ZACK’S POV
After a very long time of the day, a smile bloomed on my face and that too by giving me strength and a positive vibe. Love was never my cup of tea until Caroline came to my life and showed me all the qualities that I preferred in a girl and me being a man who had never fell in love, fell for her innocent mask face in a gist of time never even imagining that there was a terrific reality behind it. And the time and situation in which that cover was blown was so disastrous that I simply lost my faith in love.
All those love, compassion and respect I had for Caroline had vanished into thin air but I never realized that what really happened was that I had buried my feeling for her deep inside my heart itself. How could you stop loving someone so quickly when the old memories you had with them still does make you smile??? That’s not a simple task to accomplish.
Were those memories painful for me to remember? Absolutely yes. And was it necessary for me to go through all of that once again? I really didn’t know. In a second of time, all the positivity and smile I had on my face had disappeared as if it never happened. I sighed and slammed the album and closed my eyes to take a breath. Whatever was happening with me was not an easy thing for me to live through and I very well knew I needed help. My body shivered in anxiety and the first thing that came to my mind was to call Dash and Will.
I searched for my phone in my jacket and when I got it, my fingers didn’t move to dial their number. But what appalled me the most was in place of their number, I had subconsciously dialed Zoe’s like it was meant to be!!!
“Hey Zack, what happened? All good?” she picked up my call in a ring itself and I was numb.
Why did I call her?? What was I going to tell her?? I brushed my hair with my hands in nervousness, not able to understand what I was doing and gulped down in worry.
“Zack, you there?” she asked me calmly without showing any aggression that normally people would show when the caller doesn’t speak after calling!!
“Yeah. I ahh….its just…” I stammered to tell her a valid reason and for no reason I was panicking. Wait, why was I panicking??
“Why are you panicking? Do you wanna talk?” she asked me and I was wonderstruck when she read my mind with just hearing my tone. Was she a telepathic or what??
I wanted to scream a yes to her because the way she understood my silence was giving me an epic feeling and I melted down when a strange faith that I was not alone hit me from nowhere.
“Okay, meet me in the treehouse” again she told me and I smiled in the silence. I was so touched by her maturity and understanding which I had not even seen in Dash or Will or Caroline or even my mother herself. Zoe was absolutely a one-piece girl and she was a life saver for me!!!
I dragged Caroline’s bags and luggage in a hurry and made my way straight to the tree house to meet Zoe. I reached there before her and waited for Zoe to come and when she did, she crawled to me, to sit next to me in the corner I had secluded myself in.
“What’s bothering you?” she looked at me with a concerned eyes and asked me.
“Are we doing the right thing by giving her a second chance after knowing her real face?” I asked her skeptically and wanted to know her opinion badly.
“She has just got to know the biggest shock of her life. Being pregnant at this age before she couldn’t even start her life is no lie” she scoffed and began to tell me her point of view.
“Zack, to be honest, I can’t judge her because of whatever she did. She was madly in love and was scared with the thought of losing her love and that’s what made her do all that. And I also would never take her actions lightly because many lives were destroyed” she said to me in a bland tone which confused me. Was she supporting her or wad talking against her???
“I didn’t understand a single word you just said Zoe. Mind to use a language that my fucked-up brains can understand” I asked her to simplify her words and she smiled widely. Girl, it was no joke I was telling. It’s too deep for my brain to grasp!!!
“What I mean is that Caroline has 2 faces. One is her really innocent and compassionate one which shower love on the ones she loves and would do anything for them. The other one her bitch face which won’t leave the one’s she feels choose someone else over her. Best examples are Jake and you" she told me thing in a much clearer way and I think I began to get what she was pointing at.
“I know that. But what about the present situation?? What should we do now? I know we forgave her for everything and she is repented on all the shits she did but….” I started lament what we did in the hospital room and Zoe still had a smile on her face.
“To be honest, I also don’t know what’s the reality. If it was today morning, I would have definitely advised you to stay away from her as far as you can, but now, on one side she needs you the most but the other side, you can’t emotionally accept her back nor can me or Mike. The damage she done to us is inevitable and there’s no chance we can forget that in our life” she told me what’s was in her mind and I knew how to complete her.
“But the life growing in her womb has nothing to do with its mother’s past and if she really changes for good with this, we shall give her a chance for the sake of our baby" I finally regained my smile getting to understand and analyze the situation clearly and we both chuckled it out.
“You know what. I might be cursed in the moment with all the disasters and troubles come finding me alone. But I must say, I’m damn blessed to have got buddies like you, Mike, Dash and Will pull me back from all the shits” I admired her presence in my life and she smirked at me.
“I let my weird light shine bright so that other weirdoes know where to find me" she raised her brows and grinned cutely and I couldn’t help but laugh at it. This was a very heartwarming moment for me and never have I once experienced such a different vibe with anyone else as I got from Zoe. This girl was my first girl- friend and if all girls who died on me in the old high-school had given me this vibe, they would have become my best friend. Wait, why am I going back to the past when I can give Zoe that place in my heart.
“You indeed are a best friend of mine like Dash and Will" I shared with her my feelings and she again rolled her eyes cutely.
“What bout Mike?” she quickly poked me with Mike’s name and I chuckled on how she trapped me there.
“He too" I sighed with a smile and she high fived me.
“Show this attitude to your life and Caroline as both needs it. If you are able to keep both in their places, peace would prevail easily in your life" Zoe gave me another advice and that was a good one.
I knew it would be a herculean task for me to accept Caroline back into my life even if I accepted her and our child’s responsibility and this was the best way to try to start afresh. I had to talk to Caroline about how I was going to take our new pace of life and she had to take that with me, if we were to be together!!
“Can I ask you something? When depression hits our head, why do we feel that the whole world is against us?” this question could only be answered by her who had lived her part of the depression shit of her life and she suddenly got into her deep talker face.
“That’s quite a normal thing to feel. No one in the world can ever understand what we are going through other than the ones who had lived it. We just loose our everything in a day and whole life feels a waste of time. And that’s what’s life is all about, living through its shits to show the world we don’t give a damn" she confidently answered my question and I was surprised by how casually she told that.
“If everyone can get this energy after their pace, I’m willing to live through it a million times" I complimented Zoe for her carefree attitude towards life that had lots of maturity to it and that was a sign of how she grew up and I hell wanted to have that feel. I didn’t want to give a damn anymore!!!
“Just take life as it is and you’ll gradually stop caring about everything” She winked at me evilly and I breathed out all the confusions inside me. I was feeling relaxed and positive just being with her and also found an inner strength in me to deal with the pregnancy matter.
“Get back home now. They might be waiting for you" she bid me a bye and slowly climbed down the tree and walked back home while I sat there in solitude for some more time as I had no faith on how much time would the current positivity and peace in me would last.
And as expected, when I got back home, my life was ready with another of its shits but this one, I never thought this would be one of it…...