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 Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 7:42 am
Zack had not gone home the night Cavaniste attacked Evan. He hadn't even thought of it—or of Cambria. It wasn't that he didn't care about her, just that his mind was stuck in a constant loop, trying to wake up from a dream he knew was real. He had avoided home until Cambria's shift started, and even then the only reason he made his way back was because his mind wasn't working anymore and his body was pushing him towards unconsciousness.
He went home, alone, because he didn't know what to do with a youma in his house.
He went home after finding a little place to hide Evan, to keep him safe until he could go to him—or figure out what to do.
Zack was trying to figure out how to get away from the questions. People would want to know where Evan was—why he didn't go to work, and why he wasn't picking up the phone or why he wasn't suddenly around. So Zack, in his groggy, panicked and sleepy state, concocted some half-story.
And then he fell asleep on the couch with Evan's stupid jacket.
He was up later that afternoon, going through the motions without really feeling anything. He didn't have work today. He ignored his phone. The television was on to break up the silence, and for the first time in a while, Zack had to cook himself dinner. He was staring at the grilled cheese emptily, waiting until the sun went down so he could sneak back to the abandoned building and back to Evan.
Time was just passing so slowly—and he had no more ideas now than he did this morning.
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 10:27 am
Both Zack and Evan had missed work for the past two days. At least Zack had called in…Evan didn’t even bother to do that. Cambria had tried calling them both after the first night of work missed, and after the second, she marched herself right on over to Zacks house. She wasn’t going to deny how worried she was, and that was very much reflected in just how hard she pounded her fist against the door, before smacking herself in the forehead and pulling out her key.
Duh. That was why she had a key.
Roughly, she shoved the small piece of metal into the lock and twisted, opening the door and shutting it behind her with a little more force than might have been necessary.
“Zack? Evan? Where are you guys? The food has been crap at work, and while I appreciate all the tips I’ve been making…It’s not worth not seeing your faces!”
Cambria moved in closer, finally seeing Zack on the couch. “What’s going on, Zack? What are you doing? You feeling okay?”
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 10:32 am
Zack had been keen on just ignoring the banging at his door, but Cambria wasn't one to be ignored. HE should have known that by now. He pushed himself up lazily when she came in, but for all his practicing and rehearsing, he couldn't give her a smile.
"I'm fine," he said, his practiced line. "Don't know about Evan. Haven't heard anything from him."
He didn't want to talk, but he knew how suspicious he'd look if he just sat there all mopey. So, he reached over, grabbed his not Evan-grade grilled cheese and took a big bite of it. "…He didn't tell you?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 10:39 am
Cambria blinked, watching Zack with a much more pronounced frown. “What are you talking about? What didn’t Evan tell me? What do you mean you haven’t heard anything from him?”
That didn’t make sense. Evan lived here. This was his home.
“I don’t understand. Where is he?” She moved away from the couch, going to poke her head into Zack’s, room absolutely sure she’d find Evan in there, making the bed or doing something stupid. When he wasn’t there, she stomped to the kitchen, looking around for much longer than was needed, her frown deepening even more when there was no dark haired Evan to be found.
Finally, grumpy and growing more and more worried, Cambria moved back to Zack.
“Where is he. What happened?”
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 10:48 am
Questions he didn't want to answer, but questions he couldn’t avoid if he didn't want to look suspicious. He couldn't tell Cambria what he'd done. She wouldn't understand.
He'd lose her too.
He forced a shrug and took his time chewing the grilled cheese, pretending like the cheese was still warm enough to be gooey or something.
"Guess he had a change of heart or something. We got into a fight. Something stupid. Dishes, maybe. Going back to school. I don't remember. He said he couldn’t do this anymore. I guess. I just figured it was hot air. He stormed out to take a walk."
Zack snorted, but it was forced. "Guess he was pretty pissed. You know how he bitches if he's gotta go out alone. Like the city's gonna eat him up if he doesn't have someone there to watch his back."
His hand was trembling, but he didn't want her to see so he put the sandwich down. Lying was usually easy, but things had never been this bad before. He'd never ******** up so badly before.
"…He's got other people he knows, you know. He's probably just staying over with someone from high school or something. It's not the first time he's done this. Guess it's the first time you get to deal with it. He's just throwing a tantrum. He gets all these emotions, you know, let's 'em build up. Doesn't know what to do with them. He didn't take any of his s**t, so he'll be back. He always comes back. It's only been two days, you know. But he likes you, so I figured he'd be bitching about it, or staying with you, honestly. Guess it must be bad if he's hiding from both of us."
