Zea gave Kiki one final strong hug. She didn't want to let go of her friend. She was no longer part of their single lady pact and Stella wasn't too far behind.
She finally let go after Kiki accused her of squeezing to hard and with a sad smile she stepped away from her friend and watch as Tony whisked her away into the limo.
Everyone was cheering and Kiki stuck her head out of the window one last time to wave to her two best friends. Her blonde hair floated in the air as the limo pulled away.Tears came to Zea's eyes, and she quickly brushed them away, hoping no one had seen. Stella put her arm around her friend as they smiled sadly at eachother and walked back into the dance hall.
"And then there were two..." Zea whispered and leaned her head on Stella's shoulder.
"It's great Z, you'll see, Kiki is really happy!" she said comfortingly. Zea nodded, but was still sad.
Suddenly Arthur appeared in front of her again. Zea groaned. Stella giggled. He not only wreaked of onions and burger, but now beer was another tantalizing aroma to his presence. Zea has to keep from losing her wedding dinner. Stella pinched her nose.
"Hey there pretty lady.." he smiled and slurred just a little.
"Hi Arthur." Zea looked to Stella for a way out. Stella just shrugged her shoulders and slowly moved away towards Alex. "Stella..where are you .." before she could finish Arthur butted in again.
"So, me and the guys are going to a coffe shop, wanna come, or maybe I could get your number and we can go out some time.." he looked at her hopefully. Zea felt horrible, she didn't know if she could let this guy down easily. Luck was in her favor though, just then a familiar voice jumped in from behind her.
"There you are you little punkin!" Foster pinched her cheek lighly and grinned as he put an arm around her should. Zea stood there mortified. "Sorry bro, this girl is already spoken for..." Foster explained nicely as his eyes sparkled down at Zea. "Right punkin?" he said more lovingly.
Zea was completely confused. "I am?" she asked still bewildered. Foster gave her that straight on look and nodded towards Arthur. "Oh..ya.." she turned to Arthur. "I am..that' right my little Snuggle Bunny.." she pinched Fosters nose as little too hard. He grimaced.
Arthur stood there mouth agape.
"Oh! Sorry..wow..this was awkward...for some reason, I thought you were sigle Zea...I mean, I haven't seen you with a guy this whole time during wedding rehearsals.." he explained. Foster laughed under his breath. Zea elbowed him.
"Oh, well that's because, Maxey here has been away on business.." she explained patting his cheek with a hard slap. Foster smiled through tight lips.
"That's right PUNKIN..." he squeezed her tighter around the shoulders and made a growling sound towards her. Oddly enough she was very turned on by him, but gave him another elbow.
"Wow...okay..well you two kids enjoy your love fest, I'm out..." with that Arthur turned on his heels and joined his group of fellow misfits. Zea watched cautiously until Arthur was out of sight and quickly pushed away from Foster.
"Really Maxey? PUNKIN?" she said incredulously. A big smile broke across his face. He was sure Zea was going to really slap him a new face. He played along.
"Uh..I'm not anyone's Snuggle Bunny either!" he argued, now more seriously. Zea broke into a smile. She liked the way his arm felt on her shoulder. He couldn't hold his serious face. "I just thought you might say thank you...for saving you from Sir Onion Burger and the Nerd Herd.." he laughed.
Zea became serious. "They aren't nerds.." she said sternly. Foster stopped laughing immediately. "A bit geeky..but not Nerds..that would imply genius." she smiled again. A look of relief swept over his face.
"You got me again." he smiled.
"That's my job..keep you on your toes.." she teased. She hadn't realized but they had backed into a corner. Foster moved towards her and she backed into the wall. "Um..invading personal space.".she pushed him back. He smiled that wonderful smile. His cologne was intoxicating to her, anymore of this and she was going to tear his clothes off.
"Oh really..I hadn't noticed.." he said sexily as he stepped towards her again. Zea sighed and sidestepped her way around him. Breathing better air and away from his wonderful scent, she got her thoughts together. Not 100% on the List yet! Get it together woman! She gave herself a pep talk. Foster continued to look at her with amusement.
Now the awkward silence played for about two minutes. Foster took out a pen and notepad and started scribbling on it. Zea looked curiously.
"Well, I really have to take off now, but I've really enjoyed your wonderful sarcastic company. Maybe, when I get back from Idaho, we can have coffee or something.." he said quietly as he continued to look at his notepad. For the first time all night, Foster didn't look so confident. Zea liked that. She decided she was going to play it safe and not look to excited about the thought of seeing him again.
"Maybe, if I'm not too busy with classes, or work, sounds cool.." she said as uninterested and cool as possible as she glanced over the small crowd of people in the hall.
"Well, that's if, Sir Onion Burger doesn't get to you first right?" he teased and looked up from his notepad. Zea laughed.
"Very true, I've got to keep my options open!" she joined in on the game.
"Well, then ...I better move fast! Here's my number..." he handed her the piece of paper he was writing on.
"Okay..ancient chinese secret man..." she laughed. He looked at her confused. She pulled out her cell phone. "I think..this would be easier, than killing a tree!" she smiled at him as she pointed her cell phone in his direction. She glanced over at the piece of paper and typed in his number with the name title of "MAXEY" on it.
Foster looked at her sheepishly, he felt so stupid like he was in middle school desperately giving out his number. Zea continued to smile, she was beginning to see that his whole macho image was a total fake! She dialed his phone and he looked at it suprisingly.
"Look at it Maxey.." she encouraged. He looked down at the screen on his phone and saw a phone number. "Now, you have my number.." she expalined. "You can call it." she encouraged. Foster looked at the number again and his cool smile turned into cheesy smile.
He looked at Zea. "I'm going to warn you now, if I don't call right away, it's not cuz I'm ignoring you, I'm just on the road.."
"No biggie" she said non chalantly. "If you call fine..if your don't ...well...at least we had fun tonight." she explained. She looked at him and smiled. She noticed Stella waving her down. "Listen, Maxey it was fun, thanks for an entertaining night..and for bailing me out of Onion Burger land..." She didnt know if she should shake hands with him or just wave or hug him. Foster stood there. "Okay then...see ya..." she decided on just walking away.
The nerve he had trying to already explain why he wasn't going to call her. She should have known!
"Zea..wait.." Foster grabbed her arm. Zea stopped and looked up at him. "I had a really good time too. I'm not going to be a jerk, I will call you, but I really am on the road alot, so it takes me awhile to call people back. No excuses. Cross my heart! I was a boy scout, and we don't lie." he crossed his heart and lifted his hand up.
He looked at her so innoncently, that Zea had to hold back her giggles from how adorable he looked. Still, he needed to prove that he could make her list. She wasn't cutting him any slack. She smiled at him.
"Well, Snuggle Bunny...I hope you can prove me wrong.." she teased and pinched his nose again. She turned around and started walking, then looked over her shoulder. "Call me when you can then." she gave him one last smile and continued to walk towards her friend.
Foster stood just watching her walk away. He didn't want to lose out on this chance with her. He took his cell phone out of his pocket and instantly dialed her number. He saw her stop and take her phone out of her purse. She didn't turn around, but her posture changed, she relaxed and put the phone to her ear.
Foster spoke into his phone. "Is this soon enough for you?" he teased.
"I thought you were going to dial on the first step I took..." Zea teased back and hung up.
A/N: Thank you to all who continue to read this story. It's only starting to heat up between Zea and Foster!
Please vote and comment if you like this chapter or any of the others! I would really appreciate as many votes as possible, that I can get! Thank you!