Some Kind of Magic

Zach’s hand just fell short of the brunettes shoulder. As it fell through the air and landed back by his side, the movement of his body stopped, and froze in place, in the center of the Prudential Centre parking lot. Brown eyes fixed on the girl; Zach pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and jerked his head back, his eyes shutting simultaneously. Anger and regret raged through his veins, making a sick feeling boil in his stomach. How was he supposed to know that Vanessa was afraid of embarrassment? How was he supposed to know the men were going to take it that way? He didn’t, and yet he still felt guilty about saying what he did.

There was a loud sigh. Zach’s eyes slowly rolled around in their sockets until the brunette was in perfect view again, her slim figure wrapped up in her professional attire. Her high heels only make her legs look longer, her make-up bringing out her eyes, and her shirt revealing some eye-catching skin. Watching her approach him, he kept his lip between his lips and hands stuck to his sides.

“Can you stop day-dreaming, open the car, and take me home?” She snapped in a tone more malicious than Zach had expected. Slightly surprised, he nodded and trailed behind her, his eyes stuck on her hips, her hair, the way the muscles in her legs flexed as she walked in high heels, every little detail about her captivated him in the worst way, making the urge to have her unbelievably strong.

When Vanessa reached the car, her eyes were downcast. Her voice, screaming at Zach slowly replayed in her head, every time reminding her that she gave a little too much attitude to him. After all he did for me, she thought, how could I be so cold?

As her heels clicking against the pavement stopped, she turned and watched as the boy sluggishly trailed behind her, brown eyes broken down to a small glow, shoulders slumped, and feet heavy. “Zach?” She felt odd saying his name, but it was the right thing to do. Embarrassment can only last so long and there was no timeline on how many times she would have to interact with this boy, and having the best player on the team hate her, she realized, was not going to make her life any easier.

Zach looked over at her. When their eyes locked in a stare, she waved him over and like a lost puppy; Zach ran over to her and stood in front of her, huge eyes staring down at her. “I’m sorry about that”, he sighed and pressed his arms into his sides trying to stop the urge from cupping her cheek in his hand and kissing her, again. “I just… I didn’t want them to get the wrong idea, you know?” She whispered trying to avoid plain out telling him she was afraid of embarrassment, having people laugh at you, and all of the other lovely emotions that came in that package.

Eyes in hers, Zach let his eyebrows meet in the centre of his forehead. “You’re afraid of embarrassment”, he tried to sound sincere, but the girl across from him immediately felt her blood start to grow warmer with anger. Instead of taking it as sincerity, her mind took it as him mocking her. “I understand, I-“

“Whatever”, Vanessa snapped and quickly turned her back to Zach right as his hand hit her shoulder. Freezing in their spots, the girl took a shaky inhale and quickly moved her shoulder, letting the boys hand fall back to his side. Without any further words, she got into the car and slammed the car door shut. As Zach stood there staring at her beautiful reflection in the side mirror, he noticed her face contort. She was crying, the beautiful Vanessa Cooke was crying, and all he was doing was standing out in the cold New Jersey air, watching her instead of comforting her like his heart was begging him to do.

Tears rolled down her porcelain cheeks. Her mind had suddenly hit over drive when she entered the car, and for some reason, the only thing she wanted to do was cry. Cry about her mother, cry for her ruined relationship, cry for the reputation she just got, and cry for the pathetic being she was for crying. As her tears fogged up her mind, a faint, soft, male voice broke through the fog and registered in her head. Turning slightly, her puffy red eyes locked onto soft, teddy-bear like brown ones. The comfort she once felt months ago at her weakest time registered against her bare skin as Vanessa was leaned into Zach’s strong chest. It only took seconds for her mind to clear and realize what was going on, but as the tears slid from her eyes and meshed with the fabric of Zach’s shirt, she couldn’t move. She was comfy, she was warm, and she was safe.

“I’m so sorry Vanessa”, Zach’s caring voice filled the air around her and started closing in, suffocating her. She hated him, but right now, he felt like the one person she would want to be held by. Her mind reeled and pictured her friends trying to comfort her, Travis would be awkward, Alicia wasn’t capable, and any of the other guys, it would have just been awkward. Zach; he had something about him; it could possibly be the fact that he was the first person to show her true human compassion from a stranger.

As the girl cried into him, his heart was beating erratically in his chest. His breathing rhythm was off, and the only thing he could do was kiss the girl on the cheek, feeling the salty tears explodes against his lips. Words came from his mouth that his mind had no part in saying. For all he knew, he could be confessing his love to Vanessa right now.

