It’s what Lauren would want. So from now on I’ll live by that motto instead of ‘moping’ as Bella called it.
There isn’t a lot to wash myself with other than the soap and an odd-looking bottle I assume is shampoo, so I squirt the muddy-looking texture into my hand and lather it before working it through my hair.
By the time I’m finished and step out of the shower to change, Bella is sitting on the foot of the bed, hairbrush and hair ties in hand. “Now let’s fix the mop.”
I roll my eyes and smile, but sit down in front of her nonetheless. If there’s anyone I trust in this moment, it’s Bella.
Working the brush through my hair, Bella pulls hard on the knots without warning, making me yelp in surprise, to which the bitch laughs at me.
“Stop being a baby, I’m just brushing your hair.” Although she does start brushing gentler.
Once we finish with my hair and Bella has done some fancy braid ‘half up half down’ style, as she called it, we walk out of the bedroom and out to the boys who all stare at me, shocked. Cayden doesn’t move, his eyes on me like he’s trying to read me, and I wonder what he’s seeing when I’m not even sure myself.
“Well if it isn’t the belle of the ball.” Caleb laughs at another joke I don’t understand, but Cayden smirks before elbowing him in the ribs.
“Shut it, asshole,” he mumbles the words, but he’s smiling, and that alone makes me smile.
“Can you show me how to make those ration packs? I’m kinda hungry.”
Cayden’s smile widens as he stands and walks over to me. “Sure thing, darling. What are you in the mood for? We have shit, shit, even worse, and decent.”
I can’t help the giggle that escapes and I go with the best sounding option. “Decent will be fine, thank you.”
Moving through the cupboards, Cayden pulls out a standard ration pack and hands it to me. “Alright, darling, open it up.”
I look down at the packet and see Mac and Cheese written on the dark green packaging, beneath the Zone Two Standard Ration Pack—Single Person which is written on every pack. We did cover the basics on ration packs in The Academy, mostly for overnight trips if we were stranded somewhere and needed to eat. Though most of them need a kitchen to make them.
It was intentionally designed that way, so that the citizens still felt in control of what they were making. Like if they completed the meal themselves it would somehow make it taste different than if it were ready-to-eat. Or at least that’s what The Academy said.
I open the green packaging only to find several more bags inside, this time most of them clear. My brows knit in confusion as I look up to Cayden, who is holding back a laugh.
“Bet you miss my money now, don’t you, darling?”
There’s a brief moment our hands touch as he takes the packaging from my hands and it makes me feel instantly safer, more relaxed. It doesn’t seem to get lost on him as Cayden holds his hands up in surrender stepping closer.
“I’m going to hug you now, and you’re not going to grab a kitchen knife and kill me. Okay?”
I nod. “Okay.”
Instantly his arms are around me, his comforting scent invading my senses, and everything just feels okay again. It’s a superpower Cayden has; that when he’s close, everything just feels okay. It stops my heart when it’s racing, it calms my breath when I can’t, and it makes my mind go quiet in ways no one else can manage.
“There you are, my Darlia. I’ve missed you.”
“Thank you…for not trying to fix me, these last few days.” I needed it, to process what happened to Lauren, what I did. But more than that I needed to not be pressured into feeling something I just wasn’t, and somehow Cayden knew that.
“You’re welcome, love. Now, time for you to learn how to cook.” There’s a slight chuckle to his voice as he pulls out some sort of metal object; no stone, no steel. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but I’ve never seen anything like it before.
“This, my beautiful girl, is a pan.”
Marcus, Weston, and Caleb snort from behind us as if needing to be explained what a pan is, is hilarious. “Shut it. You know damn well they didn’t teach her this shit.”
This time Bella laughs. “Yeah, but it’s still funny.”
I don’t miss the way Cayden bites back a smile before giving them all a glare.
Chapter 34:
Cayden
