best friend | zdj

seven

"are you and zabdiel dating?"

i looked up from my lunch to find joel sitting down in front of lauren and i. "that's grammatically incorrect."

he furrowed his eyebrows. "what?"

i heard lauren snickering from beside me. "it's 'zabdiel and you' not 'you and zabdiel'."

he stared at me. "are you... are you serious?"

"didn't your english teacher taught you that?" i raised an eyebrow.

he closed his eyes and ran a hand over his face. "you're not going to avoid the question. are you dating zabdiel?"

i tapped my index finger against my chin, pretending to be thinking about it. "define dating?"

if he was losing his patience, he didn't show it. he remained emotionless as his eyes flickered between lauren, who was clearly holding her laughter in, and me.

"are you his girlfriend?"

"well... i wouldn't use the word girlfriend, you know? that's a strong word." i looked over to lauren and she nodded at my words.

he licked his lips and stood up, finally leaving us alone. i started giggling quietly.

"that was quite the show." christopher said as he sat on the chair joel just stood up from. "both this morning, and right now."

"what are you doing here, velez?" lauren asked with her eyebrows raised.

"i need to talk to annabelle." he said, as if it was obvious.

lauren glanced at me. "it's okay, laur." i smiled at christopher. "walk me to my next class?"

he nodded and waited for me as i said goodbye to lauren and threw my trash away.

"so you and de jesús, huh?"

i bit my lip. "we're not dating, if that's what you're implying."

"doubt it. you guys have been inseparable for years. he's a dumbass if he hasn't put a ring on it."

i laughed at the reference. "he's my best friend, i could never like him like that."

"ah," he nodded. "so you're the one that hasn't put a ring on it."

"stop it." i blushed. "he's like a brother to me, but i'm sure that's not what you wanted to talk to me about."

"right." he straightened up, remembering his original intentions. "two things, actually. first, you were freaking out yesterday when i showed you that email... are you okay?"

i felt my bottom lip trembling, last night's memories of zabdiel holding me while i cried until i finally fell asleep came back to slap me in the face, despite my attempts at trying to get through the day without thinking about it.

"i'm fine." i squeaked. i cleared my throat, "i'm fine." i said firmly.

he raised an eyebrow. "you were pretty upset over a single letter, anna."

i sighed. "yours is not the only love letter."

the look of surprise on his face faintly matched zabdiel's last night and lauren's this morning. i can't believe i kept it a secret for so many years and now three people knew about it in less than twenty four hours.

"it's a long story, okay? i'm gonna be late for class, we can talk later if you want." i offered him a slight smile and made my way to my next class without leaving him room to protest.