Special thanks again to EmeraldChaos_ for the character Zoey Ramirez!
Highest rank on the hot list over the last two weeks - #408 in Chick Lit
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© 2016 Shay Spencer. All rights reserved.
The Buddies Rule
Chapter 6
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Daydreams. Being a writer and journalist, my life is lived within those fantasies. Throughout the days, I can find myself stuck within my own mind, just imagining how certain events, or stories, will play out. Usually, I'm not able to predict exactly how something will turn out. But tonight, I was fortunate enough to live out one of those dreams. The very dream that I had been consumed by since middle school.
The date with Zac had been everything I had imagined it would be. Zac was a perfect gentleman and had taken me out to dinner at one of the most romantic restaurants in town. He wore dress pants, a nice shirt, and made sure to tell me just how amazing I looked in my dress. To top it all off, he had bought me a bouquet of red roses, and we strolled along Main Street under the twinkly lights lining the street.
Tonight couldn't have gotten any better.
"You want me to drop you off here?" Zac questioned once more as he stopped the car near the edge of the Berkeley campus. "It's not a problem for me to drive you back to your apartment." He reminded, giving me an almost concerned look.
"I made plans to study with Lewis." I brushed off. Though it wasn't exactly a secret about how Chase and I hadn't been speaking, I wasn't wanting to ruin the night by bringing it up to Zac. "He and Alan live on campus. They're up in the apartments right here." I said, motioning towards the tall building to our right.
Zac finally nodded, the man turning away for only a second so he could unlock the doors to his car. "Well, I guess I'll wish you a good night." He smiled happily. I could feel my cheeks burning a bright shade of red before he lurched out of the car. Zac raced around to my side, popping open the car door and holding out a hand to help me out. I smiled gently up at him as I took a step onto the pavement below.
Zac dropped my hand, using his own hand instead to pick up the bouquet of roses he had gotten for me. I pulled them into my arms, my smile unable to be contained as I looked into his eyes. Zac had somehow pulled off the perfect date, and I couldn't think of anyone better to have it with. "I had an amazing time tonight." I sighed, glancing up over my shoulder towards Alan and Lewis' apartment.
Zac nodded slowly before closing the passenger's side door. "I did, too." He whispered as he took a single step towards me. "I can't believe I waited this long to ask you out. I don't know what I was nervous about." Zac rambled, the man reaching up to scratch the back of his neck.
"Don't blame yourself." I laughed. "I could have asked you out a million times since we met," I said, gaining a wide grin from him in return.
"I'm just happy we did it now." Zac sighed, allowing himself to lean in just centimeters from my face. Within seconds, his lips brushed against my left cheek. The simple kiss was short but sweet enough to take my breath away. I bit hard into my bottom lip to keep myself from turning around and kissing him on the lips. I had a rule about kissing on the first date, and it seemed as though Zac did, too.
"Can we do this again?" I blurted out, trying to make it come off smoothly as I caught his eye. He nodded vigorously, his hand clasping onto my own.
"Definitely." He breathed. "I'll text you on Sunday? I'll know my schedule for the week by then." Zac finished. He dropped my hand, leaving me standing alone on the sidewalk as he made his way to the other side of his car. "Have a good rest of your night, Bree." He said, giving me a small smile before he got into his car.
Zac drove off, his car fading into the distance. Though that sounded way too dramatic. I shook my head before turning on my heel and walking down the path towards Alan and Lewis' building. I had no regrets about tonight, it was everything I could have asked for and more. Though things seemed grim between Chase, Alan, and myself, I was happy I was able to have a short reprieve from the fighting. Zac had been the perfect distraction.
I made my way into the building. The hallways were emptied out given it was a Friday night. Most of the parties were held off campus to avoid campus security. They would only have the police to worry about at this hour, and the neighbors of the party houses rarely called the cops.
Alan and Lewis lived up on the second floor, their apartment being one of two on that floor. Usually, three to four people were meant to live in those kinds of dorms. But somehow Alan and Lewis had gotten away with it. Probably because Chase's dad had married Lewis' mother this past year, and he was one of the main donors. Lewis was now untouchable in the dean's eyes, much like Chase and I. But the three of us never got into any trouble, anyways.
Upon coming up to the second floor, I could see the two's apartment door was propped open with one of the many textbooks we had gotten last week. I frowned and walked forward, needing to investigate further. Their door was almost always shut. The only times it was left open was when Chase and I were around, and from the looks of it, Lewis was home alone.
I warily walked it, kicking the textbook aside before making my way into the apartment. Shutting the door behind myself, I glanced around to try and find the lights. The living room to my left was pitch black, and the kitchen to my right was barely lit with the light from Lewis' room. I shook my head before making my way around the kitchen and to the back hallway. Lewis seemed to be holed up in his room.
"Did you not see me?" Lewis called from the living room. I jumped, my back slamming against the counter that outlined the kitchen. One of the bar stools lining the counter tipped over, the sound echoing through the quiet room. "Didn't mean to scare you." He laughed lightly. He was smirking, I didn't need light to see that.
"Do you usually sit in dark rooms when no one is home?" I huffed, my right hand flying up to cover my heart. It was beating out of control. Lewis didn't usually scare me, but when he did, it was in stupid situations like this.
"Not really." He shrugged. I set the flowers down on the counter as I watched him stand up from the dark blue couch in the living room. His foot smacked down against the leg of the coffee table as he walked over to me, the man hissing in pain as he did.
