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 Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 12:49 pm
Word Count: 966
"-- and then he said, he said, that's not a titan, that's my mother!" Walt finished.
"He didn't!" Zin exclaimed, laughing uproariously. She wiped imaginary tears from her eyes as she suffered from paroxysms of laughter. She glanced over to Colin and was surprised to see that he wasn't laughing; instead, he was staring down at his plate, pushing his food around with his fork. "Come on, Colin, that was hilarious!" she said.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Real funny, Walt," he responded absentmindedly.
Zin stared at her friend for a moment longer, then said dismissively, "Ah, never mind him, Walt, I thought that that was a great joke."
"Haha, thanks," Walt responded. The bell chimed, signaling the end of the lunch break. "Ah, I'm in the field today, I'd better get going or I'll be late," he said, standing up with his tray. "I'll catch you guys later."
"'Bye, Walt!" Zin said with a lazy wave. Colin's farewell followed hers faintly. Zin got to her feet and picked up her tray as well; she could feel Colin following her as she made her way toward the nearest trash can.
When she dumped her tray and turned around, he was looking right at her. "Something you need, Colin?" Zin asked in surprise.
"It, um..." Colin began, suddenly unable to look into his friend's eyes, "I was just wondering, do you... do you like Walt?"
"What? Of course, he's my friend," Zin said quizzically.
"No, I mean, like... Do you like like him," he asked suggestively.
"Oh... Oh, no, nothing like that," Zin said with a laugh. "We're just friends. I better get going, I'll see you later," she said, still chuckling at the idea of romantic feelings as she walked away.
Colin, meanwhile, looked rather hopeful as he dumped his tray.
299/700
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Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2014 12:19 pm
The next few days passed normally enough-- as far as Zinnia could tell. She had an inkling feeling that there was something bothering Colin, but he was evasive whenever she tried to bring it up, so she'd decided to let him open up in his own time. Until then, he was simply even quieter than usual. Walt was selected for 3DMG training, which meant that he would be leaving Zin and Colin for the next few weeks.
"Good luck! Try not to hit a tree!" Zin said, waving cheerfully as Walt prepared to join the other trainees.
"Haha, thanks," Walt replied. "If I do, at least you guys won't be there to see it."
"Darn, there goes my blackmail material," Zin sighed.
"S-see you in a few weeks," Colin piped up. "Good luck."
Walt eyed his friend with a smirk. "Yeah," he said, "Good luck to you, too."
Zinnia watched as Walt gave Colin a huge wink; in response, Colin rubbed his arm and stared at the ground awkwardly. She shot the pair of them a quizzical glance and opened her mouth to demand what was going on, but before she could do so, Walt interrupted.
"Well, better get going or I'll be late! I'll be training so hard, I don't want Baldy to give me extra laps! See you guys soon!" And with that, he took off.
"Weird," Zin said, then shrugged. "Well, Colin, I think I'm gonna go try to find Lenore. She's probably in the library..."
"A-actually, Zin, I was wondering if... we could hang out today?"
"Oh, sure!" Zin said brightly. "What did you have in mind? Wanna go riding horses? Or raid the kitchen? Or maybe we could sneak out into the forest and find a lake to go swimming!"
"Er, I wanted to talk to you about something. Or, well, ask you something. Could we go somewhere more quiet?"
"Okay! Let's go to my dorm room; my roommates are all on duty right now, I'm pretty sure." She seized Colin by the wrist and took off running, apparently too impatient to walk like a normal person.
352/401
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 8:40 am
Colin was highly aware the Zin did not release his hand even as they walked into her room. The four beds were empty; Zin had been correct in her statement that the other three girls were out on duty.
Zinnia dragged Colin to her bed, where she flopped onto her butt joyfully and finally tried to release his hand; but this time, it was his turn to cling on. "Zin," he said seriously, staring directly into her eyes.
"What's wrong?" Zin said, a little startled. She turned her head to one side. "Are you okay, Colin? You've been acting weird..."
"I think we should go out!" Colin exclaimed, now seizing Zin's hand in both of his own.
"But I thought you wanted to tell me something in private," Zinnia responded quizzically. "We just got here..."
"No, I mean-- I-- I like you!" Colin was blushing furiously.
A full second passed.
Then Zin broke out into a blush as well.
"But... But it'd be weird... You're my friend..." she mumbled, looking away. "I like you, but... I just want us to be friends..."
Colin felt his heart drop into his stomach. He released Zin's hands numbly. "Oh," he said. "I thought... Oh. Um..." Now he couldn't look directly at Zin, either.
"Yeah," Zin said awkwardly, "Sorry."
The pair of teenagers fell silent.
Zin finally piped up, "Um... I'm going to go find Lenore now. Let's not be weird, okay? We're still friends." She smiled and offered a hand to Colin. "Right? It's okay. I like you, and Walt, and Lenore, and everyone else."
"How greedy," Colin said, forcing a laugh. He took her hand and shook it. "Okay. We're normal." He heaved a sigh. "Thanks, Zin."
Zin stared at Colin for a moment before throwing her arms around him and pulling him into a tight embrace. "Friends!" she said happily.
"Friends," Colin agreed with forced enthusiasm.
315
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