Charades And Champagne

8

The moment they were outside, Zoe turned on Miles with an arsenal of questions.

"I don't have a doctor's appointment tomorrow," she said accusingly as they walked away from Tsing Tao. "Complete food digestion takes up to twelve hours. And twelve hours from now, it'll be like, six in the morning. No one wants to wake up that early just to spend ages getting poked and prodded."

"Exactly," Miles said with satisfaction. "But he didn't factor in the time, did he? I knew he wouldn't. I'm sorry Zoe, but I'm so much smarter than he is. Besides, I thought it was a viable excuse to decline their invitation."

Zoe's heart did a little backflip in her chest. That was so sweet of him.

"Thanks Miles," she said gratefully, "I don't think I could've handled spending the entire night with them." She heaved an unwelcome shudder.

Miles raised an eyebrow at this and it took a moment for Zoe to realize she'd just confessed something without meaning to. She swallowed uneasily. Now she was in for it.

"You are most welcome Zoe. But I did it to get you away from Tasha, not Joshua. I was under the impression that you liked him," he said searchingly.

It wasn't really a question, but Zoe could tell he wanted to know what had changed. Oh well, she had brought this on herself, so she might as well elaborate. Besides, it wasn't like it would hurt to give him an explanation. At least an incomplete one.

"Well technically I did," she agreed, emphasizing on the past tense. "But not anymore. It just took me a while to realize that I stopped liking him the moment he chose popularity over me."

"I see," Miles said quietly.

They walked in silence for a few minutes after that. Zoe was quietly freaking out, wondering how much she'd given away to him from just that one sentence.

Because under normal circumstances, it was extremely difficult to get Miles to shut up. What if he had figured out how she felt? Could that be why he was silent?

She was so worried about this that she didn't notice the fact that they were entering a very familiar park. It was only when they began to pass the running trail, the playground and the ducks' pond did she start paying attention to their surroundings.

They were heading towards the green meadow; Zoe's favorite part. She hadn't come here in literally ages (although it was admittedly just a few blocks away from home).

"Uh, Miles? What are we doing here?" Zoe asked, looking around.

Miles shook his head distractedly, looking as if he'd been very far away. "Do you honestly want to go home this early?" he asked in surprise.

"No, I guess not," Zoe admitted, looking around at the simple beauty of the place. She really did love it here. She always had.

"I come here often when I want fresh air and solitude," Miles said as they began ascending a small grassy hill. As they walked, their feet disturbed tons of little dandelions, sending their seeds spiraling into the air.

"Yeah, it's definitely calming here," Zoe agreed. "I used to come here all the time with my dad when I was little," she told him, recalling the memories filled with laughter and happiness and feeling a little nostalgic. But the place was already working its magic on her, making her all but forget the near panic attack at Tsing Tao just a few minutes ago.

They'd reached the top of the hill and now stood on the very edge, overlooking a small lake.

This was Zoe's actual favorite part of the park. She used to love rolling down this hill and coming to rest next to the water. It was literally the best feeling ever.