"Hey, um, are you okay?" Someone asks. His voice sounds strained, as if it's hard for him to talk to me.
"I'm fine."
"Are you sure? Do yo-"
"What the hell? Get away from him, freak!" I hear Jake's harsh words cut off the boy trying to help me.
I feel gentle hands on my shoulders, "Did he do anything to you?" A girl asks.
"What? N-no. He was just...talking to me."
"Do you need water or anything?"
"No." I respond quickly, sick of all the questions.
"If he ever tries to hurt you or anything come to me." I wasn't sure if she was referring to Rich or the boy whose name I didn't know.
"I-I don't even-" I open my eyes to see the girl sitting across from me. Her face less than a foot from mine, "Zoe?"
"Yea."
"Who w-was that?"
"That was my brother. Sorry about him."
"N-no he wasn't...sorry." I stood up quickly and brushed off my pants. I groaned as pain rushed through my head.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Zoe asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
She grabbed my hand and pulled a pen from her back pocket. I was suddenly very aware of how sweaty my palms were. Zoe scribbled onto the back of my hand.
"Text me if you ever need anything." She smiled sweetly and walked off, her hips swaying lightly.
"Holy shit, Hansen. How did you, of all people, manage to get Zoe Murphy's number?" Jared walked up to me, hands in his pockets.
"No, it's not like that, she...she was just-"
"She was totally hitting on you." He interrupted.
"N-no, she wasn't."
"Y-yes, she was." Replied Jared, mocking me.
——
"Just text her already!" Jared shoved me lightly.
I stumbled, "No! She only said to text her if I needed anything, and I don't need anything."
"Oh, please! Evan! She's probably waiting by her phone, hoping, praying you'll come through!" He stuck out his lip, pouting. As if on cue, Zoe walks into the small ice cream shop, a tall, dark, and brooding boy at her side.
I leaned onto the counter and smiled softly, "Hi, Zoe."
Jared pushes me, hard, "Welcome to A La Mode, what can I get you?" He smiles.
I bury my face into my hands before lifting my head and giving a weak, sarcastic grin to Zoe.
"Can we have two scoops of chocolate, please?"
"Righto, Zo!" Jared strutted off to go get the two some ice cream.
"That'll be-"
"5 dollars, I know." Zoe hands me a five and I become very aware of how her fingers brush against my own.
"Sorry, i-if you...you wanted me to, um, to text you. I've just, it's been-"
"No no no!" she giggled, "I wasn't...I don't like you like that."
"Yea, she likes girls." The boy who walked in with her grumbled. I hadn't really looked at him before, he was attractive, no doubt about that. His face was slim, he had long, dark hair. His eyes were blue, or green, I couldn't see them very well.
"Here's your ice cream!" Jared came back with two cones of ice cream in one hand, grinning.
"Thanks, Jared." Zoe handed one cone to the boy who I now was taking a lot of interest in.
"No problem."
Zoe walked off, her hips swaying once again in that mesmerizing way.
"Dude, stop staring at her ass." Jared tapped me on the shoulder.
"I wasn't..." I started to reply.
"You weren't staring at his ass, were you?"
"What? No!"
"Good, he gives me the...heebee geebees."
"The what?"
"Fuck you, Hansen!" Jared flips me off before he turns to help the person at the counter.
"Welcome to A La Mo...Oh, hi Michael!" I hear Jared say.
"Hi, Jared! I didn't know you worked here!"
"Oh yea, Hansen and I just started a couple weeks ago."
"Cool, so, um, I was actually looking for someone, have you seen her?"
"I've seen a lot of people, Michael, you're gonna have to give me more than that."
"I actually...I don't really know what she looks like."
"Do you...know her name?" I could almost feel the pain in Jared's voice as he bit back a snarky comment.
"Christine?"
"Sorry, man, I've never heard of her."
"It's for Jeremy...He's got this, like, major crush on her and I was hoping I could help him out. Even though I've never met her and don't know what I would say." Michael had some sort of...jealousy in his voice.
"Sorry." Jared gave a genuine smile before Michael walked out the door.
——
Bing!
I grabbed my phone to check my email.
JakeyD: Hey, sorry about Rich today.
Oh my god, holy shit, oh my god
evan.escence: No, it's fine.
JakeyD: Okay, sorry again.
I contemplated messaging Jared but I didn't want to bother him, I know how he gets after work. I type Zoe's number and create a contact.
Me: Hi, Zo
Zoe Murphy: who's this?
Me: Oh, sorry, it's Evan.
Zoe Murphy: evan who?
Me: Evan Hansen? I just saw you at A La Mode? You got two chocolate ice creams with that guy?
Zoe Murphy: what guy?
Me: I don't know, tall, long hair, good looking...
Zoe Murphy: you think i'm good looking?
Me: Wait, what?
Zoe Murphy: Oh God! Sorry! That was my brother, Connor...Do you have a crush on my brother?
Me: What? No, I'm confused.
Zoe Murphy: Ha! Holy shit! You think my brother is hot!
Me: No, I don't
Zoe Murphy: Wait, is there someone else? Are you cheating on my brother?
Me: No, Zoe, I don't think Connor is hot.
Zoe Murphy: He thinks you're hot
Me: What?
