Happy

[007]

Zooey grinned at her best mate as he walked out of his school with his eyes looking like they were struggling to stay open. She laughed silently to herself as he trudged tiredly over to her car, pulling open the door and then sliding in with a huff.

"Hello to you too, my love." She laughed, looking at him.

"Take me home." Ryan mumbled tiredly, shutting his eyes as his hand went up to her face.

Zooey laughed, peeling his hand off of her face. "Woah there. At least take me out on a date first?"

Ryan didn't even bother opening his eyes, only opting to flick his middle finger in her direction making her laugh before doing as he'd asked.

Ryan had been her best friend since secondary school. They were both awkwardly shy and wanting to make friends with other people – but feeling too nervous to do so, afraid that they'd trip over their own words and embarrass themselves. While everyone else in their form class made friends with each other, the two of them sat silently at opposite ends of the classroom.

Their teacher had then asked them to form pairs, and since they were the only two silent ones, the younger version of Zooey – with her natural dirty blonde hair – approached the younger version of the Asian boy. With his limp black hair that fell into his face and dark brown (rather slitty) eyes that were almost black, Ryan was a short and still rather plump boy. She didn't say anything, and neither did he. They just sat next to each other while their classmates chatted softly amongst themselves, making friends and stuff.

The pair eventually became friends by default the moment they sat with each other during their break. And the rest was history, honestly. Ryan, true to his Asian-ness, was an honour student, and surprisingly, he was also really good at football. The awkward and plump boy that Zooey had met on her first day went through puberty and came out with a way better haircut, a tall and toned body, and a lip piercing – for some reason. He became hot, she became hot, bla bla bla and that was it.

That was the story of their friendship. Nothing too interesting, really.

"Oi. Get up." Zooey nudged Ryan lightly as she pulled up in front of the complex that he lived in.

They had planned to live together at one point, and then they decided not to, seeing as they were both light sleepers who couldn't fall asleep easily no matter how hard they tried and they had completely opposite schedules. While Ryan usually had morning classes and would come home by dinner time, completely knackered, Zooey would have only just left for work. And she'd come home in hopes of falling asleep, only to wake up when Ryan got up to carry on with his day.

If they lived together, their sleeping pattern would be so fucked.

They also decided against living together to avoid the whole awkward mess of either a) seeing each other naked, or b) having to convince the person that either of them had just started dating that there was nothing going on between a male and a female living in the same flat.

Ryan made a small noise from the back of his throat, popping open his eyes as he rubbed at them tiredly. When his eyes took in the complex, he turned to Zooey with a sleepy smile playing along his lips. "Thanks for the ride. You're a life-saver."

"I know." She chuckled. "Go get some rest. You look dead."

"I feel dead."

"Then go home and sleep."

"I plan to." Ryan laughed. "Wanna get dinner tonight?"

Zooey shrugged. "If you're awake, then sure. It's my day off."

"I know, that's why I asked." He deadpanned, making her scowl.

"Get out of my car."

Ryan laughed. "Love you. I'll text you when I wake up."

"I know you do. And yeah, you do that. See you later." She smiled as he stepped out of the car. "Maybe." She added as an afterthought.

"Maybe." He nodded. "Now go meet up with your new boy toy because we both know that's what you're going to do."

"What – ?" She started, only to be cut off by his loud laughter and exaggerated wink.

"I've known you for years. I noticed." He smirked before turning on his heel and walking into the front doors of the complex.

Zooey looked at him for a moment, dumbfounded, before she laughed. He was partly right, though. She was, indeed going to meet up with her 'boy toy' – a.k.a. Alex – but he wasn't a boy toy. He was just a friend that she'd made and bonded with over the past week or so.

That was it.

-----

"What did you want to be when you grew up?"

Zooey shrugged a shoulder. "An astronaut, probably."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah." She laughed. "Why? What did you want to be when you grew up, Mr. Rockstar?"

Alex grinned, tipping the bottle of beer he had in his hands over in her direction. "That. I wanted to be a rockstar."

"And your parents were okay with that?"

"I guess so." He responded. "I think when they realised that that was literally the only thing that I wanted and was good at, they accepted it. No parent would want to hear their kid saying that they were skipping out on college to try and make it in the music business – or the entertainment business, in general."

She smiled. "I reckon if I told my parents that I wanted to be in a band when I grew up, they'd just laugh in my face and tell me to do my homework."

"And what did they say when you told them about wanting to be an astronaut?"

"I think I never told them that. It was never going to happen, anyway. Even little-me knew that, so that's why I probably never told them."

"And here you are: twenty-three and working in a bar."

Zooey laughed, socking him the shoulder playfully, making him almost topple over as he laughed along with her. "You're a dick."

"Yeah, I know." He shrugged in a non-commitedly manner, taking another swig of his beer. "But why a bar? I mean, you could be working in a cheesy diner, or some fancy restaurant. Why a bar?"

"There was an opening, the pay was good, the hours were good and I was desperate."

"'The hours were good'?" He quoted, raising a thick eyebrow. "You work from dinner time to sunrise."

"I don't sleep well at night." She shrugged. "I've more energy when the sun goes down, too."

Alex smirked. "More energy when the sun goes down, eh?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

She laughed, shaking her head. "Fuckin' hell, mate."

