The Captain's Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 97: Chapter 97 - What Are We?

Zac started walking toward her.

Roxie saw it through the shifting bodies on the dance floor.

He had that look again. The one that made people move aside before he even reached them. Black suit open, tie loose, jaw tight, crown still crooked in his hair from the announcement. He looked like the homecoming king everyone had screamed for, but his eyes were fixed on her like the whole room had become something in his way.

Roxie’s fingers tightened around her clutch.

Angela noticed first. ”Roxie.”

Karen turned her head, then muttered, ”Here comes the problem.”

The DJ changed the song, and the room surged back into motion. The king and queen dance had ended, and now everyone was spilling onto the floor again, laughing, clapping, rushing toward friends and dates as if the night had gone back to normal.

It had not.

The send-off dance started bright and loud, the kind of song meant to pull everyone back into the party after the crowning. Students screamed the lyrics. Girls lifted their hands. Boys bumped shoulders near the center of the floor. Kendall disappeared into a cluster of friends, her white dress glowing under the moving lights, her crown still steady in her hair like it belonged there.

Janice stood a little farther back with two girls from student council, watching Zac cross the room.

Roxie saw that too.

Janice had been beside him when Roxie walked in. Kendall had been beside him on stage. Now Zac was walking toward Roxie like she was the only girl in the room, and somehow that made everything worse.

Zac kept coming.

Roxie stepped back.

Angela’s hand found her arm. ”Hey.”

”I’m going home.”

Karen’s expression sharpened. ”Now? You sure?”

”Yes.”

”Roxie,” Angela said, softer this time.

”I’m fine.” Roxie forced a smile that felt like it cracked at the corners. ”Stay. You two are having fun.”

Karen’s eyes narrowed. ”You expect us to let you walk out while Prescott is marching over here like a storm warning?”

Roxie glanced toward Zac again.

He was closer now.

Everyone could see him. Everyone could see her. If he reached her here, in front of the platform, the crown table, the phones, Kendall’s friends, Janice, Mason, Dylan, and every teacher with eyes, then Roxie would have to stand there and either act happy or look humiliated.

She refused to look like a loser.

”I said stay,” Roxie told them, voice low. ”Please.”

Angela looked torn. ”Text us as soon as you get in the car.”

”I will.”

Karen’s jaw tightened. ”If he follows you—”

”Then you can bite him tomorrow.”

Karen looked ready to argue.

Roxie left before she could.

She slipped between two groups near the snack table, moving fast enough that the slit of the dress opened against her thigh with each step. The gold sandals clicked against the gym floor. The music followed her, loud and heavy, swallowing the first call of her name.

”Roxie.”

She kept walking.

The doors opened ahead of her, letting cooler hallway air spill over her skin. She stepped out of the gym and into the corridor, where the music instantly dulled behind the walls. Red and black streamers hung from the ceiling. A few posters from homecoming week lined the lockers, curling at the corners.

Her chest felt too tight.

She walked faster.

The hallway stretched ahead, empty except for a teacher near the bathroom doors and two girls fixing their shoes by a water fountain. Roxie kept her face calm until she passed them. Calm shoulders. Calm walk. Calm chin.

No public breakdown.

No crying in a borrowed Jovani dress.

No giving anyone a story to retell by Monday morning.

”Roxie.”

Zac’s voice came from behind her, closer now.

She kept walking. ”I’m going home.”

”I’ll take you.”

”No.”

”Roxie, please.”

The music faded more with every step, turning into a muffled thump behind them. Roxie pushed through the side doors near the student parking lot and stepped outside.

The night air hit her bare shoulders.

It should have helped.

It did not.

The parking lot was half full, lit by tall lamps that made every car shine at the edges. A few students stood near the curb waiting for rides. Farther away, some boys in suits were laughing too loudly beside a truck. The gym doors swung shut behind Zac, and the music became only a low beat through the brick walls.

Roxie moved toward the sidewalk.

Zac followed.

”Stop.”

She laughed once, sharp and bitter, without turning around. ”That’s funny.”

”Roxie.”

”I said I’m going home.”

”You’re walking in heels.”

”I have Uber.”

”I can drive you.”

”I said no.”

He caught up beside her. ”Can you at least look at me?”

She stopped so fast he nearly passed her.

When she turned, she had to fight to keep her voice quiet because there were still students near the curb, still teachers somewhere by the doors, still a whole school inside ready to feed on anything.

”You want me to look at you?” she said. ”Fine. I’m looking.”

Zac’s face changed when he saw hers.

Maybe she was failing at calm. Maybe the anger had reached her eyes. Maybe the hurt had.

His voice lowered. ”I wanted to talk to you all night.”

Roxie gripped her clutch harder. ”You looked busy.”

His jaw tightened. ”With who?”

She stared at him.

He gave a humorless laugh. ”Janice? Is that what this is?”

”Janice is where it started.”

His face shifted.

