Where They Go

Chapter Twenty-Three: Explanation

"What do you mean she doesn't exist?"
"I made her up." Erin answered.
Zoey continued to stare at her with a shocked look on her face.

Erin could almost see the gears in Zoey's head shifting around, trying to figure out what any of this meant.
After she came to the conclusion that she couldn't solve it, she blankly asked,
"Why?"

Well, now what Erin was trying to avoid was slapping her in the face. There was no way to avoid it anymore.

She let out a heavy sigh.
"I like you, Zoey, but I didn't want to tell you right after you confessed that you liked me, so like the genius I am, I made someone up." She explained bitterly.

"You like me back?"
"Yes. I know that I should've just... told you, but I've never liked a girl before, it's scary."
"You're right. It was scary for me when I liked a girl for the first time. I've gone through what you're going through now."

Erin felt calm. Her and Zoey understood each other.

Zoey looked Erin in the eye. "Erin, if there's ever anything you want to tell me, please just tell me. I won't judge you. You can be honest with me, I want you to be honest with me."
"Okay. I'll be honest with you from now on." Erin said, looking right into Zoey's eyes.

The tension in the air was gone.

Zoey looked at Erin. She wanted to hug her. After that much vulnerability, honesty, and confrontation, she just wanted a hug.

Erin must've either read her mind or wanted the same thing, because she scooted a bit closer to Zoey and looked up at her.
"Do you, uh, want a hug?" She asked, slightly nervous.
She was still calming down from their confrontation.
"Mhm." Zoey replied, then wrapped her arms around Erin.

Erin leaned into her, breathing calmly. They hadn't hugged in a while, this felt great.

Both of them had the same question in the back of their minds, but they'd get to that some other time.
Right now, they were content with this embrace.