"What do you have for me today?" Zero had started selecting classics for Jem to read, which she would finish in a day or two, then go ask him for more.
"Why can't you just go to the library?" Zero asked as he handed her George Orwell's 1984.
"Because, I've told you, people talk to me. And besides, I get overwhelmed. I just want to read them all, but you have a good eye for what I like," she answered as she took the book from Zero and started to look it over. Then she looked up to the sky, knowing she now had to go back to her dorm. "Why couldn't it have rained today?" she complained.
The two were out of class and walking side by side back to the Sun Dorm. They had established a habit where Jem would find a quiet place and copy her notes when Zero did the switchover, then they would meet up. Together they would go to Zero's room to drop off the notes, then he would walk her back to her room. He did this everyday, because he knew the day he didn't would be the day she thought she could get away with being exactly where she wasn't supposed to be.
"You actually want it to rain?" he asked, enjoying the sunshine.
"Only because I might be able to stay with you and avoid my room a little longer," she mumbled. "My roommate has gotten so much worse, and now we've started to bicker," she divulged.
"Look," sighed Zero, stopping and turning to her. She, of course, immediately stopped too. "Do you just want to stay in my room while I'm on patrol?"
Her eyes widened and she grabbed his sleeve inattentively, "What? Really? Do you really mean it?" she stammered, her hopes way too high.
"Yeah," he said, "no one will bother you there, so I know you won't leave. And then when I come back from patrol you can go back to your room, and your roommate should be asleep by then."
She just looked at him, completely bewildered and overjoyed, and then she clung to him. She wrapped both her arms all the way around him, trapping his arms and squeezing him just a little too tight. "Thank you," she breathed a sigh of relief. "You don't know what this means to me."
Zero was taken aback, and did not quite know how to handle this. He, however, was strangely not opposed to the moment. She drew back, "All right, ok, sorry. Let's go!" And then she was off at a faster pace than he had yet seen from her.
He simply followed her back, mostly sure he had made the right decision.