Day Eight

It was all a blur.

"Zoe."  Mark shook my shoulders, his facial features wobbling in my vision.  "Look at me."

I had no recollection of moving from the bleachers, nor did I remember a time my heart beat at a normal rate as I curled my fingers around the metal fence bordering the lacrosse field, unable to tear my eyes away from the gurney supporting him.

Zak.  He was my one and only thought; the blue galaxies of his irises concealed by eyelids when they should have been trained on his lacrosse game.  The corners of his lips, known for hinting at genuine smiles couldn't have been slacker, and even his disobedient locks of dark hair were plastered to his forehead, limp as the rest of his body.

A wall of marijuana blasted through my senses as Mark enveloped me in his arms.  I allowed the fence to slip through my fingers as I brought them to press into Mark's shoulders. 

"Zak."  My voice crackled, muffled against Mark's collarbone.

"He's okay."

The slam of the ambulance door was a deafening clap of thunder.  In a matter of seconds, it was gone.

Zak was gone.

"He's going to the hospital."  I muttered, each word trembling in my breath.  "The ch-chemistry test.  If Zak isn't okay-"

"Zoe, relax. He's okay. He's-shit-I'm not sober enough for this."  

Zak's name rang in my ears from the mouths of my peers, some of them fiddling with their cell phones-probably documenting the incident on social media-while others remained silent on the bleachers.

Hunter's dark curls bounced as he leaped over to us. Although his exterior appeared foggy and disfigured through the clouds in my eyes, his voice broke through the mesh of the crowd clear as glass.

"Hey, guys." His teeth sparkled snow white against the sunset backdrop. "Gwyn needs you up there, man." He cocked his head in Gwyn's general direction. "She's gonna blow a fuse."

Mark dragged a hand over the side of his face. "Dude, I'm s-so s-stoned. I can't."

Hunter's russet eyes drifted from Mark's to meet mine. He pressed his palms together in a pleading gesture and exhaled a cloud of white into the frigid air.

I pursed my lips at them.  My mind whirred with images of Zak's injured body laying on the gurney, how still it had been. I could only be in one place at a time, and the only place I desired to be was beside Zak; not with Mark's stoned alter-ego, or among Gwyn's posse of adoring followers. I had to make sure he was okay. The chemistry test came before all else.

"I'm going to the hospital to see Zak." I asserted with determination, willing my teeth not to chatter from the nip in the air.

"I'll come."  Mark blurted.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Mark."

"She's right."  Hunter added, clapping a hand on Mark's shoulder.  "Come on, buddy.  I'll take you and your girl home."

"Nah, man.  D'n worry 'bout it."  His words blended together as if he had a jawbreaker between his cheeks.  "I'm goin' wit' Zoe."

"No, you're not."  A voice boomed behind us.  Damon's forearm brushed past my shoulder as he weaved his way into our circle, towering over everyone.  "I'm going with Zoe."  His black eyes sparkled onyx against the sunset, a malicious grin occupying his lips. 

"Huh?" I flinched away from him, my fingers grasping around the metal fence behind me.

Damon grabbed and twirled a lock of my caramel hair around his sausage fingers. "Well, I'm part of the chemistry test, a'int I?"

I rolled my shoulder to ward him off. "It's okay, really.  I can go by myself."

"That's bull sh-"  Mark struggled to enunciate through his lisp.  "-shit."  He smacked his lips as if he had a bad taste in his mouth. "He's not going with you. Do you see this?"  He pointed to the spotless side of his neck.

Hunter grabbed Mark's arm and directed his pointer finger to the bruised side, where Mark had intended to point.  "Other side, man."  He whispered. 

"Oops."  Mark snorted in amusement and patted Hunter's shoulder. He turned back to Damon.  "You. You did this."

"About that,"  Damon's smile melted.  "I over-reacted. It was just a stupid camera. Shouldn't have freaked out like that," He paused. "I'm sorry."

Mark's eyes slit in disbelief and he puffed his lower lip, which immediately reminded me of Donald Trump. He nibbled at his lip piercing and glanced toward his feet before meeting Damon's eyes.

"A'ight." He bobbed his head.  "A'ight, man.  Whatever'm sorry, too."

"Chill?"  Damon's caterpillar eyebrows took his eyebrow piercing with them as they raised into his forehead. 

"Whatever."  Mark's gaze fell on his converse.

There was no way he would remember this tomorrow.

"Babe!"  Gwyn squealed, her stilettos clopping like hooves down the bleachers.  With a flick of the wrist, she flipped a curtain of platinum tresses away from her face and curled her fingers into Mark's chocolate hair.  "I've been calling you for, like,"  She unraveled one perfectly-manicured finger at a time, mouthing each number before continuing, "Like, seven minutes." 

