Sorry, I Love You.

3.10

Returning home, with Teddy, made Zoe happy beyond belief. Just being with him, as his girlfriend, was surreal in itself, but now they were going home. Zoe was going to see her friends again and see the babies and her big sister and everything was going to be okay for awhile. Zoe couldn't wait.

"Are you going to be okay with me hanging out with my friends when we get back to school?" Zoe asked as her and Teddy sat in the airport, waiting for their flight home.

"As much as I hate them all, I'm not going to tell you not to hang out with them. They're your friends. As long as I don't have to talk to them, I don't care. But... you better give Howl and Fisher some attention first." Teddy turned his phone towards Zoe to show a text conversation between him and Howl. "I guess I forgot to tell Howl I was coming to California and he kind of panicked when he couldn't find me the other day."

Zoe chuckled at that, finding it cute that Howl was so attached to Teddy that he worried when he went missing for one day. But the humor in the situation faded when Zoe read their texts and realized just how scared Howl seemed. He even mentioned that Teddy better not be dead somewhere, as if Teddy would kill himself. Zoe didn't know what would give Howl that impression because Teddy wasn't that kind of person. He was depressed, Zoe knew that, but she was never scared of Teddy killing himself.

"He really was scared you were going to hurt yourself, Teddy." Zoe hugged Teddy's arm and jutted her bottom lip out in a pout. "Did you do something scary while I was gone?"

"No. I was just depressed that you left." Teddy shrugged as he looked up from his phone to lock eyes with the sparkling brown ones he liked so much. "Howl took it upon himself to watch over me after you left. He was really worried about me."

"It was that bad...?" Zoe whispered, cringing at the amount of guilt flooding her stomach.

Teddy sighed and interlaced his fingers with Zoe's so he could bring her knuckles to his lips and kiss her. "I told you I loved you and you ran. Not that I really blame you because... I mean, I know why you did what you did... But after everything I've been through, losing another person I loved destroyed me."

"I'm sorry, Teddy Bear..." Zoe pitifully cooed as she rubbed Teddy's arm to comfort him.

Teddy flashed Zoe a sarcastic glare. He really didn't like that nickname, but as long as it was Zoe, he didn't mind so much. "You don't have to apologize. Like I said, I know why you left. I can't blame you for it. But it did hurt. A lot. And I'd rather you never do that ever again."

Zoe pouted and pulled Teddy closer to kiss him, silently reassuring him that yes, she would never be doing that again. She wouldn't hurt him anymore. Teddy happily swallowed such reassurance and gave it right back to her in the force of his kiss.

It was strange, the complexity of their relationship. Teddy didn't resent her for running from him that day but Zoe instantly resented him when she learned he was working for her mother. They both had their reasons and they both understood each other's reasons, but Teddy was more forgiving, for whatever reason. Zoe didn't know why and she wished she could be on board with him like he was with her, but throwing his life away just wasn't something Zoe could shrug off.

Maybe he was a better person than her for being so forgiving. Or maybe he was crazy. Zoe couldn't figure it out. After all, it's not like she was still mad at him. They had just agreed to disagree and abandoned the subject all together. It was... one of those things they just didn't talk about. They had a lot of those things, it turned out. But since they were both so in love with each other, neither of them wanted to talk about the elephant in the room and ruin their relationship.

Teddy and Zoe only separated when the speakers above them instructed the passengers to begin boarding the plane. Zoe excitedly gasped and jumped from her seat, grabbing her luggage and Teddy's hand to make him hurry. She was so excited to go home and see her friends and return to her very normal, very average, very domestic life in Ohio. It was going to be better this time, she could feel it. All of her dreams were finally coming to fruition, if only for a month.