Chapter Eleven - Man Instincts
The café was cosy and warm, the smell of pastries and coffee drifted through the air. I watched raindrops roll down the old fashioned windows, gradually sliding down the glass panes. Out of curiosity, I pressed my hand against the window, a cold sensation travelled through my palm and into my fingertips. Outside, people holding umbrellas - in an assortment of different colours - strolled past lazily.
Due to Matt’s request, Zach and I had dropped him off at his friend’s house. We were now sitting opposite each other, at the back of the small café. Zach seemed to be very interested in the menu he was reading, his eyes scanning the laminated piece of paper.
His eyes fascinated me. I avoided looking at them as much as I could, because, when I did, I usually found myself staring at them with no sense of time. It wasn’t just the colour, a shade of grey which screamed danger, power and passion; it’s the emotion they held in them. Feelings that I knew Zack was trying his hardest to hide. Feelings like pain.
I noticed that whenever he smiled or laughed, it would never reach his eyes. But, in these past days, something has changed. When he smiles, he really does smile. And when he laughs, he really does laugh. His eyes now held something which they didn’t before. Hope. What sparked this change was a mystery.
Every single time, I forgot how his eyes could captivate me. I never learned.
He looked up at me. “You stare at me a lot,” he said openly.
There was no point denying, he caught me every single time. “Yeah, I know.”
He gave me one of his signature smirks. But he soon stopped, his face adopting a serious, cautious expression. “I don’t have any idea why, though. I’m not that special.”
That was where he was wrong. He was the definition of an enigma. There was plenty of mystery surrounding him, it had the ability to draw a peron in. I was determined to figure him out, though. For all he’s done and shared with me, I felt like it was obligation to understand him. I owed him that much.
It was hard to comprehend that I was the only person who knew about him. That had to imply something. Did it mean that he trusted me or was I the only person listening? Maybe I was. Maybe I wasn’t. Who knows?
“What’s on the menu?” I asked, directing the conversation some place else. I tried to seize the menu out of his hands, but he swiftly jerked it out of my reach.
Zach had a mischievous glint in his eyes, with another one of his smirks plastered on his face. “Me - n - u.”
“That was terrible-”
“If you were on the McDonalds menu, you’d be the Mc-gorgeous,” he interrupted me, flexing his fingers.
I shot him a flat look. “How long have you been waiting to use those?”
“A while actually, never found the perfect time to use them.”
I laughed, shaking my head at him.
A little while later, Zach was going over trigonometry with me. He was using large, excessive hand gestures, and he spoke slowly in a simplified manor. It was as if he was teaching a five-year-old. It was painful to sit through, not to mention slightly demeaning, but it was working. I practically felt smarter.
The food and drinks that we had ordered were still resting on the table, untouched. There was no longer any steam escaping from the mugs, and the food, by now, had cooled down by a considerable amount.
The café was full. I guess the majority of people would much rather prefer to be sitting in a warm place, being served good food. There was only one waitress on duty, she was moving around the café with increasing velocity. There was a furious look on her face as she scribbled down orders and rushed back and forth from the kitchen.
“Alex,” Zach said, waking me up from my reverie. He was waving a hand in front of my face as it to bring me back to focus. “Pay attention.”
“Sorry,” I sighed.
“You have the attention span of a goldfish,” he whined, pouting. “I’m not that boring am I?”
“No, you’re not boring,” I assured him, chuckling softly at his facial expression.
His phone started ringing.
Zach answered it. His happy attitude morphed into a dark, annoyed, frightening one. The call ended and he immediately stood up.
“I’m really sorry,” Zach started apologising.
My shoulders automatically sagged and I felt a twinge of disappointment.
“You stay here and keep practising the maths. I should be back in ten minutes. Twenty tops,” he said.
He was going to come back. I marvelled at the prospect of that. “Okay, see you then.”
“Bye, Alex. I’ll make it up to you, promise,” he said as he rushed out of the café.
I watched his retreating figure until I was unable to see him anymore. I couldn’t ignore the sense of loneliness that had already begun to sink in.
~
I didn’t remember falling asleep. I honestly didn’t. I woke up feeling disorientated and drained of energy, with my head slumped over the table in front of me. When I realised that I was still in the café, I sat up as fast as I could.
The lighting was too harsh for my tired eyes. I squinted around and saw that no one had paid any attention to me.
In one hand I was clutching my phone, in my other there was a cup of coffee. I didn’t remember ordering it. On the cup, written in black permanent marker, were the words:
Keep studying, Alex. I’ll be back soon.
Zach xxxx
I smiled stupidly at the message. It was short, cute, and sweet. It just about made my day. I took a sip from the drink, it warmed me up immediately.
“You’re finally awake,” Zach said, grinning.
I almost choked on the coffee. I didn’t realise that he was sitting in front of me. I was having an exceptionally slow afternoon. “How long have I been asleep?”
“An hour.”
I was about to say something else - complain probably - but then I finally looked at him.
“Zach, what happened to you?” I questioned. My voice was an octave higher than normal.
He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, searching for a way to reply. His cheek was bruised, the lenses of his glasses were cracked and his lip was cut. He looked like he had been beaten up and then ran over by a truck a couple hundred times.
“Zachary Edwards, where the hell did you go?”
He didn’t answer me. He wouldn’t meet my eyes. I hastily grabbed him by the hood of his jacket and dragged him out of the café so we were stood on the pavement.
“Remember when I told you I made a few… er, enemies before. I don’t know what else to call them. One of them got my number from somewhere. He was the one who called earlier, he told me that there was some unfinished business that we had to attend to. So, because of my man instincts, I had to meet him. Obviously, it was a trap. About half of his gang was there, most of them wanted to murder me. Long story short, I escaped the worst of it. It’s all good.”
I blinked. “Did you just say ‘man instincts’?”
Zach threw his hands up into the air. “Is that the only thing you got from that?”
“Man instincts. Man instincts? What is a man instinct? Are you even a man, Zach?” I pondered.
His eyes widened at me. “What the actual - Alex, are you even serious right now?”
“Man instincts,” I said again.
“Alex-”
“I don’t think you’re a man.”
“Holy - You can freaking check if you want, as long as you shut up,” he groaned, rolling his eyes at me.
That silenced me. “I’m good thanks.”
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HAAAAAY
Anyways -
Let's bring up the reeaaaaads! If you've got this far, recommend this to your friends, your family, your neighbours, random peolple in the street, your pets even! Sorry, I don't even know, I'm in a hyper mood as you can tell from the chapter...
Man instincts
You know the drill, check out the song: That's What You Get by Paramore
Okay, well thats all from me
Bye xxx