25 : friendship
first person.
VALERIE
"Are the rumours true?"
I furrowed my eyebrows. What rumours? "What do you mean?"
"That you live in the same apartment complex as Vince— Vincent." for a moment he looked reminiscent of the past but he covered it up immediately. Their history is an interesting one, the way he pretends not to care about the platinum blonde but I knew he wondered about his well-being since they used to be great friends.
He'll realise either way if he dropped me three minutes away from the location, since there's a large recreational area before it.
"I do live in the same apartment complex."
Zenith raised his eyebrows. "What about the same apartment?" his words confused me, how were people able to know that Vincent, Chandler and I lived in the same building. I'm sure that there was barely any students from the academy living in the same complex.
"Why would we live together? We're not family, we're frie—" I suddenly remembered Bentley's words, not to lie but it was Zenith. Would he tell Atlas if I told him Vincent and I were friends? I mentally shudder at my lie about being cousins with Vincent.
"You're what?"
"Friends." I didn't want to lie to him. I already made a mistake of lying to Atlas, but to Zenith, it would be almost mocking him. He bothered to help me today by driving me home, it would be rude to lie to someone who is willingly helping me.
"I'll take you there." he says, not even bothering to type the address on to the gps. They must've been close friends. It makes me wonder how lonely Zenith must feel every day, he doesn't seem to hang out with anyone. From the way people speak, he's always studying in Class Zero, occasionally in the library or in the canteen eating alone.
I wonder how it was in the past, it's insane how different someone's life can be in two years. He ended up having close friends and lost them after once huge event. Is that the reason he refuses to make friends? His past experiences must've shaped his idea of friendship.
"Zenith why did no one help you today?"
"I prefer my own company." he murmurs, his eyes focused on the road.
"But there was a lot of textbooks, you should've at least asked for someone to be there with you. Don't you have a lot of people who like you enough to willingly come school?"
"Why would I want people who 'like' me to help me? They would simply annoy me and make things harder." he retorted, glancing at me for a second.
"Did I annoy you today?"
Zenith pauses. "No, you didn't."
"I'm glad, I really am sorry for the trouble I caused today. I thought it was too much for you to carry all those books alone when the elevator wasn't working. It bothered me that there was nobody there to help you but me." I say, playing with the hair tie on my wrist.
I look up to find Zenith glancing at me. "I always do this alone, I'm used to it."
"Why?"
"Because—" he took a long sigh as he watched the red traffic light. "Why am I even telling you this?"
"I feel bad." I quietly say, focusing on the scenery out of the window.
"I don't think you should."
"If you want, I can be there for you," I tell him, I know how he feels. I normalised my loneliness in my old school, isolating myself away from everyone because of the way I looked and felt around others. After coming to this school and meeting people like Ben, I realised that you need someone to talk to instead of drowning in an abyss of loneliness.
"What?" Zenith seemed shocked. His eyes faltering as he stopped his car in front of the apartment complex. "You want to be there for me? How could you do that if you're friends with Vincent, Bentley and Atlas?" he questioned, it almost felt as if he was afraid of me losing friends because of him.
"First of all. Atlas is not my friend." I mutter distastefully, just thinking about him ruined my mood. "Second, don't get me wrong I'm not proposing a friendship, just a little help as a acquaintance." Right, I'm not trying to be his friend. I'm just trying to gather up information about what exactly happened to Vincent for Silvia.
Zenith's eyes looked solemn as he watched me. "Help? Do you really think I need that?"
I wave my hands frantically. "No, not like that. I mean like having someone there to go to cafes with you, study with you in the classroom and sometimes eat with you and help you with things that require more than one person like carrying new textbooks!"
He seemed hesitant before speaking. "These are things a friend does."
"Does it bother you?"
"No,"
"Then what?"
"It amuses me. I'll agree, I'll let you be my 'acquaintance' but if I ever annoy you in any way, you can cut me off whenever and I'll understand your reasons." Zenith says, a ghost of a smile appearing on his face.
But I'm deceiving you? I wanted to tell him. That this acquaintance/friendship thing is only to gather information for Silvia. But at the same time I felt like filling the emptiness he felt because I see myself in him. I see the loneliness dripping from his aura and feel the need to wipe it all off.
Suddenly a knock pulls me out of my thoughts.
My eyes fall on the flashes of platinum blonde hair outside the window.
Vincent lazily stood outside, his typical poker expression painted on his face.
—
filler chapter. more detailed chapters will be out soon! thank you for all the support, i will post again in a few days! with a much longer and better chapter <3