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Chapter eleven of Mr.Popular is a Catfish enjoy!

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Today was the first day that Alex and I were going to get together to complete one of our many adventures we were going to the Museum of Moving Images and I was excited. I made sure to have my phone all night so it could be fully charged and also made sure to charge my on-the-go charger just in case our phones run low on battery. I had woken up early and made sure to clean up my room and met my mom and brother downstairs for breakfast. It was a calm breakfast. There were no tears and no mention of my dad. It was as if we had either already forgotten about him or the least pretended we had or the mention of my dad would just cause us to break down. And the thought of having to let out those emotions and then pretend everything was fine before we went to work or school was dreading.

We were okay for now, even if that was just in our heads

We chit-chatted for a bit and told each other our plans for the day before we cleaned up the kitchen and I headed back upstairs to get ready. I took a shower making sure to wash my hair and brush my teeth. I applied some leave-in conditioner to my hair and grabbed the blow dryer to dry my hair. It still wasn't completely warm outside even though it was Spring break. After drying my hair, I put some oil giving it a shiny look before brushing it back into a ponytail and braiding it. I then moved on to my outfit. Alex told me we were going to be riding the train and walking around New York that being said I wanted to wear something comfortable but cute. I grabbed a black thin long sleeve and some black leggings. I then grabbed a light beige color cropped jacket put on some socks and tied on my high-top Converse. I went back to the bathroom and started applying some light makeup desperately wanting to cover the huge pimple on my temple. Why did Mount Everest want to make an appearance today? I got my mini black Marc Jacobs tote bag and placed all my personal belongings made my way downstairs and sat on the couch until Alex arrived so we could start walking together from my house.

I grabbed my laptop that was on the sofa and went on Twitter. I went to my inbox and saw a few unread messages from Julian that were sent a couple of days ago. He had sent me some funny tweets and videos but we haven't communicated much. I reacted to the videos and saw he was already typing back.

Julian- good morning, Zoe. Sorry, I've been MIA. Life's been a little hectic lately. Hope you're doing okay

Me- morning, Juju. Don't worry about it—I get it. I've been holding up. Heading to the city soon. The party the other night was...interesting, but I think I'm gonna lay low for a while. There's just too much going on at home, and those parties aren't helping. What about you? Any plans for today?

Julian- Sounds like a good idea to take a step back. One day at a time, right? I'm hanging out with a friend from school today. Might hit a few stores, grab some food, just a chill day.

Me- that sounds nice. And yeah, I think I need to take it easy for a bit. Oh, what part of the city are you heading to?

Me- Queens?

Me- Brooklyn?

Me- Manhattan?

Julian- slow down, detective. Honestly, we don't have a specific plan yet—probably just gonna wander around.

Julian- might end up all over the place. Or we could just hang out at her place or mine. Who knows?

Her place, huh? Sounds... fun

Zoe- sounds like a flexible day. Hope you enjoy it!

Great it's a girl

He never even met you my brain shouted at me. Do you think he has a crush on on stranger? For all he knows you could be a boy behind the phone catfishing him or worse a pervert. Wait a minute he could be the old pervert man trying to kidnap me.

Me- Weird question do you mind sending me a picture of you? You don't happen to be a perverted old man trying to lure me in and kidnap me and eventually sell me to a mafia or something haha

I saw my message be delivered, seen by him, and then I saw three bubbles pop up and they disappeared. He was no longer active. I was left in read.

Oh no I had busted him. He was a chill person to text here and there and took my mind off of things. But hey at least now I won't be texting an old perverted dude right? Unless he already tracked down my IP address and knows where I live. He's probably planning how he's going to take me. Sweet niblets I'm doomed. "I see the swelling went down on your cheek. How was the game?" Zayn said picking up my feet that were lying on the couch and placing them on the floor so he could sit next to me.

Rude I was comfortable dude

"Oh I forgot mom told me to give you something, it's from the both of us," I lied I balled up my fist and with my other hand pretended I was wheeling something I lifted my middle finger. He looked at me blankly and then I balled up my fist again and punched me on his shoulder. But that didn't bring him any pain just brought me pain. "Anyways loser what are you doing today?" He asked not affected by me flipping him the bird or punching him. Maybe Chase was right, I am weak.

Alex, where are you with my boxing lessons?

"I'm working on my spring break project. I got paired up with a partner and we had to go to different places and document our trip there. How about you? What do you have planned? You're not leaving anytime soon I hope." I asked him not wanting his visit to be a short one, he just got back. I just got my brother back, I wasn't ready to let him go. "Actually I'm not leaving any time soon. I have meetings with my agent and different leagues set up. I'm looking to play for a different team, hopefully one here in New York. Preferably the Yankees if they will have and want me. I think it's time for me to be closer to home. It's been long enough being separated from you guys, I need my family around me, or just closer to me." He told me looking towards the television stand that still had a bunch of family pictures of us.

