Z-Time

I plopped down in the booth at our favorite Italian place. Zoey sidled in the other side. We’d been shopping for hours and having a blast and were both exhausted by the time we decided to get some food.

“Man, wearing heels was a bad idea,” Zoey was rubbing her foot under the table, “What are you going to get?”

“Hmmmm,” I perused the menu, “The four cheese ziti.”

“Nice.”

The waiter came and took our orders and we settled in with our drinks. Zoey talked about work and I could tell she’d had a difficult week with Anna’s miscarriage and then the magazine photo shoots.

“I’ve just been so impatient, you know, normally when I get a model who’s difficult I’m super good at working with them, but this week I actually had to leave the set for 5 minutes because I wanted to fire her, that’s not even my job!” Zoey rubbed her temples and perked up, “The food’s here!”

I smiled and then prepared myself for what I was planning next.

“Hey, so….Kevin left Hannah.”

Zoey’s mouth hung open as she stopped mid-lift of her fork. She gave me a skeptical look but gestured for me to continue.

“And…he’s kind of my boyfriend now.”

Zoey put her fork down and folded her hands.

“And I was about to have sex with him when you called me about Anna.”

At that Zoey was visibly shocked.

“Well, that’s what you wanted, right? To be with him?” Zoey was choosing her words wisely and I could tell she had a lot more to say but didn’t want to say it.

“I mean….yeah.” I shrugged.

“But there’s something off, isn’t there?” Zoey cocked her head and looked at me with an analytical air.

“Yeah…but I don’t know what. I think it’s me just not wanting to trust him after everything. But he’s putting a lot on the line to be with me, so I guess that’s reassuring.”

“What?”

“We talked a couple of nights ago and I told him that if we break up in the future, he has to leave the paper.”

Her mouth dropped and suddenly I felt really stupid for asking Kevin to agree to such a thing, but it gives me job security and makes me feel better about dating my boss. I told Zoey as much and she understood as much as she could.

“So…do you want to meet him?”

“Uh…”

“Not ready yet, huh?”

“No, I mean it’s kind of a bombshell, Faith. You don’t need my approval to date someone, is that what you’re looking for?”

“Kinda.”

“Well…I guess I approve. If he makes you happy and he’s what you want then why wouldn’t I?

With that I felt complete relief, “There’s one thing, we both know, Elise is going to be ecstatic.”

Zoey and I both started laughing and after dinner decided to go see a movie. By the time I got home I felt like a teenager who just dished about her first boyfriend to her best friend. I smiled and fell into bed.