Locked Hearts

Chapter 3

Ruby was not happy.

She leaned on the doorframe, giving me a hard stare that drilled a hole in my head. Her arms were crossed and a frown creased her forehead.

“You're late. How are we—” She stopped mid-sentence. She leaned closer, eyebrows furrowed, and studied my face and asked, “Zoe, what happened?”

I lurched into her arms, hugging her and cried into her shoulder. She tightened the hug, gently rubbing circles on my back.

“Shh, it's okay. Let it all out,” she said, her voice gentle.

I let it all out and cried my eyes out until I ran out of tears, until my throat hurt. I slowly pulled away from the hug. She looked at me again, and without a word, she gently took my hand and walked us upstairs to her room. When we got to her room, she closed the door behind her and sat me down on her bed. She then sat down on the carpeted floor, facing me.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” she asked.

I shook my head.

“It's okay,” she said. “You know that you can talk to me about anything, right?”

Silence, and then: “Ruby, do you think I’m a bad person?”

“What?” she asked, confused. “No, you’re not. Why would you ask that?”

“Sometimes, I just feel like I am, you know.” I sighed. “I just… Forget about it.”

“If you wanna talk, I’m always here for you, okay?” she said. “We can talk about other stuff to take your mind off it, yeah?”

I sniffed. “Like what?”

“Anything,” she said, seeming to think about something for a moment. After a few seconds, her eyes lit up and she beamed at me. “Like Ian,” she suggested.

Ian? Crap. How could I forget about Ian? Crap, crap, crap.

“What about him?” I asked.

“Well, like, tell me about your date tonight.”

“It's not a date. We are just going to a house party as friends.”

“Friends, huh?” Ruby waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“Shut up.” I threw a pillow at her.

She laughed. I laughed, too. It was hard not to. Ruby’s laugh was infectious. “But seriously, though, can I ask you a question?”

I shifted on her bed and laid on my stomach, feet in the air. I stared down at her and said, “Sure, what is it?”

Just then, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I took it out.

“Do you still like him?”

“Who?” I looked at my phone. It was Ethan. He sent me a message that read: we need to talk. this is serious and you know it.

I rolled my eyes.

“Ian, of course. Who else?” she said, but she must have noticed me staring at my phone because she asked, “Is everything okay?”

I looked at Ruby and switched off my phone, tucking it back in my pocket, and making a mental note to delete the message later. I can't risk Ruby finding out.

“Yeah, everything is okay,” I said. “What were you saying?”

Ruby looked at me for a second before she spoke. “I asked if you still like Ian?”

I smiled. “I do.”

“What if he, like, I don’t know, wants you back? Will you take him back?”

“I don't know.” I shrugged. And that was the truth: I don’t know. Yes, I liked Ian. And yes, I missed him. But did I want him back? I don’t know. And even if I wanted him back, though, it wouldn’t be possible. Not with Mia in the picture. I’m sure Ian just wants to got out at as friends. No ulterior motives. Just friends.

“Well, I say you should.”

“Maybe.”

An idea came to mind.

“You should come with us,” I suggested. “To the party,” I added when I saw the confused look on Ruby’s face.

“And be the third wheel? No thanks.” She shook her head a little too frantically.

But she wouldn’t be a third wheel, because Ethan and I weren’t going on a date, right? “Come on, please,” I said. “You won't be the third wheel. It's not like Ian and I are going on a date.”

“No, I don't want to be the third wheel.”

“Come on, you always drag me to parties. Just do this for me, please.”

The truth was, I was a little dependent on Ruby. Ruby and I met at kindergarten and we’ve been best friends ever since. We’ve been inseparable ever since, and we’ve always done everything together. And maybe, just maybe, I was a little too nervous to go to a party alone with Ian.

Ruby was silent for a moment, staring at me. “Fine,” she said in defeat. “But we have to do something about your outfit,” she added, giving my clothes a disapproving look.

“Hey,” I said defensively. “What's wrong with what I'm wearing?”

“How do I put this nicely? It's... boring,” she said.

“Hey, watch it.” I warned.

She ignored me and said, “We have to get you something nice to wear, and lucky for you, you have a best friend that has great taste in clothes.”

“I don't know if I want to—”

“I won't make you look like a stripper, if that's what you're worried about.”

That’s exactly what I was worried about. But I don’t her that. Instead I snort.

She jumped to her feet and walked to her closet. She opened the closet doors and began throwing clothes at me.

“Watch it.” I giggled, throwing some of the clothes back at her.

