Random info: This is a kind of long short story so there are no chapters.
Summary: Hi. I'm Zoey. I expected to just go on vacation to California all the way from New York and have the best time of my life. I DID have the best time of my life but not in the way I expected it...A boy named Shane came into my life and we had a blast thorughout the summer. Getting too close worried me though... I had to go back to New York at the end of the summer. He knew that too. Let's see what happens When September Comes. :)
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"Zoey! We have to leave in the next 10 minutes!" I heard my mom yell from the kitchen.
"Okay, mom! I'll be ready in a minute!"
About a minute later I carry several luggage bags down the hall and into the kitchen where my mom and brother were waiting.
"Can you be any slower?" My brother Ben asked me.
"Sorry... I had to pack a lot of things. We're staying in Cali for the WHOLE summer...."
"It looks like you have your whole room in those bags..."
"You know Ben? You really need to sh-"
"Alright guys... We're about to go to California... Be happy!" My mom interrupted me... Which was probably the best thing to do.
"Fine..." Ben and I said simultaneously in unamused voices.
***Several hours of boring plane ride later***
I felt a rough tap on my shoulder and a voice saying, "wake up, Zoey..."
The voice belonged to Ben. "Are we finally in Cali?" I asked in a sleepy voice.
"Almost...10 minutes to go."
Finally, when I get to Cali I'm going STRAIGHT to the beach... I thought to myself.
About 10 minutes later we arrived in the California Airport. It took what felt like hours to get our luggage together and head to the hotel that we'll be staying at. After getting to our room and getting our things set up in the room, I went into the bathroom and got my bathing suit on under some shorts and a tank top.
"Where are you going?" I heard my mom ask from behind me as I grabbed for the door handle.
I turned around and said, "The beach?"
"It's already 5. You have to eat dinner."
"I'll get something down at the beach... Please??" I begged.
"Fine." My mom said after hesitating for a couple of seconds.
"Thanks mom!" I rushed out the door and walked down to the lobby. The beach was right across from the hotel. I rushed down to the beach ready to start my tanning. Right when my feet touched the sand I fell to the ground after getting bumped into by a stranger. The boy that bumped into me had fallen too.
"I'm so sorry." I fumbled to get my things and stood up. He stood up a few seconds after I did.
"Oh, you forgot this." The boy rushed down to the ground and picked up my sun block. "And it's okay. It was entirely my fault." He gave a cute smile and was about to leave but quickly turned back around and asked, "What's your name?"
I smiled and said, "Zoey."
"I'm Shane." He held his hand out awkwardly.
I couldn't help but notice how adorable yet majorly attractive he was. I shook his hand and he asked, "Mind if I buy you a hot dog?"
How can someone who is THIS attractive be so adorably awkward? This was all I could think of as I accepted the offer to get hotdogs.
We picked up the hotdogs and walked to a table. A few feet from the table, Shane tripped over what seemed to be nothing and dropped his food and drink. I heard him quietly swear under his breath. I smiled a little bit in pity for him and asked, "I can get you another one."
"No, no. That's not necessary." He said smiling up at me from the ground and picking up the food. I picked up his cup that was half empty now and walked to the garbage with him to throw everything out.
"Please let me buy you more stuff?" I asked holding out some money.
Shane looked at me and slowly grabbed the money. "Fine, but I owe you."
I smiled and walked back to the table to wait for him. I took a sip of my drink as Shane arrived and sat down. "I'm sorry about knocking you over and making a fool of myself in front of you. I get awkward around girls..." He looked shyly down at his food.
"Don't feel bad. It's totally okay. I'm kind of awkward around people in general anyways."
We both ate and talked for about a half an hour and Shane said, "It's getting kind of late. I better be heading off. I hope I get to see you again."
"Well, you owe me so I have to hang out with you more." I said a bit sarcastically and smiled.
After getting Shane's number and leaving the beach, I got to the hotel. I had this weird feeling in my stomach. I couldn't stop smiling and I was dancing my way to my room after brushing my teeth. I fell asleep and woke up the next morning to the sound of my alarm clock. I clicked the button to make it stop. I smiled knowing that today I was going to see Shane again. Before leaving the beach he told me call him when I was about to go to the beach so we could hang out again. I called him and heard a woman's voice on the other line.
