Day Four

"Zoe, I'm so sorry."  Mark blurted as I approached him on my walk up to Theater.  Large, dark bags hung underneath his blood-shot brown eyes as if he hadn't gotten any sleep all night and his hair was left an unruly, shaggy mess atop his head. To say the least, he looked like a complete train-wreck.

"What happened to you?"  I furrowed my brow.  He smelled almost worse than he looked.  The unpleasant stench of tobacco infiltrated my nostrils and I had to suppress the urge to gag.

"Didn't sleep."  He responded shortly, grabbing my forearm and pulling me into the Lawn of Misplaced Flowers.  

"Zoe, listen,"  He gingerly took my hands into his.  "I shouldn't have acted how I did yesterday.  It was a complete dick move and I'm so sorry."

I smiled down at his hands. "It's okay, Mark." 

"You mean so much to me, you don't even know. I feel so bad when I take out my anger on you-"

"Mark."  I blinked up at him. "It's okay, really."

He pulled me into his chest, burrowing his face into my hair. "Thank you."  He gave me a crooked smile and slung an arm over my shoulder as we made our way up to the Theater building.  The stench of tobacco emanating from him burned my lungs, and after a couple minutes of mindless chatter I pulled him into one of the darker corners of the building to talk about what really happened.

"Can you be honest with me for a second?"  

He frowned.  "Sure."

"Did you have another relapse?"

He was quiet for a moment, eyes trained on a point in the distance before he nodded shamefully.

I didn't judge him, but that didn't mean it wasn't difficult for me to understand his drug habits. Mark's home situation couldn't have been more different from mine. His parents were recently divorced, forcing him into the full custody of his alcoholic piece of crap father, who was completely indifferent toward him and even more so toward his drug use.  It didn't help that he was an only child and his mother was even more off her rocker than his dad.  It made sense why he was so dependent upon me.

"The whole thing with Zak yesterday and detention and you not responding to my texts...I don't know."  He paused, eyes falling.  "I just didn't know what else to do.  And then my dad was being a complete asshole-"

"Am I interrupting something?"

I spun on my heels to lock eyes with the lively, bright pools of blue belonging to Zak.  He allowed them to linger on mine for a moment before hesitantly bringing them to Mark's.

"Hi, Zoe."  

"Hi, Zak."

"Bye, Zak."  Mark mimicked the two of us in a sickly-sweet fake chirp.

"I'll be there in a sec."  I promised. A half-smirk wormed its way through his lips before he headed over to his seat, a slight flush coming to my cheeks when he glanced back once more.

"You're blushing."  

I faced him and shook my head fast enough to make me dizzy.  "What?  No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Either way, it doesn't matter."  I shooed away the nonsense with a flick of my wrist and tried to refocus on my previous conversation with Mark.  "Are you okay now, though? Do you need anything?  I mean, you can always stay at my house-"

"No, no.  I'm fine.  Really."  He tried for an unconvincing close-lipped smile. 

"Okay."  I ignored the fact that he was lying and smiled at him instead.  "I'm here for you."

"I know."  He nodded.

"CHARADES!" Cried Mr. Gorveau, inappropriately energetic as I made my way over to the front row of seats.

Zak gave me a satisfied smirk over his shoulder as I plopped down next to him. The dramatic lighting from the stage lights above us cast shadows across his features, accentuating his chiseled collarbones and straight-edge jawline.

"Where's Mark?"  His eyes were glazed over with mild curiosity. 

I nodded in Mark's direction, toward the far left section of the building.  "He's sitting with Kyle."

"Oh."

I turned back to the teacher, who continued rambling, "Charades are the greatest thing since sliced bread.  Well, excluding myself, of course."  An egotistical smile split his lips. 

"Anyway, you're going to coagulate into groups of two-not three, okay?  Partners only, got it? I don't want those awkward groups of three."

Two different sets of eyes focused on me simultaneously, Mark's and Zak's.  Taking the chemistry test into consideration, I decided it would be best to team up with Zak.  I smiled at him and nodded.

Zak grazed the tip of his tongue over his lips and smiled back at me, his eyes weaving my attention onto him and his chiseled, prominent cheekbones and long, onyx eyelashes.  His front teeth found his bottom lip as his eyes bore into mine keenly, as if somehow he knew my thoughts were drifting to how comforting his warm breaths felt against my skin.  Maybe he was aware of the sense of mystery radiating off of him, the sense that he could pull secrets out of my soul and never stop to say 'sorry'. Maybe that's what Damon was trying to warn me about. 

"Zoe."  Mark's voice echoed from across the building. 

I whipped around at the mention of my name, locking eyes with Mark.

"Partners?" He asked, uncertainty flexing through his tone. 

I opened my mouth and drew in a breath, about to reply, just as another voice replaced mine. 

"We're partners."  Zak gave him an acting grin as he slung an arm over my shoulders.  I flinched at the sudden physical contact but quickly relaxed as his warmth gave me a sense of reassurance. 

"Mark-"  

"We're always partners!"  Mark yelled in aggravation, throwing his palms into the air as he started pacing toward Zak and I. 

