Rematch

CHAPTER 11

The next day, I heard about what happened to Zoey's files that she worked so hard to collect. I didn't get to talk to her at all yesterday since she was never at one place for too long. She was really determined to complete the task single-handedly. If I were in her shoes, I would have protested from the start. Two thousand photos in two weeks was no joke. And now, she's back to scratch? I kind of wanted to hunt down that asshole who destroyed her drives.

I rushed to her room to comfort her, setting aside my issues because she didn't need the extra baggage. But I wanted to come clean.

"Zoey," I said and she looked at me with her eyebrows drawn together. I laughed. We were so used to calling each other 'dude', it sounded awkward to call her by her real name now.

"What's up?" she asked tentatively.

"Remember the time you called to tell me that Jarlin had been scouted for the National Team?" I began after releasing a heavy breath.

She cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah? What about it?"

"I got injured after that call," I revealed while I played with her stuffed toy that had one of the silliest names, 'Creamy'.

She turned her chair so that she was facing me while I focused on pulling at Creamy's ear. "Yeah, so you told me," she said.

"About that, I hadn't been very honest. I didn't really dislocate my knee," I mumbled. But I still told her everything about the unfortunate circumstance I had to endure. And she just listened. I saw the hurt that my keeping secrets from her caused. But it was gone soon. And then there was forgiveness. I felt that when she sat beside me, rested her head on my shoulder and patted my knee.

"Well, I'm glad you're back in the team," was all she had to say to absolve me of my shortcomings as her best friend.

I decided not to ask her about Jarlin anymore. It was already unnecessary. I could just ask him myself once he replied to my message.

Yes, after mustering a lot of courage, I sent him a private message last night saying I was ready and we could talk over the weekend. I wanted to have closure before the Sports Fest began because I was afraid that if I didn't, it would mess up my focus again.

Well anyways, it appeared that Zoey didn't need much cheering up. She's practically glowing and buzzing with good vibes. Either she already figured out how to work around on what to present at the Sports Fest or she finally sorted out her feelings between Geo and Matt. Either way, I was happy for her.

As for Zach. He let me have a taste of my own medicine. I didn't know if it was payback but he was obviously avoiding me. That made me swear I'd never hide from my friends again. Ever. It was unfair to the one who's doing the chasing. And it was exhausting. I guess I learned my lesson the hard way.

I had to practically connive with Matt so I could ambush Zach in the men's shower room to get him to listen to me.

"What the-" he scrambled to grab a towel within his reach because he was buck naked. "What the hell are you doing here?!" he hissed when he saw me at the lockers and Matt was laughing before he left us.

For the record, I didn't see anything. But I didn't expect that they walked around the shower room in their birthday suits! Didn't they see each other's-nevermind.

I cleared my throat. "I just want to say I'm sorry."

"For what?" he barked from behind the locker door where he was probably getting dressed. "Seeing me naked?"

"Wha-I didn't see anything!" I protested before I cleared my throat again. "Uhm...I just wanted to apologize for what I said to you. I was out of line. You're right, I created the gap between us. And I was just wondering if we could bridge it again."

He closed his assigned locker cabinet with a thud and looked at me, deep in thought. "Just a question though..."

"Hm?"

"Did you feel anything when we...when we accidentally kissed at the pool?" he asked and I could have sworn I saw him blush.

I looked up the ceiling and barely recalled the scene. My memory was fuzzy. It was hard to tell if I felt anything at all. My whole face was numb from getting drunk. "No. Why?"

He sighed and mildly shook his head. "Nothing. Do you wanna eat? I'm starving."

For a moment I got lost in the conversation. There I was apologizing to him and he seemed like he didn't care at all. But maybe that's how friends make up. "Yeah, sure."

"Good. You're paying this time." He threw his arm over my shoulder while I groaned.

That day, Zach Anderson earned his title as my best friend. He had actually been one for a long time now, even before Zoey. I was just stubborn with my silly ideals from childhood that if there was a guy whom I would allow to be close to me, he should have beat me first at least in basketball. He did, way back in third grade. He, however, didn't get lucky moving forward. So I guess my treating him to an expensive meal was necessary to celebrate our best friendship.

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Posted on 4 April 2015 Saturday