Some Kind of Magic

“You know if there is a park around here?” Zach’s smooth voice filled the cab as he leaned over and started speaking with the cab driver. After a few minutes, he rejoined Vanessa in the back seat and lifted his arm up like he had before. With a small smile, she slid over to him and rested her head in his chest. The warm feeling rushing through Zach’s body, he leaned over and placed his mouth by her ear. When she squirmed, he smiled against her skin. “He knows a park around where we live, so we don’t have to take a cab home”, Nodding Vanessa felt her heart start to thud in her chest.

The tingling sensation that was running up and down her spine from his lips so close to her neck, was driving her absolutely insane. Insane to the point where she just wanted to turn to him and press her lips against his. It wasn’t a normal feeling she experienced, but she wasn’t really feeling herself now. Not in a sick way, but the thoughts running through her head, they just didn’t seem like things she would think.

This would definitely be the last time she drank over her limit.

The cab ride stayed silent on the way to the park. The low hum of the engine under the hood floated all the way to the back seat where the two silently sat together, enjoying the others company. Although the silence was nice, both of them were on the verge of losing their control and attacking the other, but both knew what that would mean, and they were able to contain their alcoholic induced urges under a calm smile in the back of the cab.

As the park became visible on the left, Vanessa’s eyes scanned the houses and street around the entrance and smiled. The park was about three blocks away from Alicia’s house, and from what she picked up Zach only lived another two blocks away from them. Why do I care where he lives? Vanessa thought quickly, eyes growing as Zach opened the door and crawled out of the cab. Following him, she watched him walk away to the driver’s side. Once he was gone, she looked down at her feet, as she did her normal mind set started to cloud up her mind.

Just as a thought formed in her head about her recent ‘non-love pact’ with herself, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her into a strong hug. Catching her breath, the familiar warm breath hit her neck and her mind quickly dropped any thoughts about leaving the boy. Shiver rattling her spine, she turned around and looked up into Zach’s eyes. Smiling she took a deep breath as the sound of the cab driving away filled her head. Now it was Zach and her, alone, with all of these feelings.

“Shall we go?” Zach furrowed his eyebrows and quickly took a step away from her and grabbed her hand, pushing his fingers through hers. With no objection, Vanessa stumbled along wishing that Zach would have kept his arms around her waist. “There are swings down the path a little, if you want, or we can-“

“I like swings”, the blue eyed girl giggled as she looked down at her feet stumbling along the path. As she witnessed her sloppy walking, she realized that her alcohol tolerance level dropped significantly, but as the warmth of her hand in Zach’s warmed her whole body, she let the thought just wander right out of her head.

Halfway down the path Zach turned to the girl he was dragging behind him and smiled sheepishly. “Would you like to walk next to me, instead of behind me?” his voice wrapped around Vanessa’s head causing a love-sick smile to light up on her face. As Zach realized what she was smiling at, he stared at her for a moment, completely dumbfounded. When she was right next to him, the same smile on her face, Zach could only stare at her.

After a few moments, Vanessa cleared her throat and looked at Zach with confused eyes. “Are you alright, Zach”, he suppressed a shiver and then shook his head and cleared his throat. Putting his arm around Vanessa’s shoulders, he pulled her into his side and then pressed his lips against her cheek. Keeping his lips by her skin, he took a deep breath and tried to control himself for taking his free hand, putting it on her cheek, and kissing her with all of the built up emotions inside of him.

“Oh! The swings, come on Zach, give me a little push”, Vanessa laughed as she broke away from the awkward position her and Zach were in. As the alcohol finally made its way to her blood, she became completely oblivious to the awkward feelings her and Zach were having for each other. This Vanessa, the one Zach was witnessing, was her old sixteen year old self, not a care in the world, love for her was unknown and a beautiful thing, and everything in her life was absolutely perfect.

Zach watched as the girl he was so close to kissing was now across the path and a good few hundred feet away from him. Her purse fell to the ground as her hands gripped onto the chain links and she fell into the swing. Her laugh traveling through the air all the way to his ears, a smile appeared on his lips, and without sulking in the absence of her, he walked across the path and over to the swings where she was swinging a little, her eyes locked on the scenery across the stretch of grass.