My first thought was, Maybe he didn't like me... Maybe he purposely gave me the wrong number...
I still brought myself to ask, "i-is Shane there?"
To my amazing surprise, the woman said, "yes. He'll be here in just a minute. You must be the girl he told me about. Zoey?"
I smiled. He told his family about me. "Yeah, that's me." I said in a friendly voice.
"From what he's told me, you're really awesome and -"
"Mom! Can I have the phone?" I heard Shane in the background and giggled a little bit. "Sorry, Zoey. My mom's kind of chatty..."
"It's okay, thanks for saying I'm awesome." I couldn't stop smiling again. Shane had a thing for doing that to me. This was so weird. No guy has ever done that to me...Especially a guy I've only know for not even a day.
"Oh, you're welcome." He sounded nervous.
"Do you wanna meet at the beach today?" I asked.
"Yeah, I just have to get ready though. Maybe we can go swimming."
"I'll wear my bathing suit then." I was still smiling.
About 15 minutes later I got another call from Shane saying that he was ready and we both met at the spot we bumped into each other the day before.
I saw Shane, whose short wavy brown hair was blowing backwards as he jogged towards me. He was wearing swim shorts and a white tank top.
When he reached me he asked in a cute voice, "shall we?"
I had a small grin on my face as I said, "we shall."
We got to the beautiful blue ocean and I stepped in the water that was surprisingly very warm. I took off my shorts and my tank top and ran into the water. "C'mon!" I yelled to Shane. "The water's awesome!"
He took off his tank top and put it with my clothes that were too far for the waves to reach.
As he got to me he said, "the water's NEVER this warm!"
I laughed and said, "I wouldn't know. This is my first time swimming in this ocean."
"It is?" Shane asked in a confused voice.
"Yeah. My mom, brother, and I are on vacation here for the summer. It's so awesome. I never wanna leave."
"Oh..." Shane said in a sort of disappointed voice.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Nothing, nothing. Wanna swim out some more?"
"Sure," we both doggy paddled out into the ocean more. I could still reach the bottom which means it wasn't more than 5'2" deep.
After a while when I was calmly floating in the water, a huge wave of water splashed me. I frantically opened my eyes and saw Shane grinning.
"Oh no you didn't."
"Oh yes I did." Shane said as he started to swim away from me when I tried to splash him back.
I swam after him and finally got close enough to splash him back. His hair got soaked and now looked flat. He quickly swam towards me and tackled me from underwater.
"Shane!" I yelled while laughing as he picked me up from my legs and lifted me almost completely over the water. After he put me down I asked him, "How is it that I just met you and I already feel like I've known you for years?"
He smiled the cutest smile I've ever seen and replied with, "well I feel like that too. It's never happened to me so I can't really explain."
I smiled and said, "Well do you wanna go get something to eat?"
"I was actually just about to ask if you wanted to have dinner at my place."
"Sure," I smiled and we started to head back to the shore. "Crap, I forgot my towel."
That's when Shane did what I thought only happened in movies and stories. He took his towel and wrapped it around me. I turned my head to say thank you but when I looked into his green eyes the words couldn't come out. All I did was smile and look at his eyes. His beautiful eyes. He looked into mine too. After a few seconds I looked away towards the ground and said, "Thanks for the towel."
"You're welcome," Shane said. "My house is this way."
We walked into his house and I asked, "Can I use your phone to call my mom and tell her where I am?"
"Of course." Shane said and took the phone off the side table near the couch and handed it to me.
"Hey, mom. I'm at Shane's house for dinner. He's the boy I told you about before."
My mom told me that she wanted me home before it got too dark and that she wanted to meet him sometime.
"Okay, mom... Maybe tomorrow."
After my mom said "Okay" we hung up and Shane put his phone back on the hook. He led me into his kitchen where I saw his mom.
"Well hello there. Are you Zoey?" Her voice was so friendly.
"Yeah." I smiled.
"I was hoping she could stay for dinner." Shane said.
"Of course. We're having chicken. Is that okay, dear?"
I nodded and smiled.
"Thanks, mom."
Shane led me up a flight of stairs.