"Zayn what was Dad holding over your head that made you keep this secret in for so long?" I found myself asking him. He looked down at his hands and shook his head. "My whole life." He said sighing before he continued "My whole life I dreamt of making it big. I was never really book smart like Dad and how you are. My hands, my body, and my motivation of wanting to become a baseball player and make it on a Major League Baseball team drove me to be where I am today. Zoe, I passed classes in high school but what got me my scholarship was baseball. Without baseball, I don't know who I am. I've played for hours and trained hard. Trying to make Dad happy, Mom was always happy she saw the love I had for the sport. You motivated me to keep pushing. I just got done with practice one day and I overheard Dad on the phone. He was so distracted that he failed to notice me coming up from behind. I couldn't hear exactly what the other person on the other line was saying but she had a feminine voice. I heard him saying he would be back soon, that he wouldn't miss Jocelyn's audition for the world. He would be home before they knew it." Zayn laughed bitterly. "I quickly moved myself from behind him so he wouldn't know I overheard his conversation. I played dumb but I knew something was up. For seven weeks whenever I had the chance, I followed him. To work, to the grocery store, to the house. He wasn't meeting anyone until one day he was going to one of his seminars, he had told us it was going to be in Houston Texas. A three-week seminar. We had said our goodbyes and I lied saying I was going to the batting cages to practice and was going to stay over Andrew's house. I had trailed him. I thought he was going to go to the airport and get on a flight. To my surprise, he had driven across state lines to Philadelphia and pulled over to a two-story home. And out came a woman and a girl just about your age running over to his car and attacking him with hugs."

"I thought maybe it was a detour, he was visiting a friend, a family member but when the woman placed her arms around his neck and he brought his head down to peck her on the lips it confirmed everything. He had another life. He had another family besides us. I had put a tracker on his car later that night to see his movements. Did you know you can learn how to break into a car on YouTube? Comes in real handy. I was able to get into his car to put the tracker, a little wire in the briefcase he left in his car, and a voice recorder under his seat. I documented everything. I was going to have him come clean to us. Admit all his wrongdoings, not just to our family but his family as well. Because I assumed his other partner did not know. But to my surprise, Patricia knew very well about us. She knew exactly what we were up to, and knew our next plans and our vacation plans before we knew. She did not care that Dad was married. She felt content because she still had a roof over her head and food on the table for her and Jocelyn, all their bills were being paid, and she had no worries. Dad threatened to end my career in baseball. He told me after he was done with me no team or school would want me. Who would want a player that used steroids and was a druggie?"

"I wanted to tell Mom so bad. I wanted to yell at him every chance I got. But he wiggled my career in front of me every chance he got. Making sure I would not speak about what I had discovered. So when I got accepted to play for the school and be part of their baseball team, I ran at full speed. I left. I had promised myself to come back one day and face him. I kept all the proof I had collected from way back then and put it all out on the table for Mom and Dad when I came home. I yelled at him and again I recorded everything he said fearing that he would still make up lies about me to end the career that I worked so hard for. I kept my head down when I needed to and put on the best performance during practices and games to be here today. I wished things were different. But he hasn't changed. He continued that relationship even though he knew that I knew. That's when I realized he didn't care for us. He just liked having two homes he could come and go to whenever he pleased as he grew tired of one. I hope you can forgive me for not telling you sooner." Zayn said finishing his story and looking over at me.

"I'm sorry you had to keep this all in for so many years. Guess we weren't a picture-perfect family after all. I just can't believe he lied to us for so many years. It was all a reality show for him. We were the ones getting punk'd. I'm a little upset over one thing though," I told him and he gave me a questioning look "What are you upset about?" He asked "Why didn't you invite me to be your partner while you were investigating? Don't you know it's always better to work in pairs than acting solo solo?" I told him nudging his shoulder and laughing a bit. "Whenever I need a partner for any case I'll come to you first. I promise." He said giving me his pinky. I latched my pinky to his and said, "You better loser."

Our little sibling bonding moment was cut short when the doorbell rang letting me know my baby daddy was there. I grabbed my belongings and rushed to the door yelling bye to Zayn. I yanked the door open to see Alex holding some flowers in his hands. "Sorry I was late I saw these as I was on my way here and I thought of you," he said giving me the flowers.

I smiled widely at the flowers taking them in one hand and giving my baby daddy a side hug making sure I don't crush the flowers "Thank you so much da- Alex. Thank you, Alex," I said emphasizing his name.

