Days 68-69: Ava

The day after we got to the motel, we walked to the gas station nearby. It was mostly empty—hardly any food—but something there caught our eye: a map. It showed a nearby city and even had a route marked out. When Leo saw it, his eyes lit up like he’d just discovered gold.

“What’re you thinking?” I asked, trying to read his expression.

He smirked. “It’s a secret.”

I pressed him, but he didn’t budge. Not like usual. But when he said it was a secret, it reminded me of the day we talked in the café—when he grabbed my arm with an expression full of excitement. Even though I was a little annoyed he was keeping it a secret, it was nice seeing him like this. But for whatever he had planned I sure hope he doesn’t make it as lame as the trip to the mall. I swear I was helping him pick out clothes and he didn’t do anything for me. Maybe it was a good idea not to go out with him back then, he would’ve been such a bad boyfriend.

Now that I’m thinking about this, are we going out right now? I mean he did say he felt the same way as me but we didn’t make it official yet I guess. I mean I could just ask him but that feels kind of weird. At the same time though—I really want to know.

On our walk back I'd decided to just ask him, “Hey, so like are we dating right now?”

“I guess so.”

Guess so—huh. Didn’t sound too happy about it.

I glared at him for a bit. He turned to be, looking confused. “Is there a problem?”

“Nope.”

We got back to the motel and just rested there for the day. We scouted the other rooms for something to do—and found it. We found a deck of uno cards. There was nothing planned all day besides the gas station so this was a nice change of pace.

“UNO! And that was a double, so I win,” I said with a smug expression.

“UNO OUT! You didn’t call it so draw your two cards.”

“What?! That’s not a rule!” I argued.

“Yes it is. Stop being a sore loser and draw them two cards.” I can tell he was trying to hold back his laughter.

Damn liar.

“Fine whatever, I’ll still win.” I drew two plus fours as my final two cards. A mischievous grin appeared on my face.

“What’d you draw?” he asked, suspicious of my smile.

“Nothing for you to be concerned about.”

He stares at me before playing his next card. He was hesitant but with only two cards reminding he didn’t have many options. He pulls out a plus four and slams in on the stack, “UNO! Now draw your four cards!”

I grin and slammed both of my plus fours on the stack, “UNO. UNO OUT—BITCH!”

His jaw dropped, and he actually fell over in shock. I stood up and started laughing—like one of those supervillains you'd see on TV.

“REMATCH! NOW!” he declared.

“I’ll give you a rematch.” I smiled while looking down on him. “Not like you’re going to win anyways.” I said under my breath.

“What’d you say?”

I shrugged, “Nothing nothing.”

Playing with him like this felt more like when I first met him. It’s like he was genuinely happy and I’m glad. Even so, I can’t let him win—not even once.

After beating his ass a couple more times we decided it was time for dinner. I guess he decided it because I was willing to keep on going. Because I had won, I wanted him to make dinner. But I still wanted to help him out, I can’t make him do all the work now. There were a few cans of spam in the back of the gas station so we decided to make that for tonight. Cooking normally felt like a chore but doing it with Leo was fun. We were talking as if there wasn’t a few days of awkward silence between us. We eventually ate dinner and called it a night.

I hope tomorrow is going to be as fun as today.

The next morning I noticed that Leo was gone. I guessed I had woken up later than him that day. I look around and notice a note on the night stand beside my bed. It said

To: Ava

I opened it and saw what’s inside.

Would you please go on a date with me today?

Circle one

Yes No

This dork…

I grabbed the pencil that was beside the note and circled yes. I got up, got ready, and headed out with the note in hand. As I opened the door Leo was there waiting for me. He was sitting on the ground sound asleep, and looked like he was waiting for me. I guess he didn’t expect to wake up so late.

I flicked him on the forehead, “Wakey. Wakey.”

He slowly raised his head and said, “Oh good morning.”

I reached out my arm to pull him up and gave him the note.

“You know, for someone who was a former honor roll student you sure do sleep in a lot.”

I glared at him, “You want me to change what I put on the note?” I asked, pretending to be offended.

He opened the note and his eyes lit up, “Oh no. I didn’t mean it. Sorry.” His tone wasn’t genuine. He was still making fun of me.

“So anyways, what do you have planned for us today?”

“Well I was thinking of the city nearby. Sounds fun right?”

“Oh so was that why you were smiling to yourself yesterday?”

“Yup.”

“Don’t you think it’ll be dangerous though. We might run into some criminals.”

“Maybe—but I’ll be here to protect you.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at what he said. He sounded so confident it was like a protagonist from a show you would watch as a child. “You sure you can do that?” I said, still laughing.

“I know I can.” His tone shifted, he sounded serious, he sounded determined. In that moment, I felt like killing wouldn’t be a problem for him. But how could he switch so fast?

