eyes talk

"You wanna talk about it?" Zach asked, watching as Neve messed with the packet they were given in class. She looked at him once before shaking her head and looking back down at the work.

"It's probably better not to," She answered honestly.

Zach thought for a moment before finally scooting closer. This caused his knee to brush against Neve's thigh, the action sending shockwaves through her body. She struggled to find any words to say to the boy, feeling anxious under his touch.

He reached his hand out, grabbing the ends of Neve's hair gently. He continuously sent glances her way, making sure he would notice if she was uncomfortable, but she never showed any signs indicating she was. She just sat there with wide eyes as he twirled her hair around his finger, seemingly mesmerized by something so small.

"Y-you know we should probably get to work, we don't have much time." Neve finally spoke, pulling herself back.

She was getting lost in her time with Zach, and she knew this. At this rate, they wouldn't get any work finished by the time Zach had to leave, which meant this 'study date' would kind of be pointless.

"Can I be honest with you?" Zach asked as he pulled away, respecting the fact that she wasn't accepting of his touch. He grabbed his backpack from the floor, unzipping it to gather his belongings.

"About what?" Neve couldn't help but ask.

"I don't think it's just your Aunt stopping you from being so... open to friendship and other things." He shrugged, grabbing a pencil. "I'll respect it either way, you know, but I just feel like it's not just her stopping whatever this is."

Neve wanted to ask what he meant by 'whatever this is', but Neve being Neve - ignored it. She instead shifted her position on the couch, putting her back against the side of it. "I don't know what you're talking about," She finally said.

"You're... hesitant on a lot of things." Zach answered, "You know, like you're- you're afraid to get too close despite what your Aunt says. I know you're like- super good at reading people and all, but I can be too, I think. I think you're just afraid to do what you want to do. You can trust me, you know? Anything you tell me stays between us, you don't have to be afraid I'm going to run and tell anyone. I'm not like that."

"How do I know that?" Neve softly asked, "Just because you say that I can trust you doesn't mean that I can."

"I know," Zach spoke easily. "That's the thing about trust though, right? I mean if you just listen to every little thing your Aunt says, you're never going to get to experience your own things. She might stop you from making the best friends you could have or- or experiencing things that are normal for a teenager to experience."

"Sometimes our pasts prevent us from being able to be normal," Neve softly spoke. "People betray us at such young ages that all we learn to do is to never trust again, to just keep running as if that's the only thing we can do. Because truthfully, sometimes it is."

She was giving out way more information than she was supposed to, she knew that. But at the same time, there was no way that Zach was going to be able to guess and understand what she was really meaning. Betrayal comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes, as far as he's concerned she could mean a friend stole a boyfriend or someone lied to her. The fewer smaller details, the less he knew. This was Neve's way of being able to actually open up to someone who wasn't Chris or a measly therapist without telling people too much. It was very broad what she said, so she didn't think it would be a bad thing.

"You can't always run from your past," Zach softly said. "It's okay to expand your horizons. To meet new people. Not everyone's going to hurt you, how do you know I will?"

"The few people I've accepted into my life have left me." Neve rubbed the back of her neck. Just the thought of the way she'd found her mother and stepfather caused knots to grow in her stomach. She didn't elaborate on what she meant, letting Zach think it was just a simple betrayal even though it wasn't anything like that. "The last thing I want is to keep letting people in just to get my heart broken all over again."

Zach stared at her for a moment, processing her words. It seemed as if he was actually thinking about the words she said and the way she responded instead of letting it go in one ear and out of the other. "Not everyone leaves," He finally spoke.

It was three words - three small words at that - but it made Neve's heart jump. She blamed it on the fact that she wasn't used to hearing things like this from someone, especially someone so cute, and just cleared her throat. "Well, I tend to hurt the ones I love."

"I don't believe that," Zach didn't hesitate to say.

"Well you don't even know me," Neve countered, "How can you be so sure when you don't really know me?"

"Then let me know you," He shrugged as if it were nothing. "Prove to me that I'm wrong and I'm reading you wrong, just like Jackson did. If you prove it, I'll never bring it up again."

Neve didn't say anything. Her heart raced as if she knew this was a bad idea - but something about it felt good. It was like an adrenaline rush - doing something she knew she could get in trouble for. Chris would kill her if she were to find out she even spoke to Zach outside of school-related things. She would be angry and probably ground Neve for life (as if she wasn't already grounded for the most part) had she known she went into the woods with a boy she barely knew.

But Chris did stuff like this all the time. Neve wasn't stupid, and she knew very well that Chris had been seeing that Daniel guy from the store. She knew that her 'long shifts' ended at their normal time, but she'd been meeting Daniel wherever it was their next date was.

