killshot | simon riley ✓

• Chapter 31 •

In the next two months after his departure, Rora tried her best to stay in contact with him and the whole squad.

Alejandro called her every Saturday night, checking up on her. Sometimes Rudy was with him and the three of them talked for a good bit, but the time zones really fucked them up.

Price visited her in New York whenever he could, which wasn't that often. Maybe once every three months. But in those times, she felt like he was her only family left. But Price was very proud of his little flower for surviving all of this, and mostly, for sticking to the physical therapy sessions. All of them knew that her recovery was going to be like walking to hell and back, especially knowing that she had the attention span and patience of a watermelon.

Gaz sent her memes and funny videos every few days, whenever he had a few minutes to spare at her. The 90% of their conversations consisted of memes, the rest asking about each other's well-being. Kyle was like her favorite cousin, and she still had the dog plushie he gave her on her bed.

And in Rora Wells's life, a lot of things were considered annoying. Monday mornings, weirdly slow pedestrians, the people that managed to mispronounce her name, and when she couldn't find that one piece of clothing she had in mind.

But Soap was a different kind of annoyance in her life. He grabbed every chance to contact her, his preferred way being video chat. Sometimes she just got random calls from him in the middle of the night, while he held some practice for the rookies.

„Why the hell are you calling me at 2:30 in the morning, MacTavish?" she groaned out, shielding her eyes from the brightness of her phone. Where he was, the sun was beaming down at him so brightly she could almost feel its heat.

„The rookies are doing some push-ups and got bored," he replied casually, showing the new recruits over his shoulder. She saw a good handful of younger recruits doing push-ups like their life depended on it. „They are weak, Wellsy. You could beat them up without breaking a sweat."

Or some other time, when she was just getting ready to make some dinner, he called again.

„Soap, I can't fucking understand you!" she yelled in annoyance, the urge to strangle him growing by each minute.

„Price will shoot my bloody arse if I stop!" Soap's words came through his heavy breathing, he and a few other soldiers were in the middle of some terrain running. „We haven't talked in days, lass! Still no date yet?"

She frowned at him, getting annoyed by the fact she lied to him previously that she tried to get herself out there, trying to find a man. But the only man her heart wanted didn't seem to get out of her head.

„I'll be her date!" a random voice called from behind him, and Soap stopped abruptly. Her face heated up from embarrassment, continuing to cut up some cucumbers for her salad.

The camera shook in Soap's hand, there were a few hurried footsteps, then a pained groan errupted from his end. She knew him well enough to recognize it wasn't his voice. In no time he came back in the frame, a satisfied grin etched on his face. She caught a glimpse of a random soldier she have never seen before hunched over behind him.

„So?"

„Nope," Rora popped her lips, the bitter aftertaste of her words causing her to frown.

By that time, it was already a year later since she said her goodbyes to Simon. Despite her best efforts, she just couldn't get ahold of him, and after three months passed with each of her attempts getting ignored, she gave up. He obviously didn't want to hear from her, so she didn't bother with it anymore.

It was her birthday when Soap called again. This time, there were no suffering rookies in the background, no running around in the desert, and no drunk soldiers around him making noise. It seemed like he was in the back garden of some house, with a very peaceful vibe to it.