California Girl's

Grayson woke up a half an hour before her alarm went off feeling like absolute shit. She had barely gotten any sleep due to all the tossing and turning she did. She lay there staring at the ceiling for a long time trying to push all her thoughts of how much she wished she was cuddled up against Zack’s strong chest rather than laying in her large bed by herself.

Once she had managed to drag herself out of her bed, she took a quick shower and got dressed before she walked out of her room and into Annabelle’s.

“Belle,” She whispered softly as she stood next to her sister’s bed.
The little girl was spread out on her stomach with her pillows, comforter, and stuffed animals all over the floor and she didn’t move a muscle at Grayson’s voice. Grayson though for a moment of how much harder this was going to be once Annabelle was a teenager.

“Annabelle, it’s time to get up.” Grayson tried again.

This time the little girl cracked one of her bright blue eyes open and gave her sister a toothy smile. Grayson couldn’t help but laugh at the little girl and roll her eyes playfully.

“Morning Gray!” Annabelle exclaimed as she sat up.

“Get ready munchkin.” Grayson laughed and headed back to her room and into the connected bathroom to do her hair. She dried it and allowed it to curl in natural beachy waves.

By time she was done Annabelle was already downstairs eating a bowl of cinnamon toast crunch and watching cartoons. Grayson grabbed a pop tart and sat next to her sister at the kitchen counter and watched the plasma television that was located on the wall next to the fridge.

“Ready for school?” Grayson asked and Annabelle nodded her head enthusiastically.

Since Grayson had talked to Annabelle the little girl had taken a sudden liking to school and her teachers had said her grades were improving.

Grayson handed Annabelle her backpack and followed the little girl out to the garage. Annabelle climbed into the back into her booster seat while Grayson started the car.

“Put in Blink-182!” The little girl exclaimed and Grayson did willingly happy that Alex and Jack had taken the time to introduce Annabelle into some good music.

After walking her sister to the front door and giving the short girl a hug she headed back to her car and drove the short drive home. She was glad to have the day off because all she wanted to do was go curl up in bed and try to forget about her boyfriend, if she could still call him that.

She definitely didn’t expect said boyfriend to be sitting on her front porch when she pulled into her driveway, but he was there and he looked like he hadn’t slept at all last night. Parking her car she actually contemplated leaving and not coming back for several hours in hopes he would get the picture and leave, but her heart beat out her brain and she climbed out of the car.

Zack stood up as she slowly walked towards him and he couldn’t help but gawk at how beautiful she looked even thought she was wearing a smiple sweater and jean shorts. He held his breath as she stopped in front of him and had to refrain himself from pulling her into his arms.

“Can we talk?” Zack squeaked out and instantly kicked himself mentally for sounding like such a pussy.

Grayson nodded slightly and started to walk around the large house and towards the beach. Zack followed a couple steps behind her as his bare feet burned slightly in the hot sand. At first he thought she was going to walk right into the waves with her fringe boots on but she stopped right before where the water washed up on shore and stared out into the ocean.

“I’m sorry,” Grayson said quickly. “I shouldn’t have acted that way and I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you for the way you acted. I know what happened with you guys and I understand she hurt you and that it’s hard to get over.”

“W-What?” Zack stuttered out as his jaw dropped. Why in hell was she apologizing? He was the one that let his stupid ex-girlfriend fuck with him and he was the one that hurt her.

“I’m sorry,” Grayson started again.

“No!” Zack said a little bit more forcefully then intended. “You should not be apologizing.”

Zack was almost at a loss for words. He couldn’t believe that she was the one apologizing for what happened. It was no one’s fault but Zack’s.

“Nothing that happened was your fault! It was my fault, all my fault.” Zack empathized as he turned to face her. “I can’t believe I did that. I am so incredibly sorry I treated you that way.”

“It’s okay,” Grayson mumbled. “I understood.”

Zack furrowed his eyebrows as he studied the dejected look on his girlfriend’s face. He was so confused, until it dawned on him why she was apologizing and putting all the blame on herself.

“Wait,” Zack paused as he took a step back from her. “Do you think I still have feelings for her?”

“No,” Grayson answered quickly. “I don’t know.” She clarified.

“No, no no!” Zack exclaimed. “I don’t have feelings for her anymore, I hate her!”

Grayson looked down at her boots as she though over his words. She wanted to believe him and for the most part she did, but it still hurt to know another girl had that strong of a hold over her boyfriend.

“Baby,” Zack said quietly as he gripped her chin in his hand gently and tilted her head up so she was looking at him. “I love you.”

Grayson was pretty sure she felt her insides flip in a complete circle. He loved her?

“Paige had a firm hold on me for a long time but that all changed because of you. You made me realize that not everyone is out to get me. In a short four weeks you managed to make me fall in love with you.”

Zack had just put himself out there completely; put his heart out there, he was just hoping she would accept it. He stared at the beautiful girl in front of him as she stared back at him with wide blue eyes.

“Zack,” She breathed out. “I-“ She paused as she shook her head.

“Gracie, it’s okay.” Zack mumbled, even though inside his heart was breaking. “I understand if-“

He was abruptly cut off by Grayson’s lips and the shock made him have a delayed reaction to the passionate kiss but he caught up quickly. Even thought it had been less than twenty-four hours since he last kissed her, it was still too long.

Grayson pulled away from his lips just barely as she inhaled deeply trying to calm his pounding heart before she whispered the three words back to him.

“I love you, too.”

Zack was pretty sure if possible his heart exploded. He wasn’t even sure if he had just heard her correctly, but he couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. His lips were back on hers almost instantly as he picked her up by her waist and spun her around.

She giggled as she wrapped her legs around his waist as he stumbled slightly into the shallow water. She didn’t want to ruin her boots, but at the moment she didn’t care. When she imagined this conversation in her head it had had a completely opposite out come and she couldn’t have been happier.

“Can we go cuddle?” Grayson mumbled as Zack chuckled at her request. “I didn’t sleep very well last night.” She admitted.

Zack frowned slightly and pressed a light kiss to her forehead. “Same here.” He whispered.

Grayson gave Zack a small smile as he adjusted her in his arms so he was securely holding her under her butt as she had her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

The entire walk back to Grayson’s house her grip on Zack was tight in fear that this was all a dream, but she could feel the warm skin of his neck brush up against her lips with each step he took; this was real.