“John are you drunk?” Ruth asked laughing. She had had her share of drinks as well so it was concluded that they were both drunk. At least partially.
“Geez you guys get a grip!” Zoey laughed. Watching the two of them stumble and laugh was pretty funny to watch. Zoey looked at Garrett, he was looking down frowning. He had been like this the whole night. It was past midnight and they were heading home and Garrett was still acting weird.
“What’s the deal Nickelsen” She asked. It took him a second to say anything.
“I’m fine” he said not even trying to sound like he was.
“Shut up and tell me the truth” she said raising her voice a bit. Ruth and John were too busy laughing to hear them. She didn’t care anyway
He stuck his hands in his pockets and muttered something under his breath
“Louder!” Zoey yelled
“I SAID I WAS FINE”
John and Ruth stopped laughing and turned round. They were sober enough to understand what was going on.
Zoey opened her mouth to scream back before she was stopped by Jason
“Hey Zoey! Zoey wait up! Zoey!”
Perfect timing
Absolutely perfect
“For fucks sake..” Zoey heard Garrett whisper
“What do you want Jason?” Zoey said, not even attempting to cover the annoyance she was feeling.
Jason seemed unaffected by how she sounded and went on
“A bunch of us are going out to celebrate, it’s going to be crazy. You coming?”
“Yeah Jason I don’t-“ she began
“Oh come on Zo just come! It’s not like you have anything better to do” he said, targeting the last part of the sentence at Garrett
Garrett realized. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” he said turning to face Jason. He looked mad. Jason backed off “Nothing man, it was nothing”
“Zoey you coming?” Jason asked one more time
“Just leave, you’re going to eventually” Garrett said softly enough for Jason not to hear. Whether he intentionally said it or not didn’t matter to Zoey. She had been tolerant all night and this was the last straw.
“Jason.” She said “Maybe some other time”
He looked as if his ego had taken a hit but did his best to cover it up. When he was out of ear shot,
“What is wrong with you?!” she erupted. John and Ruth looked down
“I don’t know Zoey, why do you care anyway?” he yelled
“What is your damage Garrett!?” she screamed “Why would you even ask me that!?”
“I don’t know Zoey okay I DON’T KNOW” he threw his arms in the air and kicked at a rock
“Well you better get yourself together okay because this?” she pointed at him up and down “This is not going to work”
“Why do you suddenly care Rachel, you never did before!” he screamed and froze as soon as he had realized what he had just said
All was silent, no one said a word.
Zoey felt as though someone had stabbed her in the chest and was twisting the knife around. She opened her mouth but the words didn’t come out. For a second it felt as though everything just stopped. She didn’t move, she couldn’t move.
“What did you just call me?” she whimpered, her breaths coming out short
“Nothing. Nothing. I don’t know. Nothing” Garrett said getting flustered and running his fingers through his hair.
“Guy’s let’s just go home..” John said quietly walking toward them
“No” Zoey said, at first her voice was barely a whisper but as her anger grew so did the sound of her voice “No! Let’s not John. What is wrong with you Garrett? I mean really. I know Rachel broke your heart and left you but not everyone is Rachel. I’m not Rachel”
He didn’t say anything. It didn’t even look like he was moving except for the movement of his chest. His breathing was hard and fast
“Zoey..” he began
“You know what? I’ve tried waiting around okay but it’s been long enough and you’re clearly not over her and you’re obviously never going to be so you know what. I’m done. I’m done” she threw her hands up in the air, hitched up her dress and started making her way back to the dance
“Where are you going?” Garrett asked moving to stop her
“DON’T touch me! I’m going to see if I can take Jason up on his offer. Not that you care” she said, you could hear the hurt in her voice. She wasn’t actually going to see Jason but hell, Garrett didn’t need to know that.
She started walking fast
“I think I’m gonna go with her” Ruth said, suddenly painfully sober “Bye babe” she kissed John on the cheek and started jogging to catch up to Zoey
“I’m sorry man” John said choosing his words carefully in case he set Garrett off again
Garrett stood there, staring after Zoey. His mind was racing. What was he doing? Really, exactly what was he doing? Well he knew what he wasn’t.
“I’ll see you back at the house” he said to John and ran as fast as humanly possible. Okay well a bit of an exaggeration for a boy who finds it tiring to walk up the stairs but this time he actually wanted to be doing this. He needed to
“Garrett!” John yelled “Where are you going?”
Garrett could barely hear John and frankly, he didn’t care. Right now all he wanted was Zoey
