Zoey's POV
The song ends. A silence takes over the entire room, but not for long though, another song starts playing through the speakers of Evelyn's phone.
I don't recognise who's singing, or what the song it is, but Evelyn obviously does. She is swaying her head, her hair flying in all directions.
"I don't even know your name," the male's voice sings out. I quite like this song.
"The name's Evelyn."
"I don't even know your number."
"Momma told me not to give my number to strangers."
I stare at her weirdly. Is she conversing with the singer through the song?
"Evelyn, what are you doing?"
"Shhhh." She puts a finger in the air while closing her eyes.
"But I know I need you right now."
"But you don't even know my name!" She throws her hand up.
Does she do this all the time? I don't think I can do anything about it, so I simply try to block her out and continue with my book. I can't believe I'm finishing the book already. It's only been like four days!
The song plays on in the background, with Evelyn continuing to reply to every sentence from the lyrics.
"Let's make out."
"But I don't have anyone to make out with!" Evelyn cries.
Then a particular image of a boy comes into my mind.
"Are you sure? Because I think I saw you making out with Levi a few days ago."
I smirk, just as she opens her mouth to reply to another sentence from the song, she closes it. She looks like she's being caught off guard, her eyes wide and her cheeks are pink.
"What?"
"You guys were so into it! I had the shock of my life! I was just casually walking out of the school when I hear smooching sounds and I was like what the hell when I realise it was you two! I thought couples would only do that in movies. Why would you want to perform a live peep show for everyone?"
"I don't know! We were caught up in the moment!" Her cheeks are still pink. Since we're on this topic, I decide to take the chance and ask her more about her and Levi. I didn't really thought about it until now.
"Are you two a couple now?"
"I don't know," she murmurs. There is still a hint of redness on her cheeks, other than that, she looks truly confused and lost.
"Why? What do you mean?"
"I mean, we have been kissing and going out together but he hasn't mentioned anything about being in a relationship."
"Did you mention it to him?"
"No, I'm scared."
"Scared of what? Rejection?"
Her eyes are wide, and I know that she's measuring the possibility to that word.
After a beat, she answers, her words coming out like a quiet gasp, "Yes. I'm scared of that."
"So you didn't mention it to him because of that?"
"Yes."
"You're so silly. Has it dawn on you that he might be feeling the same way too?"
"The shit?"
"I think Levi is scared too."
"I seriously don't get what you're talking about."
"And I quote from you, he is 'the romantic badass of the school'. You said that yourself. You told me that he is the one that flirts around with girls. So maybe, just maybe, he is afraid that because of that 'reputation' he has, will make you unwilling to be in a relationship with him."
"No, I don't think so. That's un-Levi."
"How do you know what's going through his mind?"
"I just do!"
"Okay, tell me. What am I thinking about right now?"
As much as I want to think about how great I am at reasoning with Evelyn, I know that will be too easy to guess. I try to think of something else, something else like how darn excited yet nervous I am for the date later on with Chris.
"You're thinking about how great you are at reasoning with me."
"Hah! No, I'm thinking about the date with Chris later on." I grin. I've proved a point. "See, you can't tell what others are thinking."
"That's unfair, you can easily cheat by not telling me the truth."
Well fine then, "I'm not cheating, but you have a point. Okay, now tell me, what is Chris thinking about right now."
"What the fuck? How am I supposed to know?"
"There you go, you admitted that yourself." I grin. I win!
"Wait, what? No! That's not what I meant! I bet he's thinking about the reruns that's showing later on for South Park. Xavier is crazy about that show."
From a distance, a deep voice shouts, "I think I hear my name!"
Evelyn and I share a laugh, and she shouts back, "Right, we were talking about that time you mistaken for being gay."
"Fuck you."
I grin, while smirking inwardly. Chris don't ever watches the television. He only turns it on when he's in the kitchen and he's too lazy to go to his room to get his phone so at least the television would be making some sound for him to cook comfortably. He can't stand to cook in silence.
"Now let's find out." I wiggle across the bed and grab my phone. I dial in Chris' number.
He picks up on the first ring, "Hello, girlfriend."
I blush scarlet, grinning widely.
"Hello, boyfriend." I blush deeper while Evelyn rolls her eyes and fakes a cringe.
