It's Complicated COMPLETED

Chapter 9

I sat at the cafeteria table for fifteen minutes, wondering if he would ever even come. I sat there playing on my phone, nearly giving up on him. Giving up, I decided that I'd gotten my hopes far too high up.

It was all a trick. A prank. I should've known. Should've known that he doesn't like me. Should've known.

I stood up, grabbed my purse, and started walking towards the mall's exit. Nearly crying, I trudged away. As I pushed the doors open, I couldn't help but think of my shattered feelings. Mascara running, I was briskly walking towards my car. I could see loads of cars in bunches on the road.

"Hey! Meghan!" I turned around and saw him. He came.

"Look who showed up!" I said sarcastically as I tried to hopelessly wipe the running makeup off my sad, pitiful face.

"Sorry, rush hour traffic slowed me down."

I blushed, and said that I was starving.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. Let's go and eat." He said with a toothy grin.

"And we shall do so in peace." I said, returning the bittersweet smile. Zach chuckled and led the way back to the mall. I couldn't help but stare at him, and want to hold his hand. Oh, how much I just wanted to talk with him.

He grabbed a seat at a table, but not before pulling one up for me. I smiled and thanked him as I sat down.

"So... how's life?" he asked.

"Well, it's life, so you know... life I guess." I had no idea what I could say. I was still blushing when he chuckled at my answer.

Who says that? That doesn't even make sense! Stupid!!

"Yes. It's definitely life." he said with aother beautiful smile.

"So should we, like, get something to eat?" I asked.

"Well, it's only four thirty, so..."

"You've got a point. So should we, maybe, see if there are any movies playing here?" Ugh. It was so awkward. I kept trying to tell myself to loosen up, and it seemed to only get harder. Could you blame me, though?

"Yeah, okay. Anything you wanna see?" He replied.

"Not in particular. You?" He shook his head. We headed over to the movie theatre part of the mall and looked at movies and times. Sadly, there were no good movies playing that day (that didn't include talking animals, princesses, or multiple deaths by zombies), so Zach and I headed back to the food court. On our way, I spotted a photo booth.

"You wanna go in the photo booth?" I pointed at the little cubicle with a curtain. By that time, I was finally comfortable. Keep in mind, we spent probably ten minutes looking for a movie to watch.

"Why not?" Zach replied loosely. We waltzed over to the booth and pushed away the curtain. I put in one dollar, and he put in the other.

"Okay, ready?" I asked as I turned to him. Mid-sentence, the light flashed and I laughed as it took another picture. I readjusted myself and made a kissy face at the camera. Zach was doing something in the corner of my eye, but I didn't dare look (for fear that it would take another picture). For the fourth, and final, picture, I smiled a genuine smile and he did too. Just before the camera took he photo, I looked at him. He looked at me, smiling too.

The pictures took a while to develope. When they popped out of the machine, I saw something that was a delightful surprise. The picture that had me making a kissy face, Zach was pretending to kiss my cheek. I blushed when I saw the photo. When I dared a glance at him, he was smiling over my shoulder.

"Hey, look!" He exclaimed. Zach pointed at the machine, and I saw what he meant. The booth had accidentally developed two copies. I kind of wished he hadn't ruined the moment, but he also softened the embarrassment. I walked over to the photo booth and grabbed the second (moment-ruining) copy. However, I was also happy because I wanted one too. If we had split the first copy, I wouldn't know which half to choose to keep anyways.

While I stared at the photos, we walked back to the cafeteria. My eyes flicked from him to the floor over and over. It was subtle though. Very subtle.