I woke up with strong arms around me, but I knew they weren’t the ones I was hoping for. That’s how I’ve woken up for the last few days; hoping that the strong arms around me belonged to Matt. But after four days of waking up to see my hopes were wrong, my hope for anything was running on empty. The strong arms were familiar, so I didn’t even have to open my eyes to know they belonged to Zach. I shifted a little and slowly opened my eyes to see Zach’s face hidden in a pillow. His arms tightened around me and I sighed.
“Zach,” I whispered, using what movement of my arm I was able to use to shake him by his waist. He moaned a little and I shook his waist again. “Zach.”
“Is it an emergency?” Zach moaned, his voice muffled from the pillow. I smirked and shook him again.
“Dude, if you don’t let me go I’m going to piss all over your bed.” I said in a joking tone. Zach’s arms retracted from around me and suddenly I was being pushed away from him. He managed to push me off the bed, causing me to land on his floor with a thud.
“My God, Kid, can you keep it down? I’m trying to sleep.” Zach whined, curling the pillow around his head. I scoffed and threw a bouncy ball that was laying on the floor at him, hitting him right on the back of the head.
“You’re the one that pushed me.” I snapped, standing up. I went to his bathroom and began doing my daily routine. I went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, and, after a round of self-judging, enjoyed a nice hot shower. I had my own drawer of clothes at Zach’s now, so after I jumped out of the shower I wrapped myself tightly in a towel and went back into his room to get some clothes. When I emerged into his bedroom once again, Zach was still face-down in his pillow. I rolled my eyes and went to the drawer, pulling out clothes. I slid down the towel to my waist so I could put a bra on, and after I slid underwear on I let the towel drop. I put shorts and a v-neck on and brushed out my hair before lunging onto the bed, landing me right on Zach’s back.
“Ack!” Zach yelled, making a choking noise. I sat up so my butt was on his and I began bouncing.
“Zaacckkkkkkyyyyyy,” I yelled loudly, smiling to myself. Zach moaned loudly and I continued bouncing us. “Zacky! Wake up!”
“Oh my God you are quite possibly the most annoying little sister ever!” Zach shouted, twisting his body so he could glare at me. I smiled innocently and his face instantly softened and he smiled back. He threw a pillow at me and I gasped before hitting him repeatedly in the back of the head.
“And you’re the laziest big brother ever!” I shrieked. Zach laughed and pulled the pillow from my hands, causing me to fake pout. Zach chuckled and pushed me off his butt before sitting up.
“What is it you need, young one?” Zach asked calmly. I shrugged and he narrowed his eyes at me.
“It’s time for you to get up, oldie.” I giggled, poking his nose. He bit at my finger and I playfully glared at him. I jumped off his bed and pulled out some clothes for him. After I got out his clothes I handed them to him and began trying to push Zach out of his bed, with no such luck. “Go take a shower and get dressed. I’m hungry and we must make pancakes together.”
“Well you’re rather happy today.” Zach commented and he finally got up, causing me to flop onto his bed. He laughed and me and walked to the bathroom, leaving me to pull myself up.
“Yeah, I don’t know why that is. Probably just a phase.” I shrugged. He looked at me with a sad expression before shutting the door. I skipped down to his living room and turned on the TV to Nick, where SpongeBob was being aired. I sat and watched, thinking nothing but feeling heartbroken. After my curl-into-a-ball-of-death phase, I had become zombified. Today was the first day I was anything other than completely empty, and even now I still had the pain in my chest that never went away. I tried to keep myself focused on the TV instead of my thoughts when Zach came down the stairs. He looked between the TV and I before rolling his eyes. I gave him an innocent look and he chuckled.
“Come on, child. We have pancakes to make.” Zach said, holding his hand out for me. I happily took it and ran to the kitchen, throwing myself onto his counter. He laughed at my restlessness and began pulling out ingredients. He set flour and milk next to me before searching for a bowl and a pan. I watched quietly, smiling widely at him when he’d glance at me. After he had everything out, he looked at me with a confused expression. “Now what?”
“You don’t know how to make pancakes? Really?” I asked incredulously. He grimaced at me and I raised my eyebrows.
“I can cook at some things, but not everything.” Zach defended himself. I pursed my lips and gave him a look.
