Where Have You Been

Chapter 16

Zoë's POV

“Hey mom” I tried to hide my tear stained face as I curled up next to her on the couch. I tucked my feet under her legs and looked over her shoulder at the Us Weekly magazine she read, like I used to as a little kid.

“Something wrong, Zoe?” She barely looked up to acknowledge me.

“Well, yes actually. It’s about Niall”. This got her attention. She threw her magazine down and got comfy, as if preparing for a gossip session. I pat the seat next to me, keeping my face somber to indicate to her the severity of the situation. And then, I told her everything. I told her about Niall saving me, about the texts, about his girlfriend, about Taylor and my fight.

Sometimes, I detested my moms “wannabe coolness” but at the moment, it was crucial to my survival. I didn’t need the micro-management and “safety-first” of a mom, I needed the comfort and condolences of a friend. My mom didn’t need to interpose a word, her expressions foretold me what her comments would be.

“Guess what’s in order?” My mom sat up on the couch, grinning like a hyena. I contorted my face to look confused and embarrassed at my moms’ facial expression. But I’m guessing mine wasn’t so hot, either.

“A large DQ blizzard. Sharing size for three” She smiled, gesturing to Taylor, herself and me. A wicked grin spread across my face, and I swiveled around.

“Last one there’s a rotten egg”. We sprinted, collapsing multiple times in heaps of giggles, around the block to Dairy Queen.

“I win!” I held up my arms proudly, hoping they had let me win. If not, my two partners for the inevitable zombie apocalypse were highly incompetent. They still lay at least 15 yards behind me, limping in (hopefully) fake agony.

I skipped over to the counter; gathering no strange looks from other ice-cream indulgers. See, in our tiny neighborhood, everybody knows everyone. This kind of thing isn’t strange, I mean, its Florida. Who’s to say an 18 year old can’t skip into Dairy Queen all by herself at 10pm, looking happy as a clam? (I mean, clams don’t even look that happy. But, whatever). It seems my good mood was infectious. The counter girl, who looked about two years younger than me, gave me a mile wide grin.

“Hey. What can I do you for?” Her stained uniform looked out of place in contrast with her curly blonde locks and emerald eyes. I waved to my other companions, who had just entered.

“Large” (pant) “blizzard” (pant) “sharing size” (pant). My mom gasped for air like a fish out of water.

“Oreo!” Taylor added, before the girl ducked behind the counter to retrieve our drink. Taylor rushed to our signature window-table. Late nights after prom, graduations, and birthdays had been spent at this table. Our names were even engraved in the stained plastic.

“Tay & Zoe”, it read. Except, at the time (10 years ago), I hadn’t known how to draw an ampersand, so it was backwards. (For those of you reading this with a confused face, the ampersand is the little ‘and’ sign). I pointed it out to Taylor, and we laughed at the memory. I ran up to grab our overflowing cup, and three straws to accompany it. I realized, that in all the hype of the day, I had forgotten to check my phone. I stole a glance before Taylor and my mom sought me out. I was a tiny bit devastated to see that he still hadn’t responded to the text I had sent hours earlier.

“What’s the holdup? Floor it, Zoe, I’m starving!” I hid my phone and rushed over to them, nearly spilling the drinks contents all over my moms lap.  We spent a good half hour reveling in the drinks deliciousness, which compensated for my bloated stomach afterwards. Taylor nudged me, pointing to another table.

“hm?” I turned to look where she was pointing, and saw a gorgeous guy. He was our age, most likely, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. The look in her eyes was longing and starved for boy-attention.

“Go for it” I rolled my eyes as she pranced over to him, turning her charm up to 150%. Only when she came skipping back did I realize that I had been staring at the scene the whole time. I blinked and averted my eyes in embarrassment. I guess it was only so long before the attention turned from Niall and I to Taylor and her newest catch. I guess I couldn’t be angry; I had done the exact same thing only days earlier. Hypocrisy, aside from being my favorite word as an eleven year old, was frowned upon deeply in my family. Perhaps I was still a bit annoyed that Niall was refraining from texting me back. He had probably had the same revelation as I did, and chose to stay with his other girlfriend. Of course. I should have known. I was just another trivial, ingenuous fan to him, anyways.

“I got his number” Taylor waved it in front of me, smiling. I laughed at her. Leave it to Taylor to win a boy’s phone number within a matter of charming seconds.

As if timed, my phone buzzed, again. Taylor, my mom and I looked at it synchronically. I pulled it out cautiously, hoping they wouldn’t be angry. Taylor smiled, bouncing in her seat.

“Maybe it’s Niall!” I guess now that she had a potential boyfriend, she wasn’t so jealous anymore. Yes, The thought had occurred to me. In fact, I didn’t even stop to wonder whether the text WASN’T from Niall. I really had to watch my head, or it would blow to the size of New York.

Zoë's Moms’ POV

The girls were at it again, both staring hungrily at their phones and texting their respective boyfriends. Just a second ago, Taylor didn’t have a boyfriend, and Zoe thought hers had broken up with her.

Teenage girls. I can never understand them.

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