Zenon's Game Chapter 221

I stared at the desert like it was one giant hourglass. I could see the group in front of me, taking in the instructor's speech. I guess I was just going to wing this.

Or ask Zenon.

I watched him half listen to the instructor, his arms crossed over his broad chest. The sun glinted off his skin and created small shadows under the curves of his muscles. That desert heat made him hot. Made us both hot.

He turned his head to look back at me and seemed surprised to catch me already staring at him. It was a cute look though, and his lips curled into an even cuter smile.

He turned his back to the instructor and walked towards me, bridging the empty space between me and everyone else.

Something about the desert and today being the last day of the year made this different. The space between us and the golden ground beneath us felt like he was crossing worlds. From his to mine.

I used to feel so incredibly lonely. Despite going to school every day and being surrounded by people, I felt like I was living in a desert. Which is ironic, since I am in an actual desert right now, feeling anything but alone.

It sounds crazy to say, but Zenon disrupted my lonely world without even realizing it. He saw me instead of seeing through me and that stunned me.

Zenon kissed me, taking me partly by surprise. His lips were smooth to touch and my eyes fluttered shut. The wind wrapped around us as the sun beat down overheard. The heat created such a dense air between us that his soft lips felt like water on my chapped ones.

He tilted his head to kiss me so that his red cap wouldn't get in the way.

I pressed my fingers against the tip of his cap to pull it up slightly so I could see his vibrant blue eyes even better. Strands of his black hair fell loosely over his forehead.

It felt unbelievable to stare at him and have the desert landscape behind us. One year ago, I would never have imagined the two of us to be here, like this.

"Smile!" Oma called out to us with camera raised to take pictures.

We broke apart from our kiss, but his arms stayed around me. While she snapped a photo, we could see the instructor standing irritated behind her.

Zenon said to me, "You not paying attention is cute until you crash into me on your quad bike."

His hand slipped into mine.

"You're not paying attention too," I argued, wrapping my fingers around his hand.

"I have a driver's license," he answered as we started to walk back towards the others.

"So do I!"

He scoffed at that.

~Zenon's POV~

I stared at her. Sunglasses on and her hands wrapped around the handlebars, Candace was the hottest girl.

She revved the engine. Her hair was in a ponytail and I liked being able to see her neck. I kept watching the end of her ponytail bounce against the cape of her smooth neck.

Bryce nudged me as he walked past, "You're getting too soft."

I turned to the boys on their quad bikes. They wanted to race and were busy calling out the stakes. Bryce tried to raise it to a level none of us were interested in.

"Zenon," Axel called me over, breaking away from Bryce and Oma.

I went to him, knowing I did not want to have this conversation.

Axel knows me so well I can't even look him in the eye without him guessing something's up. I stood opposite him, waiting to hear whatever he had to say.

"How you doing?" he asked.

"I've been better."

"She doesn't know?"

"No and it's going to stay that way."

Axel disagreed, "You should tell her man."

I walked away. I didn't want to talk about it. Why did this vacation have to f*ck with my relationships?

~Candace's POV~

I pressed my foot on the peddle and started to drive.

The sound of the quad bikes made it hard to have a sincere conversation. Axel was driving in circles in front of us. But I still tried to give it a go. I brought my bike to the same speed as Bryce's.

"Thank you!" I told him, while he was posing for a selfie over on his bike.

"No sweat," he answered, lowering his phone and driving with his left hand, "What for?"

"For bringing us all here."

"CANDACE!" Cynthia yelled from her bike.

We drove our bikes towards each other, and she was practically bouncing on hers.

"Can you believe we're doing this?" she exclaimed but was interrupted by the sound of her cell phone ringing, "Ugh! My mom has the worst timing."

"Answer it," I encouraged her, as we followed the instructor.

He was yelling at the boys who had started to drive out of control, out of bounds and out of the speed limit. Who knew there was a speed limit in the desert?

The instructor had made it very clear he wanted us to not reach maximum speed.

"We're quad biking, mom. Let's speak later!" Cynthia said.

"Be safe! I'll call you later. Love you!"

Cynthia's mom had bought her an international calling card to only be used for calling her and emergencies. If I even thought about making a call from my cell phone, I'd be broke. Besides, the chance of me missing a phone call from my mom was -0%.

"Girls! Are you really going to let the boys beat us?" Oma called out to us, pointing at the guys ahead of us, "We're letting them have all the fun!"

She revved her engine and drove faster to catch up to them. Cynthia and I followed suite. I pressed down on the pedal and lowered my head, to avoid wind and sand flying into my face.