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In the end, Jay dragged Bree and Taz along while he re-taught Zoe how to function on the skateboard ended up being one of his better ideas. It allowed her to become at least somewhat accustomed to the idea of him being around, enough so that when she finally managed to convince Jay to let her have a break for the night, she stumbled over to the steps where Taz and Bree were sitting on her unsteady, tired feet.
"He's like a drill sergeant," Zoe complained as she collapsed on the steps next to Bree. Zoe sighed with relief as she sat down, leaning her head on Bree's shoulder.
Bree wrinkled her nose, getting up from her seat so that Zoe was forced to lift her head from her shoulder. "I love you, Zo, but you stink."
"I do not."
"Bree! It's your turn, babe!" Jay's voice bellowed from behind Bree, breaking off her response. Bree turned to find her fiancé standing with one foot on his skateboard, making it point up towards the sky. He was grinned widely and the large tattoo of a woman with a helmet covering most of her face waggled at Bree as he pointed at her.
"No, fuck that – " Bree started, moving to run, but Jay chased after her, looping his arms around her body from behind and lifting her off her feet. Bree attempted to kick away, but she was laughing, especially when Jay burrowed his face into the crook of her neck. Zoe smiled as she watched them, reaching over so that she could grab the small backpack she'd brought with her, having left it next to Bree. Reaching into the bag, Zoe pulled out the packet of cigarettes and the lighter that she'd stashed there.
"Didn't know you smoked," Taz remarked quietly, leaning back on his hands. He hadn't shifted any closer to Zoe after Bree had left, but his eyes flickered over to her, watching her select a cigarette and light it, before resting it between her lips. As she moved her hand, Taz noticed the ring that Zoe wore around her middle finger. It was a simple golden band with a single rectangular, emerald stone. With a start, he realized that he'd seen it before – it had been her mother's engagement ring.
"Started while I was making the first album," Zoe explained, without looking at him, even as she tilted the pack of cigarettes towards Taz. He hesitated, but then he took one, murmuring his thanks to her when she lit the end of it for him. As he took a drag from his own cigarette, Zoe admitted, "It's probably going to fuck up my voice. Maybe one day I'll quit."
Taz opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when Zoe's phone buzzed from its place in her bag. Sighing, Zoe twisted to fish it out, only to roll her eyes and toss the phone back when she saw who the message was from. "One day they'll learn to take a fucking hint."
"Everything okay?"
Zoe shrugged her shoulders, blowing out a mouthful of smoke into the air in front of her face. "Just people wanting me to push songs out faster than I can write them, let alone record them."
"Any reason why they're being so pushy?"
"I pumped the last one out pretty fast," Zoe explained. "I did the tour for the first one, and then I was back in the studio, writing and recording like a maniac. The flip side is I don't really remember writing half of that album."
"That sounds like you," Taz murmured. Eyebrows drawn together, Zoe twisted so that she could look at him for the first time since she'd sat down and Taz said, "There were a lot of nights when I woke up at odds hours and you were just writing music because you got a melody stuck in your head."
Zoe looked away sheepishly. "I might still do that."
Taz's grin looked much easier than it was. "Of course you do."
"I might forget it," Zoe mumbled, averting her eyes to watch Jay and Bree.
While her eyes were diverted, Taz took the opportunity to study Zoe. She mostly looked the same as she had when he'd known her, but different at the same time. She still had her nose pierced, but she'd swapped out the little stud for a golden ring and he'd noticed the gleam of a ball on Zoe's tongue as she talked. Her tattoos were more numerous, as well – there was a rose tattooed across her knuckles on one hand, an array of stars and a crescent moon across one forearm and a moth inked into her bicep on the other arm.
In short, she looked like the woman Taz had known and she didn't, all at once.
"You know, you don't have to do this if you don't want to," Taz said suddenly. Surprised, Zoe looked over at him and when he saw nothing but confusion in her hazel eyes, Taz clarified, "Spending time with me. Trying to be comfortable. If it's too much, or you don't want to – "
"I never said that," Zoe told him. "If I didn't want to be here, then I wouldn't be."
"Okay," Taz said, seeming to accept that answer. He took one last drag from his cigarette and then plucked it from his mouth, dropping it on the ground so that he could grind it underneath the heel of his shoe. "Well, in that case; I have to go back to work in a couple of days, but I'll be back when Bree and Jay have their engagement party. Would it be okay if I messaged you sometimes?"
Zoe stomped her cigarette out under the heel of her shoe. "I think that'd be alright. You could check in on whether I'm still falling on my ass."
"You'll get better at it. It's just been a while."
Zoe smiled, but it was still strained, as if she had force it onto her face. It didn't help that she wasn't entirely sure that she believed him. "I hope so. I hope I haven't left it too long and now all these skills aren't just gone."
"Are you kidding? You used to race me up rock climbing walls. And you won. Give it a couple of months and you'll be right back to where you were," Taz told her.
Zoe's smile grew sad, but she said nothing. It was all too easy for her to recall the joy that things like rock climbing and skateboarding had once brought her. She could recall the exhilaration of it all, but the recollection was tinged with sadness. How had she gotten here? How had she allowed anyone to take things that she enjoyed away from her?
"Hey, Taz?" Zoe called quietly, wringing her hands in her lap nervously. Taz's blue eyes flickered down to glance down at her hands, but then looked back over at her face as she asked, "If things are . . . okay with us, when you get back, would you want to go rock climbing with me? It's another thing that I stopped doing. Something I think I'd like to get back to."
Taz offered her a nod and Zoe smiled, but for the first time all evening, it was a real, genuine smile.
