𝗚𝗥𝗢𝗪𝗧𝗛, gally (tmr)

Chapter Six

Because of her job as a cook, Ada had a lot of down time. In fact, she and Frypan probably had the most downtime of any of the Gladers. Sure, she had to wake up a little earlier than everyone else to make lunches for the Runners, but the long break after it and until lunch was more than enough to make up for it.

She and Frypan were two of the only full time cooks in the Glade. A few more boys aided them , clearly less skilled and passionate for the job. Sometimes if they were feeling the full strain of cooking for all of the boys, they'd get some help from a few others that knew the basics, and it was done with ease. 

But, unlike those few, they didn't have another job around the place. This meant that when they weren't cooking breakfast, lunch, or dinner, they could lounge around the Glade doing whatever the hell they wanted. And boy did they have fun with it.

So there she was, enjoying the after-lunch bliss by lounging on the grass and basking in the sun like it was her last day on Earth. She watched the Gardeners and Track-Hoes slaving away in the Gardens, and the Slicers feeding the pigs captive in one of the animal pens outside the Bloodhouse.

It was the day after the bonfire, and the events of the night before were fresh in her mind. 

Her knuckles were dusted a light purple, a little bruised after punching Gally in the face during their fight, something which she learned she didn't need to regret. The boy thought of her as badass, and seemed to find the whole situation fairly amusing.

The Greenie had found his name to be Chuck, and had already worked through jobs as both a Slicer and a Gardener and not finding his knack in either one. As he took his break five minutes ago beside her, she reassured him that she hated both jobs too.

Now that he was gone again, she was alone. With her arm dramatically draped over her forehead, she squinted to look at the Builders across the Glade. She couldn't take her mind off of Gally: their fight, her being pinned beneath him, his sweet words of keeping a look out whilst she took a shower.

And when she left the showers the previous night, wearing a fresh dust-less set of clothes with her hair still wet, Gally had a thick sweater in his hands for her to wear. The girl didn't know if he'd want it back, but she wasn't intending on letting it go from where it was draped over a chair in her room.

The Builders were fixing a hole in the roof of the Homestead. As one of the boys stood on the roof with a hammer, a few planks of wood, and some nails; a number of boys shouted instructions and words of help up to him, despite not being able to see the extent of the damage.

Their Keeper however, had his eyes fixed elsewhere. He caught sight of the girl sat alone, eating her sandwiches, and staring dreamily across the Glade at where he and his fellow Builders were hard at work. When she caught him looking, she adverted her eyes instantly to the Gardeners, who seemed to be fighting over who would be collecting fertiliser from the Deadheads.

Gally, however, didn't look away.

His eyes still watched the girl as she kicked her legs out in front of her and laid back on the grass, relishing in the afternoon sun. The other Builders hadn't even noticed his distraction let alone the reason of it. But even so, he made an excuse of needing a drink of water in order to slip away from his work and make his way over to her.

She hadn't noticed his plan to interrupt her peaceful downtime, since she was lying flat on her back and staring up at the clouds trailing across the sky. She raised up her hand, using her index finger to trace the outline of the white clouds in an attempt to ease her boredom. 

Gally cracked a smile at her strange antics, sitting himself down beside her as quietly as possible before saying, "You having fun?"

She sat up, startled, before relaxing at the sight of the tall boy. She smiled at him warmly, shuffling next to him as she tucked her hands over her knees.