The whole thought of being in love with Zach made me sick to my stomach. But at the same time, I was happy because he was never going to see Andie ever again because she thought that he truly cared about me. Though I didn’t know how true that exactly was, it still made me feel kind of good.
I was glad that my birthday had been on a Saturday, because I would always stay up let on the night of my birthday. I didn’t want to, but it was like my body just wouldn’t let me go to sleep early. But this time, I still went to bed late but still got up early in the morning.
I never liked waking up early in the morning; especially when it was a Sunday like it was right then. I had woken up at five in the morning, and there was no way I was going to be able to fall asleep. Now that it was eight in the morning, and I knew my dad, Brianna, and Steve were awake, I decided to take a shower.
Since I knew that everyone who was awake would be downstairs, I grabbed a towel from the hall closet and then undressed in my room, wrapping the towel around me afterwards. After I was fully covered, I made my way out of my room and toward the bathroom.
I swung the bathroom door open and I couldn’t help but gasp at what I saw. Zach was standing there in the steamy bathroom, only a towel around his waist. Everything else, including his chest, was completely bare.
“Jeez!” I couldn’t help but cry out, making sure to hug my towel closer to me so he wouldn’t see anything. I was glad that Zach already knew about my scars, because I would have run for the hills if he hadn’t. “Do you ever lock the door?”
Zach laughed, obviously not caring that the only thing covering his lower body being a loose towel. Though the view was nice, it didn’t make it any less awkward for me. I mean, we were both pretty much naked.
“What about you?” Zach asked now. “Don’t you ever knock?”
“Well… I wasn’t…” I gulped, unable to look anywhere near him. “I wasn’t expecting this.”
“Neither was I,” Zach smirked, his head cocking to the side now. “But it’s a very pleasant surprise.”
I couldn’t admit out loud that I agreed with him, though this would have been the last thing he would expect from me.
I swallowed again. “Why are you even up this early? You’re never up this early unless it’s to wake me up.”
Zach shrugged. “Johnny’s coming over in a little bit.”
This made my stomach twist and turn. Things hadn’t been right between Johnny and me for a while, and now that I had just found out why, it made me feel even more awkward around him. It wasn’t like I could tell him that I loved Zach and not him. That was just out of the question.
“But,” Zach continued now, making his way closer to me before grabbing onto my hips and placing me on the counter, “he’s not going to be here for a little while.”
I wasn’t able to say anything back to this, because his lips were then on mine. And unlike every other time, I didn’t fight against him. I actually kissed him back, because I wanted to kiss him probably more than he wanted to kiss me.
I felt my towel loosened around me, but not enough to uncover anything. I paid no attention to his towel, though I could tell that he was still covered as well.
I honestly didn’t know how long we were kissing for, but the time wasn’t what was important to me. What was important was that I came to a decision that was going to change a lot of things, and it made me feel like a horrible person.
I was going to break up with Johnny. It was something I had to do. Being in a relationship with him when I was in love with someone else wasn’t fair to him, and I probably never should have said yes when he asked me out at all. It would have caused us both less pain. I just couldn’t keep leading him on for even longer than I already had.
When the door burst open, I nearly jumped out of my towel. I feared the worst; it had to be Johnny that had just opened the door on us. There was no way we could brush something like this off.
I immediately grabbed a hand towel from a rack a few inches away from me, automatically covering the scars on my arms. I still didn’t want anyone seeing the hideous markings.
But much to my surprise, it wasn’t Johnny at the door, but Ethan instead. And in a way, that was even worse.
“I’m blind!” he shouted, slapping his hands over his eyes. “I’m blind! Ugh, kill me now because I’m never going to get that sight out of my head!”
“It’s the circle of life, dude,” Zach informed his brother now, tightening his towel around his waist now that we had been interrupted. “Like The Lion King, or whatever. Right?”
“I’m pretty sure the circle of life is when you have a baby,” I informed him with a scowl, not believing we were actually having this kind of conversation about an old children’s movie.
Zach smirked at me, wagging his eyebrows. “Well, we were getting there.”
“Ew, ew, ew!” Ethan cried out, his hands now covering his ears as he continued to keep his eyes shut. “Can someone just tie you up so you won’t go near each other anymore?”
Zach’s eyebrows wagged again. “If I’m the one tying her up, then sure.”
“Images!” Ethan shouted, his hands still clasping his ears. “There are images in my head and they won’t get out!”
