Maybe Yours

Chapter 9

Eva

James hadn't replied to my text and for some reason I felt hurt. But I couldn't blame him. I lied to him after all. How could I be upset when he didn’t respond after that?

I entered the apartment and dumped my books on the couch. I decided to go shopping. Zoe was coming home and besides I needed a bottle of wine.

I took my wallet from my closet, along with the keys.

Fortunately, the supermarket was just a few blocks away. I didn't need to buy a lot of stuff. Just the basics. So, it took lesser time than I thought it would.

I returned to find Zoe sprawled on the couch in the living room. When she saw me, she squealed out loud, and then she jumped up and ran to me. Hugging me tight, she kissed my cheek and I laughed.

I had missed her. She kissed my other cheek hard and began talking about how much fun she had with Dave and of course about how much she missed me.

We began putting away the stuff I had purchased. It was good to have her back. The apartment seemed dull without Zoe's constant chatter.

After that I called my parents. They lived in a family home far from school. My dad had improvised and renovated the entire house completely just a few months back. So now, it wasn’t in the condition that it previously was. I had missed them. I asked them how they were doing and promised to come and visit them as soon as I could. My mom inquired about my job.

I told her that I had taken a break. I worked as a teacher's assistant. It helped cover up the bills. After a few minutes of talking to them Zoe called out to me. Saying goodbye to my mom I went into the bedroom.

Zoe handed me a box. I looked at her curiously.

"What's this?", I asked.

"Just open it," she rolled her eyes.

I opened it and peeped inside.

I gasped. It was a beautiful necklace with a delicate E shaped pendant. It had an intricate design along the chain and it shone in the sunlight streaming through the window.

I looked at Zoe. She was smiling happily.

I went and hugged her tight. She laughed and said," Does that mean you like it?"

I frowned at her. " Are you kidding me? I love it Zoe. Thank you so much."

" It must have been expensive.", I whispered biting my lip.

Zoe hit the side of my head and I winced. "Oh, shut up Eva, it's both from me and Dave."

I glared at her and hugged her again kissing her cheek. She giggled.

We talked for a while about everything.

Zoe told me that Dave had bought her a dress for the family dinner she had to attend with him. Zoe was like a daughter to his parents already.

I smiled, happy for her.

Then I went into the kitchen and got out the wine bottle and two glasses.

I poured some for both of us.

I heard Zoe come up behind me and I handed her a glass.

We spent the rest of the evening watching reruns on television. At around 9 o'clock Zoe told me she was going to sleep. I could tell she was tired from her trip. She went into the bedroom while I stayed back on the couch.

Without the distraction, my thoughts turned back to James. Ugh. Why couldn’t I just forget about him? It wasn’t as though we were very good friends or anything. So why did it even matter to me? Maybe I was just overthinking everything and needed to chill out a bit. With the way James looked, he surely had to be very popular among the female population. And he probably knew it very well. No wonder he was so cocky when he spoke to me at the library today. It wasn’t like he was very arrogant though. Or was I just blinding myself to the truth because I was attracted to him?

Dear God. I was going to drive myself crazy by thinking so much about someone who probably didn’t give a crap about me in anyway. I stood up and stretched a little, shaking out a bit of tension that had already started to seep into my muscles. I went into the bedroom to check on Zoe. She was sprawled on the bed, face down on the mattress, one leg out of the covers, her right hand clutching her pillow tight as she slept with her mouth slightly open.

I smiled. She was adorable. Leaning down, I made sure the covers were over her so that she didn’t get cold during the late hours of the night. I straightened out some of the stuff on my bed, trying to make it neat and tidy once again. Taking my bag and some of the clothes strewn over my comforter, I put the clothes in the laundry hamper and placed my bag near the study table.

Taking care to be as silent as possible so that I didn’t wake Zoe, I tiptoed around the bedroom, picking up some of the stuff that Zoe had thrown around and then tidied out both our study tables. Zoe had a very sweet picture of her and Dave on her table and I stared at it for a moment, noticing the way Dave couldn’t keep his eyes off Zoe even while the picture was being taken.

Once again, I went back into the living room. I brought out my books while I made myself a cup of coffee. I began working on some papers I had to submit the next day.

I was engrossed in a particularly difficult one when the doorbell rang.

I frowned and looked at my phone. It was ten o’clock at night for crying out loud.

I walked over to the door and opened it cautiously. We had a baseball bat just behind the door in case of unwelcome visitors. I hoped this wasn't that case.

I froze when I saw who it was.

"James?"