“Since we can't go shopping now, I'll have to work with what I have,” she said, biting her bottom lip in concentration as she started matching clothes.

Ruby and I were complete opposites. Ruby was always cheerful and outgoing, and I, on the other hand, was more reserved. She liked parties—no, scratch that—she loved parties. And then, there's me, the girl who hated parties, because I was always that girl at parties that stood in the corner of the room like a some sort of creep because she never knows what to do at parties. Students at school knew her. She was, after all, co-captain of the cheerleading team. It might be surprising at first, given that Ruby and Mia can't stand each other. I think, if it were up to Mia, Ruby would have been kicked out the team a long time ago. But, unfortunately for her, the decision wasn't solely hers; it was Coach Stones' decision. Ruby also loved clothes way too much for her own good, and she loved shopping. The way she loved shopping, one would even say that she was a shopaholic. But I guess it explained her dream of wanting to be a designer one day.

That’s how we spend the rest of the morning: Ruby making me put on different outfits. I ended wearing a slinky black dress that didn’t reveal too much of my chest. Thank God. Ruby said it showed off my “curvy body”, and that it would drive Ian nuts, as if that would happen. I snorted with laughter at her compliment. I looked at myself in the mirror, and I, actually, looked good in the dress. I didn't think a dress was a good outfit for a house party but I'll trust her judgement.

“No way.” She looked at me with a horrified expression plastered on her face. “You are so not wearing those, are you?” she asked, looking down at the pair of sneakers—that looked battered—on my feet.

I stifled a laugh. “What? I love these shoes.”

The look on her face was priceless. It took everything in me not to laugh at her.

“You're hopeless,” she said, throwing her hands in the air, not arguing with me, and walked to her bathroom. “I'm gonna take a shower. Behave.”

☆☆☆

I sat on the upholstered window seat, staring at the rain pelting down, beating against the window. Why did it have to rain now? I glanced at my wrist watch. 7:43 p.m.

“Are you sure that you still wanna go to the party?” Ruby said, looking out the window. “It doesn't seem like a nice weather for a party.”

I glanced out the window before turning to look at her. “I have to go. I can't miss this chance with Ian.”

Ruby huffed, “Okay.”

“You don't have to come," I said, "if you don't want to.”

“Nah, it's fine,” she said, waving me off.

My phone vibrated and lit up. I spotted a message from Ian. I’m outside.

I heard a car horn hooting. I tore my gaze away from my phone and looked out the window down at the driveway. It was really him. This was really happening. I took slow deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. Ruby lent me her jacket, so I took it and shrugged it on. We then stepped outside on the porch and ran to Ian's car with our heads hung low. I sat in the front seat, and Ruby sat at the back seat. As soon as I got inside the car, Ian smiled at me, his right cheek dimple showing. His hazel-green eyes stared into my brown ones.

“Hey,” he said. “You looking amazing.”

"Thanks. You look good too," I said as my eyes scanned his body. He was wearing dark jeans, and a white t-shirt that hugged his muscled arms. His shoulder-length brown hair was tied in a small ponytail. I noticed that I was staring. I quickly averted my gaze and looked out the window. Ian did not notice I was staring. Instead, he turned around to look at the back seat.

“I didn't know you were coming with us,” Ian said to Ruby, who gave him a sheepish smile.

“Uh. . . yeah, she wasn't. I sort of, uh, invited her?” I said.

“It's okay,” he said.

Ian turned the ignition on, the car roaring to life, and drove to the party. None of us said a word to each other. Ian punched a button on the dashboard and the radio crackled to life. Believer by Imagine Dragons blasted in the car. Ruby wasn't one to shy away from singing a good song, so she was singing loudly in the back seat. Ian and I both laughed.

Typical Ruby.

The car slowed down and came to a stop when we arrived at the party. He turned off the ignition, and we all stepped out of the car and quickly ran to get inside the house. Since it was raining, there was no one outside—just empty beer bottles and a few red cups scattered on the grass—so the house was crowded, packed with teenagers. Great. The stench of alcohol that hung in the air assaulted my nose, making my nose wrinkle. The air was sultry inside the house, so I shrugged off the jacket I was wearing.

For a moment, the three of us just stood there, not sure what to do next. There was a lot of dancing, people grinding against each other, kissing and drinking. The music blaring in the house drowned out the rain. The whole scene in there felt . . . wrong. This was why I hated parties: they were just too much for me. I really hated crowded places, but if it meant that I would get to spend time with Ian, then so be it.

“Well, I'll leave you two to do… whatever!” Ruby shouted, as she found her way through the crowd.