She hung out with him. She probably even met his friends and family. She probably didn't mention much about her secluded niece whose parents had been murdered, causing them to have to be on the run for the rest of their lives. She didn't mention that she trapped her niece in here like she was Rapunzel, that she didn't go as far as to hit her across the face the moment she learned to stick up for herself.

Neve had been careful ever since that day. It was truly all she knew. She knew she couldn't ever be the same after that - even if Chris didn't confine her to the safe walls of the house they lived in. But that didn't mean she couldn't have friends. If people didn't know about what happened to her, and her father wasn't around to come after her, what did she have to lose?

Deep down, Neve knew the answer to that. The answer was everything. He'd already stolen her childhood, making her witness something nobody should ever have to witness. He took her parents away, leaving her with nothing but the ghost of them. She had to live in confinement and constantly search for the easiest exit when she went anywhere at all.

"Okay," Neve finally decided. She hadn't known how long she'd been lost in her thoughts - whether it was only a few seconds or a few minutes. But either way, Zach didn't seem to mind. He doodled on his notebook as he patiently waited, not bothering her once he'd made the offer.

"Wait, really?" Zach asked as a small smile came across his face. "Not that I didn't think you'd be so willing, it's just- it's been a while of me trying to get to know you."

"Really?" Neve asked this time, pulling her legs under her. "Why?"

"'Cause I think you're cool," Zach spoke. "Why wouldn't I?"

Neve didn't know how to respond, so she didn't. Instead, she just looked over the packet they were given in class. "So, the presentation has a lot of layers," It was a direct subject change, one that Zach gladly accepted. "Lots of questions and such. Nothing too hard from the looks of it. I think we should figure out how we want to set up our presentation in bullet points, then we can each get our own copy of the book and read it together."

"Yeah," Zach agreed, half-listening to what she was saying. He leaned against his head against the back of the couch as Neve continued on about what bullet points they should cover, when they could easily meet up to study, and when.

"We probably should've gotten the book before meeting up. We're kind of stuck right now since we have to read the book first before watching the movie and neither of us has a book." Neve then commented, tapping the eraser of her pencil against her lips.

Zach found himself watching the simple action, a soft smile falling on his face. "You have pretty lips," He thought out loud. At first, he didn't realize that the words had fallen from his lips, it was only when Neve's eyes widened and her cheeks turned red, that he noticed his mistake. "S-sorry," He chuckled, looking down at his lap. "That was really weird, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Neve mumbled, clearing her throat. "You know, we should probably decide when we're going to meet up and do our project and read and... stuff."

"I'm free every day," Zach quickly responded. "Well, I guess besides right after school on Thursdays and Tuesdays. Basketball practice and all that."

"Right, yeah. We can work around that. Chris usually works pretty late plus we can go to the library when that's open." Neve scribbled stuff down in the agenda she kept, avoiding eye contact with the boy sitting next to her.

"I kind of prefer it like this," Zach said. "No interruptions, no worries about being too loud or bothering other people. Your aunt works late every day?"

"For the most part. She's kind of seeing someone." Neve answered, finally looking up at him. "Well, I can only assume. When we first moved here she never worked this late and ever since she met Daniel her work days have been longer."

"Doesn't that make it easy for you to like... sneak out and stuff?" Zach asked as he sat his stuff on the coffee table.

Neve shrugged, "Wouldn't know. I usually don't."

"Right, yeah." Zach nodded, "Well we can always just do it this way. And then if Chris is- is home or something you can just say you're going to the library and come to mine. I mean my family's constantly up my ass so we wouldn't get as much privacy but it's that way we can continue to hang out and not have to worry about Chris.

Neve slightly nodded, unsure of what to say. She'd have to think about it, although she knew deep down she'd love to do that. She cleared her throat, "Well, sorry you came over without having the needed items to start our project."

"No worries, I truthfully didn't want to work on homework." Zach shrugged with a cute smile. He glanced around, taking notice of his surroundings. "Man, it sure got dark quick, huh?"

Neve's heart dropped. Dark? If it was already dark that meant that at any moment Chris would return home. She'd been too caught up in whatever had been happening with Zach that she hadn't caught onto the fact the sun had set.

She jumped up from her spot, throwing her things into her backpack. She then grabbed Zach's items from the coffee table before neatly sliding them into the big pocket of his backpack, zipping it up quickly. "You have to go," She told him. "Chris will be home any minute and if she finds you here-"

"Right, yeah." Zach quickly cut Neve off. He stood from his spot on the couch, towering over her. They were very close, Neve's heart beating erratically - either from Zach being so close or the fact that she might get caught, she wasn't sure. But she felt it, and adrenaline pumped through her that she hadn't felt in a long time.

Neve didn't think and grabbed his hand, pulling him in the direction of the front door. Just as she was about to type the code in for the alarm system, flashing headlights ceased any and all movements. "Shoot," She mumbled.