Mark blinked at her, eyes apathetic and glazed over. "Oh."

Yup. He definitely wasn't going to remember this.

Gwyn's nostrils flared as she audibly inhaled a whiff from Mark's shoulder.  Her face twisted into a grimace as she recoiled back from him.  "Oh, my God. Why do you smell like marijuana?"

I snorted, immediately covering my laughter with my hand.  Gwyn thought 'marijuana' was pronounced like 'mar-i-ju-an-a'.

"Why is everyone laughing?"  Gwyn whined, placing her hands onto her hips.

Mark's smile resembled that of an amused sloth.  "You're funny."

She rolled her eyes and smiled before clearing her throat, "So, anyway, I want to go home.  Andrea's being a bitch again, so..." 

"Maybe you were being a bitch."  Damon muttered, receiving an incredulous look from the blonde. 

"Hey," I cleared my throat. "I'm heading out, too."

"And I'm coming." Damon's onyx orbs stabbed through mine.

"Yeah, me, too." Mark coughed.

"But, babe!" Gwyn protested, her voice an octave higher than normal.

Mark sighed and ran a sloppy hand down his face. "Fine. Come, too."

"Let's all go." Hunter proposed, flashing a smile my way. "I mean, what's the worst thing that could happen?"

--

6:02 p.m.

I've never doubted the power of Murphy's Law.  Naturally,  the worst thing that could possibly happen happened. 

They didn't let us in. 

"Listen, lady," Gwyn propped her elbows on the front desk, mirroring a flat-faced brunette nurse in a teal uniform, "You need to let us see him. That's my friend's boy toy in there, and he happens to be really, really hot-"

"Oh, my God, is that Ryan Gosling?" I blurted, grabbing her by the shoulder and nudging her away. 

"Where?"  She squealed, sprinting off.

"I'm sorry." I laughed awkwardly, meeting the glare of the nurse behind the desk. "My name is Zoe Scott. Would it be possible to visit Zakary Riley?"

She pursed her lips, clicking and typing aggressively into her computer, and turned back to me.

"A parent or guardian must be present and give personal consent to allow you into the patient's proximity."

My heart dropped into my stomach.  I suppressed a sigh and muttered a half heart-ed, "Okay, thank you." before pacing over to my expectant companions.

"What's up?" Hunter flashed his pearly-whites.

I forced a close-lipped smile. "We can't see him.  His family has to give us the a-okay first."

"The hell?" Damon grumbled, bumping the heel of his sneaker against the linoleum floor.  "What are we supposed to do?  Wait here all night?"

Mark's face disappeared into his lap. I plopped into the space between he and Hunter on the couch and gingerly rubbed my hand across Mark's back before sinking into the furniture myself. My inner optimist didn't want to say that this had been a total bust, but I couldn't ignore the disappointment flushing through my body.

Zakary Riley will make two weeks seem like an eternity in hell, Damon had said.

I locked eyes with the giant from the couch adjacent.  His expression was neutral, lips flat as a board and onyx eyes less stormy than usual, but there was something about the way he maintained visual contact that said he knew my pending question. 

Had it been some kind of prophecy?

Outside of our group of five, the rest of the waiting room was fairly still.  An old man wearing a flat cap had risen from his armchair to refill his Dixie cup and a blonde woman who seemed a bit confused loitered and paced about the floor, but other than that, it was quiet. 

Until, of course, Gwyn returned from her quest to find Ryan Gosling.

"I couldn't find Ryan."  She whined through puckered lips, strutting over to us.  "Screw it."

"Isn't that a movie?" Mark cocked his head at her.  She snorted a giggle and propped her elbows against the back of the couch behind Mark. 

"Well, then. We know what kind of movies Mark watches." Damon snickered, his lip curled into a devilish grin.

All of us but Mark chuckled at the comment.  He clearly was too stoned to pick up on nuances.

I thought I'd heard him mutter a "No way."  underneath his breath as he straightened up from the couch.

Directly in Mark's line of vision stood a broad shouldered man standing tall and self-assured with a head of salt-and-pepper hair and impeccable posture. Even from a moment's glance, it was obvious he was someone important. 

The man turned to look over his shoulder at our group.  His electric eyes seemed to twinkle as a surprised smile broke through his stubble.

"Mark Galassi?" 

All of us looked at Mark.  I couldn't see his face from my vantage point, but the excitement in his tone was undeniable.

"Mr. Riley?"  He replied.

Of course. The resemblance was uncanny.  How this man composed himself,  everything from his neatly-combed locks to his three-piece suit, and even the enchantment his eyes sparkled with screamed, I'm related to Zak!

