The stars had already appeared, as Kaden drove Zoie back to her apartment. She had stopped crying, but didn't speak at all as they passed lifeless gray flats. Soft, quiet music played in the car, covering the thin layer of silence.
"I need to explain myself," Kaden sighed, running his left hand through his hair, quickly glancing over at her, "I know it's not the best timing, but I don't want you to have the wrong picture of me in your head."
She didn't say anything, just looked forward, her cheeks pink, lips swollen.
"I'm not..doing anything with Layla. Spencer asked me to buy her flowers because the idiot was running late and had to go get her a dress for their two month anniversary or some shit.
So, basically, I didn't get her flowers, I got them for him to give to her. Please tell me all of this makes sense."
He looked at her, taking his eyes off the road for a few seconds. She didn't change her blank expression, and it only scared him.
"Ask them, I promise I'm not lying to you-"
"Fine, whatever," she sighed and turned her face away.
*
The door to her apartment was unlocked and at first Kaden didn't understand why, but when the blonde hair came into view, it became pretty clear.
"Zoie?" Tamara frowned as she took in her appearance, "What happened?"
"I-" she tried to form a sentence but her voice cracked and the tears came back as she wrapped her arms around Tamara.
A knot formed in Kaden's stomach, as Zoie's messy hair hid a part of Tamara's face. It was his first time seeing them, knowing how they actually felt about each other. He noticed how Tamara's thin hand moved onto the small of Zoie's back, how tightly Zoie held onto her.
"Will someone just tell me what the hell happened?" Tamara looked at Kaden.
"This guy," Kaden closed the door behind him, "he tried to rape her."
"WHAT?" Tamara's eyes widened, and she looked at Zoie.
"D-did he?" she looked back at Kaden.
"No, I stopped him."
"Fucking shit," she lightly covered her mouth, "where-"
"In the flower shop," Kaden answered.
"Why the hell were you in a flower shop?" she asked as Zoie slowly pulled away.
"I was getting a new cactus," Zoie nervously looked at Kaden, "the guy attacked me and Kaden happened to be in front of the shop."
Tamara obviously couldn't tell how nervous she was as she talked from how upset she was, and Kaden just stared at them, confused as to why Tamara doesn't know about Zoie's job.
"Baby-" Tamara tried to hug her, but she just partly allowed her to.
"I need to go and take a shower," Zoie said and went into her room.
Tamara watched as she left, then turned towards Kaden and looked at him for a few seconds. Finally, she sat down at the glass table.
"How far did he, you know?" she looked at the glass as she spoke, but after not getting an answer she looked at Kaden.
"Well," he sat down, "I'm not completely sure. I mean, I'm pretty positive that he didn't really..get into her, but he did pull her shirt up and maybe kissed her?"
The pictures started flying into his head and he felt sick.
"That fucking bastard!" Tamara hit the glass with her fist.
YOU ARE READING
FOREST
Roman d'amour"maybe our forest has problems instead of trees, but how do we get out of it?" When Kaden meets Zoie, a quiet girl with a passion for photography, his life slowly starts turning around. What seems to be a small crush, develops into something bigger...