"Nice." I laughed before Lewis walked over and slapped my upper arm. "We're too violent in this group," I noted, getting a sure nod from Lewis.
"I heard you punched Alan in class earlier." Lewis agreed as he crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes were clouded over in thought, almost as though he was trying to remember something.
"Speaking of Alan," I started before Lewis waved me towards his room. "Did you come up with anything?" I asked, watching as he stalked off towards the back hallway.
"You bet your ass I thought of something. A few things, actually." Lewis called back as I followed after him. I met up with Lewis at the end of the hallway, the man had stopped his motions completely as he stood in silence.
"Well-"
"Shh!" He shushed me, holding his index finger over his lips. In that moment, I could hear what he was talking about. Keys began to jingle out in the hallway before the door swung open.
My eyes widened as Lewis gripped his hand onto my forearm and dragged me back into his room. I stumbled after him, my high heels not being my best choice in footwear for a situation like this. Lewis shoved me off towards the side of his room, the man pointing over towards his open closet door. I rolled my eyes and followed his silent directions as he threw himself onto his bed. I watched him pull a book over to his side before I closed the door, hiding inside his messy closet.
From the small space, I could hear other footsteps fumbling down the hallway and towards Alan's room. Though, the footsteps didn't just belong to Alan. They belonged to another person, most likely a girl. A door shut down the hallway before I could hear two bodies slamming down against Alan's old mattress. I definitely didn't need to hear this.
Making sure to take off my shoes first, I then took slow, quiet steps, out of Lewis' closet. I could see a smirk had returned to Lewis' face as I motioned for him to follow me out of the apartment. "Did you just come out of the closet?" He whispered to me, the man barely able to contain his laughter. I rolled my eyes and raced out ahead of him. It was times like these where I hated being friends with him.
Lewis finally caught up to me at the front door, shoes in hand, the same as me. He reached over and pulled his keys and wallet off the television stand before I opened the door. "Grab your flowers." Lewis reminded as he stepped out ahead of me. I nodded and walked back as I pulled the flowers into my arms a second time. I quickly tip-toed out of the apartment, Lewis closing the door after me when we had both made it safely out into the hallway. "Can I sleep at your place tonight?"
"Sure." I shrugged, the two of us keeping our voices low as we quietly walked down the hallway and towards the stairwell. "We'll have a sleepover." I teased, watching as a smile spread out over Lewis' face.
"Can we watch High School Musical? Or Starstruck? Or Lemonade Mouth-"
"All of those." I interrupted him, laughing as I did. "I've got Netflix, and we don't have any classes tomorrow."
"Thank god." Lewis groaned before tossing his head back for a second. "During chem-lab today, I about burnt my hand off with the acid we were using," Lewis recalled, his face twisting up at the memory. I rolled my eyes. If I had to pinpoint an exact moment that screamed Lewis, it was that.
"Did you see who Alan was with?" I asked lamely, getting a weird feeling in my stomach at the question. Lewis nodded numbly, the two of us walking slowly down the stairs.
"I think her name is Zoey? Or something like that. I had math with her last year sometime-"
"Zoey Ramirez?" I finished for him, the realization hitting me like a ton of bricks. "As in Zac's younger sister?"
"Yes!" Lewis sighed in relief. "That was going to kill me if I couldn't remember the connection." He laughed quickly before catching sight of the shock on my face. "It is Zac's little sister. Alan texted me earlier saying he ran into her in the cafeteria? She ran directly into him and spilled some food on his shirt. She was so nervous that she offered to get it dry cleaned. She's kind of weird." Lewis ranted on, shaking his head at himself. "Either way, Alan took her out for pizza a little bit ago. They got to talking and found out they had a lot in common."
I could feel the anger bubbling up within me. Zoey Ramirez, Zac's only sibling. That was the one girl Alan had decided to use as a rebound from me? "And now they're-"
"Making love." Lewis mused. The smug look was wiped clean off his face as I slapped him on the shoulder. "Joking. I'm sure they'll use protection."
"Shut up, and tell me right now how we can prevent this from happening again." My voice had raised enough to where Lewis was pushing me out of the building just to make sure Alan couldn't hear us. It was much colder outside than it had been earlier. "What big idea did you come up with earlier?" I went on, my breathing becoming erratic along with my anger at Alan.
Lewis' smile returned as he stopped walking just in front of me. There was a knowing glimmer in his eyes at the idea that he must have worked on all afternoon. "The buddies rule." He started, the man rubbing his hands together with excitement. "It prevents any, and all romantic relationships between the members of our group." I could feel my heart fully plummet into my stomach with his words.
Although his plan would prevent Alan from trying to get to me, it stopped something else from happening. "That means..." I left off, feeling my eyes begin to water at the mere thought.
"That's the downside to the plan." Lewis rushed through his words as he placed his hands on either one of my shoulders to comfort me. "You're not allowed to date Chase with the rule. Not now, not ever." Lewis explained.
I shook my head, trying to force my emotions back below the surface as I looked back up at Lewis. "That's okay. It's not like anything was going to happen between us, anyways." I spoke quietly, still trying to pull myself together. "Just tell me what we have to do."
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Thank you again to EmeraldChaos_ for the character! Had to add in a little twist to put Zoey in the lead 😜
And poor Bree 😱 No Chase, but at least things went well with Zac.
How will The Buddies Rule go over with the group? We'll have to wait to find out...
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