SAFE & SOUND ➝ ZONOVAN.
TAGGING ➝ Zoey Holliday, Donovan Smythe.
LOCATION ➝ Don’s house.
TIME FRAME ➝ 7/27, evening.
WARNINGS ➝ None.
NOTES ➝ Donovan helps Zoey quit freaking out about their relationship.
ZOEY HOLLIDAY
It wasn’t Don’s fault, the fact that Zoey was still so weird about all of this stuff. It really wasn’t Noah’s either, although she definitely could’ve done without him putting things like failure and marriage in her head, because now all she could think about was how right he was. They weren’t kids anymore, they were at the age where a relationship was either destined to go the whole way or it was going to fall apart, and considering she and Donovan were best friends, the consequences for them were bigger than most. Still, it wasn’t fair of her to make Don feel like he’d done anything wrong, because he hadn’t. Besides maybe implying she was a dick, but Zoey had done it to him first, so she couldn’t really say anything about that. She’d decided adamantly that she wasn’t going to go to his place tonight, that she was going to take some time to herself and catch her breath, but of course her boyfriend was the only thing she could think about, and now the fight they may or may not have been in. So, against her own judgment, she found herself in her car and making the long drive to Donovan’s house, only growing more annoyed with the situation the closer she got. By the time she’d arrived and let herself in, there was a deep scowl displayed on her face, and Zoey crossed her arms as she made her way into the house and to her boyfriend. “You don’t get to just be an asshole like that,” she hissed, bringing a hand up to run through her messy hair. “It’s like you don’t get it.” Zoey shook her head, voice laced with unwarranted anger. “You don’t get how serious and how.. severe this is.” She motioned between the two of them with her car key. “You just don’t fucking get it, okay? No one gets it.”
DONOVAN SMYTHE
Donovan was done for the night. After Zoey had made it clear that she wasn’t coming over, he had pretty much just given up for the night. His plan was to cook the two of them dinner again, but now that she wasn’t going to come over, he just ate some random food he had in his refrigerator. And now, he was just lying on his couch, still trying to figure out what had gone wrong. None of it made any sense to him. But Zoey didn’t make much sense to him anyway. She was always running from this. And he was getting pretty tired of it all. A groan left his mouth as he heard his front door swing open. He didn’t need to turn his head to see who it was. He already knew exactly who it was. Plus, she didn’t give him much time to speculate before she started griping at him. “I’m not doing this, Zoey,” he mumbled out, refusing to move from his comfortable spot on his couch. He folded his arms over his chest and continued lying there, glancing up at her as she spoke. “Whatever fight you want to have. I am not interested,” he sighed. “I am too old for this shit. Either you want to be with me or you don’t. I’m not going to have the same argument with you freaking out about us every couple weeks.” And that wasn’t really completely true. He would rather fight with Zoey than have anything with anyone else, but he wasn’t about to tell her that right now. She’d probably freak out even more. It was really hard to tell what was going on with her, but he just knew that he was tired of it all.
ZOEY HOLLIDAY
It wasn’t that she even wanted to fight. Truth be told, that was the last thing she wanted. Any disagreement could be a step closer toward their relationship failing, and that was terrifying. So was the fact that every positive instance would be a step closer to the whole marriage thing, though. Honestly, Zoey was just scared. She was overwhelmed and handling her emotions in entirely the wrong way. It was a good thing at least one of them was keeping a level head here, though it certainly wasn’t her. “You’re ridiculous if you think I actually want to fight,” she muttered, eyes rolling in annoyance. The fact that he was so calm about this bothered her, though. It just annoyed her further, and that really wasn’t fair, but she couldn’t help it. Her eyes narrowed in on him. “Really? That’s your response to this? You don’t care that there’s clearly something very wrong here, you’d rather just throw the whole,” she deepened her voice to imitate him, “‘Be with me or don’t’ shit out there. That’s awesome, Don. Really.” Pulling her focus from him, she tossed her keys down with a little force onto the other couch, then slipped her phone from her back pocket, pulling up her texts with Noah. Approaching the couch where Donovan was still laying, she shoved her phone towards him. “How am I not supposed to freak out about this shit?” She turned the screen toward herself, reading aloud. “It’ll end up sucking or you’ll get married. It only ends two ways. Either Don’s gonna dump you or you’ll be Mrs. Don one day. How the fuck does that not freak you out, Donovan?”
