It had now been about 3 weeks since Harry started helping me learn how to fight. I had found out that the crowbar belonged to Ethan and he was concerned about where it went yet I didn't care. He wasn't even talking to me.
Harry and I had gotten a bit closer to each other. I liked being close to him. It was really hard to only think about him though when we were together because all I had in mind was Ethan.
Yes, I was pissed at him but that didn't stop him from being one of the most important people in my life. I missed him. I missed him so much.
One night when Harry and I had finished practicing together, we quietly giggled with each other while going to our rooms. It was the usual but the only different thing was that he gave me a tight embrace. I didn't want it to end, but unfortunately, it did.
"Goodnight, Aaliyah," Harry spoke to me softly with a sweet grin on his face.
"Goodnight, Harry." I returned the soft-spoken tone with a small smile on my face. He nodded at me and we went out separate ways.
If there wasn't another boy on my mind, maybe I would have kissed him. Unfortunately, I have a stupid baseball player who was giving me the silent treatment for weeks.
Until I entered my room.
Mouse: ...
Mouse: were you with harry
Uh, yeah? : Me
Why do you care? : Me
Mouse: ... what were you two doing
and you wanna know why? : Me
you haven't spoken to me in weeks lol: Me
Mouse: just wanna know what you two were doing
Mouse: i saw you two go up to the roof once and then later come back down
Mouse: just don't know why you two go to the roof
well he's teaching me how to fight and defend myself: Me
since he was willing to: Me
Mouse: let me teach you
why do you suddenly want to teach me now? : Me
you were so against it before: Me
i can ask harry i suppose if you can join us: Me
Mouse: no
Mouse: don't bring harry
he's been teaching me for weeks, why would i just ditch him now? : Me
this just sounds like a you problem: Me
Mouse: please liyah
what, are you jealous or smthn? : Me
Mouse: ...
Mouse: yes
Mouse: i want to be the one to teach you
...: Me
fine i'll tell harry that you wanna train me for a night: Me
Mouse: tmrw?
yeah. stay in 1-C with me at the night meeting: Me
then i gotta pick up my weapon in my room: Me
Mouse: you have a weapon?
Mouse: since when?
Mouse: what is it?
...: Me
you'll see: Me
...
Ethan listened to what I directed. Stay after the meeting in 1-C. Then we walked together to the room I shared with Sue. He waited outside while I went inside to grab his crowbar.
When I walked back out with the crowbar his mouth dropped and his eyes widened. "Liyah, I've been looking for that!" His voice slightly rose.
I awkwardly chuckled and shrugged my shoulders. "Harry took it," I ratted the white-haired boy out. "So it's not entirely my fault." I passed him an apologetic grin.
I thought he was going to get more upset but all he did was sigh and ruffle his hair. "Fine, keep it."
I was taken aback by his response. "Wait, really?"
"Yeah, you've had it for like 3 weeks anyway." He breathed out in defeat.
"So," I walked up closer to Ethan. "Are you going to teach me how to fight or not?"
I swear for a second I could see Ethan be flustered, but he quickly shook his head to get himself out of his thoughts and then nodded in response to my question.
We began to start walking towards the entrance to the roof but then I stopped in my tracks when I had a different idea in my mind. When Ethan noticed that I had stopped walking, he stopped himself and turned his body to face me, passing a confused look my way. "I want to train somewhere else actually," I spoke up, immediately turning around and taking a different route.
Ethan quickly caught up to me. "Wait, where are we going?" Ethan asked in a somewhat rush. Right after he had asked the question he must have realized where I was walking because his facial expression went from confusion to shock. "Liyah, we're not leaving the building." He spoke sternly, grabbing my arm as he stopped walking which caused me to stop as well.
I turned my head to look into his sea-green eyes. He was worried and it was obvious. Of course, I cared about his feelings but I didn't want to be seen as such a fragile little girl to him. I wanted to show him what I was made of. "Yes," I responded with confidence. "We are."
"No,"
"Yes, Ethan," I spoke more harshly, standing my ground. "I'm going to show you that I am not some defenseless girl. I can take care of myself and I want to show you before you choose not to challenge me in training."
Ethan seemed somewhat in shock and chose not to argue anymore. I took that as him accepting my choice and continued walking again as he followed closely behind me. It wasn't too long before we exited the building into the dark. For once in a great while in this apocalypse, I wasn't afraid.
