The Middle | ✔️

Chapter 75 (Zach & Will)

Zach

3 hours earlier.

I'm standing in mine and John's kitchen, listening to him going on and on about how excited he is for the Halloween Dance tomorrow. Noah's here too. John has just informed us that he's abandoning our plan to dress up as spies (Will recently bailed too, he's taking some girl so he wants to coordinate his costume with her's or some shit) because he's decided to do a couples costume with Aubrey. They're going as Romeo and Juliet. Fucking lame.

"So, we were all supposed to be going as spies, and now it's just gonna be me and Noah. What the fuck am I supposed to do with the extra ear pieces and fake guns now?" I complain.

"They weren't exactly expensive, Zach." John replies.

"No, but the fucking tux's were!" I point out. John rolls his eyes at me.

"Will already gave you money for his wasted rental tux, and I'll give you the money for mine." John says.

"You better." I spit back at him.

I don't know why I'm so annoyed that he's going to the dance with Aubrey. I knew this type of shit was coming, I mean, they're practically an actual couple now. Besides the lack of sex, he's getting pretty much all of the other benefits. I guess I'm annoyed that John's situation with Aubrey seems to be progressing much better than my situation with Kim...

"Why don't you ask Kim to be your date to the dance?" Noah says, folding his arms across his chest and smirking at me. Asshole.

"Shut up. Have you asked Jamie?!" I fire back at him, effectively wiping the smug look off of his face.

"No. She's going stag with the guys, anyway. This isn't High School, we don't need dates to dances." Noah says bitterly. he totally wishes he was taking Jamie. Just like I wish I was taking Kim...

"Why haven't you asked Kim, anyway?" John asks.

I know he's purely asking out of interest, but I don't wanna talk about this. Because the truth is, I did ask Kim to be my date to the dance. And she said no. She said we don't need dates, it's a friendly thing, and she'll see me there. I wasn't too put out about it. But now that I know Aubrey agreed to be John's date, I don't know. It isn't sitting right with me. Why would Aubrey say yes to him, but Kim said no to me? I thought I was getting somewhere with her, finally. But she turned me down. I don't like it.

"Like Noah said, this isn't High School. We don't need dates." I reply, sounding like a total baby. Why the fuck is this bugging me so much? Kim's just another girl. I like her as a person or whatever now, sure. But... Whatever.

I mope over to the fridge to get myself a beer, and pull my phone out of my pocket, checking to see if she's replied to my last message. As expected, she hasn't. I read back our conversation log a little.

Me, 13:16pm: Hey pretty girl. How's school today?

Kim, 13:55pm: Hey smooth talker. Pretty boring. I'm going shopping with Jamie and Aubrey later though, that should be fun. What are you up to tonight?

Me, 14:26pm: Just hanging with John and Noah probably. You wanna go for a walk or something when you're finished shopping? :)

Kim, 15:44pm: I'm hanging with Aubrey in the dorm tonight. We have serious hair and make-up planning to do for the dance tomorrow. Maybe we could go for coffee in the morning or something if you want? :)

Me, 16:01pm: Sounds great. So I will be stuck with John tonight then. Did Aubrey tell you they're going to the dance together now?

I wonder why she hasn't replied to me yet. Maybe she's annoyed at Aubrey for agreeing to go to the dance as John's date. Fuck knows. This girl is totally fucking with my head now, though. If she were any other girl, I would have given up weeks ago. But there's just something about her. I can't seem to stay away from her. Which is extremely fucking frustrating.