The daddy's name almost slipped out

Save that for the bedroom Zoe

"Anytime Zoe, I'll give you a few minutes to go put them in water- " he started saying before I felt Zayn come up from behind me "Zoe you didn't tell me your partner was a boy," Zayn started saying and before Alex or I can respond he continued "and red roses? Is your partner here confessing his love for you? Mom didn't tell me you had a boyfriend. If she did I would've thrown you a huge party to celebrate. I would've even added a huge banner outside saying "My little sister finally has a boyfriend" in all caps. So where is the first spot you guys going to? The alter? Since Zoe here might not find herself another boyfriend she's gonna want to tie the knot, throw away the key, and never get a divorce," Zayn said laughing hugging me.

"Zayn shut up," I yelled at him. I could feel my cheeks getting bright red from the embarrassment. Leave it to big brothers to make a full out of you in front of your crush. "I'm not getting married anytime soon. And I don't have a boyfriend for your information!" I said slapping his shoulder.

"Wait but I thought we had plans to elope in the courthouse," I find Alex saying getting down on one knee and holding up a pretend ring. I looked down at the flowers, up at Zayn, and down at Alex. "Oh Alex, my little sweetie pie," I said pinching his cheeks "You must think I'm desperate enough to get married at a courthouse. But I want the whole shebang I'm talking destination wedding, big rock on this finger, a go big or go home type of wedding," I told him waving my left hand and showing him the empty hand with no big rock on it. "Now Zayn why don't you be a doll like Ken and go put these flowers in a cute vase? I'll be back later," I told him giving him the flowers and pulling Alex up. "Oh, and Zayn meet Alex my friend and Alex meet my super annoying loser brother Zayn. Bye now!" I yelled grabbing Alex and pulling him away from the door. "You guys have fun now! Be safe! Try not to get another swollen cheek or forehead Zoe, stay away from all types of balls!" Zayn yelled and emphasized the word balls, I turned around and glared at him before sticking up my middle finger at him.

Alex and I started walking exiting my neighborhood and going the usual way to the nearest train station that can take us to Queens along the way I saw him reach for his phone twice and record his surroundings, maybe sending it to Amber if they are on speaking terms again. "I'm sorry about my brother Zayn. He can be a big pain in the ass. I guess he just has a lot of making up to do." I told Alex as we came to a stop waiting for the light to turn green signaling us to cross the street. "No worries Zoe, he seems like a chill guy who enjoys annoying his little sister. But it comes from a good place." The light turned green and the train station was now in sight. We neared the station and started going down the stairs reading the signs plastered on the wall to see which way we should go. Since I've gotten my car it's been a while since I've ridden a train. But the train station has a distinct smell your mind can never forget.

It's a pure mixture of dust, grease, and metal that just hugs you tight and makes you feel all warm and bubbly inside.

I'm kidding

"Stay close," Alex said as the rush of people getting in and out of the train tumbling over each other was coming our way. He took hold of my hand and pulled me closer to follow him.

Sweet baby Jesus

His hands were so soft compared to mine. I wanted to ask him if he did any special type of hand scrubs. Maybe one from the Lush store or maybe it's a homemade sugar one. I need the details. A football player has softer hands than me. That's ridiculous. This just proves I need to take better care of myself.

His hand continues to hold mine pulling me towards the open train doors and grabbing two empty seats for us. An expecting mother with a toddler around the age of four boarded the now-crowded train. The look of distress was visible on her face as there were no empty seats. "Here ma'am you can have this seat," Alex said getting up from beside me. "Oh sweetly thank you so much," she said occupying three seats next to me now. She lacked the New York accent. I couldn't tell exactly where she was from. I moved over a little bit giving her more room to sit her daughter down and she shot me a grateful smile as the train soon started moving. Alex stood next to me leaning onto the metal railing loosely, he was a natural New Yorker.  "It's a workout walking up and down the streets and taking the trains when you're eight months pregnant and with a toddler. Makes the easiest task the most difficult," she said looking over at me and giving me a knowing look.

Ma'am, I'm nowhere near being pregnant what's up with the look?

I don't know what you're going through

Miss Bloody comes at the same time every month, with no delays, no concerns

"I can only imagine," I told her not being able to relate to her struggle. I'm still a virgin who hasn't had her first kiss yet. And thank the heavenly angels a kiss won't get me pregnant. "Do you know the gender of the baby?" I asked her. "Well actually little funny story, my husband and I were trying again hoping for a boy, but to our big surprise we got two more girls on the way. Maybe in the future, we will try again for the boy," she said laughing rubbing her stomach. I could feel my eyes go wide and I looked over to Alex who was matching my expression.

