Falling For The Playboy

EVA

Zoe sat there, frozen. She was literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. I could almost see the wheels turning in her head as her eyes ping-ponged between Axel and the spot in front of him.

She was probably plotting his murder this very moment and why wouldn’t she? Of all the dares he could come up with, he decided to dare her to go into a room with Alexander, of all people, for five minutes. Not like five minutes was such a long time, but when enclosed in a place with with a person you weren’t comfortable around, it could feel like ages.

Alex and Zoe could barely stand each other.

What exactly was Axel’s aim?

He had this light in his eyes-the one he got when he was excited. It was the same light I saw in his eyes that day at the restaurant, when he talked about sports and his sister.

If I wasn’t sure before, I was now. He had ulterior motives.

This was more than just a dare.

“Whats it going to be, Zoe?” Axel cocked his head. “Are you going to let a guy do body shots off you?” There was a dramatic pause, “Or are you going to go into the room with Alexander here for five minutes?”

He was obviously taunting her at this point. But Zoe wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. And that had probably been his plan all along because the moment she rose from the ground-rather elegantly, Axel’s face lit up in a breath-taking smile.

Truly. It was a miracle I wasn’t yet blind from his smiles.

The silence in the room was deafening as she made her away into the room. She left the door open. All eyes immediately turned to Alex who had been taking everything in quietly.

A scowl formed on his face. “The fuck are y’all staring at?”

Eyes dropped, as everyone pretended they weren’t actually waiting for him to go into the room. He really was scary when he wanted o be. He neutral look was this blank, impenetrable mask that said ‘don’t-talk-to-me’ but when he scowled, that was when he looked completely scary.

Nevertheless, I would pick his scary over Vaughn’s scary any day.

He glared at Axel before standing up and strolling into the room, closing the door behind him.

God help them.

“So we have five minutes.” Laura breathed, “What do we do?”

“We could make out.” Henri suggested, dead serious.

Now I knew why him and Axel were best friends.

“Or,” Axel stated, “We can all come up with different reasons why Zoe didn’t just let her ‘boyfriend’, Dexter here, do body shots off her.”

It was that moment when Dexter’s name was mentioned that I remembered he was still in the room. Jesus. That was true. He had been here all along. Why hadn’t Zoe just asked him?

“Oh, I know this one. Because he’s not really her boyfriend!” Laura snapped her fingers.

Laura had just been looking for an opportunity to call Dexter out and since it had been presented to her now, I knew she wasn’t going to let it go. I wasn’t even going to try to stop her.

Why would I when I didn’t like him either?

“Or cause his mouth smells like ass.” Someone piped up.

“You bitch!” Dexter roared.

“Eat shit and die.” Laura yelled back.

“That’s probably why his mouth smells like ass.” Another person added.

Then another, “I mean, come to think of it. Has any of you ever seen him and Zoe kiss?”

There were echoes of ‘no’ and ‘never’ from the circle and one person even went as far as saying, “I don’t blame her. She probably cant stand it.”

It was refreshing to see that a lo of people didn’t like him. Had he done something similar to what he did to me, to them too?

When I glanced at Axel, I saw that he was cracking up. Apparently, he didn’t like Dexter either. What I didn’t know was if his dislike for the boy stemmed from what happened between Alex and Zoe or if it was something more.

Even Henri was laughing when he said, “Look, let’s just wait for them to come back.”

Laura finally dragged her eyes from Dexter to look at me. “Man, he’s such a bitch. I hate him so much.”

It was probably the look on her face, or maybe it way she said the words. It could have also been the whole situation, that had me pressing my palms to my face as I dissolved into fits of laughter.

She pulled my hands from my face, glaring at me with a smile on her lips-I didn’t know how that was possible-and I still couldn’t stop laughing.

“What is wrong with you?”

“Me?” I asked as I finally pulled my hands back, wiping my eyes. “Seriously, you’re asking what’s wrong with me?”

“You’re crazy.” But she was still smiling.