Happy

[003]

"- and so she just texts me this morning and I don't know what to do." Alex finished with a massive sigh, running his hands through his wavy - almost curly - hair. He hadn't bothered to straighten his hair, thus the wavy/curly glory.

He took a gulp of the coffee he hadn't touched since he basically started his whole rant fest, finally glancing up to look at the person he was ranting to. She frowning slightly, blinking her eyes repeatedly while her mouth opened and closed a couple of times, as though she wanted to say something but was unsure of how to phrase said thought in her head.

"I, - uh," she started, shaking her head instead. "I don't know what to say." She admitted, taking a sip from her own cup of coffee.

Alex smiled half-heartedly. So maybe he wouldn't be able to get any advice, but it felt good to finally tell someone about the whole Lisa and Tay situation. Someone who didn't know shit about Lisa or Tay, anyway.

"The way I see it - you're kinda leading both of them on." She said finally, earning an offended look from the brown-haired man. He opened his mouth to protest but she held up a hand. "Let me talk before you defend yourself." She smiled.

Alex mock-zipped up his mouth, nodding for her to continue talking.

Zooey rolled her eyes but her lips curled up at the corners, just slightly. "As I was trying to say, to me, it's like you're leading them on, because from what you told me, you and Tay had a pretty fucking good time while on tour and you guys got on well. But with Lisa, even though she said that you could sleep around if you wanted to, she was probably hoping that you would say that you were willing to commit to her, and only her. I mean, maybe because you've only ever been with Lisa for the past how many years, you forget what girls are like. When they say something, they really mean something else. It's confusing, I know, because I get confused myself and we're of the same gender." She huffed, making him snicker quietly.

"So what are you saying I should do?"

"I'm not going to tell you what you 'should' do, because when it all comes down to it, it's a matter of what you think is right and who you really want to be with." Zooey shrugged.

Alex looked at her for a moment before letting out a groan, burying his face in his palms as he let his body slump down in the seat. Zooey laughed lightly, earning another groan from the male opposite her.

"If I wanted to be told that, I would've just called Zack, or someone." He grumbled.

"It's true, though. If I tell you to do the one thing, me - a complete stranger - and you do it, you might end up regretting doing the thing that you did."

"But I don't know what to do."

Zooey sighed, though she smiled, taking a sip of her coffee. "Do you want to be with Lisa, or do you want to be with Tay? It's as simple as."

"Yeah? You fucking try having two girls pinning after you." He snorted before he paused, knotting his eyebrows. "That sounded really cocky and asshole-ish. I'm not a cocky asshole, promise."

"I believe you." She laughed. "But seriously. You can't keep leading them on."

Alex pouted his bottom lip adorably. "But I'm not."

"From what you've told me? Yeah, you are."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Fuck you." He blurted out before his eyes widened, realising that he might've just probably offended her.

"Didn't we already go over this?" She asked, amused.

Alex frowned. "What?"

"I'm not gonna be your one-night-stand."

"What are you -- oh. I asked you to have sex with me, didn't I?"

"Correct." She laughed upon seeing his visible cringe.

"Ah, shit. Sorry." He brought a hand to the back of his neck, the other going to wrap around the coffee cup.

Zooey shook her head. "S'alright. The coffee makes up for the request for sex."

Alex laughed. "Right."

"So..." she trailed off. "Now what?"

"Now," Alex sighed. "Now I figure out how to tell Tay that I don't want to give whatever we supposedly had, another shot."

She smiled. "And then you'll live happily ever after with Lisa. Invite me to the wedding, yeah? I'd like to take full credit for getting you two back together, or for whatever I just did."

Alex laughed, shaking his head. "I'm not getting back together with Lisa."

"You're not?" Zooey looked confused.

He wouldn't blame her. He confused himself, too. Thing was, after nine years, he finally realised that what they had together was going nowhere. Maybe at some points in his life, he assumed that he would eventually just marry the brunette and there was that. But with what had happened, the whole Tay incident calling him out of the blue thing, it made him think. She just broke it off, saying that he might as well just go 'crawling back to Tay' when he had no intention of ever doing so.

Alex understood her perspective of it all, though. Sort of. He recognised the fact that she was jealous of Tay, even though there was probably nothing to be jealous of. She was allowed to get jealous - Alex got jealous over other people almost all the time, but he'd never gotten jealous over stories that Lisa told him about her male colleagues or whoever. He should have been jealous, but he wasn't. So maybe he just wasn't into her as much as he thought he was.

Alex was blinded by the security of always having someone to go home to, and that they'd known each other since high school. That was it.

"I have someone I have to call." Alex said with a lopsided smile, getting to his feet. "Thanks for this."

Zooey laughed, also getting to her feet and stretching out. "I didn't do shit."

"You listened." He smiled. "Thank you."

"Well... You're welcome."

"We should do this again sometime."

"You already have my number. Give me a ring soon." She grinned. "It was nice meeting sober you."

Alex grimaced. "I'd like to say that I'm never gonna drink again but... I'd be lying."

Zooey laughed. "Understandable."

"I'll see you soon, or something."

"See ya." She grinned, waving at him before she started walking in the opposite direction that Alex was going in.

Alex watched her retreating figure for a moment before he sighed, pulling out his phone. If he didn't do it now, he'd never do it. He would eventually wimp out and the sorry excuse of a relationship that he and Lisa were in would drag on and on and on.

"Alex?" Came in the familiar female voice that he'd been accustomed to hearing for the past many years that they'd been together.

"We need to talk."