Rewrite The Stars

Chapter 11

“He's ran away?” Lauren mused, both shocked and surprised.

  “You act so shocked like I haven't done it myself.” I said.

    “Yeah. But you're Zoe. Everyone knows you're crazy.” She joked. “None of us expected more of you, honey.”

    “Oh, stop it. You're making me blush with all the flattering.” I said blankly.

    “Did Zach ever tell you why he has travelled to New York?”

    “He said he wanted to travel and see different places.”

    “Then why is he still here?”

    “I don't know, Lau.” I sighed. “This is as new to me as it is to you.”

    “Maybe you can talk to him? Maybe help him if he's troubled?”

    “I think I will. Should I call him today?” I suggested.

    “Oh, sure! That would be a cheerful call!” And by that, she started mocking. “Oh, hey Zach! How's life? So tell me, have you recently run away from home? Do your parents beat you or something?”

    “Then what do you suggest I should do? Huh?”

    “This isn't something you can talk about over the phone.” She explained. “This is face-to-face talk. Oh! Maybe you can bring him to Alexander's costume party!”

    “I don't know.” I answered. “I'll think about it.”

***

Two weeks went by focusing on my ballet practices and nothing else. Although eventually I had to close my i********: account and I finally invited Zach to Alexander's party.

    I was on the duty of renting a costume for Lauren as well, seeing as she was too busy rehearsing for their performance for the next day.

    When Friday came upon, I was invited to see their show as a guest. I felt so excited that there was a small chance that I was going to join them the next year.

    “I'm so excited that I'm going to meet your new boyfriend for the first time.” Lauren basically squealed as she was getting ready. 

   “Well, don't get too excited.” I said, putting a bit of mascara on. “He's not my boyfriend.”

    “Whatever.”

    I was going as cat-woman, and Lauren –being the typical fangirl that she was- decided to go as Eleven from Stranger Things –from the scene when she had put a blonde wig on. Lauren even forced me to buy her Eggos and she even put a bit of fake blood under her nostril.

    Ten minutes had barley passed that we heard a knock on the door.

    “That must be Zach.” So by that, I made my way toward the door and opened it, and just with that, I started laughing at what I saw on the other side of the door.

    There stood Zach Walter, in a nun costume which was clearly made for a woman.

    “You're unbelievable.” I managed to say between my roars of laughter.

    “I know, right!” He laughed along with me.

    This caught Lauren's attention and so she came by the door, her eyes widening at the sight she saw before her.

    “You're Zach?” she asked, looking intrigued.

    “The one and only.” He nodded. “May God bless that name.”

    “You're crazy.” Lauren laughed. “I like you already.”

    “Oh, thanks! You look pretty crazy, too.” Said Zach, and that was when Lauren realized that his 'thank you' was referred to her first sentence, not the second.

    Zach was our ride to Alexander's brother's house. And sitting in the car, I was more than glad to know that those two idiots were getting along pretty well.

    “You know,” Lauren began, her usual devilish smirk playing on her lips. “If anyone's planning on getting laid tonight, by looking at you, they would definitely reconsider. And I'm not saying that because you look really saint. But because you look like an extreme bone-killer.”

    “I don't think that's true. Let's look at it this way,” argued Zach, “If the ladies see me like this, other guys would actually look pretty sexy compared to me. So then, Boom! Mission accomplished! Everyone gets laid tonight!”

    “And that makes you such a saint, doesn't it?” Lauren continued. “If only all the nuns had the same goal as you, the population of the world would've been twice as much as now.”

    I actually face-palmed at that point. “Why am I befriending you, again?”

    “Crazy attracts crazy,” said Zach. “So don't act all innocent.”

    “Yeah! Don't be too innocent. You'll look like Nun Walter, here.” Said Lauren, laughing along with Zach.

    “I should've known introducing you two to each other was a mistake.” I groaned.

    “It's too late for remorse now, bud.” Said Lauren.

    As promised, we arrived at Alexander's party pretty quickly. Everyone had their red plastic cups in their hands and were dancing their asses off, some showing off their talents in the middle of the dance-floor.

