A Chapter Completed

Back to Square 1

"You don't have to. I'll just walk home," I insisted.

"Zoe, I'm dropping you home. It's no big deal. Besides, I'd be rid of dumb and dumber for a while," Jason replied, pointing towards the two idiots.

Seconds later, two pillows hit him in the face. Jason glared at Drake and Stacey, who just smirked back.

'Totally ship it,' I thought.

Jason grabbed my hand, and before I could protest any further, led me to his car.

Rolling my eyes, I finally agreed to let him drop me home.

Sitting in the car, I sighed, realising just where I was headed, and what I was leaving behind.
Last night's memories flooded my brain: Drake and Jason's pizza eating contest; Stacey and Jason having a thumb war to decide who gets to choose the movie; the boys groaning when the logo for Legally Blonde came up on the TV; the gang realising my discomfort when it came to close contact, and leaving the couch for me; the four of us slowly dozing off one by one after hours of lively fun.

"You okay there?" Jason asked.

I silently nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

I felt his gaze linger on my face for a couple more seconds

"You know what I feel like?" He began. "Ice cream."

And so, five minutes later, we were at an ice cream shop sitting in a booth across from each other.

Jason signed contentedly, as he began eating his.
I shook my head, and before I could stop myself, I found myself breaking the silence.

"How can you eat that? It's so...plain," I asked Jason, nodding my head towards his vanilla ice cream.

"How can you eat that? It's so...bitter," he retorted, referring to my scoop of chocolate ice cream.

I rolled my eyes, "I happen to like it."

"Well, I happen to like vanilla."

"Fair enough," I mumbled, taking another bite of my ice cream.

Jason laughed, and shook his head.

"Pizaa or burgers?" He asked.

"I don't know. I...umm..I haven't really have had either in a long time."

"You're not serious! Wow!"

"Someone sounds surprised," I remarked sarcastically.

"No, it's just that I didn't peg you for a 'salad only' type of girl. Come to think of it, I didn't even see you eat any pizza last night. And we had like a dozen of them."

"I just...I'd rather not..." I trailed off, looking away.

"Huh. Okay then, next question. Vampire diaries or teen wolf?" He shoved a spoonful of plain, horrible, tasteless, common vanilla ice cream into his mouth.

"Last I watched, teen wolf. What about you?"

"As if I'd watch either of them," he scorfed, his nose in the air and a condescending, patronising look on his face.

I frowned, not because he didn't watch them, but because of the way he said it – like as if it made him less of a man or something.

Two seconds later though, he laughed out loud, "I'm kidding, I prefer teen wolf as well. VD has a bit too much of...I don't know..."

"Drama?" I completed for him, as he ate the last of his ice cream.

"Yes. Yeah, that's it. I mean, the show isn't terrible, but teen wolf seems a bit more relatable."

"Yeah, 'cause being turned into a werewolf happens to almost all teens," I joked, completing my cold, delicious, 'bitter' treat.

"C'mon! You know what I mean," he replied.

Minutes later, we were back on the road.

"Best actor?" Jason asked.

"Let's see...I think rdj. He's the best Tony Stark there could ever be."

"Ahh, a marvel fan. Team Cap or team Iron Man?" He questioned, taking a left turn.

"Team Iron Man, definitely."

"Boo! Team Cap! Cap all the way," he said.

I shook my head,"Nope. Tony Stark is bae. Shut up."

"Fine," he huffed. "But for just now. We will continue this later."

"And I'll win," I claimed.

He scorfed. "We'll see about that."

Looking put the window, I realised that the car was slowing down right next to my house.

I sighed.

"Thanks for the ride. And the ice cream," I said.

"No problem. It was a pretty sweet deal for me actually," he smirked.

"Okay....And why is that?" I questioned, confused.

"I got to spend time with you," he answered.

'Well that's a first' was literally my first thought.
My second though was whether or not there was something wrong with the universe.
The third thought was a bit more realistic. It went something along the lines of, 'Where are the cameras? Guess I'm being pranked on TV.'

"Okay. So I'm going to go now," I muttered.
I kept my face as emotionless as possible, hurried out of the car and did the one thing I thought I couldn't possibly do – run towards my home knowing that Elena Thunder and my mother would both be inside.

I was fumbling with my keys on the doorstep, when I heard quick footsteps behind me.
I didn't turn around, knowing that it would be Jason.

"Hey. Zoe, I...I'm..."

"What?" I asked impatiently, still facing the door.

He was silent for a moment, before lifting his hand and handing me my phone.

"You forgot this in the car."

I glanced at him and nodded.

"Right. Thanks." I muttered.

We stood awkward there for a second, before Jason broke the silence.
"Anyways, I'm going to go now.  And...umm..Zee, I, I really truly did enjoy my time with you today..."

Before he could speak any further, the door opened and he was interrupted.

"Well well well. What do we have here?"

I froze. And no, not like a deer caught in headlights. I wasn't thinking,"Shit, busted!", or "Goodbye life."
What I was thinking was more along the lines of nothing. I just froze.
I forgot Jason was there, I forgot where I was, I forgot everything. The only thing I remembered was her, the chills her voice sent down my spine, not to mention every insult she had thrown at me and every instance I had self-harmed.

"Did you finally get yourself a boyfriend, darling? And such a fine one at that."

Elena stalked towards us. She walked around Jason, her hand moving across his hands and his back, with her eyes focused on my face.

"Sorry if I'm being rude, but who the hell are you?" Jason asked, shoving her hand away from his body and stepping away, closer towards me.

"Oh, Zoe hasn't told you?" she pouted.
"Let's just say that Zoe and I, we go a long way back," she continued.

Pin-drop silence reigned the room for the next few moments. I had fixed my gaze firmly on the floor, as I felt her stare on me.
Jason, on the other hand, was shuffling uncomfortably, and from the corner of my eye, I could see him shift his gaze from me to Elena, then back to me, after which, he finally broke the tension.

"Well, speaking of go, we really should be leaving. Places to go. People to meet. Ciao."

Grabbing my hand, he steered me out of the house, and into his car. Again.

...........................

Slightly longer. Hopefully better.

Peace out :)