Just Another Reason I Could Never Forget You

I sat at the kitchen table eating my fruit salad. Movies are meant to be watched while eating popcorn and candy but I was hungry. Fruit salads are healthy and light, so they leave for plenty of other food. I probably sound like a health class textbook, but I've always tried to eat healthy. My mom raised me that way.

The clock hanging on the wall across from me read 4:45, meaning Zack would be here soon to pick me up. I'd be lying to myself if I said I wasn't nervous because I was. Oh baby, was I nervous. My hands were shaking ever so slightly, a clue to my true feelings.

My shaking hands have only ever had three meanings and they all varied on how I felt and how strong the emotion was. If I'm sick my hands tremble slightly and my vision will sometimes become fuzzy. When I'm angry my hands shake uncontrollably and I turn as red as my hair. My hands shake somewhere in between those two extremes when I'm nervous.

My phone was in my pocket, so when it began to vibrate I was a bit freaked out. The fork fell from my hand and clattered onto the table. I sighed and pulled my phone out of my pocket. 1 New Message I had an idea who it was before I even opened the message.

Zack Merrick : Hey, I'm outside. Can I come in? I need to use the bathroom.

Laughing to myself as I went to the front door, I sent him a short yes. When the front door opened, Zack was standing there in a pair of holey jeans, vans and wearing a rather tight white Hurley shirt.

"The bathroom is upstairs. Second door on your right."

"Thanks Jericha. Be right back."

"Mhm," I said before returning to the kitchen to clean up my mess and grab a water bottle.

The fridge was always full of pop and juice, but I'd taken to drinking water more often. My mom thought it was strange., but then again, my mom thought everything I did was strange.

Zack walked into the kitchen with a small smile and looked around as if her were trying to memorize the layout of my house. Which he may have very well been doing. His eyes locked onto the picture of me and my parents from two years ago. I could see the pity in his face as he looked at us all. We were happy then and he seemed to understand this.

"That's your dad, huh. You look a lot like him," he said.

"Sure, I guess so. I've had more people tell me that I look like my mom."

"You look like both of them. You have your mom's facial structure and eyes. But the hair and body stature all come from your dad."

"You can tell all of that from one picture of us together?"

He nodded with the slightest of smirks. "Yeah. I don't talk often because I'm shy, so I spend a lot of time watching people and reading them. For example, you're nervous right now but you don't know why. You're also afraid that I might try to pull some crazy prank on you. Deep down though, you're hoping that I prank you because you like how our friendship is based on the pranks. Am I right?"

He wasn't right, no, he was dead accurate. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made. I did enjoy all the pranks and shenanigans, mainly because they fueled the child still inside of me. And if I thought I had been nervous before, then I didn't know what to call this. My palms were sweating and I knew I must have looked as shocked as I felt because he reached over and put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry Jericha. I didn't mean to startle you," he said softly.

I looked at Zack, really looked at him. He looked so damn harmless, but I could see the gears in his brain turning. I could feel the nervousness sinking into me, turning into cold chills. I averted my gaze and grabbed my person.

"Well, we should probably get going if we're going to be watching movies, huh?"

"Yeah. Oh, right. My mom wants you to stay from dinner tonight."

"I don't know. That makes it seem like you're asking me out on a date, Merrick."

"Merrick? Since when did I become Merrick again?"

I chuckled and wrote a note for my mother on the white board, telling her where I was. Zack was hovering over my should and let out an excited shout when I wrote that that I was gonna stay for dinner.

"You're really gonna stay? My mom will be so happy."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't make me regret it."

"I won't," he said before walking out the front door, leaving me to lock it behind us.

The car ride itself was relatively silent. I didn't know what to say and Zack seemed to be in his own little world. When we pulled up in front of his, I smiled. There was an adorable German Shepard puppy running clumsily towards us.

"Hey Zeus! How's my big boy doing?"

Watching Zack interact with the puppy gave me hope that Zack really did have a soul. He just seemed so damn nice. It was hard to believe I ever thought he was a jackass.

"C'mon Jericha, my mom's probably already starting dinner. I think she said she was making an early Christmas dinner."

I nodded and quietly followed behind him, trying to make myself invisible because the nerves had just skyrocketed. Zack dropped back and looped his arm over my shoulders.

"You have nothing to be afraid of Jericha. My family already loves you and they've only briefly met you."

"Jerri. Call me Jerri, Zack."

"I-uh, alright... Jerri."

"Better. I feel less awkward with you calling me Jerri."

He laughed that rumbling laugh of his and then opened the door for me like any good gentleman would.

"Thanks Zack."

The scents of ham, green beans and mashed potatoes all hit me at once and I staggered. It smelled so delicious. I had already eaten, but here I was already hungry again. Zack caught me as I started to fall sideways, an alarmed look on his face.

"Jerri, are you okay?"

"Mmm, yeah. Your mom's cooking just smells so damn good."

"Haha, just wait until you taste it then. You might pass out because it tastes so damn good."

"Zachary Steven Merrick! You know I don't like that kind of language in my house!"

"Sorry mom."

<->

Dinner was awkward. I felt like we were playing twenty questions times about one million. Even after I thought they had run out of questions, his parents would ask me another one. Right when I thought I would spend the whole night sitting at a table being interrogated, Zack cleared his throat.

"Mom? May Jerri and I be excused to watch our movie now?"

She stopped in mid-question and nodded once to herself before smiling at the two of us. "Of course. Silly me forgot you came her to watch movies. Go ahead."

I thanked her for the lovely dinner before following Zack to his room. It was a lovely blue-green color, though it held a bit more blue than green. His bed was made up with black covers and white and blue pillows. The furniture was all a beautiful cherry oak which seemed to pull the room together.

"So, the movies are all in that cabinet beside the TV. Just go pick one while I run to get us some drinks. Water, right?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, I'll be back in a few."

"Mmkay. Do you mind if I use the bathroom?"

"No, but it might be a bit of a mess."

"It's okay. Mine isn't the cleanest either."

"I know," he said before heading back to the kitchen.

After I finished my business in the bathroom I walked over to the cabinet and opened it. Jesus Christ this kid has a lot of movies. There were so many good movies to pick from, but I finally settled on Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I was just sitting there flipping through an Ultimate Guitar magazine when he came back in.

"Ready?"

"Yup. Where are we sitting?"

"On my bed. Unless you'd prefer the floor or window seat."

"Uhmm....bed it is then. I call dibs on the corner though!"

"Haha, you're funny. It's my room, I get the corner."

"Yeah, but I'm the guest, so I get first dibs on seating. I call corner."

"No way. I always sit in the corner when I watch movies here."

"Too bad, because," I ran and leaped onto the bed, landing perfectly in the corner... if you call landing face first perfectly, "was here first."

Zack laughed and set the drinks down before walking over to the bed and picking me up over his shoulder. I clung to the bed for dear life, hoping that somehow, I'd be able to keep my grip and win this match. But alas, it was failed attempt for I am much weaker than Zack, who lifts weights for fun.

I yelped as I was swung forward so that Zack was cradling me in his arms. He sat down in the corner of his bed and grinned at me as I sat in his lap. "Looks like I win."

"Fuck you, Merrick."

"Mmm, I think Jack would have my head if I did that Henderson."

"That's very true. Although...I think that Jack wouldn't be the only one taking your head."

"Yeah, you're right. Not shut up because the movie is starting."

I stuck my tongue out at him before turning towards the television. Well, after sliding off of his lap too.