Zoe And The Beast

Chapter 6 | Tony's Bowling

Since the library incident, and I hadn't heard a word from Vince. He hadn't shown up anywhere, he hadn't talked to me anyway, he simply disappeared from my life.

Funnily enough, I couldn't get him out of my head. Every morning, the first thought that would come across me is, 'Would I see Vince again today?' It was as though my brain was telling me that I needed to see Vince again in order to stop thinking about him. But after not seeing him for a few days, I convinced myself that Vince had done his tricks and was out of my life for good.

I was a fool to believe that his absence would last forever. One week later, Savannah, Jared, and I all decided to go bowling at Tony's. Just as we walked in, Jared's eyes widened before he whirled around.

"They're here," he hissed at Savannah and I, white as a sheet.

"Who?" Savannah asked, looking around. "George and Amal?"

"No," Jared frowned and shook his head at Savannah in disappointment. "Zoe's boytoy and his mole-rat sidekick."

"Vince and Derek are here?" My heartbeat instantly picked up.

"Who else would I be talking about?"

"Why are you so freaked out?" Savannah questioned, her eyes narrowing into slits. "Is Derek's beauty making you nervous?"

Jared's jaw dropped. "No." he bared his teeth in offense. "I'm just being a good friend and courteously thinking about Zoe and how she would deal with seeing her lover after a week of lust and-"

"He's not-" I stopped him before he said too much. "No."

Amidst the electricity flowing through my fingers that urged me to fulfill the desire to meet him again, I thought everything through. In my head, there were two scenarios. One, we walk out of Tony's Bowling simply because Vince Mascars was in the same arena playing at a completely different alley. Or two, we go in, find a place to play, pretend we aren't affected by the presence of Vince and Derek, have a good time, and walk out because we finished our games and are ready to go home.

Two seemed like the better option. It couldn't be hard. I hadn't seen Vince in a week, pretending not to see him for another two hours couldn't be too hard.

"Let's just play, yeah?" I looked at both of my friends, shrugging. "What difference does it make if Vince and Derek are here anyway?"

"That's true." Savannah mused. "Plus, I've been dying to kick Jared's butt all week."

"Excuse me." Jared quirked an eyebrow. "I'd like to see you try."

And just like that, our attention went off Vince and Derek and went back to bowling. Making sure not to glance at Vince, I quickly payed for an alley for us to play in as Savannah ordered snacks and drinks for us and Jared grabbed our shoes. We set our stuff in our allotted alley and began playing.

For a few minutes, I completely forgot that Vince was even in the arena, until Jared stopped playing and turned to look at us.

"Constipated?" Savannah repeated, backing up. "Excuse me?"

"He's here?" I gasped, my eyes widening. Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh. I had just been with him in the library, barely getting away without hyperventilating. I was still then, dazed and confused and surprised. What in the world would happen now? With so many people around, there was no way that I would be able to keep myself together.