Instead of helping her swing, Zach took a deep breath and sat down in the swing next to her. With the small light provided by the streetlight hanging above the slides a few feet away, he noticed her blue eyes, how much joy they held in the simple act of swinging back and forth. Soon, her adorable smile was on her face, and her legs started to get into the rhythm of moving back and then straightening out as she swung forward.

Ripping his eyes off of the girl that made his blood run warm, he let his thoughts wander. What was going to happen once tonight was over? Were they going to stay friends? Was Vanessa finally going to get over her ‘anti-love pact’ with herself? Would Zach finally have a chance to show her that not all guys were like Matt? As all of these thoughts ran through Zach’s clearing mind, he could only wish that most of them would have answers soon, and all of those answers leaning in his favor. He wasn’t sure what, but there was something about her that just drew him in.

“Zach”, the girl called as her feet pressed into the ground beneath her and after a few awkward swings, stopped her from moving again. Turning so the chain crossed above her head and her whole body was faced toward him, “Why are those beautiful brown eyes looking so sad?” A smile lit up on her face, completely unaware of what she was really saying, of what she was really doing. Deep in the confides of Vanessa’s mind, she knew what she was doing, but because of her altered thinking, she was acting off of her raw emotions, the emotions she had such an easy time hiding before the half of bottle wine.

“Vanessa”, Zach’s heart rate raced as the words started to fall from his head to his tongue, “I think we should be heading home”, he went to clear his throat, but the air from his mouth to his lungs was suddenly stuck in the middle as Vanessa got up and walked over to him, a deadly smirk plastered on her pink lips. “What’s the smile for?” The sternness in Zach’s voice deteriorated as his heart thumped in his chest from her smile.

Chuckling Vanessa moved a little closer to him and placed her hands on the chains linked to the slab of rubber Zach was sitting on. Looking down at the boy sitting on the swing, a small thought started to appear in her head. What am I doing? It was so simple, but in a time like this meant so much. This girl she was showing Zach, this wasn’t really her. Sure, it was her at some point in her life, but not now. What about all of those things she promised herself; keeping away from love, keeping away from hockey players, keeping her mind on her job. Was she going to throw that all away now? Sure the alcohol was pretty heavily influencing her decisions, but was she really that weak to just give into this boy looks so easily?

Blinking slowly, her hands let go of the chains and fell to her sides. Lips parting a little, her lungs filled to capacity with the fresh cool air. As Vanessa let her lungs deflate, the glazed over look in her eyes started to dull. “Vanessa you alright?” Zach stood up from the swing and placed his cool hand on her face. Gently moving her face so their eyes were aligned, he took a deep breath and noticed the dull look to her once joyful blue eyes. “Drank too much?” His mind quickly punched himself as the words ran through his head, but after a small moment of silence, Vanessa slowly nodded and took a deep breath.

“I’m just glad my body decided to start sobering up before-“, she abruptly stopped and dropped her eyes down to the asphalt. A strong pulse started to beat rhythmically in her head, and a small feeling of nausea started to make itself known in her stomach. If it was feelings for Zach or feelings from alcohol, she wasn’t sure, but whatever it was she wanted to go home and sleep it off. “We did anything… Stupid, I guess is a good word for it?” her eyes rose to Zach’s and as they traced over the dark brown orbs, she realized that the orbs that were connected to hers were still a little glazed over, but it didn’t seem that it was from the wine.

“Right, I totally agree with you”, Zach whispered looking down from Vanessa’s eyes. Although the girl didn’t say anything, it was more than obvious; to her at least, that Zach was lying through his teeth. “I’ll walk you home”, the pure sadness dripping from his words and floating in his deep brown eyes sent Vanessa’s stomach on a rollercoaster as well as her mind. One minute she agreed with him, and a second later, sympathized with her heart and wanted to tell Zach that they could go back to his place and watch a movie or something. After a few minutes of trying to think of the right thing to do, she eventually turned to Zach who was holding her bag for her and bearing a tight fake smile.

“Let’s go back to your place”, the words falling off of her tongue sounded foreign, but as they lightened the darkness in the brown eyes across from her, she felt the sickness in her stomach start to fade away. “I would offer to go to mine, but I’m not sure what Travis and Alicia are up to and I honestly don’t want to take any chances”, sharing a chuckle Zach nodded and handed her bag back to her.

