Loose Change~ Montgomery De La Cruz / Zach Dempsey/Scott Reed

Part 3 Chapter 8a

"Ophelia Tristano."

Winston smirked as Ophelia parked, and got out of her car. They were in the middle of down town. A large, populated place. It was the only place she felt comfortable meeting him. Not that she distrusted him, but because she knew he had a connection to Montgomery. And Montgomery was the one she didn't trust.

Zach came with her. He stayed in the car, however, watching the two carefully. Ophelia told Zach it would only take a moment. She felt Zach's eyes burning into her back as she approached him.

"Hey, Winston," she breathed.

Winston leaned against his car. It was hardly chilly, but he wore a coat and scarf. His iconic, rich look.

He smiled as he glanced at Zach through her windshield. "That's your boyfriend, right?"

Ophelia sighed. She was worried he would start saying inappropriate things if she let the two of them fall into a pattern of small talk. "Why did you call me out here, Winston?"

He laughed. "Well, he's cute. Looks muscular." He looked her up and down. "You're looking cute too, don't worry."

Ophelia shifted her feet, uncomfortable. "Thank you."

"I've missed you," Winston told her. He made her feel strange. Ophelia was so used to being his friend. After his...suggestion of being intimate, she didn't know how to talk to him.

So she just said, "Yeah...I've missed you too."

He chuckled. "You don't have to lie, O."

He called her 'O' again.

She felt offended. She wouldn't lie about something like that.

"I'm not," she insisted. "And I've missed everyone at Hillcrest." She could say that now that Bryce was gone.

Winston admitted to her, "I've tried messaging Monty. He hasn't responded. To anything."

Ophelia just nodded. "He's bad at that." Because he was a bad person.

Winston put his hand in his pocket. "This thing, it's kind of for Monty, actually."

She hesitated. "I don't think I...feel comfortable going back and forth between you two."

"Not back and forth," Winston assured. "Just give him these. Tell him Winston found em."

Winston pulled something out of his pocket. Ophelia them immediately. Montgomery's car keys. The ones Estella lost way back on the day of Ophelia's Hillcrest goodbye party.

Ophelia reached out and grabbed them with wide eyes. "Where did you find them?"

"They were actually lost in the shoe pile by the door," Winston explained. "I looked around for him, but I couldn't find him the whole night."

Ophelia held the keys gingerly in her hand. She explained, "It was his sister that came. She's the one that lost the keys."

Winston nodded. "Ahh. Well, can you give them back for me?"

Ophelia nodded. But she was just going to give them to Estella, not Montgomery.

"Winston...I wouldn't wait on Montgomery if I were you. I...I don't think he's ready for this kind of relationship." She didn't know if he ever would be.

Ophelia tried to picture Montgomery and Winston together. She didn't mean to think of them sexually, but she tried to imagine what it could have been like for him. Winston was a lot stronger than Ophelia was. She wondered if it bothered Montgomery, or excited him when they were together.