Nora

My hands feel clammy as we make the drive to Matt’s house. I feel like I’m meeting my boyfriend’s parents for the first time – no, I feel like I’m introducing someone to my parents for the first time.

Zack is messing with the radio and babbling as he makes turns and drives down streets we walked as kids. I’m not sure where Matt lives anymore, but as we get closer the more nervous I get. What if they’re not as forgiving as Zack? What if, since they don’t forgive me, Zack decides we can’t be friends anymore? What if they turn Zack against me altogether?

Zack parks in front of a house that already has a few cars parked in front of it. My stomach squirms and I don’t realize I’m pushing myself deeper into the seat until I feel the warmth of Zack's hand on my hand.

“Hey,” he coos, “it’s going to be fine.”

I nod and unbuckle my seatbelt, to my surprise my hands aren’t shaking like I thought they would be. We both get out of the car and Zack drapes his arms over my shoulders as we make our way up the sidewalk. Zack doesn’t knock before he enters the house, bringing me in with him. There’s a loud chatter as we walk in, but the first room is empty. Zack leads me through the house – pictures of Matt and Valary’s wedding spread amongst the walls – before he leads me into a room where five people lounge with drinks in their hands and smiles on their face.

Those smiles change as Zack and I walk into the room, as a matter of fact, the entire atmosphere changes. All of the faces but one turns to surprise.

“I fucking knew it was you! Zack told me I was crazy, but I knew.” Val exclaims getting up from her seat and running to pull me into a hug.

At the same time, I hear, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Val pulls away from me, turning as we both watch Brian storm out of the room.

“Always the dramatic one,” Johnny mumbles, grinning.

Michelle sighs. “I’ll go talk to him.”

“No,” I say quickly. “I’ll go.”

No one tries to stop me as I follow Brian out of the room. It takes me a couple of rooms to find him, but eventually, I do, outside on the deck. His back is towards the door and doesn’t turn when he hears it open.

“Brian,” I start, closing the door behind me.

Brian interrupts. “What the hell, Nora? What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Excuse me?” I ask, stepping close to him.

He turns to face me. “After everything you did to him – you come back into his life just to fucking lie about who you are for several weeks? You make him go through the pain of telling you a story you already know – what for?”

I shake my head. “I didn’t mean to cause him pain, Brian. I mean…okay, maybe I did. But that was only because I thought he did me wrong. I wanted to find out why he did what he did.”

“He didn’t do anything!” Brian yells.

“I know that now,” I tell him. “Look, he forgave me, so –”

Brian interrupts, again. “So, what? Look, Nora, I know you’re not stupid, okay? You were one of the smartest girls at our high school. So, you had to have known something was up when your parents told you that he took their money and bounced.”

“All I knew was that I wrote him every chance I got and never got a reply. Then, I was told my parents paid him off – which is something they would have done,” I tell him. “My heart was just as broken as his.”

“That still doesn’t justify why you lied to him after completely uprooting his life,” Brian spits.

I shake my head. “I shouldn’t have done that. You’re right but he knows the truth now.”

Brian argues, “Yeah, because your psychotic fiancé beat the shit out of you and him!”

“I was going to tell him the truth before that happened,” I say calmly. “The whole situation with Liam just…I didn’t mean for Zack to get hurt. I didn’t mean for him to get thrown in jail.”

Brian stares at me. I know he’s thinking of a counter-argument, but his face softens instead. “So, what’s next?”

“I don’t know,” I tell him, shaking my head. “Zack said we were going to have a barbeque.”

“No,” Brian says. There’s a hint of amusement in his voice. “No, I mean…you and Zack come in with his arm around you. I mean…less than a week ago you were both engaged to someone else.”

“Yeah?” I ask, not fully grasping his point.

“Are you staying? Nora, I don’t know if he can handle you pulling a disappearing act again,” Brian replies sincerely.

“I’m not sure what I’m doing yet,” I reply honestly. “I’m homeless and family-less. Most of my belongings are at Liam’s house and I don’t plan on ever going back there so I have like three suitcases of clothes in entirety. But…whatever decision I make, I’m sure Zack and I will talk about it beforehand. I’m not going to disappear, I never have.”

“Okay,” he tells me, pushing himself from the rail. He pulls me into a hug, squeezing me tightly. “It’s good to have you back, Novocain,” he tells me.

A flash of Jimmy pierces my brain and I feel sad all of a sudden; sad that it took me this long to come back; sad that I’ll never hear him call me that again.

“It’s good to be back,” I tell him. “I missed you guys.”

“We missed you too,” he replies.

We make our way back inside and back into the room where everyone sits. The chatter that once filled the room fills it again. Zack is sitting on a barstool with a beer in his hands. His eyes catch mine as soon as I walk into the room and it makes me feel weak.