I walked over to the field next to where the shed was. I knew zombies would occasionally wander over to this area, so I knew it was the perfect place to find an actual zombie that I could practice on. I had never fought with a real zombie before, but with the training with Harry, I was confident in myself.
"Are you sure about this?" Ethan spoke in a hushed voice.
I smiled at him with self-assurance. "Trust me,"
So he did.
I sneakily walked around the yard, hoping I could find any zombies that I could attack. Luckily, soon enough, I was able to hear some groaning coming from behind the shed. I started walking slowly towards the noise, Ethan following closely behind me. The closer we got to the sound I swear I felt something touch the bottom of my back softly. I jumped slightly when I felt it but then I felt it rub my back. I turned my head around to see Ethan as he just gave me a reassuring nod, almost as if to let me know it was him and that he was there for me.
The groaning got closer. Deciding to quicken the process I banged my crowbar against the shed to get the attention of the zombie around the corner. Ethan seemed very shocked by my action, moving his hand from my back to wrap his arm around my waist and pulling me closer into him almost as instinct. Though, he seemed to put trust in me as he loosened his grip and let me continue with whatever plan I had.
The zombie quickly rushed over to the sound and to where Ethan and I stood. "Ethan, move," I ordered him to do. He hesitated to back up, but he listened to me anyway.
The zombie went to lunge at me but before it could I quickly did what I had been taught previously. I held the crowbar like a golf club and went to swing it exactly like one, aiming for the bottom of the head of the zombie to hit it in an uppercut with my crowbar. I successfully did so that made the zombie stumble back. Keeping myself grounded I then used the sharp end of the crowbar to plummet it into the skull. Once I was able to put full force into that swing, the zombie collapsed. Using the heavyweight of the zombie falling, I used the strength in my legs to push myself back enough to pull the crowbar back out of its skull and back into a swinging position ready for another attack if needed.
I started to breathe heavily from the adrenaline as that was officially the first zombie I had killed with my training. I started smiling from ear to ear, realizing that my practice came in handy. That I could prove myself. That I could take care of myself and I don't need Ethan to treat me like a little girl.
Ethan looked at me in slight shock but his expression seemed to show a look of seeming impressed as well. Which was the greatest feeling. To be able to impress the strongest man in this group, to impress the person who you had known for so long, to impress the person you had always wanted to impress even before this world went to shit.
"I did it," I first said softly. "I did it!" I jumped, still trying to keep down my voice to avoid getting the attention of either hostile survivors or hostile zombies.
I quickly jumped over to Ethan to embrace him in a tight hug. I threw my arms around his neck while I stood on the tip of my toes to reach him. He quickly reciprocated the hug, slightly bending over to help me get a better grip around his neck. He wrapped his arms around my waist and then lifted me. Instinctively I wrapped my legs around his waist, resting them on his hips. He once again moved his hands underneath my legs to support my body around him. The last time we hugged like this was when we first found each other again after the apocalypse broke out.
We stayed like this for a short while until Ethan set me back down. "It's dangerous out here." He spoke, yet his tone seemed disappointed. He was never good with his words or expressing what he wanted, but if I didn't know any better I would think that maybe he wanted to stay like that as much as I did.
"Oh, yeah," I snapped myself out of my thoughts feeling a bit flustered. "Of course."
We both quietly walked back inside of the building, Ethan walking with slightly bigger strides as it took me walking at a faster pace as well as needing to do some small hops to catch up to him. He might have noticed my breathing quickening as I tried my best to keep up with him as he slowed down his steps and turned his head to face me. Although I was learning how to fight, I still wasn't the most athletic like he was.
We continued to walk even after he slowed his pace down slightly to help me catch up. When he turned to face me I noticed him look at my face then down at my hand. Soon enough, he stuck out his hand towards me. I was confused by the gesture so I just looked up at him with a face of question and the small nod he gave me and the curl of his fingers gesturing me to comply with what he was attempting to initiate I knew to go for it. I put my hand in his, not sure what he was wanting to do. As soon as I placed my hand in his, he intertwined our fingers together and then looked back forward to the direction of where we were walking.
I couldn't hold back the heat that quickly crept up to my cheeks. I knew they were most likely turning into a deep red, so I used my other hand to rub my face to use that as any excuse as to why my face might have been red. Yet when I glanced over to Ethan, although with his usual face holding no expression, I swear I could see that his cheeks were red too.