Brittany giggled hysterically as her and Zack walked into the house, 40 minutes later, joking around. He was trying to get her to tell him how her and her friends Leslie, Tami, Megan, and Tia had started the nickname Pudding for him. She refused to answer... that was her and her friends' secret, and they had had too much fun in the past with that one! There were so many jokes and puns that had come from it.
"My theory is that you're a sick, sick woman," Zack finally said, standing straight and firm in the entryway of his house, Brittany in front of him laughing.
"And why's that?" she smiled up at him playfully.
"Don't think I didn't hear the things that you and your friends said about pudding! You thought you were so-oo smart... thinkin' everyone would just think you were talkin' 'bout the after-school snack. Well, you're wrong, 'cause you just blew your cover tonight, when you called me Pudding. All that 'it's so good to eat,' 'it's so smooth going down your throat.' You're sick."
Brittany started cracking up, "Ahhh, I gotta call Spami and tell her about this."
"You can call 'Spami'--a.k.a. Tami--later. Right now we're gonna go get something to drink," Zack instructed as he grabbed his girlfriend's hand and began to lead her towards the kitchen.
They immediately stopped walking as they heard quiet crying coming from the family room. Zack peeked his head around the corner of the wall and looked into the dimly lit room. He immediately grew worried as he saw Rae sitting on the couch curled up in the corner of it, her eyes running with tears... after all, she was his twin sister, whom he loved dearly, and he hated to see her upset.
"I better talk to her," he whispered, looking back at Brittany.
Britt nodded understandingly, "No problem, sweetie. I'll be in the kitchen," she gave him a gentle kiss before heading in the direction of Zack's kitchen.
"What's wrong, Rae?" Zack's eyebrows scrunched together as he took a seat beside his sister. His hand reached out and rested on her jeans-clad knee. "Rae...?"
Rachel slowly turned and looked towards her concerned brother. Her heart broke all over again. She was just leaving her boyfriend behind by going off to college, she was leaving her family, not to mention all of her friends. She wondered if she could really do this -- go without seeing her brother, her boyfriend, everybody for months on end. Of course she could... she had to. She had to make a life for herself and this was her one opportunity. As much as she loved Nick she didn't want to sit around the rest of her life, being a housewife... she wanted a career. She'd come back after graduating and everything would go back to normal... her and Nick would be just fine. Right?
She started crying all over again.
"C'mere," Zack said quietly as he reached out and let his sister fall into a tight embrace. "It'll be okay."
~ * ~
Brittany entered the kitchen to see Nick sitting at the counter, his hands in his hair. "You look flustered," she sympathized as she sat down on the stool next to him and rested her hand on his in a comforting manner. "What's wrong?"
"Rae's going off to college and I had to tell her tonight that I'm staying here," Nick answered as he looked up at his friend, his eyes showing how deep his anguish really was. "This sucks, Ritt. I don't want her to leave, but there's no way in hell I'm stopping her. Am I a terrible boyfriend for not going with her?"
Brittany's heart seemed to melt at the tone of his voice. He sounded completely torn in two, and that was no exaggeration. "Nick, no. You're an excellent boyfriend... you're wonderful to Rach. But just like you're not going to stop her from going to college and making a career for herself, she's not gonna stop you from doing what you want to do. And that's because you love each other."
"So we just let each other go?"
"No! You're not letting each other go at all. You're letting each other live, and just think of this as a test..."
Nick sighed, "I don't want to think of this as a test. I'm scared to fail."
"Nick," Brittany smiled gently. "You've studied up, hon. If you apply yourself, you ain't gonna fail."
Nick gave a slight smile, "Thanks, Ritt."
She nodded in response.
"You thirsty?" he stood and walked to the refrigerator.
"Parched."
Nick laughed and tossed her a bottle of water.
~ * ~
It's like jumping, it's like leaping, it's like walking on the ceiling, it's like floating, it's like flying through the air, it's like soaring, it's like gliding, it's a rocket ship you're riding, it's a feeling that can take you anywhere
So why they call it falling, why they call it falling, why they call it falling I don't know...
Nick glanced at Rachel from his seat across the kitchen table the next morning at breakfast. Brittany and Nick had decided to crash at the Larson's the night before, after Zack insisted since it was so late. As Nick stared at his girlfriend, who was oblivious to his eyes on her, he realized that every time his eyes came across her he fell more and more in love with her.
After breakfast Nick took Rachel's hand, while Zack and Brittany began to clean up the kitchen, and pulled her out onto the back deck, which overlooked the ocean, "Rae, we gotta talk about this. We can't just act like nothing's happening here."
"Nick," Rachel sighed. "I have a few more months until I leave. Let's spend the time that we do have together in peace, okay? Who knows how much time we'll be with each other once I do leave."
"What are you saying?" he spoke hesitantly as he watched her eyes change shades.
"I'm saying we won't necessarily make it, Nick. It's not for sure that we'll stay together. Space between couples is very difficult."
Nick stared down at his girlfriend in shock. He couldn't believe the doubt that he read in her eyes.
...But you can't live your life walking in the clouds, sooner or later you have to come down
It's like a knife through the heart when it all comes apart, it's like someone takes a pin to your balloon, it's a hole, it's a cave, it's kinda' like a grave...
And why they call it falling, why they call it falling, why they call it falling, now I know Why they call it falling, why they call it falling, now I know
-Why They Call It Falling, by Lee Ann Womack
Memories are just where you laid them Dragging waters till the depths give up their dead What did you expect to find? Was it something you left behind? Don't you remember everything I said when I said,
Don't fall away, and leave me to myself Don't fall away, and leave love bleeding in my hands, In my hands again, Leave love bleeding in my hands, In my hands, Love lies bleeding...
Oh hold me now, I feel contagious... Am I the only place that you've left to go? She cries that life is like some movie, black and white... Dead actors, vacant lies, Over, and over, and over again she cries...
Don't fall away, and leave me to myself Don't fall away, and leave love bleeding in my hands, In my hands again, Leave love bleeding in my hands, In my hands, Love lies bleeding...
And I wanted You turned away You don't remember, But I do... You never even tried...
Don't fall away, and leave me to myself Don't fall away, and leave love bleeding in my hands, In my hands again, Leave love bleeding in my hands, In my hands again, Leave love bleeding in my hands, In my hands again... Ohh... Ohh...
-Hemorrhage (In My Hands), by Fuel (CD: Something Like Human)
Brittany listened as Zack's voice grew quiet as he talked on the phone in the other room. They'd been cleaning up breakfast when the phone had rang and Zack had grabbed the cordless. Once he'd found out who the caller was he'd walked from the room quickly, not talking to the person until he was in the family room. Brittany knew she shouldn't do it, but her curiosity was getting the best of her, as it always did. Why was her boyfriend seeming so secretive?
Picking up the phone quietly, she listened to the last part of the conversation.
"Listen, man," Zack was saying quietly, "I don't think I should, okay? I think my friends are starting to get suspicious and I don't want to my girlfriend to find out about this, alright?"
Before the person Zack had been talking to was able to answer, before she was able to find out who the caller was, Zack had hung up and begun to make his way back into the kitchen. Brittany quickly hung the phone up and turned around just as Zack walked into the kitchen.
"Sorry about that, babe. C'mmon, let's finish this up," he started to wipe up the counter with the sponge again.
Brittany took a deep breath, before gulping deeply, her hands shaking. What was he doing? He wouldn't jeopardize their relationship again, would he?
Don't fall away, and leave me to myself Don't fall away, and leave love bleeding in my hands, In my hands again, Leave love bleeding in my hands, In my hands, Love lies bleeding...
