words were unnecessary for the longest time. the gentle sounds of the velvet night that enveloped them were the perfect soundtrack to what was happening on that seat.
finally, when the moon was high over their sleepy faces, dan nudged zoe's leg with their intertwined hands. "read to me."
she glanced at him, confused. "what?"
"read me something." he smiled softly.
"okay... anything particular?" she asked, leaving the bench and kneeling in front of one of her various stacks of books.
"read me something of yours."
zoe blushed, eyes downcast. "i couldn't do that."
"why not?"
"most of what i have are just drabbles, thoughts, you know, nothing that really makes any sense, and-"
"please?"
that smirk on his face did her in; it was downright hypnotic when combined with his deep brown eyes. zoe sighed and opened a drawer in the table beside her bed. she pulled out a pastel blue notebook with loose pages sticking out on all edges. it would hardly stay closed, stuffed full of zoe's favorite things.
"this," she said quietly, "is something i wrote a couple of weeks ago. it's not edited, or anything, but..."
"i'm sure it's lovely."
she looked at him one last time before dropping her eyes to the coffee-stained piece of paper.
"it pained her in the worst ways to be torn from her fictional worlds. when asked to close her book or set down her pen or remove her headphones, she felt her heart squeeze. anxiety blossomed in her chest, its thorns pricking her insides. she needed that distraction, that escape. a safe haven to hide away in. it was the drug she was addicted to, that blurred reality and quieted her screaming mind. after all, the real world was horrible. there were angry people and people filled with hate and bombs that could wipe out entire states. there was corruption and abuse of power and ugly people that hated everyone that was not exactly like them. there were guns and diseases and selfish people. there was melting ice and rising temperatures and disappearing animals and pollution so thick is blotted out the stars. children starved to death. volcanoes erupted and asteroids threatened the entirety of human existence. there was lying cheating stealing killing and so much sadness for the people that realized these things. she realized them. she carried the heavy truth in her chest, where it weighed her down and broke her. if more people understood just how awful the world really was, maybe they would understand her desperate need to get away from it. then again, if more people understood these horrible things, maybe more people would fight to fix them. then the world wouldn't be such a horrible place after all.
3:17 am
~ zoe woods."
dan couldn't speak. what was he supposed to say to that? he had to admit that he felt many of the same things that zoe had just read about. he had noticed with great melancholy that very few people were truly happy these days. every lovely thing was being destroyed.
"sorry. that was a bit deep." zoe bit her lip and closed the notebook, regret written across her features.
"maybe. but it was beautiful nonetheless."
"you think so?"
"it's the truth. and the truth, no matter how jarring, is always a beautiful thing since it's so incredibly rare."
a/n: finally i post a long-ish update!!!! i have finals coming up so it's been crazy and will still be for the next two weeks. anyway. thoughts on this chapter? on zoe's piece? that's actually something i wrote one day in astronomy class when i was feeling emo. i realized it fit zoe quite well and decided to put it in. also, would you guys like to see more little snippets like that? that zoe's written or even someone else? let me know. please vote/comment/share!!!
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and i've decided, in an attempt to get to know you guys, i will start asking questions at the ends of some parts, so here's this one:
if you could go anywhere, where would you go and why?
i would like to go to new york city and eat as many dollar slices as i can :))
comment yours!! <3