After a few more minutes, Vanessa had pulled herself together. The tears had stopped slipping from the corners of her eyes, and the warmth that she was growing so used to was gone. Zach had pulled himself away from her, put his seatbelt on, and started driving. For the first moment, as Vanessa made the slow transition from clueless hysterics to fully aware of the real world, she was disappointed that the warmth was gone. As soon as she was back to her normal self, she took a deep breath and turned to the boy, putting what had just happened behind her.

“Don’t tell anyone”, as the words hit Zach’s ears, he jerked his head toward her and looked at her, in shock. Words came to his mind, and hit the tip of his tongue, but instead of saying them, he swallowed them and shook his head, putting his hand over his mouth as he leaned back into the chair, eyes wide with confusion and anger. How could she go from some broken little girl, to the normal angry Vanessa so quickly?

Silence filled the car for the rest of the drive home. As Zach tried to focus on the road and think of reasons why Vanessa hated him so much, Vanessa sat there, staring at her feet beating herself up for being so weak, so like other girls that just cry over everything. Vanessa Cooke never cried over anything, she cried when everyone cried, during funerals and extremely heart wrenching moments.

When Zach turned into the driveway and stopped the car, he turned to Vanessa. As his eyes locked onto her, his hands shut the car off and pulled the key from the ignition. “Why do you hate me so much? What have I ever done to you?” He asked with anger in his voice, but none in his eyes.

Silence swept over the girl in the passenger’s seat. Her eyes were now shut tightly, her head was pulsing with a new headache and the thoughts that were so clear seconds later were now piling on top of each other like a car wreck. As the boy next to her kept speaking, begging her to just tell him what was so horrible about him that she just couldn’t stand him, she felt the tears from before start to push at the back of her eyes. Within seconds, the brunette was out of the car, running a hand through her long hair. As the New Jersey win whipped in her face, a few tears slipped from her eyes.

Inside the house was warm and cozy. Instead of the loud laughs and voices of the other two humans that lived here, the house was silent; the only noise echoing through the rooms was the small sniffle coming from the girl that had just walked through the front door. In the fireplace were a few glowing embers, and as she walked into the kitchen, her high heels clicking against the expensive tile, the strong smell of coffee burnt her nose causing her whole face to contort.

She must have just missed the other two people that lived here, and although she wouldn’t mind some human company to take her mind off of the stressful day, she was glad no one was around. Alicia and Travis would only put a knife in the wound already open in Vanessa’s chest. Dating was out of her mind, she was staying temporarily single, but the constant view of affection between Alicia and Travis made her feel useless. As they kissed and looked into each other’s eyes, Vanessa sat there, staring at the empty space around her, wondering why she couldn’t have that, wondering what was so bad about her that she couldn’t be happy.

Sitting down on the living room couch, her fingers battled with the buckles on her shoes. She had strapped them extra tight today as her mind reminded her the last time she wore strap shoes, she walked out of them and made a huge scene in her old job. Doing that on the first interview of a job wouldn’t be good. Then again, she thought, it could have been less embarrassing then going through what happened.

The battle lasted another five minutes. The tips of her fingers were now red from the constant pressure of trying to work with the buckle and the strap of leather. Her patience had disintegrated. Taking a deep breath, she bent her somewhat numb leg up and grabbed her shoe. Tugging with all of her might, she managed to work her shoe of maybe by a centimeter. Out of pure frustration, she slammed her foot into the ground and put her hands over her eyes. Have I not gone through enough today? she thought angrily, can you just spare me and let me get my shoes off?.

“It looks like you need some help”, his soft voice broke the silence of the house and the simple rhythm of Vanessa’s heart beat. Ripping her eyes from her leather shoes, she traced along the living room floor up to Zach’s shoes. From there, her eyes slowly ran up his body until her eyes were locked with his. Speechless, she took in a shaky breath and tucked her shoes closer to the couch.

The boy took a few steps closer to her and kneeled down right by her shoes. With trembling hands, Zach grabbed her right foot and turned it a little. Within a minute, he had the buckle open and slowly slipped the shoe off of Vanessa’s foot. As he placed Vanessa’s foot back on the floor, he looked up at her and their eyes locked in a emotionless stare.

When Zach’s hands hit Vanessa’s skin again, she shivered and tried to think of something to do. She could kick him, she could just walk away, but for some reason, all of these ideas were silenced as Zach’s hands ran down her leg and moved her foot toward him, trying to unbuckle her shoe.

