FACELESS

Chapter 21

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B E F O R E 

Maybe Zac and I could be best friends.

Of course, it would not be the same with him and his guy friends but, maybe, maybe I can treat him like a close friend. Like having a friend, for once.

I'm starting to think maybe I have already given too much trust to him.

Just like before, what I did to Bailey.

I told Zac about my family, one day, while we were going out on a study date.

"You know, you could always come to my house to play some games." Zac said, taking a sip of his drink. We were in Subway, eating after studying and doing our work in the library.

"What?" I blinked, chewing my sandwich carefully. 

"I have a PS4 and VR headset in my house, we could hangout this weekend or something." 

"You know the exam is around the corner, right?" I said, raising an eyebrow. He grinned back, licking his lips. "Yeah, but I mean, we need a break once in a while. You never played VR before, right?"

"Nope." I replied. "But how do I tell my parents..."

Zac snorted, leaning back on his chair, and pulled his arms over his head and stretched. "Just tell them you're studying, then you can come over and we can game all day." I blinked, again, and my eyes averted from his eyes to his t-shirt pulling away from his jeans. 

"Audrey?"

"Yeah," I hiccuped out, "I'm listening."

"So, how?"

"Then you have to promise me I can leave when I want to, okay?"

"What?" A confused look crossed his face, scrunching his face up. "I mean. sure."

"It's just that my family–" And the I froze. How could I let him know about my family being screwed up? My mother being obsessed with me, and my dad being strict on where I go and what time I come home. Five minutes late, and it's a long lecture. Score five points worse than previous exams, and it's sitting down by the dinner table, lecturing me in front of everyone; my mother, my brother, the helpers. Or half way through with calls with group project mates, my dad knocking on the door, and sitting me down by the bed, reprimanding me for my disrespect to him because I didn't answer his call on time. 

"Your family..." Zac muttered, and then he asked: "Is your mother scary?"

"What?" I replied, "Yeah, she is."

"Damn." His eyes grew bigger. "I mean, no offence, but you never talk about your family. It's like you purposely avoid talking about them." 

"It's just..." I mumbled, and then, the words come out of me without me realising what I'm doing. "They are really controlling. And they don't even know I'm really stressed out, and all. With the... thing with my previous school, I wasn't really in the best place, mentally and emotionally, until you came, of course."

Zac smiled, leaning forward with his arms on the table. "Well, I'm very honoured milady."

"Milady?" I raised my eyebrow, laughing. "Is that what you call girls you know, me and Mia?"

What the hell did I just say?

Zac froze. His hands lingered its way to his drink, and he brought it up to his lips and took another sip from the straw. 

'You know we should probably not use straws..." I mumbled, sensing the tense atmosphere between the two of us. I gulped, whirring my head for any sentences or words that could ease the tensions in the room. "Like, the whole turtle eats straws stuff–"

"I want to clear the things about Mia and I with you." 

The sentence coiled itself around my heart, and it squeezed, making me take in a short breath involuntarily. 

"What? What do you mean?" I asked, and then shook my head, squeezing my eyes. "Wait, never mind. You don't have to, I mean." I sighed, slamming my head into my hands. "You don''t have to tell me anything, I'm sorry I mentioned her."

"No." Zac paused, biting his lips. He placed the drinks on the table again, and then kept quiet for a while. "I think we have to talk about it. The thing with Mia, of course." 

Oh for the love of god and the stupid mouth I have. 

"But not now." he continued, and he grabbed his sandwich, taking a big bite, chewing. I stared at him, blinking, unmoving, and also slightly ashamed of mentioning her name when we were carefree and happy, like ruining my own mood with my own hands. I probably just made the rest of today awkward. 

"Okay." I mumbled out, he took another sip of his drink, and leaned back. 

"We can talk about it when you come over for the gaming, ok?" He gave me a soft smile, and the doubt and shame in my heart melted away. 

"Okay."

"How about next week Friday?" 

"Okay."