"That wouldn't happen to be Chris, would it?" Zach softly asked.

"Change of plans!" Neve suddenly exclaimed, ignoring Zach's question. She turned to face him, pressing a hand to his upper arm. "We're going upstairs."

"W-what?" Zach asked, his eyes wide.

Neve didn't answer. Instead, she grabbed his arm and pulled him in the direction of the stairs. Once she successfully pulled him in front of her she gave him a push, causing the boy to stumble up the steps. "Second door on the left." Was all she said, pressing her hands to his back as she continued to push him forward.

Zach quickly followed her direction, giving no second thought as he threw open the door. Once they were both in Neve quickly switched the lock, letting out a deep breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

"But how am I going to get out if you have an alarm system? Won't it trigger?" Zach asked out loud, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Right, yeah. I didn't think that far." Neve mumbled, pressing her fingers to her lips.

The sound of the alarm disabling was more than enough for her to think of a plan - one that had to work.

Neve ran over to the window and threw it open, "Go through here. You can follow the main path and it'll lead you to the parking lot you parked at."

Zach nodded, beginning to climb through her window without a second thought. Just as he was about to hop down, Neve's voice stopped him. "Wait!"

The boy looked up, sitting on the windowsill. He waited patiently for her to think of what she wanted to say, and it wasn't long before she was speaking again. "Thank you, for not running away when I had my panic attack." She finally told him, messing with her fingers. "You could have just left me there and you didn't. So, thank you."

"No worries," He smiled at her. "All I really cared about was if you were okay or not. I told you that you can trust me, you know?"

"Neve! Are you here?!" The sound of Chris came from downstairs, and Neve realized that at any moment she'd finish putting in the code to enable the alarms again.

"Would you... if you're willing," Neve breathed out, her cheeks flushing. "Text me when you get home. Or at- at least when you get to the car."

"No," Zach quickly responded.

Her cheeks burned hotter, the sound of rejection seeping through her system. She nodded, accepting it. However, before she could stumble out an apology, Zach spoke up again.

"I'd like you call you instead." He smiled cheekily at her, "Look at you worrying about me, I'll be okay, Nevie."

Without a second thought, Zach pulled Neve into a hug. It was an awkward one due to their positions and didn't last long at all, but before Neve could process it, Zach was already out of the window.

She took this moment to quickly shut and lock the window, the alarm enabling only moments later. She breathed out a sigh of relief at the fact that she'd gotten away with sneaking a boy in, running a hand through her hair.

Before she could fully relax though, the sudden sound of knocking on her bedroom door was heard. She quickly walked over and opened it, looking at Chris with a sheepish look.

"I was calling you," Chris stated a suspicious look on her face.

"I was doing homework," Neve smoothly lied, her brows pressing together. "Sorry."

"Huh," Chris muttered out. "Did you forget something?"

"What?" Neve then asked, gripping the door tighter.

Chris held something up in her right hand, and Neve quickly noticed that it had been her backpack.

"Right yeah." Neve breathed out, "I lied."

"I see. What were you doing?" Chris asked, glancing around her. "Is someone in there?"

"No," Neve quickly denied.

Chris didn't believe her and instead pushed the door open, immediately beginning to look around. Neve sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "This is a total invasion of my privacy." She muttered, putting her weight on one leg.

"Well you're lying to me, what else am I supposed to think?" Chris glanced in the closet.

"That I just don't care to tell you." Neve honestly answered, "Can I be left alone now?"

Chris sighed, dropping the backpack to the floor before walking back over to the door. She did one last glance around the room as if something had changed within the last five seconds, shrugging. "Whatever."

Neve sighed a breath of relief, but Chris stopped before she could shut the door. "Also," Chris added in. "You can stop talking to me like that now. It's been a while since that fight, it's time to suck it up and get over it."

"Yeah, right." Neve sarcastically said. "You hit someone and tell them to just get over it. Got it. Done."

Chris rolled her eyes and began to say something before she stopped. Finally, she realized that this was a fight she wasn't going to win and stepped outside of the bedroom. "I'm going to take a bath. Please don't bother me."

Without waiting for a response, she shut the door. Neve quickly locked it, muttering 'Didn't plan on it' to herself.

Part of her felt bad for being so bitter to Chris, but she couldn't help it. She wasn't over their last fight no matter how much she tried. No matter how many times Chris told her to get over it, that it was in the past and they needed to move forward, it didn't change the things she said or did to Neve. Neve was hurt, and rightfully so.

Before Neve could begin to drown in her thoughts, she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. She pulled it out and smiled as she saw the familiar name, wasting no time in swiping her hand across the screen.

"There she is. Now, are we sneaking me in again tomorrow or can I get the honors of bringing you over to mine?"