wes and his disappearing act he’d played throughout their teen years was something she’d grown used to, but it never hurt any less when he’d poof. the last time he disappeared though, tore zoey to shreds knowing that they left things without the air between them cleared. from the beginning, she’d sworn to herself that she wasn’t going to attach herself to somebody who could potentially be dangerous, but against her own judgement she ended up with strings. he’d left her just not, if not more, confused than he found her, coming to terms with her fascination a little too late for her to proclaim this newly acknowledged feeling. it’d taken her months, maybe even years, to get over wes and the nothing ( if that’s what people wanted to say it was ) that they were and finally get back into the swing of her life even though it was never the same. clearly it wasn’t the same otherwise she wouldn’t be standing in a mysterious building with men who look like they could crush her by just looking in her direction, ditching the concept of school just to get a look at him one more time. corners of her lips turned up into a widespread smile as her ears filled with the sound of his laugh, even if it was at her expense in a way, but the smile faded just as fast as it appeared with his words. eyebrows knitting together yet again as he shrugged off the topic at hand, literally. “there wasn’t much left to say?” she repeated, searching for something to hear something other than her thoughts, “i’m just saying.. a goodbye would’ve been nice” it was foolish, really. thinking that he would’ve given her some other response to begin with, zoey had known him long enough to pick up on the fact it just wasn’t who he was, but it didn’t hurt any less. one thing that didn’t go unnoticed was the way his persona changed a bit once he’d discovered she’d ditched the one thing in the way of them pursuing something years ago. “yeah, yeah, finally coming to my senses is exactly what happened” she couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the teasing nature just as playful — even all this time later he still seemed to have a distaste for the relationship that’d now been the topic of their discussion. the girl’s eyes were glued, no matter how badly she wanted to look somewhere else, she couldn’t tear her eyes off of him and every movement that he’d made, “i, uh— think i can recall that boyfriends don’t seem to be your biggest fan” softly spoken, but she’d finally managed to spew out some kind of response but his piercing gaze began leaving her feel flustered like she’d became sixteen again.
there weren’t many people in his life that he deemed important — in fact, wes could probably count the number of people he cared about on one hand ( not even a full five fingers ). he didn’t let anybody inside, the definition of a closed book, never the kind to actively pursue relationships, whether they be platonic or romantic. when he met zoey, it was a complete shock to his system. he hadn’t meant to get involved with someone like her. she was the innocent girl, the town’s pride and joy, and he was coming in with a vengeance to destroy anything within his plane of view. on paper, they weren’t supposed to click, though he soon learned the preconceived notions he had towards her couldn’t have been more inaccurate. their relationship was tricky back then, too many obstacles standing in their way. he’d come to terms with the fact that they would always be a what if. however, he also knew she’d hold a special place in his heart no matter where they went. and now she was standing right in front of him like they were in high school again, except they were both grown up — slightly different from who they used to be. funny how everything seemed to come full circle. “not into goodbyes,” he was quick to respond, as if it were the most obvious statement in the world. “but if you wanted one so bad, you could’ve called instead of waiting how many years?” his tone was still teasing, eyes squinting as he pretended to do the math in his head, amused because there was no need to drag the conversation out this long. their tumultuous past was already water under the bridge, so why bring it up all of a sudden? “what, did you realize he was a boring piece of shit?” wes really couldn’t help himself, taking any opportunity to express his distaste for the male who ruined his chances with the first good thing that ever happened to him — not that he was bitter, just shocked the brunette couldn’t see how wrong they were for each other. “ah, you remember.” he began, the smirk on his face only spreading wider, maybe a little proud of the chaos he’d caused before one of the guys passed by, eyebrows arched in a suggestive manner. “this your girl, hayes?” the voice disrupted his original train of thought, followed by a roll of hazel eyes. impeccable timing. “nah,” his gaze fell to the girl in question, lingering on her a bit until he was shaking the idea. “just an.. old friend.” he confirmed as the other scurried away with a shrug, refusing to let the topic become an issue, he decided to take matters into his own hands. “how’s school? still getting straight A’s i assume.”
