The List

Chapter Eleven

Zea sat on her couch nervously waiting for Maxey to arrive. She kept fidgeting with the couch pillows and switching channels on the t.v.

"You're just going out to eat for god's sakes!" she huffed into a pillow. She realized she'd been talking to herself a lot lately. "It's not a marriage proposal!" she said to herself again.

She was getting tired of giving herself all these pep talks! She was just hoping it would all turn out okay. It had been a year since her last date and that ended in disaster. All the guy did was talk about how much he loved his car, himself, and money. Not down her alley at all.

She scowled thinking of how weak she was to let Stella set her up with one of her ex boyfriend's friend. Not ever happening again. These were her terms now and she was going to decide her fate. In her book there was no such thing as love at first sight.

Call her old fashioned but the man had to win over the woman. She played back the advice her mom gave her as a teenager, after Freddy Jacobs broke up with her to go out with another girl.

"Now Zea Noelle, you have to remember if a boy doesn't do the chasing, then he's really not interested. If you are hanging all over him, he will take advantage of you. You have to make him fight for what he wants. Don't you ever let a man walk all over you...."  she stared sadly at the picture of her mom on the phone.

Her mother had moved away recently to be with husband number three. They lived in Florida now and for Zea that was basically Siberia! Her mother was now clear across the country and so hard to get a hold of. "Dan" her mother's new husband insisted on moving back to Florida after they got married.

Despite all of her mother's advice, she soon realized her mother never took any of her own advice. She was always chasing men and never quite happy in her relationships. She always "conformed" to her "man of the hour"; is how Zea looked at it. She swore she would never be that way.

Her father was no where in site. He had a government job in Maryland. She got the yearly birthday card and Christmas card, but that was just about it. She stopped seeing him when she graduated highschool, her step-monster was always so jealous of her, even though she was never close to her dad.

She almost considered that maybe the reason she was so cautious with her "male" relationships because of her parents, she saw how they royaly wrecked their lives together and she didn't want that for herself. If she ever fell in love it was going to be forever and the man that fell in love with her would feel exactly the same way.

Maybe it was just all fantasy, maybe that was too high of an expectation, or just maybe Foster Maxwell would change that for her? She once again swiped her phone to the text message she had the night before with Maxey. He ended up at the engagement announcement for Stella and Alex.

She began to read.

Maxey: "What couldn't handle all the excitement?"

Zea: "I had homework."

Maxey: "Uh huh...."

Zea: "No really, I do have an exam in the morning, then I have dinner with this 'Tool' of a guy.."

Maxey: "Oh really? He can't be that bad.."

Zea: "No he has some nasty ninetie's dance moves!"

Maxey: "Oh..he does sound like a tool!"

Zea smiled as she scrolled down

Maxey: "But, you should give him a chance, he might suprise you.."

Zea: "Maybe, we'll see."

Maxey: "So, why you going out to dinner with him?"

Zea: "He made me laugh..."

Maxey: "He sounds like a terriffic guy! You should definitely go to dinner with him!"

Zea: "I don't know, his 'Cabbage Patch' was pretty scary.. :P"

Maxey: "Ha ha..."

Zea: "See ya tomorrow then?"

Maxey: "Definitely!"

Zea set her phone on the table and checked the time. It was almost seven. She looked at her notebook for rule number two: He has to hold open the doors for me anywhere we go.

"Let's see how thoughtful you really are Maxey!" she whispered. A knock at the door starteled her. She caught her breathe. "Calm down Zea!" she hissed. "Quit talking to yourself!" she ordered herself.

She stood up and walked towards her door. She checked her hair in the mirror before opening the door. "Here goes nothing.." she smiled nervously at herself.

She opened the door to see a bouquet of flowers staring back at her. Maxey poked his head around them.

"Too much?" he asked boyishly. Zea giggled. Her nerves went away and she reached for them.

"They are just fine." she said happily as she grabbed the bouquet and asked him in.

Maxey stepped in and looked aroun.

"Nice place.."  he looked towards the wall in front of him. It was full of concert tickets. Zea looked towards the same direction. "Wow.." he said quietly.

"Oh, those?" Zea asked. "Ya, me and the girls decided to make a collage of every concert we have ever went to..." she looked at them sadly. "Guess those days are over..." she sighed and looked back at Maxey.

He could tell she was really having a rough time with her friends getting married. He didn't want to push her on it, he figured she would tell him if she felt like it. He wanted to make her feel happy again.

"Well, on the bright side, you have another wall over here. If you wanted we could start filling this side with new concert tickets with the ones we go and see.." he said hopefully. He smiled that big smile and his blue eyes sparkled. Zea smiled back.

"Calm down Sparky!" she teased. "But, that's very thoughtful of you.." she said wamly. She reached for her coat. "Ready?" She looked at Maxey.

"Yep." he reached for the door. Zea was taken aback.  He opened the door and stood aside. "After you." he swooshed his arm through the door. Zea looked at him curiously. He wasn't quite sure what that look was for. "What?" he asked confused.

"Oh nothing!" Zea said happily as she walked through the door. Every door after that Maxey was right there opening and guiding her through. She crossed out rule number two in her head. She was sure she was living in a dream. No guy is ever this nice!