"Is there anything wrong?"
Evelyn gestures for me to put the call on speaker mode. I do so, and answer his question, "Nope, everything's great. What are you thinking about right now?"
There is a pause for a moment before I hear his amused and curious voice, "Why?"
"No particular reason. What are you thinking about?"
I glance at Evelyn, she looks confident.
"I'm thinking about you. Are you too?"
The blushing on my face intensifies, I bite down on my lip to prevent my lips from splitting into a giant grin. Evelyn looks beyond queasy as she cringes, for real this time.
"Ah yes, I'm thinking of myself too."
"That's not what I mean." And I can imagine him pouting.
"Are you pouting right now?"
I don't know if Evelyn is about to laugh or blanch, "I'm so done." She stands and leaves the room, not before giving me a gagging look. I press the button on my phone, turning off the speaker.
"Who is that?"
"Evelyn, I'm at her house."
"Okay, I'm picking you up at 6 is that alright?" I glance at the clock, it's already 5, but I doubt that there will be much for me to prepare.
"It's perfect."
"Great, I'll see you soon. And, I wasn't pouting."
I giggle, "Whatever, boyfriend. I'll see you later. Bye."
"Bye."
And I hang up.
Before I can even step out of bed to ask Evelyn for any change of clothes for me for the date, she bursts through the door.
"Are you serious? You only have almost less than an hour to get ready! Move!"
-
"You look good, now scram. You have approximately ten minutes left. Should I tell Xavier to drive you home? I'm too lazy to move."
"Yes please, let me grab my things."
I move to collect my pile of clothes that's sitting at the edge of Evelyn's bed.
"Xavier!" She shouts, dragging out her word.
"What?" Xavier shouts, dragging his word too.
"Get your ass of the bed and drive Zoey home!"
"Why?"
"Because Channing Tatum is not my husband! Now, get Zoey home!"
"I refuse!"
Evelyn grumbles and scowls, I laugh at their playful banter.
"Zoey say something. He can't possibly refuse you."
I nod. "Hi Xavier! I need to get home fast! Can you please drive me back!"
"Of course, Zoey." I hear some shuffling noises and Xavier appears at the doorway, swinging the car keys around his middle finger.
"Let's go, don't want you to be late for your date." He winks and Evelyn scoffs.
"Bye Evelyn, and thank you!"
"You're welcome, have fun!"
"And this is for you, little sis." Xavier stops swinging the key and waves the middle finger right in front of Evelyn's face. She tries to slap the hand away, but he moves away and laughs.
"You suck." She scowls. Xavier and I leave the room.
-
"Hi."
Chris looks dashing, even in just white cotton tee and black jeans.
"Hi."
He grins, "Are you ready to go?"
"Yes." I step out of the door and locks it. He wraps an arm around my waist and we walk off.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see in a second."
Chris starts the ignition and drives, for merely a second, before stopping the car and turning the ignition off. We arrive at the driveway of his house.
"Huh?" Did he run out of gas?
He gives me a half-smile and exits the car. I remain sitted in the car.
"Come on." He opens the door and gestures for me to take his hand. I take it doubtfully, and steps out of the car.
Chris leads me into the house, all the while, I'm very confused.
"They say home is where the heart is, so I figure this will be the place I can offer to you the most from my forlorn heart."
My breathing halts at his words. I'm met with beautiful blue eyes that seem to be troubled, but it's hidden by a layer of emotion that I have never seen before on him.
"Chris, that's... that's a beautiful thing to say." My grip on his hand tightens. "Forlorn? Is there something wrong? What are you not telling me?"
He smiles sadly, as he turns to stand right in front of me, he takes my other hand into his. "Nothing is wrong, girlfriend." His voice is soft.
"No. No, you're not telling me something. Don't block me out, what's wrong?"
He releases both of my hands from his, and moves them so that he's holding my face in a gentle caress. "I'll tell you later. Don't let those few words dampen your mood, I was only telling you what I truly feel."
"But Chris-"
"No, no. Shut up." He press his lips to my forehead for a brief moment. I'm really worried now, what happened?
"Now, let's just enjoy ourselves." He hugs me closer to him and brings me to the kitchen.
