So Far Away

“Are you going to finally tell me what happened?” Zack asked after we were inside my apartment. Groaning, I flopped my body down onto the couch.

“Val showed up and they kissed. Then I bolted. Just when I thought it was safe to open up to him something like this happens.”

“Val showed up? That’s insane, she’s been completely MIA since the day she left Matt.” He crossed the room and picked up my legs so he could sit before letting them fall back down onto his lap.

“I know! She bursts in the door as soon as he opens it and practically pounces on him whining about how she’s missed him so much and leaving him was a mistake.”

“I guess the main thing I’m not understanding here is why it bothered you so much. Did something more than a friendship start forming in Hawaii?”

“Why do I feel like you already think you know the answer to that?”

“Well I have always thought it was inevitable that the two of you would end up together someday. I did hope that forcing the two of you together for a week would speed things along.”

“And look where that got us, thanks a lot Zee.” My phone started vibrating in my pocket and I fished it out so I could decline the incoming call from Matt. Talking to him right now was the last thing I wanted to do.

Seconds later, Zack’s phone starting ringing. When he didn’t pick up the call a text came through. “He wants to know if I’ve seen you.”

“Tell him no.”

The notification tone went off a second time. “He said there was a misunderstanding and he needs to see you to make sure you didn’t get the wrong idea.”

I scoffed and buried my face in the couch cushions. “I saw what happened, it was not a misunderstanding.”

I was fully prepared to ignore all of Matt’s attempts to reach me by phone when there was a knock on the door. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I groaned. Zack pushed my legs off of him and walked towards the door. “Don’t you dare let him in, Baker.”

“You can’t ignore him forever,” He said as he started unlocking the door.

I jumped up and ran into my bedroom, slamming the door behind me. Maybe I was being a bit childish but I really didn’t want talk to or see Matt.

I could hear muffled conversation coming from the living room followed by footsteps coming up to my door. It opened, revealing Zack.

“You really need to talk to him.”

“Not going to happen.”

“Fine, we’ll do this the hard way then.” He walked back into the hallway.

“Dude, what the fuck?” Matt called out as he stumbled into my room. The door slammed closed behind him and I could hear a loud scraping noise, like furniture being pushed across the floor.

I glared at Matt who held his hands up in defense. “Blame Zack, he’s the one that pushed me in here.”

“You’re bigger than him, you could have stopped him.”

I went to the door, trying to open in. It opened just slightly before hitting something solid. “I blocked the door with your table, you two are not coming out until you’ve talked.”

Fucking Zachary and his wonderful plans. He’s the reason I was in this mess to begin with. “I hate you, Zachary Baker.”

“I know you love me.”

“Yeah? Well I’m starting to seriously question that.”

“Whatever. You two have some shit to work out and I’m not letting you out until you hear him out.”

Giving up, I pulled the door closed again and flopped down onto my bed, pulling a pillow over my face. I felt the bed sink down beside me as Matt sat down. He tried to pull the pillow away from my face but I held on tightly.

“I was just as shocked to see Val on the other side of that door as you were. I had no idea. I didn’t even have time to react when she flung herself at me. I pushed her away and asked her to leave, but I guess you didn’t see that part.”

Sighing, I put the pillow to the side and sat up. “Maybe I overreacted a little,” I admitted.

“Wow. It was a lot easier to get that admission than I thought it would be.”

“Oh shut up!” I snapped and threw the pillow at him. He caught it, laughing.

“So about that date,” Matt said, those irresistible dimples of his appearing on his face.

“I don’t know, Matt. It seems like every time I start to give in something pulls me back. That has to be a sign that this shouldn’t happen.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it. There are no signs that this shouldn’t happen. There is only you fighting it as hard as you possibly can. Give in, give this a shot. I think we could be great together.”

“Okay, one date. Let’s just see how this goes before you get too far ahead of yourself.”

“Great, I’ll be back to pick you up at seven.” I watched as he crossed to the door and opened it as far as it could go. He reached out with one hand and shoved the table away from the door.

“You mean we weren’t really locked in here? Why didn’t you do that earlier?”

“Because then I wouldn’t have gotten you to listen to me and agree to the date. See you at seven.”

With that, he disappeared and I sank down onto the bed again, smiling. Maybe giving this a chance wasn’t such a bad thing.

Notes