𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 ━ five hargreeves

19│36 QUESTIONS TO FALL IN LOVE, PT. 1

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❛ ᴡᴀsᴛᴇʟᴀɴᴅs ᴏғ ᴛɪᴍᴇ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ 𝟹𝟼 ǫᴜᴇsᴛɪᴏɴs ᴛᴏ
ғᴀʟʟ ɪɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇ, ᴘᴛ. 𝟷 ꒱


❝ YOU'RE JUST FINE
ON YOUR OWN ❞

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[Two years later]

Lola sat cross-legged on the ground facing the chalkboard that Five worked so diligently to cover. They'd been silent for most of the day and the brunette upheld her side of their companionship by speaking first. 

"Did you know that there were supposedly thirty-six questions that could make a person fall in love with you?" predictably, the other teen snorted in disbelief. "It's true," the girl continued as if he'd spoken. "My dad was the one who discovered the article. He liked reading news and had gotten a bit sidetracked. I suppose it was around Valentine's Day or something but apparently there's a set of questions that, when answered honestly, will result in someone falling in love with you."

Even though he didn't turn away from the board she pictured him rolling his eyes. "I don't really believe it either," she said in agreement, "but since we've got nothing better to do, what have we got to lose?"

"Ourselves," came Five's prompt reply, "our heads. Love makes people do stupid things and I'm personally not interested in acting like a fool." What a liar.

"But if you don't believe it will work you don't have anything to fear," the girl reasoned.

"Except the massive waste of time and energy it would take to have that discussion."

"Fine, you don't have to answer. I'm bored anyway and you're used to me rambling that it shouldn't bother you, so I'll just answer them," she shifted slightly to get more comfortable. "The only problem is that I might not remember all of them. Let's see, the first one—" she closed her eyes and tried to recall what she'd heard when her father had read the article so long ago. "I think it was given the choice of anyone in the world, who would you bring as your dinner guest?"

"An icebreaker?" the boy asked incredulously.

"Why not? It's how you get to know someone. Well, that's answer is obvious," she teased him, "it's you."

Five rolled his eyes. "That's 'cause I'm the only option and we already have dinner together every night. Lame question, next."

"Fine," she huffed, "but you're not even playing the game, so don't rush me. The next one was would you like to be famous? In what way? I think I'd like to be a famous writer, that way people would read my autobiography. At least it would be interesting now since I'm currently surviving an apocalypse."

"Well, for what it's worth, you're already known by the one person left so you're technically famous by default and I've read your autobiography."

Now it was the girl's turn to roll her eyes. "Like the first question, that doesn't count. Next one. Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you're going to say? Why? Oh yeah, I did that all the time. I hated talking on the phone and always worried that I would stutter or something. I always avoided it if I could."

"It's just the phone," Five said as he turned to look at the girl. "What's so bad about it?"

Lola shrugged. "The threat of the unknown. I mean, I never knew if the person on the other side was going to start yelling at me for no reason or that I wouldn't know the answer to a question that was asked. I guess I wouldn't be afraid of it now since I've survived this but still. Anyway, the fourth question I think was what would constitute a perfect day for you? Well, another easy one— not having to eat bugs, being able to take a proper shower, getting a full night's rest and doing nothing. Oh— and having a change of scenery."