"You'll bring the food that's on the counter, to the living room. I'll bring the pillows and sheets down."
"We're watching a movie?"
"Not a movie, but three. The CDs are on the table." Chris smiles and walks off in the direction to his bedroom.
I pick up the food he has on the counter. Shit, I'm going to be so fat. There's a giant plate of nachos and pizza, and a huge bowl of popcorn. Besides that, I for sure knows there's a bottle of Mountain Dew in his refrigerator waiting for us.
I gather all the food and start one of the CD while waiting for Chris to reappear.
Suddenly, I'm being knocked back into the back of the couch.
I push the pillow off me, to see Chris laughing.
"Gosh, I hate you." He carries the whole bunch of pillows and sheets with both hands and dumps them onto me. I wriggle them off me as the movie starts playing.
-
"Is it over?"
"Yes."
I peel my hands away from my face and takes a peek at the screen. I squeeze my eyes shut again.
"Oh my gosh, it's not over."
Chris laughs breathlessly.
"Zoey, it's over."
"Right."
"It's really over."
I open my eyes again, shit!
"It's not over! I can see his butt!"
His laughter increases tenfold.
"It's really over now, Zoey."
"I swear to god, if I see one more butt, I will staple yours to the screen."
Chris recovers from his laughter and settles for a light chuckle. "Okay, okay. It's over, really."
I open my eyes, and thankfully, I'm not met with anymore butts. I turn to Chris and slaps his arm.
"Why didn't you tell me they were going to do that in the movie? I wasn't prepared!"
"I knew your reaction would be fucking adorable."
I simply scowl at him and return to watching the movie.
-
I let out a loud yawn as I stretch my body. The end credits of the movie play on the screen.
"Can you stay over tonight?"
Chris pulls me to him, I rest my head on his shoulder.
"Of course, it's not like my mother would notice my absence."
From the corner of my eyes, I see a frown fleeting across Chris' face, but it was gone after a millisecond.
"Okay, go and change. I'll clean up."
I walk into Chris' room that I've become all too familiar with, over the past few weeks. I change into one of his shirts and boxers and sit in the middle of his bed waiting for him. Is he going to tell me what's wrong, or do I have to force some answers out of him? What did he mean by his 'forlorn heart'? I need to be tactful with my approach if I want him to talk to me. He don't talk to me enough and I hate it sometimes, but I don't really want to force him into saying anything since I do know I'm not talking much about my stupid sob story either.
"You look nice."
I jump a little at the intrusion before I smile at him. He's standing at the doorway, looking all attractive in his shirt and jeans.
"Thank you."
Chris walks in and closes the door. Without any warning, he begin to pull his shirt off.
"Wait wait wait, what?"
"I need to change too, baby. Do you think I can sleep in this jeans?"
I shake my head, before turning away so that I wouldn't let myself gawk too openly at his body.
I turn my head to look back at him when I feel the bed dip beside me. He wraps an arm around me, curls up and rests his head in my lap. The ambiguous worry in my heart shoots up a few degrees. Chris doesn't usually do this.
"Will you tell me what's wrong?"
"Remember that time, I brought you to the bar?"
"Yes." How can I not? He asked me if I was a virgin there, for god's sake.
"I spent half of my time as a child around that area."
What?
I try keep an impassive expression, but I'm absolutely stunned in the inside.
"Why?"
"My father lived there. I stayed there for a long period of time before I moved away with my mother."
"Why did you leave?"
"My brother and sister died in an accident. He became totally depressed and fucked over in his head because of that. My mom thought it would be the best for us to leave him."
I gasp, he told me about this before. I didn't know he had other siblings other than Emma.
"The story that you told me."
Gently, I put a hand to his cheek, stroking it. I run my other hand through his hair, detangling any loose strand from one another.
He smiles tiredly and whispers, "You remembered."
His eyelids flutter shut slowly, but his arm remains wrapped around me tightly. I know he's asleep.
He didn't really tell me what made him act weirdly tonight, all of the things he has mentioned are in the past, something else must have upset him, but I'll deal with that tomorrow.
"Of course I do." I press a kiss to his forehead, like he did to me just now.
And with my body still in a sitting position, I close my eyes, drifting off.
Not before I see a shy smile on his beautiful face as he snuggles closer into my lap.