**mild mature content**
• • •
"You're not going to tell me there's nothing going on."
"Well, there isn't!"
"How do you explain the arms around you thing?" I smirk.
"Oh c'mon! You know it better. He does it with everyone!"
Cass and I can't stop teasing Ally about Drew being flirty with her all of a sudden.
"I think he's trying to get a reaction." Cass says.
Ally raises an eyebrow. "From who?"
"Wayne, duh." I answer.
"Oh." She begins to bite her straw, casting her gaze downwards. Anyone could see she's hiding something.
"Spill." Cass' the one who can't hold her mouth.
"Um, he uh, he stopped by the Pizzeria yesterday."
Cass and I gasp dramatically. "And you didn't tell us!"
"I'm offended!" I clutch a hand over my chest.
Ally rolls her eyes. "It literally happened last night. Plus, should I go back and talk about how you," she points at me. "Hid about Zacson, and you," she points at Cass, "hid about Carson?"
Cass and I share a look, not having anything to defend ourselves with. Right. Cass and Carson somehow started flirting with each other awhile ago without our knowledge. She insisted it isn't anything sexual, but they are definitely texting each other way too much that they even secretly chat via their phone when we are all in the same room.
"Fine. So what happened? He brought a girl?" Cass asks, curious. Wayne is relatively distant. He really only opens up whenever he's with the guys. Even though Cass hangs out with us almost on a daily basis, he has barely said more than twenty sentences to her.
Ally shakes her head. "He was with his martial arts friends, I think. They were all in their uniform and all."
"Uh huh."
"Nothing much. He gave me a tip. A $50 tip. And drew me a smiley on the receipt. That's all." She blushes slightly and continues to stir her drink with the bitten straw.
"Oh my god!" I get excited for her. That's a huge progression in their non-existent relationship. "$50!"
"Chill." She giggles. "He's just kind."
Kind? If my brother's anything, he's absolutely not kind.
Just then, I feel someone come up to me from behind and wrap their arms around my shoulder. Said person bends down and pecks me on the top of my head.
"See you in ten at my car, okay?"
I nod shyly, aware that there're hundreds of people in the cafeteria who might be watching. It has been two weeks since my car accident and I no longer have my car with me. Thankfully, my insurance will be footing the bill for the repairs but it will take awhile to fix it considering the extent of damage. Moreover, I'm not ready to drive soon again yet. Zac has offered to drive me to and fro school as much as he can. Whenever he can't make it, only then I'll hitch a ride from Wayne or Carson.
I don't know whether my brother, or anyone else for that matter, knows about us; but Zac has been a lot more affectionate with me in public now. In front of the girls, he no longer minds sneaking a kiss or two.
"Jeez. You two, just date already." Cass teases.
I still don't know what are we, since we haven't talked about it. But I'm happy. And it takes a lot for me to feel that way. I haven't felt genuinely happy in a while.
———
I exit the cafeteria soon after bidding goodbye to the girls, only to find Zac already waiting for me at the entrance. He stands with his ankles crossed, leaning against a pillar as he scrolls through his phone.
"Boo." I sneak up to him from the sides.
He looks up from his phone and smiles, pulling me in for a hug. I hug him back, taking in the masculine smell of his that I've always loved. He pulls back and plants a kiss on my forehead.
I feel my heart jump, practically soaring inside. This guy ignites sparks in me.
"My place?"
"Mm." I nod, and he reaches out to carry my backpack. Lord, what I done to deserve someone like him?
When we pull up to his house, Carson's already seated in the living room together their mom. I try not to get too jittery about it since I've already been here a couple of times now.
"Ah, future sister-in-law is here." Carson deliberately announces, making me curse under my breath.
I bite my lip to prevent myself from spouting any vulgarity in the presence of their mother. "Good afternoon, Dion and Carson." I greet them.
They simply smile back in response, not taking up much of my time. I follow Zac back to his room. We end up falling asleep together—still dressed, mind you. I only wake up hours later, when the sun has set, to see Zac sitting in front of his desktop with his headphones on.
I like that we can both be in the same room, doing individual things yet still feel close to each other. He's always so focused and engrossed when he's gaming. I lie there, staring at him creepily from the bed and not moving; so that he won't realize I'm awake yet.
