In The Last Days

Chapter 6: Few hours Earlier...

Few Hours Earlier,

New York City,

Vixen Mall.

A group of obviously fashionable females casually exited the absurdly large building, with a ton of shopping bags in hand. One could out rightly tell they had just finished shopping intensely.

Wasting no time, they quickly hurried towards the parking lot where they had previously parked their vehicle.

“That was fun, wasn’t it Zoey?” The Girl who took the wheels said, with delight written all over her face.

“You right girlfriend!” Zoey promptly answered with an obvious New Yorker accent.

“Let’s hit the road!” The Other suddenly interrupted, feeling abnormally hyper.

“Yeah!”

! Voom!

They quickly drove off, rapidly skidding through the insanely smooth asphalt.

Their journey definitely wasn’t dull as they listened to a variety of Pop music, while engaging in a heart-to-heart conversation.

Halfway through their journey, Zoey who was presently sitting at the backseat suddenly noticed someone familiar out the window.

Realizing who she saw, she wasted time in yelling “ Stop the car!”

Hearing her absurd request, her ‘Girlfriends’ simultaneously blurted out “Huh??” As the person with the wheel quickly pulled the brakes.

“What is it?” She confusedly inquired.

“I saw someone…. A guy” Zoey promptly answered, placing her full attention out the window while struggling pull the door handle.

“A guy?” The Latter inquired, obviously perplexed by her friend’s sudden development.

“Remember that hot guy I told you I had a crush on” Zoey grumpily said, shifting her attention back to her clueless girl pals.

“Come on Zoey, you’ve crushed on a ton of hot guys…. Help me out Jessie” The Girl driving said, rolling her eyes in exasperation

“Hannah’s right… So which guy are you talking about?” Jessie quickly agreed, nodding her head in affirmation.

Hearing their response, Zoey glared at her friends while she released an exasperated gasp, “The guy in my Philosophy class” .

Finally coming to realization, their eyes quickly brightened beaming with excitement, as they quickly looked out the window.

“Zander Pryer, right?” Jessie asked, staring at the blonde male who was casually strolling at the end of the road.

“Yeah” Zoey instantly answered, deeply infatuated by Zander’s current appearance.

Presently, he wore a white round neck shirt with a bright blue denim jacket, alongside a matching pair of jeans and white Nike sneakers.

“He’s dreamy” Hannah said with a delighted sigh.

“Yeah..” Jessie nodded in affirmation, quickly shifting her attention back to her pal in the back seat.

“Go talk to him” She added with a mischievous grin.

Noticing this, Hannah quickly wore a smile expression as her gaze heavily fell on Zoey, who was still infatuated in her self-induced trance.

“Jessie’s right… You should go talk to him” Hannah seconded the motion, poking her absurdly shy friend.

Wearing a smug look, Jessie quickly added, “Yeah, I’m always right!”.

“I can’t” Zoey out rightly rejected, huddling herself into the car seat.

“Then we’re gonna do it for you” Jessie mischievously commented, prompting Hannah who was closer.

“Huh?” Zoey confusedly blurted, incredulously staring at her friends.

Without any form of hesitation, Hannah hurriedly stuck her head out the window while shouting at the top of her voice, “Zander… Zander!!”.

Hearing his name, the blonde lad quickly halted, staring both left and right trying his earnest best to find the obnoxious fellow who kept yelling his name.

“Huh?” He internally blurted, spotting an unfamiliar face waving frantically at him.

“Who’s that?” He asked himself, obviously confused by the situation he found himself in.

.

.

.

“Stop that!” Zoey yelled, struggling to pull her friend back into the car.

Rather than yielding to her incessant complain, Hannah simply increased the volume, thus, causing an obnoxious and abnormal scene.

Jessie on the other hand, did nothing but laugh at the two girls squabbling while taking a classic video of the scene.

“Fine…. I’ll talk to him” Zoey soon gave in to her friends persistence and embarrassing demeanor.

Not wasting any time, she alighted the vehicle wearing a grumpy expression.

“You guys will pay this” She angrily commented, glaring at her girl pals.

“See you later.. Drama queen”

“Have fun”..

They simultaneously said, promptly zooming off, leaving Zoey behind.

“Damnit” She cursed, slowly approaching Zander who was still totally lost and confused.

“You can do this… He’s just a guy… Everything is gonna be fine* She kept repeating the same words over and over till she finally got to Zander.

“Hi Zander” She excitedly greeted, pushing her awkward shyness to the side.

“Hi” He answered simply with a wave.

“I’m sorry, you look familiar..” He promptly commented, curiously starting at Zoey, who was currently feeling an abnormal nervous build-up.