“Did you two kiss and make up?” Johnny asks, as Michelle drapes her arms around Brian and kisses his cheek.

“Shut the fuck up and grab me a beer,” Brian says, taking his seat on the sofa.

Johnny flips him off but the rest of my view is obstructed by another hug. Michelle is embracing me now, followed by Matt.

“So,” Matt says as he pulls away. “What are we doing? Are we suing your folks? We make badass money now, we can get an awesome lawyer and take everything from them.”

I laugh, nodding. “Don’t think the idea hasn’t struck me,” I tell him. “But, if I’m being completely honest…I just want to be done with them. They’ve held me down and watched me squirm long enough. I think their inability to control me and my life any longer is going to drive them more crazy than taking their money from them will.”

Matt nods. “Spoken like a true adult. Grown up and all the shit.”

I laugh, shaking my head. “I wish I would have just done it sooner.”

Matt gets the grill started and the conversation ignites once again, but this time I feel like less of an outsider. Johnny tells me about his wife named Lacey and shows me pictures of their wedding. She looks beautiful and Brian doesn’t waste time reminding him that she’s way out of his league. Michelle is next as she scoots in close to me and shows me pictures of her and Brian’s wedding. She tells me she’s trying for a baby and Johnny makes the remark I hope it looks more like its mother than its father. Val gives me a tour of her beautiful home complete with a recording studio, a gaming room and an in-home gym for her husband. She tells me she’s slowly starting a business with her sister but it’s not public knowledge yet.

When we make our way back into the room where the guys sit, I retake my seat on the couch. Matt and Brian go check on the meat and as they leave the room and Johnny engulfs himself in a conversation with Michelle and Val, Zack finds his way over to me. He sits so close to me his jeans press into my leg. The green in his eyes makes me want to scream as he looks at me.

“See,” he smirks. “I told you there was nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I tell him with a dismissive wave.

Matt walks back into the house. “Looks like it’s about to rain,” he says. “Did no one check the weather before we decided to have a cookout?”

“Well, it was kind of last minute,” Zack says.

“It’s alright,” Val adds. “If it starts to rain we can just eat inside instead of out on the patio.”

“So, Nora, are you planning on staying in Huntington Beach or do you have other plans?” Michelle asks me.

“I don’t really know,” I tell her. I want to glance at Zack, but I fight it. “My head is still kind of spinning if I'm being honest.”

Michelle nods. “Yeah, I bet. I can’t believe your parents.”

“Honestly, I shouldn’t even be surprised that they pulled something like that,” I reply.

The room steadily gets darker and as Matt goes to check on the meat again, Val disappears to check on the weather. By the time Matt comes in with a pan full of food, it’s pouring outside and although it’s only around five in the afternoon, it’s dark outside.

“Well,” Matt says, “I think there’s a storm scheduled for this evening.”

Val walks into the room, too. “Yeah,” she sighs. “Apparently there’s going to be some crazy winds and maybe some hail.”

“Gross,” Johnny said, getting to his feet. “I’m hungry, let’s eat.”

“Fat ass,” Brian comments, but he begins to walk into the dining room anyway.

The dining room table is soon surrounded by laughter and wine. Conversation kicks up and soon no one is worried about the storm raging outside. Lightening and laughter cackle simultaneously. I listen to the conversation and join in, feeling at home for the first time in years. I haven’t had a dinner with anyone dropping the f-bomb since my last dinner with this group.

The first two bottles of wine are drained before Valary gets up and makes margaritas and martinis. Although I decline, Valary sets a margarita down in front of me and I continue to sip on my wine.

Although at this moment, I’m happy, happier than I’ve ever been, I find myself getting sucked into a type of sadness, like regret. I’m sad that I’ve missed out on thousands of these moments. How many memories could I have had with these people if the last several years weren’t stolen from me? What type of person would I have been if my parents didn’t interfere?

“Does the storm look like it’s about to stop?” Michelle asks well after dinner comes to an end.

Brian wiggles his eyes. “You ready to get home, baby?”

“Oh, shut up,” she laughs. “We left Pinkly at home. You know she hates storms.”

“It doesn’t look like it’s letting up for at least a few more hours,” Val says.

Michelle groans. “I told you we should have brought her. Come on. If it’s not going to stop, we might as well head home now.”

“But his hair!” Johnny laughs.

Brian replies but I don’t hear him because Zack is whispering in my ear. “We should get going, too,” he tells me. I nod and he stands up; I follow.

“Oh, don’t tell me you pussies are leaving too,” Johnny says.

“You’ve done drank all the booze, dick,” Zack jokes.

Meanwhile, Michelle is pulling me into a hug. “It was so nice to see you, Nora. Put your number in my phone so we can keep in touch. Us girls will have to get together soon,” she says.

