9. | his little gesture

Closing my notebook and grabbing all my stuff, I let out a sigh of relief. It's finally time to get some lunch.

Today is Thursday. I haven't seen or spoken to Ethan since our last conversation and I got way too used to the flow of working here daily that I barely got time to speak to Cole as well.

Today is supposed to be a quite enjoyable day. Lexi finally accepted to apply here as a nurse student, after me begging every single day. She just gave in to get me to shut up about it and I'm not complaining.

Smiling at the thought of having her by my side most days of the week, I turn the doorknob to leave the room.

"Boo!" Someone yells right into my face, which causes me to let out a shriek. I come face to face with none other than her.

"Damn it, Lexi. Couldn't you just knock on the door?" I bring my hand up to my heart as I laugh and pull her in for a tight hug.

"You know I like making an entrance." She hugs me back, "Girl, let me breathe." She laughs as she pulls away from my squeezing.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in ages." I mumble as I let go of her.

"You got a point though. Ever since you started here, you barely had time for me. But now, it's time for change. I never thought I'd be this excited to be in a prison." She mirrors my excitement while curiously peeking into the room behind me.  "Oh, this place definitely needs a huge make-over."

Nodding at this to show her how I wholeheartedly agree, I grab her hand and mumble "C'mon, let's get some lunch and then I'll show you around while we catch on."

We walk through the hallway to the canteen of the guards. We end up sitting down on a table in the corner.

"I'll get us some food." I tell Lexi as I leave her behind and get us both a tuna salad with two bottles of water. A I start walking back, I see Reed and Lexi engaged in what seems like a brief first conversation. I put the plates on the table and look at them curiously and slightly confused.

After what went down between Reed and Ethan three days ago, I did everything in my power to not run into him. This time he didn't try to get close to me either, probably sensing my recent trust issues towards him.

There's clearly an unpleasant tension between the two of us and eventually Reed interrupts the silence.

"Hey." He mumbles as he turns to me, seeming to have become slightly nervous. I just reply by conjuring yet another forced smile on my face and sit down, ready to dig into my lunch. Reed starts fidgeting with his keycard, unsure of what to do or say next.

"I guess I'll see you both around. " he says, offering Lexi a smile and avoiding to look at me as he turns around and quickly strides away.

"Yeah, walk away. " I mumble to myself, taking a bite of my salad.

"What was that all about? He seems pretty genuine and nice. " Lexi says, a confused expression appearing on her face.

"Exactly, seems. " I drop my fork back into my salad, grabbing the plate with both the palms of my hands. "Like I said, we really need to catch on. Let's have lunch outside, if you want to." I offer.

Lexi agrees and without another word she grabs her stuff and gets to her feet, following me outside. We end up sitting on the grass, chatting and eating while enjoying the mild fall sun.

I tell her everything that I hadn't gotten the opportunity to tell her through the phone. Everything starting from my developing friendship with Ethan, leaving the details of his personal stories out. I explain to her why I started avoiding Reed and after rambling on for about half an hour, I let out a sigh of relief as I take a few sips of water.

"Now I get it." Lexi exclaims, "And— I need to meet Ethan and approve of him." A smug grin appears on her face as she teasingly elbows me in my side, causing me to push away her touchy hands.

A few minutes later, a door opens and some detainees walk towards the basketball court behind two fences, right in front of the grass we're currently sitting on.

During the breaks, the detainees are allowed to play sports outside, to eat their lunch or just to get some fresh air. I've never spent my breaks out here, so it's my first time seeing them in this kind of circumstance. The guards take their handcuffs off and the guys separate.

"I never thought I'd ask you this but why are some of these guys extremely good looking?" Lexi mumbles in awe as she gazes at the inmates that are currently preparing for what seems like a little friendly game of basketball. Some of them are stretching, some are clearly talking about tactics and some are just running around to warm up.

I chuckle at Lexi's question. "That's easy for you to say. You basically like all flavors. "

"I really do. " She grins, "Holy— Brooklyn, who's that?" She whisper-yells, her eyes literally about to burst out of their sockets. I follow her gaze and see Ethan.

His dirty blonde hair is way messier than usual and he has pulled his orange uniform down to his hips. He's wearing a white tank top underneath. He notices me too and looks at me with a wide grin on his face. The idiot is enjoying this way too much.

"That's Ethan." I answer with an innocent smile on my face as we watch him and his teammates start to play.

He's clearly good at it so I suppose he used to play before ending up in here. Lexi doesn't say a word after that and just watches him in awe, probably undressing him with her eyes.

"Lexi, you dropped something. Your jaw. " I chuckle as I look back at the game. Ethan scores repeatedly, causing his team to take the lead in the game. After several minutes, they decide on taking a break.

