❝relying on the kindness of strangers, you will be forgiven❞
IRIS AND JEM HAD BEEN IGNORING EACH OTHER FOR OVER A WEEK. Ever since their hands brushed, it had freaked both of them out. She would not even go near the Slicer Hut because she was scared that she was going to run into him. He always sent other guys to get bandages from her so that he did not have to find her to fix him up. Winston assumed that this was just their regular bickering and did not really notice anything off.
She finally got a note from Winston that asked her to bring over some bandages to store in the Slicer Hut if she had some to spare. Jeff and Clint were busy with patients, so she decided that she needed to man the hell up. It was just Jem. What was he going to do? She might not even see him there.
She knocked on the door, and there was some shuffling before it swung open. She froze when she saw who answered it. The boy on the other side paused as well, his eyes widening at the sight of her. She expected him to ask what she was doing there or tell her to go away, but instead, he greeted, "Oh, hey."
"Hey, um, is Winston here?" she questioned, wanting to give him the supplies and then leave. She had to go to lunch as well, and she really did not feel like spending any more awkward words with the boy.
"He and the other guys just headed to lunch. I'm finishing up some cleaning," he informed him, and he propped the door open with a chair and stepped back inside. She furrowed her eyebrows at the action but stepped inside nonetheless. She had expected it to be a quick job, but he was acting like she was supposed to come in. While he was washing his hands, he glanced back at her, "What do you need?"
She was taken aback by the lack of sarcastic words coming out of his mouth. She leaned against one of the counters, and she reached into her bag to show him the kit that she made up. She obviously had the bandages, but she threw in some of the herbs they used to prevent infections and stuff. "He just wanted me to drop some of these off, said he didn't need someone walking all the way over to my hut for a tiny cut."
"Yeah, makes sense. I'll take those. Let me just—" he said, cutting himself off as he walked over to her in the small Hut. Most of the work was done outside, so there was barely a need for more space inside. She was going to move out of the way, but he placed one hand on the counter next to her hip and used the other to reach past her head and grab a towel.
She was trapped there, and he did not even notice the proximity until he grabbed what he needed. When he looked down and saw her nose an inch away from his, his breath hitched in his throat. He was so flustered that he could not even move as she stared up at him with her wide, hazel eyes.
The counter was pressing into her back, but that was the last thing that her mind was on. All she could think about was his hot breath fanning across her lips and his eyes searching hers. There was a moment when she swore that their noses touched, but she might have imagined it.
All of a sudden, the door swung open, and the two jumped apart. Jem flew to the other side of the Hut, and Iris was honestly impressed because she had never seen anyone move that fast. She looked down at the ground and tried not to look suspicious. There was no reason to because nothing just happened.
Winston stepped inside the room, and he looked shocked to see the two standing there, acting so civil. He raised his eyebrows at them. "Man, you guys are alone in a room and didn't kill each other. It's a miracle."
《 ✢ 》
SINCE IT WAS NOT EXCRUCIATINGLY HOT, A LOT OF PEOPLE DECIDED TO EAT DINNER OUTSIDE. Iris was sat on a log, facing Minho who was sitting on another one, across from her. They had both been so busy the previous few days and had not had a lot of time to catch up. Minho took a huge bite out of the piece of chicken that he had and grumbled out, "There's a new Greenie coming up tomorrow."
"Has it really already been a month?" she questioned, her eyes widening. She had barely even seen this Chuck kid, and now, they were getting someone new to train. God, she hoped that whoever they were, they were not difficult. She hated the people that came up and just started problems.
He shrugged, and she wondered why a month went by so much for her. She realized that she spent a good chunk of it just ignoring Jem, which was interesting. She did not dwell on it for too long, though. Minho smiled. "Time flies when you're having fun."
"Is this what we're calling fun now?" she asked him with raised eyebrows. She gestured to all of the gear that he still had on and never seemed to take off. She was never a huge fan of running, and she wondered how people did it for the entire day. Plus, they had to memorize a bunch of twists and turns and not get lost. She would be screwed if she were a Runner. "Maybe you'll have a new Runner friend."
"God, I hope so. Ben's been acting a little weird, and I can't stand Jamie," he groaned out. Iris did not blame him. Jamie might be the most annoying kid in the Glade — well, aside from Jem. He was amazing at his job, though, but so was Minho. He wasn't an ass.
She tilted her head at her friend in question, remembering what she was thinking about earlier. She had hardly ever seen the young Greenie wandering around, so she assumed that that meant that they had found him a job somewhere. "Did that Chuck kid ever find a job?"
"i think Newt got him to be a Gardener," Minho answered.
"That makes sense," she sighed, and despite the fact that she felt bad for the kid, the last thing that they needed was more Gardeners. She knew that the crops were extremely important, but there were more Gardeners than anything. "It's probably the least violent of the jobs."
The Runner breathed out, taking another chunk off of the drumstick that he was holding. She rolled her eyes at his animosity and scooped some potatoes into her mouth as he replied, "Poor kid. I bet he's still terrified."
"Hopefully the new one is older and has some common sense," she said because she hated playing babysitter. She had yet to do so for Chuck, but if they started sending up too many younger kids, it was only a matter of time.
"Yeah, hopefully," Minho responded, but he seemed distracted. He was looking behind her, and she furrowed her eyebrows at him, wondering what he was looking at. Once he noticed her confusion, he explained, "Sorry, but I can't help but notice that Jem is looking at me like I just killed his cat."
She scoffed, still unsure as to what he was speaking of. "What are you talking about?"
"Look," he told her, pointing behind her. She turned her torso around so that she could see, and she immediately knew what he meant. Her eyes landed on Jem, who was glaring right at them. Once he realized that he had been caught, he turned his head back to Gally.
She rolled her eyes, knowing that it was probably something stupid, like she said thank you too much or that Frypan gave her an extra serving of potatoes. "He's probably just mad at me for something I didn't do."
"I don't know. He's been acting weird about you lately," Minho informed her. She tilted her head at him in question, and he elaborated, commenting on a couple of things that he had noticed about the Slicer boy recently. "He looks up whenever anyone says your name, and I see him staring at you a lot."
"Weird," she answered simply, but their interaction from that morning came to mind as Minho was talking. She quickly shook it off because it was probably nothing, but the memory of their faces so close lingered in the back of her brain.