"Your mom seems really nice." I said as we walked into what must be his room.
"She can be. But she can also be really embarrassing and crazy."
"That sounds like my mom." I said laughing.
Shane laughed and said, "I just realized something. I don't know a lot of things about you."
"Oh, wow. You're right. I don't know a lot about you either. "
"Well I'm 16. My last name is Muller. I've lived here my whole life. My dad is at war and I'm an only child." He said smiling and looking at me as if to say it was my turn to tell him about me.
"I'm 16, too. My last name is Kate. I actually live in New York and I'm here for the summer. I never really knew my dad. He passed away when I was really little and I have a brother named Ben."
"Oh. I'm sorry about your dad."
"Don't be. I never really knew him. I never talk about him much either. My mom can't really handle it. Which I understand. My brother and I don't ask questions. Sometimes she'll tell us small stuff. He died when he was only 27 and I know his name was Jake."
"That's so sad." Shane said. It looked like he was tearing up.
I quickly asked, "Are you okay?" And put my hand on his shoulder.
He looked down at his bed which we were sitting on and said quietly, "I worry about my dad all the time... It's really scary for me... To go through every day not knowing if he'll live through the war."
He sat there in silence looking downwards and I sat there awkwardly not knowing anything to say.
"I'm sorry." He said lifting up his shirt to wipe his eyes.
"Don't be. I understand." I smiled and ducked my head so I could see his eyes.
He lifted his head and smiled. "Well, what kind of things are you interested in?"
"Well, I like music, dancing, and singing. I'm not really a fan of video games though."
"I love music, too! I can't dance though... Or sing. I like video games but I'm not like most guys who play them all day. I'd rather go to the beach and do something active."
"Cool. That's awesome." I smile. "And I want to be a dancer when I go to college."
"That's so cool." Shane smiled. Once again, I got that weird feeling. When he smiles I can't help but smile back.
"Shane! Dinner's ready!" I heard his mom yell from downstairs.
We both got up and walked to the kitchen. Shane couldn't have been cuter when he pulled out a chair for me. I sat down and pulled my chair closer to the table. He sat next to me and his mom said at the end of the table.
"So Zoey," Mrs. Muller started. I quickly swallowed my chicken because I knew she was going to ask me something. "I hear you're on vacation. Where are you from?"
"I'm from New York." I politely answered.
"Oh, that's pretty far. Do you think you two will keep talking when you leave?"
Before I could answer, Shane said, "Hopefully." He took the words right out of my mouth.
I smiled and he looked at me.
After dinner, we went back up to Shane's room.
His room wasn't anything like I imagined it... Not that I imagined his room. I just meant it's nothing like I WOULD have imagined... Oops... Shane just said something...
"Sorry, what?" I shook my head and looked up at Shane.
"When do you plan on staying till?" Shane repeated.
"Oh, umm. It's getting late so I better be going."
"Oh, okay. Well can I walk you home?" Shane asked.
"That'd be great."
We went downstairs and told Shane's mom that I was about to leave. As we walked out the door into the beautiful starry night, Shane held out his hand. I couldn't help but smile and probably blush a little. I took his hand and we walked slowly towards the hotel. We walked closely side by side.
"Zoey?"
"Yeah?" I looked over at Shane whose eyes were sparkling from the stars.
"I'm kind of glad I bumped into you. I've never met a girl like you. You're so ... awesome."
I was definitely blushing now. "Thanks, I'm glad you did too." I was really quiet.
We were almost at the front doors of the hotel. Shane was still holding my hand when he opened the door for me.
"Want me to walk to your room with you?" Shane asked.
"Yeah, you can say hi to my mom."
When we got to the room I opened the door. My mom and brother were sitting on the couch watching T.V.
Oh no... Ben. Please don't say anything. I kept saying "please" over and over in my head.
"Mom, this is Shane."
"Hello." My mom said with a smile.
"Hi, Mrs. Kate," Shane awkwardly said.
"And that's my brother, Ben." I told Shane.
"Hey." Ben turned his head for a split second to look at Shane.
Shane just gave an awkward wave. "I better be going now."
"Okay, see you tomorrow?" I asked.
