Sixteen: MTOABB

MTOABB

"Thanks for coming. Hope you weren't too busy," Chloe says to Prinse as I sit quietly in the backseat.

"You know I don't mind." He smiles at her and rivets his focus back on the road.

Watching them two together, I would ship them ---

And no, don't you dare ship them two together, I won't forgive you.

He finally pulls up in front of an apartment where Brody is leaning against a vehicle waiting patiently with his gleaming bright smile.

He looks very much the same, but very grown and put together and what used to be his curly hair is now a buzz cut.

"Can you wait 5 minutes for Rossita -- she needs to be dropped off at the park?" Chloe asks.

"At this time?" Prinse questions.

"She's meeting up with Zack," Chloe says and he nods -- both acting as if I wasn't still seated in the backseat.

She leans in and kisses him on the cheek and climbs out of the car -- take note, I'm watching all of this happen from the backseat.

"You can climb off," Prinse says, staring at me in the rearview mirror.

Head clearly in headlights, I doze out of my gaze and jump out of the car.

I make a run towards Brody, embracing him in a friendly hug.

"What happened to that curly headed boy who waits tables at little Bailey?" I tease.

"He cut his hair and grew up, but hey, he still waits tables at Little Bailey." He scratches the back of his head before throwing me a wink.

"How've you been?" I ask.

"Good. I hear you have a boyfriend now." He gently pokes me with his elbow.

"Chloe has a big mouth, but yes I do - I'm all grown up now."

"I'm going to have to cut this short - your boyfriend is waiting for you," Chloe says, reminding me that I need to meet up with Zack.

I move in to hug Brody for the second time, before moving towards Gomes who is patiently sitting in the driver seat, busying away on his phone.

"Talking to Molly?" I ask, getting into the car.

"Sure," he says, dismissing the conversation at hand.

We drive a few seconds in silence before I break it. "So you and Chloe?" I ask.

"Do you really think this is the right time or place to have this conversation?" He asks, eyes very much still glued to the traffic lights ahead.

I shake my head and turn to look outside.

"Should I wait for you?" He asks, pulling in front of the park.

"No," I tell him, already jumping out.

Zack is already waiting for me, head hung low and feet kicking at the still wet green grass from this morning's rain.

"Hi." I walk up to him and nuzzle his hair.

"Hey." He throws me a half smile - very unlike Zack, but I don't question it.

We sit in silence for a few seconds, the windly slowly whistling music notes that only the sky would know of.

"Are you cold?" He asks and I nod, hugging myself for warmth.

"Here." He pulls off his hoodie and passes it to me to wear and I do so willingly.

We fall back into silence right after.

"You wanted to talk," I say, sitting on the swing next to his.

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

"What do you mean," I ask, confused.

"I'm not going to tell you I didn't mean to, because that's a bunch of bullshit people tend to feed each other, but this was not intentional."

"Did you do something, Zack?" I ask, already scared of the answer.

"I kissed somebody," he says, not baring to not look at me.

I stare at the sky, not sure of what to say to this new information.

What does one say to their boyfriend when he tells her he has cheated?

"Break my heart Rossita, take it and crush it in front of me - I deserve it, don't you think?" He whispers, sitting so close but somehow seeming so far away.

"I'm a neutral, you know - I just exist." I sniff, wiping my nose with his oversized hoodie that I happen to not want to give back to him anymore- let this be a memory of him that I can keep.

"I want you to give me a chance - another chance."

I shake my head, crying out in pure sadness - I'm no fool, I was waiting for this to happen - for him to find somebody else.

"If it means you want a break from us, I can give you a break- so long as you return back to me - to this." He gestures his hand between us.

"When did you kiss her?" I ask.

"It was that Friday afternoon and that's why I texted you immediately when I got home."

I internally swoon- knowing me, if I had been reading a book, I'd probably be on the other end of the page saying how I could care less if he cheated. The fact that he felt guilty enough to want to talk to me about it on the day that it happened would be enough for me to forgive him.

Look at his face - so full of regret. All I want to do right now is kiss those dusty pixies of sadness from his faces, but who will be kissing mine?

"I want to forgive you so badly that it hurts. Why does it hurt so much, Zack? You were supposed to be my type of a bad boy." Tears flowing down my now peachy cheeks, I realise there is no way of returning back to this - to us.

"Rose... I don't cheat--"

"What do you call this then, huh?" I ask anger surging to come out.

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

"I'm sorry too, but I'm mostly sorry for me. I'll get to miss you - having your face so close to mine. What will you be missing?"

"You're saying no to me all the time," he chuckles, but when he sees that I'm not joining in, he disguises it as a cough.

"Who is she?" I ask.

"An ex -- from a long time ago."

"Thought I was your first girlfriend?" I ask - what more secrets are hidden in Zack's kist.

"I never said that."

"So there were more girlfriends before me?" I ask.

Would I be jealous if there happens to have been more? It's very unlikely - being with Zack and liking him, I knew there were way more girls before me, but in the present time, he chose me.

"There was one - her," he says.

"What's her name?" I ask, ready to place the name to a girl that helped Zack cheat on me.

"Cassandra, but I promise, I'll keep my distance from her."

"So does that mean you have no control over yourself when it comes to her?" I ask.

"It's hard when it comes to her -- and I'm saying this only because she and I broke up under odd circumstances. Actually forget I said anything."

It took me a minute or maybe a long one to realise what Cassandra he was talking about - to me it could have been anyone, only because my head was so messed up right now.

"Cassandra Gomes?" I ask and he nods-- this hurts even more.