The Hardest Fall

Hesitating only for a moment, I reached up and closed my hand over her shoulder, gently sliding it down her arm and back up again. “Zoe, wake up.” She didn’t, not even a stir. “Zoe?” I let go of her shoulder and, as gently as possible, brushed her hair back over her shoulder to see her full face. She looked so peaceful.

Her phone, which was lying face down on the coffee table, pinged with a new text. It wasn’t my best moment, but I flipped it over and checked who it was from. I couldn’t see the contents of the message, but I saw the sender’s name on the screen: Mark Wilson.

My hands formed into fists all on their own. It could’ve been anything. He was a family friend, after all. He wasn’t there; Ms. Hilda had been wrong. She was wrong. Zoe was living in his apartment. It was nothing.

Turning the phone face down, I reached out for Zoe again. “Zoe, you need to wake up.” Her eyes fluttered but didn’t open fully. She released a small moan and wiggled her hips to settle deeper into the cushions. I brushed the short strands of hair away from her forehead, my fingertips lingering. That did the trick, and her eyes slowly opened.

A small frown filled her face, and she seemed confused to find me next to her.

“Baby, you should go to bed,” I whispered.

“Dylan?” Her voice was still groggy with sleep. She rubbed at her eyes and looked around the dark apartment. “What time is it?”

She covered a big yawn with the back of her hand.

“Close to three.”

“Oh.”

“You want me to help you to your room?”

A quick look, there and gone.

“Oh, no. I’m fine, but thank you.”

I rose and she pushed herself up to a sitting position. She still seemed confused.

Pushing my hands into my pockets, I asked, “Are you okay?”

Covering another yawn, she looked up at me. “Yeah, I must’ve fallen asleep after I got back from the bar.”

I nodded. “Well, I’m gonna head to my room.” I was only at the mouth of the hallway when she called my name.

“Dylan?”

When I turned around, she was up on her feet, her laptop now closed and clutched against her chest.

“Are you going to bed?”

“Yeah, I’m wiped.”

“Oh. Okay. Good night then.”

“Is everything all right?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Zoe, what’s wrong?”

I watched her fingers curl around her computer, her grip tight. “Nothing. Nothing is wrong. Everything’s fine. I just… If you weren’t sleepy, I thought maybe we could watch something together? But you’re wiped, so it’s okay. You did say you were gonna get in late, so I shouldn’t have waited, but just in case you’re hungry or anything, I got you a cheeseburger from In-N-Out. Jared and I went there after the bar so I thought I should bring you back something since you said cheeseburgers were your favorite. You got me pizza last time, so I thought you could—”

“Zoe, stop.” I walked back to her and stopped when the couch was the only thing standing between us. “You fell asleep waiting for me?”

“I…” She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “I thought maybe you wouldn’t be able to sleep when you got back and we could spend some time together maybe—if you wanted to, that is…you know, because we didn’t see each other all that much these last few days with midterms and your games, and Jared thought I should maybe get—”

“So, it wasn’t you who wanted to buy me a cheeseburger, it was Jared. Remind me to thank him the next time I see him.” It wasn’t a question, but she took it as one and shook her head.

“Fine, I lied. I thought maybe you’d be hungry when you got back. I was trying to be a good friend.”

I tilted my head. “Were you watching a movie before you fell asleep?”

She looked away, a little too quickly. “No.”

That was a big fat yes if I ever heard one.

I took her in. Even if it was only because she was scared, if she wanted to spend time with me, how could I say no? It wasn’t like we spent much time together, and she’d brought me a cheeseburger—it would be a waste to not eat it.

“What are watching?”

The corners of her mouth slowly tilted up, and her smile got so big that she had to bite down on her lip to keep it contained. “You’re not sleepy? Tired?”

“I’m tired, but I’m good for another hour or so.”

“What do you wanna watch?” She bent down and put her laptop back on the coffee table.

I forced my eyes away from her ass as she tinkered with the thing. “I’ll let you choose.”

“How about…Speed? Or Eagle Eye?”

“Speed? What was that again?”

“Oh, it’s an old-ish movie with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. Eagle Eye has Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan.”