froyo / dear evan hansen

six

"where the fuck have you been?"

zoe has to stop to process the concern in his words.

"jared's," she mumbles, prising her shoes off.

"the guy at the froyo place?"

"yeah. we're friends."

"yeah, i know." connor folds his arms defensively. "whose jumper is that?"

zoe looks down at her own one bundled up in her arms, which she sprayed half a bottle of impulse on before she left jared's. "i spilt coffee on mine while i was in the park. jared lives near."

"you could've just come back home."

she shifts in connor's unwavering glare. "it's embarrassing walking through park with a huge-ass coffee stain on your jumper."

"it's getting hot, anyway."

"yeah, i know." zoe pushes past connor to the kitchen, where larry sits, a mug of coffee wrapped around one hand, his phone in the other.

"hey, dad." she says as she scavenges through the cupboard.

"hey, love. how was froyo?"

"alright." zoe shrugs. "it was meant to be 'sibling bonding' but it was more like 'awkwardly eating froyo and making small talk with jared'."

larry sighs. "he's trying, love."

"i know." she says through gritted teeth. "do you know how many times i've told myself that?"

larry just smiles sympathetically. "you're doing good. i know it's not easy for you."

connor stops in the silence that follows as he enters the room; the silence that only follows when someone has been talking about you. he stares at zoe and stares at larry, breathing uneasily.

"what is it?" he asks, struggling to keep the paranoia out of his voice, because he has realised that when zoe is rigid and her chin slightly raised and her chest is trembling, she is scared.

another long, tedious silence follows the question, before zoe wets her lips and says, "i was just saying that i'm worried about you getting froyo."

connor's expression ripples from a scowl to a frown. "i already told you i was fine." he says slowly, voice wavering.

zoe looks at him for a long second before leaving.

and connor is so glad she does, because he isn't sure how long he could've controlled himself for.