The Chase 2
1020 Words
"Dude, seriously, just go away." She sighed. "Not marrying you, not marrying anyone. I haven't even spent a minute alone with the person I actually came to see." Zoey seemed tired. Her guard was down and the words were coming out of her mouth freely.
"And who might that be? Should I be jealous?" I smirked. I liked looking at her. Despite the many concerns I had, looking at her made me feel light somehow, like the version of me that most people thought I was.
Zoey got up and started walking again. "I have a life, you know? I'm starting my PhD soon. I have a mom. I have–" Here she fell short. With a depressed look, she was on her way back down again when she felt something being pressed into her hand. It was the handle of the umbrella. When next she knew, she was being held in my arms.
"Hey! Put me down," she complained, kicking and screaming.
I looked into her face and smiled again. It might not be so terrible to look at this face forever. The thought came with guilt. I banished the latter immediately.
"Hold the umbrella upright. You're going to burn that beautiful skin of yours." I tightened my grip on her under her knees and she drew a deep breath. "I'm not so bad to spend time with, am I?"
Zoey didn't answer. She did, however, stop kicking and screaming. Bravely, she looked up at me then and it was the wrong thing to do. I laughed at the innocence of her shock. It seemed she had finally realised that I was carrying her. My hands were on her thigh and around her waist as I held her. It was the hand under her knees, on her thigh that seemed to be making her uncomfortable.
My fingers crept up an inch, but then I thought better of it, hearing Bart's words echo in my head. It had to be different with her. I didn't want to scare her away. I put Zoey down on a nearby bench under an old tree. I disappeared for a moment. She watched me buy two ice-creams from a guy on a bicycle. The man recognized me. He was all smiles and refused to take my money. So I slipped a few notes into the man's pocket as I distracted him with light banter.
Zoey gave me a look of exasperation as I pulled the all but forgotten hoodie up over my head. I dropped next to her and handed her the ice-cream, still in its wrapper.
"If this is a proposal, the answer is still no," she said, but she took it.
I watched her sit crossed legged on the bench as she started on her ice-cream. "Well, not a proposal of marriage, but I suppose a proposal of sorts."
As I was having a bit of a time figuring out how exactly you unwrap the cone, Zoey took my ice-cream and replaced it with hers. She then set to work, ripping the wrapping off of my cone. It was very unladylike and bold of her. I liked it.
"Well, what is this proposal, then?" she asked, licking the new ice-cream eagerly.
I looked at the cone in my hand and, seeing that she had no intention of giving mine back to me, started eating. "Go out with me."
Zoey swallowed a big chunk of ice-cream, rose from the bench and jumped up and down.
"What is it? Are you okay?" I asked, holding onto her wrists as I stared into her face.
"Again with the touching," she mumbled.
"Excuse me?"
Again, she jumped, this one higher than the previous ones.
"So cold! Brain freeze!"
"That's what you get for shuffling it all down like that." I laughed, pulling her towards me.
"Pretty sure this is at least a third date thing," she said in a small voice.
I pulled away, letting my hands linger on her arms as I rubbed them up and down.
"Depends on who the date is with," I said in a husky voice, looking into her round eyes.
The moment ended just as quickly as it came.
"No," she said flatly. "But thanks for the ice-cream."
"Damn, she walks fast." I grabbed the umbrella and ran after her. "At least let me drive you back to the Arden mansion. Everyone is sure to be worried, and you can't exactly walk back to Rosa."
Her face fell. Of course she knew she couldn’t walk home. Rosa was a good sixteen hour drive away, never mind walking.
It turned out that we had somehow come back the way we'd come. Jesse and the car awaited us in the distance.
"Tell you what, Your Highness. If you carry me back to the estate, I will go out with you."
She was the second Arden to catch me off guard today. I looked back at the car as I deliberated.
Zoey gave a snort. "Shall we take the car then, Your Highness?"
"One sec." That bit of sass sealed her fate. The gloves were coming off.
With a determined look on my face, I jogged over to Jesse and we struck up a conversation. Jesse protested heavily, but eventually gave in. On my jog back, Jesse shook his head, got into the car and drove off.
Zoey's face went pale. "Where is he going?"
"We won't be needing a car if I'm going to carry you home, now will we?"
Considering my options carefully, I thought about her reaction to my hand inching up her skirt and remembered how that slight movement had made her go limp in my arms.
Deciding to play it safe, I was soon squatting with my back to her when I heard her laughter fill the air.
"You must be joking," she said, through persistent laughter.
I got up, turned around, reached out, and started twirling one of her golden locks around my finger. "Would you prefer I carry you like before, princess?" My face was the personification of seduction.
Zoey gulped. "Just turn around already."
- Writer
