Zoey's POV
I wake, my body wrapped around Chris'. I'm too warm. There is a buzzing sound at my butt and I realise that's what woke me up.
I remove the phone that's under me and glance at it.
Oh.
What does she want now?
As much as I would love to reject the call, she's my mother after all. I swipe the screen to answer the call.
"Hi."
"Hi Zoey."
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Where are you?"
"I'm at my friend's house."
"Okay, I don't have much time, so I'll just say this. Your father wants to see you."
"Why?"
As quietly as possible, I crawl out of Chris' arms and sit on the floor, my back leaning against the side of the bed.
"I don't know. But I don't trust him. I don't want you to see him."
"I want to see him."
"No!" She gasps in horror. "Did you not hear what I just said?"
"I want to see him."
"Don't you care about your safety?"
"He won't do anything. I'm his daughter."
"Oh right!" She laughs. "Now you're his daughter!"
"Yeah. I want to see him."
"That asshole is not your father, Zoey. The woman is a bad influence to him. He changed."
I sigh.
"But I want to see him."
"Is that all you can say? What happened to, 'I love you, mom. I'll be wary of him.' ?"
"That hasn't changed, mother. I'll be careful when I see him, but I don't think he'll do anything stupid, yeah."
"Suit yourself. Something must be wrong with you. When do you want to see him?"
I sigh again, this time, with a smile of relief on my face, "I'll be free tomorrow."
"Okay." Her voice is brusque. She's definitely pissed.
"Thank you," I say. And before I can expect a 'you're welcome', she hangs up on me.
The smile on my face drops and a sigh escapes my mouth again.
I turn around, to find a still soundly sleeping Chris. His hair is messy and the side of his face is pressed against the pillow, just like every morning.
I push myself up from the floor and make my way to the kitchen to make some breakfast.
I rummage through the refrigerator and, wow, it's full of ingredients and condiments. As compared to this, my fridge is practically empty.
I skip to my phone at the counter to choose a song to be played. I think Chris' habit kind of grew on me. It feels so weird now to be in the kitchen without any sort of noise in the background.
I pick out some Cheddar cheese, bread and egg and set them aside as I begin to whisk the eggs. Let's make some cheese french toast.
Skylar Grey coos softly in the background as I stand in front of the counter, whisking the eggs.
My thoughts drift. I wonder what he looks like now. It's been quite a while. In fact, it's been almost five years since I've last seen him. Five years can't possibly age someone too much, right? I wonder if I could recognize him. Maybe he will look like a complete stranger to me, which is kind of tragic yet comical, considering that he's my father. I don't know what was going through my mind when mother called. Was I happy to know that I can see him? I think so. I was so adamant about it. I think it's Chris. It's him that kind of affected my decision. Chris misses his father so dearly, it breaks my heart on one hand to see him like that, so vulnerable and confused. But on the other, I think it makes me think through what happened between my parents, more thoroughly. After seeing Chris tearing up and hurting, puts me into perspective, I guess.
His father has passed on and he's missing him so badly. Whilst mine, is alive and kicking, and most likely going around screwing some women.
Would I miss my father if he died too?
To be honest, I don't even know what I would feel.
I'm so conflicted with my feelings right now.
And I guess I was too caught up in thinking, I jump a little as I feel something poking against my back.
"Put your hands above your head and turn around." Chris' voice rings from behind.
For a moment, I was very confused, so I carefully put down the bowl of beaten eggs in my arms and turn around with my hands raised at the sides of my head.
My lips break into an adoring grin upon the sight. Chris is holding up his hands like it's a makeshift gun, pointing it at me. He is wearing a simple black cotton shirt with matching sweatpants. There is a trace of playfulness behind his straight face.
"Miss Summers, you're under arrest."
I gasp in utmost horror. "But why!"
"You have the right to remain silent, but anything you say, can and will be held against you in court."
"I'm asking you why am I under arrest."
"Miss Summers, you are very noisy."
"And Mr Martinez, what exactly are you doing?"
"Shhh, don't forget, you're under arrest. Turn around and face the other side."
"No."
"Miss Summers."
"No."
"Please."
I giggle a little when I see Chris rolling his eyes in annoyance for me. Okay then, I shall comply.
I turn around to face the wall and await for something to happen, but nothing did. All I hear is heavy footsteps and - ommph.
Chris crashes his front against my back and I am momentarily being pushed forward by the impact. He wraps his arms tightly around me, caging my arms to my body, steadying ourselves before I could tumble over. He buries his nose into my neck.
"You almost killed me."
"I won't hurt you, you idiot." He mumbles.
Whether that's a figure of speech, or there is a literal meaning to it, my insides melt a little.
