Never Say Goodbye

Chapter 8

         

"Zach? Are you even listening to me?" Chloe's irritating voice broke into his reverie

"Not really" he responded, "I didn't think I had to, I thought you just talked for the sake of it." He added

"Huh?! What the hell?! Fuck you Zach, fuck you! We are over!" She almost yelled it and most of those in the school cafeteria, that lunchtime, tried to overhear what was happening, Zach shrugged

"Okay, see you around." He said taking another bite of his sandwich, the relief he felt was extreme, the girl had been so damn demanding and time consuming, he hardly noticed the huffy way she stomped away from his table, he certainly didn't notice the looks he got from everyone else; the guys suddenly wanted to be as cool and nonchalant as him and the girls all wanted to prove that they could hold his attention better than Chloe had. Zach the playboy was born that day and he didn't notice that either.

"How do you stay so cool?" Mike asked, sitting down opposite him

"Huh?"

"In the face of a girl's fury, how do you stay cool?"

"Have you met Ness?" Zach gave Mike a look that could freeze someone at fifty paces "If you can face her down in a fury, or even hold her back from a fight, you can stay cool with any girl, because their 'fury' is laughable in comparison to hers." He nodded to Mike and stood, "see ya" he said, not in the mood to talk to the guy, he went looking for Ness, he knew where she would be, she still sat on the grass under a tree, like she had since 10th grade.

"Hey Zach, I just saw Chloe storm past, what happened?" she asked,

"Hey; she dumped me, thank fuck." He shrugged as he replied, "she never stopped talking, and if she did it was only to ask me why I hadn't answered or agreed with whatever the fuck she had just said, like how was I going to do that if I wasn't listening?"

"You are such a douche!" Ness punched his arm lightly, "You are supposed to at least half listen so you can respond with a grunt at the correct time" she grinned and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Yeah, but if I did that, she wouldn't have dumped me, and I would still be stuck half-listening" he grinned in response "at least I gave her the satisfaction of dumping me."

The next day he had another girl, hanging on his arm and the next week it was another, Ness laughed at his new Playboy persona but secretly she was jealous of every one of them. Zach turned on the charms and gazed into their eyes as if they were the only girl in the World, and she wished he would look at her like that.

Ness caught him in the parking lot on Wednesday afternoon, without a girl for a change,

"Are you going to Scott's party, Friday night?" She asked

"Sure am, guessing from the question that you'll be there"

"Yeah, it's just down the road from me so no big deal"

"I'll be driving there, gotta pick up Heather first." Zach grimaced, she was as clingy as all the others had been and he was bored.

"You sure you'll still be with Heather by Friday?" Ness joked, Zach just laughed.

It was still early when Ness arrived at Scott's house, but the party was already in full swing, she had spotted Zach's car as she walked along the sidewalk, so she knew he had already arrived. She grabbed a can of soda and cracked it open, while wandering through looking for a quiet place to sit and watch the shenanigans of her year group. Zach was easy to spot, making out with Heather in a corner of the living room, a can of beer in one hand which he drank from at regular intervals, Ness watched everyone through the evening, but her eyes naturally drifted back to Zach every few minutes, she watched him ask Heather to get him another beer, the girl was besotted and happily trotted off, to do his bidding. Zach grimaced, finished his current can and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth as if he was trying to wipe a bad taste away. Heather returned with two cans, she had thought she could get to stay close to him if she got two at once, since he would only send her to get the second one later; Zach had other plans, he had clearly had a lot to drink and Ness watched as he downed half a can in one go and lost all his filters, she was close enough to hear Zach's voice, particularly as he suffered from the classic drunk volume problem, she didn't hear what Heather said to set him off but she heard his reply clearly