Jesse ambled to Zoe's a bit later than he normally did. It wasn't for any particular reason, he'd just lost track of the time. He expected for her to be a little mad at him - even if it was playful, he hadn't expected the kind of silence that he encountered. Something hung in the air, and he had no idea what it was.
She'd been more solemn than normal lately, and he'd decided to not push at it, even though he desperately wanted to know what was wrong, and had the absurd desire to fix it all.
Zoe was not, however, a woman to be pushed. She would tell him when she was ready to, he knew that.
But now, with this new weight, Jesse couldn't let it go anymore. Whatever she was carrying on her shoulders needed to see the light of day. He felt that maybe he shouldn't have even let it go this long without mentioning.
"Zoe." He said, leaning against the counter in the kitchen. "You ain't been in the best of ways for a little bit now, and I've not bugged you about it since I thought you'd come talk to me eventually. But tonight it's all kinds of worse, and I felt it just walkin in the door. So I can't be silent and wait any longer. What's goin on, darlin?"