The walk back to the main road was quiet. Zach was sucked into one of his internal battles leaving Vanessa to turn over some thoughts herself. Each step they took Vanessa’s smile started to fade from her lips, and Zach’s brown eyes grew stormier. The cool breezes that hit their bare skin eventually brought them together, but even as Zach had the warm feeling he always loved when he held Vanessa running through him, and that welcoming feeling of safety washed over Vanessa, they both kept their mouths shut, and minds on their thoughts.

Out on the main street, Vanessa quickly took notice to the houses and noticed that Zach’s was a good ten minutes away from the park, which was probably twenty minutes walking distance from her ‘temporary’ home. Storing that thought in her head, she took a deep breath and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. What was I thinking, going back to his house. I can’t like him! He likes me, I’m leading him on! I don’t want to hurt his feelings, and by doing that, I’m going to end up hurting his feelings! Eyebrows pushed to almost meet in the center of her forehead Vanessa sighed heavily and looked down at her feet. She was usually good at pulling herself out of sticky situations, but this one was far too complicated and advanced for her. Her experiences with guys and dating did not help her at all with this predicament and there was a one hundred percent chance that calling Alicia would end in months of torture. At the end, Vanessa could only think of doing one more thing.

Turning to the boy next to her, she gave him a small smile and pressed her hands together. “Would you perhaps have anything to drink at your place?”

“Wine wasn’t enough?” Zach asked chuckling a little silently hoping that they both had the same definition of ‘drink’.

“Taking into consideration that my life has been complete shit for the last year, which resulted in me becoming a single minded, job-obsessed, heartless shrew, I think some more alcohol consumption is due”, batting her eyelashes she twisted her neck so she had her head rested in Zach’s chest and her eyes were looking up into his.

“Single minded, job-obsessed, heartless shrew”, Zach nodded and looked up at the midnight sky bedazzled with tiny sparkles, “You know before tonight I would have agreed with you”, they shared a laugh, “but you are nothing like I had thought of. I mean, up until tonight, you were angry and distant and tonight you were just so different”, Zach took a deep breath to stop himself from starting a much not needed heart to heart conversation in the middle of street.

“Thank you”, Vanessa took a deep breath and turned with Zach to start walking up to his front door. Instead of observing the house and making assumptions about how much money the Devils were paying Zach, Vanessa dropped her eyes to her feet and started to rethink her idea of drinking again since her last episode wasn’t looking to end in a very good way.

Taking his hand off of her, Zach dug into his pocket and pulled out his keys. As put the key into the lock and twisted it, he twisted the knob and pushed the door open. With one swift movement he flipped on the light and then put on a small smirk. “After you, Vanessa”, heart fluttering, Vanessa walked into the house and tried not to let herself become shell shocked by the beautiful walls around her.

Glancing around Vanessa dropped her bag onto the seat next to her. Sitting down on the arm she started to take off her shoes, but after a few minutes of battling with the stupid clasps, she huffed and walked over to the couch and sat down. “Have I got something for you!” Zach smiled widely as he walked into the room with two glasses filled with clear liquid. “Here’s some Vodka and Sprite, you like?” Nodding the girl quickly took the glass and took a huge sip, letting the liquid slide down her throat and settle in her stomach.

“So”, Zach’s face contorted as he set the glass down and grabbed the remote, “We can order a movie on demand, any suggestions?” Furrowing his eyebrows Vanessa let out a childish giggle that only made Zach’s smile grow. As she shook her head really having no opinion on the movie, Zach nodded and sat back on the couch, putting his arm around Vanessa’s shoulders.

Ten minutes were spent surfing through the various movies available on demand from Zach’s cable provider. From Comedy’s to Horrors and an awkward turn to Drama’s they watched preview after preview, and as the liquid in their glasses slowly grew smaller, and their moods increasingly got better, all of the movie ideas were dismissed and instead Vanessa now had the remote and was flipping through the Music Choice channels with a huge smile.

All different songs played through the speakers as she flipped from 90’s Alternative to Blue Grass. During this, Zach had finished his glass and refilled it. Vanessa’s mind had sunk back to her old sixteen year old self, and before she realized it, her thumb had migrated to the power button. Pressing it the TV shut off and she turned herself so she was facing Zach. Twisting her legs into a pretzel, she smiled and raked her hand through her hair, messily putting her hair over her right shoulder.

