::If It Means a Lot to You:: 3

It's been quite a pain for Zoe to avoid Lovino lately, considering every day he would offer to drive her to school, and with Cam around, she'd end up riding with him unwillingly. No matter how many times Lovino would stop her to try and talk things out, she would simply ignore him and continue on with what she was doing. He would call her day and night, but she would never answer. He didn't understand that she was avoiding him for a reason.

"Come on, Zoe! Just go make up with him already! This tension is killing me!" Cam whined, in which Zoe rolled her eyes at and didn't move from her spot at her easel.

"I'm not doing it. He has to apologize first, and if he doesn't mean it, then I'm not bothering with him again."

"But Zoe! You're blowing holes in my ship!" Cam rolled on the ground, trying to convince Zoe to go talk to her ex-boyfriend.

"You blew a hole in my ship, so I don't see a problem…" She mumbled under her breath, staring intently at her painting. Camille huffed and sat up, glaring at her friend from the living room. Zoe took no note of this as she continued to paint something for her project in Art.

"Y'know, even though Lovino was being a bit clingy, I can't help but feel like I should be siding with him on this," Cam finally stated, loud enough so Zoe would hear.

Zoe stopped painting, going wide eyed at her friend's words. Had she really just said that? She wants to side with Lovino, now? "Cam," was all she could breathe out.

"I mean, yes, I understand that you wanted to leave because he was being a bit too clingy and annoying, but I can't help but feel like it's my fault, now. You knew about my loneliness in the dorm, and I can't stop thinking that it's my fault that you broke up with Lovino. You shouldn't have left your house just because of a dumb fight you two had," Cam said.

"Cam, it's not your fault, okay? I just-."

"Then prove it, Zoe!" She snapped. Zoe flinched, taken aback by Cam's shout. "I highly doubt you have a reason that doesn't involve me for breaking up with Lovino! Just go apologize, at least!" Cam's tone began to sound like she was pleading, now. "Please, do it for me. I don't want to feel as if this whole thing is my fault the whole time, okay?"

"Cam, I said it isn't though…"

"Just…Just go apologize! You don't even have to do much; just a simple "I'm sorry" will do!"

"…I'm…" Zoe looked at her painting for a minute before standing up, making her way to the door and slipping on her shoes. "I'm going to go cool my head…I'll be back, okay?" With a ghost of a smile, Zoe left the house without another word.

---

"Maybe Cam's right…I did leave the house for a dumb reason…" Zoe sat on a lone swing in the park, kicking at the gravel beneath her feet. Due to weather reports of chances of rain, and the sky being clouded with gray clouds, nobody was at the park. It was a good thing, too. She didn't want to have to give up her swing for a whiny kid who'd just scream the whole time while being pushed by their parent.

With a sigh, Zoe pushed her feet off the ground, beginning to swing just slightly. Her eyes never left her feet, though. She couldn't take her gaze off of the ground, as well as her mind off of Lovino. He wouldn't give up trying to get her back ever since the breakup and she'd just brushed off his actions as if they were dust. Lovino wasn't being the jerk; she was being the jerk. He would have every reason to yell at her if she did try to apologize. Now, it wasn't just "apologize and go back", but more of a question of "should I apologize and get yelled at or just move on to pass the pain".

A raindrop interrupted Zoe's thoughts as it landed on her nose, taking her into a short moment of shock. She soon relaxed, realizing that it was about to start raining, probably lightly. Though, she wouldn't budge from her seat. She was here to clear her mind, and she'd really only been here for about ten minutes.

"I thought you'd be here…"

The familiar voice behind Zoe triggered her to sigh, as she was too lost in thought to think about getting up to leave. The man sat on the swing beside her, looking up at the gray skies above them. They sat in silence for a while, not even glancing at each other. Finally, Zoe decided to break the silence. "Lovi, what're you doing here?"

Lovino let out a small sigh, as if he knew she would have asked the question sooner or later. "Cam called me just as you left, so I guess you could say I came out to see if you were okay…"

"You didn't have to, y'know… I can handle myself…" Zoe scrunched her nose up a bit, trying not to get angry at Cam for telling him where she was. The two stayed in silence for a while longer, not noticing the drizzle of rain coming down. Zoe sighed inwardly, swallowing her pride about being right, and just as she was about to speak, Lovino piped up at the same time.

"I'm sorry."

Lovino blinked, turning to face Zoe, who was looking as shocked as him. They spoke at the same time, and they were both saying the same thing. Zoe opened her mouth to say something, but decided to let Lovino speak first, since he looked like he was going to speak as well.

"I shouldn't have exploded on you like that… I just didn't want you to go," he admitted. His cheeks tinted a cherry red color as he continued speaking. "And…I guess you could say…I was jealous about you choosing Cam over me…"

Zoe stared at Lovino, guilt washing over her immediately. She shouldn't have exploded on him, not the other way around. Lovino had always been the jealous type, and she knew that better than anyone, but she didn't mean to use it against him unknowingly. He would always yell about the smallest things, but that was because he was used to being in his little brother's shadow. He had a reason.

"Lovi, I should be apologizing… I didn't mean to yell at you and even go as far as insult you…" Zoe sighed, turning her attention back to the ground. "If anything, you should have just let me go because I was being so stupid…"

"I couldn't just let you go since we've been together for such a long time, idiot," Lovino countered, rolling his eyes.

Zoe smiled a bit, taking a quick glance at him. "You still would call me an idiot, even when we're trying to be serious…" She turned her gaze to the sky, noticing the skies slightly clearing up, but not by much. All that could shine through was a couple rays of light.