Val is nearing us, too, “Yes! We need to get mimosa’s or something without these barbarians,” she grins.

“Hey!” Johnny, Matt, Brian, and Zack chime in. We ignore them.

“I missed you so much,” Val tells me, hugging me tightly.

I hug her back. Val and I were so close in high school. She was the closest female friend I’ve ever had – it felt nice to back in her embrace, to be able to make plans with her again. “I missed you too,” I tell her. “We’ll get together soon, I promise.”

After a few more hugs and goodbyes, Zack and I find ourselves standing on Matt’s front steps, watching raindrops the size of baseballs fall freely from the sky.

Okay. Maybe they aren’t that big.

“Are you sure you want to leave?” I ask him. Lightning lights up the sky, allowing us to watch fallen leaves run across the yard.

Zack doesn’t answer immediately. Then he looks over at me with a devilish grin. “Last one to the car is a rotten egg!” He yells before bolting across the yard.

“What?” I yell, laughing. “Are you in second grade?” I pull my heels off and begin running after him.

My feet slip and slide against the wet grass. The rain is cold against my skin and I can feel it begin to soak into my dress and my hair sticks to my face. When I reach the car, Zack is still standing outside of it.

“I think I dropped the keys!” He yells over the top of the car.

“You what?” I ask, looking into the darkness behind me. When I turn back to Zack, he’s laughing and getting in the car. “Oh, you ass!” I yell, getting into the passenger’s side.

Zack is still laughing as I shut the door. “You should have seen your face!” he tells me.

I shake my head, pushing the wet strands of hair from my face. “You’re so paying for a pedicure,” I joke, wiping the dirt and grass from my feet.

“Oh, okay, Ms. Socialite,” he laughs, starting the car.

Zack and I poke fun at each other the entire way back to his house. He’s driving slower due to the rain, but it seems like we arrive at his house much faster. My palms are sweating like before and my heart isn’t pounding against my chest. The storm, however, is still raging when we arrive at Zack's house. He pulls into his garage and I’m thankful for the dryness.

Zack meets me on the passenger side of the car and grabs my hand, carefully leading me to the door, using his phone as a flashlight.

“Ah, shit,” I hear him curse.

“What’s wrong?” I ask him.

Zack sighs. “The storm has knocked out the power, I think.”

I reach into my pocket and pull out my own phone, using it as a flashlight as well, but we don’t get too far until it does. “Well, damn.”

“Do you want to go back to Matt's?” he asks, turning to me.

The glow from his phone isn’t much, but it’s enough for me to see that his shirt is clinging to his body again. I swallow hard, forcing a lump down before looking up at him. He has his wet hair pushed back and out of his face, small droplets and streaks of rain resided on his face.

“No,” I tell him quietly.

“Okay,” he grins. “You take this and go get changed and I’ll go check the breaker. Maybe it just flipped or something.”

I take his phone from him as he hands it to me. “Okay, first of all, it’s never the breaker when the electric goes out in the storm and second of all, that’s always where the murderer is.”

“OoOoOoOoOh,” Zack winks before disappearing.

I begin to make my way through Zack's house, listening to the storm outside. Quite often, the lightning lights up Zack's house which helps because as I’m climbing his stairs, Zack's phone dies.

I groan, staring up into the darkness before complaining loudly. “Zack,” I begin climbing back down. “Your phone died.”

No response.

“So, I’m just going to wait at the bottom of the stairs and then we can go upstairs together,” I say again.

“What are you – scared?” I hear distantly.

“…No,” I answer.

“Are you sure?” I hear from directly behind me. It doesn’t scare me, but the sudden chill down my spine has nothing to do with the rain.

I turn, my hands finding the wetness of Zack's shirt with my palms. I gasp as my fingertips graze him – it’s like a lightning strike escaped from the sky and is somehow running through my veins.

Lightning strikes and it empowers me. My hands find their home on Zack's hips and step up on my tiptoes, bringing my lips to his. I feel weightless as I kiss him, but he anchors me as he wraps his arms around my waist and kisses me back. He presses me against the wall gently and I take his face into my hands. The kiss doesn’t seem desperate and over-eager like kissing Liam was. It’s loving and sensual; my fingers find the back of Zack's shirt and I gently pull it over his head.

Zack doesn’t return his lips to mine after I begin to undress him. He laces his fingers with mine and leads me cautiously up the stairs. As soon as we're on the second floor, he spins me to face him, kissing me once more.

We move slowly, like a dance, towards Zack's bedroom. His fingers get tangled in my hair as mine search his chest like I’m remembering exactly what he felt like the last time we did this. His fingers glide down the zipper of my dress and I shrug my shoulders, allowing my arms to slip out of it and it falls to the floor.

