She took a deep breath and climbed in Ben’s car. She cleared her throat and ran her
fingers through her hair.
“What as that?” Ben asked pulling into the after-game traffic.
“He asked me to come over tonight,” she said slumping down in her seat
examining her fingernails.
Ben raised one eyebrow. “Like... like just to talk? Or more like a ‘sneak in my
window I’ll be waiting naked for you’ type of thing?”
Ruby laughed. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what he meant by that.”
Ben looked over at her. “You know you still want him. Look at you.”
*******************************
Ruby looked at herself in the mirror after she took a shower. She was wearing
short black shorts and a light blue halter top with her hair pulled up. She reached up and
took the rubber band out of her damp hair and shook it down past her shoulders. She bit
down on her bottom lip wondering if she should change into something less revealing.
She looked at the clock on her nightstand - 10:00. She slid on her black flip flops
and decided to leave. She left the house and jogged across the street to Zac’s house. She
looked inside the house and there were still a few lights on so she knocked on the door.
She heard footsteps coming down the stairs and nervously ran her fingers through her hair.
Zac pulled the door open wearing only a pair of green drawstring pajama bottoms
low on his hips. He looked sleepy and ran his fingers through his hair. “Hey,” he greeted.
It felt like someone had knocked the wind out of her when she saw him. “Good
God,” she thought. “Hi,” she smiled. “Did I wake you up?”
“No,” he said stepping back to let her inside. “I was just studying.”
“Oh that’s right,” she said coming inside. “You have school tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Let’s go upstairs,” he said closing the front door. They got up to his room
and sat on the bed.
“So what did you ask me over for?” She asked.
“This,” he said gesturing between them. “What is this? It’s not..” he sighed and
looked down. “It’s not what I want.”
She swallowed. “What do you want?”
“Ruby,” he let out a small laugh. “I want you. God, I’ve always wanted you.
And I can’t have you, or you won’t let me and it drives me crazy.”
“Zac, I still have another year of college. Plus, you’re moving all the way out to
San Fransisco and it won’t work,” she said.
“Fuck San Fransisco, Ruby. Who cares where we are?” He said turning to face
her. “God, it’s there. Can’t you feel it?” He turned her face with his index finger. “It’s
still there - what we had.”
She blinked and slowly nodded. “I know,” she whispered.
“So what’s the problem?” He asked when there was a knock on his door. “Come
in.” His mother opened the door to his bedroom carrying a pile of clean laundry.
“Hi Ruby,” she greeted.
“Hi,” she smiled.
“Here Zac,” she said laying the clothes on his couch. “I’m going to bed, okay?”
“Okay. Goodnight, thanks mom,” Zac said.
“Goodnight,” she said pulling the door closed.
Ruby took a deep breath and looked over at Zac. “Why are you so persistant?”
“Cause I’m still fucking in love with you,” Zac said falling on his back. “And I
never stopped loving you. There wasn’t a day that went by when I didn’t think about you.
And I know you still have feelings for me.”
“Of course I still have feelings for you. I love you,” she told him.
“Then what the fuck, Ruby?” Zac asked covering his face in aggravation. “So
what? So we’ll be apart for another year. Big deal.”
“It was a big deal,” she said. “It sucked, don’t you remember? Remember getting
wasted and kissing another girl and calling me at 3 a.m.? Remember me kissing another
guy and freaking out? Remember calling eachother everyday complaining about how
much we missed eachother?”
“Whoa- when did you kiss another guy?” Zac sat up.
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. It’s over with.”
“Well then all that was worth it if it meant that I’d get to come see you. Or that
you’d come home to me,” he explained. “You had your months without me. I gave you
time to realize that dating other people wasn’t what you wanted.”
She looked down at her hands thinking how he was right. She got up off the bed
and wearily ran her fingers through her hair. She closed her eyes tightly trying to figure
out what to do. She turned around to face him and stood in front of him. She took a
deep breath and ran her fingertips across his hair brushing it off his forehead. “I missed
you,” she told him.
He looked up at her and ran his hands up the back of her thighs. “I missed you
too.” His hands ran over her hips and brought her closer.
She ran her fingers through his hair and leaned down gently brushing her lips
across his. She searched his eyes with hers as her face remained centimeters from his. He
blinked and his eyelashes grazed her skin. He trapped her bottom lip between his lips and
ran his hands down her legs. She leaned closer and kneeled over him on his bed as she
kissed him back. Her tongue found his and his anxious hands found their way under the
back of her top. She slowly pulled away and kept her face right in front of his.
“So what are we supposed to do?” She asked quietly.
He looked down at her lips and licked his. “Worry about it in the morning.”
Chapter 3
