After | All15

Coffee Love

Another short one, sorry.

***

Staying up all night was worth it to hear their screams and shouts.

"What's going on?!"

"Why are there heads everywhere?!"

"What the hell happened?!"

"ZOYA!!"

Damn. How did they know it was me?

I gripped the tree branch tighter with my legs and fell backward until I was hanging upside down in the tree.

"Yes?" I replied innocently, my red hair nearly touching the ground as I hang there.

They all spin around to face me.

"What the hell is going on?!"

"Why are there heads everywhere?!"

"Will you climb trees with me?!"

"Did you cut off those heads?!"

"Why are the heads mounted?!"

"DON'T LET YOUR HAIR TOUCH THE FUCKING GROUND!"

I let out a yawn and felt my eyes flutter closed. My arms dropped, relaxed and I hung there, dozing off. I don't know if it was because I was tired or because they were so boring, but I quickly slipped into a deep sleep.

***

Marc's POV

Honestly, I don't know why we were so surprised that Zoya literally fell asleep while we were yelling at her.

Waking up to zombie heads mounted all around the camp... Well, let's just say that it was a strange experience.

As Wil explained that Zoya stayed up all night to watch out for us, I couldn't help the smile that appeared. She might've been a crazy and badass bitch, but she did have a heart after all. If you ignored all the strange things she said, all the bloody things she did, Zoya made a lot of sense. It's clear that her childhood was not easy. She's probably only around eighteen years old, but she's covered in scars. Her actions showed that she didn't understand the lines she was crossing, that she was never really taught the difference between right and wrong. Despite that, though, when you look at what she does, you can see that she is a good person at heart.

I watched in disbelief as Zoya continued to actually sleep upside down like a possum. I had no idea that that was actually possible. Then again, the lines between possible and impossible are definitely blurred when it comes to Zoya.

With a grin, I realized what I had to do.

I had to make some coffee for her.

Lucian started a fire for breakfast and I quickly get some water boiling. It might not be as great as the coffee I used to make, but it could still beat the coffee from Starbucks.

***

Zoya's POV

The smell of something amazing reached my nose and caused me to wake up instantly. I fell out of the tree, just barely rolling in time to stop myself from getting too badly hurt.

"What is that smell?!" I exclaimed, my eyes wide.

"Oh, my goodness..." Gabriel gasped in horror. "Your hair..."

I shot him a glare and used a piece of wire to pull my hair back into a ponytail. Oddly enough, this only seemed to make him more horrified.

Gabriel was the only boy nearby at the time and he clearly wasn't going to be much help so I closed my eyes and started sniffing. I followed the scent until I crashed until a wall. The wall went sprawling to the dirt. Opening my eyes, I glared at Marc. Turns out that wall wasn't a wall, it was Marc who hurt my shoulder by letting my crash into him. Jerk.

"What's that glorious smell?" I demanded, once again distracted by the scent.

"I found some coffee on one of our supply runs yesterday and thought I would make some coffee for you," Marc offered.

Suddenly, the skies cleared. A beam of light shone down on Marc and a heavenly choir started singing.

"He's perfect," I whispered, my eyes turning to hearts.

"You love coffee too?" Marc replies, his own eyes turning to hearts as we gave each other a goofy smile.

"Oh my gosh, I'm gonna barf," Lucian mutters, giving us a look that made him look more like North.

Our moment interrupted, Marc squinted at me for a moment and slowly said, "Hey, Zoya... I'll give you a cup of coffee if you agree not to hurt any of us for the rest of the week."

"How about the rest of the day?"

"Half a week."

"Rest of the morning," I shot back stubbornly.

Marc gave me a hard stare and said, "Fine. No coffee then."

"On, second thought, half a week is a good deal," I agreed quickly, my eyes wide.

"Deal," Marc said. "No hurting us for the next three and half days."

I watched intently as Marc poured me the coffee. As I quickly drank the burning liquid gold, Lucian began to speak up.

"Hey... Zoya has had coffee before, right? It won't make her do anything crazy or stupid, right?" Lucian said nervously.

I paused in my drinking to answer, "Psshht. Of course, I've had coffee, and of course, it doesn't make me hyper. I swear."

Wil comes running over at this point, his eyes wide and I know I have to hurry.

"No!" He yells. "Don't drink it Zoya!"

With a smirk, I finish the last of the coffee and slam the paper cup down on the table.