A Whole New World | Octavia Blake [1]

Chapter 27

~~~~~~~~unedited~~~~~~~~

"1...2...3, lift!" With tight lips and a grunt, Addison uses all her strength to lift the large log in her hands, backing to where the pile her and Liam have been stacking the fallen debris from the storm. Liam raises a concerned brow, re-situating the log in his grasp effortlessly, "You got it?"

Addison barely moves her head in a short nod, afraid of losing her grip on the log, "Yeah...just move fast. It's starting to slip," she strains out quickly, feeling the logs' moist bark slipping faster from her grip.

"We're almost there," her best friend now says through heavy breaths, taking most of the weight off Addison's end.

They reach the pile just in time for Addison to finally drop the log, a relived breath soon following that escapes between her lips. Thank god..." she gets out, clenching and unclenching the cramping in her hands. "That one was heavier than the last, don't you think?" She asks through heavy breaths, looking at the boy.

Liam wipes the thin layer of sweat from his forehead, looking down at the log he rolled against another. "Yeah, yeah definitely heavier," he agrees with heavy breaths, too. "You should take a break. It looks like you need one," he gestures to her tent with his head.

Addison shakes her head, gathering up her hair, "No, I don't. I need this," she ties her hair off in a somewhat high ponytail, meeting Liam's eyes again.

He can see the mixture of hurt and confusion hidden deep within her brown eyes that speak more than the words she's saying. The way her posture is rigid, indicating something's bothering her. How her eyes bounce around camp with a far off gaze, like she's not even there with him. She needs the distraction away from what's been nagging at her; the carelessness of Octavia's action last night.

Addison understands it was to save Finn, but she was upset at the fact Octavia didn't consider the impact on everyone else if the Grounder didn't crack and give up the antidote. She wouldn't know what to do if that was the outcome.

"Addison..." Liam says softly, watching as her shoulders slump forward when she looks at the dropship across from camp. Her name passes right over her, like the wind blowing through her hair, "Addison."

She slowly turns her attention away from the dropship, hearing her name being sharply snapped at her. "Yeah?"

Liam sighs softly, now gesturing to the dropship with his hands, "Go talk to her." He tells her knowingly, "Because if you keep spacing out with that beat puppy dog look, I'll do it for you. Now, go."

The girl merely nods, facing the dropship with a nervous gulp. Her hands rub together, the sweating of her hands increasing, along with the rapid beating of her heart as she steps closer in Octavia's direction. She reaches the metal ramp and stops, taking a deep breath in attempt to calm her nervous, before slowly walking into the dropship. The raven-haired girl lifts her head from the headrest of the seat, locking eyes with Addison's jittery figure.

"I won't apologize." Octavia says sternly, leaving no indication that she's gonna change her answer.

"I didn't think you would," Addison sighs softly, walking further into the dropship with slow steps.

Octavia waits a few seconds before speaking, her eyes scanning the girl in front of her as she leans forward, "I'm not sorry for what I did," she says to the girl in a slightly softer voice.

The brunette releases a sarcastic breath, shaking her head, "Yeah, well, right before you sliced your arm you told me you were sorry, so..." she trails off, turning her gaze to the outdoors through the archway of the dropship door.