My Heart and Other Black Holes (My Heart #1)

Chapter 13

Louise and Rowan were in Zoe's lift to her flat. Rowan thought she might throw up. She had always hated lifts and it didn't help that she was about to see Zoe for the first time in two years and had no idea how she was going to react.

"Chummy!" Zoe called from her bedroom when they opened the lift door. Louise had texted in the car saying she was on her way over. She hadn't mentioned Rowan.

"Hey Louise," Alfie greeted from the kitchen. Rowan looked at him; only able to see the back of him since he was turned around doing the washing up.

"Hi," Louise said weakly. Alfie sensed her weird mood and turned to look.

"What's wrong?" he asked her. That's when he saw Rowan. He recognised her from the photographs that Zoe had showed him when she had explained how she had disappeared without a trace. His mouth opened in shock.

"Chummy?" Zoe repeated, getting out of her bed and walking into the main part of her flat to see what was taking her so long.

As soon as Zoe saw Rowan, her heart skipped a beat. But she kept walking towards her; wondering if her eyes were deceiving her. When she was a couple of inches away from her, Zoe was still staring. Rowan was holding her breath; she didn't know what Zoe was going to do. Was she going to cry? Or hug her? Or yell at her?

All of a sudden, Rowan felt a sharp pain as Zoe's hand made contact with her face. She gasped and stepped back a little. Zoe had slapped her. "How dare you?!" Zoe yelled angrily.

"Zoe?" Louise asked her, shocked. She had expected that kind of a reaction from Tracey, not Zoe.

"How fucking dare you!" she repeated, her voice getting angrier with every word. Rowan stared at her; speechless. Tears filled her eyes once again but she tried her best to blink them away.

Zoe pushed past her little sister and stormed into her room. Louise and Alfie both followed her; they wondered why she had reacted like that.

Rowan put a hand to her tingling face. Zoe had slapped her hard. But she deserved it. From where she was standing, she could hear Zoe sobbing in her bedroom and Louise and Alfie comforting her. She took a deep breath. She needed to do this.

Walking towards Zoe's bedroom, she thought about what she was going to say to her. But she couldn't think of anything. Rowan knocked on the door. No answer. She opened it slowly. "Zo?" she whispered.

Zoe looked up at her and Louise and Alfie decided it would be best to leave them alone to talk. "I'm sorry," Rowan tried pathetically.

"Come here Rowan," Zoe ordered. Rowan nervously walked towards her older sister. When she sat on the bed next to her, Zoe suddenly leaped up and pulled her into a tight embrace. "I missed you so much," she whispered.

"I'm sorry," Rowan repeated. Zoe started crying again.

"I thought you were dead... I thought that you were never coming home," Zoe wept.

"Zoe... I didn't mean... I didn't mean for any of this. I thought you would all be better off without me around..." Rowan explained softly.

"That would never be the case Rowan. I love you so much," Zoe assured her.

"I love you too," she whispered in reply. She sniffed and was comforted by the fact that Zoe still smelt like Zoe. "I watched all your videos... When you put that video up of you crying... I, I just wanted to run and hug you... but I... I couldn't. I didn't know how to," Rowan explained sadly.

"It's okay Rowan. I'm sorry I hit you, I was just in shock. And I was so angry," Zoe said, holding her cheek in her hands. It was red from where Zoe had slapped her.

"I know..." Rowan replied. The two of them sat in each other's arms for a few more minutes.

"We should probably go back out there... otherwise they'll think that I killed you or something," Zoe joked. Rowan laughed and nodded.

"I'm so sorry Zo," she said seriously.

"It's okay Rowan. Louise explained how you felt to me. You should have told us... but it's okay. What's done is done. Just promise me one thing? Never do it again," Zoe replied.

Rowan nodded and the two sisters made their way into the living room with Louise and Alfie.