"It's going to be a team-girl household for you guys for now," Alex told her. I couldn't imagine that happening to me. The price of being a girl is so expensive so imagine that multiplied by four, a mother and three daughters. Nails, eyebrows, hair, clothes and so much more I rather drop dead. But kudos to her, her husband, and their pockets. "My husband and I are moving back to our home in Canada in two weeks. We are only here for his work. We thought about having the baby here but the cost to have a baby in America is the same amount we put down on our house back home it is ludicrous. What are your names? I'm Helena and this is my daughter Celine." She said combing her daughter's light brown hair.

"I'm Zoe and this is Alexander or Alex for short," I told her. She smiled at the both of us and nodded her head like she was in deep thought. The train jerked as it was coming to another stop. "Well, this is our stop. Thank you guys be safe and have fun. You both will go through a little rough patch but you soon will be very happy. The careers you both have in mind will work out in your favor," Helena said getting up and walking towards the exit with Celine. "Prepare yourself for a big wedding in the islands and a big ring in the future. And no Zoe, a pair of twins are not in your future but there will be three bundles of joys you two will have. Two boys and one girl. You will all be happy. Stay close together and be honest with each other and things will continue to go far." She finished saying and waving goodbye giving Alex the same knowing look she gave me earlier. We waved goodbye and the door shut and once again we were moving.

"I'm still shocked at the fact they are going to have three daughters and still want to try for another boy," Alex said sitting down next to me. I nodded my head at him "And what was that last bit she was speaking about? A big wedding? three kids? Us? How did she get that idea?" We both looked at each other and shook our heads laughing.

I of course faked laughed

Because who am I kidding a big wedding with baby cakes, having his three kids, and us being together will be a dream come true.

Why was he laughing though? Was it a fake laugh too? Or was it a that's ridiculous thought kind of laugh? I was hoping it was a fake laugh. The train came to another jerk as it stopped and said the exit street we arrived at. Alex instantly stood up took ahold of my hand and guided me out of the train station back to the bush streets. We walked for another eight minutes before finding the museum. His hand was still holding onto mine but I refused to move it. "What do you say we grab something to eat and drink before going inside?" Alex said turning me. "Yes please!" I rushed looking over at the food options around us. I looked over and saw a street corner shop that had a deli. His eyes followed mine and beat me to the punch "What do you say a classic bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich?" He asked.

"We are New Yorkers after all. I'm most definitely getting a slushie though," I told him as we already started making our way to the shop. We entered the shop and made our way to the back where the kitchen deli was and placed our orders in.

"Two classics bacon, egg, and cheese coming right up," the cashier said to the chef who started working on our order right away. "Would you like anything else?" The cashier said. "No thank you that's it," I replied since the drinks were toward the front of the store. "Okay that will be $10.85," the cashier said. I pulled out my phone and and quickly tapped it on the device hearing the little two beeps letting me know my payment went through.

"Zoe I was gonna pay for us," Alex said showing me his wallet. "It's okay I got it. You'll get it next time." I told him as we moved off to the side allowing the next customers to place their order. "Here you two go enjoy!" The chef said placing our sandwiches in to-go containers and into a bag. We both said thank you and made our way looking through the beverages. Alex picked out a mucho mango-flavored Arizona tea and I made my way over to the slushee machine grabbed a medium-sized cup and filled it to the brim with cherry-flavored slushee. Alex paid for our drinks and we went back outside and sat by some nearby tables to eat our food. We munched on our food and made our way to the entrance when we were done. We showed the clerk our student IDs and he allowed us access to the museum after giving us our tickets. The cold air soon wrapped around us. We were then greeted with many different art pieces on the wall and 3D structures most were moving or giving off illusions. 'This place is huge," I said as my eyes wandered around the large room. "This place is creepy too, look at this Annabelle doll and the girl that was possessed from that exorcist movie. I didn't know they were going to have some freaky Halloween shit going on around here," he said walking towards the exhibit. "What type of art does Mrs. Gilmore want us to see as high school students?" Alex said looking at the 3D artwork of some women's breasts and pointed to another section of the gallery that was rated R with female and male art pieces.

Typical boy

What freaky shit did Mrs. Gilmore get us into?

What freaky shit did she have going on in her personal life?

Did she want us to get freaky?

