He leans forward and I can see the twinkle of interest in his crystal blue eyes peaking through his bangs, "Now tell me all about this problem you have gotten yourself into."
When I am finally done explaining all that has happened so far, Zac looks an equal amount of amused and sad.
"Your life certainly keeps you on your toes", he says like he doesn't have an interesting life.
"How are the protests going?" I ask diverting from my problems at the moment.
My love floats around the cafe looking bored and uninterested.
"Oh you know, a few fist fights and a lot of painting, so normal I guess." My love snickers and I groan, normal my ass.
"How does your dad feel about that?" I ask already knowing the answer.
He leans back on his chair looking at the ceiling, his eyes are entirely covered by his bangs and a wave of sadness and bitterness passes.
"Like every other cop in the city does." A jab that has always existed since high school.
"He worries about you," I insist.
He looks at me, his one eye visible, cloudy, "I know." And that's how it's always been. It's always complicated but at least they care about each other.
Zac smiles and just like that the gloomy atmosphere is gone, "Tell me about this break in"
I tell him how I am about to break into one of the biggest law firms in the country, My love complains that it's not interesting enough and Zac seems to be reflecting her reaction, I wonder once again if this hallucination of mine is visible to others too.
"And how exactly are you going to ensure you don't get caught in the cameras? you don't have Nyx anymore to hack into them and wipe them out," He questions.
And that stills me for a moment before my love supplies, "The ninja"
I continue the sentence aloud, "Merlin, Arthur's bodyguard, I am sure he can just turn them off after getting into the main office."
"Sure," he says and he seems suspicious, of what I am not sure.
"Unless you are willing to come help in the break-in?" I joke.
"We could use your lockpicking skills."
Amused he says, "Nyx taught us all to lockpick."
"But you are the best" I throw back smiling, I had missed this. Zac was the best, He always took me back to the good old days, days when we were goofing off and doing too many illegal things that never made it to our files.
Zac chuckles, "I am a good citizen, I don't participate in any illegal activities."
My love who was now floating right next to Zac snorts, "I knew you were my favourite for a reason."
I snort too, "You are actively participating in a protest"
"A peaceful protest, which is a fundamental right," He corrects like he wasn't talking to a lawyer right now.
I roll my eyes, "All the bruised faces would disagree."
Zac and my love say at the same time, "They started it first!"
"Really not helping your case right now" I sigh.
It was always Zac and Nyx being reckless and, Gwen and I had to constantly stop them and vice versa. All the fights Nyx and Zac had gotten into, all the times we had ended up in the police office facing Zac's dad. We were all rebelling in our own ways.
Zac hates cops, his dad is a cop, but Zac loves his dad. All true facts. We all were twisted, we still are.
We talk for an hour more, about everything, about nothing, just the way it's always been.
When the hour is up, Zac is the first one to get up, "I am supposed to meet my dad in a bit, I should get going," his voice is strained.
"See you later? Don't ghost me again ok?" he says, and just like that he is gone.
I just stare forward till his lila-coloured hair vanishes from my sight.
I tighten my coat, trying and failing to hug myself.
It felt so cold, It was January, But it felt so different, my insides were cold not my skin.
I get up and walk. I just walked, unsure of where I was going. I just walked.