Apocalypse Survival Guide ✷ Joel Dawson ✓

𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍: Give Away Your Lipstick

- ˏˋ  ✎  [STEP SEVEN: Give Away Your Lipstick] ˊˎ -

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

The group spent the next couple of days teaching Joel everything they knew about survival. Granted, he always had Liz by his side to help him get out of potentially fatal situations, however, it was beneficial for Joel to learn how to fend for himself too, given the fact that Liz had literally fallen into a sand-gobblers nest and Joel was pretty much no good when it came to helping her back up. If she were to die in there that day, Joel probably would've too.

Joel had finally perfected his aim with a crossbow, upped his physical ability as a whole, and learnt the rules for survival in the Apocalypse over the past few days. The most difficult one for him to adhere to was 'never both', for sure, but he was certain that he was getting better at it. Needless to say, though, he was exhausted, as was everyone else.

"You know," Minnow began, as she and Liz marched through the forest path hand-in-hand, "I think Joel is in love with you."

Liz's cheeks heated up as her eyes widened at the little girl in utter bewilderment, pausing in her tracks and whipping out her hand out to bring Minnow to a halt too. She stole a quick glance over her shoulder to ensure that Joel didn't hear what Minnow had just said, and luckily, he was talking to Clyde, completely oblivious to the girls' conversation. She let out a huff of relief, "W–what? Why would you think... that?" She practically stumbled over her words.

Minnow sighed deeply, rolling her eyes. "Have you seen the way he looks at you?"

"Yeah... I guess? I mean, it's nothing like that—"

"And the way you look at him?"

The older girl's eyes narrowed in confusion as she looked over at Joel once more to check he wasn't eavesdropping. "What do you mean?" she hissed.

Minnow rolled her eyes once again, the eight-year-old growing slightly agitated at how clueless the pair of them were at the chemistry that they blatantly had. "All I'm saying is, even if Joel is going to find Aimee, he's definitely going to realise that you're the one he wants." Liz gaped at Minnow's words, attempting to come up with a viable reply but unable to even form a sentence. Minnow continued, "And I think it's pretty stupid of you to be going with him to find some other girl when it's so obvious that you love each other."

That was what shut Liz up completely for the next few minutes. She didn't believe it, she had no reason to. There was no way that Joel had feelings for her. Absolutely no way. They were literally going to find his high school girlfriend — that didn't exactly sound like Joel confessing any feelings to Liz.