Dinner is extravagant, too much in my opinion but still less for those sitting around this table. I crave for a cigarette. The fake smile I have plastered on my face makes me feel pathetic. The suit I am wearing feels too tight even though it's tailor made for me. I don't want this.

“So let's get to the important part shall we, Mr Francis. The reason we are here.” Mrs.Simpson says with a radiant smile. This gets my attention, I have a feeling this is nothing good. My heart beats faster.

“Ah… yes. Shall we tell them?” My father says with an equally irritating smile.

I look at the four people sitting around the table and notice that it's not just me who is confused. The Simpson's daughter, sitting across from me looks the same. Whereas her parents and my father share a knowing look. It slowly sinks in for me. The girl still looks confused.

“We were thinking son,” my father turns to me with a smile which nobody would guess is fake “You and this beautiful young lady here, Ashlyn, could get together. You both aren't in a relationship and as parents we wanted to see you falling in love, we thought this would be perfect.”

Ashlyn's eyes go wide. My heart sinks. I have a good idea of why this is happening. I want to punch this man in the face. He is using me as a publicity stunt.

“Exactly, Both of you would look very good together,” Mr.Simpson says with a nod in our direction.

I scoff at her. “This is nothing more than a publicity stunt for your upcoming movie. To get people's attention towards the movie.”

At Least Mr and Mrs Simpson has the decency to look away from me. My father on the other hand looks coldly at me.

“I admit that it would do great for the movie but just look at you two, it's a great match. You both are hardworking and very intelligent,” Mrs. Simpson says. She smiles politely at me. Can these people get any more piteous?

I can feel my stomach churning in repugnance. They are treating their daughter and me like something to be used and never thought of twice.

“It's not that bad. We can break up after the movie is released right?” Ashlyn asks, looking at me as she says that. She is attracted to me. Ashlyn is beautiful, but I can't let myself be used. I don't want her. Everett's face flashes in my mind for a split second. It surprises me, but I put my focus where it needs to be right now.

I shake my head. “I am sorry, but no. I have no intention of being the attraction of the camera. If you haven't noticed I haven't been public for a while. I have no public social accounts or make any appearances in anything having to do my Father's work. Not since high school.”

“But this is a great opportunity for you.” Mrs Simpson says. She sounds irritated.

“No. I don't want to date like this. I am sorry Ashlyn, but I am not comfortable with this situation.” Not wanting to hear any of them utter more selfishness, I leave the house. But when I go out I remember that I can't get a cab from here. This is, after all, the colony for the rich. Everyone has a car. Or more.

I start walking to where I don't know. When I reach nowhere I take out a cigarette and lean back on the wall along the street. My eyes burn but I hold back the tears. I remove the jacket and drop it on the ground, unbutton the first two buttons of my shirt. Closing my eyes, I inhale the cigarette. My head blanks out. I want to crawl out of my skin and never see this place or them ever again.

I stare at the ceiling. There are lots of productive things I could be doing in this time, instead here I am, laying on my bed thinking about Zachary. Yesterday he took that phone call, then came back and told us that he won't be coming to work today. Also, he was eerily silent the whole drive back.

My phone rings and I pick up.

“Everett?” I immediately recognize the voice.

“Vio?”

“Yeah. I just wanted to ask if you have seen Zach today?”

“No, he took a day off of work today. He got a call yesterday, and then he said he is taking the day off.”

“Fuck. The only reason he would take a day off after a call is his dad. Oh, god. That's why he didn't text or call me back,” her voice goes frantic as she talks.

“Okay. By your tone I am guessing that isn't good. You calm down and I will deal with this. I am going to call your brother right now. But are you sure about him?”

“Zach never leaves me hanging, he always calls to tell me that he will be busy if he couldn't reply to my text, he worries about me.”

I give Vio an okay, then cut the call to dial Zachary. I have no idea if he'll pick up or not. But I do have a better chance than Violet since Zachary wouldn't want her to know about this.

He picks up after almost twenty seconds.

“Zachary?” I ask.

“Yeah. Why are you calling?” His voice sounds gruff.

“Where are you right now?”

He doesn't reply for a while. I open my mouth to ask again when I hear a sigh.

“I don't know. Just somewhere near my dad's house,” he says.

“It's late. Why aren't you in the house?”

“I couldn't sit there another minute,” The reply comes.

“Where are you going to stay the night?” I ask.

“Here? I don't know.”

Is he serious? Is he just going to spend the whole night in the middle of nowhere on some street? I can feel my anger rising, and I don't know why.

“Just tell me where your house is. I am coming to pick you up,” I am already changing my clothes as I say it.

“What? No. I can just walk a bit more and then get a cab.” he says.

“Shut up and just tell me where you are.” I snap. He doesn't say anything for a while, and I am getting angrier by the minute.

