You Have My Heart

Twelve

As it tuns out, Dani is very good at ignoring people. She didn't respond to any of my texts or voicemails and she made sure to walk fast to avoid me in the halls. She didn't sit next to me in class and she refused to look at me in cheer practice. The rumors and whispering still hadn't died down and I was starting to hate going to school.

"Are you going to say what you want to say?" I asked Gavyn. He was sitting next to me at the lunch table and had been shooting me sideways looks for the last ten minutes.

"I don't understand why you're going out with him." Gavyn said. I rolled my eyes.

"Why? Because he can do better than me?" I guessed.

"More like you can do better than him. He's a player Brody," Gavyn told me, grabbing his water bottle.

"He's not what you all think." I said, annoyed. I stood and grabbed my lunch tray. I'd barely eaten anything but suddenly I wasn't hungry.

"You know, if you're dating someone I'd like to meet him," Paige told me Thursday after school. She was sitting in the kitchen with a plate of pizza rolls in front of her.

"You will, I promise." I told her.

"Tonight. Invite him over for dinner." Paige said. I groaned.

"I'll ask him," I agreed. Then I went up to my room and called him.

"What's up?" He asked, answering his phone. I sat in my desk chair and propped my feet onto the table.

"Paige wants to know if you can come to dinner tonight. She really wants to meet you," I told him.

"Yeah, I'd love to." Zach agreed. I was almost hoping he'd say he couldn't.

Paige had made homemade ravioli and garlic bread that night. Zach arrived a little early and we set the table. Then we sat down and Gavyn and Grant carried the food to the table.

"So, you play football?" Paige asked Zach when we'd started eating. He was sitting next to me at the table and he nodded.

"Yes. Quarterback." He told her. She nodded, obviously liking that.

"Are you going to college next fall?" She asked him. I froze at the question. Zach and I had been seeing each other for a few months now and somehow the subject of college had never come up.

"I'm hoping so. I've got scholarships lined up with Triton University and Kingston University." Zach answered.

"The boys here are looking at going to Triton too. They've got full ride scholarships and it's not too far from home." Paige told Zach.

"Triton is my first choice." Zach agreed.

After dinner we cleared the table and did the dishes. I told Paige that we were going to go study in my room and then I pulled Zach upstairs. I laid on my bed and covered my face with my hands.

"I'm sorry about Paige. Since we've moved here she's taken over the role of Mom," I told Zach. I heard him come closer and he moved my hands away from my eyes.

"I don't mind. She seemed nice." Zach told me. He say down next to me and placed his head in my lap.

"She is. She's like a sister that I never had," I told him. I ran my hands through his hair, letting it play through my fingers.

"Do you miss your parents a lot?" Zach seemed to regret the question as soon as he asked it but I didn't mind.

"I used to. I mean, I think about them a lot. Like what my life would've been like if they hadn't died. If we'd never moved here. But there's no point wondering about the what ifs. The did die and we did move here. I think it hurts more wondering so I just don't." I told him. I hadn't talked to anyone about my parents in a long time. Dani and I used to talk about them but the longer it was, the easier it became. Now it was almost normal to not have them here. Some part of me wondered if they'd have still been here, would I still be in this mess?

Zach and I sat in silence for a few minutes, my fingers laced in his. He lied down next to me and I rested my head on his chest. I could hear his heart beating and feel the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. It was relaxing, almost enough to make me forget about everything that was happening.

"Does this mean I can come over from now on?" Zach asked me, his voice reverberating against my face. I couldn't help but laugh. For months I had been putting off letting him come to my house because he hadn't met Paige.

"Yes, you can come over now. Anytime you want," I told him. I didn't have to look up to know he was smiling.