Yours to Hold

A few minutes later, I saw Mr. Sullivan's van turn onto my street. I smiled and pushed myself off the doorstep, throwing my sweatshirt over my shoulder and walking to the driveway as Mr. Sullivan pulled up. I waited for the car to come to a halt before stepping to the back passanger's side door and sliding it opened; everyone suddenly started greeting me at once as I stepped into the van.

I immediately held my hands up in a "Whoa Nellie" gesture, and Jimmy's dad chuckled.
"He can't greet everyone at once, so why don't you all take turns saying hey to him?"
"Hey, baby," Jimmy stated enthusiastically from the passanger's seat, causing me to giggle.
"Hello to you, too, sweetie," I told him, craning a bit so I could kiss his cheek.

Johnny held out his fist for me next, and I immediately tapped my knuckles against his.
"Hey, man. You excited?"
Johnny grinned up at me. "Psyched," he told me, causing me to laugh.

I turned my attention to Brian next, who let loose a quiet whistle.
"Whoa, Zee. Looking good," he told me, causing me to grin and give him an Eskimo kiss.
"Thank you, Bri. You aren't too bad yourself."

Feeling someone's gaze on me, I turned around and brought my green eyes to meet Matt's hazel ones. His lips turned into a small smile as he realized I had turned my attention to him, and he held up a hand in greeting.
"Hey, man," I told him, causing me to hold up a hand as well.
"Hey, Matt."

I gazed at the male for a second or two before finally turning my attention to Jimmy's dad.
"Hey, Mr. Sullivan."
"Hello, Zack. I see you're showing a little bit of school spirit tonight," Jimmy's dad told me.

Jimmy made a face. "I still don't see why we're the Cardinals. Why can't we be something cool, like the Cougars?"
"Thats because Downingtown East is the Cougars, Jimbo," Matt told him.
"Well, why can't there be TWO Cougars?" Jimmy asked, causing me to laugh a bit.
"Springfield High is the Cougars, as well."
"Oh," Jimmy mumbled, sounding disappointed.

I chuckled a bit more and dropped my hoodie on the seat between Brian and Johnny; I was about to squeeze in between them when Matt stopped me.
"Can you sit with me?"
I smiled at him and nodded my head. "Of course I can."

Leaving my sweatshirt on the chair between the other two males, I carefully climbed into the back and sat down next to Matt. His hazel eyes lit up a bit as I sat down next to him, which caused my heart to to flutter a bit.
"Thanks. I was getting kind of lonely back here alone," he told me, causing me to smile.
"Not a problem, dude," I said, reaching for my seat belt and getting buckled up.
"You look really, really good," Matt told me after a few seconds of silence, which caused a small smirk to appear on my lips.
"Thank you. Sop do you," I told him.
Matt let loose a small chuckle. "Thanks."

My smirk grew as I noticed Matt's cheeks turn pale pink; the fact that I had made the male blush made me a wave of giddiness rush over me. I watched Matt for a few seconds before turning my attention to outside the window and running my tongue over my lips. I was really hoping that Val had changed her mind about coming so I coud have Matt all to myself, although I highly doubted that was the case.

I had a feeling that the main reason that Val was coming was so she could keep me and Matt seperated; it was obvious she didn't want her boyfriend to be friends with me.

"Matt! Are you and Zack friends now?"
Jimmy's sudden question pulled me from my whirlwind of thoughts and made me flinch. My eyes darted to Matt for a second before I quickly shook my head.
"No, no. Not even-"
"We're getting there," Matt suddenly interupted. "We're certainly getting there."
"That is so AWESOME, Matt and Zackster!"

Matt laughed a bit and turned to me. "He calls you Zackster, huh?"
I nodded my head. "And, Brian calls me ZackAttack."
Matt chuckled a bit. "Hmm, I need to come up with a cute nickname for you now."
"Don't make it retarded," I told him, causing him to let loose a loud laugh.
"I won't, I won't," he reassured me before thinking for a few seconds. "I know! I'll call you Zacky!"