“The Upper West Side, you can find my house at the far end, I took a right from there then a right again and just walked straight for a while.” His voice is low when he speaks.

I find his dad's house pretty easily, him being popular and all. Then I follow the directions that Zachary gave me and after fifteen minutes I find him leaning back on a wall. He is wearing a suit except that his jacket is on the ground. I get out of the car. I see two cigarettes on the ground and one in his mouth. His top buttons are undone and his white shirt sticks to him slightly because of sweat.

I take the cigarette from his mouth, drop it and stomp on it.

“Get in the car.” I walk over to the driver's seat knowing that he will get in. He does. I start the car. Zachary doesn't say anything except look out the window.

“Zachary?”

He doesn't look at me. “What?”

“Why were you outside? Why didn't you call someone?”

“I didn't want to spend my night there. The only person I could call was Vio or someone from the theater and I didn't want to disturb anyone.” He sounds tired and frustrated. Still his expression gives away nothing. And I can't help but stare at him.

I want to rip off those layers that he has and finally see the vulnerable and unguarded him that I have only seen a few glimpses of and can't get out of my mind. It's obvious that I want to know him. I want to know this man that has made me feel so much without me even realizing it.

“You're like a fucking coconut,” I grunt out.

He snaps his head to me at that. “What?”

“A coconut. It has lots of hard layers around it, you have to rip it off, and then you have to break it to actually see inside. You are just like that, except you don't let anyone rip anything.”

He stares at me for a while. His shoulders tense, his lips clam into a thin line. He is closing off on me. My grip on the steering wheel tightens.

When we reach the dorms I get out and go towards his door. He comes out, then looks at me.

“I am going to drop you to your room, you are high on cigarettes. I don't trust you to make it,” I tell him adamantly.

“I don't let people in my room. Also, I am not that high,” he replies.

“I don't care. You're going to let me in.”

He looks like he wants to argue but then sighs. I let him lead us to his room, and he opens the door. His room is a contradiction, just like him. His table is a mess, his bed is made and clean, half of his floor is dirty while the other half is completely tidy. But the annoying part, he has nothing in the room that gives it away that it's his. Pierce and I have a messy room, but we have posters, pictures and other stuff that makes it ours, whereas Zachary has nothing on his walls.

“Vio was worried about you,” I tell him as I lean back on the door after closing it behind us.

“Do you want water?” he ignores me as he turns his back to me, facing the bottles he has kept on the side of his desk. I clench my fists. Forcing myself to calm down as I exhale.

I walk towards him and wrap my arm around his waist. He goes completely still, I pull him to me, his back against my chest and drop my head on his right shoulder. He doesn't pull away, but he doesn't relax either.

“Stop blocking me away. Tell me what happened, Zachary.” I almost plead.

“No. Don't try to get into my private life.”

“I don't want to get into your private life. I just don't want you to hide who you are. At least not from me.”

“I have been doing it all my life. I can manage.”

I pull him tighter. “I know you're strong and that you can deal, but I still want to be by you because somehow it hurts me to see you when you close up and then put on a smile.”

He doesn't say anything for a while. Then he leans back on me, letting me hold a little of his weight. Letting me hold him. Relaxing in my arm. My heart squeezes so hard that it hurts.

“My father called me yesterday to tell me to come home to meet someone. What he didn't tell me was that he wanted to use me as a publicity stunt to get more attention to his new movie. I refused.” He speaks so slowly that if I wasn't this close to him, I wouldn't have heard anything.

My breath comes out sharp. His father wanted to use him. I want to punch something. Preferably his father.

“No.” I say before I think it.

“My parents have always been like that. Just don't let Vio know.”

I wrap my other hand around him too. He leans back a bit more and sighs. I take in his scent. “I want you.”

His hand grips my arm that is around his waist. “No. You hate me, remember.”

I nuzzle my nose to the side of his neck. “No doubt. But the guy I thought was a selfish prick is not the real Zachary. The real one is the most selfless person I have met, and I can't get him out of my mind.”

“Stop it Everett. If it's sex we can have it right now but if you want to date then we both know how that ends with me.” He says that like a warning. Letting me know that dating him is a waste of time. I hate that he is making him less than he is.

I lick the side of his neck. His grip on my arm tightens. “Yeah. Sex. I want it. But only after I get you to admit that you want me too.”

I pull back, turning him to face me. Then I lean in, our lips almost brushing each other, I exhale letting my warm breath fall on his lips. His eyes close instinctively. I grin at this but pull back, making his eyes open.

“See, you want me,” I smirk at his stunned expression.

“You asshole,” he grins.

“So are you,” I tell him as I leave his room already planning how to get him to admit that he wants me too.

_________________________________________

Hey guys!

I just wanted to say this early update is because of all ur support and I wanted all my readers to know that I appreciate u all.

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Love ya all! 🐁