Three Months and You're Mine (In Too Deep) (17 page)

We told her what we wanted
, and before she turned around to walk off, she gave me an almost sympathetic look, as if she were afraid she'd be bothering me to ask. "I'm sorry, but are you that swimmer, Zack Larson?"

I smiled at her. "I am."

"Vicky said she's seen you in here before. That other one comes in too. Collin Blake."

"
Collin and I are good friends," I said. "We always end up going to the same places. You'll probably be seeing Ethan Erickson at some point too."

"
I saw him the other day. I got his autograph," she said.

Meredith didn't say anything until the server had taken off. She didn't even speak up when the lady mentioned her brother.
I glanced at her several times during our conversation and each time she was staring into space, thinking about her own stuff.

"What's up, S
horty?" I asked as the lady was walking off.

"She mentioned Collin which made me think about being his little sister. It made me remember when
I heard you tell that girl at the bar I was like a sister to you, and I was just thinking about how that made me feel."

Chapter 19

Meredith

Zack was carrying on a conversation with the waitress about what a famous swimmer he was, and all I could think about was hearing him tell that girl Celeste that I was like a little sister to him. I replayed his words about twenty times, hoping I could make them morph into something else, but they never did. I just kept hearing, "she's like a little sister to me". Maybe it was the nausea that accompanied the memor
y, but I just felt like him calling me his little sister was wrong. I knew I'd already said that all I wanted to be was a friend with a business arrangement, but I was wrong about that too. Neither of those were any better than sister. As I sat at that booth with Zack, it hit me that I wanted something altogether different from him.

The waitress took off in the directi
on of the kitchen. "What's up, Shorty?" Zack asked, smiling at me.

"I heard you tell that girl at the bar I was like a sister to you, and I was just thinking about how that made me feel," I said.

Zack raised his hands and gave me a wary glance. "This is getting a little deep. I think I'm tapping out."

"Zack, I'm serious. I think I might like you. You know, like a boyfriend."

He gave me a stunned expression.
"You told me if this ever happened to act like I like you back, and you'd lose interest. You think that'll work?"

I wore a doubtful expression as I shrugged. "I don't know," I said. "You could try, but for some reason, I think I might still like
you."

Zack sighed. "This is going to complicate things."

"Why?"

"Because the only reason I was even considering teaching you how to have sex was because you promised there'd be no feelings."

"That's when I thought there wouldn't be any, but now that I'm experiencing them, I'm wondering what's so bad about them anyway. Why can't we give it a go like a normal couple? You know, you could be my normal boyfriend."

"Because, Meredith. We've been over this. I'm too old for you, you're too good for me, and I'm not boyfriend material
." He stared right through me with his take your breath away ice blue eyes, and I thought as I looked at him that he was
exactly
boyfriend material.

"That's such a
cop out, Zack. I think we'd be good together. Why not?"

"I can think of a million reasons, starting with the fact that you're an innocent, virgin little girl who doesn't know what the hell she's getting herself into with a guy like me."

"Oh, please! There's another cop out. I know exactly what I'm getting into with a guy like you." The waitress sat plates in front of us but I didn't even acknowledge her. "I'm at your house three or four nights a week hanging out, stupid. What's there to know that I haven't already been exposed to?"

"Meredith, you have to understand that this is coming out of left field for me.
I started the night thinking you were going out with that guy Charles and I was meeting Celeste, and as far as our little arrangement goes, I honestly thought you'd call it off before it happened."

"Don't you think we could give it a shot? See what happens?"

Zack just stared straight ahead, looking
angry that he was being put into a position to answer a question like that. I had a problem with saying exactly what was on my mind, and obviously it had been too much for Zack. "Saturday May thirtieth," I said.

"What?"

"May thirtieth. It's a Saturday. It's the day we're supposed to, uh, you know. Anyway, it's thirty-four days away. And if you're still planning on following through, I was thinking we could meet at Gretchen and Joel's place in the woods. My brother has a key to it, and it's really beautiful and private out there."

"I have a key too, but
I don't know why we need to go out there. It's not like my house isn't private."

"It's just really beautiful and picturesque out there, and well, you know with it being my first time and everything…"

There might as well have been crickets chirping in the background. Zack was utterly silent at the reminder that we were casually scheduling an appointment for my deflowerification.

Our conversation was slightly uncomfortable from that point on. We weren't full-blown awkward with each other, but it was close. I was relatively sure that my love confession (clumsy as it was) was not what Zack wanted to hear. I assumed it had something to do with that girl Celeste, which hurt. I tried to remind myself that Zack had never promised me anything, but those types of thoughts never seem to remove the sting.
We finished at the diner, Zack signed a few autographs then he dropped me off at my apartment. He asked if I wanted him to come up, but I knew he was just being nice, so I told him I'd be seeing him sometime soon for movie night. I didn't really mean it. I wasn't planning on going to his house until I sorted through these God-forsaken feelings.

****

The next few days were huge for me professionally. Okay, maybe that's a little dramatic, but I wrote an action scene for Caleb's character Ashton that Max decided to use, and it was being filmed that Wednesday.

For now, I would keep my current position as P.A. while Max continued to evaluate me to see where I could be used, but he was ready and willing to use me as a freelance writer if I submitted
work that was worthy of being on the show. This week he was putting his money where his mouth was. He was really impressed with the scene I submitted for Caleb's character, and told me he was excited to use it.

It translated into a fifteen hundred dollar bump
on my next paycheck, and of course, writing credits at the end the show. I'd been watching the show since I was a little girl, and I was so excited to have my name listed on the show's credits. Head P.A.'s like Kermit had their names on there, but my name hadn't been included until now. I was planning on DVRing the episode my scene was in so I could watch those credits as many times as I wanted.