"Well excuse me, princess," Lovino mumbled to himself. Another moment of silence passed by, but this time it was comfortable. It wasn't tense like before. Breaking the silence with an inward sigh, Lovino spoke up again. "We should just stop this…It's dumb and immature."

"I'd like to…" Zoe paused for a minute before continuing. "But I'm still angry with you." Her gaze was back on the ground, in which Lovino had noticed.

"You really like to shift your gaze a lot, I see," he commented. She picked her head up and glared at him before looking back at the sky as he held his hands up in defense. "I was just saying, no need to get you panties in a bunch, lady." He let out a sigh, and then continued. "I'm really sorry about being such a dick, okay? Why can't you just forgive me already so we stop doing this dumb game of dog hunt?"

"It's not okay," Zoe mumbled.

"What was that?"

"I said, it's not okay." She turned her head and looked at Lovino with a serious gaze, which made him realize he wasn't helping at all. "You can't just come and apologize and think everything will be okay again, especially if you're gonna use a tone that doesn't sound very convincing."

"Well, what am I supposed to do!?" Lovino blurted suddenly, his blood boiling with anger. His face was growing red as well as he became angrier. "You've been ignoring me for the past month and you won't even stop and let me talk to you about this! Do you just not even care anymore?"

"If I didn't care, we wouldn't be having this conversation," Zoe said coldly, glaring at him from the corner of her eyes.

"Then fucking look at me while I'm talking to you! You're not proving anything by just glaring at me and yelling!"

"Actually, you're yelling. I'm speaking in a civilized tone." Rain began to pour down from the skies, almost immediately drenching the two in the park. "If you'd quit being immature, then maybe we could actually talk this out together."

Lovino stood up, clenching his fists out of anger. "I'll start acting mature when you actually look at me! Why is it such a problem for you to look at someone when-!"

"It's because I'm still angry at you!" Zoe stood up, turning and glaring at him with tears bordering her eyes. "I can't believe you made such a fit about me thinking about moving in with Cam!"

"You're the one who blew off when I admitted to eavesdropping, dammit!"

"It's because I thought I knew you better than that! You know that I hate it when people eavesdrop on my conversations, but you went and did it anyways!" Zoe had to raise her voice, considering the rain was literally pouring and their voices were being drowned out by the droplets hitting the cold surface below.

"Well maybe if you weren't so fucking sensitive, you'd probably know that I didn't mean to do it! But no, you're too fucking stubborn to admit that I never meant to eavesdrop!" Lovino took a step closer unconsciously, tears threatening to spill from his own eyes.

"Lovino, you're so full of it! You're the sensitive one who can't admit to your faults, and it's starting to piss me off! Why can't you just admit you're wrong for once?!"

"I'll admit I'm wrong once you forgive me! You're being dumb and not even taking a minute to talk about the argument!"

"That's because I can't bring myself to talk to you! You have courage to talk to me but I'm just a wimp and I don't want you to hate me in the future, okay!? There, I admitted it! I'm wrong and you're right! I'm a sensitive and stubborn girl, but you're not any better! You're as stubborn as they come and you never admit to your faults, no matter how many times people point them out!"

Lovino then grabbed Zoe by the back of her neck, pulling her in for a rough kiss. Neither of the two noticed how close they'd been until just now. Zoe's hands slowly made their way up to Lovino's chest as she gripped his jacket tightly, letting out a choked cry as well. Lovino's hands made their way to her mid-back as he supported her up while hugging her. Zoe buried her face in Lovino's chest, trying to muffle out her sobs as she clung tighter to his soaking-wet jacket. If the rain lightened a bit, it'd look like God was on their side today; but, it never let up. The rain continued on as they stood alone in the park with nobody else around to witness their break down.

---

"You guys were seriously out there for the past hour and a half?!" Cam practically shoved Lovino inside, closing the door behind him as she ran off to get a couple towels for the two people who had just shown up at her doorstep, soaking wet. Zoe was being carried on Lovino's back, seeing as she had fallen asleep from crying too much. "I knew I shouldn't have yelled at Zoe… She does the most unthinkable things sometimes. Sorry about you having to carry her back; just set her down on the couch."

Lovino nodded, making his way to the couch and gently sliding her off his back. He continued to the ground himself until his bottom hit the floor, in which he immediately relaxed and leaned his head back. The past couple weeks had been hectic and stressful, but he was happy that they would finally go back to being the normal weeks of being teased by his friends and being side-by-side with his girlfriend.

His thoughts were interrupted when a towel was dropped on top of his head, which he jumped a bit at. He removed the towel from his face, only to see Cam staring at him with a confused look. "Are you as tired as Zoe is?"

Lovino smirked a bit, closing his eyes again while replying. "If only you knew what I've been through, then you'd understand."

Cam smirked as well, making her way to the kitchen. "Y'know, if you're staying the night, I think you're gonna have to use Zoe's room. She has a couple of your shirts, by the way. She said that she stole them because she wanted to feel like part of you was still with her or something like that."

Lovino rolled his eyes as he got up, making his way to the stairs. He stopped abruptly, turning to look at Cam with a confused expression. "Where are…Zoe's room, and the bathroom?" His cheeks tinted a light pink color as he averted his eyes away from Cam's, trying to hide his embarrassment.

Cam laughed at him as she pointed at the stair case. "Up the stairs and the second door on your right is Zoe's room. You can find a bathroom from there, too." She waited for Lovino to disappear up the stairs before letting out a snort, continuing after with a short insult. "Idiot."