"So how come you didn't go to college?"

"I did, but I dropped out."

"College wasn't for you?"

Zooey hesitated, as though thinking about how to word her response, before she settled on shrugging her shoulders. "It's complicated." She settled on replying.

"Un-complicate it."

"Family stuff." She explained vaguely, waving a hand as though it didn't really matter and Alex got the message that she didn't want to talk about it. She took a gulp from her own beer bottle, turning to look out at the view they had in front of them.

The pair had met up, gone for some food, bought some booze and then took Zooey's car to nowhere. They just drove, ending up finding a hill where they had a fantastic view overlooking the ocean. They talked about nothing in particular, drinking from their glass beer bottles and occasionally taking a crisp from the bag that Alex had bought.

It was just two mates hanging out. It was... Nice.

"Hey, Zo?" Alex spoke up, turning to her. She turned to him, and a mischievous grin spread across his lips. "Wanna do some shots?"

"No thanks." She laughed. "I'd be happy to watch you take said shots, though."

Alex pouted. "Where's the fun in that? Come on. Just a few shots."

"I don't really fancy getting completely pissed out in the middle of nowhere."

"But you're with me. So you'll be pissed with me." He grinned.

She rolled her eyes. "No thanks." She repeated.

"Okay, how about this: for every question I ask and you refuse to answer, you have to take a shot. And if you answer it, I'll take the shot."

Zooey raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that a bit one-sided?"

"Not really. I mean, you know about all my fucked up girl problems, and normal problems, and my best friends, and almost everything about me – but I know near to nothing about you. I know your name and your last name and how old you are and where you work. That's it." He pointed out.

"Touché." She relented. "Fine. Let's do it."

"Awesome." He grinned, grabbing the bottle of Jack that he'd bought, as well as the shot glasses that he'd apparently brought from home in his coat pocket. The bloke was prepared. "Okay... Let's start off easy –"

"You just want to get drunk, don't you?" She interrupted him, earning a sheepish smile in response.

"Maybe." He admitted. "Anyway! Moving on. What's your middle name?"

"Annabelle."

"Really?"

"Why would I lie about that?"

Alex laughed, shrugging. "I like it." He smiled, taking the shot; wincing as it slid down his throat. "I also like Zooey, though."

"What a relief." Zooey drawled out sarcastically, making him laugh.

"Okay... Um... Oh!" He grinned. "When'd you lose your virginity and to who?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

She laughed. "Of course you'd ask that. And why do you even need to know who?"

"Because I'm curious." He shrugged. "Now answer it, or take a shot."

"I was seventeen – and I lost it to my boyfriend at the time. We were together for, like, three years then, so don't give me that look. I bet you were a little slut when your band just started."

Alex grinned. "I was, but this isn't about me. It's about you." He admitted, chuckling; taking the shot. "You and that dude still together?"

"Nah, we broke it off after like four years of being together."

"How come?"

"Are these all counted as questions?"

"Nope," he shook his head. "They're sub-sections of the original question."

Zooey snorted, shaking her head. "Right. Um, I don't know. We just... We weren't in love anymore, I guess. We were just together because we were all we'd known since we were, like, thirteen or fourteen. He loved me, and I loved him – but the love that we had for each other wasn't the... You know... The 'I want to marry you' type of love. It was more of a 'you're a top bloke but I kind of love you like a best friend-slash-brother now,' if that makes any sense."

Alex blinked. That was exactly what he felt with Lisa. Maybe that was why he felt like she understood, because she actually did. The only thing that set them apart was, maybe, that her relationship with the guy she was dating wasn't as fucked up as the one that he and Lisa had.

"Next question?" She prompted, breaking him out of his reverie, smiling at him amusedly.

"It's more a statement, because I want to remember this." He said rather nervously, looking at her. She blinked, gesturing for him to go on. "Un-complicate it." He repeated his earlier statement.

She bit on her bottom lip, her eyes going to the bottle. She looked like she was about to take the shot till she sighed, shaking her head. "I was in college. I mean, I've always been good at school, and my best mate's kind of a genius so it was a no-brainer for me. Go to college, get a boring job, get married, all that jazz. Dad had always been the sole bread winner for our little family – me, mum and him. He worked so hard to get me into college, and he managed to pay the fees for the first semester. I got a part-time job to help pay the rest, and everything was okay. We had very little, but we were happy. Then... The accident happened. Dad got into a freak car accident, and he fell into a coma."

"Shit." Alex mumbled under his breath, his eyes trained on her face.

"Shit is right." She smiled weakly, still not looking at him. "It was either I stay in school with my part-time job and make mum work three to four jobs just to pay the bills, or I drop out, work full-time and let mum work whatever part-time job she wanted, as long as she only worked one – to help with the bills. The answer was simple." Zooey shrugged, then turning to him. "Not that complicated, honestly. I just don't like talking about it."

"Understandable." He said softly, nodding. "Is your dad – ?"

"He's alive." She assured him, making him let out a breath he wasn't even aware he was holding in. "But barely. He's been in a coma for so long that the doctors are starting to lose hope."

"And you?"

"Sorry?"

"Are you losing hope?" He clarified, looking at her carefully.

She blinked, licking her lips. Then she turned away, playing with the lip ring she had in.

"Next question."