Zenon's Game Chapter 109

"You should speak to your school counselor. This kind of thing is more in their domain than ours," the officer said, standing up to show me out, "You seem like a nice girl, so I'll give you one more piece of advice. Follow in your dad's footsteps, and not your mum's."

Oof.

I'd follow his footsteps out the door.

My attempt at being responsible had backfired. I left the police station, knowing that my parents' history was imprinted on my name. I stared down at the crumpled letter in my hand:

YoU hAvE iGnOrEd My EvErY wArNiNg. NoW cOmE cOnSeQuEnCeS. tHe NeCkLaCe WaS jUsT tHe BeGiNnInG.

Someone was threatening me.

Someone cared enough about my relationships to try to break them. Who would do such a thing?

I knew it wasn't the last time my blackmailer would contact me. The first letter I ever got told me to stay away from the Albert brothers. That didn't happen.

That so did not happen.

I folded it back into my binder for safekeeping and I began the long walk home. I would've taken my car, but I technically don't it have right now. It's still parked outside Axel's home and I wasn't about to spend $30 on an uber ride to get me there.

Logistics in life: it's so underrated. I should've thought that through before I popped into Axel's home with flowers plucked from Zenon's backyard. Zenon had whisked me away on our date then and there.

Our date. The day he took me in his car and drove back to where it all began... The way he kissed me and melted every theoretical ice cube in North America.

Who would've thought such an obnoxious boy would ask me out? Who would've thought his ego had space for me?

We've had a roller coaster of a journey to get to this part.

I felt my pocket buzz and I checked my phone. Candy crush notification.

Let's be real, I secretly wanted a message from my real-life crush.

My mind drifted back to our date again. I couldn't stop replaying it in my mind, like a song you can't get out of your head. It went on repeat. His smooth-like-butter moves were a melody and his catchy one-liners were the chorus.

You may be the world's worst driver, but you know how to drive me crazy, he'd said.

He's the only guy I know who can give a compliment and insult at the same time. It's a skill. He cute... but it makes me crazy.

I remembered the beginning of our date, when we were standing in the pastures. My heart weighed heavy from the emotion while my hands weighed heavy on his body. I could almost hear the wind rustle the bare branches of the trees around us, though I felt warm. His arms were wrapped around my waist and my arms were on his chest, slowly feeling the muscles that covered his body...

I checked my phone again. Messages? Zero.

I only need one.

Call me optimistic, call me pathetic, but damn it Zenon, call me.

It was a long walk home, made even longer by the two coffee stops I had to make mid-way.

Totally necessary, I swear. The first place had a broken frothing machine. And what's a delicious double shot caramel cloud macchiato without the froth?

Nothing I tell you.

Nothing. *In Gollum's voice*

I turned the corner onto my street.

"There you are!" A girl with the most intricately braided bun and killer make-up stood on the pavement outside my house.

She had red sneakers, black pants and a purple set of headphones around her neck that matched her lipstick.

"Cynthia?" I said.

She was chewing bubble gum that she popped when she saw me. "GIRRRRRRRRL, you made me wait!"

Now I live on a very quiet street. It's the main rule of suburbia. Everyone has their issues that they keep nicely locked away behind a trimmed front lawn.

We may not have a trimmed lawn, but we have garden gnomes.

"You went on the most insane date and you never gave me an update?!" Cynthia loudly shouted, "I've been waiting years."

"It's been a day-"

"Years! And why won't you respond to my messages?"

I looked down at my zero-messages phone and that's when I suddenly realized, "Oh! I must have run out of data."

"Who doesn't have unlimited data in this decade?"

"Me, like I said. And now that we've covered I'm poor, is there anything else we should discuss?" I asked.

Cynthia blushed and her confidence eroded into a pile of guilt. "Sorry, I didn't mean to go there. I didn't realize you didn't have... maybe you could join my family plan?"

"Sure, I'm hoping to upgrade my family this Christmas," I joked, and then had to emphasize that it was a joke because her expression did not look amused, "Really, it's a joke."

She came a long way to talk about limited data plans.

"Hey, hey!" Cynthia yelled, realizing that I was distracting her, "Your date with the hottest guy in school is not in my imagination and I need to hear about it. Every single detail. Where you went, the weather, what he said, how he said what he said... You left me on a cliffhanger."

I didn't realize anyone was waiting on an update.

"Let's start with the weather," I said, surprised she'd even given me that easy out. I glanced nervously at the house across the street.

He lives there.

He's lived opposite me my whole life and only started to notice me last summer when we were camp counselors together. I wonder if he was inside now, ignoring me again.

Maybe he could hear us. At the volume Cynthia was speaking in, I'd be surprised if Canada hadn't heard her.