Rose// Gally Maze Runner

A Peace Offering

You woke up sweaty and not at all well-rested. The. . . intense dreams from the night before had forced you up right before the sun, and you weren't able to fall back asleep. You took a cold shower and tried to calm yourself, but your mind kept wandering back to how Gally mentioned your curves and how you walked from the showers to the Homestead in just a towel. When you got out, you noticed Gally was chopping wood shirtless, something he doesn't usually do until the end of the day. To be honest, you were surprised to see anyone up this early. The only boys in the Glade who got up before the sun were runners. That's why it was the best time for you to shower.

Until yesterday, you weren't even aware that other gladers knew you showered in the mornings. They all got to run around with their underwear on their heads like idiots and no one batted an eyelash, but you knew it'd be different if you were the one going around dressed in next to nothing. Mornings were your time to just exist without worrying about the wandering eyes of everyone else. Now you felt odd stepping outside of the shower room. Reluctantly, you stepped back into the room to put back on your grungy clothes from the other day.

The sun was just starting to rise, meaning you didn't have much time before everyone else was up. Sometimes you wished the walls didn't block the sun rising and setting. Every once in a while, the sky just above the walls would turn pink and purple. What was the horizon like? Was it a brighter shade of pink from the sun, or did it get deeper as the sky met the land? There weren't many colors showing in the sky today which usually meant it would be sunny with sparse clouds. Days in the Glade were rarely cold, even during the short rainy season.

You could do anything with your time, but instead, you leaned against the wall of the shower room to openly watch the show in front of you. Gally repeatedly brought the axe down on the logs. When one snapped in half with a loud pop, you gasped slightly. He moved the chopped wood to a pile he had started the looked around the Glade as he wiped some sweat from his brow.

When his eyes landed on you he quickly went back to work as if seeing you annoyed him. Maybe you should apologize for yesterday. After all, he apologized last time you guys got in an argument. You couldn't remember ever having one that was that heated. It was kind of. . Another log split in half. You pushed off the wall with a smirk.

What did he say last night? Something about you having curves that make all the other gladers bow down? There were three ways to go about this. One was to just never address what had been said. The second was to apologize. But the third, oh the third. . You could teach the slinthead a lesson for all of that misogynistic bullcrap he had been spewing. Maybe then he'd finally pull his head out of his slimy ass and respect you.

Gally heard you approaching and glanced at you before immediately chopping down on the wood again. Now that you were closer, you could really see how all his muscles constricted during the swift movement. Part of you wanted to remember and save that sight for later uses which made you blush and realize how wrong that was.

"I'm sorry, Gally. You were mad about the Greenie and I should have not given in and let it get so far."

He huffed. "Whatever. Looks like you learned your lesson anyway, not walking around in your towel like some shank."

And just like that, whatever apology you had planned was thrown out the window. You scoffed and crossed your arms. "Most of the other guys leave the showers in their towel, in fact, I'm lucky if they don't chase each other around the Homestead in their underwear like children. You call them shanks too, or is it just me?"

Gally dropped the axe, looking at you harshly. "Then just run around the Glade naked. See if I care."

Now wouldn't that be interesting if Gally did, in fact, care? It wasn't something you thought about before. "Do you?"