Shane nodded with another adorable smile and gave me a quick hug. After he left I closed the door and smiled to myself.
"Is that your new boyfriend?" Ben obnoxiously asked.
"No... He's just a friend."
I quickly went into the bedroom I got all to myself and sat on the bed. I grabbed the phone and dialed my best friend's number.
"Hello?" Caitlin answered.
"Caitlin! Hey! You'll never believe my first couple of days in Cali."
"Tell me!" Caitlin eagerly said.
"Okay, on the first night here I walked down to the beach by myself and I bumped into this guy. I could never be happier about bumping into someone. After he bumped into me he offered to buy me a hotdog. When we were about to sit down, he dropped his food. It turns out he's so adorably awkward. Just like me! It's crazy how much we have in common. His name is Shane. He's so ... attractive too! He has wavy brown hair, amazing green eyes, and he's pretty fit too. When I told him I was on vacation he kind of looked disappointed so I think he doesn't want me to leave. Which means he likes me! I'm gonna hate having to leave at the end f the summer though... I think we're getting to be really good friends. I went over his house for dinner and afterwards he held my hand as he walked me home. I think I really like him."
"Oh my gosh! Zoe! That's the most adorable thing I've ever heard. I'm sure you guys will still talk when you come back to New York."
"I hope so..."
A while after hanging up, I went to sleep.
After a couple of days Shane and I have been hanging out, Independence Day finally came.
What is Shane planning? Every time I've asked why we couldn't hang out today, he just laughed and said "you'll see." He's definitely doing something for July 4th... But what?! I kept thinking about what the surprise could be. Every idea was better than the last. I just wish I could know already...
It took Shane until 9:00 PM to call back.
"Hello?!" I urgently picked up the phone.
"Hey, Zoey. It's Shane's mom. Shane told me that I have to pick you up and take you to where he is. If that's alright with you, could you call me when you're ready?"
"Yes, yes, yes! I'll be ready in 10 minutes! Then I'll call you!"
After I got ready and called Mrs. Muller I ran to the lobby and out the door to wait for her. A million things went through my mind while waiting and while in the car. I kept trying to ask Mrs. Muller what Shane had planned and where he was but she just smiling into the front mirror and said, "I was told to tell you nothing."
It took almost half an hour to get there. I didn't know where we were considering I've only been in California for a little while.
"Here we are." Shane's mom pointed at what looked like a big field.
"This is just a big grass field though... Where's Sha-"At that moment I saw Shane walking up to the car. "Where did you come from?" I asked him when he opened the door. He didn't answer. Instead, he held out his hand for me to hold. He led me into the field for about 5 minutes.
I saw a big blanket spread across the ground on the grass.
"Would you like to sit?" He asked me as if he were escorting me around France.
I sat and he went into the darkness for a few seconds. All I saw was him run back to me and sit down closely next to me.
Then I saw the surprise... The most beautiful and special surprise I've ever seen.
Above me in the dark blue starry sky, a massive amount of fireworks were going off. I stared in amazement at the beautiful fireworks of all different colors. Some were shaped as hearts and stars. It took about 5 minutes for the last and most amazing firework to go off. It was purple and spelled out "Zoey". A tear rolled down my cheek. This was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
By now Shane and I were laying next to each other. He sat up and looked down at me. "How'd you like it?"
I was silent. There weren't words for what I was feeling. I've only known Shane for a little over a week. No one has ever gone through so much trouble to make me feel like this. I feel like a princess. Like there's no one in the world except me and a boy I really like... And might even love.
There may not be words to describe my thoughts... But maybe there's an action. I sat up quickly and kissed Shane on the lips. I didn't know what I was doing. It all happened so quickly in my head.
Was this the right thing to do? Am I moving too fast? He's still kissing me so I'm guessing he's not hating it... I'm definitely in love.
Oh no... I'm in LOVE. In love with a boy that I have to leave. I'll be going all the way across the country at the end of the summer.
I pulled away. I didn't know what to do so I just stared at the blanket we were sitting on.
"Zoey." Shane said, almost out of breath.
I didn't look up. "Sorry." I said without thinking.
"Sorry? That was amazing. I should tell you that that was my first kiss though. I'm glad you got to be my first kiss."
