Adriel brfore...

I guess in the short time with Adriel, a solid trust was formed, he was the type of person that you like the first time and you feel free to talk about everything, you feel that need to Say: Where have you been all this time? He was the type of person that we all need in our lives. Above all, because her joy was immense, almost as much as the scars on her arms. Of course I am not an idiot who cannot see the obvious, but of course I am an idiot having never been able to ask him a "What's up?" Which seemed to be his favorite question, ever. I always ignored him in front of the huge and, shit, yes, charming smile of him.

—What's the matter?—he walked by my side. My eyes inadvertently ran from his arms to his face, where they carried the scars and the smile. None recent, maybe he was something from a dark past and now he was reborn—You cut your hair.

—Ah yeah I guess I needed a change—I straightened my hair and it gave me the creeps. I looked at him and his eyes were on my neck—What's new with you?.

—Nothing new... all good, I guess...

I think I always wanted to avoid hearing that "I guess", it didn't do me good to hear it. I sighed and looked at him, his sight, for the first time, was elsewhere, far away. I guess you weren't expected to ask that. I slipped my arm between his and his body, hooking on him, his surprise was evident, but I did not turn away from him, nor did he take his hands out of his pockets, rather he let me settle. It was comfortable, we were the same height, the mall was still closed, therefore, there were no strange looks. At that moment I got tired of avoiding things.

—We should go out—I said, breaking the silence looking elsewhere.

—Get out?—His cheeks took on a slightly different color. It was easy to bring him out of his thoughts, I smiled at his incredulous tone of voice.

—Sure, don't you think so?—I was feeling my face redden.—You want to be my friend, I want to go out with you.

—Ah... as friends...

I chuckled slightly at her little disappointment.

—Alegria—spoke on the radio and he took his hand out of his pocket, breaking our contact to answer.

—Yes, here I am—I look around to see if anyone had seen us and if that had caused a problem. No one.

—Well, in five minutes we open, you have guard at the entrance, Elena is absent today, her daughter is ill.

—Ah...—he looked at me. I knew that meant not seeing him stand guard near the store—Okay, I'll be right there.

—I hope Elena's daughter recovers soon—I spoke when the walkie talkie returned to his belt, terminating the communication.

He looked at me.

He smiled at me.

And then he laughed.

I remembered his "I guess" and it made me feel a horrible pain in my chest. I hugged him. It was so out of context, not at all appropriate, and totally inappropriate. But he just wanted to hug him in that moment, stroke her hair and repeat over and over again that everything was and was fine. I wanted him to always laugh, even at things that I couldn't make sense of laughing at.

—Well, I'm going,—I blurted out before it was even more uncomfortable and quickly entered the store.

The first period was endless for me, there were not enough grumpy clients to fight and do something interesting my day like receiving a blow or a shake, just older women spending their pensions and giving me sweets in gratitude for my good attention. All mints, I did not know if it was my breath or what, but I filled my mouth with them just in case, although it was a bad idea for two reasons, my eyes burned and second because I hated mints, I suppose it was the need feeling something in the morning and choking on mints did not seem like a bad way to die, of course at the first need to breathe I spat in the bin before a client came over and tried to help me, I laughed a few seconds before to serve you. I wondered what Adriel would have done if he had seen me, I suppose he would have tried to help me with a maneuver while he laughed, I got bored again after thinking about him.

Of course I saw it on my break. He came up to my table and sat across from me.

The woman who had seen approaching me stopped, Adriel's action made her go back the way she came. I smiled and looked at him to thank him for his "timely" appearance, but the words couldn't get out of my mouth when I saw that his cheeks were heavily colored. Suddenly I could not eat anything else before an unruly sensation in my stomach. I got nervous.

—Zachary. You...?.

The rambunctious butterflies died, suddenly, at his hesitation. What the hell was he going to say?

—Me what?—My tone of voice unnerved him.

—I thought ... about your proposal, to go out, do you still want to?

And the butterflies revived.

Ay ay ay

—Sure, I haven't withdrawn my offer yet.

—Your offer?—he smiled.

—Sure, I'm giving you the one and only opportunity to go out with me, you know the women who want to be right there?—i pointed to his seat and his smile was wide— They would fight you if they knew that I was allowing you to have an incredible date with me.

Zach, wait

What did you just say?

"Incredible date with me"?

Zach, do yourself a favor and run.

—Sure, how can I refuse?.

We talked, we laughed, he was scolded for leaving his post for me, we exchanged numbers. We talked all night through messages without knowing that that day was going to be the last we saw each other, because yes, the world ended that morning.

And with him ... part of some maybe.