Love Storm (66 page)

"Wow," she murmured.

"Yeah, but I'm thinking about getting a job. I was thinking…I don't know…maybe…"

"What?"

"Maybe giving piano lessons or something," I said slowly. "I was driving around town yesterday and saw this little music studio in the shopping center near our new apartment. I thought it might be a good idea…I'd be doing something I'm good at, it would pay more money than working anywhere else, and plus I'd have access to a piano, so it wouldn't be half bad."

"That's a great idea," Winter said softly.

We were quiet again.

"So, you still want that explanation about the letters?" I asked, lips twisting in a wry grin.

She laughed at that. "It's okay. I think I figured it out anyway. It was your dad, right? He must have been monitoring your mail."

"Hole in one. You're good," I told her with a genuine smile this time. "Come here."

She crawled into the space between my legs and I wrapped my arms around her stomach, pulling her in so her back was resting against my chest. I felt that bubble of happiness rising in me again, the one that always materialized when Winter was this close to me.

"God," I mumbled into her hair, holding her tightly, feeling that ache in my heart again. "You don't know how bad it was, being in Italy. Away from life, home…
you
. I thought I was going to die, I missed you so much."

Winter tilted her head back on my shoulder so she could look up at me. She had a small, sad smile on her face. "Oh, I think I have an idea. It must have been about the same as being here, waking up one morning with you gone."

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry," I whispered.

"It's okay," she said quietly. "No need to be sorry for something you couldn't control."

She was too good to me. Suddenly I had an idea – I should do it now. I'd waited too long anyway, and god knows I'd had this plan in my head for a long time now. Was now the right time though?

Don't second guess yourself.

Okay, okay. Now probably was the best time anyway. Might as well get a straight answer before I fall in any deeper. I wondered if she could feel my heart pounding on her back.

"So…" I exhaled shakily. Damn it, get yourself together Crowne. "I was wondering too…"

"About what?" Winter asked.

"If, uh…if you wouldn't…m-mind – I mean –"

Stop stuttering!

"…if you would be my girlfriend?"

It came out as a question, and I winced, holding my breath.

"Oh,
Zack
," Winter sighed, laughing lightly. She turned around halfway so she could face me. She was smiling so happily I swear to god I melted right there. She said softly, "At the risk of sounding like a horrible cliché, I have to say…I thought you'd never ask."

I blinked. "Wait, that means…"

"
Yes
, you dorkus," she laughed, throwing her arms around my neck and hugging me. I toppled over sideways onto my back, probably from the momentum of her hug, more likely from shock. "Yes, I'll be your girlfriend," she whispered, smiling down at me.

I laughed too. I was too happy to think of anything to say, so I gently flipped her onto her back, switching our positions.

"We can kiss now, right?" I asked her, grinning. My mouth was already an inch from hers, and I felt her breath catch.

"Yes," she breathed. "We can."

So we did.

Chapter 38: Epilogue

-Winter-

"Stop."

"Nah."

"No, seriously – you have to."

"But it's so pretty."

"
Zack
."

"
Winter
."

"You're too distracting."

"Excuse me?
I'm
the distracting one? I think you have it backwards, miss."

"Seriously, this Calc isn't getting done by itself. Plus, we're in class. You're lucky Mr. Raskin hasn't looked over here yet."

"Okay, okay, fine. Jeez. Way to blow a guy off."

He stopped playing with my hair and sat back in his desk, defeated, looking at me with those golden eyes in a very puppy dog expression.

"Good boy," I smiled. I didn't know what had suddenly moved him to such a public display of affection. Usually we were very non-touchy during school; we didn't even hold hands in the halls or anything, which was why it had taken people a while to pick up on the fact that we were going out.

"You can't do that to me," he complained, bottom lip stuck out just slightly in a childish pout. "It's not nice."

I laughed. "We're in class," I repeated.

"You're too much of a temptation," he said, with a sudden wicked grid. "I just can't seem to keep my hands off you."

It had been about three weeks since Zack had gotten the flu. We were currently nearing the end of another work-by-yourself day in Calculus class. Everyone was working in small groups. Guess who I got the wonderful pleasure of working with? Ha-ha. Very funny. Zack never does anything in class.

"You should try harder," I told him, entering an equation into my graphing calculator.

"You shouldn't try as hard," he retorted playfully. "Then you could make conversation with me."

"I don't try that hard," I objected. "I just don't want to have to do this work at home, which is why I'm doing it now. If you were
smart
, you'd do it now too."

"Whoa, pot shot," he grumbled, clutching at his heart. "Just because you're the brains of the relationship…"

I wasn't fast enough to stop myself from laughing. "Don't underestimate yourself, Crowne. You're not stupid. Now stop distracting me, oh brilliant one."

"Okay, okay." Zack hummed quietly to himself.

The bell rang shortly after, and we exited the room with the flow of other students. Zack was right behind me, saying, "
Yes
, brunch time. I'm starving."

I grinned. "Good to see you've finally gotten your appetite back," I commented, glancing back at him.

His eyes were serious. "Yeah. I've been sleeping better at night too," he said.

He hadn't told me this yet, but I already knew. I could tell. Gone were the shadows under his eyes and the tired posture. He was more energized when I saw him, more awake, more alive. It was so good to finally see him back to normal, and it made my grin fade to a soft smile to know that he wanted to let me in on it.