Roxie stepped closer, voice low and shaking. ”She was standing beside you when I walked in. Touching your sleeve. Smiling like she had every right to be there. Then Kendall wins queen and you dance with her in front of the whole school. Then I find out your parents went to Kendall’s house after the party, which you somehow forgot to mention.”

Zac’s brows pulled together. ”That was about her phone.”

”I know what it was about.”

”Then why are you acting like I went there for her?”

”Because from where I was standing, everyone can cling to you except me.”

His mouth closed.

Roxie hated that the words came out that clean. She hated that they sounded true.

Zac stepped closer. ”That is not what happened.”

”It looked good on stage.”

His face hardened. ”Are you serious right now?”

”Yes.” Her voice cracked, and she hated him for hearing it. ”You looked good with her. Everyone thought so. The whole gym screamed like they had been waiting to see it.”

”That dance meant nothing.”

”To you.”

”To me,” he said, sharper now. ”It meant nothing to me.”

Roxie laughed under her breath. ”Then you’re lucky.”

His eyes narrowed. ”What does that mean?”

”It means things can mean nothing to you and still make me look stupid.”

Zac stared at her.

The parking lot noise seemed to stretch around them. A car door shut near the curb. Someone laughed, then got quiet when they saw Zac and Roxie facing each other by the sidewalk.

Zac lowered his voice. ”You spent the whole night dancing with every guy who got close enough.”

Roxie’s eyes snapped back to him. ”Excuse me?”

”Noah. Lucas. Whoever that freshman was. You saw me coming and grabbed someone else every time.”

”You were watching?”

”Of course I was watching. You knew I was watching.”

”Then maybe you should have watched Janice too.”

”Janice came beside us. I didn’t ask her to stand there.”

”She looked comfortable.”

”Everyone looks comfortable around me when they want something.”

Roxie gave him a cold smile. ”That must be exhausting for you.”

His jaw flexed. ”That is not fair.”

”Fair?” Her voice rose, then she forced it down when one of the students near the curb glanced over. ”You want fair? I promised you a dance, Zac. I actually thought about it. Then I walked in and saw Janice glued to your side like she was waiting for me to notice.”

”She was nothing.”

”And Kendall?”

His face changed. ”Don’t do that.”

”Why? Because it sounds ugly?”

”Because Kendall is not the problem.”

Roxie stared at him.

The words hit wrong.

Zac seemed to realize it too late.

Roxie nodded slowly. ”Right.”

”Roxie.”

”No, that was perfect.” She gave him another smile, smaller this time. ”Kendall is not the problem. Janice is nothing. The dance meant nothing. Your parents going to her house was nothing. Funny how every girl around you becomes nothing.”

”They are nothing to me.”

The words came hard, fast, almost angry enough to sound true.

Roxie’s chest tightened.

She wanted that to be enough. She wanted to hear him say Janice meant nothing, Kendall meant nothing, every girl around him meant nothing, and let it wipe away the whole night.

It did not.

”Why didn’t you ask me?” she asked.

Zac went still.

The parking lot seemed quieter after that.

He looked confused for a second, then careful. ”Ask you what?”

”To come with you.” Roxie’s throat tightened, but she pushed through it. ”You asked to pick me up. You asked for one dance under the bleachers. But you never asked me to be your date.”

His eyes searched her face. ”Would you have said yes?”

The question hit her exactly where she was already bruised.

Roxie smiled, but it hurt. ”We wouldn’t know, would we?”

She turned and started walking again.

”Roxie.”

She kept going.

This time, his hand caught her wrist.

Not hard enough to hurt, but firm enough to stop her.

Roxie froze.

His fingers wrapped around the skin above her bracelet, warm and tense. The hold lasted only a second before he seemed to realize how it felt. He loosened his grip, but he did not let go completely.

”I wanted to come with you,” he said.

She looked down at his hand.

Then up at his face.

”Then why didn’t you?”

He swallowed. ”Because everything is complicated.”

Roxie laughed again, quieter this time, and the sound came out tired. ”That is such a Zac answer.”

”It’s true.”

”No. It’s convenient.”

His grip slipped from her wrist to her hand. ”Roxie, I swear to you, Janice was not my date. Kendall was homecoming court. That dance meant nothing. I was trying to get to you the whole night.”

”And yet you keep asking me to understand every girl around you while I stand somewhere hidden, waiting for you to be done looking public with them.”

His face changed.

The words sat between them, sharper than she expected.

Roxie pulled her hand free.

Zac let her.

For a second, neither of them spoke.

The gym pulsed behind them. The send-off dance had reached the chorus, and the muffled voices inside rose with it. In the parking lot, a car started. Somewhere near the curb, a girl laughed into her phone.

Roxie stood in front of him in a borrowed emerald dress, borrowed earrings, borrowed sandals, with all her fake confidence falling apart around the one question she had been avoiding since the bedroom, since the bleachers, since every hidden touch made her feel claimed while every public room made her feel alone.

She looked at him.

”What are we, Zac?”

His brows drew together. ”What do you mean?”

Roxie’s voice shook, but this time she let it.

”What are we?”