“Wait, where are you going?” I asked, but she had already disappeared into the crowd, and she could not hear me over the loud music.

Ian held my hand, catching me off guard. I had forgotten how gentle and warm Ian's touch was. I missed this. He leaned towards me.

“Wanna get a drink?” he whispered in my ear.

I nodded.

We shouldered our way through the crowd. We found the kitchen, and it was not as crowded as the rest of the house was. On the middle of the kitchen counter was a punchbowl. Ian let go of my hand and grabbed a red cup to fill it up with whatever drink was in the punchbowl. Once he was done, he handed me the cup and filled up a cup for himself, too.

Ian took a sip of his drink and looked at me.

“What?” I asked.

He smiled, shaking his head. “That dress looks good on you.”

I'll make sure to thank Ruby later.

“Thank you,” I said as I took a sip of my drink.

BIG MISTAKE.

My throat was suddenly on fire. I started coughing. Water. I needed water. What the hell did I just drink? Ian realized what was happening, and he scrambled to the sink and poured me a glass of water. He quickly made his way back to me and gave me the glass of water. I gulped it down, and the burning stopped.

Ian looked amused, and I felt myself flush. I playfully punched him. He took the glass, and the cup from my hand and set it down on the counter. He leaned towards me again, and I could smell his cologne: sandalwood. Smells good.

“Let's go outside,” he said, whispering into my ear. I nodded, and he left his cup on the counter, too.

We forced our way through the crowd again until we were outside. We sat down on a pair of chairs on the porch. The rain was still pouring outside. The air was chilly, piercing at my exposed skin, so I wore the jacket again. Every breath I drew, a misty, chilly exhale followed. I looked at Ian who wasn’t wearing anything to fend off the cold. Wasn’t he cold? There was silence as we both watched passing cars and listened to the music blasting inside the house that was muffled by the rain. At the corner of my eye, I saw him staring at me and then turned his gaze to the street again.

Ian and I have known each other since freshman year. When I first met him, he was still with Mia. We met through Ruby, actually, but we didn’t talk much at first. But we eventually became friends, all thanks to Ruby. We became really great friends, and when he broke up with Mia, we confessed our feelings to each other, and after that we started dating. We dated for almost a year—eleven months to be exact—before we broke up.

“Nice party, don't you think?” I asked, because the silence was becoming unbearable.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he said. “And it could get better.”

Before I could ask what he meant, he got up from his chair and stood in front of me. He took my hands and yanked me up to my feet. As soon as our hands touched, my whole body felt warm again. He looked at me with those dreamy eyes of his. I lowered my eyes and stared at my scuffed sneakers.

“Hey, look at me,” he said, lifting my chin with his hand so that I was looking at him.

“I'm sorry that things haven't been the same between us,” he said.

I nodded.

For a few seconds we just stood there, staring at each other, and holding hands. He continued, “I know it was wrong of me to just shut you out like that when we broke up. I should have been there for you as a friend.”

I was about to say something, but he cut me off and said, “We were supposed to be friends again, but I acted like a total jerk and ignored you. It wasn't my intention to hurt you, Zoe.”

“You really were a total jerk,” I finally said, and then something hit me: “Is it true, what Mia said about you two?”

“What did she say to you?”

I took a deep breath. “Said you two are back together.”

“What? No, we’re not. We just hooked up, that's all. Nothing is going on between the two of us.”

I couldn’t help but be relieved.

“I wanna make things right between us, Zoe,” he said as he got closer to me. “Please let me make things right, and I promise I won't hurt you this time.”

You promised that you would never break up with me, that you would love me forever, but you broke your promise. How am I supposed to believe you this time, Ian?

“Please,” he said when I didn’t reply.

“Okay.”

His eyes moved from mine, down to my lips. “Can I kiss you?”

My heart beat faster. My eyes moved to his lips. “Yeah,” I whispered.

I wasn’t sure if he heard me but he closed the distance between us and just as our lips were about to meet, someone called my name. Ian pulled away and I whipped my head in the direction of whoever called me, ruining what was perfectly a great moment.

Ruby!

“What is it?” I asked.

“I'm sorry to interrupt, but we're playing a game upstairs,” she said.

If you were sorry to interrupt, then you shouldn't have interrupted at all, I wanted to say. “Who's 'we'?” I asked instead.

“A bunch of people,” she said, and I raised my eyebrow at her. She quickly added, “It's people you know... Well, some of them.”

“I'm not sure if I wanna—”

“Come on, it'll be fun,” she begged me.

“Sure.” I nodded.

“What game?” Ian asked.

“Spin the bottle.”