I wonder—what's going on in that head of yours Leo.

“Okay but—don’t do something that makes you feel uncomfortable.”

“Don’t worry about me—I’ll be fine.”

“Alright then, just don’t hesitate on me when the time comes.”

We packed all of our stuff on the road.

“Before we get to the city we’ll make a quick stop.”

“Where are we stopping?” I asked.

“It’s a secret.”

I let out a sigh, “Fine. Don’t get my hopes up just for me to help you out with shopping.”

Leo giggles a little, “This won’t be like that time at all. Don’t worry.”

It was kind of a long ride so I fell asleep. I woke up and noticed we were at an outlet. It was weird seeing the place completely empty, but I guessed no one was really concerned with shopping at a time like that.

“What are we doing here?” I asked.

“We’re going shopping of course. Since you helped me out last time I figured it was my turn to return the favor. Gotta look good for our first date right.”

I couldn’t help but to smile, “Yeah, definitely.”

All the shop doors were locked so we had to smash our way in. Most of the clothes were untouched so we had a wide variety of options. We spent a few hours picking out clothes for both of us. And since it was the end of the world we could get stuff from the luxury brands here. It probably holds no value now but it was fun to own it. Especially since I hadn’t been able to afford it not too long ago. We also got rid of our old clothes and replaced them with new ones. The old ones were getting kind of smelly and some of them were stained with a lot of blood so it was time for a new wardrobe.

I picked out a black dress and Leo found a black t-shirt and khakis. He told me that he didn’t know what to pick out so he copied the same colors as me. I told him it was kind of too hot to be wearing black like that. He said he liked that we matched. We then found a store with luggage so we grabbed those too. A way to keep things more organized. After shopping for clothes and shoes, we explored some of the other stores. Oddly enough, there was a beef jerky shop, so we stocked up. I wasn’t crazy about beef jerky, but I couldn’t complain. Beside it was a camping store so we got some flashlights, new knives, and more stuff. After looking around a little more we decided it was time to head to the city. I was a little anxious at first but I had Leo by my side so there wasn’t anything to worry about. I guess I do have to worry about him hesitating but I’m always there to pull the trigger for him.

We finally headed out to the city. The city was completely empty; it seemed like everyone was also aware of how dangerous a city can be. But at the same time, nothing seemed to be damaged. Everything just looked untouched.

“So what are we going to do here?”

“We’re going to explore. But first we need a place to stay. And I just happened to book an expensive hotel.”

Leo pulled into a hotel and parked in the parking garage that was connected to it. Once parked, he told me to grab the luggage with all my clothes. I told him to grab a gun just in case anything happens. The door that was separating the hotel and parking garage was locked.

“Booked, huh?” I said.

Leo took out his gun and fired at the door shattering all the glass. “There, that’s better.”

We then used the stairs to get to the rooms. We found a decently big room so we kicked down the door and decided to stay there. The beds were super comfy, but being so far from the van didn’t feel safe.

“Is it going to be alright with us being this far from the van? What if someone steals it or takes our stuff?”

“We won’t be here for long so I’m sure we’ll be fine. And besides, we’re supposed to be living life to the fullest so let’s focus on having some fun.”

I gave him a smile. “Okay then.”

After leaving our stuff behind we walked around the city. The city still looked nice, even though it hadn’t been maintained. We walked around for a bit. There wasn’t anything specific to do since there was no one running anything; so we just wandered around. As we walked I could feel my hand itching to grab his. But it felt kind of weird just to randomly grab his hand. But was it weird though, since we’re dating and all. I looked up at him and noticed he had a blank expression on his face. It seemed like he wasn’t worried about holding hands then.

Whatever, I’ll just go for it.

I grabbed his hand and he was immediately pulled back. “Oh sorry you startled me.”

My jaw dropped a little, “You didn’t have to pull away like that.” I mumbled.

“S-sorry I just wasn’t ready. And it was kind of sweaty…”

“...sweaty?” I could feel my face getting hot so I turned around immediately. “Sorry—gosh, I’m just nervous.”

He started laughing to himself, “Sorry, it was a joke.”

I turned back to him and immediately started slapping his arm. “It wasn’t a very funny one.”

“Funny to me.”

He then took my hand and said, “But I’m glad you initiated it. I was a little too nervous to do it.”

I looked over to the side, “You don’t seem so nervous,” I muttered.

His hand was warm and comfortable. It felt nice…

We explored the city more and broke into a few stores. I guess we didn’t really go into them, we kind of broke in. After we got tired of looking around we headed to the park and sat down. The sun was starting to set so we decided to leave after resting a bit. We sat on the bench and talked for a while, until we suddenly heard footsteps behind us. Someone was running at us.

I spun around toward the person behind us just as he yelled, “YOU!”

He was holding a knife and was charging at us.