Zach’s breaths were shallow. His hands tried not to shake as they pulled the shoe off of Vanessa’s foot, but they did anyway. Putting the shoe next to the other, Zach carefully grabbed Vanessa’s foot and slid it back toward the next one. Although Zach seemed composed on the outside, he was falling apart on the inside. His mind was screaming at him to just make a move, and his heart was screaming at him to make a move, but not yet. His heart said talk for a while, as his mind screamed to just make a move.

“Thank you”, Vanessa’s voice was low and quiet. Her body was in shock, and so was her mind. Sure, Zach had held her before, but for some reason, his fingers running across her skin left a burning sensation that would not leave her system.

Inhaling slowly, Vanessa’s eyes followed Zach as he stood up and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. His bottom lip slipped in between his teeth as his brown eyes moved quickly in his head, tracing over almost everything in the room except the brunette sitting on the couch, the skin on her legs still burning from his touch.

Taking a deep breath, Vanessa stood up and walked over to Zach. Her mind was screaming, trying to get her to turn around and just walk to her room. Her mind was telling her to just go back to her room and leave Zach to battle with himself, but for once, maybe the first time since her mother had died, she followed her heart and walked over to Zach.

As Vanessa’s hand hit Zach’s shoulder, his eyes finally hit the one object in the room that he had tried to avoid. The brunette was within inches of him, staring into him with those piercing blue eyes of hers. Instead of wanting to scream at her like in the car, the only thing Zach wanted to do was kiss her. He had done it before and it had turned out bad, but for some reason, he thought if he kissed her now, she would have kissed back instead of walking away from him again.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you today”, she whispered the words covered with pure sincerity. “You’re a really nice guy. I was just a little stressed today. Can you forgive me?” As her piercing blue eyes met Zach’s an uncomfortable feeling filled her stomach which made her eyes go wide and her mind draw a blank.

Her blue eyes were locked with Zach’s soft brown ones. As a smile formed on his lips, the burning sensation on Vanessa’s skin started to spread. From her ankles, up her leg, soon across her whole body, her skin burned. The urge to hide in his arms was gone, and the only thing Vanessa felt was sickness. Her mind was confused to the point of a migraine, and the sick feeling in her stomach was a very distinct feeling. The feeling one gets when you’re standing in front of someone you kiss on a daily basis, in front of someone you love.

“Its fine Vanessa”, the girl’s heart raced as he said her name. This had never happened before; the simple pronunciation of her name has never made her heart race before. “I’m going to get going”, her eyes quickly jumped to his. Her mind slowly started putting everything together, the way she felt in his hug, the way her skin burned from her touch, and the sick feeling in her stomach. As she realized what was happening, she looked down at her feet and shook her head, angry at herself.

“I will see you around then”, she whispered and quickly glanced up at Zach who was staring right at her. After an uncomfortable flop of her stomach, she turned on her heels and started to walk down the hall, trying to remember where she had put her cell phone. She wasn’t one to call people and ask where they were, but she needed someone home to take her mind off of Zach. She would sit through Alicia and Travis sucking each other’s face off and the horrible memory of her past relationship, anything to keep her mind off of Zach.

Vanessa’s hand hit the doorknob of her room when the front door opened. Smiling, she sighed heavily and opened the door to her room. A cold gust of wind hit her in the face from the room in a welcoming way. Taking a deep breath, she slid her right foot into the room, and as her left went to follow, the front door slammed shut and loud footsteps echoed through the hall.

Turning, Vanessa sighed heavily as the tall boy appeared right in front of her, his brown eyes filled with urgency. Before Vanessa could ask what he wanted, his hands found their way to her shoulders and the burning sensation that had finally worn up started again. Every inch of Vanessa’s skin burned, and as she looked up into Zach’s eyes, she wanted to just take a step closer and bury herself in his arms.

“Can I take you out to dinner?” Vanessa stood there, her eyes wide with shock. “I know we haven’t got off on the right foot, but maybe…” He fell into silence as Vanessa looked down at her feet trying to contain the sick feeling, which wasn’t sickness at all, in her stomach. After a couple of seconds, Zach took his hands off of her. The brunette looked up at Zach, and still confused, she nodded and watched the fireworks go off in the dark brown eyes peering down at her.

Vanessa’s body was consumed in warmth as Zach wrapped his strong arms around her waist and pulled her in for a hug. As the girl shut her eyes and took in the warm feeling of the hug, her mind started screaming at her, screaming at her for saying yes to him. It was more than obvious that Zach had liked her. And now that she was going out on a ‘date’ with him, it meant that she was supposed to like him back. Vanessa did like him, but she didn’t like him more than herself, and after Matt she swore that she would not get tangled in this obstacle of love ever again.