“Hey, beautiful.”

I turn my head to see Zack walking up to me, his bag slung over his left shoulder and a cigarette tucked behind his ear. He brushes his lips against my cheek and then leans against the lockers. “Hey, you,” I grin, stuffing a couple more books into my backpack and closing my locker.

“The gang and I are going to go to Leana’s and hang out, you want to come?”

I shake my head. “I should go home. We have a quiz in history tomorrow so I need to study.” I pull my backpack over my shoulders.

Zack fake pouts for a second. “Oh, come on. This is our only day off together. Don’t spend it studying away in your bedroom.”

“Mr. Baker!”

Zack and I snap our attention to the voice. Mrs. Peters stands off to the side, pointing to her ear and then to Zack. “Don’t let me see it again or else you’’ have Saturday attention for the rest of the semester.”

Zack pulls the cigarette from the back of his ear and tolls his eyes as she walks off. “See, now I might get detention for the rest of the year and you’re going to spend today in your bedroom. Alone. Studying.”

I can’t help but laugh. “No, Eli and my mom aren’t home so I might spend it in the living room.”

Zack shakes his head, smiling. “okay, how about I quiz you using your index cards on the way to Leana’s, we hang out for a while and then I’ll walk you home and help you study. I’ll even cook you a late diner.”

“Well, alright…but only for the food,” I tease.

Zack grins and kisses me. We haven’t defined our relationship, but I felt like we were dating – or nearly dating? It had only been a few days since out date, but these last few days were definitely filled with more affection. I just didn’t want to be that girl. The kind that demanded a title. Yet, I also didn’t want to catch him with another girl. How did everything get so confusing so quickly? What I needed was someone else to ask Zack to define our relationship, and then tell me word-for-word, exactly what he said.

“Hey, are you two coming?”

“Matt! Can’t you see they’re busy?” Val giggles as we part.

I felt my cheeks warm and I brush hair out of my face while Zack answers them. “Yeah, we’re coming. You guys go ahead though.”

“Okay,” Matt shrugs as he walks off. Valary gives us one last grin, followed by a wink and follows her boyfriend.

“You know, I just had an idea,” Zack says with a smile.

“And what’s that?”

Zack gives my hip a small squeeze and pulls me back to him. “We could totally just stay here and make out instead.”

I giggle and lean into a kiss but before our lips could touch we were interrupted again. “Mr. Baker! Miss Davis! I suggest you both go home and do that!” Mrs. Peters shrieks again.

Zack is laughing when he pulls away. “Alright, we’re leaving,” he calls. Then, quieter to me, he says, “don’t forget your flashcards.”

“What makes you think I even made flashcards for this test?” I ask him.

Zack gives me a look. “Because I know you. Come on, give them to me.”

I laugh and open my backpack, dig into it and hand him a stack of index cards. “Here.”

“See,” Zack smiles. “Told you.”

“Shut up.” I swing my backpack back over my shoulder. “Let’s go.”

We begin to walk through the school and out the door. “Alright,” Zack clears his throat, shuffling through the cards. “In Feudal Japan, which social class had the most political power?”

“Shogun.”

“Correct!” Zack smiles as we start walking in the direction of Leana’s house. “See, you don’t even need to study!”

I laugh. “Next question.”

“The Seen-go-coo period…” he starts.

“Sengoku,” I pronounce correctly. Zack shoots me a look. “Sorry,” I grin.

“The Sengoku period in Japan lasted from blank to blank.”

“Um…early 15th century to late 17th century…I think?”

“Close,” Zack replies. “It’s late 15th century to early 17th century.”

I roll my eyes. “Whatever, same thing.”

Zack shrugs. “Unless you have to be specific, I would just leave the ‘early’ and ‘late’ but out. Just say ‘15th to 17th’ century.”

“That’s cheating.”

“It is not,” he laughs. “It’s just being less specific. It’s still the right question either way.”

“Next question.”

We went through almost all of the flash cards on the way to Leana’s. Zack mostly kept his attention on helping my study which was unusual.

“Alright, we’ll do the rest on the way to your house,” he tells me putting the index cards in his bag.

“Okay,” I grin and pull him into a kiss. No matter how many times we kissed in the last few days, it still felt slightly strange to kill him so freely. I was enjoying it ever second, though.

“What’s that for?” he asks when we parted.

“I just wanted to thank you for helping me both study and get out of the house,” I reply.

Zack smiles and kisses me again. “Well, we can study together all night long if you want.”

I laugh. “For some reason, I think you mean something other than actual studying.”

Zack winks and knocks on the door. A woman answers before he replies to me. “Zack, Leana said you’d be here sometime. She and everyone else are upstairs. Oh, you must be Sheridan. I'm Leana’s mother; it’s nice to meet you.”

“You, too,” I reply with a smile.

“Alright, well, you two head on up and let me know if there’s anything you need.”

“Okay,” Zack and I say in unison. He places his hand on the small of my back and leads me up the stairs.

“Hey, it’s about damn time, guys!” Jimmy exclaims, jumping up off the bed. First, he pulls Zack into a hug and then me.

