His Treasure

What was he pulling her into? His parents pitied him, his friends hated him, his ex is pregnant with someone’s baby and he could barely imagine how Lacey’s going to handle all this shit.

Drama, drama, drama.

Zacky knew she wanted to be the good girlfriend and stand at his side, but if the roles were reversed, he wasn’t so sure he could take this, so how the hell is Cherise?

He glanced at her, she was sleeping, lightly snoring, her hair was in a disarray, she had no make-up on but she was so beautiful and every time he looked at her, his heart swelled with pride; for once he did good.

It was night, lightly raining, nothing serious that he shouldn’t be driving on the road. The windows were fogged and the air conditioner was on full blast. He could hear the splash the tires made on the wet road as cars slowly passed them. There wasn’t any music on, a fact that he had only now realize. He was thinking about things too much.

He looked up at the signs and swallowed.

They reached.

He didn’t want to wake up Cherise, God knows she deserves some rest after putting her through this, but he had to.

“Cherise,” he said loudly and felt, rather than see first, her jump.

“Yeah?” she asked sleepily.

“We’re at Huntington.” With saying that, Cherise blinked and sat up properly.
Why didn’t it make her feel better? Now that they were here, Cherise felt as if right now was the only calm and good moment they were going to get for a while. Here, in the car holding tightly to Zacky’s hand, this perfect picture, only felt like the calm before the storm.

That wasn’t good.

“Okay,” she said breathing out.

“Who do you want to tackle first? Family, friends, or ex?” Zacky asked. Cherise bit her lower lip.

“Um eenie meeni miny mo?” she suggested then thought better. “Wait let’s take ex last. I would love to say let’s delve into the problem first but let’s face it we’re in deep shit here. I say we go by your family first, then hit the hotel and then tackle everyone else tomorrow. Okay?”

“Okay,” he said nodding. “To family.” Cherise nodded and kissed him quickly on the cheek.

The car pulled up slowly and stopped outside Zacky’s home. There were lights on and as the two came out the car Zacky could hear laughing.

Anxiety was building up.

How would they all react? Would they accept Cherise and him? Did they miss him?

He felt Cherise lightly squeeze his hand in reassurance but he didn’t feel reassured. It wasn’t her fault though.

“C’mon Zacky,” she whispered, and held on to his hand, following right behind him as he walked up to the front door.

Zacky ringed the door bell and stepped back. He waited until the door opened revealing his brother, Matt, who eyes widened. “Mom!” he yelled and walked away.

Okay…

Cherise and Zacky looked at each other. “So, what do we do now Zack?” Cherise asked. Zacky shrugged.

“Hell if I—.”

“Oh my God,” a voice interrupted Zacky. The two faced forward to see Zacky’s mom, her eyes swimming.

“Mom,” Zacky said softly.

Cherise let go of his hand and watched in the background as mother and son hugged, both of them crying and laughing. She looked on as Zacky hugged his brother and then to, she assumed, his father. She felt a bit awkward and intruding on this family moment; maybe she should’ve just stayed in the car. Before she could leave Zacky walked back to where she was in the dark and took her hand, bringing her closer.

“Mom, Dad, Matt, this is Cherise,” Zacky said.