The next week was lonely without Zack around which made me feel pathetic. I didn’t realize how much I depended on him until he was gone. I tried to go into the café and see him on his shift, but Gena was always there. I couldn’t really blame her, they were kind-of-sort-of-not-really dating, and she was probably missing him too since he was suspended from school and, I’m assuming, not allowed visitors at home.

On the third day I stopped by, I caught Zack's eye. He smiled and waved which caused Gena to turn around and, at the sight of me, roll her eyes. I grinned before waving back and then left, deciding it was probably best not to enter and cause trouble between them.

Once the weekend hit again, I decided to head to the bookstore in the mall. The test dates for the SAT and ACT were released and coming up in just a few months and I wanted to get a head start on preparing for them. Plus, I wasn’t sure how long Zack was suspended or grounded for so studying would also help distract me from how lonely I felt without him around.

The bookstore wasn’t very busy. I spent what felt like hours trying to decide which preparation books to get. Finally, I decided on two, one for each test, and headed to check out.

“Sheridan?” I hear as I wait in line. I turn around to see Michelle walking up to me, her arms full of books as well.

“Hey, Michelle,” I grin as she makes her way over to me. “For school or leisure?”

Michelle groans. “School, of course. I thought senior year was supposed to be fun? I swear Val and I spend more time at study groups than we do partying.”

I laugh. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“You’re preparing for the SATs already?” She asks glancing down at my books.

The person ahead of me finishes paying and walks away. I step up to the counter and set down my books. “Yeah,” I answer as the cashier begins to ring up my books. “I kind of blew last year off so I'm a little behind on some things.”

The cashier tells me my total and I pay as Michelle begins to speak. “Ah, I see. Well, hey if you ever want to study with Val and me, just let us know,” She smiles as I grab my bag of books and she sets hers on the counter.

“Oh, okay, thanks.” I grin.

“Not a problem,” she says. “Everyone is actually a few stores down shopping. Do you want to hang out for a little while?”

“I would but…Gena doesn’t really like me and I don’t want things to be weird.” I tell her looking away.

Michelle thanks the cashier and grabs her bag. “Gena isn’t here, she’s probably at the café with Zack.”

I shake my head as we begin to walk out of the store. “Zack is off today.” Michelle arches her brow at me, smirking. “I work later and Samantha is working right now, so…” I hoped she didn’t think I was keeping tabs on Zack. I mean, I totally was but I didn’t want her to know that.

“Okay,” she grins. I couldn’t tell if she believed me or not. “Well, either way, Gena didn’t come. So, you’re more than welcome to come hang out if you want.”

“Okay,” I nod. “I can stick around for a little while.”

“Good,” she says as we enter another store. “You know, just because Zack isn’t around, it doesn’t mean you can’t hang out with us at school. We all consider you our friend and not just when Zack is around.”

I feel myself getting embarrassed, but also a little happy. “Sorry, I just don’t want to…intrude, I guess.”

“No, there’s no intruding,” Michelle reassured as we made our way through the store. I didn’t get the chance to reply since Val and Leana came into view. “Look, who I found, girls!”

Val and Leana turn to us. “Sheridan!”

“Hey guys,” I smile as Val pulls me into a hug.

“What are you doing here?” she asks.

I shrug and lift my bag. “Just doing some shopping.”

“For books, no doubt. Zack would be proud,” she joked.

I laughed. Zack would definitely make fun of me if he knew. “What are you guys doing here?”

Leana shrugged. “I just came with Val she said she needed opinions.”

“On what?” I asked curiously.

“You can’t tell Zack, okay? Because then he will tell Matt and it’ll be ruined,” Val stressed.

“Okay…” I say slowly.

“Mine and Matt’s one year anniversary is coming up,” she told me. “I just want to make it…special, I guess is the right word.”

“She wants some sexy lingerie,” Michelle revealed.

Val shrugs. “I’ve never worn any before so I don’t know what looks right. I just really want him to enjoy it.”

“We told her that she could just wear an old bra and panty set and he would enjoy but she wants to be complicated,” Leana laughed.

“Shut up,” Val grinned. “I just want it to be special.”

I shoot her an old look. “Val…have you and Matt…have you guys had sex yet?”