"Thanks," I said, tucking my hand into the crook of his elbow as we walked to our lockers.

"For what?" he asked, surprised.

I shook my head slightly, the action making my ponytail swish around. "For being Zack Crowne,
duh
," I drawled, unable to restrain myself from taking a playful jab at him with such an open opportunity, though I had meant for my words to come out more seriously.

"Oh, oh, of course, how could I forget?" he played along, mouth twitching at the corners. "The omnipotent Crowne prevails over all."

I slipped my hand out of the inside of his elbow in order to hit him lightly on the arm. "You sound like a bad action movie antagonist cliché," I laughed.

"Hey, the antagonist can be a super good-looking fallen star sort of fellow. You know, so incredibly sexy, and actually a good guy deep down, just too weak to resist the forces of evil that pulled him over to the dark side." He grinned self-confidently at me.

I had to press my lips together to keep from laughing again. "Sexy but weak, huh? Such a great combination."

"Hey, only psychologically weak. I didn't mean physically. You know…like Darth Vader. Anakin Skywalker was a total stud before that shady Darth Sidious character corrupted him," Zack explained, waving a hand around and nearly knocking a kid's baseball hat off. The kid was glaring at him. "Sorry dude; accident.
You
know," he plunged on, because I did know; we had just watched
Star Wars: Episode III
together just last weekend, "I hate how ironic it is. Anakin loves Padmé so much to the point that he's willing to do anything to save her life, even go against his Jedi teachings, and in the end he becomes so consumed with the Dark Side that he turns into someone she can't love. And she dies in the end anyway." Zack sighed heavily, scratching his head.

"So does love make a person weak, or what?" I asked, intrigued. We had reached our lockers by now, and I had called the question over to him in the distance between us. "Because I'm not sure Anakin really loved Padmé. I don't know…it seemed more like an obsession to me."

"No; if he didn't truly love her he wouldn't have been willing to risk it all to save her," Zack reasoned, shutting his locker door. He walked over to me, sidestepping the two people between us.

"Huh," I said thoughtfully. "Or maybe he was caught in an illusion he believed was love." This conversation was distracting me. What books did I need for my next class? Oh, right, Spanish. Suddenly, something disturbing occurred to me, and my eyes snapped up to his.

Zack's strong eyebrows furrowed slightly. "An illusion?" he asked slowly. He knew from the look in my eyes that we weren't talking about Star Wars anymore. He reached toward me, brushing back my hair and letting his fingertips linger on the spot of sensitive skin behind my ear. "An illusion is insubstantial. The only thing behind an illusion is a dream, a vision. A fake reality can only carry you so far." His voice dropped to a whisper and his golden eyes were smiling gently at me. "I think we've come a lot farther than an illusion could ever carry us. Live with it, baby," he said, brushing an affectionate kiss on my jaw and nuzzling my ear with his nose. "I'm not going anywhere."

I smiled up at him. I knew he was being truthful; only the truth could have reassured me the way my heart felt so at ease in that moment. "Good," I said. "Now walk me to class."

"Yes ma'am," Zack chuckled as the bell rang.

xxxxx

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Winter."

"Hey Win, what's up?" Eva asked, upbeat. I could hear a smile in her voice, and that in turn made me smile as well.

"Nothing," I replied, relaxing on the couch. I punched a pillow to make it more comfortable and settled back, getting ready for a good long phone conversation with my best friend. "How're things?"

Eva groaned, laughing a little. "
Hectic
, man. One month to go to the wedding. It's freaking crazy around here. Emma just finished moving all her stuff into the house two days ago. I'm going to be stuck going with her to bridal shops, caterers, etcetera this weekend. She says if we don't pick wedding gown and bridesmaids' dresses by next Monday, this wedding isn't going to happen."

I thought this last sentence implied a joke on Emma's part, but I wasn't sure if Eva thought it was amusing or not. "I see…" I said.

Eva read my mind. "Oh, don't worry," she said quickly. "I'm over that. This wedding'll happen, just wait and see."

"Okay," I nodded. "By the way, do people have dates for weddings? They do, right? Like the guests, I mean."

"Yeah, sure," she replied easily. "Haven't you ever seen
The Wedding Date
?"

"Oh yeah."

"Why?" she asked slyly. "Planning on bringing, oh, hmm, a little hottie? His name wouldn't be Zack, would it?"

I grinned. "You do realize that I wouldn't bring anyone else, right? Seeing as he's, um, my boyfriend." I blinked. Wow. My boyfriend. This was the first time I'd actually called him that. The words sounded kind of weird coming out of my mouth, but at the same time made these crazy bubbles squirm around in my stomach, in a good way.

"I know," Eva said. "But I still like teasing you about him."

This I already knew. She wouldn't stop nagging me for about a week straight about how Zack and I had "finally" gotten together.

"You should catch the way he looks at you sometimes," Eva continued softly. "Like he can't believe someone as perfect as you has landed in his life."

I laughed quietly, embarrassed. "Thanks, Eva."

"Just telling it like it is. You two are good together."

"Yeah," I smiled, agreeing wholeheartedly with my best friend. She was right. I could feel it.

Fin.