You Can't Cuddle With A Zombie (Old Verison)

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

**A few days later**

I washed the plate and handed it to Alyssa to dry. She seemed to be daydreaming. Every now and then I'd have to nudge her to wake her up.

"You OK?" I asked after the fifth time she spaced out on me.

She turned to me and didn't speak for a while.

"I kissed Dominic!" she blurted out, turning all red.

I almost dropped the cup I was holding.

"What? When? How was it? WHAT?"

She sighed, putting the plate down and facing me.

"It was yesterday when I was helping him upstairs. I don't know, we were just talking and we kissed." Her eyes fell and she said softly to herself, "I told myself I wasn't going to let him do this again."

Again?

"Again?" I repeated.

Her eyes widened and her head shot up. I guessed she didn't know she'd said it aloud.

"What do you mean by again?" I asked.

Her eyes looked at me in defeat.

"You remember the summer of junior year? When you took that cruise with your family and Eric's?"

Of course, how could I forget it?

"Yes," I said, nodding.

"Well, something happened that summer that I never told you..." she trailed off, looking around the kitchen.

"What?" I asked again.

What could have been so bad that she could not tell me? We told each other everything!

"Well, you know my dad was a judge-" She stopped for a second, blinking a couple of times before continuing, "-and, well, this woman was caught with drugs and she was going to jail."

"Yeah."

"Well, she had a son, but since he was a minor, he needed to be looked after. My dad offered to take care of him until his mother's hearing. But I wasn't supposed to tell anyone because you know how our town was with the gossip..."

I looked her, already knowing what was coming next.

"Yeah, that boy was Dominic. He lived in my house for three months."

I knew it was coming, but my jaw still dropped.

"What happened?"

I could barely hear my own voice because I was still in shock.

"I started liking him, that's what happened. But once his mom got bailed, he left and pretended we never happened."

"Do you know why?"

"No. And I promised myself I'd never let myself fall for him. But-"

I pulled her by the wrist and hugged her.

"Just so you know, I know he really really likes you."

"How do you know? He's been ignoring me again."

"I don't know why he's been ignoring you, but I know he likes you."

Alyssa smiled.

**Several Months Later**

"The sky's clearing up," Dominic noted, taking the lock off his shotgun.

I appeared next to him.