It was easier to convince myself that what had happened with Zach was purely accidental. We'd gotten caught up in our emotions and that had made us act the way we did. On the drive back home, that is what I repeatedly convinced myself of. It was all due to the circumstances we were in and nothing more. I couldn't allow myself to even think about any other reason to explain why I had acted the way I did. I didn't understand why I had felt the urgent need to be held by him, to have his arms around me, holding me tight. Those lips... I shook the thought out of my mind as the gates opened to the vast estate of the Price Mansion. A chill washed over me; this place represented a point in my life where I had honestly felt that nothing would be right ever again, and now returning to it, the feeling too came back with a vengeance.
A hand on my arm made me jump and with a pounding heart, I turned to see Zach looking at me worriedly. Concern was written across his features and I felt horrible for being so thoughtless. He'd just gotten what possibly could be the most heartbreaking news of his life and here I was lost in my own world.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly and I nodded, giving him a weak smile.
"Just a little tired. I'll be fine once I get some sleep."
Silence surrounded us once again as the car finally stopped outside the house. The numerous members of the help quickly surrounded the car. Like a well-oiled machine they quickly began taking out the luggage and carrying it to the house. Zach got out and opened my door for me, the civility between us clearly surprising the people who'd watched us ignore one another the past few weeks. A roaring fire was lit in the fireplace as we entered the house; it was a welcome sight for sure. I hadn't realized it before but my body had literally frozen, not only because of the cold but also because of the encounter back at Nick's.
I winced as soon as I thought of the name. I didn't want to remember any of it, at least not tonight. My head was starting to hurt from all the drama that had unfolded. I'd think about it tomorrow and then maybe I wouldn't hate my sister so much.
Zach didn't join me by the fire and I couldn't blame him. If I were in his place, I would want to be alone too. As I heard the sound of his door shutting close, I sat down on the carpeted floor, leaning against the couch, and closed my eyes, feeling myself succumbing to the warmth as a comfort settled over my body. Before I knew it I was pulled into the dreamy unconsciousness of a well-deserved and peaceful sleep.
There was light, blinding white light on my face as I turned away from it. I tried to move but it felt like my body was trapped by a huge weight over my legs and halfway up my torso. I groaned as I tried to push off whatever was on me, probably a warm blanket or something. What I didn't expect to hear was someone groaning just as loudly as I had, only the person didn't sound as girly as I had. My eyes flew open as I let out a low shriek. I wasn't on the couch where I had fallen asleep; instead I was in a bed. A really warm, comfortable and large bed which I knew wasn't mine. The room I was in had walls coloured maroon and a warm, rich mahogany brown. My eyes struggled for a while to come to terms with the brightness coming from the wall-sized window where the curtains had been pulled to a side. After they'd become accustomed to the light, I forcefully brought my eyes to the figure lying next to me on the bed.
My heart crashed loudly in my chest as I took in Zach's sleeping form, his chest rising heavily as he breathed. An adorable frown was on his face and his hair fell messily onto his forehead. The blanket only covered him from the waist down so I was able to see his toned muscles in the wife-beater he had on. My mouth hung slightly open at the sight of his arms, the tanned golden skin contrasting with the subtly bulging veins. I barely stopped myself from running my hands all over him, realizing instead the position we were in. His arm was draped around me and our legs were tangled; he leant against me heavily and I blushed at the proximity. I also realized that he'd taken off my coat and the sweater I had on so that I was just in a thin and figure-clinging t-shirt. I tried to move his arm so that I could get out but his hold only tightened around me protectively.
I guessed I'd just have to wake him up since there was no way I was going to lay with him in bed waiting for him to wake up.
"Zach," I said softly, nudging him but it didn't work. I moved closer to his ear and once again repeated his name.
"Livy," he muttered sleepily, a smile lighting up his face and he opened his eyes to find me staring at him with widened eyes.
He sure was surprised since he tried to get away from me as fast as he could but the tangled legs and the even more tangled mess of sheets between us didn't help. He brought his arms around me as we fell with a loud thud on the floor, my body crashing onto Zach's as he landed with a loud oomph on the cold tiled floor.
Zach blinked once, twice, thrice before understanding dawned upon him.
"Arianna, what are you doing here?" he asked and I frowned. I was pretty sure he had a perfectly good answer to his own question.
"That is exactly what I would like to know, how did I get in here?" I raised an eyebrow, ignoring how amazing it felt to have the heat from his body seep into mine.
"Would you mind getting off of me first?" he replied shakily as his eyes bore into mine.
Feeling rather stupid, I lifted myself off of him and pulled the hem of my shirt down firmly. It had ridden up as I slept and I didn't like the way Zach was looking at me because of it. Scratch that, I didn't like the way I felt because of how Zach was looking at me. It was wrong and having such feelings should be criminal.
I put some distance between us and sat down on the bed.
"How did I end up in your room?" I asked as I played nervously with my fingers.
He sighed as he too stood up and stretched his stiff body. I tried not to ogle at his rippling muscles and directed my gaze obstinately towards the floor. Why did he have such a hot body?
"I don't remember but I think I saw you sleeping on the couch and I was too tired to carry you all the way up to your room."
"You could've slept on the futon you know." I pointed at the comfiest looking piece of furniture in his room.
"And hurt my back? No, I don't think so, besides it's my room, I can sleep wherever I want to," he said curtly, going through his closet to pick a shirt.
"So why didn't you put me on the futon?" I asked, biting my lip. I didn't know why I was asking all these questions but I did want to know what he was thinking.
Zach was silent for a while, as if deciding whether to answer that honestly or not. He avoided looking at me the entire time so I couldn't read the emotion behind his words.
"That would've sort of defeated the purpose of picking you up from a couch in the first place. Why are you making such a big deal out of this Ari?" He said that all way too quickly and I had a hard time believing that he was telling the truth. However it was the second time he had called me Ari and that made me smile inwardly, remembering the last time he'd done it. Then he had sounded like he cared; now however he sounded like he was just plain annoyed.
"Sorry, I didn't want to spoil your mood so early in the morning," I said dryly as I got off the bed, intending to head back to my room for a nice long shower. I hoped that that would help prevent me from having such inappropriate thoughts about someone who obviously still thought of me as a child.
"Hey come on, I didn't mean it like that," Zach said, following me quickly and grabbed my wrist, spinning me around.
His eyes studied my face and his fingers went up to my chin, forcing me to look at him.
"That didn't come out right. I'm sorry," he said softly and I nodded stupidly. Whenever he was like this, I found it easier to lose myself in his eyes. The colour was so magical, so enchanting that it was hard to not get transfixed by them.
"It's okay; I shouldn't have bugged you so early in the morning," I said shyly, mentally cursing myself for giving in to him so easily. I noted how he still had a firm hold on my wrist and neither of us made an attempt to change that.
"Did you really use the word bugged?" he asked, clearly amused. I scoffed, did he have to ruin the moment?
I began to turn away from him once again but he got to the door before I could.
"Let's go out and get breakfast," he said excitedly and this time my mouth nearly fell to the ground.
"Like out, out? As in out of this house?"
He rolled his eyes at my shock and ruffled my hair.
"We're not exactly prisoners here are we?" he asked and I grinned at him. Yes! We finally got to do normal stuff together; a grin spread across my face at the idea.
"Okay I'll go get dressed, give me twenty minutes," I chirped and ran out of the room.
He was making an effort. He was finally making an effort and that was enough for me; it even made me forget how the first thought that had rushed to his head that morning was my sister's name.