-chuck all over my stick after the climb out." 

"Coffee then?" Clarke offered. Phoenix nodded in agreement. They slowly pulled on clothes and shoes before leaving. As the door opened a waiting Rooster pushed off the wall and joined them.

"You sleep?" he asked when he noticed Clarke's red, puffy face.

"What do you think?" she said with a small shoulder shove as they walked. "We decided it's definitely a coffee morning."

"But no food," Phoenix added. Rooster looked confused at Clarke, but he understood when she put one hand on her stomach and used the other to cover her mouth. They entered the room and saw the rest of the group eating. 

"Well, I actually need food. I'll meet you guys at the table." Rooster said before turning toward the food, leaving the girls. They filled their cups and saw empty seats by Bob and Fanboy. As they sat down both boys were shoveling food into their mouths. Clarke tried to keep a poker face, but the disgusted smirk caught Fanboy's eye.

"What? You don't like oatmeal?" he asked with a mouthful of oatmeal and toast.

"Not today," she answered before taking a sip. Her and Phoenix both focused on their coffees as Rooster joined them. He also began inhaling his food, mixing together oatmeal, toast with jam, eggs with ketchup, and coffee. It had all combined on his plate and quickly turned to a gray color with streaks of red from the ketchup. "How are you eating that? Just looking at it is making me sick." By the time she asked the question he was half way done.

"Did you forget that I will eat literally anything if it's drenched in enough ketchup? It's also early and I'm starving when I first wake up." he said it like it was obvious, which to Clarke it should have been . She just shook her head and continued sipping on her coffee. 

After eating they only had an hour to get ready for the mission. Rooster promised to change quickly so he could be with Clarke. He knew how much she hated being here, but that she would be so much more upset if she was stuck at home. Phoenix was pushing pins into her hair when she looked through the mirror and saw Clarke sitting on her bed, knees pulled up to her chest. Clarke had changed rather quickly. Phoenix quickly finished her hair and then joined Clarke.

"What's on your mind?" she asked, like it was a simple question. Clarke's head slowly turned to face her friend, tears brimming in her eyes.

"If I talk about it I'll cry," she gave a half laugh. "I'll probably cry just thinking about it any longer." She took a deep, shaky breath, but the tears fell anyway. "I just keep thinking of every possible bad ending. I really don't see how this can end good. I know that it will all be fine, my dad is like invincible, I swear. Every admiral would agree that it's almost annoying how he won't just die already. And Rooster will outlive me out of spite, Blair will kill us both if we die before her. She always says she has to die first so she won't have to live without us. You're too stubborn, in every freaking way possible, to die." Both girls chuckled. 

"The guys would be giving you so much shit if they could see you right now, you know?" Phoenix said.

"Ugh, I know. I'm being such a girl about everything. God, I sounded like Payback! Always telling me to 'stop being such a girl about it'. They'll be the death of us."

"They really will. It's like babysitting, but worse- we have to deal with flying a damn plane at the same time." This sent them into a fit of laughs, and soon the tears were from that rather than the crying. A knock at the door interrupted the giggles, both of them gasping since they knew who it was. They both ran to the door and pulled Rooster in.

"What are we laughing about?" he asked, almost hesitantly.

"About how you all are too stubborn to die today!"