Antipodes

Ten

She hailed a cab, got in and gave the address to the driver. She insisted that he took Manhattan Bridge and not Brooklyn's as it was already 6 PM, he rolled his eyes and drove anyways. She was nervous and angry, she wanted to punch him into the face. But instead she was stuck in the traffic jam. She took her phone and dialed his number for what must have been the hundredth time today. 

When in the elevator, she kept pushing all the buttons from anger like this was going to make the machine go faster. She was at his door now, drumming on it with her fists. The door finally opened. He was half naked, sleepy. 

"Jesus Christ !", he exclaimed.

"No", she corrected him. "It's actually Zoe or do you want me to leave and send Jesus instead?", she added sarcastically. She pushed him and made her way in.

"You could have called, you scared the shit out of me!", he said closing the door.

"Oh really? I didn't know you had a phone", she said coldly sitting on the couch. "I called you hundreds of times. Roxy called. Kath called. Even your father called!", she yelled at him.

"God !", he said. "My father actually took his phone and dialled my number? I can now die in peace!" 

 "Where the fuck have you been?", she asked removing her heels.

"Home. Sleeping".

"For three days?", she yelled again. "You told Roxy she could move in today".

"No, I said Wednesday!", he corrected her.

"It is fucking Wednesday, Ryan!", she screamed again.

"Okay. One, why the fuck are you screaming? And two, since when do you use such obscenities?", he asked her in shock. "God, and I'm the one who's changed!". She laughed. 

"You are driving me crazy, do you know that?", she said. "And please, go take a shower and put some clothes on", she added biting her lip and tilting her head on the side.

"Are you checking my ass?", he asked looking at her with round eyes.

"Go", she retorted.

He was back ten minutes later with a shirt on.

"Happy?", he asked her turning around and showing his shirt. She didn't bother answering his question.

"What's up with your place? Are you throwing your books or what?", she asked showing him a pile of boxes in the corner of the living room.

"Hell no. I'm trying to figure out whether I should organise them by genre or by alphabetical order. Same for the discs", he replied.

"Alphabetical order", she suggested. "It wasn't that white when I last came here", she noticed.

"I repainted everything", he said turning on the turntable and sitting beside her on the chocolate brown couch. "So, what brought you here?"

"You said you'd call me like ten days ago..."

"You asked me to call you, I didn't say I would", he corrected her. 

"Are you mad at me?" 

"I'm confused".

"About what?"

"About us", he said.

"Ryan ...", she started.

"Don't you Ryan me Zoe!", he cut her. "Look I'm not your sex slave or whatever you want me to be. Stop acting like a bitch, seriously".

"Excuse me?", she retorted in shock.

"One day, you're my best friend. The next day, you're my girlfriend. And the day after, you act like I don't even exist. Pick a side for fuck's sake!", he enraged.

"I thought we had a deal", she tried, defending herself.

"A deal? You never asked for my opinion. Ever".

"What do you want me to say?", she asked him.

"I told you that I loved you and you knew exactly what I meant", he said looking down.

"I told you that I loved you too and I meant it. I truly love you Ryan", she reassured him taking his hand. He looked at her in the eyes. "I am madly in love with you, Ryan Christopher Harrelson", she repeated.

"Then why are you doing this to me?", he asked her with sad eyes.

"I don't know", she admitted. She knew exactly why she was doing this and so did he. She craved the attention but once she had it, she didn't want it anymore.

"I won't hurt you, not intentionally. You can trust me, you know that, right?" 

That was the problem with Zoe. She never really had a proper relationship, she always broke up with all of her boyfriends before it gets too serious. She was afraid to get hurt.

"Oh I trust you, but I don't trust me", she replied. "You're a good guy, Ryan".

Tears started rolling down her pale cheeks. He got closer to her on the couch and hugged her. 

"It's okay, we don't have to do that", he reassured her. "I'm sorry".

They remained that way for a long while. He loved her and she loved him. What could he ask furthermore? Of course, he wanted more but he couldn't force her.

"I love this song", she said a long moment after. Kings of Leon's 'Pyro' was playing on the background.

"I know". What he didn't know was that his absence changed everything and he had no idea of what was lying ahead of hi