"Do you know what this means?"
"What?"
"You're under my arrest."
"Yeah, you kind of told me that."
"No, you don't get it. Instead of handcuffs, I'm restraining you in my arms."
Oh, I get it now. Is that why he's hugging me so tightly against him? So that I can't even move?
"Oh, I get it now."
"Do you know why you're under arrest?"
I smile, "Why?"
"There's two reasons to why I'm doing this."
"Uh huh, and what are they?"
"Firstly, I didn't get a good morning kiss." His tone accusative.
I laugh at that.
"And you're not going to be getting one any sooner." I tease. Chris frowns.
"Secondly -" he pauses to turn me around so that I'm in his embrace, looking at him, face to face, "- you said you were at a friend's house when you were on the phone just now."
My eyes widen and my body tenses. Oh shit. He heard the conversation?
"You heard?"
"Yes."
"I thought you were asleep."
"I was, but I can vaguely hear you talking." Then he frowns, "Why are you so uptight about this?"
"I - I - Look, Chris, can we talk about that later? I'll make some breakfast for us and I'll talk as we eat."
The frown on his face deepens, but he nods his head nonetheless.
-
I take the seat opposite of Chris as I place the plate of food in front of him.
"Thanks."
I smile and dig into my food. There is a moment of silence, both of us contemplating whether to speak up or not.
I decide to just grab the advantage of the silence and start talking.
"Yesterday, I wanted to tell you something, right?"
"Yeah?" Chris sounds uncertain and curious.
"So -" I take in a breath, and begin, "- my parents, they divorced when I was twelve." I pause to take a look at Chris' expression - currently a mixture of confusion and shock, but he's quiet, as he gazes at me expectantly.
I continue, "My dad, he found a woman outside, and stupidly thought that she is the one that would be the bae to his life , but - what? Don't laugh." I stop when Chris chuckles.
"Okay, okay. Sorry, do continue."
"But, as I have said, that is just a stupid thought, and the woman just stayed with him for a few years, before leaving him. Turns out, the woman is actually married to a man that is some sort of a bigshot Mafioso, and she is cheating on him with my dad. My mom is totally appalled by all this, yet she was extremely depressed when my father requested a divorce. In all honesty, I think it's just stupid of her. She knew that he is outside womanizing around, yet she decides to turn a blind eye for him. They argued, a lot. Sometimes it will be about the bills, sometimes about how much he is contributing to the house, and not even once, was it about me. I was pretty sick of their theatrical dramaturgy by the time they started filing for a divorce, so I isolated myself away from them. I didn't speak much, but I always knew what was going on and to be very honest with you, I don't think I even felt anything when they finally went their separate ways."
Chris is staring at me, deep in thought, a frown donning his face.
"That's fucked up."
"Yes, Mr Martinez, and that's my childhood." I smile.
His eyes soften, he raises his hand and gestures for me to move to him. From the past few days ... weeks ... that I've spent with Chris, I've came to know that he is the type that loves physical contact ... at least that's the case for me.
I crawl onto his lap and stare at him expectantly, like he did just now, and all he did was to stare back at me.
Chris breaks the trance first, "So, you were talking to your mother on the phone just now?"
"Yep, she called and told me that my dear father wanted to see me. She went kind of ballistic mad at me when I agreed to that."
"Why would you want to see him after all that?"
I still, and I'm silent for a several beats as I think.
"I'm not sure. Impulse decision. I wasn't thinking straight."
He looks at me, skeptical.
"No. I know you, you're not an impulsive person. In fact, you overthink quite a lot."
I sigh, "Well, frankly saying, I think you kind of affected my decision."
"Me?"
"Yes, you."
"How so?"
"Your father has passed on, you are missing him badly, when I don't even know if I will still recognize mine's face. I can't really wrap my head around this, but it has something to do with you."
Seeing his wide and wary eyes, I try to steer the topic away from its current direction.
"See, you're quite a big influence in my life."
He smiles widely. "I'm glad so."
I smile back at him, "I'm glad so, too."
Then his expression instantly changes, oh gosh, Mr. Capricious.
"Do you want your parents to know about us?" His eyes are solemn.
"Well, for the start, my dad probably can't even recognize me. And, well, I don't think my mother would give a shit."
Chris frowns for a second, but the expression is gone within a second. And it's replaced with a sparkle in his eyes.
"You're still not going to give me that morning kiss?"
"Nope." I tease, grinning, and I know that this discussion will soon be thrown to the back of our heads.
"I'm going to torture a kiss out of you."
"Not going to happen."
He grins evilly and lunges himself at me. I giggle like a little schoolgirl as he pulls me to him.
"Oh, Zoey, what am I going to do with you?"