The End

Eight

The water was running and the curtain of the last shower stall was closed, so Mark was still showering. I wasn't completely awake yet so I didn't care about showering at the same time as him. I loudly set my caddy down and pulled back the curtain on the middle stall.

"It's me, so don't freak out. I'm not a zombie or Norman Bates dressed as his mother coming to kill you," I announced.

"Good to know, thanks for the memo," Mark responded.

I heard him leave the bathroom before me, and when I got back to the room, he was dressed in joggers and a t-shirt.

"So it's going to be a lazy day today?" I questioned him.

"It doesn't have to be, I just didn't feel like wearing jeans," he replied.

"Yeah, neither do I. I'm changing." I grabbed sweatpants of my own and hid in the corner of the room with the door of my wardrobe open to block Mark's view.

"What happened to us being adults and just turning around?" I stepped back out into view, now in comfier clothing.

"I don't know. So, have you talked to your friend lately?" I changed the subject.

"Who, Wade? Yeah, we've texted. Things still appear to be safe where they are, so they decided to stay there a bit longer. They'll probably head this way in a few more days."

"Let's check out some of the other rooms, then. They'll need some that haven't been damaged by any zombies," I reminded him.

As we searched through the rooms, I remembered my old floormates. I missed a lot of them, and it was sad to see that some of their rooms had been torn apart. I missed Sam more than anyone, though. Too bad she would probably never come back to her unharmed dorm room...

"Alright, this was the last one. Are you ready to be lazy and watch movies again?" Mark's voice brought me back to reality. I nodded and followed him back to our room. I could feel the temperature inside getting colder along with the weather outside - as Halloween approached, it was getting chillier. I really wished I could properly celebrate Halloween, but it wouldn't be quite the same during this apocalyptic situation - nothing really was.

"Hey, Mark? Do you like horror movies?" I thought out loud as I opened one of my drawers where my "seasonal" movies were located. Horror was a genre that was good for any time of the year, but I didn't have enough space on my desk shelves to display them all and I always watched the most horror in October.

"I love them. Do you have any?"

"Yeah, they just aren't sitting out for the world to see. Which ones sound good to you?" I showed him my collection and his eyes widened. It was difficult for both of us to choose which ones to watch, but we decided we'd start out with the Insidious series and watch the rest throughout the next few weeks.

Mark and I got comfortable on his bed again, this time with blankets to keep us warm until the heater warmed up the room. It had been a while since I'd watched any horror films, and even though I had seen these before, some of the jump scares still got me. They got both of us, actually, which made me feel a little less embarrassed. But there were a few parts that I knew were coming and I hated watching them. I was restless during them and Mark seemed to sense that something was wrong. He did something completely unexpected to comfort me - he reached underneath my blanket and took my hand in his. It was something that a boyfriend would do to make his girlfriend feel better, and yet we had decided not to be anything except for friends. I couldn't stop myself from giving him a puzzled look when he did that, and he let go when I did, as if he thought it bothered me. But the truth was, I liked having him hold my hand. I liked the thought of cuddling with him and kissing him and a million other things. I thought letting our friendship turn into something more would screw things up, and that was the only thing that made me hesitant about letting it be. But I sensed a little pain in his eyes when I looked at him and he pulled away from me, and I knew he was feeling the same way as me. He was just being nice and respecting my wishes to refrain from a relationship, and I didn't want him to do that anymore.

"You know what? Screw it," I decided. He looked bewildered as I spoke, and I'm sure a million thoughts ran through his head as I suddenly kissed him, no longer caring what kind of effect it might have on our situation as roommates in the long run. Our lips fit together perfectly and moved so in sync, but I broke away after hardly any time to explain myself.

"I want you to hold my hand. I want you to kiss me. I don't know how good of an idea it is to let this happen, but I can't deal with it anymore," I told him before pressing my lips against his again. We lost ourselves in that moment, our tongues battling for dominance and eventually, my legs straddling him as he laid back and pulled me down with him. His hands wandered up my sides as we kissed, and after that, he pulled away, as if he was afraid he was moving too fast with me.

"Have we gotten past the part you don't like yet?" he wondered. I glanced behind me at the TV screen and nodded.

"I guess we should probably go back to watching, huh?" I realized. I got off of him and we returned to our previous positions - our backs against pillows, sitting next to each other. But this time, I let him hold my hand underneath the blankets and we sat a little closer.

We didn't exactly say anything about our new status with one another - we simply went about our day, still acting silly and keeping our friendship that we had developed. But before we went to bed that night, he kissed me goodnight instead of saying it from across the room, and he seemed reluctant to pull away and get into his own bed.

Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please vote for it if you did, and let me know what you think in the comments. Thanks for reading :)