Zoey's POV
Emma is like a bubble full of happiness. She's adorable.
Like her brother.
Chris is away to run some god knows what errands that he refuses to tell me about. And since Emma is supposed to stay over at his for a week or so, I'm left alone with Emma in this house.
Evelyn will be coming over soon to accompany me, and to entertain Emma on my behalf, while I complete my homework.
I stand, leaning against the refrigerator, in deep thoughts, wondering why on earth do I have an unsettling feeling in my stomach.
But that thought flew out of the window and into the next continent, when Emma comes sprinting at full speed, towards me.
Before I have any time to sort of create some defence for myself, she comes crashing into me, knocking out the air in my system. I catch her and land on the floor with an 'oomph'.
She giggles shyly and sits up on top of me while I groan at the slight pain in my body.
"That's fun."
"Sure."
"Let's do it again!"
I murmur a 'please no' under my breath as I stand up with Emma. She runs off into a distance while I begin to formulate a plan in my head.
Emma takes off, faster than before. She nears me, but before she can even crash into me again, I grab her up with both hands and swing her in the air. Good job, Zoey.
"Oooooh that's fun."
"Of course."
"Let's do it again."
There's a loud knock on the door before I can reply, and I almost sigh in relief.
I set Emma down on the ground as I open the door, revealing Evelyn - and Levi.
"Hi Evelyn and . . . Levi?"
"Hi Zoey, don't mind him, he's on his period and needs someone beside him. I can't leave him alone in the house."
"Oh, it's that time of the month?" I frown and look at Levi, who looks beyond annoyed.
"Fuck off."
He storms past me and Evelyn, into the house, and only halts into a stop when he sees Emma sitting on the couch, innocently watching Totally Spies.
Turning to glare at me and Evelyn, he whisper-yells, "Why didn't you tell me Emma is here?"
The both of us don't reply, so he turns his attention back on Emma.
Emma, who is totally oblivious to what's going on, sighs dreamily, "I love Clover."
"But I like Alex better."
Emma looks up and squeals excitedly.
"Yay Levi!"
"Yo Emma!"
Emma jumps into Levi's awaiting arms like couples in romance movie. He spins her around as she giggles.
I raise an eyebrow at the sight, but all Evelyn does, is roll her eyes and stride into the house.
"So you're not on your period anymore."
Levi rolls his eyes again. He puts a palm over Emma's eyes and flips a finger at Evelyn.
I close the door and plop myself onto the floor with Levi and Evelyn. Emma snuggles comfortably into Levi's arms, her eyes fixated on the television.
My phone rings and a picture of me and Chris appears on the screen. He's scowling with messy hair and tired eyes behind me since I woke him up in the middle of the night just to annoy him. I had my tongue out, grinning at the screen, partly because it's fun to annoy him, partly because he's adorable when he's annoyed.
"Hello?"
"Hi."
I smile into the phone. Evelyn and Levi lean their heads towards me simultaneously.
"How's Emma?"
"She's comfortable in Levi's arms."
"Levi?"
"Yeah."
"Why is he there?"
"Evelyn came over with him."
Chris grumbles under his breath, so I grab the chance and asks, "What are you doing now? Is everything okay?"
"Yes."
I ignore the curt response. "That's great. Can you buy some food back on the way for dinner?"
"Oh why? Somebody can't cook?" I can already see him doubling over in laughter as he teases me.
"Oh yeah. Emma can't cook."
"I don't accept that as a rebuttal."
"That's sad."
"Sad enough to make a guy cry?"
"Sad enough to make a guy cry."
"Too bad I'm a strong, independent guy that sheds no tear."
I laugh at how lame he is but okay, it's kind of cute when he does this.
"So will you be able to get some food back?"
"Of course. What do you want?"
"Pastas."
"I can make some if you want."
"Okay, that's fine too."
"Alright. See you later."
I grin foolishly, "Yeah, see you."
I can somehow sense Chris' grin, "Bye."
"Bye. Love you." Words spew out of my mouth as if I say this words on a daily basis. Evelyn's head snap to me, she looks pretty surprised.
"Love you too."
My eyes widen and there's a silence on the line as none of us speak.
"Okay, yeah. See you."
"Yeah."
And I hang up.
"Did you just. . . ?"
"Yes, I just did." I sigh, either in anxiety or contentment.
Evelyn squeals, "Oh my gosh! Finally!"
"But - " I sigh again, unable to piece my thoughts.
Technically, we didn't confess to each other, am I right? It just slipped out of our mouths, am I right? So it isn't counted as a legitimate confession, am I right?
"But what? You guys have been dating for fifty-nine years. It's about time."
Only at this point of time, Levi seems to realise what's going. He turns his head away from the screen.
"You mean, all this time, you guys hasn't said that word yet?"
I laugh awkwardly.
"Are you serious!" He exclaims. "Chris is heads over heels in love with you since like, what? The first word you spoke to him?"
I blush furiously.
Evelyn glares at him. "Shut up. She's confused."
I smile thankfully at her. "It's just so sudden. That's all."
As if realisation dawns on her, Evelyn gapes at me. "Do you still have that unsettling feeling in your stomach?"
"No. . . ?" And now, realisation dawns on me.
