Three Months and You're Mine (In Too Deep) (20 page)

"Well, if I have to stop asking
if it was good, you have to stop saying you're sorry. That's exactly what I wanted to do. It was fun for me. I'm glad you let me do it, and more importantly, I'm glad it felt good to you."

"Shit girl, you sure?"

"Yeah big daddy." I gave him an exaggerated wink and he tackled me back onto the couch, trapping me so he could tickle my ribs.

"Zack, Zack stop! You're
gonna make me pass out!" I yelled through the belly laughs. He stopped immediately and looked at me with genuine concern. It was just enough time for me to scoot out from under him and get away before he chased me through the house.

Chapter 22

Zack

It had been three weeks since Meredith's scene was filmed, and I
knew that because it would be aired the next day, and they operate on a three-week delay. She and I were spending a ton of time together. It seemed like we'd seen each other every day for the past three weeks. Not because either of us felt like we had to, we were just comfortable in each other's presence. I'd been to the studio to see her a few times, and she'd come to the pool a couple times, but most of the time we just caught up with each other after work.

It was 7PM on a Tuesday, and I'd just picked
her up. I made reservations at a place called Ellender's. I knew I'd easily blow five hundred bucks on dinner and drinks, but I wanted to celebrate.

"
I had a meeting with Rachel and Joel today." I said. I reached out for her hand and she not only put her hand in mine, but also leaned over the console, stretching her seatbelt to the max so she could put a kiss on my cheek.

"I remember," she said. "They didn't tell you what it was about. What happened? It must be an ad they want you for, right?"

"Yeah, I sort of figured that going in, but I was surprised to see your brother and Ethan in Rachel's office. Actually, I saw Collin's truck in the parking lot before I ever went up to her office, but I was still surprised there were so many of us." I glanced at Meredith and she gave me that wide-eyed look that said she wanted me to finish the story. "Rachel's designing a new ad campaign that features all three of us. It's gonna be awesome. I saw sketches."

"She drew up sketches before they offered you the job?"

"They knew we wouldn't refuse. We'd be stupid to pass. Ethan and I both protested the amount Joel was willing to offer us. It's ludicrous. I called it charity, but Joel really wanted to hire us for the campaign and he'd already drawn up and signed paperwork with the amount he decided on."

"
Which was?"

"A
ton
of money for a few hours of modeling and ten appearances."

"Don't want to jinx it?"

"I don't think it's possible since Rachel gave us cashier's checks today."

"Shoot, son, I got
me a high roller!" she said. "Is that why you made me dress up? Where you taking me?"

"
Ellender's."

"Shut up! How'd you get rese
rvations?"

"I went ahead
and had my agent do it like an official rock star, but I don't think it would have been that hard on a Tuesday night. Maybe I'm wrong. I just know my agent said it wasn't a big deal."

She giggled and played with my hand. "What's the ad
gonna look like?"

"
She had one of us on starting blocks and one that was out of the pool but we still had the goggles on. That one was heavy on the abs."

Meredith laughed. "Of course s
he'd want to use the abs. What else would she be paying you for? Your face?" It was an innocent slip, but Meredith quickly caught on to the fact that that could have offended me.

I smiled, knowing what she was thinking. "Actually, Rachel made a point of saying they wanted to
highlight the scar. She said everyone would like seeing that I'm okay post-accident, and that it worked out because it happened to be
aesthetically pleasing
."

Meredith giggled.
"She called it aesthetically pleasing? See, I
told
you. You gonna listen to me now that someone else says it? Is that how it is?"

I laughed. "No, I
just think you're nice enough to lie to me."

"More like I love you enough to lie to you."

"You wouldn't!" I said.

"What? Love you or lie to you?"

"Either."

"I'd do both, but I'm not lying about the scar. It's hot."

"Mere?"

"Yep?"

"I don't want you to feel like I'm ignoring you. I know I feel something different with you, but I've never said that word to a girl before, and it's not something I take lightly."

"I know," she said, smiling and slapping at me like it was no big deal. "I didn't say that to make you feel guilty about
not
saying it. And I don’t want to make you feel weird either; I'm just being honest. Maybe I love easy, but there it is. I know you love me though, Zack." She was beaming, and we both knew she was right regardless of me not being able to say it.

****

The host gave us a two-seater booth in a mostly secluded hallway. Her dress had some things on it that sparkled, and if I didn't know better, I'd say there was some kind of glitter in her hair and maybe even her face. She was gorgeous and shimmering in the candlelight and I wanted to have her all to myself.

Imagine my surprise when…

"What are you two doing way back here?" a girl's voice said.

We turned to see C
eleste's smiling face. I absolutely couldn't believe my own eyes when she proceeded to sit down next to me in the tiny booth, perching on the edge. Her butt cheek was definitely on me and I looked at Meredith with a helpless, regretful expression. I see you two patched things up. You're the one who's like a sister. Oh, my bad, did you say she
was
your sister? Anyway, any sister to Zack is okay by me." Celeste stuck out her hand to Meredith who smiled sweetly and took it without feeling like she had to confront her.

"I gave you the wrong impression the other night, I'm afraid.
I shouldn't have said she's like a sister. Meredith's my girl, although I didn't quite know it at the time. But, no, definitely not my sister." I looked at Meredith from across the table for confirmation, and she shook her head with a sly grin, saying sister wasn't the word she'd use to describe what she was to me.

"
Oh my God. Are you two? I thought she seriously
was
your little sister. How old are you?" She looked at Meredith, who picked up her glass of white wine.

"Seems I'm at least twenty-one."

