Days With Zion Dawsey

15. A Surprise

It was quiet. An awkward silence surrounded Bonnie and Zion as the two were strolling down the street to Bonnie's house. River was fast asleep in his stroller. Zion cleared his throat, not knowing whether he wanted to start a conversation with Bonnie or not.

"Do you need a cough drop?" Bonnie asked the man next to her, obviously slightly irked since that was his seventh throat clean in less than a minute.
"Nope." Zion shook his head as Bonnie rolled her eyes.

"You didn't have to accompany me if you feel this uncomfortable." She said, making Zion roll his eyes.
"Yes, because it would've looked so good to say no to accompanying you when my mother proposed that idea in front of all of my relatives." He said.

"Well, I'm fine. You can leave now if you want." Bonnie responded, picking up her speed.
"Is it that hard to just thank me? Do you always have to be a bitch?" Zion shook his head in anger and stopped walking when Bonnie stopped as well.

"Do not say that word in front of him!" She hissed at Zion.
"He's fast asleep." He answered with a dumbfounded look.
"It doesn't matter. That's still out of order and you know it." She glared up at him before picking up her pace once again.

"But you agree that you're acting like a bit- a b-word all the time." Zion said once Bonnie threw him another warning look.
"I do not." She lifted her chin up high.
"Yeah, you do."

"Do not."
"Do."
"Do not."
"Do."

"Do-"
"I could go on like this forever." Zion interrupted.
"Well, me too. Do not." Bonnie emphasized on the last two words of her response. Zion sighed and shook his head once more before letting go.

It was quiet again.

"Well, maybe I am a b sometimes. To you that is." Bonnie admitted, stopping in her tracks.
"Only to me, huh." Zion stopped as well and looked down at her.
"Which is unfair and I'm sorry." She sighed before looking up into his beautiful malachite eyes.

"I never thought I'd see you again, so I never planned to say this, but you've given me the best thing that's ever happened to me. It might sound bizarr, because I kind of forced you but thank you nevertheless." She finished, looking up at Zion with those big brown eyes, leaving him speechless for a few seconds.

After those seconds, all he could do was nod. He was kind of weirded out by the somehow nice Bonnie. It was untypical for her to thank him for anything, so he had no idea what exactly he should have answered in that moment.

"Ask me again why I never thank you. You're staring at me as if I'd grown two heads." Bonnie chuckled before starting to walk down the street again. Zion followed with a shake of his head.
"Well, I wasn't expecting you to thank me. That's all." He answered.

"Don't get used to it." Bonnie glanced at him with a hidden smile. He was acting strange, she realized. She knew he was trying to be somewhat tolerable and she appreciated that.
"Don't worry, I won't." He answered.

"Well, that's my house. Which you obviously already know." Bonnie awkwardly stated as they came to a halt in front of her driveway. She turned towards Zion who frowned.
"What do you mean?" He asked, referring to the last part of her statement.

"Well, you picked me up earlier this evening. Remember?" Bonnie enjoyed seeing him starting to sweat and nod at her in relief. She definitely could've just told him then and there that she knew very well about his nightly stalking sessions a few weeks ago. But she figured she didn't want to know what was going on in his head that time. That was a story for another day, she thought as she yawned.

"I see my party tired you." Zion felt stupid for stating the obvious but for some reason, he didn't want her to go inside yet.
"Yes, it was great. Thank you again for inviting me. Well, re-inviting me." Bonnie said, knowing what was going to come next.

"That's two times you've expressed your gratitude to me in less than ten minutes." Zion told Bonnie, as if she didn't know. The woman rolled her eyes and turned to look at River.
"It's probably because I'm tired." Then she turned back to Zion and looked up at him.

"Can I ask you something?" Now she sounded nervous and Zion frowned before nodding.
"The story of your scars that Oliver told today wasn't even remotely true, was it?" She asked, surprising Zion. He shook his head with a chuckle. Then he looked back at her.

"You want to know my story?" He asked and Bonnie nodded. Zion observed her. She was trying not to sound nervous, but he knew she was. After all, she must've been wanting to know for a while.

"Alright." He said, before shoving his hands deeper into his pockets.
"Well, I did get the scars from a tiger, which is ironic because in Oliver's story, he wanted the tiger to win." He shrugged.
"Anyways, to keep it short- I got dared by some friends to break into the tiger cage at night and take a selfie with one of them. I was thirteen and stupid, don't look at me like that." Zion kept it really short, letting out the consequences and background. He didn't want to kill the mood.

"You want to tell me that teenage you was stupid enough to break into a tiger's cage at night just to take a picture?" She asked dumbfounded.
"Yes." He chuckled, making Bonnie giggle.
"Wow." She shook her head. Zion bit his lip, smiling.
"So he just scratched you and let you leave?" Bonnie asked.
"No. My brother saved me." He said, clenching his jaw and looking down. There was his mood kill.

"Are you okay?" Bonnie noticed the sudden change in his energy.
"I'm fine." He looked back at her, angry at himself again. He was hoping to fall asleep peacefully tonight. After all, he did have a pretty good evening. But that all seemed to not matter. He needed a distraction and in that moment, he felt like he found the right one.

"I should go inside, get him in bed, you know." She told him after a few seconds of silence, making Zion nod in agreement.
"I know." Yet, the two didn't depart.

"And I should probably go to bed too." Bonnie said after the two just stared at each other for a solid minute. Her voice was shaking and her ears started to suddenly feel so warm.
"Probably." Zion whispered, watching her gulp. His stepped a little closer to her.

"D-do you want to get inside for some tea?" Bonnie stuttered, making Zion clench his jaw.
"No." He shook his head but took another step closer to her. Bonnie's mouth fell open and she felt embarrassed with suddenly red cheeks.

"Oh-" She started, looking down at her shoes. But Zion grabbed her chin and made her look up at him with wide, surprised eyes.
"I don't feel like tea, right now." He murmured as his head drew closer to Bonnie and before either of them could snap back to reality, his lips found hers.