DONOVAN SMYTHE
There was always something going on here. This relationship was hard. Whoever had the idea that falling in love with your best friend was easy, was clearly a fucking moron because there was nothing easy about Donovan and Zoey’s relationship. It hadn’t been easy since the very beginning. And Don didn’t think it was going to get any easier anytime soon. At least not tonight because despite his indifference to an argument, it still seemed as though his girlfriend had other ideas. She was still freaking out, even though he was not returning her energy at all. “I’m not going to pressure you into telling me what’s wrong. You’re a grown woman. Clearly something’s wrong with you, but I can’t make you tell me,” he responded, shrugging his shoulders. He didn’t play games. He wasn’t going to pester her into opening up to him. At this point, he figured she was comfortable enough in their relationship to tell him what was going on on her own. He shouldn’t have to beg her to let him in on whatever is going through her mind. He wanted to say more in response to her, but he knew that would lead to the fight that he was avoiding having. He watched as she pulled her phone out, preparing himself for whatever she was going to read off to him. He brought his hand up to rub his tired eyes as he shook his head at her. “Zo, that means nothing. That’s the trajectory of every relationship. Even if you’re five years old and you’re with your first girlfriend. Either you’re gonna marry her or you’re gonna break up. Every single relationship only ends two ways. Well, three ways if you include, you know, passing away...” He mumbled, shaking his head. “That doesn’t freak me out. I don’t care about it. I care about you. And I’m wondering why one stupid text caused you to spiral.”
ZOEY HOLLIDAY
Again, this wasn’t Don’s problem. This wasn’t Don’s fight. Yet of course here Zoey was, still making it into something it didn’t need to be, and the way Donovan seemed so nonchalant about it was only making things worse in her mind. It didn’t make sense to her that she was the only one freaking out. Then again, she was proving to be totally crazy when it came down to their relationship, so it really wasn’t all that surprising. “I’m not asking you to pressure me, but a little concern might be nice,” she scoffed, annoyed at herself now, because when had she been the type of person who needed prompting? Or for anybody to show concern for her? She’d always been incredibly strong, fiercely independent; it was kind of pathetic that she was apparently changing so much now that her guard was lowering. Perhaps that was why she was so intent on keeping it raised as high as possible. In her mind, she was positive that Don was going to feel exactly the same way she did when she’d read out the texts, so for him to still seem so calm was weird, and it caused her to shut up for a moment, just looking at him in confusion. “It doesn’t scare you?” She finally asked, pitch unintentionally a little higher. Zoey took a moment to calm herself, and eventually lowered down onto the edge of the couch, staring off at the opposite wall. She brought a hand up to run through her hair, head shaking slowly. “Dude, what the fuck is wrong with me?” She questioned, voice much less angered by now. Honestly, she was just kind of concerned, and entirely confused. “Why is this so hard for me?”
DONOVAN SMYTHE
Donovan could understand where Zoey was coming from. Before the two of them got together, he really was not looking for anything serious. But it was kind of impossible for them to not be something serious. They were best friends. And as much as they probably wanted to, they could not have just hooked up without making it into something more. The feelings were there. It was kind of scary, but he had already given up on trying to hide how he felt about Zoey. He knew that this wasn’t something that was going to end anytime soon, and when it did end, he was pretty sure it was going to end messily. Still, he didn’t want to fight with her now. He could have retorted that he’d tried being concerned via text, but she hadn’t given him a straight answer, which was how they’d ended up here. He shook his head at her question. None of this really scared him. Well, at least not whatever that stupid text was. Sure, he worried about how their relationship would shake out, especially since they had a knack for arguing all the time. That sort of passion didn’t bode well when it came to relationship longevity. A small sigh left his lips as he pulled himself up from his spot on the couch, walking over to rest his hands on her shoulders. “Nothing’s wrong with you, Zoey,” he sighed out, bringing his eyes to meet hers. “Not everyone is cut out for this,” he shrugged, bringing his hand down to motion between the two of them. “If you want to pump the brakes on us for a while, I’ll be okay. I get it if you’re not ready for all of this.”