“What?” Val laughs, “Of course. You think I’m going to be with a guy that looks like that and refrain from sex? No, I just meant I wanted the night to be special because it’s our anniversary.
I don’t know. Am I being stupid? He probably won’t even remember the day, if we’re being honest.”

“Oh, bullshit,” Michelle says. “Everyone sees the way he looks at you, sis. The day you said you’d go out with him was the happiest day of his life.”

We all laughed. “Okay, true,” Val joked.

“So, what kind of lingerie were you thinking?” I asked. Val showed me a couple of articles of clothing. One was a light blue, sheer baby doll and the other was a black lace teddy.

“I prefer the black one,” Michelle told her. “That would look great on me.”

Val rolled her eyes. “We’re not shopping for you.”

“We’re twins! What looks great on me, would look great on you. I mean, I'm the hotter twin, so it would look better on me but, you know.”

“Shut up,” Val giggled. “I’m going to go try them on.”

She walked to the dressing room and we all followed her. She picked the last stall on the row, the one with the most privacy, and we stood outside her door as she undressed. I wanted to ask them about Zack and if they had talked to him; if Gena has said anything; if they knew how long he was going to be out of school or how long he was going to be grounded. I just didn’t want to weird them out. I knew they were friends with Gena and I didn’t want her to think I was after her man, even though Zack claims they weren’t together. I also wanted to know what was going on there. I wanted to know why their relationship was complicated, and what its complications were. Were they still sleeping together? Did they still go out and do couple things? How did I ask these questions without sounding like a creep?

My thoughts were interrupted by the dressing room stall door opening and Valary revealing herself. “Well?”

“Daaaaaamn,” Michelle expresses. “If you buy this, Matt isn’t going to be able to keep his hands off you for weeks!”

Val laughs. “Well, that’s the plan! I’m going to put on the black one. I think I like it more.”

“And black is his favorite color!” Leana calls and Val closes the door.

“So, uh, have you guys talked to Zack?” I asked as casually as I could.

Leana answered first. “Not really.”

“Matt’s pissed,” Val answers from the other side of the door. “Apparently, they have a show next weekend and Zack isn’t going to be able to make it.”

“He’s grounded for that long?” I ask.

“I guess so,” she says. “Gena is really the only one that has spoken to him. She’s at the café from the minute he clocks in, to the minute he leaves. Matt tried to go up there the other day and said he couldn’t get a word in because of her.”

“Well, that sucks.” It sounded like Gena wasn’t only inconveniencing me but she was inconveniencing Zack’s other friends as well.

“Yeah, Matt’s super irritated,” she says as she opens the door. She was now wearing the little black number.

“That one, definitely,” Michelle told her.

“I agree,” I said with a nod. Val looked hot. Matt would be insane if he didn’t like it.

Leana agreed as well and Val began to check herself out in the mirror. “Yay!” she exclaimed. “I am so excited!” She closed the door again, grinning from to ear to ear.

I wanted to continue talking about Zack, but I didn’t know how to bring him up again. I stood there in silence as the three girls continued to talk about Matt and Val’s anniversary.

Fortunately, Leana brought Zack back into the conversation; unfortunately, it was something I didn’t want to hear. “You know, Zack and Gena started dating the same day Matt and Val did.”

“Oh, really?” I ask, trying to hide the disappointment in my voice. So, their one year anniversary was coming up too.

“Yeah, but it hardly counts,” Michelle says as we exit the dressing room.

“Why is that?” I ask.

“Well,” Val started, “I don’t want to brag but Matt and I have pretty much had a smooth going relationship. Zack and Gena…well, they were good together for, like, the first ten months. Then they broke up and it’s been an on-again-off-again relationship since. This is actually the longest they’ve been off.”

I wasn’t sure if I should be happy to hear that news or not. Instead of replying, I just nodded my head and continued walking with the three girls. I didn’t want to pry too much. I hadn’t got all the answers I wanted, but at least I knew a little something about Zack's complicated relationship with Gena. I knew there was more to the story, though. Otherwise, Zack would have just told me when I asked him. Right?

Notes

Thank you all for reading! Sorry for the lack of updates! i hope to get back onto the swing of things soon, but until then please don't forget to tell me what you think!

Thank you foREVer-A7X, AvengedLover6661, countzackula6661 , Christina934, and MeRi for commenting!

Title credit: Fall Out Boy “Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying”