For Every Action, There is an Equal and Opposite Reaction

"What?" Zoey says to me after a minute or two of awkward silence, grinning a little.

"Ummm," I start as I stumble over the words, all the piss and vinegar gone.

"You love me?" She says, her grin getting a little bigger as she starts to walk towards me slowly.

"Yes," I say under my breath quietly.

"One more time? I couldn't hear you," Zoey says, stopping in front of me.

"Yes." I say with an amount of confidence that shocks me. Where in the hell did that come from? I wonder to myself for a second before she takes my hand. My heart pounding like a drum, I kiss her. Fuck Paulie and his machete.

We go back inside, both of us smiling like idiots.

"I really don't want to ask, but I have to... What's up with you and Paulie?" I ask, standing behind her, my arms wrapped around her waist.

"So I called him last night to see if he wanted to see a movie later, and guess who picked up." She says, her words dripping with acid. "So I told her to tell him that I'd be by later to pick up anything I may have left at his place, then told her to tell him that he can suck my dick."

"Hot," I say, trying to add some humor to the situation. She laughs a little, and I turn her around. I put my hand under her chin and lift her face up a little and wipe away the tear that was running down her cheek and smile.

"I feel stupid, crying over the asshole." She says, laughing a little.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I ask before she pulls me onto the carpeted ground with her.

We spend the rest of the day with each other. Around eight thirty, she calls Jared and asks if he wants to hang out for a bit.

"Hey Jared, what's up?" She asks, trying not to giggle or laugh while I kiss her neck. "Oh, I'm not doing anything right now, just hanging out with a friend." I mouth just a friend? to her with a smile. She smiles back at me and pushes me back, laughing as she does. "Yeah, we were just wondering if you wanted to hang out for a bit. Okay, we'll be there in a bit," she says, hanging up the phone. "He said if we gave him half an hour to finish something up, we can go on over."

"What'd you want to do till then?" I ask, sitting up. She pulls me over to her and puts my head onto her lap so I'm looking up at her.

"Maybe chill here for a bit longer, then I guess I should go over to Paulie's and get whatever I may have left there." I shudder involuntary at the prospect of going over to Paulie's apartment (even though I think a good argument can be made that he sleeps in a coffin in a crypt), and she runs her hand through my hair. "It'll be okay. You can wait in the car, if you wanted to." For some reason, all I can think of is Paulie running at her with machete.

"I'll go up with you," I say. Yeah, better I get hacked into pieces with a machete then you... I think to myself before I close my eyes and enjoy the feeling of her hands running through my hair.

"C'mon, time to go." Zoey says to me, shaking me a little, smiling. I blink, trying blink away the bright light. She picks my head up from her lap, and I sit up and yawn.

"I fell asleep?"

"You've been passed out for like... Fifteen minutes. It was cute," she says, taking my hand and pulling me off the couch.

"I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not, but I'm going to spin 'cute' as positive," I say as we get into her Ford. We drive over to Paulie's apartment, talking all the way. We park outside, and I suddenly get the chills (another sign from God to never see the prick). I look at Zoey and smile. "Ready?" I ask. She takes a breath, and looks at me.

"You sure you want to go up with me?" She asks. I nod, and we kiss one more time before going up. She knocks on the door, and Paulie opens the door, a towel wrapped around his waist.
"Zoey?"
"What's up, asshole?" She asks. "I'm here to pick up anything I may have left over here."

"Look, can we talk about last night?"
"No."

"That was my sister!"
"You've already told me that you didn't have any siblings. Jesus Christ, if you're going to lie to me, at least do it well." We all stand there for a minute. "If you're not going to let me in, then you can keep anything I left." He looks at me for a minute and sighs.

"Alright, fine. Let me go put clothes on."

We walk into the small, cluttered apartment. I squeeze her hand one more time, and she lets go, not wanting to piss Paulie off. He comes back out, wearing some ratty-ass T-shirt and ripped jeans.

"Anything you may have left would probably be in my room," Paulie says, wiping his hair with the towel. Zoey walks down the hall into his room, leaving the two of us alone.

"What's up?" I venture. He looks at me, and I instantly regret asking.

"Oh, not much, my girlfriend just dumped me." He says. I decide not to say anything else and just wait for Zoey to finish looking for anything that was hers. "When did you and Zoey start hanging out?" He asks suddenly.

"Jared and Ash. I'm crashing at their apartment for a while," I say. He looks at me like a butcher looks at a piece of meat.

"Get kicked out or something?" He asks.

"I'd rather not get into that," I say, looking at the clock on the wall, anxious to get out of here. I feel Paulie's eyes on me still, and I get even more anxious.

"What happened to your neck?" He asks, putting the towel on the couch he's leaning on.

"No idea," I lie. As soon as the words leave my mouth, Paulie hits me in right eye, and I go down.