As Fate Would Have It Ch. 03

He smiled at her, "Hi, I'm Quinn." He told her, holding out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Zoe." She replied, taking his hand.

He had medium-length, mousy brown hair and light brown eyes. His skin was tanned and he had fine facial features.

"British?" he asked, smiling warmly at her accent.

She offered him a brief smile, "Yes, I'm from London. You?"

"California, Los Angeles. You would think I would have been to New York by now, wouldn't you?" he asked, chuckling slightly.

Zoe shrugged and the conversation flowed easily from there as they drove through the massive city, the tour guide's voice droning on in the background from the front of the bus, as the traffic slowed them to a stop.

At a few spots, they got out and looked around, including the empire state building and the world trade centre. They could look around in Time Square but not for as long as Zoe and Quinn would have liked. Due to the slow traffic, they were already well behind schedule.

Zoe laughed with Quinn, "They're meant to be tour guides. You would think they'd know enough about the city to account for the terrible traffic, wouldn't you?" Quinn chuckled as they made their way back to the bus.

Finally, they left the bus behind and the tour group walked down Wall Street toward the boat that awaited them to tour around the Statue of Liberty. The thing Zoe had been most looking forward to. Having found a friend in Quinn, she sat next to him on the boat and talked about London, comparing it to what he knew of Los Angeles.

He informed her that from one side of the country to the other was almost as different as London and New York. She didn't believe him.

The Statue of Liberty was everything she'd imagined. It stood grandly, towering over the boat as they toured around. The sun was setting and they stood on top of the boat, smiling at the beautiful setting. Once night fell, they admired the lights of the city, before heading back inside the boat where they were serving dinner. They got along well and Zoe hoped they could stay in touch over, become genuine friends. She liked the idea of having friends all over the world. Especially ones she genuinely liked and got along with like Quinn.

Once the boat landed again, the tour was over.

"Where are you staying?" Quinn asked.

Zoe told him the name of her hotel and found out he was staying only a few blocks away, at a backpacker's hotel.

"Share a cab?" She asked.

He smiled graciously and agreed, deciding to drop her off at her building. By now it was almost 9 o'clock and Zoe was exhausted, having been walking much of the day.

They called a cab and climbed in. It was almost 9.30 by the time they arrived at her building.

"Would have been faster to walk." Quinn told her.

"Not if I died of exhaustion." Zoe pointed out, climbing out of the cab behind him.

He grinned, "I would have carried you." He told her.

"No, you wouldn't have. You would have left me there. You're definitely more of an 'every man for himself' kind of guy" Zoe informed him, smiling.

Quinn just shook his head and climbed the steps to her building, waiting for her at the top.

Oooooooooooooooooooo

Peter had gotten back to his room just after 4.00pm. Exhausted, he'd collapsed into bed, sleeping for a solid four hours before he pulled himself from the couch and stumbled down the street to get some dinner somewhere.

He felt like a wreck and he was sure he looked worse. Though that hadn't stopped various women flirt with him throughout the day. Both outside of the conference group and within. He had a dinner which took far too long to prepare for the quality of the meal. By the time, he finally made his way back the hotel, he was so tired he could barely put one leg in front of the other.

Spending the entire night awake before a big day is never a good idea. Spending the entire night hitting and being hit by big men was the worst idea.

He froze when he saw her standing at the top of the steps. She saw him standing with a young man, from this distance he couldn't make out who it was. He saw him lean in and kiss her cheek. He felt the jealousy rise in his chest.

He knew it was unreasonable. He had no reason to be jealous. No right. But he was.

He began climbing the steps, there were not that many and with new energy of anger and jealousy he had no trouble climbing to the top quite quickly.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

The young man looked up at him then back down to Zoe as if to see whether she knew him or not. The fact that they both had British accents probably clued him in a little bit. He saw Zoe clench her jaw.

"Who are you?" the man asked, looking him up and down.

Peter clenched his jaw now. He knew there was no right answer to that question. Her friend? Her teacher? Acquaintance?

"It's complicated. Leave her alone." He hissed through his teeth.

The man frowned, looking as if he was beginning to get angry but dared not challenge Peter.

"He's just... a friend." Zoe told the man, touching his arm gently. Peter didn't miss the gesture, his jaw tightening again.

The man looked back at her, "Ok, well, thanks for a great day. I hope we can see each other again some time." He smiled and then took off down the steps, giving her a brief wave as he left.

They both stood in silence until he left.

"Who was that?" Peter asked, trying to keep his voice neutral.

"A friend I suppose." Zoe said, turning to walk toward the building. "Not that it's any of your business." She added.

"Do you even know him?" Peter asked, following after her. "I can see the way every man looks at you Zoe. They all want the same thing."

She didn't reply.

"Zoe. Come on, you can't just walk around like you don't know what they want from you. Don't ignore it. You will just get hurt. Or taken advantage of." He told her.

She still said nothing as she swung the door open and marched through, not bothering to hold it open for him.

He growled in frustration and followed her inside.

"Zoe, you can't ignore it." He called after her. "You know what they want. I know what they want. I see the way they all look at you. All of them."

Peter was almost surprised when she actually turned around. "And you? Like that's not what you want? So, what? I should hang out with you and not them because what you want is different? So, I shouldn't give people a chance? I shouldn't try to make friends? What do you want me to do?" She asked.

"No I-" he started.

She cut him off, "I'm pretty sure the last time I saw you, you told me we shouldn't see each other. Yet you want to criticize me and the people I hang out with who I'm actually allowed to like."

"I can't help it." He mumbled to the ground.

"You can't help it?" She shook her head and laughed bitterly. "I guess this is just like the kiss then, an accident."

Oooooooooooooooooooo

She could feel the tears welling in her eyes. Jack had been right, and she'd gone out that day and actually succeeded in forgetting about the previous night. Now, here he was, just making it more difficult for me.

"Why are you trying to make this so difficult?" her lip trembled. She spun and marched toward the elevator, determined not to let him see her cry.

His arm flicked out and grabbed hers. "I'm so sorry Zoe." She saw the tears in his eyes as she looked up at him. She could see the honesty in his eyes. He meant it.

"You're killing me." He whispered.

She felt the anger and hurt melting away. Just like that. She looked up at him, noticing for the first time the dark circles under his red eyes. She saw the light purple bruises which decorated his face and neck as far as his clothing revealed.

She looked down at his hands, his left one still gripping her arm. His knuckles were purple and swollen, some of them split.

"What have you done?" she whispered.