ZOEY HOLLIDAY
These were probably not the kind of issues Zoey should be discussing with her boyfriend. They were something a person would go to their best friend about. It just happened that Donovan was both of those things for her, though. He was the person she would always go to, and apparently that wasn’t going to change, even when the problem involved him. She clearly had some organization to do in her mind about what was and wasn’t appropriate to discuss with him now that he was her boyfriend, and that really was apart of the problem. She couldn’t deny that his hands on her shoulders were kind of comforting, though. Don’s presence had always been a comforting one to her, that wasn’t something that was going to change. Without saying anything, Zoey brought her gaze up to meet Donovan’s, just looking at him as he spoke. There was a definite sadness to her expression. As confused as she was, though, she did know one thing, and that was that she wasn’t ready to give up on this, so adamantly shook her head at his words. “No, that’s not what I want. That’s what I’m scared of, in fact,” she admitted, for once actually opening up. It was very unlike her, but she was here now, she might as well go ahead and do it. “It actually kind of sucks that you’d be okay with that. Which I know is really selfish, but,” she shrugged. “I guess I just never realized that this would have such a big outcome for us. I never want to lose you, you know? But thinking that it’s either lose you or, you know,” she paused, almost choking on the words, “Marry you… It’s just a lot, it’s a lot to think about.” Her voice softened a little as she trained her gaze on him, “I don’t ever want to lose you.”
DONOVAN SMYTHE
It did break his heart to see Zoey freaking out so much. As her best friend, he wanted to tell her to stop worrying about a relationship that had just started up. But as her boyfriend, he kind of like that she cared so much. He just wished it hadn’t brought her to the verge of tears in his living room. Truth be told, he didn’t want to slow things down between the two of them, but he would really do anything for her, so if she was scared to the point that she wanted to see him less then he would agree to that. Her happiness would always come before his. “I wouldn’t be okay with it,” he spoke up, clearing his throat a little. He really did hate seeing her like this, but it wasn’t all that surprising. She hadn’t really been all that comfortable with their relationship in the first place. He knew their relationship was a little strange. Neither one of them was sure what speed they were supposed to be going. Their minds were still catching up to their bodies, so things were still a little out of whack sometimes. “I would do anything for you, Zo. It would break my heart to stop seeing you as much, but I’d do it,” he said with a small shrug. “Hey, babe. Stop,” he mumbled out, making sure his eyes were still locked with his. “Take a deep breath,” he instructed, taking in a deep breath himself. “I don’t have any plans to propose to you anytime soon, okay? But I’m also not going anywhere,” he muttered with a small smile. “I am not going anywhere,” he repeated dropping his hand to reach for hers.
ZOEY HOLLIDAY
It wasn’t in her nature to let down her guard so much, and Zoey definitely did not cry in front of anybody. She rarely cried when she was alone, so the fact that she was fighting back tears now was almost foreign to her, but she was determined not to let them properly form. This whole situation was just frustrating, and she was overwhelmed with her own stupid feelings. Fortunately, Donovan was a comfort to her, even if he was the one she’d been so worked up about in the first place. Apparently, he could see the way she was feeling, but she appreciated him not pointing it out. She really didn’t know how much she needed someone to just be as gentle with her as Donovan currently was, not until now. Following his lead, she sucked in a breath, slowly exhaling as she looked up at him. “Okay,” she finally agreed, her hand automatically reaching for his the moment it’d lowered. Just that contact, the simple feeling of her fingers intertwining with her boyfriend’s, was enough to make her feel instantly better, and Zoey shot him a small, appreciative smile in response. “You know you’re so much better at this than I am, huh?” Her expression turned somewhat apologetic as she gently tugged him down onto the couch beside her. In keeping with the fact that she was evidently doing things outside of her comfort zone this evening, she hesitated for the briefest of seconds, before scooting over to climb sideways into Donovan’s lap, her head resting against his chest. “Are you sure you can deal with all of this crazy?” She mumbled, not bothering to lift her head to look at him. She was taking comfort in the feeling of his heartbeat, though she wouldn’t admit that aloud.