Ethan once again looks in our way and even though there's another fence separating the area that's for inmates from the area that's for staff, he starts striding towards us. I take a moment to appreciate his now slightly sweaty appearance, the tank top now fully clutching to his upper body as he breaths hard.

"Oh my god, he's coming this way." Lexi elbows my side once again, "If you don't end up dating him Brooklyn I swear, I might. " She jokes, causing me to shake my head as I laugh and look down to my lap.

I know she'd never do that to a guy I'm potentially into, but she sure knows how to appreciate and praise the male species.

"Hey Brook." He says, a radiant smile immediately appearing on his lips. Brook.

"Hi." I smile back. "Didn't know the match you told me about was today and that you were kind of good at playing basketball."

"Kind of?" He raises a questioning eyebrow while placing both of his hands against the fence. "I think you mean extremely good. Or just admit I'm the best out here. " He states proudly.

"You desperately need to be humbled. I see." I grin as I mirror him and raise a challenging eyebrow back.

"Only by you though." He chews on his lower lip before breaking his gaze from me and focusing on Lexi. "I've never seen you before."

"Since she's not in a stabile state to answer, I'll answer for her. " I joke because it clearly takes her too long to come up with an answer. "That's Lexi, my best friend."

"Nice to meet you Lexi." He says with an amused smile, breaking the eye contact with her and looking over at me for a mere second and then turning back to her. "Can I borrow Brook for a sec?" He kindly asks, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Nice to meet you too." She finally aswers, shaking off her fangirl demeanor. "Yes, yes you can. "

I get up to my feet and walk over to the fence Ethan is standing behind. We start slowly walking towards where it is leading to, side by side, the iron separating the two of us.

"I haven't seen you for ages. " He exaggerates.

"Three days. " I nonchalantly correct him, coming to a stop and turning towards him to meet his eyes.

"I must admit, it felt like way longer. " He says, his gaze dropping to the ground. I follow it to see a lonely daisy peeking above the grass right next to his feet. He lowers himself and plucks it.

"Here. " He offers me a radiant smile, a beam of innocence decorating his features.

He hands me the little daisy through the fence, his fingertips slightly grazing mine in the process of handing it over. I try to ignore the tingles I get from his little gesture of pure kindness.

"I'll let it dry in my notebook." I say, earning another heartwarming grin. "Next time you decide on giving me something, make sure it's out of the sight of the camera's though. " I remind him as I nod towards the camera right behind us. "The other guards will assume things that aren't true."

"Assume things? Like what?" By this time his innocent smile has turned into a smug grin as he leans onto the fence, both of his hands casually placed above my head, his fingers laced through the holes of the fence.

"You know what." I mumble with a laugh and take a step closer to him, facing him through the holes.

"You know, " He mumbles with a low tone, one that causes unwanted butterflies to erupt in the pit of my stomach. "I don't think anyone even watches the material those camera's record. "

"They don't. Unless— they have a reason to." A voice from behind of Ethan speaks up. Ethan turns around and I follow his gaze to see Michael Bradshaw stride towards us. Right that second, I freeze at my spot, thinking back to my first interaction with this man.

''Why would I regret doing it?'' He spat into my face, ''You know what I regret most? I regret getting caught. I had a whole bunch of girls on my list. Hell, I was on my way of becoming the 21st century version of Theodore Bundy.''

"Okay?" Ethan states, shrugging it off. "However, I don't remember asking you. "

"You don't need to ask. " Michael continues, now standing next to Ethan. Contrary to him, Michael is handcuffed. "You, my friend, can leave. I'm going to have a little chat with my lovely therapist here. I have a feeling she's been deliberately avoiding her sessions with me."

"Michael back off. She isn't obligated to talk to anyone." Ethan starts raising his voice, "With this behavior of yours, I, as a male, wouldn't even feel comfortable talking to you."

Before my mind can even comprehend what is happening, Michael forcefully grabs my shirt through the fence easily, due to how close I was. He harshly pulls me towards him, causing Ethan to immediately interfere by grabbing Michael's collar with his free hands.

To my horror, Ethan looks down to where Michael is holding me and stiffens. At that moment, I realize what is touching the bare skin of my stomach underneath my shirt.

Ethan and I both shakily look down to see a sharpened and long piece of metal, one slight push away from fatally piercing through me.

"How about you listen to me or I'll hurt and scar this little crush of yours."

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A/N; happy new year everyone. i hope you guys & your loved ones are all healthy and okay. <3

thanks for reading, i hope you enjoyed.

please don't forget to vote & comment, i really enjoy reading every single one of them.

— lyra b.