"My, my."  Mr. Riley clasped a firm hand on Mark's shoulder.  "It has been quite an expanse of time since I conversed with you last."

"Yeah."  Mark chuckled in a stoner-like manner, nodding with emphasis.  "Did you miss me?"

Mr. Riley's smile broadened.  "Lively as always, aren't you?"  As soon as his grin had materialized, it faded and his tone was replaced with one much heavier.  "Alas, this occasion has little capacity for humor.  Zakary-"

"Is he okay?  We want to see him."  Mark interrupted, immediately retracing his phrasing.   "Uh, I meant to say, m-my friends and me-er, I-would like to see Zak.  If it's okay."

Mr. Riley paused to look Mark square in the face before nodding and continuing,  "I'll touch base with Zakary and inform you of his condition in a few minutes."

"Thank you."  I interjected, smiling wide. 

Mr. Riley's eyes diverted to meet mine, followed by a dip of his chin before he patted Mark's shoulder once again and returned to the front desk to be escorted to Zak's room.

"Shit."  Mark hissed, running a sloppy hand through his hair.  "I was stoned in front of Mr. Riley."

"Still are stoned, man."  Hunter clapped a hand onto Mark's shoulder, forcing him to plop onto the couch between he and I. 

"I don't think he knew."  I forced a smile Mark's way.  He scrunched his face. 

"Knew what?"  Gwyn interjected.  "Who was that guy?  He smelled like Saks Fifth Avenue."

"That was his dad, right?"  Damon squinted, looking around at the group expectantly. 

"He smelled important."  Gwyn added, applying a fresh coat of coral Mac lip gloss before smacking her lips together.  "I would know, I have a good sniffer."  She tapped her nose with her acrylic.

The image of Zak's body whooshed through my head like a race car and my heart plunked miserably into my stomach. I needed to see him.  I wanted him to blink at me with those striking eyes of his and give me a non-acting smile; a smile that would tell me everything was going to be all right.

Would it be? 

Mr. Riley had returned to the waiting room lightning fast, interrupting my oncoming anxiety attack.  His eyes, identical to Zak's, flickered over our group and demanded everyone's attention before he'd even opened his mouth. 

"He asked to see you." 

Eight eyes razor-focused onto me.  I looked between everybody and finally up at Mr. Riley, who wasn't looking at me, but at Mark, instead.

"Mark."  He cleared his throat.  "Will you visit with Zakary?"

Mark cocked his head over at me, eyebrows plunged down his forehead and lips warped in utter disbelief. 

Gobsmacked, he turned toward Mr. Riley and stuttered, "Uh...yeah.  Sure."  He hesitated before lifting himself off of the couch and joining Mr. Riley out of the waiting room.

Zak wanted to see Mark?  Why him?  They hadn't been friends for years-it was my idea in the first place to come see him-Mark had just tagged along.  Why did he want to see Mark, of all people?

"Zo,"  Hunter stole my attention with his russet eyes, "Are you okay?"

Was I jealous?

"Yeah."  I shook my head and smiled, a contradiction reflecting my mental state.  "I'm good."

"You don't look good."  Damon grumbled. The corner of his mouth upturned almost as if he could read my mind.  It was as if any time I struggled with an internal conflict, he picked up on it somehow.

I drew in a breath to respond just as Gwyn put in, "He's right.  It's your cheeks,"   She clopped over to me, makeup brush and kit in hand as if she'd been preparing for this moment. "I only have five blushes on me on right now, but don't you worry, I think my Lancôme would go amazing with your skin tone."

"Gwyn-hey-really, I'm fine."  I smiled, deflecting her attempt to swipe the blush across my cheek.  "Thank you so much, though, that's really sweet."

She straightened up, splitting her lips into a bitter smile, and huffed a high-pitched sigh.  "Okay, girly, but if you change your mind, you know where to find me."  She dropped the products into her purse and delicately placed herself next to Hunter.  

"So,"  Damon mused, looking over at me.  "You must feel really bad that Zak wanted to see Mark and not you, huh?" 

"Dude."  Hunter interrupted.  "Come on."

Damon wasn't worth it.  I wasn't going to let him get inside of my head.  It was just what he wanted to do, what he usually aimed to do, and I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of influencing my emotions.

"Actually," Came the familiar, silky voice I'd grown accustomed to.  "Zoe's exactly who I asked for."

--

A/N:  Hey guys!

I'm so sorry for these late updates, life has been exceptionally busy but I managed to crank out these couple chapters to hopefully make up for it. 

Hope you're all doing well <3.

Don't forget to vote and comment!

Love ya,

Ari xx