DONOVAN SMYTHE
Donovan was an expert in calming Zoey down. He had gotten loads of practice over the years. He just wasn’t so used to being the reason why she was freaking out. That was something he would probably have to get used to. Still, he was good at being the guy that was able to get her to breathe through her meltdown. It wasn’t like their relationship wasn’t reciprocal. She was the only person who could really help him whenever he was going through something. They just dealt with things different. He usually just shut down emotionally and ignored the problem, while Zoey liked to pick a fight. It felt good to feel her hand in his again. He could almost feel her calming down a little bit, or maybe he was just hopeful that he was getting through to her. Either way, he knew he didn’t want to let go of her anytime soon. “You’re not as bad at this as you think you are,” he mumbled out, sending her a reassuring smile. Things were definitely rocky, but the two of them were still hanging in there. And it was clear that neither one of them wanted to end this anytime soon. A sigh escaped from his mouth as he fell onto the couch next to her, immediately wrapping his arm around her as she climbed onto his lap. Pressing a small kiss to the top of her head, he shook his head at her words. “You’re the only crazy I want to deal with,” he joked, letting out a small chuckle. He didn’t even really notice it when he started tracing small circles on her arm with his fingers. But he did notice how comfortable all of this felt. Holding her in his arms. “I’m falling for you,” he admitted a little breathlessly. The words had even caught himself off guard. “I’m not saying that to send you into another panic. I just want you to know that I don’t want to lose you either...”
ZOEY HOLLIDAY
They both knew Zoey was not good at this. She’d had a total of one serious relationship in her entire twenty-nine years on Earth, and she’d sucked at it then, too. The fact that Donovan was at least trying to reassure her made her smile, though. Just a small smile, but it was there, and that was what mattered. “Right,” she mumbled, her fingers automatically lacing with his, while her thumb began to brush slowly along his knuckles. This was so weird to her, this need to be taken care of, but she wasn’t going to fight it. She was comfortable as she laid against her boyfriend, the kiss to the top of her head only soothing her more. Of course, his words caused her heart to race all over again, and Zoey could’ve definitely freaked out right there and then, but somehow she didn’t. Instead, she just squeezed his hand gently, turning her face to press a small kiss to his chest. “I know,” she whispered. Words were hard for her, she was pretty sure Donovan wasn’t expecting her to actually return what he’d said, but she hoped her actions would be enough to tell him without her literally saying so. “It’s okay, I’m not panicking. You scare me, but not enough to actually make me run.” She paused for a moment, just taking in the stillness, the way his presence somehow made things easier for her, before glancing up at him through her lashes. “If I ever do run, by the way, I’ll be so pissed if you don’t chase after me. Just so you know.”
DONOVAN SMYTHE
There was no doubt in his mind that Donovan had already completely fallen for Zoey, but he wasn’t going to admit all of that just yet. He was still surprised that he’d been able to tell her that he was actively falling for her. The fear that Zoey would get scared off and run was always looming in the back of his mind. And as much as he wanted to chase after her, he knew that it wouldn’t really be fair to him if that was the constant dynamic of their relationship. He liked being able to calm her down though. He enjoyed holding her in his arms while she rested her head against him. It felt good to know that he could be there for her. Admitting that he was falling for her had been hard, but he hadn’t been expecting her to say anything back. He knew her well enough to know that those words weren’t going to fall from her lips anytime soon. Or ever, really. He smiled to himself when she replied to him. She didn’t have to say the exact words that he had for him to know how she felt about him. “I won’t let you go,” he promised, sending a small reassuring smile in her direction. “You know, you haven’t kissed me today,” he said, replacing his small smile with more of a grin. He leaned down and pressed a small kiss to her lips before pulling away slightly. “Now that we’ve handled all of that. Please tell me you’re staying over tonight.”
ZOEY HOLLIDAY
As bad as she felt for not being able to openly return Donovan’s words, she was glad that he was clearly already secure enough in their relationship to know that she felt the same way, too. He’d always been able to read her, that was just how their dynamic worked. Maybe things had changed a little bit in the fact that Zoey apparently needed him to protect her the way he currently was as she sat comfortably in his lap, but that was only a natural progression. They’d gone from friends to something more, after all. “Good,” she mumbled, pressing a lazy kiss to his chest through the fabric of his shirt. She was definitely the type of person who needed to be left alone to cool down whenever she was angry, but the idea of Donovan giving her that space bothered her now, so at least they were on the same page. As he spoke, Zoey glanced up at him, her lips curving into a small smile as his pressed against them. “I know,” she murmured against his lips, turning around in his lap to face him better. Her hand reached up to settle delicately against his cheek, with Zoey leaning in to reconnect their lips again. “Of course I am, weirdo.”