“Well, we could have ridden with one of you but someone said she’d only come if I helped her study on the way here,” Zack reveals.

“Do you ever stop studying, girl?” Brian asks with a cigarette in his mouth.

I join Val, Johnny, Michelle and Jimmy on the floor. “No, not really. Not all of us can get by on our good looks.”

“Don’t forget my God-like guitar skills,” he shrugs and Zack joins me on the floor.

“Oh, and my God-like drumming skills,” Jimmy comments. He and Brian hi-five.

“You two are idiots,” Matt says.

Val changes the subject. “So, were you studying for Mr. Schmidt’s Feudal Japan test?”

I nod. “Yeah. I’m kind of stressing it.”

“Oh, don’t be. I saw him working on the answer key, it’s all multiple choice.”

“See, so you don’t have to worry about remembering if it’s late or early 15th century.”

“You mean, I don’t have to cheat!”

“It’s not cheating, you psycho!” Zack laughs. I fake an offended look and he leans over and kisses me cheek.

“So, uh…are you guys like…dating now?” Lacey asks.

I could jump for joy! Finally, I was going to find the answer I’ve been looking for and I'm not the one that has to ask the question!

“Um…” Zack starts, I glance over at him, attempting not to look like I, too, was awaiting an answer. “We haven’t really put a label on it but…yeah, I guess that’s what it is.” He turns to me. “As long as that’s okay with you?”

I forced myself to stay calm even though I wanted to cheer. Zack made me so happy. He was the candle during my darkest of days. I wanted him, I wanted this and the fact that he wanted me too made me ecstatic.

“Of course, it’s okay with me, you goob,” I laugh, trying to keep my voice as casual as possible.

“Yay!” Michelle and Val cheer.

“You two are, like, so cute together,” Jimmy said in his best valley girl voice.

“We know,” I beamed, grateful for everyone’s reactions.

“Uh…I don’t want to be that guy but what’s Gena froing to say when she finds out?” Johnny asks which earns him a smack across the arm from Val.

“Johnny!” she hisses.

“What?” he asks innocently.

“Fuck Gena,” Zack shrugs. “She has to get over it. She has no say in who I could date.”

“Actually,” Michelle starts, “Gena is dating someone, too.”

“What?” a handful of us, including myself, ask.

“Who?” Matt asks.

Michelle shrugs. “I don’t know. She didn’t say, just that it’s some guy she met at a party.”

“Well, how did you find out?” Val asks. I could also tell she wanted to know why her twin didn’t tell her the news first.

“I asked her if she wanted to come tonight and she said she couldn’t because she already had plans with this guy,” Michelle told her.

“She probably made it up,” Zack commented. I was glad he said it because I was thinking it too. She probably made it up to make Zack jealous.

We spent the next couple of hours just talking and hanging out. Every now and then one of the couples in the group would start making out, but it eventually led back to conversation.

“You ready to go?” Zack whispered in my ear as Jimmy and Leana started making out. I nod and he kisses my cheek before standing to his feet, offering his hand to me. “Alright, we’ve got to go do more studying,” he announces.

“And don’t forget the dinner you owe me,” I tease.

Zack grins. “We’ll see you guys tomorrow at school.”

“Bye!” I few of them call out as we begin to head out of the room.

We hear Jimmy and Brian’s muffled voices after Zack shuts the door. “Have safe sex!”

I hadn’t even thought about sec with Zack. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I could ever have sec with anyone again – ever. I wondered how Zack would take that news when he found out. How am I supposed to tell him? Out of the blue before he even tries? That would definitely scare him away.

“Alright, you ready?”

I pull myself out of my thought and realize we’re outside on the porch, my stack of index cards is in his hand. “Yeah,” I smile.

“What is the name for the period of constant civil war and social turmoil that occurred during the 16th Japan?”

“Sengoku Period.”

“Correct!” Zack cheers. “Next question.” He clears his throat. “Will you officially be my girlfriend?”

“Didn’t we make it official earlier?” I asked, confused.

“Well, technically. But I didn’t want you to feel obligated or pressured to say yes because of everyone. I was going to ask you, honestly, I just didn’t know how or…”

I interrupt him by kissing him. The kiss is longer than usual, more than just a peck or a couple of seconds. I nibble on the bottom of Zack's lip as he pulls me in closer to him and I feel him grin against my lips. Eventually, we part. We stand with our lips lingering next to each other. I could feel Zack’s hot breath on my lips but I didn’t open my eyes. This was our first real kiss as a couple and I wanted to savor it.

“Alright,” I whisper after what felt like hours. “Next question.”

Notes

Hey, guys! Long time no see! Sorry for such a long wait for the update. Since the last update, I've started taking some online classes and started training to become a Crisis Counselor for the Crisis Text Line. With work and trying to have a bit of a social life, I've kinda lost the time and inspiration to write. So, i don't know when I'll update again but ill try to soon.

Thank you so so much for reading! Thank you, MeRi for commenting on the last chapter. MiA7X, thank you so so much for all of your comments on multiple stories of mine! Your kind words are definitely an inspiration and made my night!

Title Credit: Panic! “The Good, the Bad and the Dirty"