"Get over it, Galassi."  Mr. Gorveau's voice rumbled from a few feet away, worming its way into the conversation. 

"Gorveau, you of all people should understand that Zoe and I-"

"Yes, yes, you and Ms. Scott are super duper best besties for lifesies!"  He pronounced in a sing song, cheerleader-like voice.  Looking up from his clipboard he rolled his eyes at all of us.  "It's good for Juliet And Romeo, Galassi.  Find someone else to partner up with."  He flicked his wrist at Mark dismissively as he scribbled something down onto the paper in his hands.

"Seriously?"  Mark barked at the teacher.

"Oh, I'm sorry.  I didn't realize I had a four year old in my class."

"I just turned five."

Gorveau continued to scribble onto his clipboard as he glanced around the building periodically, avoiding eye contact with Mark.  "This conversation is over.  Find another partner."

"Everyone else already has a partner."  He gestured around the room.

"Damon doesn't."  The teacher glanced toward the opposite, right side of the building where Damon stood awkwardly, fidgeting with his camera equipment in an attempt to look busy.  He glanced in our direction to find all of us staring at him.  He swallowed before uncomfortably pulling his broad shoulders back.

A moment of weighted silence passed before Mark erupted in laughter.  He doubled over and continued to laugh for a solid minute.  He wiped a tear of laughter from his chocolate eyes and stood up straight, his face completely free of amusement.

"You're shitting me."  He stated flatly, his eyes boring into the teacher's.  Gorveau frowned, crinkles in his forehead becoming more prominent as he shook his head. 

"Tough luck, man."  Zak's voice vibrated my skin.

Mark squinted his eyes hatefully at Zak as he proceeded to flip him off with both middle fingers, hastily heading in Damon's direction.

"Man, guy hates my guts." Zak muttered, his eyes following Mark, who'd now reached Damon and was in the middle of the most awkward conversation I'd ever seen.

I looked up at him from underneath his shoulder and apologized. "I'm sorry about that."

He looked down at me, a soft, wispy lock of dark hair falling across his forehead. He shrugged, shadows casting across his face. "He has reason to."

--

"You're a...you're a..." I tilted my head whilst snapping my fingers in confusion from the front row of the right section of the theater. Zak and I were into the third round of charades, he'd easily guessed my last turn and I'd gotten his first one, but this time around I really had no idea what he was portraying.

He brought his ankle up above his knee and tucked his hands into his arms, flapping them every now and then. I brought my fist under my chin in contemplation as I crossed my left leg over my right.

He made a few more flapping motions with his arms and gave me a look saying: Are you really not getting this?

"Uh..." I laughed, shrugging my shoulders. "I don't know."

He widened his eyes just before toppling to the ground and erupting in laughter. I sprung from my seat to stand over him and offer my hand, unable to control my giggling.

"Are you okay?" I asked in between laughs.

Zak brought his knees to his chest, his laughter seemingly endless. The fact that he found his own clumsiness as funny as he did made the entire collapse that much more hysterical. His eyes were squinted tightly, causing laughter lines to break through his face, lines I'd never seen before.

I knelt down next to him and his eyes blinked open at me, a crooked, almost embarrassed smile breaking through his lips.

"Silly goose."

"Close!" He yelled, pointing at me. "Flamingo."

"Oh," I brought my head back in realization. "A flamingo."

"Was it really that bad?" He laughed.

I giggled. "You're all right, though?"

He nodded and stood, grabbing my hand and pulling me up toward him, my feet completely leaving the ground as I sprung to my feet and landed just a couple inches from Zak's face.

His eyes flickered to mine as a cheeky smirk broke through his face. I felt my cheeks suddenly become increasingly warm as I allowed my eyes to drink in his.

The moment was over in a flash once a very loud, irritated remark from across the building shook the walls.

"THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE? YOU SUCK AT CHARADES!" Mark growled at Damon, the two of them gesticulating.

I glanced over at Mr. Gorveau, who sipped what looked like a chocolate banana smoothie as he took in the scene with the rest of us.

Lazy ass.

Damon stormed toward Mark, shoving his shoulders back against the far wall. "Oh, yeah?  You know what you suck?  You suck-"

"Dude, piss off!" Mark cut him off, writhing underneath Damon's hold.

"What's your problem with me, man?" Damon took his gigantic hands off of Mark, pulling his shoulders back slightly.

I furrowed my eyebrows and groaned, crossing my arms over my chest. "Mark, just stop." I mumbled.

Zak's eyes flickered over to me. He cleared his throat, "Tell me you're not going to get in the middle of that."

Shaking my head, I met his caution-filled eyes and shook my head before turning my head to look at Mark and Damon, who were both talking in quieter tones now. Mark gave Damon a defeated, yet aggravated look before snatching the charades paper between his fingers.

"He's been so..." I tried to think of the proper phrase. "Out of it lately."

Zak gave me a sympathetic look before taking a few steps closer to me. I looked up at him, turning my body in his direction.

"I want to help him." I muttered to Zak, who nodded. "I just don't know how."

Zak gave me a half smile as his eyes seemed to light up with an idea. "How about we take your mind off of this?"

"What do you have in mind?"

He latched his fingers around mine and we darted out of the building.