Zoey pulled away from our hug, keeping her arms on both of my shoulders.
Hugging her felt like all the negativity and sadness had been sucked out of me, like a black hole had washed over me and ridden me of it.
Suddenly i looked down at my arm and up at Zoey. "Do you think you could write your number down again? I got angry and washed it off".
Zoey laughed, even if I expected her to be annoyed. She took out a pen from her pockets and wrote down her number once again onto my arm".
While she did, I couldn't help but stare at her, all the little things on her face. Her eyes, the dark brown color of them, her lips which were this dark pink color and he hair which was curled perfectly, with strands of it covering her ears.
Zoey looked up and put her pen away. "There" she said. "You can text me tonight about the project if you'd like".
"That sounds great" I said.
Zoey got up and reached her hand out and helped me up to my feet. The bathroom stall was small so we were very close to each other. Zoey smiled softly before opening the door and got out, walking to the mirror to fix her already perfect hair before turning to face me.
"Lunch is almost over, maybe we could head to our lockers to grab our things".
I nodded and followed Zoey out of the bathroom.
Maybe she wasn't like her friends.
***
I walked home after school. The thought of going over to dad's once again crushed me. I walked up the stairs that led to the porch and opened the door and walked in, throwing of my shoes and dropping my bag on the floor. Mom was sitting at the table on her phone, she was waiting for me to get home so she could drive me to dad's.
- Hey Rowan, how was school?
- Good, did you just get home from work?
- Yes, it was a busy day.
That's what mom says usually.
- Why don't you go upstairs and pack your things so I can drive you to your father's.
I nodded and walked up the stairs to my room, closing the door behind me and crashing onto my bed.
I hated the routine that divorced parents gave me. I was always juggling from house to house, packing and unpacking suitcases. It felt like I didn't really have any place to belong, because as soon as I settled in somewhere before I knew it I had to pack my bags and leave again.
After I was done packing, I walked down the stairs but mom was gone, she must be waiting in the car already. I walked out the front door and down the stairs again, throwing my things into the trunk of the car before settling down in the passenger seat.
Mom started the car and before I knew it, we were driving out of the driveway and onto the road. I watched mom's house fade into the distance from the rearview mirror.
"Who's number is that?" Mom asked, pointing at my arm.
"Its nothing" I said, quickly pulling down my sleeve to cover it.
YOU ARE READING
Outside the lines
Romance"Outside of the lines" is a short story about the exploration of identity and sexuality, represented by two characters who fall in love, Zoey Patterson, an 16 year old cheerleader attending Westfield Academy and her opposite, Rowan Sinclair, a flun...
