Chapter Eighteen: This is Awkward

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                                                                                        Noah 

Noah had yet to give up the hunt for Annalise's killer, and though he knew it was beginning to grate on Mia's nerves. He couldn't give up. Not when he was this close. Other the last few days he had managed to narrow it down, using contacts from his extensive family (werewolf families tended to be large). It was someone from the Modesto Clan, that much he knew.

One of his distant cousins had given him the contact information of one of the Modesto Clan members. He was going to ring them today, and if they answered him, he was going to harass them for any details he could get. Hopefully their loyalty to their clan was wavering, or else he would get nothing from them.

But he had to take this chance. It was better than just sitting around doing nothing, twiddling his thumbs as his best friend was led dead and buried. There was no justice in that. At least not in Noah's eyes anyways.

He fiddled with the phone in his hand, he was standing in an unassuming alleyway just outside the apartment he lived in. He hoped that this way, Mia wouldn't catch him in the act. He knew she would disagree with him calling one of the Modesto members. But he had to.

For Annalise.

With a deep breath, he tapped on the number on his phone and let it dial. The dial tone echoing in the hallway tauntingly.

Here goes nothing.

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                                                                                   Annalise 

The minute they got back to the house, both of them flopped on the sofa, neither of them speaking. The silence loomed over them unapologetically, and Annalise felt like bashing her head up the wall.

Who even stole a dead body from a coffin anyways!

It was so bizarre, she felt detached like it wasn't her body that had just gone missing, just some unknown person. She looked over at Eugene, and could tell that he wasn't fairing much better than her at the moment. His face was impossibly paler, his eyebrows and lips tense and drawn downwards.

His fingers were tapping an incessant rhythm on his legs, and it was almost irrationally annoying to her. She wanted to shout at him to stop, she wanted to shout at the room and the silence that filled it. She really didn't know what she wanted.

Annalise brought her knees to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them tightly.

"What are we going to do now?" She asked Eugene, rocking back and forth lightly. The tapping of his fingers stopped, and Eugene shifted in his position to face her.

He placed a chilly hand on top of her knee, clasping it tightly. Normally she would blush under the contact, thrive on it. Having gone years without contact with anyone did that to a person. But today, she could barely find it in her to even look at him.

"To be completely honest with you, I'm not sure. But i'm going to contact those three again and see if they can find anything about it," He said, it wasn't reassuring in the slightest, yet she appreciated the honesty all the same.

"Do you...Do you think it's him?" She stuttered, pulling her legs even closer to her chest. Eugene nodded solemnly.

"Its the only thing i can think of right now. He knows who you are, he gave the order too-" the curse you and kill you was left unsaid, but Annalise heard it anyways. "-there's no one else i think it can be," Eugene explained, squeezing her knee reassuringly. 

Annalise closed her eyes hard, slowly leaning her head on the back of the sofa. It felt hopeless. It was too much in too little time for her to process right now.

"I won't let him keep getting away with this Annalise, once those three get back to me. We can figure out a way to stop him. For good," The words were meant to be comforting, but she couldn't care at the moment. Her body was god knows where, with someone doing god knows what to it.

She sensed more than felt Eugene back away from her. There was a rustling of something, and then he was back by her side again. She squinted her eyes open to see a phone screen glaringly bright in her face. She winced away from it, and shot a questioning glance at Eugene. His lips curled upwards slightly.

"I got some new games on here. For us to play?" What on earth was he thinking, playing games at a time like this. She frowned and gently bashed his hand away.

"I don't feel like it right now," Annalise groaned. Eugene shrugged apathetically, the stupid smirk still plastered on his face.

"I guess I'll just have to play on my own then," he said with false sadness, as he began tapping at his phone. Strange beeps, and shrill noises came from his phone as he continued to jab at his it. Curiosity overcame her as she peered over his shoulder to watch him.

It was a ping pong style game, and he was clearly winning against the AI. She bit her lips in confliction, as she watched him. She wanted to play, she really did. But she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of being right. 

Slyly, he turned the phone slightly to face her, so she could get a full view of the screen. Annalise rolled her eyes, it was obvious what he was doing. Thinking he could win over her...

"Okay, okay. I'll play with you, but only because you're losing so hard," She lied through the skin of her teeth, trying to save face. The smirk on Eugene's lips grew tenfold, as he placed the phone between them on the sofa. With a few quick taps he ended the game he was playing, and brought up another one. This time it was a two player game, so instead of being against an AI, Eugene was playing against her.

She began to giggle with each win and goal she scored. It was obvious Eugene was letting her win, but she still couldn't help but enjoy herself. She lost herself in the thrill of being able to interact with the phone, and to see Eugene in such a vulnerable position. Open and happy.

That's how they spent the next couple of hours, huddled over the phone playing ping pong against each other. Neither caring if they win or lost, and just enjoying the fact that they were with each other.

Annalise's heart radiated with warmth, it was as plain as day to her that Eugene had only done this to cheer her up and take her mind off what had just occurred. It was unbearably cute and it made her beam from ear to ear.

"Thank you," she said genuinely, gazing into his eyes. Eugene opened his mouth to say something in reply, but was interrupted by a loud trilling noise. Both of them snapped their attention back to the phone to find it buzzing, as someone was ringing him.

The contact caller ID read Victoria Taylor. 

Authors Note:

Hey everyone!! I just want to say thank you so much for all the love recently, I honestly can't believe it. It means so much to me. 

I hope you like this chapter! Drop a like or comment, and let me know what you think. I linked the song above as i just thought it suited Annalise and Eugene's relationship. Give it a listen! 

Love ya'll

Sam.E


Word Count 1161

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