    “Oi! Alex!” Lauren shouted over the loud music, waving Alexander over.

     He was wearing a cowboy costume. He had brown cowboy pants and hat on, but was actually shirtless, although had a red scarf around his neck.

     Alexander had brown hair and eyes, was tall, and had a great body –which he was clearly more than glad to show off.

    “Hey. Drinks?” He offered, giving two cups to me and Lauren, and offered a third one to Zach, which he politely rejected.

    “I don't drink, thanks.” Said Zach.

    “What, you pregnant or something, Nun?” Alex joked.

    “Actually, no. Nuns don't sleep with people.” Zach responded seriously, making me laugh.

    “Whatever you say... weird stranger.” Said Alex. “Anyway, enjoy the party.” And by that he winked down at me before leaving our side to get more drinks.

    “Honestly, these nun-jokes are getting out of hand.” I confessed.

    “It's actually really amusing.” Zach shrugged.

    “I'll be over there with a few friends, if that's okay with you guys?” Lauren announced, gesturing over at her classmates.

    “Sure.” I smiled and by that she left us alone, giving me a well-known look, probably encouraging me to speak to Zach about what I had recently found out.

    This is going to be way harder now that he's not drinking, I thought.

    So by that, I quickly drank all was in the cup in a few seconds, figuring that it would be simpler if I were drunk.

    “Wow, easy there.” Zach laughed. “Rough week?”

    “Rough life.” I responded jokingly. “Do you wanna dance?”

    “Sure.” He shrugged, leading me over the dance floor. We kept dancing, but every now and then I burst out laughing at how silly he looked in that black robe and with his hair hidden by his veil. Although it wasn't just me, but everyone in the room was also looking at him.

    “You know,” I began, “When you come to a costume party, you think that people would give it a rest and that they would actually stop staring at you and judging the way you're dressed. But oh, no! They still stare.”

    “Well, I have a solution for that.” Said Zach.

    “Oh, yeah? What is that?” I asked, amused and curious for the answer.

    “Whenever someone's staring at you, just smile and simply wave at them. They would immediately look away. And if they were too arrogant, a 'hello' would do the trick.”

    I laughed. “Really?”

    “Yeah! Take that girl in the Red Riding Hood costume over there.” He nodded at the girl behind me who was shamelessly staring at us. “Now watch and learn.”

    By that he smiled as wide and as goofily as he could and waved at her, shouting over the music “HEY!” and to my surprise, it didn't take her more than a second to look away. And funnily enough, she didn't dare to even glance at us for the rest of the evening.

    “That was awesome!” I clapped my hand together in excitement. “I wanna try!”

    “Be my guest.”

    After searching and looking around us for someone who was staring directly at us, we finally found someone after some while. I am proud to say that the wave-technique really worked for me too.

    “You're pure evil, Walter.” I applauded him after my success. “Pure evil.”

    “Well, that's Nun Walter at your service.” He bowed at me, making me laugh.

    After we danced to a couple more songs and after I had a few more drinks, we sat down on the shockingly empty couch. By that time, Zach had taken off his vail, so it was easier to talk to him more seriously now.

    I finally summoned all the courage I had –with a little bit of help from the alcohol- and decided to lead the conversation to where I could answer the questions I had.

   “By the way, why did you say you came to New York in the first place, again?” I asked.

    “I wanted to visit places.” He answered without a single second of delay.

    “Then why are you still here?”

    He hesitated before saying, “Stuff.”

     “Zach,” I put a hand on his knee gently, looking at him with sympathetic eyes. “You know you can tell me anything, right? You can trust me.”

    “I know I can trust you.” He nodded seriously. “I mean, I let you have some of my ice-cream.” We laughed.

    I already hated myself for trying to ruin the moment. But just imagining him being in trouble was misery to me. I really wanted to help him –that is if there had been something that needed help.

    “But if there was anything troubling you... I'd be there for you.” I said.

    “Troubling me?” Zach frowned at that. “Like what?”

    “Like the fact that you've run away from your life, just like me.” I finally blurted out.

    “What– what did you just say?”