Chapter 18 - A Sweet Moment
1144 Words
We lapsed into silence while I processed that piece of information.
The yell of a countdown startled me from my thoughts and I looked up in time just as everyone yelled. “10!”
The sky lit up with multiple fireworks, the loud blasts mixing in with the cheers of excitement and joy filling the entire parking lot as students celebrated.
Smiling, I stared at the lights with my head tilted back. My hands joining in with the claps of applause while the flash of cameras was pointed upwards to capture the simple magic at the moment.
“Take a picture with me,” Zack said, and I hesitated, before shifting closer to take the picture.
When the timer on the screen counted down from 3, at the last moment Zack tilted his head forward and kissed me on the lips just as the flash of the camera went off.
Pulling back in shock, I stutter. “I-I can’t.”
“Oh.” He mumbles, pulling back with a dejected expression as he turns his face away in embarrassment.
Slipping off the trunk of Katie’s car, he says with his head down and his hands in his pocket. “I’m sorry Eva.”
He starts to walk away when a heavy feeling ignites in my chest, jumping down I stumbled due to dizziness but managed to reach out and grab his shoulder to halt his movements.
“Zack wait, I di-didn’t–” I stutter, unsure of what to say that would appease him but won’t give him false hope. “I just–”
“Look Eva,” He smiles, cutting me off as he turns to face me. “I get it. Your not into me that way and I shouldn’t have kissed you without even asking you first–”
“Zack stop talking,” I sigh, a little frustrated due to my guilt and my nausea. Why did I drink?
“I’m not staying over this summer. Katie and I are going to be… travelling during that period and I don’t even know or understand what’s happening between us. I don’t want to complicate things by involving myself in a relationship I can’t guarantee I’ll be around to maintain, especially when you still have a complicated history with Melody even if the both of you have broken up.”
“Hey, it doesn’t matter if you're going to be away for the summer Eva, we could still talk on the phone and–”
“But you see, that’s the problem,” I say, putting my brain cells to the test I try to come up with some kind of excuse that will be reasonable enough to explain why we can’t communicate on phone.
“In the spirit of adventure, we will be going to the Sahara desert in Libya to help my Aunt and her team of paleoanthropologist to dig up dinosaur fossils and stuff. Our phones will be taken away for security reasons so..” I trail off, leaving my words hanging with a shrug.
“Why exactly are you going to dig up fossils?” He asks in confusion.
“Well,” I start, blurting out in panic. “I’m a dinosaur geek. Always wanted to be a paleoanthropologist when I got older and since my Aunt is one, she invited me to simply stay with her for the summer and learn something. Katie is simply tagging along because she has this weird belief that she’ll maybe meet the son of a sheikh and have a whirlwind romance or something.” I shrug, loving how nicely that last part played well with Katie’s personality.
“Well, that’s too bad.” He sighs. “But Eva, to be honest, right now I’m simply happy just being with you. We can take things slow and simply hold off until you come back for senior year. My feelings and I will still be here waiting for your return.” He linked our hands together, placing a kiss on my knuckles, before giving me a dazzling smile.
Why does he have to make this so difficult?
“Uhm, okay,” I say, giving in to my desire for that slight moment.
His smile widens into a grin and he surprises me again when he leans forward and places a kiss on my forehead.
The touch of his lips on my skin left me feeling pleasurable and electrified, and I had to withhold myself from grinning all through the night.
The entire way home Katie wouldn’t stop squealing for details, her excitement causing little giggles to slip out of my lips whenever I thought of Zack.
How does one go from “I’m never going to fall for Zack again!”, to daydreaming about a mere peck on the forehead?
Feeling pathetic, that night I had to force myself to sleep. The next day, Katie and I got dressed before heading downstairs with my red diary and Katie’s clutch in hand.
“You know what I’ve just noticed,” I voiced, settling behind the counter next to Katie while my mother made bacon and eggs. “The gold dust stopped appearing ever since I find out I'm not human.”
My mother looked up. “Maybe they don’t need to appear anymore.” She stated, and I found her words to be reasonable.
She served a plate of steaming bacon that made my mouth water and placed them before Katie and me before demanding. “Now can you tell me why you two disobeyed direct orders?”
Her words made me pause in surprise because Katie and I agreed we wouldn’t be telling my mother the fact that we broke into the Principle’s office to steal the map.
But instead, come up with a story of how we got Principal Cam to let us water his precious plants as a way to show our appreciation as students, thereby allowing us to search for them.
Turning, I glared at the guilty culprit who smiled at me sheepishly. “I’m sorry, but your mum is scary when she starts questioning people.”
Rolling my eyes, I turn to my mother with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry I disobeyed you, but I swear we were never caught. We only sneaked in and took the map, before sneaking back out.”
- Writer
