Charades And Champagne

14

The moment Miles left, Zoe slid down against the bookshelf onto the floor, where she curled up – pulling her legs up against her chest and resting her head on them.

        Anyone who saw her then would have thought she was crying. But as long as it wasn't Miles, Zoe didn't particularly care.

        She wasn't crying. Not really.

        In fact, she was actually trying to be optimistic about the whole thing. Sure, she wouldn't see Miles for one long week – but so what? It was seven days. Then he would come back.

        In fact, Zoe was glad he'd gotten this chance. She could tell how much Miles loved his family just from the numerous stories he'd told her about them. He definitely missed them as much as they missed him.        

        True, he'd probably only realize this when he actually saw them, but that was okay. He'd be happy to see them. And if he was happy, she was happy.

        And okay, maybe it was a weird, sinking sort of happiness. But that was fine too. It went away as soon as she stopped thinking about how he was going away to a completely different continent. Or about how he might change his mind about coming back after he'd spent a week there with his family and friends ...

        Zoe's chest tightened uncomfortably.

        Breathe, she told herself. He was coming back. He'd promised.

        Until then, she could still text him. And besides, he wasn't gone just yet.

        Zoe realized belatedly that she should probably get off the floor before the librarian or someone else came by. But try as she might, she couldn't bring herself to move.

        However, she should've known that not everyone would ignore the crumpled – possibly crying – girl on the floor of a random library aisle.

        Because she was only able to sit in that hopeless position for a grand total of five minutes before someone decided to bug her.

        "Hey Zoe? You okay?" asked a voice from her immediate right.

        So maybe it was a nice someone, but Zoe was so not in the mood.

        She raised her head, annoyed.

        "I'm FINE. Mind your own —" she stopped short, eyebrows rising in shock as she found herself staring directly into Joshua Bell's sea green eyes.

        Which happened to be on the same level as hers because he was sitting RIGHT NEXT TO HER.

        Zoe scrambled to her feet and backed away from him so fast she was practically a blur.

        This was a whole new level of creepy. She hadn't even heard him sitting down so close. How long had he been there – watching her?

        Zoe started to panic slightly. What if Tasha had walked by and seen them together? She was so dead if that happened.

        Joshua still hadn't moved. "Where are you going?" he wanted to know.

        "Where is Tasha?" Zoe countered, completely ignoring his question.

        "Oh, her," Joshua shrugged as he spoke. "Last I saw her; she was stuck in Spanish class. Which I'm ditching, in case you were wondering."

        Zoe heaved a sigh of relief. "No, I wasn't actually," she said more breezily. "I have stuff to do anyway, so I'll leave you to enjoy your freedom – Or whatever. And ... see you later I guess."         
        Or not, she added mentally as she started to walk away.