andante ❈ benjamin pavard

FIFTEEN

          The sweet reunion that Zoe had expected was not happening. Well, the reunion was sweet for all of two seconds. Then, Mathieu saw Ben behind Zoe and all hell broke loose. Mathieu was the most dramatic person in the world.

"She was with you this entire time?" Mathieu all but screamed.

"What are you talking about?" Zoe asked, stepping inside his apartment. Sarah at least looked apologetic for Mathieu's strange outburst. Zoe was right about one thing, at least. From what Zoe had seen in her thirty seconds of being inside, the apartment was beautiful.

"I'm not talking to you," he said to Zoe. He then turned to Ben. "You."

Ben held his hands up in mock surrender, "Look, can we talk about this later. Zoe wanted to see you. So we're here."

Zoe looked between Ben and Mathieu who were having an intense staring match. She didn't want them arguing. She didn't even know what they were arguing about. Maybe they should leave. She didn't want to put Mathieu in a bad mood for Sarah's sake. She knew what Mathieu was like when he was mad; he was practically mad at her for her entire childhood.

"Zoe, what were you thinking running off like that? Everyone's been worried sick."

Zoe furrowed her eyebrows before speaking. "What are you—"

"Look, it's been a long day, okay? And I don't think she appreciates you yelling at her like this. Maybe we should come back later when you've calmed down," Ben said, stepping closer to Zoe. Mathieu looked confused and angry. Genuinely upset. He looked between the pair, and Zoe could've sworn she saw smoke billowing from his ears.

"Well, we can just let Zoe speak for herself, can't we?" Mathieu asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Maybe Ben's right," Sarah said, trying to placate the situation. She stood behind Mathieu and draped her hands on his shoulders. "Let's talk about this tomorrow."

Zoe watched as Mathieu opened his mouth to say something, but clamped it shut. His nose was scrunched in disgust and his eyes were narrowed in disbelief. He shook his head at Ben but didn't say anything. There was so much hostility in the room, Zoe felt like she was going to choke on it. She took Ben by the wrist and directed them towards the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?" Zoe said, leaving virtually no room for argument. Mathieu turned his head away as if he couldn't bear to see the sight of Zoe and Ben leaving his apartment later. Zoe thought that her brother was being just a tad dramatic, but there was a nervous edge to Ben that made Zoe believe that her brother may have been onto something.

"Tomorrow," Mathieu confirmed, turning around. It was like he didn't want to even look at her. Zoe recoiled from Mathieu's tone and Sarah tossed her an apologetic look. Sarah had nothing to be sorry about; Mathieu was just being typical angry Mathieu. Zoe shook her head and offered Sarah a tight-lipped smile.

Hand in hand, they both exited the glamorous apartment. Ben breathed, what Zoe believed, was a sigh of relief and ran his hands through his dark curls. Zoe's lips curled into a grimace, and the wheels in her mind began to turn. What was a boy like Ben so nervous about? Zoe took her hands from his and held them awkwardly in front of her.

"Where to now?" Ben asked, glancing down at Zoe. She refused to look at him and instead looked at the elevator doors they were walking towards.

"I just wanna go to bed," Zoe said, crossing her arms over her chest. She suddenly felt self-conscious in her low cut sundress, the hem fluttering around her thighs. Ben threw an arm around her and tugged her into his chest, and she had to hide her smile. He really knew how to get under her skin, and she hated being so predictable.

"I'm sorry about Mathieu, I don't know what happened," Ben told her, stroking her hair. With a sigh, Zoe relaxed into his touch. In her opinion, that was where she could be her most vulnerable. In her opinion, his arms were the safest place in the world.

"It's okay," Zoe said into his expensive shirt. She wrapped her arms around his waist. "It's not your fault."

He placed a barely-there kiss on the top of Zoe's forehead, and she wasn't sure if she imagined it or not.

"It's not your fault either, so don't punish yourself." He removed himself from Zoe's grasp, and grasped her chin, forcing her to look deeply into his eyes. They were the darkest brown and covered by the longest eyelashes. She was unashamedly jealous of them; how they made Ben look so innocent. "So, what do you say? Let's get you accustomed to American food. On me."

Zoe regrettably smiled, proving herself to always be weak for him. He was her Achilles heel, her blindspot. He had a un-expiring get-out-of-jail-free card with her signature written all over it. 

"It's always on you." She rolled her eyes playfully.

"That's the joke." He grinned back. The elevator dinged, signaling it had arrived at their floor. "So, I know a place that's like, ten minutes from here. I can have Victor take us."

Zoe weighed her options. She was so tired of everything. She just wanted to go to sleep and maybe dream of a world where she and Ben weren't so damn complicated. Where they could wholeheartedly, unapologetically be together without sneaking around. Were they even sneaking around? Were they even together? Ben definitely looked at her like they were, but his actions contradicted that. Ben acted like she was his dirty little secret, but also like she was the only girl in his life. It gave her whiplash.

She could also stop overthinking everything. It was a bad habit of her's-- maybe Ben didn't have an ulterior motive and he didn't mean to be so cryptic. Maybe that's just how Ben was, and if that was true, Zoe would just have to respect it. She took a deep breath, and stepped into the elevator with Ben by her side, as he should be.

"Only if we share a milkshake like those cheesy movies," Zoe found herself saying.

Ben rolled his eyes. "Of course. An integral part of American media; you're on a roll Dupont."

The elevator doors closed behind them and Zoe nudged him in his ribcage, a wry smile present.

"Learned from the best, Pavard."

***

thoughts? comment + vote <3

srry i haven't been updating again. senior year has been rly busy lmao. anyway we're getting to the juicy part aka the first chapter i ever wrote and the entire reason i wrote this story. for this ONE wild scene haha. cannot wait for u guys to read it.