The List

Chapter Eight

Zea stared zombie like at the email Maxey had sent her. After waking up, she sat contemplating whether to answer the email he sent her or not. She willed her fingers to touch the keyboard, but she just didn't want to seem like she was just waiting to answer his.

"Zea, quit being such a spaz! Just do it!" she psyched herself speaking aloud.

"Who you talking to?" Stella popped her head into Zea's room. Zea quickly pushed the laptop down as Stella made a full appearence in her room.

"No one...just arguing with the news.." she explained as she completely closed the laptop.

"Uh..huh.." Stella looked at her suspiciously."YOU" she pointed to her friend. "Are lying..I can tell" she inched towards Zea's desk. Zea frowned at her.

"Stella, really? I was just reading something on the news." again Zea tried to convince her friend.

"Nope..don't believe you.." Stella drummed her fingers on her mug. "Besides, I know the truth. Alex told me Maxey emailed you.." she smiled widely. Zea scowled.

Stella sat down on Zea's bed. Zea rolled her eyes

"Is nothing private!" Zea said aloud as she she threw her hands up in the air. Stella giggled.

"Zea...c'mon, it's me. What's going on with you two? This is kind of exciting actually.." Stella's eyes sparkled as she smiled at her friend.

"Stel, nothing is going on between me and Max..uh, I mean Foster. He just said hi, that's it. And, may I point out I didn't give him my email!" Zea argued. "That would only leave you or Alex!" she concluded.

Stella sighed. She looked at her friend sheepishly. "Guilty as charged, I guess, but I really didn't give Al, your email, he must have took it off an email I sent to all of you..but isn't it great that Foster wanted to get a hold of you?" Stella's eyes once again sparkled as she laid sprawled across Zea's bed belly down.

"Remind me to change my email.." Zea groaned as she moved towards her bathroom.

"You are so stubborn Z!" Stella argued. "It's obvious Foster wants to get to know you. Is it really that hard to get to know him?" Stella looked over at her friend.

"Stella, I didn't say I wouldn't talk to the guy, I just am not ready to be serious about someone..." Zea tried to sound convincingly.

"Z, noone is telling you to be serious , just talk to him..what's that gonna hurt?" Stella explained to her friend. Zea considered her. She just didn't want to seem like she wasn't sticking to her list. For now, she would just play it off and figure it out later.

"Fine, I will later. Now can you please leave my room so I can crap in peace!" Zea smiled smugly at her friend as Stella made a face and jumped off her bed.

"You are so gross!" Stella complained as she darted out of Zea's room. Zea laughed.

"Just honest!" she called after her friend as she closed the door to her room. She turned back around and slowly walked towards her laptop. She really wanted to answer Maxey and tell him how thoughtful he was and that the picture he sent was hilarious, but she didn't want to seem to excited about his email. She needed to play it cool.

She opened up her laptop and sat back down at the desk. She drummed her fingers on the keyboard. She started typing.

Thanks Maxey, real cute picture... She hit the backspace button. "How lame can I be?" she was talking to herself again. She typed again. Nice picture..was that you pre-teen? She frowned again. She was trying to be sarcastic not cruel. "What is wrong with you Zea? It's just a fricken email!" she said a little more loudly and with anger.

She huffed and sat back and crossed her arms. Why was it so hard for her to just say thank you? Why was she trying so hard to impress this guy she talked to for a couple of hours at wedding? She knew exactly why. She really did like him, he seemed very genuine.

Maxey still had much to prove to her before she could let her wall down. The last guy she even considered only held the torch for a couple of weeks before his true colors came out. He was a total douche bag. He started off with promise, good looking, owned his own car wash business, loved his mother. Then, one night he finally decided to introduce her to his friends and she became the laughing stock of the group.

All he did all night was pick at how meticulous she was, how honest she was. It was not her favorite night. She was so pissed off at him and she didn't even talk to him on her ride back home. The whole time he tried to play it off as 'just having fun'. She quickly reminded him that she wasn't laughing. He didn't call her again.

Zea touched the screen and traced the outline of the picture Maxey sent her. She smiled remembering how his big blue eyes lit up when she came back at him with a smart ass remark. Her fingers dropped to the keyboard and she started typing.

Nice to know that a big chubby guy holding a burger reminds you of me. :) Talk to you soon.

Zea smiled to herself again, satisfied with the message she was sending and hit 'send' on her email. She hoped that this chance she was taking on Maxey was worth it. If this didn't go right for her, she was giving up on men completely.