Zack hits the bed first. He sits on the edge and pulls me towards him so I'm standing between his legs. His lips find the flesh right above my belly button, and then an inch above it, and the inch above it. His lips brush against my cleavage as he begins to stand. He kisses me on my lips again as he turns me, and we lay on the bed.

Zack's weight on top of me is perfect. His left hand rests in mine above my head as his right hand caresses my side. His slightly calloused fingers tickle my skin as we continue to kiss.

I reluctantly break away from him. “Zack, your jeans are getting the bed wet.”

“If you wanted me to take my jeans off,” he smirks, climbing off the bed, “all you had to do was ask.” He winks before unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans. They fall to the floor and he steps out of them as I scoot up in the bed, so my head is level with the pillows.

I watch him as he jokingly flexes his muscles before he crawls on the bed, catching my laugh in his mouth. He pulls me up in a sitting position and without removing his lips from mine reaches behind me and unclasps my bra. I let it fall from my body before tossing it off the bed.

I pull Zack closer to me, deeper into a kiss and he lets his body fall into mine. My fingers play with the elastic band of his boxers, allowing my finger to run along the skin beneath them. Zack smiles against my mouth as a breath hitches in his throat as my finger runs along his groin. In return, he allows his finger to graze my lips through my panties.

Zack slowly kisses my neck and collarbone before his mouth finds my nipple. He focuses on it for a long moment, and I know he’s enjoying the soft gasps and moans the escape my lips as I tangle my fingers in his damp hair. His mouth leaves my breast, leaving a trail down my stomach and to the line where skin meets cloth.

I watch him, eagerly, nervously and – let's be honest, slightly beggingly as he loops his fingers around the thin line of cotton. His eyes don’t leave mine as he slowly begins to pull my panties from my hips. The cloth glides down my thighs, past the bend of my knees and calves before they’re discarded, and Zack climbs between my legs once again.

I’ve never felt so vulnerable in my entire life, but I’ve also never felt so safe. Zack makes me feel like a warrior that can take on the entire world and yet, become completely weak in the knees at his touch. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt before in my life.

I drink his lips like wine. Pulling his mouth deeper into mine as I push his boxers down with my knees. Zack is hard against my thigh and my body craves him.

He breaks away from me, tossing his boxers into the darkness as I feel him position himself near my opening. My breath catches in my throat as I feel him slowly begin to sink into me. My eyes fight to close but I force them open to watch Zack. He licks his lips, pushing deeper into me.

He allows on hand to rest on my hip as I wrap my legs around him; the other hand pressed mine into the pillow beside my bed. He slowly begins to thrust in and out of me. I allow my eyes to close, allow myself to completely immerse myself into the pleasure. Sighs, gasps and quiet moans of please escape both of our lips and when I open my eyes again, Zack is watching me, nibbling on his lip.

I pull him down to me, begging him to kiss me as he dips into me at a steady pace. It’s not like in erotica novels or porn. No one is competing for the ‘loudest moan’ award. No one is screaming to be fucked harder or to have some kinky act be done to them before they orgasm. Those were all things I was forced to do with Liam, to make sex pleasurable or even tolerant. Liam and I only ever fucked – we never had sex like this. We never made love.

I don’t know if it’s still storming outside or not. All I can hear is the blood rushing through my veins and my breath mixing with Zacks. Zack buries his head into my neck, gently kissing me. My mouth finds his ear and I softly nibble on it, allowing my hands to search his back as he rolls his hips into me.

I get lost in the sea of warmth around Zack. His arms become my sanctuary and I let myself melt into them. I consume his scent and ache for him with every thrust. I’m not sure how much time passes before we both climax. It could have been minutes, or it could have been hours. We’re both sweaty when Zack lays in the bed beside me. The rain has stopped now, and the moonlight allows enough light into the room so that I can see his bare chest heave as he closes his eyes.

I think he’s going to sleep and silently wonder if I should leave. After all, I’m not sure what’s going through Zack's mind. I decide to attempt to slip away so I don’t make a fool of myself by assuming I have an invitation to sleep beside him. When Zack feels me shuffle around, though, he reaches for my hands. His fingertips find mine and he lightly grasps them.

“Hey,” he says quietly. “Where are you going?”

I suddenly feel stupid for feeling so insecure. “I was just going to the bathroom,” I reply.

Zack groans softly. “Mm, come here,” he says. His fingers find my wrist and he pulls me back into the bed and wraps his arms around me. “I want you to stay,” he tells me as if he is reading my mind. He always did know me so well. “Will you stay?”

I don’t even have to think about it. “Yeah,” I reply, snuggling deeper into his arms. I kiss his jaw before laying my head down on his pillow. “I’ll stay.”

Notes

Thank you so much for reading! don't forget to comment!

Title credit: Fall Out Boy “I Slept with Someone in Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me."