Max seemed to think that I had amazing potential as both a writer and a producer, and I didn't know what gave me more joy—feeling like I might just make something of myself, or
like I might just prove my mother wrong. A few times since I'd been working on P.I., I'd called my mom and tried to keep her informed on how I was doing. I was really positive about the whole thing, and even though she and I had our moments, I ultimately expected her to be rooting for me. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Once, when I told her Max was going to let me write freelance if I came up with anything he could use, she told me I shouldn't waste my free time writing, that if I had so much free time, I should just get another part time job with a temp agency, because at least then I'd make a little money.

Then, another time, I gave her a scene I'd written to check out.
Waiting to hear what she thought of it was probably the most awkward I'd ever been with my mom. Instead of just reading it like a normal person, she read it and wrote down her thoughts about it in an email. She wrote things like "this scene could possibly spark a discussion about the dangers of drugs and alcohol" and other weird, vague comments like that. I thought she maybe meant the comments to be positive, but I couldn't quite tell with the way she worded them. She never once said anything you'd think a mother would say like "I thought it was a really cool scene," or "good job for trying to make something of yourself, Meredith." All I got was a vague email that was written like an emotionless critic. Oh well. Her lack of support didn’t stop me. If anything, it made me push harder.

That being said
, as a result of my mom's total sketchiness in regards to my ambitions, she had absolutely no idea that Max Mitchell had bought that scene from me, and it was being filmed that week. I knew she watched the show faithfully, and wondered how she would feel when the scene she "commented on" in that email was on screen in front of her. I certainly didn’t
enjoy
knowing she'd be shocked by it—in fact it was the opposite. I wished it were something she'd want to celebrate with me.

"I can't believe we're filming your scene today
you rock star," I heard from behind me. I turned to see the gorgeous Caleb Scott approaching. I showed up really early on account of the nerves, and Caleb was one of the first ones to get there besides me. The scene was being filmed in a bar, and was supposed to take place after a night of drinking. I wanted to ask him what he was doing there so early, but that was secondary to the information I really wanted to know.

"Do you like it?" I asked, hopefully.

"I love it," he said. "I've been in a few fights on the show, but I love the dialogue leading into it. Working with breakaway tables is always a bonus too." He sat in the director chair for makeup even though the hair and makeup team wasn't there yet. "Seems like L.A.'s treating you pretty good if you just started work and I'm already memorizing lines you wrote."

"I'm just thankful Max was willing to give me a shot," I said. "And the writing's just f
reelance right now. As of now, my job description still includes picking up your dry cleaning."

"Not for long with that kind of hustle,
" he said sweetly.

Then suddenly, the thought of Caleb and how super sweet he was gave me a brand new, amazing
, stupendous idea. If I could get
Caleb
to sleep with me, I'd be killing two birds with one stone. One, I'd be learning the ropes from a playa who was at least as skilled as Zack. And two, it would take the pressure of the whole virgin thing off of Zack, which would maybe, just maybe, make him reconsider giving things a go between us. After all, one of his complaints was that I was too good for him. If I took being a virgin out of the equation, he might be willing to consider me his equal.

"Caleb, can I ask you a crazy question?"

"All ears, Baby Girl."

"Will you teach me how to have sex?"

He laughed like I was joking, but quickly stopped himself when I didn't crack a smile. "You're serious?"

"Yeah, I
'm serious. I'm a virgin and I want to learn how to do it right from someone I like and trust. No strings attached, I promise." I smiled on the inside when I said that, thinking about how I'd said the exact same thing to Zack before I changed my mind and started liking him for reals. "You can take some time to think about it if—"

"Hell yeah I'll teach you
Baby Girl. What's to think about?"

"Really? Just like that? You don't want to make me wait a few months or anything to make sure I'm sure."

"Why would I want to make you wait? You're a grown woman who writes for a hit show. I figured you wouldn't ask me something like that unless you were sure."

I was trying to remain calm on the outside, but on the inside, I was doing flips. I couldn't quite tell if the butterflies were a result of excitement or nervousness but either way, I was
reeling at his willingness.

"So what?" I asked, still trying to seem cool and collected. "Can I just name a time and place?"

Caleb looked at his watch. "I got time right after I'm done with this scene, baby." He settled back into the chair, the picture of confidence.

A wide smile spread across my face at how easy that whole process had been. And honestly, I didn’t for a second, regret asking him. I wasn't convinced that I'd be ready to go for it in the
next two hours
, but I was certainly relieved that Caleb was ready and willing to help me out.

We still had t
wenty minutes before preproduction was scheduled to start, and Caleb was just sitting there looking down at his phone.

"Hey,
" I said, "I have a few texts I need to take care of. If Max shows up and starts looking for me, tell him I'm in wardrobe."

One of the larger wardrobe storage rooms happened to be located right next to the bar where we were filming the scene, and I figured I could find a quiet corner there since people were about to start showing up to
the set. It had been a few days since I talked to Zack and I couldn't wait to let him know he didn't have to help me out anymore.

In an ideal world, the news of my new arrangement with Caleb would push Zack to have a change of heart, but even if that didn't happen I had a really hot soap opera star that was willing to let me cry on his shoulder so to speak.

Me: "Hey Zack. Good news. It's the text you've been waiting for. You're off the hook. No worries about following through next month. I found someone else to help me out."

I didn't expect to hear back from him since it was just after noon and I knew he was usually doing physical therapy at that time. I just had to get it off my chest. Even though
I thought hearing back from him was a long shot, I still gave it four or five minutes before deciding to head back next door. I was in the hallway between sets when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I got really nervous and anxious as I fished my phone from the back pocket of my jeans. My hand shook as I read his words. 

Zack: "Hello to you too.
Haha. I'll be honest with you. I'm not really okay with this news. Is this something you've already done?"