I couldn't speak. I knew I was in love with him. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. But there's no way I could do that. I have to leave.
"What's wrong?" Shane bent over and looked into my eyes.
Another tear came down my cheek. It wasn't for happiness though. This tear was for pure devastation.
"I'm sorry, Shane. I shouldn't have done that."
"But w-" Shane tried to speak but I didn't let him.
"Kissing you made me realize how much you mean to me. It made me realize that I ... love you. At the end of the summer, I have to go back to New York. I have to leave you. I've dreaded that moment since we first met. I tried to cover up worries. I thought that if we didn't get too close, it wouldn't be hard for me to leave. But it is hard. It's the hardest thing I'll ever have to do."
"But Zoey. We have 2 months and if by then we're really close, we'll figure something out. I don't want you to leave either. That was the only thing I could think about since you told me you were just on vacation. I want to make this summer the best summer ever. When September comes, we'll figure something out. We can video chat every day, call each other, and whatever else we can figure out. I won't let you escape my life forever."
I was crying a lot now. When Shane hugged me, somehow, it made me feel a bit better.
By the end of the night, we were laughing again. We laid there and talked about all the crazy things we could do to spend our time together. Of course most of the things were probably impossible. Some things included riding elephants together and skydiving across the state. When we were picked up by Shane's mom, we went back to his house.
"Zoey, I told your mom you'll be gone all night. I didn't know how long you guys would take." Mrs. Muller told me.
"You can stay at our house if you want." Shane suggested.
"That'd be great." I smiled at him.
We got to his house and tried to figure out somewhere I could sleep.
"The couch is too small and I'd hate to make you sleep on the floor. I'll sleep on the floor and you can use my bed. Is that okay?" Shane asked.
"You're too nice. You shouldn't have to sleep on the floor though."
Shane kept saying that he could sleep on the floor and that he insisted I was comfy as their guest. Finally I gave in and we went to sleep. Shane on the floor and me on his bed. In the middle of the night Shane woke me up. I heard him saying, in a sleepy voice, "Zoey, I thought the floor would be a bit more comfy. My back is killing me." Before he could say anything else, I moved over and Shane smiled and got in the bed next to me.
I woke up to Shane hugging me and my head on his chest.
I looked up at him and said, "good morning."
"Morning." He said in a cute sleepy voice.
He was still hugging me until right before we actually got up. We stayed there for about 10 minutes.
Finally we decided to get some breakfast. We rushed down the stairs to the smell of chocolate pancakes. When I saw them sitting on the table I nearly drooled. They looked so good.
It wasn't until Mrs. Muller said something to stop me from looking at them. "I figured since Zoey is here, we could have the famous Muller Chocolate Pancakes. Well they're not really famous..."
"They are in this house!" Shane said grabbing two forks and pulling out my chair for me. He gave me a fork and before I knew it, he was already destroying his pancakes. I took at bite and awed at the amazement.
"Oh my gosh... These are DELICIOUS!" Shane just nodded and Mrs. Muller said thank you.
Afterwards, Shane and I were sitting in his living room. "How does she make them so good?" I was still caught on the pancakes.
Shane laughed and said, "I really don't know. She won't tell anyone."
"Well from now on, can we have that for breakfast when I'm over?"
"You plan on staying overnight again?" Shane smiled at me apparently surprised at what I said.
"Well if you don't mind."
"We can have the pancakes."
Shane and I hung out just about every day. We haven't kissed since July 4th. I kept wondering whether he would ask me to be his girlfriend. I had opposite feelings toward that though. On one hand, I knew I loved Shane. That scared me though. At the end of the summer, I'm going back to New York. We may never see each other in person again. I don't think I could handle that. But on the other hand, I've already gotten so close to him. No matter what happens, I'll miss him with all my heart. The feeling of him actually wanting him to ask me out overpowered the feeling of not wanting him to. I hope he does. Time has gone by so quickly. Throughout the summer, we went to the beach and hung out at my house and his house. We've done some pretty crazy things too. That includes paragliding off of a huge hill. We went to huge amusement parks together too. He won me about 10 stuffed animals. The weirdest thing of all is that Ben and Shane have actually become FRIENDS. I'm actually okay with that. Ben's actually pretty nice now. We haven't been fighting since him and Shane have started talking. Ben's also giving me really good advice. It's hard to believe that it's all WORKING. It's really weird. I've never been close to Ben like I am now. I even call him "Benny" sometimes. The weeks quickly turned into days. When we only had six days left of the summer, Shane and I were starting to spend every second together. We had a lot more things we wanted to do before I had to leave. We barely slept and when we did we were together. 6 days then turned into 1.
