Just Stay With Me Awhile

"Lili, can I talk to you?" Zacky asked a few hours later as he walked onto the bus and saw her sitting on the couch by Matt, who glared at him.
"What for?" Matt asked him.
"It's not like I'm going to kill her or something." Zacky rolled his eyes. "I just need to talk to her."
Lili stood up. "Fine. I'll talk to you, Zacky. But if you try to pull anything on me, you'll regret it."
She followed him outside the bus, and he led her to the back of it. He leaned against the back of it and looked at Lili, whose arms were crossed across her chest.
"I'm listening." She said expectantly. He took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry I've treated you like shit." He told her. "And I really shouldn't have done the whole tarantula thing."
"No, you shouldn't have." She agreed. "But why are you apologizing to me? Did my Dad tell you to?"
"No. I'm doing this of my own accord." He told her, his eyes serious. "I don't even know why I was treating you like shit. You don't deserve it, and I'm sorry."
"How can I be sure you're not just trying to sabotage me again?" She asked suspicously. He sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair.
"I'm not lying, Lili." He said, putting his hands in the air as a truce. "I don't know what you want me to do to make you believe it, but I'm done."
"Why?" She insisted. He looked at her incredulously.
"Are you serious?" He asked her. "I apologize to you, and you ask for an explanation?"
"That's typically the way I am, yes." She nodded. "And if you can't give me a reason, then you don't really mean it."
"Lili, I can't believe this." He grumbled, mostly to himself. "What do you want me to do? Huh?"
"Prove to me that you mean it." She smirked. He sighed and threw his head back.
"I don't know how I can prove I mean an apology." He sighed. "God, what is it with women and their bitching?"
"I'm not bitching, Zacky. If you want to hear that, go to any smalltown bar. I'm asking for an explanation." She said.
He looked at her and walked across the few feet that separated them and grabbed her wrists.
"I mean it, Lili. I'm sorry." He said, placing his lips on hers. Instead of kissing him back, however, she slapped him across the face.
"I can't believe you just did that!" She said.
"What the hell was that for?" He demanded her.
"That was not an apology, Zacky Baker." She told him, trying to walk away. He grabbed her wrist and stopped her. "Let me go. Now."
"Lili, listen to me." He told her, not letting go of her wrist. "I don't know how else I can put it, but I'm done pulling stupid pranks on you. I'm done treating you like shit. I'm done. I'm sorry."
She looked at him, studying his eyes, trying to see a lie in them. She saw none, however, and stopped trying to pull her wrist free.
"Why'd you kiss me?" She asked suddenly. He looked at her, confusedly.
"Because I wanted to?" He asked her. "I don't know."
"You have to have had a reason to kiss me." She said, seemingly more to herself than him.
"It doesn't hurt that you're hot." He told her. She looked at him.
"Are you serious?" She asked him. "Is that all you notice about women?"
"No!" He defended himself. "I just meant--I was only trying to--I wasn't trying to insult you! Please don't slap me!"
She laughed and walked closer to him. "Stand against the back of the bus." She whispered. Fearing that she was going to slap him again, he did. She stepped so that his breath was hot on her face.
"Please don't slap me?" He asked her. She laughed.
"I'm not going to slap you, Zacky." She said. He sighed a breath of relief, and then looked at her with shock as she placed her lips over his own. When she tried to pull away, he wrapped his arms around her waist and turned so that she was pinned against the back of the bus. Oh, my. she thought to herself.