“Can I ask you a completely serious question?” Vanessa’s voice was clear but just looking at her it was plain to see that her idea of taking a drink wasn’t turning out how she had planned. Instead of just keeping herself loose, she was now a little too loose and Zach wasn’t doing any better. “Really, complete seriousness right now”, she bit down on her lip to stop the laughter. As Zach kept laughing, she chuckled and slapped his shoulder. “Zachary!” His brown eyes, overflowing with amusement met hers; they both smiled.

“Sure, sure, what’s your question?” his lips pressed together as he copied Vanessa’s position and faced her, eyes as serious as they could possibly be.

With a deep breath Vanessa put her hands on her knees and smiled. “Why the hell would you possibly want to take me, the heartless shrew, out on a dinner date?” After they shared a laugh, they both fell into silence, eyes locked onto the person across from them.

Zach looked down, trying to pick the right words to say, but as his mind stayed foggy and words popped in and out of his head with no control, he sighed heavily and smiled sheepishly. “You’re gorgeous”, his eyes stayed on the girl across from him, studying her cheeks that started to gain a red tint. “I love your eyes, I love that smile, and when I’m around you I just can’t stand to not hold you. You are like a drug”, Zach finished and smiled as he pointed out that Vanessa’s cheeks were redder than his jersey. Laughing and hitting is shoulder again Vanessa put her hands over her cheeks and looked down.

“Shut up!” She laughed as Zach continued to ask her about the new color on her face. After a few minutes and the silence of the house took the place of laughter, Zach looked at her and started to chew on his lip.

“Serious question”, after a nod Zach continued, “Why did you agree to go out with me? Did your cold heart finally warm up to me and my charm?”

“Oh, charm?” Vanessa chuckled as she unfolded herself from the couch and stood up. The answer to Zach’s question was nowhere to be found in her now fuzzy mind. Even words that she could say to bullshit him were nowhere to be found and as she realized this, she turned to him and shook her head. “It was your charm; of course”, Zach’s eyes lowered as he stood up and walked over to Vanessa. Inches away from her, he flashed the same smirk that had her stomach in knots before the alcohol.

Wrapping his arms around her, the brunette lowered his lips to her ear. Smiling against her skin, he felt the girl in his arms shiver. “Are you going to give me a real answer?” Vanessa’s eyes fluttered shut as another shiver took it’s time traveling up and down her spine.

“Yeah”, she said finally. As Zach pulled his lips away from her ear, he looked down at the girl in his arms. As his heart started to beat rapidly in his chest, he watched as the girls glassy bright blue eyes dropped to her feet. Lip in between her teeth, she picked her head back up. With a short inhale, she quickly stretched her neck and pressed her lips right against Zach’s.

Pure shock rushed through both of them. The pressure from the kiss was driving both of them crazy, and as they broke apart and pressed their foreheads together, letting their deep breath bounce off of the others lips, they both quickly pressed their lips together again. As Zach’s hands ran down to Vanessa’s hips pulling her closer to him by them, Vanessa linked her arms behind Zach’s neck.

Lips locked in a battle, seconds started to tick by, and as each one slipped by, the need for each other to be closer grew. Zach applied more pressure to Vanessa’s hips as her hands broke apart and ran up and down Zach’s back, finger tips tracing over every flexed muscle they could find. Eventually the need for air grew and they broke apart. Lips pink, breathing heavy, Zach and Vanessa’s eyes locked in a stare.

Stomach churning, a small screaming voice started to echo in Vanessa’s head. It screamed and screamed but through the racing thoughts in her mind, it only registered as another useless thought, and as Zach walked up to her and hovered his lips over hers, the small screaming voice in her head was silenced. Not being able to stand it anymore, Vanessa quickly attacked his lips with hers. As their lips restated the heated battle, their feet started to move. Hands running over the others body, the fire grew stronger, and as they stumbled into the room down the hall, Vanessa’s eyes snapped open. The small voice in her head started to become clearer.

As Zach walked closer to her, she backed up subconsciously giving herself more time to think about all of this. Eyes quickly moving from his to the room around him, she started to think, thoughts started to form, and just as her mind started to form words to try to talk her out of it, her mind was silenced. Back pressed against the wall, her time to think ran out as Zach’s lips pressed against the bare skin of her neck, sending her bottom lip between her teeth. Small kisses going up and down her neck, the little bit of Vanessa’s self control was silenced leaving her to get through the night on her emotions, and all of her emotions revolved around one thing; Zach.