Because of that Night (Book 2)

Chapter 42: Zooey

Zooey picked up the bottle of Chardonnay and smiled. It was an expensive bottle, the good kind, the kind that wouldn't leave you with a headache in the morning. It was the beginning of Thanksgiving break, she figured she would splurge. She and Isaac were stranded in Chicago for the November break together, but it didn't feel like she was stranded. She had everything she needed right where she was. Isaac had chosen Zooey; all of the drama that had existed before no longer mattered. Zooey had been right to fight for what she believed in. Her parents' fate would not be her own, and Isaac was proving that.

He was stuck in his office grading midterm papers that evening. He had said he wanted to bang out all of the grading in order to just focus on the break and holiday with her. He was taking longer than Zooey had expected, and she figured she would go to his office and pay him a visit. They could take a break, have a glass of wine. He didn't have to finish all the grading that day. Even Zooey had decided it best to take a break from her own responsibilities she had over that holiday. This extra year of grad work was close to killing her. She couldn't believe that Isaac had signed up for four years of this sort of torment.

She had gathered up the wine, crackers, and cheese. If he refused to leave his office – which she was sure he would – she would simply pitch a picnic right there in his office. She walked with a sort of limp to his office on the other side of campus, the wine bottle hitting against her leg in steady thwumps in the bag she had loaded up as she continued on towards him. It was definitely annoying to have his office on the other side of campus from where she was, but it didn't matter. Zooey would have Isaac to herself for this entire break. Not just that, but she had him to herself from here on into forever.

She could feel her heart beating faster as her distance between Isaac shrunk more with each step she took. Yes, her family back at home had been left in pieces, but that didn't matter now, she had a new family within him. She could move on, she could start over, she could leave behind the pain that existed back in Borne, not just with her family, but with all of it. This was the beginning of unfaltering happiness; she was so sure of it. She could have shouted it right there as she approached the door to where he was, probably leaned over his desk staring too intently at his papers. It didn't matter that not everyone had left campus just yet for the break, the more ears to hear her coming, the more eyes to watch her approaching, the merrier. She couldn't help the toothy grin spread across her face; she hadn't felt this excited to see someone since –

But he wasn't leaned over his papers, concentrated and too overly focused. He wasn't focused on his papers at all. His eyes were focused on the dark-haired woman making herself comfortable in his lap, her smile almost cunning as she moved her lips onto his. Abigail was here, in the flesh again. Zooey felt her toothy grin begin to fade, her arms falling limply to her sides. It felt as though she had swallowed her heart and gotten it lodged in her throat. She backed away from the door like it was a murder scene, her body almost instinctively finding a home on the floor. She heard the wine bottle clink lightly as she leaned herself again the far wall, and she grabbed it quickly, fearful to be heard. But it was clear from the light mummers that the noise had barely been noticed at all. She had not been noticed at all.

She thought through so many options. Did she storm in and announce her presence? Did she pretend to be a stray student with a midterm question so as to get Abigail to leave them? Did she go in and just immediately slap him across the face and walk out as though none of it had even happened? Her arms still sat lifeless at her sides as she felt her gaze wandering into a dreamlike state, a place where this reality just couldn't be real. Maybe that was it, this was a dream. She would wake up any second and all of what had existed now would be forgotten about, lost once more into dream scape. But the longer she sat, the more she realized how this just simply wasn't true.