Just a post-apocalypse fic ;) you know, for the survivors...

Cashing in

She took her hand and they shook upon it. That was Leaf's fourth deal sealed; in other words, that was another promised wad of cash.

It was the twentieth of December 2012, the second last day of the Mayan calendar. Everyone around town were expecting the worst, preparing for the apocalypse that was supposedly going to occur in the very near future. Leaf had spent the day going about the town making bets with people that the world was not going to end.

So far, she had made bets with Misty, who Leaf had to sign a contract with to make the bet valid, May, who she spit shook with, Ash, who just simply gave Leaf his word and finally Dawn, who she just had to talk circles round for four hours before they sealed the deal. Drew was unfortunately out of town with his family, though Leaf did figure that he'd pose some form of a challenge while trying to sell her bet to him.

Leaf still had a bit of time left before she was due to be home for dinner and still there were several people wondering about looking so con-able. She looked at the people that wondered past her little table with steaming cups of coffees and little festive cakes in their hands. Leaf wished she knew these people. At least then it would be less weird when she tried to make bets with them too. She was running out of time to make bets with and fast.

"Leaf." Gary greeted with a nod then sat down in the vacant seat opposite hers.

"Gary." Leaf said back.

Gary! Yes, Gary! It took Leaf second to realise that she had not formed a bet with Gary yet. But would he fall for it? Mr I-come-from-a-family-of-know-it-all-scientists? Time to put it to the test.

"Didn't expect to see you here." Gary said, "Would've thought you'd be taking advantage of the mass panic by talking yourself into a few freebies or something along the lines of that. Seems like he type of thing you'd do."

Leaf sat and wondered why she didn't think of that before. It probably would've been easier. "No, I've been talking to the girls and making sure we're all okay, I mean, what if this time the apocalypse really will happen? It's a scary thought." Leaf said, using a tone that was part fear, part panic and plenty manipulative.

"You actually believe that there's going to be an apocalypse tomorrow? Seriously? " Gary asked with a raised eyebrow.

Leaf nodded frantically. Pulling one past Gary was not going to be easy. "I didn't at first but after reading the evidence, yes!" Leaf lied flawlessly

"I saw you two days ago and we were still laughing at how stupid people were for believing this rubbish and now you believe it too?"

Leaf mentally cursed the fact that she had to laugh about the whole shenanigan with Gary of all people, though; it was hard to stop at the time since they cracked up with laghter at the mention or reference to it. It took Leaf a lot of self-control not to laugh at herself when she was forming the bets today. Misty had almost seen through her supressed hysterical laugh look but Leaf had narrowly managed to take the attention off herself and onto a panic stricken passer-by.

"It pains me that this may be the last time I see you and you spend it doubting a great friend I have." Leaf said all too innocently.

"It just seems odd. I always thought you were smarter than that." Gary said as he took a sip out of his coffee. "But I guess that's what mass panic does to people."

Now we're getting somewhere. Leaf sat with her legs crossed on her seat and snapped the last arm off her gingerbread man then dunked it into her hot chocolate and ate it as she thought of her next step in converting Gary from an apocalypse non-believer to an apocalypse believer. That was not going to be easy at all especially considering how well Gary knew Leaf.

"Don't you just think it's scary that this could be our first and last coffee together?" Leaf piled on. Trying to sound panicked just wasn't Leaf's thing but if it was going to earn her something nice in return then that was a different story.

"We've been out for coffee before." Gary said, convinced that Leaf was wrong.

"If me standing outside a coffee shop waiting for you to get us drinks while hitting on the barista counts then yes but as for actually sitting down and enjoying a nice hot drink... this would be the first." Leaf pointed out. Guilt tripping was usually a great tool to utilise when trying to manipulate friends.

"Surely not." Gary said, trying to recall one of those non-existent times that they sat down in a cafe and had coffee together.

"And the one time we actually get to sit down together like this it happens by chance unless you want to send me outside while you go grab some last minute dates." Leaf stood up from her seat, preparing to leave but Gary reached over and grabbed her hand.

"No, sit down. Of course I'm not going to ditch you for that totally rude barista who never gets my coffee right." Gary said as Leaf sat back down in her cross legged position.

Rejected by her again!

Leaf let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad. I mean, I'd quite like to spend some quality time with you before we all die pretty much simultaneously." Leaf said bluntly.

"Nice to see you sugar coat it." Gary said, referring to the brunette's bluntness.

"But it's true! I mean what if we don't survive." Leaf said, easing her way into the main objective of the chat.

"I doubt that, I mean, I'm willing to bet all my belongings that we'll survive this."

Leaf narrowed her eyes at him. He stole her line! She was supposed to propose the bet as soon as she convinced Gary to believe the cruel fate of the planet. Leaf tried to read Gary's expression. Maybe she could somehow still salvage the situation.

"Is this like the time neither of us wanted to jump into the dirty canal to get the ball back so you tricked me into doing it?" Leaf said as she leaned in towards the boy. "You're trying to trick me now!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Gary said looked away, pretending to not know what Leaf was going on about. He found it difficult to look at her and not laugh.

"Oh really? Does the expression 'heads I win, tails you lose' ring some bells?" Leaf asked sceptically.

Gary let out a chuckle then grinned at Leaf. "That was a good day."

"I hate you so much." Leaf said as she let out a laugh. She pulled a face a Gary. "But seriously, you could've just played along. I think the number of times I've helped you is worth it!"

"You would've probably taken my car. Plus I think you owe me more than I owe you." Gary countered. "Remember that time you stayed at my place for like how long? Almost three weeks when your house was broken into and when your parents were hospitalised and all that."

Leaf pouted and started to draw imaginary circles on the wooden tabled with the tip of her index finger. She didn't like it when people brought the traumatic experience up but he did have a point. "But I'm a girl."

Gary rolled his eyes. Of course. The girl card. How he didn't see that coming was beyond him. "We can forget about this conversation and you can make the bet later."

"Cool, I'll see you at yours at half eight." Leaf said, flashing her set of straight white teeth.

"Just don't take my car when we make the bet."

Leaf stuck up her last three digits to make an 'okay' sign then stood up. Gary watched his friend leave the café and down the street. He always did have a soft spot for her.

Leaf grinned as she walked out of the café. Her plan to turn the situation round worked after all.

Xxxxx

I wrote this then felt the need to explain it. The bet was a win for Leaf as she'd gain money when the world survived the apocalypse but she would be dead and wouldn't need to pay in the unlikely event that the apocalypse was real. Some of my friends actually didn't make the connection so I decided to just explain that down here.

Also, 'heads I win, tails you lose' is from the film Leap Year and the 'traumatic experience' that Gary mentioned is from my story Where's My Dolly?

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this and review please! It'd be a nice thing to let me know that I'm not the only survivor :D