Heart Beat Song (A Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist Fanfiction)

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Wrecking Ball

I dropped Leif and his bike off at his place and then headed back to our apartment to stand outside and wait for Mo to get back. When he finally did, he was wearing a winter coat and had his hood pulled up.

"Hey, Mo." I greeted, standing up from where I was leaned against the wall by his door.

"Not you too, don't go messing with things that are none of your business." He said, walking towards his apartment door.

"I just want to talk." I said.

"And I don't want to talk because its none of your business, now leave me alone."

"Zoey told me what happened,"  He stopped in the middle of unlocking his front door, turning to face me.

"Stay out of it! And tell Zoey to stay out of it too!"

"Ok," I said, "If that's really what you want, we'll stay out of it, but I just want to remind you that you're the person walking everyone through their problems all the time, and you're very brutally honest." He sighed, turning to face me. "So I'm gonna be brutally honest now."

"Whatever, just hurry up, I need a glass of wine." I sighed.

"When Zoey told me that I sang 'I Hate You, I Love You' to Leif...I was furious at her. I was so angry that she would insinuate that I had any sort of feelings for Him-"

"Which you did." He pointed out.

"Exactly." He sighed, seeing what I was doing. "I was angry, and in denial because I didn't want to admit that to myself because I was scared. I was scared to feel the way that I felt, I was scared that if I let myself forgive him and be nice to him that I would fall for him and be crushed all over again. I was scared that history would repeat itself."

"What's your point?" He asked.

"My point is...I don't know what's going on with you, but Zoey and I...we just want to help. And I have a feeling the reason your so defensive about this and...the reason you feel the need to dress like a man at your church," He looked down, "Is because you've been burned before. If I've learned anything through my experience with Leif, its that you can't let the past dictate your future. The only thing it ends up doing is keeping you from moving on." He sighed. "I just wanted you to know that, and to know that Zoey and I are here for you, no judgement, just...support. Do with that what you will." He nodded, unlocking his apartment door and stepping in without another word. I sighed, turning and stepping into my own apartment.

Maybe it really is time for me to take my own advice.

Maybe its time for Leif and I to be together.

~~~Zoey~~~

"Hey Max," I asked, when Max came into work the next morning.

"Yeah?"

"Do you go to temple?"

"I have been, yeah." He answered.

" 'Cause you wanted to? 'Cause your family wanted you to?"

" 'Cause I got to second base at several bar mitzvahs." I shook my head, when I suddenly heard soft guitar music playing. I glanced over to see Leif and Mary once again at the bread bar. Leif was getting food and seemingly talking to her about something, and she was looking at him, but it didn't really seem like she was listening to what he was saying. The look on her face...I wasn't sure I'd ever seen it on her before.

"Wise men say, only fools rush in,"  I furrowed my eyebrows, "But I...can't...help falling in love...with...you." She spun around behind him so that her back was against the bar on his opposite side, and from the looks of things, he was still talking to her. "Shall I stay? Would it be a sin? If I...can't...help...falling in love...with...you. Like a river flows, surely to the sea,  Darling so it goes, some things are meant to be."

She began attempting to walk backwards in front of him, but her heel caught on the floor, and she fell backwards, only to have Leif throw a hand out and grab hers, his other hand gripping her forearm to keep her from doing so.

"Careful! Are you ok?" Leif asked. She nodded, standing up straight again.

"Take my hand," She sang, slowly releasing his hand, "Take my whole life too. For I...can't...help../falling in love...with...you."

I smiled at the sweetness of the whole situation, when all of a sudden an entirely new song started playing as Joan walked through the bench overhang seats from her office with a framed picture in her hand.

"We clawed, we chained our hearts in vain.  We jumped, never asking why. We kissed, I fell under your spell, a love no one could deny. Don't you ever say, I just walked away, I will always want you." She sat down in one of the green stationary chairs. 

"I thought you hated Charlie." I said.

"I can't live a lie, running for my life, I will always want you." She put the picture down, standing up and walking towards the swing chairs.

"You said you were doing well."

"I came in like a wrecking ball!"  She began yanking the swings out of her way on the drum beat as she walked between them, and I followed her. "I never hit so hard in love. All I wanted was to break your walls, All you ever did was, wre-e-eck me." She put her hand in the face of en employee with a question, walking up the stairs to two people by the bread bar who both had plates in their hands, engaged in conversation.

"I came in like a wrecking ball," She hit the plates out of their hands, "Yeah, I just closed my eyes and swung." She began picking up rolls and chucking them across the room. "Let me crash into a blaze and fall. All you ever did was wre-e-eck me." She picked up a baguette and broke it over her knee, throwing the pieces into the air before picking up a handful of napkins. "Yeah you, you wre-e-eck me." She threw them in the air and they fluttered to the ground like confetti. She sat down in front of the vegetable platter. "Yeah, you...you wre-e-eck me." The song ended and she laid her head down on the table.

~~~Mary~~~

Leif headed back to his desk, and I glanced over to see Joan with her head down on the vegetable table. I walked over just as Zoey sat down across from her, causing her to look up. She grabbed a vegetable off of the plate, taking a bite.

"Jicama?" She asked, holding it out to us.

"No thank you," Zoey said, "Are you sure everything's ok with you, 'cause I feel like maybe its not." I raised my eyebrows.

"Yes, oh my gosh, I mean, maybe going through a separation was not the best time to quit carbs but I'm not missing Charlie at all."

"Not even a little bit?" Zoey asked in a knowing way.

"Mm-mm."

" 'Cause, when you're with somebody for so long, its only natural-"

"You know, we should really switch this bread bar out to something else. A fruit bar, a nut bar, open bar." She laughed. "Gotta look into the legalities of that." She grabbed a napkin and some veggies, heading back to her office. I sat down across from Zoey.

"What was it?"

"Wrecking Ball." She answered.

"Ok, weird theory," I said, "Do you think perhaps she was singing that song...to carbs?" Zoey laughed.

"I don't know maybe." I chuckled, grabbing a carrot and taking a bite out of it. "But you know, you sang to me too."

"Great. This is always interesting, what was it this time?" I asked.

"Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis." My eyes widened. "Do you think...you're falling in love with Leif?" I sighed.

"I don't know what I'm doing if I'm being honest," I told her, "I'm just gonna...go with the flow, see what happens." She nodded. "Also, I talked to Mo."

"You did?" I nodded.

"He didn't have much to say but...I think I said everything I needed to say, and he'll come back around when he's ready." She nodded.

"Good. I knew you'd know what to say." I shrugged.