The Other Dibenedetto Girl

When we arrived back at Zack’s house after dropping Jimmy off at his and grabbing my bag, I went straight upstairs and walked into Zack’s bedroom. I guess he understood what I was doing, since he did not call after me as I went up the stairs. I picked out the top I had worn the day I arrived, along with a pair of Zack’s boxers, and then closed the bathroom door behind me.

The water was incredible. The soothing lukewarm water rushed all down my warm skin, refreshing it from being outside for so long. I let it run through my reddish hair; allowing it to soak before rubbing some shampoo in it. This had always been the right time for me to think. There was never anyone who could pop in and interrupt me and my thoughts. I was completely alone. Closing my eyes, I wafted off into the replay of the past two days. It was all happening so fast. I felt my mind was swirling in all kinds of directions and it wasn’t going to stop. Finally getting the man I had always wanted; compromising with my sisters; finding out my mother had loved me the best. Things were going so quickly. It was too much for me to straighten out. This would have been great if it had been strung out in a series of a few weeks, but days? It was complicated.

I wish life would just stop. Just for a little bit.

When I finished, I dried up, got dressed then went back downstairs into the living room. I slunk into the soft fabric of the sofa long-ways; laughing softly to myself. Jimmy had once told me that sex was the best way to release stress; that I should try it some time. Of course, at that time, I didn’t because there was nobody I was interested in except Zack.

I personally considered leading Zack on to end up lying underneath him in his bed. I wanted Zack to ravage me; play with me and love me. I wanted his hands and lips all over me. The thought of him slowly slipping in and out of my body then picking up the pace gave me goosebumps. He’d have me on my back; on top, on my stomach, on my side, or any way he could pleasure me. I imagined him saying my name softly in my ear as he pumped in and out of me; his hands grabbing my breasts and his lips caressing my neck. Me on top of him, going at a steady speed so it could last; his lips gently sucking on my breasts and his hands gripping my ass. God, it looked so fucking amazing. I knew he was going to be already. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had so many girlfriends.

Sadly, I did not think this was the appropriate time. Too many things were going on at the moment, and I thought having sex with him would just pile onto everything that has been going on in the past few days. Feeling something shift on the couch, I figured Zack was there. One of his hands went up my leg, rubbing in a soothing kind of way.

“What’s the matter?” He asked.

“Nothing.”

“Well, there has to be. Someone can’t go from being happy and laughing about everything to being totally melancholy. Tell me.”

Zack crawled on top of me until we were both eye-level. He smelled fantastic. It was a light mixture of cigarettes, shampoo, and a gentle spray of cologne. I wrapped my arms around his neck so I could just have the scent closer to me. His hands landed on my sides; his lips found mine and began to peck delicately. We both lied there for a moment, holding and kissing each other before I spoke.

“Everything has been happening so fast ever since I came here,” I told him. “I don’t think I could take anymore of it. I mean, I have this outing tomorrow, then a will-reading at the end of the week, and a bunch of emotions whizzing around all over the place all at the same time. Then, there’s things I want to do that I can’t because it would just be too much for the moment, but at the same time I don’t want to disappoint the person I want to do said things with-“

Zack brushed a few strands of hair out of my face, “Mel, I totally understand. I wasn’t even planning on doing anything. I know you’ve got a lot going on right now, and I don’t want to make them even worse,” He kissed me for a lingering moment, “We can hold off the hold ‘date’ thing until things get better, and when they do, we can, you know,” He wiggled his eyebrows with his typical smirk; then briefly pecked my lips. After a minute or so of soft kisses, he spoke: “Why don’t you just head on to bed? You’ve had a long day. …”

He kissed my forehead, and stroked my hair. He lifted himself off of me; then stuck out a hand to help me up. Once I was up, he held me. In that moment, it was as if none of these things around me were happening. It was only Zack and me; nothing else seemed to exist except us. I finally let him go, and went upstairs to the guest bedroom.

Underneath the comfy black covers, my thoughts came back to me as I stared up into the ceiling. This all seemed way too unreal right now. I mean, it sounded like something out of a soap opera. Number one, Valary suddenly wants to be close to me after everything that had gone on in the past. Number three, Michelle hates my guts and is probably plotting ways to get rid of me. Number four, I end up in Zack’s arms, in Zack’s house, and on Zack’s lips unexpectedly and so soon. Number five, we have this will thing where I’m actually gonna have to sit there and listen to the things my mother gave me which can’t be much given we never had anything. Finally, number six, I have all these loose ends to tie up since I’m going to be extending my stay here: My plane ticket, my clothing situation, and call my boss to tell him I won’t be coming back as soon as I told him I would. It was so much done in such little time.

I rolled onto my side; shut my eyes and tried slowly to drift into sleep.