“You’ll see it someday,” Zach merely sighed, and I couldn’t believe that he was actually talking about something like this to his younger brother, who wasn’t even old enough to be classified as a tween yet. “You never know what the future holds you, bro. You could be alone forever, or you could get a super hot girlfriend.”
Ethan made a face. “I see you didn’t get the super hot part when it comes to your girlfriend.”
I wanted to just wrap my hands around his little neck and choke him. It wouldn’t take that long, considering the fact that he was a child, no matter how differently he acted.
Zach started snickering, and all I did was take the bar of soap and chuck it at Ethan, who easily dodged it like it was nothing at all. It made me mad that my aim sucked so much that I wasn’t even able to hit a ten-year-old with a bar of freaking soap.
I didn’t feel like taking anymore abuse from the two of them, so I now tightened the towel around me, hopping off the counter and quickly storming out of the room and past Ethan, who was still covering his eyes from the horror of seeing Zach and me making out the way we were.
I’d take a shower later in the day, when it was safe to come out of my room. I was not going to go back into that bathroom for a few hours.
B this was so embarrassing. The only thing that could have been worse would have been if Johnny had walked in on us. Even though Ethan was a lot smarter than Zach and I were, he was still a ten-year-old boy. Nothing was going to change that.
I got dressed as quickly as I possibly could, because Zach could have easily walked into my room whenever he wanted, even if I wasn’t decent. I did not want to think about what might have happened if Ethan hadn’t interrupted, but that seemed to be the only thing on my mind. I didn’t know how far I would have gone with Zach, and there was even the possibility that Johnny could have walked in. I just didn’t know.
After I was fully clothed, I just sat on my bed and thought for a little bit. I thought about how different everything now was, even though nothing much had changed at all. But the decision I had made was a big one, and it was something I couldn’t go back on once I was finished.
I was in such deep thought that I didn’t even notice when the door opened and someone stepped inside. All I could think about was Johnny, and how I had lost the game after I said so many times that I wouldn’t. It made me mad that Zach actually got me to fall in love with him even after I was so determined not to do so.
“Well,” a voice now said, and I jumped at the sound of it. Was it really necessary to scare me? “That sure was a surprise. I was actually expecting it to be Johnny, not Ethan. But I guess it was good that it wasn’t Johnny, huh?”
All I could do was shrugg at Zach, turning away from him a little bit. I didn’t even know how I was supposed to act around him now that I knew my true feelings for him. I didn’t want to tell him how I felt, because the last thing I wanted was to tell everyone that I was in love with that arrogant idiot.
He sat down next to me now, but I barely even noticed. So many things were racing through my mind, and it was giving me a headache. I really needed a hot shower, but it was going to take time before I’d be able to step inside that bathroom again.
I wouldn’t even face Zach, and he noticed that something was wrong. It was just something else that I really loved about him. He noticed when something was wrong with me when no one else did.
I felt his chin on my shoulder, and it surprised me greatly when I felt his lips against my neck only a few seconds afterwards.
I didn’t want to make out with him. That seemed to be the only thing we ever did when we were together, and as fun as it was, I wanted more. I wanted to talk to him, and spend time with him in a different way. He was a great kisser, but a relationship was a lot more than just kissing.
I turned toward him to speak, but was cut off when his lips found mine. Again, I didn’t fight against him. I just kissed him back with as much intensity as he was giving.
He laid me back so my back was now against my mattress, with him now on top of me. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, pulling him closer to me as our lips continued to stay locked.
When the door opened, I turned to yell at Ethan and tell him to knock. But when I saw who was really at the door, my blood went cold and my whole body nearly went numb.
“Johnny,” I gasped, having absolutely no idea what I was supposed to say to him. “Johnny…”
“Dude,” Zach started, but we both knew Johnny didn’t want to hear anything from the two of us right then.
“Save it,” was all he said, and I thought I was going to pass out. I thought that we were safe. I thought that since Ethan had been the one to catch us earlier, we were safe. But we weren’t. We weren’t safe.
Johnny turned away from us now and toward the door, and I felt myself start to hyperventilate. This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t actually be happening. Not like this.
“Maxynn, the next time you’re going to do something like this…” Johnny started, his hand on my doorknob for a mere second before I heard the lock click as he turned it. “… Lock the door.”
He slammed the door shut on his way out, and I could only sit there for a moment. I couldn’t believe this was happening. This couldn’t have been happening… Johnny had just found Zach and me together before I could break up with him.