I'm not complaining though

Come to momma Alex

✿❀

After we attended the moving art show we went back to the art gallery and stood in front of a random art piece we raised our tickets and Alex snapped a few pictures of us for proof that we came here for our project. "We should walk around a bit and vlog. I documented our walk along maybe we can put everything we do into a creative video. I have good editing software that will make it easier and more entertaining to watch." Alex said and I agreed to it. That sounded easy enough. So that's what we did. I reached into my bag and grabbed my AirPods I placed one bud in my ear gave Alex the other one and started playing my music on shuffle and for 30 minutes or so we walked through the art gallery recording ourselves and taking pictures of us interacting with art.  "I think we have more than enough clips for our video," I said laughing as Alex found himself in front of the 3D breast from earlier pretending to touch it. He chuckled a bit and reached for his phone in my hands and took a selfie of him and the breast probably sending it to his boys.

'"We should start heading out now," I said looking down at my phone and seeing the time "Most people are getting out of work now, the station is going to be packed." I said already dreading the ride back home. This meant there were not going to be any open seats and everyone is going to be squashed together dry humping other people and poles. "I agree let's go," Alex said.

I put my headphones away and Alex put his hand on my lower back and guided me to the exit door. We left the museum and walked back to the train and took the train back to where we first boarded. "What plans do you have for tonight?" Alex asked still walking close to me and allowing me to walk on the inner sidewalk away from the actual street.

I see you baby cakes,

You are a gentleman

We walked the now extremely busy streets in New York and were greeted with the subway station sign we originally got dropped off at and made our way downstairs swiping our pass and waiting for the train to arrive. I see Alex check his phone again shake his head and lock it before putting it back in his pocket. My best guess was Amber checking up on him. What girl will feel comfortable with her hot boyfriend going out with a hot girl for some school project? The train arrived within the next eight minutes and we were so blessed to be one of the very last people to board as everyone was rushing in to get a seat to get home.

Alex grabbed my hand and pulled me to one side of the train away from the doors so we wouldn't get trampled over when people were coming in and out. "Hang on tight," he said right when the doors closed and the train started moving causing my body to jerk forward onto Alex who steadied me. "You don't ride the train often huh?" He asked smiling down at me. "I huh- I prefer using Herbie to get around more." He raised an eyebrow at the name. "Herbie is your car I assume," he started speaking and I nodded my head "You couldn't come up with a more unique name? Did you copy the name from the movie? And your car just happens to be a white buggy too." He said shaking his head and laughing at me.

I gave Alex my infamous Zoe Rivers punches causing him to laugh louder "Hey I'll let you know it was one of my favorite movies growing up. I was between that name and Buzz Light Year. But like you said my car was white and it just fit perfectly," I said standing my ground. "What did you name your car?" I asked him.

"Banana? Taxi? Bumblebee? Homer?" I started listing thinking about his yellow Jeep. "I didn't name my car." He said looking away from me. "You're lying to me everyone names their car. Especially our first car. What did you name your car?" I asked him again placing one hand on my hip. He looked around for a second and noticed everyone on their phones before he fixed his eyes on me left on a deep sign before he whispered "Pac-Man." I felt my jaw drop instantly "And you made fun of me for naming my car after a movie, you're no better than me you named it after a cartoon game," I told him.

"Okay fine you named yours after a car and I named it after a game. But a game that the main character likes to eat and leave no crumbs behind. Which is the same way I do when I pleasure a woman. I clean up every last drop. Nothing gets left behind." He said smirking down at me. I can feel my breath get caught in the back of my throat.

Did he just say that?

"And I guess now I find out you don't like Cheeto puffs?" I said trying to get my mind away from what he just said. "Of course, I don't Cheetos. Doritos all the way." He said. "Wait you don't like Cheeto puffs?" I asked looking at him like he was crazy. "It's a whole bag filled with smiles!" I exclaimed looking at him wide-eyed. This is the boy I like?

"Zoe smile for me," Alex said bringing out his phone from his pocket. I smiled up at him and he took a picture. He looked down at his phone and then up at me "As long as you keep smiling at me like this, I don't need to purchase a bag filled with smiles. Your smile is far more better. Call it an everlasting smile." He said as the train doors opened to our stop. I was left with no words after that just a smile playing on my lips. All I could think to myself was I wouldn't mind giving him all the smiles in the world for a lifetime with him.

Authors note

You have reached the end of chapter eleven my friends. More than 5500+ words! What are your thoughts on this chapter? What is your opinion on Zoe's father living a double life?

My question for you today is what is your favorite horror movie?

My personal favorites are the Conjuring, Insidious, and Saw series! I love love love watching horror movies and will always make time to go to the theater to see new movies that come out.

If horror isn't your forte what is your favorite movie and genre?

Please show this book some love by leaving a comment and a vote. If you're up to it give me a follow as well!

For those going back to school wish you all a wonderful and successful year!
Stay safe!

Take care- Chels <3