Can't Escape

Chapter 17

"Uh..." Is my stupid response, unable to form a sentence due to my whizzing thoughts.

I'm slightly baffled as to why he's even standing here, however an idiot wouldn't fail to recognise why. For some reason though, I'm not as frustrated as I would have thought to be if this were to happen any other day. That's probably because I'm glad to have guests over in this daunting house I live in.

Speaking of guests...who else is here?

"You mean, Salaam?" Zach laughs, stepping to the side and into the corridor with me, yet still keeping a good distance between us.

"Uh, yeah." I shake my head and sigh, taking a step back. "Waalaykum salaam, what are you doing here?"

At this, he bursts out laughing, his smile reaching the corners of his almost hazel coloured eyes. From where I'm standing I can make out the fact that his teeth aren't perfectly straight and that his nose holds a few freckles against them.

"Wow, straight to the point, eh?" Zach lets out a high-pitched laugh, catching me off guard and I raise my eyebrows. "I feel so welcome."

I can't help but chuckle slightly although I really should keep a straight face seeing as he wants to marry me. Yuck.

I open my mouth to speak but stop when someone in the room Zach just stepped out of lets out a hearty laugh, almost exaggerating how funny something was. I don't fail to recognise that the screechy laugh comes from Rimsha who is definitely behind this 'proposal'.

Trust her to add another problem to my never-ending list.

I hear Zach blow out a long whistle and I turn around to see his widened eyes, amused by the sound of her laugh. I purse my lips, nodding my head before adjusting my heavy bag pack on my shoulder, feeling slightly awkward standing with him.

I'm guessing he senses how I'm feeling seeing as he goes on to say, "...This is awkward."

My eyes snap to meet his and I reply with, "Wow, no beating around the bush, eh?"

He shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly before he chuckles. "I'm joking, I'm fine."

I give him another nod, casting my eyes down to my socks, letting out a yawn. Today has been tiring and all I want to do is to get into bed and sleep for three days, however I feel rude to just leave this guy standing here.

I feel Zach's eyes on me, making me lift my head and raise an eyebrow, questioning him without speaking. He sighs, lowering his head and kicking at his undone shoe lace. "I'm guessing you know why I'm here."

This time, I shrug nonchalantly, pretending not to seem bothered regarding his visit when in actual fact I know that this evening will make me lose the plot.

Literally.

"I'm also guessing that your mum threw this all at you?" He lowers his voice, almost seeming sorry for me to which I immediately straighten my back and face. He cannot be feeling sympathetic for me. "I'm guessing we're on the same boat."

Hold up, wait a second. Same boat? Doesn't that mean...

My eyes widen slightly and my jaw opens, shocked at his words. Furrowing my eyebrows in disbelief, I drop my arms to my sides as I step on the tips of my toes, beaming with joy.

I could literally scream right now!

"What?!" I ask, not bothering to hide the excitement behind my voice nor my bright facial expression. "You too?! Really?! Are you being serious?! Please tell me you are!"