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 3:39 pm
Cambria wasn’t sure what to feel…and honestly she was quite sure that she would be feeling something much different if this had happened when she first met Zack. Well, she was quite sure she would have been gleeful that Evan was gone…but but now…Evan was one of her best friends. If not the best friend she had ever had…and…and she had been sure that he wouldn’t just up and leave her…but…but he was gone now.
Without even saying goodbye…
Finally after processing all of this, she felt her eyes fill with tears. “I don’t understand, Zack. He would have said goodbye to me. We were friends. He wouldn’t just leave me.”
Cambria reached her hand up, scrubbing the tears away. “I’m going to call him and chew him out, Zack. This isn’t fair. I don’t know what you said to him, but if you were awful, I am going to be so pissed at you.” She pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed Evan’s number before giving Zack a chance to speak, turning her back on him.
When she heard Evan’s familiar ringtone coming from the coffee table, her hand slowly lowered from her ear and her phone hung by her side. “He…he left his phone? How am I supposed to get a hold of him if he doesn’t have his phone…”
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 4:03 pm
Zack was quiet; he wished he'd had something to drink—and wondered why he hadn't even tried to get plastered before now.
Probably because if he wasn't sober he'd have never been able to lie to Cambria like this.
"I guess he doesn't want to talk."
His voice was hollow, bitter.
"But he'll be back. You know how much he loves that damn thing. All his shitty music. He's probably just throwing a tantrum because he knows he's gonna have to come back to get it. I've been skipping work to make sure someone's here when he comes back. Someone to talk to him. Sorry if I worried you. Just. Figured I'd try to clean up this mistake. Evan usually only stays angry for a few hours. This is long, for him, but I figure he's trying to make a point. He's stubborn, you know him."
He was quiet, jaw set, and he leaned back in his seat. "…We just gotta give him time. If you push too hard, he crumbles. You gotta handle him like a, a hamster, you know, or something. You let them come to you. If you go to them, they get all scared and run away. But I…"
His voice softened. "…I don't know what to do, Cam. I ******** up. Bad."
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 4:35 pm
Slowly Cambria walked over and sat on the couch next to Zack, still holding her phone limply, Evans voicemail message playing on it until she finally hit the end key on the screen. “I’m worried about him. He kept hinting all of these dark things that you were into…you know, drugs and stuff. And I’m really worried that maybe he got caught up in all of that again. When you were gone, he was pretty damn sure that’s where you were…”
Her voice was so quiet, and she felt utterly exhausted. “I want him to be okay…should…should we go to the cops, Zack? Do you think we should file a missing persons report? I just…this really doesn’t sound like him…like you said…he should have been home by now…”
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 4:54 pm
Zack's eyes flashed and he looked up at Cambria before slowly shaking his head. "No. Don't bother with the cops. Evan hates cops. And then they're going to start digging and…"
He ran his hands over his face and just shook his head.
"Evan's gonna be pissed if some cop drags him home, Cam. He's just gonna get more mad. Maybe he went home, you know? He's got one. And if he's not with them, they're just gonna call his parents and make a big stink out of everything. Let's give it a little while."
He sighed, and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close.
"…What else did he tell you? About s**t he thinks I get into."
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 6:01 pm
“He didn’t tell me much. Honestly I made a lot of it up, that you were sleeping with hookers and buying prostitutes and all that jazz…” Cambria shrugged. “I just want Evan to be okay…do you think he will be? Do you really just think we should let him go like this? If he’s not back soon…I am going to go talk to the police…I’ll give it a few weeks…but I know he wouldn’t leave you. Wouldn’t leave us…He loves us both. And we love him and…”
She buried her face into his chest, one hand reaching up and burrowing into his hair.
“I just want him back. It doesn’t feel right here without him. Like, I mean I know he could just be at work or something but the fact that you said he’s gone…The apartment feels so empty…”
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 6:29 pm
Zack scoffed and looked away, but he seemed to relax a bit now that the subject had changed. Now that she was curled into him. He gave her a little squeeze. "Yeah," he finally said. "I know. To be honest, it felt weird coming home without him here. I don't like it. But I'm sure he'll be back. I'll do what I can to see if I can find him. To get him back."
He stroked her back absentmindedly, glad that she couldn’t see his face.
If she could look into his eyes, he was worried she'd see that he was lying.
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