Press Play: A Connor Franta Story

Chapter Eleven

It had been exactly one week since I had gotten Connor's letter, and since I had last spoke to him. Part of me missed him like you miss Summer in the dead of Winter, however my brain told me not to forgive him for taking my childhood and last memories of my brother and turning them into a video and charity event. Savannah had told me I was crazy for giving up on an O2L boy but I was used to shutting people out of my life.

I was on my way to Melanie Jacobs office for my meeting about the sample piece I had turned in last week, when I passed by a familiar boy on a penny board. He almost ran into a group of older women because he was so hardcore staring at me. I turned around to look back at him just long enough to see him racing toward me.

"Hey!" he yelled kicking off his board and walking beside me. "You're Zoey right?"

"Ummm yes," I said confused.

"I thought so! Dude your photos are sick!" he laughed and smiled, at that point I realized it was Jc, one of Connor's roomates and my heart sank into my butt. Clearly Connor had failed to mention to the household that we were no on speaking terms. "Connor has been busting his ass trying to get donors for the park, it's pretty awesome. Your photos are what get people ya know, they see that emotional attachment to the place and it reels them right in."

"Look Jc," I stopped walking and turned to face him. "I'm guessing Connor never mentioned but I haven't talked to him in like a week, we're not really friends anymore."

"No he mentioned it," he said staring into my eyes. "He's a mess. I don't think I've ever seen him like this before. He spends days and nights looking at your photos, finding donors, researching the park, and waiting for you to call. He's convinced that if he saves this park that you'll forgive him."

"Yeah I don't know about that," I looked at the ground trying to pull myself together and hold back the tears. "Ok, yes I care about Connor but I don't know if I can forgive him. I told him an emotional story and memory that connected my brother and I and me to my past. Something I have never told anyone and he turned it into this huge public charity event. Plus those photos, their mine. He never asked to use them and share my private things with the world. I'm not the type of person that wants this sort of attention, I want to move on from the past forget it and never venture back there again."

"I respect that but you have to think of it from Connor's position! He saw that something important to the girl he likes was in jepordy of being destructed and thought on his feet. He made that video and site out of love and he truly cares about you and the cause. He didn't do it to make you uncomfortable and to put you in the spotlight. He did it in hopes that it would be a way for you to look back on your past and have something nice to remember."

"Well that may be Jc, but I just have trouble seeing it that way," I glanced down at my watch. "It was nice to see you, but we're going to have to put this conversation on hold, I have to get going. Have a good day."

"Yeah nice seeing you. Just remember to press play once in a while!" Jc hollered after me as I headed closer to the doors of Melanie's office building.