Writing In The Sand | Minho | The Maze Runner | Tmr

Chapter VII

"Hey, Cinderella," Minho greeted the next morning, very annoyingly waking me up like the fat bitch that he was.

"What? Why did you call me Cinderella?" I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion as I groggily rubbed my eyes.

"Because I can see your clothes disappearing before midnight," he winked.

"Oh, god. Minho!" I laughed as I shoved his face away from me while he was cackling like a maniac. "When will you stop with these horrendous pickup lines?"

"When you realise just how irresistible I am, Eves, and finally become my girlfriend."

"Not going to happen," I answered unamused. Remind me again why he was my best friend? Him? Out of all people? Really? What the hell was I thinking?

Eventually, Alby came to us and let us out, warning us that we needed to get our behaviour in order or else we'd end up being in the Pit for a lot longer which could set us back weeks in searching for an escape in the Maze.

Unfortunately, he also ordered us to do our job today and when I protested, telling him it would be hell on earth to run after a very bad night's sleep, he shut me down and told me to deal with the consequences of my actions. That's so dumb.

"God, it's almost like we're being punished for something," I complained as I struggled to keep running, my legs feeling like they were going to collapse at any minute.

"We are being punished, Evie," Minho reminded me. "We nearly killed each other on multiple occasions."

"Yeah but when I do it, it's funny so I shouldn't be in trouble on this occasion. There's a million other things I should be in trouble for that hasn't been traced back to me yet, but I shouldn't be in trouble for this."

"You want a break?" Minho eventually asked and I nodded, relieved. I took my sandwich out and collapsed against a wall, Minho doing the same.

"Okay, I was thinking-"

"That's never a good sign," Minho interjected with a smirk.

"Slim it. Anyway, the new Greenie is coming up tomorrow. So, because of my embarrassing lack of a boyfriend, I need to impress the new guy."

"Oh, yeah? How you gonna do that?"

"Ah," I replied, grinning, "that's the best bit. See, I was planning on, like, hanging back from the group. You know, have this sexy, mysterious vibe which intrigues him. I'm gonna watch him from afar, but keep an emotionless face so then he's even more intrigued in me. Eventually, I start talking to him but still remain mysterious. Guys like that. I'll start speaking more and proper flirt with him and then, bam, he's practically begging for my hand in marriage. It's a fool proof plan!"

"Oh, please, you couldn't get a boyfriend if you tried."

"Just because the only thing you can pull is a fucking push door," I sassed. "Besides, it's about time I got a boyfriend. It's mortifying there's, like, fifty guys and one girl and none of them wants to date me. You'd think statistically at least one would be head over heels."

"Eves, about half the Glade want you."

"Yeah, but that's only half. And they don't want to date me, they just wanna screw. There's a difference."

"I still don't believe he'll fall for you."

"You're on," I smirked. "And when we get married, don't worry. You'll be my bridesmaid." With that, I stood up and started running again.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Minho called.

"Nope, not a clue! Never been here before."

Groaning, Minho begrudgingly got up and followed me.

"I pity your future boyfriend," he told me as we started making our way back to the Glade.

"What? Why?"

"Because he'll feel so insecure next to me. I'm amazing. I'm literally the entire package. Any girl would fall madly in love with me without me even lifting a finger and he'll know that. Hell, he may even want to date me."

"I haven't fell madly in love with you," I reminded him, "so your theory is wrong."

"Yeah, well, you're the weird. And the exception that proves the rule."

I raised an eyebrow. "It can't be a rule if it doesn't apply to everyone."

"Uh, yeah it can! Just shush, you know I'm right as always."

"Okay, Minho. Keep telling yourself that and maybe it will come true."

"That's hurtful."

"Good."

"I hate you."

"Hate you too."

He gave me a playful push with a smirk as we headed to the hut hidden deep in the forest to add our drawings to previous ones.

I flicked through past drawings, trying to understand them well enough so that I could build an accurate picture in my mind of the Maze layout, but it was difficult. A lot of the drawings were out of order or had different turns labelled - seriously, did nobody care to check to see if what they had written was accurate?

"You alright there, Evie?" Minho asked.

"Yeah, it's just... I think we need to do this some other way. Maybe some sort of model of the Maze? It would make life so much easier."

"I can't believe I'm about to say this but that's a good idea. Go and speak to Gally about him making lots of little wooden stick thingies so we can get started."

"Why do I have to speak to Gally?!"

"Because... Uh... I'm the Keeper. So what I say goes."

I smirked. "You're afraid to ask him aren't you?"

"Yes. Absolutely. He'll laugh in my face and then yell at me for giving him more work."

"So you're subjecting me to that horror?"

"Yup. Now off you go. The sooner it's over, the better. Trust me," he shuddered.

"I actually hate you so much," I scowled as I trudged off in search of Big Bad Captain Gally.

Yeah, Gally wasn't particularly happy about the plan surprise surprise. Although, he didn't take his anger out on me partially because I blamed it all on Minho and said it was his idea, not mine.

Oops.

In my defence, Minho shouldn't have forced me to speak to Gally. He brought this on himself. It wasn't my fault that Gally will more than likely yell at Minho for everything as I watch, laughing my head off.

"Evie, you goddamn shank, I'm going to get you back for this!" Minho threatened as he started chasing after me.

I began running away, screaming for my fucking life but once we had reached the forest, I tripped up over something and went crashing into the ground, sending Minho flying onto the floor too.

However, thanks to our amazingly bad luck, we fell at the top of a hill and began rolling down it in a messy heap. When we finally reached the bottom, I was lying on his chest, our faces mere millimetres apart as we both panted for breath. Neither of us moved for a few seconds, unsure of what to do or how to react in this close proximity.

Eventually, I got off of him and lay down next to him.

"You alright?" I asked, my poor heart hammering against my chest from my near death.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. What about you?"

"I'm fine. Just a bit sore. And I think I might have cut myself on some branches or something a bit but oh well."

"Wait, really? Here, let me have a look." Minho sat up and gently cupped my face as he inspected me. "Nope, your ugly, shank face is still intact. Nothing to worry about."

I rolled my eyes. "Slim it, fuckhead."

"Right back at you," he teased.