Saving The Bad Boy

•8• ZOEY

Zoey

"Did mom leave you guys any money?" Toby questioned as he came downstairs with his keys. 

It was nearing 5pm and Toby was insisting that we needed to go get groceries because he was 'so hungry and all of the food in this house sucks.'  I'd been trying to convince him otherwise, but so far it was a fail. 

The restricted caller, whoever they might be, said to stay inside, and I was determined to do exactly that.  I didn't want any of us in danger if I could help it. 

"Nope," I lied straight through my teeth.  "She didn't.  She said if we wanted to stay on our own then we'd be paying for ourselves also." 

"Quit messing with him Zoey," Macy laughed as she started towards the stairs.  "It's upstairs, I'll go grab it." 

I let out a loud huff as I stared at the ground, knowing Toby was probably questioning my sanity.  To him it probably looked like I was lying about senseless things that were really worth lying over, which was embarrassing. 

"Okay, whats gotten in to you?"  He challenged as he pulled himself up and onto the counter.  "Why are you acting so weird?  Is there any reason you don't want us going to the store?"

I scoffed, trying to hide my obvious lies.  If there was anything you should know about me, it's that I'm a terrible liar.  Like, pathetically terrible.  Getting away with lying just wasn't something I could pull off. 

"I'm not acting weird, I'm just tired and I don't feel good, so I don't want to go."  I lied again, staring at the ground in the process. 

"Cut the bullshit, what's up?" He pressed on. 

We were then interrupted by Macy coming back downstairs with a wad of cash, waving it in the air.  "I got it."

I let out a groan, knowing I was defeated.  They were going to go regardless and I definitely wasn't about to stay here alone, so that meant I was going as well. 

"Okay," Toby hopped off the counter as he snatched the cash from Macy.  "Let's go." 

And with that, they both went out the door, leaving me dumbfounded.  I rolled my eyes before crossing my arms over my chest and marching out the door, closing it behind me. 

The entire 10 minute drive to the store I felt paranoid that someone might be following us, but whenever I looked back, there was no one. 

When we got to the store, we all wanted different snacks and considering those two were the most impatient people ever, they decided we had to split up to get it done faster. 

I currently walked alone to the ice cream isle, picking out a tub of chocolate peanut butter, and setting my eyes on a box of chocolate drumsticks that were out of my reach.  After multiple attempts of trying to reach the box, I swung my arms back down and sighed out of frustration. 

"Great." I whispered under my breath, not thinking anyone was around to hear me. 

"Need a hand?" A voice with a thick accent offered from behind me, making me jump.  "Sorry I didn't mean to startle you." 

I spun around on my heels to meet the face of a very attractive guy that looked oddly familiar.  His eyes were a deep shade of brown that matched his tanned skin and his dark hair was neatly groomed back. And that accent...

Well hello. I thought to myself.

This guy was gorgeous.

"Uh, sure?" I accepted his offer, but sounded more like I was asking a question.

He simply laughed as he opened the freezer and grabbed the box I had previously been reaching for. When he handed the box to me, our hands briefly but awkwardly touched, sending chills up my arm.

"Thanks." I let out an awkward laugh, not sure what to do now.

Was I supposed to just walk away now, or was I supposed to make conversation?

"What's your name?" He politely asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Zoey," I blushed. "And you are?"

His lips pulled up into a smirk as he let out a soft chuckle. "Zoey... I like that name."

Was he flirting with me or? Because whatever he was doing was making my stomach twist in a pleasant manner and my cheeks blush. I even... smiled? Gross. 

"Thank you." I accepted his compliment with a oddly girly giggle.

"I'll see you around." He smirked before walking away, not even giving me a chance to process anything.

What even? Was I just flirted with? By a guy that attractive? This felt like a dream.

I stood there in my same spot with ice cream and drumsticks in my hand, dumbfounded. Who knew that something good would actually come of me going to the grocery store?

"What are you doing?" Macy's voice interrupted me from the other end of the aisle. "We're ready to go."

I snapped myself out of whatever trance I was in and turned towards her, smiling like an idiot. Boy was she in for a story when we go back.

Running over to her, grinning ear to ear, I grabbed her arm and pulled her to the checkout where we found Toby.

"I have a story for when we get home." I whispered to her in a sing-song voice, quiet enough that Toby couldn't hear.

The drive home wasn't as nerve wracking as the drive there, as my mind was somewhere else the whole time. Call me a weirdo, but I was thinking of that guy the whole time.

The second we got home I pulled Macy up to my room and whipped out The Notebook. This called for some serious action.

"There was a guy at the store and he helped me get something off the top shelf and he was so hot and he had a Hispanic accent and I am in love and he said he liked my name and oh my god!" I squealed as I squeezed her arm out of excitement.

"Okay slow down," Macy laughed. "You're going to rip my arm off. Now who was this guy?"

Feeling bad, I let go of her arm and awkwardly patted the spot I had been squeezing, as though that'd make it better. Then I came to realization; the guy never told me his name. He just walked off. Now what was I supposed to do, I couldn't even look him up and stalk him on social media. Great. What a climax killer.

"I didn't get his name." I grumbled in disappointment. "Now what?"

Macy grinned as she opened the notebook to the nearest blank page.

"We document, duh."  She laughed. 

I drew a shitty picture of the guy in pencil and labeled it "Mystery Man." 

We were both enjoying ourselves and had our minds totally off of the crazy events that had taken place the past few days until we heard a strange ruckus outside, silencing us both.

~~~~~
AUTHORS NOTE
Heyyyy, thank you all so much for reading, and don't forget to vote/comment(;

So thoughts??

What'd you think of 'mystery man?'

Apparently I'm a lot more into this story than I thought, so you can expect more frequent updates for sure😂 anyways, I hope you're all having a great day❤️