"I can't believe I'm leaving tomorrow morning." I told Shane right when we woke up.
"We still have one more thing to do." Shane said.
After breakfast, Shane took me to the best restaurant in town. That's how Shane explained it anyways. He got our table and pulled out my chair for me. I sat down and so did he. After we ordered we talked about how we would talk after I was gone. The whole conversation made me want to cry my eyes out. I was relieved to stop talking when our food came.
"This might be the best restaurant in the world..." I said after a couple bites.
"I agree." Shane said with a mouthful.
After we were done with our food, people started to dance towards the back of the store.
"May I have this dance?" Shane asked in a dorky but cute voice.
I took his hand and he led me to the dance floor. The songs were all slow. As we swayed back and forth I had my head on his shoulder and he had his hands on my waste.
"Zoey," Shane started saying in a quiet voice.
"Yeah?" I lifted my head and looked into his eyes.
"I onto the stage and huddled with the band. I saw them all nod and then Shane took the microphone.
"Zoey, I wrote this song just for you."
Before I had time to think, he started to sing. I just stood there awkwardly and smiled at him. He took the microphone out of its stand and walked over to me. He held my hand with his free hand and looked into my eyes and just sang. The song was beautiful.
When he finished the song, he was still talking into the microphone for everyone to hear. "Zoey, will you be my girlfriend?"
I heard a lot of people say, "aww" and some say "say yes!"
A tear was falling from my cheek when I said, "Yes" and nodded with a huge smile. "I thought you'd never ask."
He smiled and took out a little jewelry box. He opened it and said, "These are promise rings. If we both promise to stay together forever even though you're going to be in New York, we can keep them on forever."
"I promise." I said. He took the first ring and gave me the second one. They were beautiful. He put it on my finger and I put one on his. He hugged me like never before. All of our other hugs were either glad-to-see-you hugs or I'll-see-you-tomorrow hugs. This was one of our last hugs. He hugged me so tight until he let me go. I didn't want him to let go. I wanted that hug to last forever.
The next morning was what I've been dreading for a long time. By now, my mom, brother, and Shane's mom knew we were officially boyfriend and girlfriend. Most people said things like "It took you long enough." When all our bags were packed, Shane helped me bring them to the airport. His mom let me ride in their car. I was going to miss Mrs. Muller too. She's become like a second mom to me. As we pulled up into the airport parking lot, I started to really have to beg the tears not to come out.
We got to a parking spot and my mom parked right next to us. Everyone was pulling luggage to the plane. My mom, Benny, and I had to take it onto the plane.
"C'mon, Zoe." Benny said sympathetically, "We gotta get on the plane in the next 15 minutes."
"I'll be there in a few..." I told him.
My mom and Benny got their luggage onto the plane and I stayed with Shane.
"I can't believe I'm leaving. This day came way too quickly." Tears were rolling down my cheeks by the bucket. Shane pulled me into a hug. This wasn't an I'll-see-you-tomorrow hug. This was our last hug, unless I visit Cali again.
"I'm gonna miss you. We can talk everyday on the phone and through video chat though. I promise you that I won't forget about you. How can I? You've changed my life." I could tell Shane was crying too. That made me cry even more.
"I'm gonna miss you so much. You've changed my life, too. I'm so happy I met you." The tears started to stream down my face now. Mrs. Muller was crying, too. I gave her a hug and started to take my luggage to the plane.
"Wait!" I heard Shane behind me.
He ran up to me and kissed me right on the lips. I let go of my bags and put my arms around his neck as we kissed.
When we pulled away, Shane said, "bye... I love you."
"I love you, too." I said with even more tears.