Celeste stared at Meredith in disbelief for several long seconds before it finally sunk in that I was there on a date with her. "This is a, uh, shocker for me." She looked into the distance for another long, awkward minute before saying; "I guess I always knew I didn't stand a chance with you."

I cringed. "Aw, don't say that. It wasn't
about you.
No one
really stood a chance."

She smiled at that. "Until her." She motioned at Meredith, both of them were smiling, and I was counting the seconds until that whole
ridiculous encounter was over. 

"Until her," I agreed.

"Lucky girl," Celeste said.

"Indeed," Meredith
said. She picked up her drink again and tipped it to Celeste as she stood and walked off. It couldn't have gone much better as far as I was concerned, I was just hoping it wasn't one of those things where I thought everything went great, and all of a sudden, I get the wrath of the girl who had apparently had a completely different experience than me. In other words, I was just praying Meredith wasn't pissed about the whole thing.

"That was interesting," I said, once she was out of earshot.

Meredith laughed then smiled at me sweetly. "You called me your girl."

"You picked up on that?"

"How could I miss it? You proudly proclaimed it like a knight in shining armor defending his fair maiden's honor."

"It was pretty romantic, I guess," I said shrugging
like there was nothing to it.

She laughed again. "Be still my heart."

Just then, our food arrived
. I ate all of mine and some of Meredith's, and thought the reason the food tasted so good in these fancy places was because you were still starving for more of it when you left. Meredith said the portions were plenty generous and that I was just a big pig like her brother who was never satisfied at a nice restaurant. I told her I was satisfied fine with the taste of the food, I just wanted about three more servings of it. We laughed about pulling through the In and Out Burger on the way home.

"I'm
gonna set your DVR to record the show tomorrow so I can watch it at your house if I want to."

I couldn't believe Meredith was just bringing up the subject of the show airing the next day. I'd been waiting until she brought it up for me to tell her, and I thought she never would.

"You have the day off tomorrow," I said. 

At first, it didn't register what I was saying, but then her hand went to her chest and she said, "You mean me?
I
have the day off?"

"Yeah, I talked to Max, he said he's
gonna be buying more stuff from you. He joked that you couldn't do this every time, but he was happy to give you the day off so you can have your first screening with your friends."

"Are you coming home early to watch it with me?" she asked.

"I have the day off. I have to get the house ready, my mom offered to help, and I think we should think about letting her. There are about twenty people coming over to watch it with us."

I saw her eyes start to
glaze over with tears, but she held them back. "I can't believe you're doing that for me. It's really the sweetest thing ever."

"I wish I could take credit, but it was your mom's idea." Meredith literally
choked on the sip of wine she had in her mouth. It must have gone down the wrong pipe. It took her more than a minute to quit coughing.

"I'm sorry." She sto
pped to clear her throat again. "Did you say
my mom
?"

"Yeah."

(Another throat clearing.) "I didn't think my mom knew."

"I'm sure Collin or Rachel told her. Hell, if they wouldn't have, I might have done it myself. Your
script's on TV for the first time. It's a big deal, Shorty." I smiled at her. "I think your mom's spending the night at Collin's."

"My mom's in this town
right now?"

Zack smiled. "And she's coming over to watch
your show tomorrow—her and about twenty other people. Including your dad."

"My dad's here too? Oh, crap, Zack, I'm really nervous now. What if it's cheesy?"

"It's a daytime soap. It's got to be cheesy, or we'd all want our money back."

"That's what I'm so afraid of. What if it sucks? Seriously."

"It won't suck. It mad
e it through about twenty other people after you wrote it. I promise you, they won't produce junk. Besides, Caleb and Max all said what a good scene it was. You should just chill and enjoy watching it with your friends."

"And we're doing it at
your house?"

I nodded.

"Thank you for getting involved," she said.

"I wouldn't think about
not
getting involved, if that makes any sense."

"I
t does." She gave me a thankful smile and thanked me again for working things out with Max and arranging the get together. I was so glad she was looking forward to it, and I found myself hoping everything went off without a hitch between her and her mom.

Meredith relaxed onto the back of the booth with a content smile.
"I better be invited to that photo shoot when you, Ethan, and my brother have to show your abs. I'm seriously going to watch you guys. I’m sure Emily and Rachel will be wanting to do the same thing."

It didn't get past me that she put herself in the company of the significant others. That was fine by me since I considered her my girlfriend. I didn't mention it, though. I commented on the photo shoot instead. "Speaking of abs, I've got to start dieting if I'm
gonna have to flash the six pack."

"
Quit trippin. You look like an ad for Abercrombie."

"I'm bout to loo
k like an ad for Perrin Goggles," I said.

"I know that's right."

I pulled out a small, cloth package from my back pocket and tossed it onto the table. It was a leather bracelet with a small metal plate attached. The word hustle was hand-stamped on it. It was something we said to each other all the time—her to me about rehab, and me to her about her work. I had it custom made by this local jewelry artist. She inspected it for a few long seconds before looking at me. "This is unbelievably sweet, Zack. I'm telling my brother how sweet you are."

I shrugged. "I don’t know. He's still giving me the evil eye when I mention you. I think he's having a hard time with the idea of us being together."

"That's my fault," she said. "I mean, I've hinted at something going on with us, but I didn't want to come out and tell him until we, you know, knew for sure, or whatever."

"Are you serious?" I said laughing. "You haven't told Collin we're together." I thought back to a few exchanges where I thought he was being unreasonable, but if he had no idea she and I were together, then I could see
why he acted so funny. "What'd you tell him? That we just hang out every day as friends."