“So you know the only two ingredients of pancakes, yet you don’t know how to make pancakes.” I stated, staring at him. He shrugged and my face dropped. “Oh my dear lord.”
“Stop judging me and just make the batter.” Zach grumbled, pulling out a spoon for me. I sighed and jumped off his counter, grabbing the bowl and spoon from Zach and setting it next to the flour. I opened the bag of flour, which sent a puff of dust right into my face, blinding me.
“Oh shit!” I screamed, wiping my face. Zach looked at me and his face went red. I glared at him and he couldn’t compose himself any longer and burst into laughter. I narrowed my eyes at him and put my hand in the bag, grabbing a handful of flour. Right as Zach looked up at me, I threw the handful of flour right in his face. He screamed and I roared into laughter.
“That’s what you get, Baker!” I screamed, stopping immediately when I realized what I said. I began laughing harder, tears threatening to fall. Zach scowled at me and I grabbed the counter for support. “Oh my God! That is absolutely priceless!”
“Oh, it’s on now, Kid.” Zach said, grabbing the bag of flour and throwing a handful at me. I screamed and covered my face, causing my arms and legs to take most of the blow. I chased Zach around his kitchen for the bag, and we both slipped and fell on the flour from our last throws. I snatched the bag from his hand and poured the whole thing on his head, causing a mountain of flour to form. He shook it off and I stood up, trying to get away from him. As he began getting up, my phone began ringing.
“Pause! Pause!” I screamed, sliding through the kitchen to get to my phone. I jumped onto the counter again and looked at my phone to see my mom was calling. I frowned a little but answered the phone. “Hey mom.”
“Hey Jessi.” My mom greeted. Zach gave me a confused look and I just pursed my lips.
“What’s up?” I questioned, hoping she’d get to the point quickly. Yes, I still loved my parents after the divorce. But no, I still hadn’t gotten over the grudge I held against them for putting me through so much shit.
“Nothing much. How are you?” My mom replied, making small talk. Great.
“I’m good. California’s pretty great.” I stated, smiling to myself.
“That’s wonderful.” My mom complimented. “South Dakota is-“
“Still South Dakota?” I finished, causing my mom to laugh.
“Pretty much.” My mom laughed. It was silent for a minute before she sighed. “So listen, there’s something-“
“Zachary!” I screamed, blocking my face as Zach threw another handful of flour at me. “I told you to stop! I’m on the phone with my mom!”
“Oh honey, you did not just call me Zachary.” Zach said, snapping his fingers. I snickered and stuck my tongue out at him.
“Oh, but I did.” I cooed, trying to provoke him. Zach glared at me and I chuckled. “Now stop. I’m talking to my mom.”
“Hi Kid’s mom!” Zach yelled loudly, waving at me.
“Who’s that?” My mom asked, curiosity in her voice.
“It’s just my friend Zach.” I replied, smiling at Zach. “If you didn’t hear his loud ass mouth just a minute ago, he says hi.”
“Zach… Baker?” My mom questioned. My eyes widened and my eyebrows rose. “And watch your mouth, Jessica.”
“Uh, yeah… how’d you know?” I questioned, ignoring her scolding about my language.
“Well, that’s actually what I wanted to talk about with you.” My mom began. I stared at Zach, completely and totally confused. There is no possible way she could have just guessed Zach’s last name, but how else would she know which ‘Zach’ I was with? There’s like 500-bagillion Zach’s in the world. The phone was silent and I pursed my lips, waiting for an explanation. After a minute of pure silence, I began to think my mom hung up.
“Mom?” I asked.
“Uh, yeah, hold on, Jessi.” My mom stuttered. Her voice went muffled, but I could still hear her talking. I strained myself to hear with who it could be, and pulled away from the phone angrily when I realized it was a deep voice. The voice of a man. “So, Jessi, I know that you’re against remarriage, but there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Are you being serious right now?” I asked incredulously. She could not be getting remarried.
“Yes, Jessi. I am. I’m getting remarried.” My mom said, her voice shaking a little although I could tell she was trying to make herself sound strong. I glared at the wall, becoming extremely angry with my mom.
“What the fuck mom, seriously. And how the hell does this ‘news’ have to do with Zach?” I questioned, hoping that what my mind was getting at wasn’t true.
“Well, I’m getting remarried to Zach’s father.”