I got on the plane just in time to leave. As we took off I could see Shane through the window into the airport building. He was waving to me. I waved back slightly and then he was gone. I looked out the window of the plane and cried for an hour before I finally fell asleep. I woke up to my brother tapping me on the shoulder.
"Hey, Zoe. We'll be home in ten minutes."
I nodded and when we arrived at the New York airport, we got out luggage into our car that's been sitting in the airport parking lot all summer. At least it's more comfy than the crappy one we rented in Cali...
We got home and started to unpack our stuff. When everything was back in place, I took my little bags into my room to unpack them. It only took about half an hour to get everything the way it was before. Well, it wasn't really the way it was before... Before I didn't have this dying need to see a boy named Shane who lives in California. Later on the night, I got a call from Shane. I picked it up right away.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Zoe."
"I miss you so much."
"I miss you, too."
I heard a noise in the background that sounded somewhat like a fan blowing in the phone. "What's that noise?" I asked.
"What noise?" Shane said kind of quickly.
"Never mind. So what have you been up to these past hours?"
"Just lying around. You?"
"Unpacking." I told him.
We talked for about 15 minutes and then he told me that he had to go. We said bye and hung up.
Before going to sleep, I asked myself, "who ever thought home could be so devastating?"
The next morning I woke up to my alarm at 7, which was weird considering I didn't set my alarm last night.
Confused, I got up and turned it off. Next to the alarm was a sticky note. It said, follow the arrows. You're mom knows about all this. Don't worry. à
There was an arrow that faced towards my door. Then I saw another sticky note on the door that read, open.
One pointed down the hall. I took the sticky notes as I went. When I saw my mom she said, "So you found the little message?"
"Umm, yeah. What's this for?" I asked.
She handed me a sticky note that said, I told you your mom knew. Now go to Ben's room.
I did as the note told me. When I got to Benny's room, I asked him what was going on and held up the notes.
"I was told not to say anything." Benny got up from his bed and gave me another note.
Benny knows everything, too. He won't tell you what this is though. Now go to the front door.
I walked out of his room and went to the front door. My mom was standing there with some of my clothes. "You might want to change before going outside." I rushed to the bathroom to get some shorts and a tank top on. I ran back to the front door, making sure I didn't forget the other notes. I gave my mom my pajamas and she gave me another note.
There will be more arrows outside. You can't miss them.
I went outside and automatically saw an arrow on the lamp post. Since I lived in a small neighborhood, no one was outside yet, which might have been a good thing.
There was an arrow on every post pointing more and more down the street. I kept walking and taking the sticky notes. Finally, I got to the end of the street and it pointed upwards to go up the small hill. When I got to the top of the hill, I saw someone standing in the distance. They were waving. I couldn't make out who it was though. I walked kind of slowly closer and closer to them. When I got close enough to recognize them, I screamed so loudly I made the whole world go deaf.
"SHANE!!!!!" I ran at full speed to him. When I reached him I jumped on him and we both fell to the grass. I hugged him so tightly that it was a miracle he could breathe. "How are you...?"
Before I could finish my question, Shane said, "I was talking to my mom about you and how much I would miss you and she offered to buy me tickets to go to New York. She's not here yet because we didn't have enough money to buy two tickets. She'll be coming in a couple months."
"W-Wait? You're LIVING here??"
"Yes, yes I am." Shane smiled at me and we both got up.
He came really close to me and put his arms around me. He kissed me on the lips and I didn't hesitate to kiss him back. When we pulled away from the kiss, we continued to hug.
We were still hugging when I asked, "where are you gonna be living?"
"With you," He said.
I pulled away from the hug and said, "That's awesome! I'll be able to see you 24/7."
We talked and had a picnic that he planned for us.
When we got home, we played games on the Wii for hours. When it was time to go to sleep, we went to my room and went to bed. The next day and the next day after that, we lived our lives together.
Want an epilogue?
Well here you go...
When Shane and I turned 26, we got married! And a couple years after that, I had our son. We named him Jason after Shane's father. Sadly, a couple years after Shane moved to New York, him and his mom (who were living together again at that point) got a call to tell them that Shane's father died fighting. I know you probably don't want to hear the usual fairytale ending, but I can't help it that it all happened like a dream. So, Shane and I... Ready for it? ... Lived happily ever after.
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