I got up from the bed, about to go after him, until I collapsed onto the floor, my breathing so hard that it hurt. I wanted to just curl up into a ball in cry, because I honestly had no idea what I was supposed to do. How was I supposed to deal with something as bad as this?
“Maxynn!” Zach cried out and dropped down to my side. “Are you okay? Maxynn!”
I didn’t say anything to him at first, because I was in too much shock. I felt absolutely horrible for doing this to Johnny, and I realized how horrible I had been to him throughout our entire relationship. I had been with Zach before I had gotten together with Johnny.
I flung my arms around Zach’s neck, squeezing him tightly because I didn’t know what else I was supposed to do. I couldn’t go after Johnny; not when I was like this.
“Maxynn…” Zach sighed now as I continued sobbing. “Stop crying. Everything’s alright, okay? Everything’s alright.”
“No, it’s not!” I sobbed now. “I’m a horrible person for doing this to him! He’s your best friend! He was my friend, too! He was my boyfriend and I treated him horribly! He said that he loved me, and I treated him horribly!”
Zach said nothing. All he did was wrap his arms around me, holding me tight just like he should have. I didn’t know what he was feeling; all I could hope was that he felt just as bad as I did. He was closer to Johnny than I was, in a way. He was his best friend. To have your girlfriend cheat on you with your best friend… I couldn’t think of a feeling that was worse than that. It was such a horrible betrayal.
“I don’t know what we’re supposed to do,” I told him honestly now once I had started breathing better again. “I honestly don’t, Zach. I don’t know how I’m supposed to face him, or anyone even. What if he tells Logan? We both know he’d tell Kate, and maybe even more people. Aveline already wants to skin me because I just live in your house. If she finds out about the game, who knows what she’d do?”
Zach almost snorted, but he stopped himself because he knew I was still upset. “Aveline’s harmless. I think you figured that out when you broke her nose.”
I tried to chuckle, but it sounded weak. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
I had to calm down; it wasn’t healthy for me to freak out like this. I breathed in and out slowly, and soon I started to breathe normally again. Luckily, it made me feel a little better. At least, it made me feel better physically. Emotionally, I was still a wreck.
When I heard the door open again, I wanted to grab a pillow and throw it at whoever it was. I didn’t care if it was Ethan, or even Johnny. I just wanted to be left alone. I even wanted Zach out of my room so I could just hide under my covers.
It was Ethan at the door, of course, and he looked like he had no idea what was going on, for once. Both his brother and I were on the floor, and I could only hope that he wasn’t getting the wrong impression.
“So…” Ethan started, and it made me want to chuck a pillow at him even more. “I’m guessing Johnny finally found out.”
Without even thinking, I grabbed onto a pillow and threw it at him. But just like I thought, he easily dodged it before sticking his tongue out at me. It only made me want to pummel him even more.
“Poor little Maxynn, she can’t throw,” Ethan started singing lazily like he always did, and I knew where this was going. “B-U-R-R-I-T-O.”
I couldn’t help but make a face at him. “That doesn’t even make any sense!”
“Yes it does,” Ethan nodded now. “I’m hungry. Can you make me a burrito?”
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. This kid was going to kill me, and he was probably going to enjoy doing it.
Before one of the three of us could say anything to each other, another voice cut of us off, and we looked up to see my dad standing behind Ethan and looking at me in a way I hadn’t ever seen before. It almost worried me a little. All I could hope for was that Johnny didn’t tell him what happened when he was leaving.
“Maxynn,” my father started, and his tone made Ethan skitter forward into my room a little. “There are two people downstairs that would like to speak with you right now, so if you could come downstairs, that would be great.”
I blinked at him. “Who are they?”
The serious look on my father’s face didn’t falter. “Cops.”
Oh, no. This wasn’t good. I hadn’t ever told him that cops had come to see me while he was gone, and I was planning on never telling him that. Actually, I had almost completely forgotten that they had even come to see me the first time…
There was no way I was going to be able to get out of this. They thought I killed my mother, and I was the only person that would have been able to prove them wrong. No one else was there the night my mother was killed to defend me. I was all on my own.
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I can't wait for the Special Awards to start! It would be so funny to see Ethan be the only small child in the entire thing. So I hope he's the only small child. xD
I also can't wait for this story to end! I feel like it's going to takae forever and I have by October 31st. Dx
I'm supposed to be asleep right now, so this was written quickly. So if it sucks... that's why. x)
This is for the 2012 Watty Awards! Please COMMENT, VOTE, and SHARE! <3