somewhere in there / jonathan crane

24. arkham asylum

Legs spread on the sofa, phone in hands, Zoe was waiting quietly for Jonathan to come back with breakfast. She'd spent the last hour convincing him to get out of the apartment to go get food since both were lazy to make some.

A quiet morning, birds chirping, the TV on and everything reminded her that summer was coming. She'd seen many glorious mornings, mornings that offered sunlight, mornings that offered rain and lazy days, but mornings at her one's apartment were different. The mixture of his scent and the fresh coffee in the morning were beautiful.

Her thighs were sore from the night before, having done it on every piece of furniture. She giggles to herself, carefree. Placing the phone on the coffee table, she stretches her legs and arms, taking a deep breath. Just then, she hears the door open.

"Thank God, I'm starving." She whines, getting up from the sofa.

"Well, after that kind of a night, I guessed you would be," Jonathan says quietly and puts the takeout on the table.

"Last night was amazing. Despite the fact that we only slept for 4 hours, but that's not important." She walks over to him and opens the bags.

"That's something that we can both finally agree on." She turns her head towards where he's washing his hands and scoffs.

"Hey! We agree about stuff."

"Have you ever heard of the word 'humor', Zoe?" He asks, sitting down.

"Yes but the word 'humor' and the name 'Jonathan' do not go in the same sentence." 

"Well, I'm full of surprises, aren't I?"

"That we agree on."

"So, what's your plan for today?" Jonathan asks before taking a bite from his breakfast.

"What do you mean what's your plan? We're getting our blood taken in Arkham today, you're going to be there." Zoe says but he remains silent. "What? Are you not gonna be there?"

He swallows his food. "I am. I meant after that."

"Oh, um. I don't really know, probably hang out with my friends or something, I don't know."

He nods. "Okay."

They eat their food in silence and suddenly Zoe's phone receives a notification.

"Who is it?" Jonathan asks, looking at the phone.

"It's just Jennifer." He nods again. She looks at him while he's looking down at his plastic plate. "Are you paranoid?"

"No. Why would I be paranoid?"

"I was thinking maybe you could answer that." She explains, his eyes still on his food. "It's not like the police are tracking my phone or anything."

"It's not that, Zoe, I just asked you a simple question." He was now staring at her own eyes and after that, she just nodded. She replied to Jennifer and put the phone on the table, taking a sip from the glass of water.

"Anyway, why are you checking our blood samples today?"

"It's a part of the process before graduating. We need to have them in your documents and it's easier if you apply for a job at Arkham."

"Who's checking the blood results?"

"Me. I'm the chef psychiatrist, nothing goes without me checking it out." He explains, finishing up his food.

She nods. "I'm done."

"Yeah, me too." He grabs their plastic plates and throws them into the trashcan then washes his hands. "I'm giving you a ride to your apartment, right?"