The Reason

Friends

Nikola lay in her bed, eyes wide open as the crickets chirped outside. She couldn't explain the feeling inside her, like some weight was lifted off her chest. She hadn't realized that she could have so much fun, and with the boy who couldn't stand her at first no less. Where had this side of Gally been the whole time? She lifted her sheet to cover her smile. She wasn't falling asleep anytime soon.

The sounds of the bonfire had faded long ago and it made her think. She hadn't ever been outside at night, not alone at least. On any night that wasn't a bonfire night, every one turned in early so they could rise with the sun and get all their chores done in the daylight.

She thought how delightful it would be to walk around alone in a quiet glade and look at the stars, no boys to bug her. Feeling giddy, she put her shoes on and draped her blanket over her shoulders, clutching her pillow in front of her. She went to her door and slowly unlocked it so it wouldn't make a sound.

She tiptoed down the hallway, trying to remember where all the creaky boards were, and then was out the door. She wasn't expecting it to look the way it did and stood frozen for a moment, taking it in. The moon was brighter than expected and somehow made the glade glow blue. She smiled at the otherworldliness of it. The breeze lightly ruffled the grass and trees, carrying the cricket's songs, the only noise to be heard. Her eyes landed on the watchtower and she grinned, looking around for signs of anyone being up, but didn't see anyone.

She took her time crossing the glade, reveling in the freedom and peace, before carefully climbing the tower. She planned to lay up there and watch the stars until she finally felt tired. She set down her pillow and spread her blanket, folding one half over her as she lay down, keeping the breeze off her skin. The stars were shining brighter than she imagined they could. There were more spattered up there than she thought there would be, and it made the sky feel closer, as if the heavens were leaning in to peer back at her.

She looked at the maze walls, blackness lining the tops of each one. There were no lights in the maze or outside of it. There seemed to be no light pollution at all, which meant there were no cities nearby. It suddenly made her feel more alone.

"Nikola?" a whisper drifted through the air almost making her jump out of her skin.

She sat up and saw Gally just peeking over the top of the ladder. He rested his arm on the edge and dropped his forehead down onto it for a second as he took a breath.

"W-what are you doing?" He asked her in a tense whisper when he lifted his head again, his brows drawn together like she hadn't seen them before. "You looked like a shucking ghost or something walking through the glade, you scared the shuck out of me."

She almost laughed at that, giving a small snort before uttering an apology as he came the rest of the way up and sat across from her.

"Do you know how dangerous it is for you to be out here all alone like this?" He asked her, his demeanor so different than it was just a few hours ago. He seemed genuinely upset with her and she felt that weight on her chest return. "What are you doing out here?"

Suddenly the joy and freedom she felt seemed foolish, what she had done was pretty risky. What if someone else had found her up there instead of Gally? She was too ashamed to meet his eyes.

"You're right, this was a dumb idea," she admitted with a shake of her head as she gathered up her pillow.

"Whoa, wait," he raised his hand to stop her. "What were you doing?" he repeated.

She settled back to a sitting position and looked at him briefly. "I just... I couldn't sleep and I thought everyone else would be asleep. I thought it would be safe for me to just walk around and not have to worry about anything or anyone. And I never really had the chance to look at the stars that much."

He ran his hand over his face. "You're lucky I found you and not someone else," he muttered into his palm mostly to himself before sighing. "Well, I couldn't sleep either," the moonlight hid his blush. "So, I'll wait for you down below, you look at the stars for 10 minutes and then I'll get you back to your room."

Nikola couldn't decide if he was being sweet or stingy, she felt like stargazing wasn't something you could put a time limit on.

"Or," she blurted when he started to get up. "You could look at the stars with me?"

Oh lord, had she really just said that? Had she just asked the biggest, toughest guy in the glade to watch the stars with her?

"Alright," he agreed with a sigh as he lay a few feet away from her, putting his hands under his head as he stared up at the sky.

She was shocked he had agreed at all, let alone so quickly and with no argument. She eased back down slowly as if she might spook him. She looked at the stars again now believing they had some hand in this turn of events. For a while her own heart beat drowned out the sounds of the crickets and the breeze, her mind blaring a single message. GALLY IS LAYING BESIDE YOU! It was like some kind of proximity alert that wouldn't shut up. Even though she was freaking out a bit, it wasn't like she felt unsafe, which was weird. She figured even Chuck was probably stronger than her, so why wasn't she worried about the strongest boy being close to her alone in the dark? Was it because she knew him well enough to know he wouldn't do anything at all? Or because she wouldn't mind it if he did do something?

That thought caused her the most concern as her eyes widened, sharing a desperate look with the sky about what the heck was going on. She couldn't have- no of course not. It had only been a month, right? She glanced over at Gally carefully. His brows were still furrowed. His skin was bathed in that blue glow of moonlight, his freckles appearing a shade darker, almost matching the constellations in the sky. Could she have-?

"Why did you say I was nice?" He blurted out of nowhere startling her out of her wild thoughts.

"Uh, what?" She tried to get her mind to focus on reality again and figure out what he was talking about.

"With Newt and Minho. You said I was nice, and I know I'm not. Especially not to you," He said to the sky, mumbling the last part with a bit of shame and regret.

"Well, eh, ye-" she made a series of unsure noises, the answer not being so simple. "Look," she finally settled as she also looked back at the sky to make this conversation easier. "I know that this whole ecosystem here takes a lot of maintenance to keep it from collapsing into anarchy, and my arrival really threw a wrench in it. I get that. And you were right, I'm a distraction and I require a lot of accommodation-"

"But that's not your fault, you didn't ask to be here," He pointed out.

"Oh, you realize that now?" She blurted with a smile. "Thank you. I was waiting to see how long that took," she teased him.

"Slim it," She heard him chuckle and looked over so she wouldn't miss the smile on his face.

"But seriously, I do think you're nice," she went on. "You may not have been thrilled with me at first but at least you never proclaimed your undying love for me or threatened to join in me in the shower sometime or acted like everything I did was just fine before going back and fixing it all later. When you talk to me it's like it's not even an issue that I'm a girl, I'm just a person. You teach me what to do, and then you either tell me I did a good job or that I'm doing it absolutely wrong and 'pay attention this time,'" she tried to imitate his teaching style and got another chuckle from him that she couldn't miss.

"Your standards of nice are so low," he commented with a smile, making her giggle as well. The weight was off her chest again, feeling lighter than ever.

"But we get along now, right?" she asked hopefully. "We're friends?"

He turned and looked over at her. Her blue eyes seemed black in the darkness, catching the reflection of the moon. He swallowed as his heart hammered against his ribs. "Yeah. We're friends."