"Behind you! Jesus Christ. How can you play a ranked game with zero game sense?" I hear him complain into the mic, probably berating one of his team mates.
Being a CSGO player myself, I know first-hand how frustrating some games can be. And having played with Zac a couple times now made me realize he isn't at all patient when it comes to gaming.
I slowly climb out of bed and sidle up to him. He seems to spot me from the corner of his eye and instantly spins around on his chair, opening up his arms to me. I make myself comfortable on his lap and watch him as he plays from over my shoulder.
"Watch this guy," he clicks to his blue team mate's view. "Retarded! Boosted crap!" He continues to insult him and I laugh. I'd be scared to game with him if I was an amateur seeing this is how he talk about them behind the computer.
"Relax." I turn my head around to kiss him on his cheek. He pulls down his headphones and steals a kiss on my lips.
"Play for me?" He requests with puppy eyes. Not waiting for my response, he places the headphones around my neck right away and gestures to the monitor where the next round is about to start.
I put them on and click on the buy menu, ready to kill some terrorists despite being just awake and this clearly being a Global Elite rank game. His voice is muffled behind the earphones but his touch isn't. I feel his hands move from around my waist to my thighs, stroking me gently until it reaches my denim shorts.
I try to focus on the game—Dust 2 being my strongest map; but he wouldn't stop teasing me, his nose going to nuzzle my neck and I feel the cold metal of his septum ring tickle me.
"Zac..." I whine, hoping he'll stop. He pauses to let me shoot someone but resumes as soon as the coast is clear.
His hand mercilessly presses on my core through my shorts and rubs me, causing me to arch back towards him. I hear footsteps coming from my right, but he obviously don't realize it since he isn't listening from the headphones. I try to ignore what's going on down there and ready myself for the enemy to emerge at a likely spot.
"Zac," I try to make him stop but he doesn't, instead putting more pressure. "Zacson..." I fidget a little, still waiting for a head to pop up from the corner of the wall. His index finger presses against my clit—hard—all of a sudden, and I tremble from my stiff posture, momentarily forgetting to click on the mouse. Being a split second too slow, the enemy gains advantage and shoots me right in the head, causing me to lose what was supposed to be an easy round.
"Baby!" I groan, angry that he made me miss the shot. His team mates are also yelling at me through the headphones for my loss.
He stills and pulls down my headphones. "What did you call me?"
I clamp my mouth shut, knowing I'd just slipped. I've never once called him any forms of endearment.
"You called me baby." He smiles against my neck and I can't help but fight my own smile too.
"Well, I'm going to help you lose if you continue to touch me like that."
He goes against my order and sucks my skin into his mouth, earning a moan from me. "Doesn't matter. Win or lose—I'm still going to make you scream my name."
———
After dinner together with Dion, Carson and Zac, I end up in the spare kitchen with Dion as she makes her face mask ingredient while I offer to cut some fruits for everyone. Their father is nowhere to be seen as usual and nobody brings him up either, as if it isn't a surprise for him not to be around.
"Have you ever wanted to learn to cook?" Dion asks while she mixes how avocado paste.
"I'm not kitchen-smart, but I'm open to try." I try not to shoot down the idea. Dion seems to always bring up cooking and I don't want her to dislike me.
"That's great! Don't worry. There used to be a girl who's like you, hates cooking; but after learning from me, she now whips up the best cheesecake I've ever tasted." She smiles proudly. I wanted to tell her that'll never be me but she beat me to it. "Becca. You know her?"
I visibily tense up at the mention of her name. I shouldn't have anything against her when I barely even know her. But it still affects me. It sucks. "Um, I've seen her around school."
"Ahh. She's a nice girl. Used to come around here often. That's how she got me to pass my skills to her." Dion continues to gush about how good of a cook Becca is.
I can never beat her. She's already a lot matured looking, smarter, musically inclined, a great cook and obviously goes way back with Zac; while I'm just a talentless nineteen-year-old.
Not wanting to be impolite, I smile and listen to her tell me stories about how Becca used to mess up flour and self-raising flour. I almost wanted to tell her that I once mixed up salt and sugar.
"So, you see, I'm a pretty good cook if you'd like to learn." She looks at me with hopeful eyes. Somehow, I can sense she's only trying to find something in common with me. She's probably lonely, seeing how both her sons barely goes home much and her husband is always not around.
"Sure. I'd be happy to."