PrettyMuch imagines

Preference #2 - Your First Kiss - Zion, cont.

Everything was too bright. You could barely open your eyes without feeling as if your brain was about to explode inside your skull. You had no clue where you were, nor how you got there, but it felt as if you had been through one of the roughest nights of your life. And you were so nauseous. You desperately tried to remember the night before, but you could only remember small fragments of separate occasions. 

The party. 

Brandon. 

Your stupid Vans with your little black dress. 

Truth or dare. 

Austin's dare. To Zion.

Zion... and a kiss. 

It seemed strange to you that one kiss had managed to turn a whole evening around like that. Zion leaving you behind right after you had told him to slow down, left you feeling used. Sad, even. You had no clue why, for every single time you and Zion saw each other before this party, it seemed as if you were pissing each other off to see who was best at it. You knew it was unfair of you to think that it was Zion who despised you for no reason. Your head filled with the image of the first time you met. 

Brandon had taken you back to his gigantic house for the first time on a warm summer afternoon. For some reason you were overly confident that day, causing it to annoy you when Zion asked what exactly it was you were doing with your life. Later on, you realised that his tone was inquiring rather than patronising, but seeing as he zoned out most of the afternoon and did not give you much attention, you had made the decision to provoke him. 

"Making yours worse, if you're not careful," you had told him. Maybe you were trying to flirt, you could not remember. Maybe you were trying to seem more interesting than you actually were. Nevertheless, the situation turned out in the worst way imaginable. 

"I don't even know you," Zion had replied, frowning at you. "Yet I know what you are. Conceited. The type of toxic people I tend to stay away from. You think you're quite something, huh?" 

Up until this day, you had no clue how you had managed to get out of a situation as painfully awkward as that one. But you were positive you and Zion got off on the wrong foot. From day one, the connection between you two was hostile, which is why the kiss had been such a weird experience. It had felt as if he meant it, as if you meant it. Thinking about why it happened hurt your head even more. 

Brandon said Zion was conflicted about you, Austin said the situation couldn't continue like this. Could it be that this was all some conspiracy to make things turn from hostile to awkward so that the other boys were not in the middle of a problem they had not created? You expected it from Austin. You knew he was always positive and that drama stressed him out a lot. The others, though? Definitely not Brandon. While you figured Zion was like a brother to him, you, too, were too close to him for him to do you wrong in that way. Besides, he knew how much you cared about only kissing people you were actually romantically interested in, due to some horrible experiences in the past. You did not want to hurt anyone in the way you had been hurt. 

Thinking about that, you realised Brandon might have talked about that with Edwin. Maybe Zion had overheard some stories and thought up this plan with Austin as one last fuck you to settle the score. His victory. Your diminished pride. The kiss of an enemy to bring you down for good, simply because it would hurt. 

No matter the reason, it hurt. Remembering Zion walking away from you had resulted in you feeling disgusted, unwanted, used and finding refuge from your feelings in alcohol. You felt bitter thinking that you had vowed that you would never find a poison to numb yourself. Yet here you were. And there was no gain either, the next morning, both your body and soul were in pain.