“We attend the same College.. We usually take Philosophy together” She answered, placing her full attention on Zander.

Realizing who she was, He immediately blurted, “ Zoey Graves.. right?”.

Surprised he actually recognized her, Zoey promptly said, “You actually recognize me?”.

“Well I didn’t at first, but yeah I do” He amiably replied.

“Oh. Okay” She nodded in affirmation, staring solemnly at the Lad in front of her.

“By the way, what are you doing around these parts?” He curiously inquired.

“Umm.. Oh yeah, I was hanging out with a bunch of friends” She replied, momentarily flustered by question.

“But they left you behind?” He quickly followed up, staring at the distance with a puzzled look.

“Huh?” She confusedly blurted, staring left and right trying to spot her friend’s vehicle.

Completely dumbfounded by the fact that her pals quickly abandoned her so she could talk to a guy they have never met before, Zoey couldn’t help but exasperatingly sigh, slowly shifting her attention back towards Zander.

“I guess… I’m free… for day” She awkwardly stuttered.

“Hmph… Alright” He said, while he casually shrugged his shoulders.

“Err… We’re you heading somewhere?” She curiously inquired

He promptly nodded, confirming the answer to her question, “Yeah.. I’m on my way to see a friend”.

“Oh” She commented, wearing a completely surprised expression.

“You wanna come with?” He amiably inquired.

Hearing his request, Zoey completely froze up unable to decide if she should accept or reject his friendly request.

Noting her hesitation, he them added with a smug look, “Since you’re free for the day…”

“Alright” She quickly accepted, shaking off any form hesitation.

“Great… Err, please be cool” He brightly said.

Obviously unable to hear a single word he said due to her excitement, all she could do was nod her head in affirmation while she closely tailed him.

After a brief wall through the streets, they finally arrived at their destination. Standing tall in front of them was an old, shabby looking apartment building.

Oddly staring at the dirty looking building which was directly next to a nasty looking alley, Zoey couldn’t help but nervously take in a huge gulp of saliva.

“Zander, what are we doing here?” She nervously inquired, pulling the fabric of his denim jacket.

“I’ve already told you, I’m here to see a friend… She lives here” He promptly answered with a straight face while he casually walked in.

Watching him enter the building without hesitation, she quickly followed after him with one word in her mind which made her oddly frown, “She?”.

Quickly navigating his way through the building he finally arrived at his precise destination.

! Knock! Knock!

He gave the wooden styles door knock, patiently waiting for reply. Zoey on the other hand finally caught up to him, due to the fact that he literally abandoned her at the entrance door.

! Creak!

The door slowly opened and Zander was greeted by tall, slender woman who had a sickly look, obviously one could tell she was suffering from a terminal disease. Despite this, she was rather attractive.

“Mrs. Martinez, how are you?” Zander greeted with a bright smile, going in for big, warm hug.

“Zander, It’s being awhile… As you can see, I’m fine” Mrs. Martinez warmly replied, reciprocating the hug.

“Who is this?” She curiously inquired, staring at an obviously disgusted Zoey.

“She’s a friend” Zander replied, shifting his attention towards Zoey.

“Oh..Okay..” She shortly replied as she was instantly interrupted by her two little twins, who obviously bore a striking resemblance with her.

“Zander… Zander, how are you” The Two little identical girls ran straight into his arms, giving him a warm hug.

“I’m fine as you can see” He happily accepted their thoughtful hug.

“Is Jenna around?” He promptly inquired, shifting his attention towards Mrs. Martinez .

“Yeah… She’s on the roof” She simply answered with a single nod.

“Alright… Girls, I’ll see you later” Zander brightly said who were still hugging him tightly.

“Be good for Mommy, okay?” He added, finally breaking up the overly long hug.

Simultaneously nodding in affirmation, both girls skipped straight to their mother, tightly embracing her.

Zoey on the other hand, was intensely deep in her thoughts, silently followed Zander heading straight towards the rooftop.

“Martinez… Jenna… f**k it, Jenna Martinez… That b***h!” She cursed internally, bitterly biting the tip of her index finger.

Obviously, one could tell both Zoey and Jenna were not on mutual terms, in fact one could call them bitter foes.

“ You didn’t tell me that you were gonna meet Jenna?” Zoey angrily retorted.

! Creak!

“That’s why I told you to be cool” He stoically replied, gently opening the door which led to the rooftop.

Noticing their arrival, Jenna who was currently smoking at the edge of the roof, slowly shifted her gaze towards her uninvited guests, while exhaling…

“Zander…. What the f**k are you doing?”