"Zacky...?" I asked warily.
"Yeah! You have Vengeance in your display name on AIM. Think about it. Zacky Vengeance has a really ring to it, doesn't it?"
A small smile apeared on my lips. "It actually does sound really awesome. Although, I'm still not quite sure about Zacky," my smile changed into a smirk as I gazed at Matt, "so I'm gonna call you Matty. Deal?"
Matt smirked as well. "We have a deal. Only you can call me that, though."
I smiled and nodded a tiny bit. "Of course."

"I think Matt and Zack have the hots for each other," Jimmy suddenly sang, causing Matt's face to become mortified.
"I DO NOT have feelings for him."
"Dude, its pretty obvious that you have a tiny bit of a crush on him, Matt," Jimmy exclaimed. "You asked HIM to sit with you while you could have just as easily asked me or Brian to sit with you. Plus, you gave him a pet name. Matt Sanders does not give ANYONE a pet name, including his girlfriend."
Matt grunted and rolled his eyes. "I don't have any fucking feelings for him, James," he growled. "And, don't even suggest that I do. I'm very much in love and happy with Valary."
"Someone is in denial," Jimmy laughed, causing Matt to growl again and turn his his attention to me.

"Zack, please tell me you realize that we're only going to be friends and nothing more, right?"
"Obviously," I told him shortly, although I felt like he had ripped my heart out of my chest and stomped it into a million pieces.
Matt gave me a small smile and reached over, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.
"Its fine."
"Zack..."
"Dude, I'm okay," I told him, causing Matt to slowly nod his head and bit his lip, slowly dropping his hand from my shoulder.

The drive to Val's house was very quiet and kind of awkward; everyone stopped talking and no one bothered to put the radio on. I spent the drive staring out the window intently and avoiding looking at Matt. What I longed to do was unbuckle my seat belt and climb between Brian and Johnny, but I knew that a stunt like that would be dangerous while the car was moving.

Val and her sister Michelle were waiting outside the house for us when we arrived, causing Brian to let loose an audible groan.
"Michelle's coming? Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK."
"Have fun with THAT, dude," Johnny exclaimed, causing Brian to glare at him.
"Shut the fuck up."
Johnny held up his hands. "Whoa, man. I just kidding!"

A few seconds later, Valary opened the car door and climbed in; her face immediately became disgusted when she saw me and Matt sitting in the back together.
"Zack needs to move."
"He's fine. There's enough room for the three of us back here," Matt told her.
"I'm not sitting next to him, Matt."
"You don't need to sit next to him, Val. I'll move to the middle and you can sit on my other side." Matt's voice was starting to sound irritated.
"Whether I'm next to him or not, I'm not sitting anywhere near that faggot," Val told him, causing me to bite down on my lip to keep from replying to that remark.

Jimmy's dad also wasn't happy with Val's comment. "If you're going to act like THAT, Valary, you will stay here. Now you may either sit down with Matt and Zack or you may remove yourself from my car; I will NOT be tolerating that kind of behavior toward Zack tonight."
I rolled my eyes and unbuttoned my seatbelt. "Its fine. I'll move."
"You don't need to move, Zack," Matt said, but I shrugged again.
"Its no biggie," I told him as I pushed myself off the seat and squeezed into the front, slipping in between Johnny and Brian.

Brian glanced over at me and mouthed "thanks", causing me to wink and mouth back "No problem"; the biggest reason I had moved was to save Brian and Johnny from the torture of sitting next to Michelle for the whole ride up to Field of Screams. It was no secret that Michelle had the hots for Brian to the point that she was creepishly obsessed with the male.

I certainly was not going to sit in the back with a bitch who hated me because I liked dudes and watch her slut of a sister put her hands all over MY best friend.

Brian gave me a small smile and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, causing me to smile back and lean against my best friend. The male gently kissed my forehead and then gave me a soft kiss on the cheek.

"I see you watching them."
Matt let loose a lound snarl, causing me to flinch and turn around to see Matt glaring at Val.
"What the hell is is the problem with you lately?"

I rolled my eyes and turned back toward Brian, nuzzling into my friend's neck to hide my chuckle; so much for Matt being so happy with Val.