Protecting Zoey

Chapter 14: Evening with Zoey

Sunday morning with Millie was even more awkward, to say the least. Mason was still fighting to piece everything together that happened Friday night and she continued to avoid him to the best of her ability. After a while Mason finally decided to go out for a jog, while it was warmer outside than he would have liked he hoped the exercise would help him. If nothing else, it would at least take his mind off all his current worries.

He called out to Millie as he was leaving the house so she wouldn't be concerned but didn't get a response back from her room. He left a few minutes later locking the door behind him as he gradually began jogging down the street on his way to the park.

Mason had just entered the park when the exhaustion began to overwhelm him again. His chest began to tighten and burn severely as he gradually made his way to a nearby bench. He fell onto the bench and began taking deep breaths trying to steady himself as his thoughts continued to spiral about what could be causing him to feel this way.

He was a professional fighter; he was in shape even if he had been slacking off a little recently. Never before had he felt like this and was thinking more and more there could be something drastically wrong with him. A few moments later he felt someone sit beside him and place their hand on his shoulder. He opened his eyes, and it took a minute for his vision to focus and finally see who was there.

"Brianna?" Mason asked in confusion as a soft warmth washed over his body emanating from where her hand was laying. The soft smile she had on her face slowly faded away before she finally asked.

"Are you alright Mason?" The concern now evident as she began looking him over. "You really don't look so good."

"I'm starting to feel better now," He replied as the headache finally started to subside. "I'm just having a really weird day I guess."

"What's going on?" Brianna asked as she scooted closer to him on the bench, her previous smile returning.

Mason sighed deeply before he began telling her everything that had happened in the past few days, from Elizabeth's advances to what happened with Millie this morning. While he kept any of the important details for himself It felt good to finally tell someone what was going on and Brianna listened patiently as he spoke showing a genuine concern.

"It sounds like you have a lot on your plate," she said once he finished explaining everything. "I don't envy you."

"Yeah, I just feel really lost right now," He admitted looking down at his hands. "I don't know what to do or where to turn."

"Well, I'm here for you," Brianna said as she squeezed his hand and looked down at the ground. "You've been protecting my best friend; it would be the least I could do. But based on everything you've said I think you should be having a talk with her instead of me."

"You may be right, could you tell me what happened between you two?" He asked curiously as she released his hand and took a deep breath.

"It's complicated," She replied distantly still looking toward the ground. "In the end, it all came down to our parents."

"Zoey said you two had a fight," Mason continued as she finally looked back to him again.

"It was the easiest way," Brianna stated with a heavy sadness in her voice and tears welling up in her eyes. "I just couldn't keep living a lie anymore, and I didn't want Zoey to have too either."

"So, you just left?" He asked even more confused than he was before, he hoped that information about their past would shed some light on what was going on, but it just seemed to make things more complicated.

"It was for the best," she said standing up from the bench and wiping her eyes as inconspicuously as possible before looking back at him. "Zoey was better off without me around, like I said, it's a complicated situation."