𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲

𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐎𝐍𝐄

Adrian Newman

I dropped off Hope at her house earlier and Sophia's hanging out with Leah. It's so quiet here in my apartment. There's a knock at the door. I just dropped Sophia off thirty minutes ago so it can't be her. Besides, I have something to do later today with Hope, and Sophia isn't supposed to be home until seven in the afternoon. It must be Hope. I rush to the door and open it revealing... Zoey?

"Hi," she says softly.

"What are you doing here?" I ask. I'm surprised I'm not angry that Zoey's standing right in front of me.

"I came for a business trip and I knew Leah lived her so I went to visit her," Zoey explains. "I asked her if she knew anything about you and well, she gave me your address." Leah gave Zoey my address. Great. I can't exactly blame her, Leah knows about what happened between me and Brenda but nothing about my story with Zoey. "Can we talk? I promise it won't take long."

I stay silent for a few moments before stepping aside to let her in. She walks inside and I close the door. "You can sit," I say. She nods as she sits on the couch, I pull a chair out to sit across from her. "Go ahead."

Zoey sighs before saying, "I know it's been years but I wanted to apologize for what happened between us." Okay, this isn't horrible. "I loved you like a brother, Adrian. Many people told me that I was gonna end up married to you or whatever and I wanted to be that way." I'm kind of confused but I don't say anything and let her continue. "I thought that maybe I'd fall in love with you once we started dating... but I didn't. It wasn't your fault or mine. There was nothing wrong with you but I grew up seeing you like a brother and honestly it's not even that, it's just I was never into guys. I hated it because I knew my family wasn't gonna accept me, that's why I gave it a try with you and I felt terrible because you never deserved that."

Wow, that's a lot to take in but, now it makes sense. That's why she seemed so disgusted when we had our first kiss, I just thought I was a bad kisser. How did I never notice? "Zoey, I'm over everything that happened," and it's true. I'm not mad at her anymore. I understand why she did what she did. Her family is a strict Christian family. They would've hated her. "Did you end up finding the right person?" I ask.

She nods and smiles. "I think so, we just started dating but I'd say she's the one. What about you? Have you found the right person?"

"Yes," I reply. "She's amazing, and I love her. A lot."

"I'm happy for you Adrian," Zoey says. "And I'm glad we cleared everything-" A knock interrupts her. I stand up and open the door. Hope pecks my lips and walks inside, she stops walking when she sees Zoey. Hope turns to look at me. Zoey stands up and looks at me as well.

"Zoey, this is who I was talking to you about," I say.

"Hi, I'm Zoey," Zoey stretches out her hand for Hope to shake. Hope shakes Zoey's hand, but she looks confused and somewhat uncomfortable. I can tell by the way she's staring at me. "It was nice seeing you Adrian, and seeing your girlfriend too but I have to go now. Bye." Zoey walks out and shuts the door.

"Is that the Zoey you told me about?" Hope asks. "Your first love?" I nod my head. She turns her eyes away from mine and says. "I talked to my dad." She walked in so happy and now she looks sad and I know it's because of Zoey.

"Hope," I cup her face with my hands to make her look up at me. "Zoey was here because she wanted to apologize for what happened years ago. We cleared things up. There's nothing there for her anymore. There's nothing there for anyone who isn't you." I kiss her softly for more reassurance. We pull away from the kiss and she smiles at me. Have I ever mentioned how pretty her smile is?

"Sometimes I feel like you're too good for me," Hope says. I chuckle and shake my head in disagreement.

"I think it's the other way around," I reply as I peck her lips. I'll never get tired of kissing her. I'd kiss her all the time if I could. "How'd it go with your dad?" I ask.

"It went really good," Hope says truthfully. "I got my answers. Some were hard to hear and to accept but I'm okay with most of it and luckily my dad's divorcing Ella." Thank God. That poor man. "He's also accepting of us now, but he said he'll kill you if you hurt me."

"That's the last thing I'd ever do," I kiss her head and then her lips. "Remember we have somewhere to be today," I remind her.

"Right, the surprise!" Hope exclaims excitedly. She's so cute when she's excited. I should surprise her more often. I'm not one hundred percent sure if she's going to like my surprise though. I have my fingers crossed hoping for the best.

"Let's go, our appointment is in a few minutes," I open the door for her and I start leading her towards the place where I'm taking her. It's not too far from the apartments I live in. I know she isn't going to like my surprise when she first sees it but I'm hoping she'll like it once we're done.

This isn't much of an appointment but my friend let me borrow his house for something. I'm trying to convince myself that everything will go according to plan and that Hope will give it a chance.