"Oh my god, I swear to god. Zoey, you guys are so cute. You have been in love with him for quite some times, see. It's not just a sudden slip of your tongue."
"Oh my god, you make it sound so cheesy."
"Like Chris' mac and cheese?" Levi clicks his tongue.
I blush again, "How did you. . . ?"
"He was telling everyone that you like him only for the food that he makes."
I burst out laughing.
-
Levi and Evelyn left the place around 5, Evelyn practically dragged Levi away from Emma, they had to leave for some movie date.
I finished my work faster than expected, so I had plenty of time alone with Emma before Chris gets back.
"Hey Emma."
"Yeah."
"What are you doing?"
"I'm drawing."
She leans over the table and picks up a yellow crayon, and glides it over a piece of paper.
I leave her alone to scribble around as I fetch some milk from the refrigerator for her.
I return to the table with two glasses of milk.
"Emma, here you go."
"Yay, thank you." And she bounces off to the bedroom with the milk in her hand.
Maybe it's curiosity, maybe it's meant to be, but from the corner of my eyes, I sneaked a glance at the paper.
My eyes widen slightly, and timidly, I slide the paper to myself.
In the middle of the paper, there's a little girl with yellow hair, and her body marked with 'X' all over it.
The rest of the paper is coloured in black, but behind the thick strokes of black, I can make out a very nicely drawn man in red.
I have no definite idea what the drawing is trying to convey but I can vaguely guess what's going on.
I should show this to Chris later.
Granted, he might tell me to not interfere anymore like he does previously, he should know that Emma is actually drawing something like this.
Unless it's just something that she likes to draw?
At this precise moment, Emma skips back into the room with a giant smile on her face.
Am I reading too much into this? She seems so carefree and happy.
I sigh, but smile at her as she makes her way to me.
"You didn't finish your milk."
"Have you finished yours?"
"Yes!" Emma nods her head vigorously and that was when I realised she has a milk moustache. I grin at her.
"Do you want more?"
"Yes."
"You can drink mine."
"Yay!" She grabs the milk off the table and jump into my lap. I push away the piece of drawing and reach for my phone.
"Look." I hold the phone in front of us such that we can see the reflection of us on the screen.
"You have a milk moustache," I smile down at her.
She stares into the screen hard, before bursting into fits of mellifluous giggles.
Emma pokes her tongue out and licks the top of her lips. Then she laughs.
"It's gone!"
I laugh along with her as she sips on her milk.
I stare blankly at the bright television screen, but my mind is busy hatching a plan on what to do later on when Chris comes home.
Will it be awkward? I bet it will be. I mean, he did say the words back to me, so it shouldn't be that awkward? At least I wouldn't have to be suffering in anxiety, worrying that my feelings are one-sided.
"I'm done."
I look down at Emma to see her wiping her mouth with the back of her hands eagerly. She stands up and hops away with the empty cup in her hand.
My phone screen lights up as it vibrates. I open the notification to be greeted with a message from Chris.
*Hey, is everything okay? I'm reaching soon. Can't wait to see you.*
I grin foolishly at the screen.
*Are you texting while driving?*
His reply came almost immediately.
*Nope. Caden took my car.*
*So you're walking home?*
*Yeah.*
*Where are you now?*
*I'm reaching.*
I didn't reply, instead, I make my way out of the door.
From a distance away, I can see Chris walking briskly towards me. I grin widely. He's carrying two bags of what I presume is food in his hands.
I wave excitedly at him and I think that's only when he notices me.
He grins as he begins to increase his pace.
He looks so good in his black shirt and dark jeans.
I begin to jog towards him.
But only a split second later, I felt a hand over my mouth and a pair of hands around my waist, pulling me back.
I watch as Chris' face turns into horror as he drops the bags in his hands and begin running towards me.
I struggle and try to push myself away from the person behind me but as soon as I tried, I was being pushed into the back of a car.
"What the hell!" I look up to see a very familiar face that I can't seem to distinguish.
He smiles sadly and runs to the front seat. From afar, I can hear Chris. What the hell is this. I try to kick the car doors open but they're locked. Of course.
"Zoey! What the fuck! Zoey!"
The engine roars to life as I sit up. Chris is running, running really fast. My heart shrinks. I have no idea what's going on but this is bad. I can feel tears prickling the back of my eyes.
The car hasn't moved yet. Chris' figure slowly becomes bigger and bigger, yes, maybe he can catch up and maybe beat the shit out of whoever this guy is.
I can see Chris, he's really close, and - shit - he's crying. Oh my gosh. For fucks' sake, he's crying. I murmur more profanities under my breath.
Just as Chris is about to reach the car, I heard a loud snicker and the car drives off.
Oh my fucking god.
I watch Chris' figure fades away as I sob like a little girl.
"Don't cry."
How dare he.
I wipe away my tears furiously, oh this guy is pissing me off. Anger and fear bubbles inside me.
"Why are you doing this!"
"Don't be so hostile." The guy murmurs softly.
"Who the hell are you anyway!"
I swear, if I have a knife right now, I will stab a bitch.
The guy chuckles quietly, "Of course you don't remember me."
"Yeah, duh."
"I miss you, Zoey."
"I don't even know who you are?" This guy is seriously pissing me off.
"Oh I think you know I am, but you're just too in love with that boy to remember me."