andante ❈ benjamin pavard

NINETEEN

Probably not.

She hadn't realized New Jersey was so far. And there were so many cars. Too many cars on the road. And New Jersey was a lot less pretty than New York. Or Manhattan, at least. She rested her head on the back of her seat. If she was back home, she could've gone to Belgium in the time it got her to go to another state. Traveling in the US was exhausting.

Within an hour and a half, they got to their destination. It was a cute Korean Barbecue restaurant; Zoe had only seen them in movies. Ross had made reservations at the place so they found their spots quickly. There were only thirty minutes until the game started, but Zoe didn't care that much about arriving on time. Apparently, neither did Ross.

"What are you specializing in?" Zoe asked. Ross gave her a blank look.

"Specializing?" he questioned.

"Sorry, majoring," she corrected, giving him a helpless shrug.

"Oh, uh, business. I'm minoring in Hispanic Studies," he revealed, smiling privately. Well, Zoe wasn't expecting that. She sat forward, intrigued.

"Really?" she asked, stabbing a fork into the weird small potatoes they gave her. She didn't know what anything was called but it all tasted good. And there were a lot of options.

"Yeah." He nodded quickly, swallowing down some vegetables. "For the past four summers, I've worked at an orphanage for deaf children in Peru. It was really fun. I was gonna take a gap year and work there for an entire year, but my parents were entirely against it."

Zoe softened at seeing a different side of Ross. He seemed sweeter and genuine, just in those few moments. His eyes shone brighter and his entire posture relaxed. Zoe could tell he really loved it there.

"That's really cute," Zoe gushed, taking a drink of her iced water. "I've never been to Latin America. It looks beautiful."

"It is," Ross quickly confirmed. "And the people there are amazing. You have to go at least once in your life."

Zoe hummed, "I wanted to go to Mexico really badly when I was a kid. My uncle works for FIFA and he helped set up the World Cup, back in 1986. And he has all these cool souvenirs and pictures."

"That's sick," Ross said. "What do your parents do?"

"My mom's a doctor and my dad's a stockbroker," Zoe told him. "You?"

"My dad's a lawyer and my mom's... a mom. That's a full-time job on its own." Zoe nodded in agreement.

"My dad used to play football growing up. Him and my uncle. My uncle quit before my dad and went into management, but then my dad injured himself before he could make it to the senior level." Zoe shrugged. Her stomach rumbled in anticipation. "My dad thinks he's hot shit because he knows Zidane."

"Your dad knows Zidane?"

Zoe huffed, wishing she never brought that up. "Vaguely. Not really. Doesn't matter. I'm hungry, aren't you hungry? Should we order?" She began flagging down a waiter.

"Wait, no, backtrack. You don't get out of this." He pointed his fork at her and she surprisingly wasn't threatened at all by the action. "Do you know any footballers?"

Yes. "No."

He hummed, obviously not placated by her response. At least he set his fork down. He smiled at her, shaking his head.

"You are one mysterious girl, Zoe."

"And you are one strange boy, Ross," she responded in French, just to throw him off.

"What did you say this time?" Ross asked as their waiter came closer. 

"That you're a funny boy," she said.

"Liar." He had an amused glint in his baby blue eyes. Pretty boys were nothing but trouble. 

Zoe tore her eyes away from his. Ross was sweet but he was dangerous. She wasn't going to listen to her heart this time. It only ever brought her heartbreak. She wasn't going to let herself fall for him. Like him, yes. But it wasn't going to get deeper than that. Zoe fell in love quickly; it was her Achilles heel, her fatal flaw. One look and she was a goner. Her mother used to say that it was endearing, but Zoe thought it was unbearable. 

Her stomach felt tight as she watched Ross smile at her with his stupidly perfect straight, white teeth. Americans had good teeth. Why? He was sweet albeit a bit strange and placed European girls on uncalled for pedestals. Zoe wasn't intimidating. She was just Zoe. Emotional, romantic, embarrassing Zoe. She just wanted to be liked for who she was, not because she was easy or intimidating. 

Zoe mixed the ice in her drink around with her straw. Oh, how she yearned to love without care again. She was going to be her own undoing.

***

sorry if  the ending is awkward ive been trying to find a good ending for a literal week lmao.

haha sorry for the... super long (don't talk about it) wait! i think there's less than 5 chapters left and i plan to have this story done this week so i don't have to worry abt it anymore. ive felt so guilty every second that i havent posted supes sorry.

so there you have it! how do you like ross, nadine, etc?

thoughts? vote + comment <3