FIRST DATE

Chelsey’s POV

Brian and her headed to the bar area. She felt really embarrassed that Brian couldn’t stop smiling at her. It was so different that his normal way of acting.
She tried to smile back not to show what was going down in her head.

“Soo, Chelsey, are you happy in your life?”, Brian asked, a drink in his hand.

Chelsey raised her eyebrow at him. She didn’t expect him to make small talk. But she had nothing better to do, so she decided to answer him.

“I guess…”, she vaguely replied. In fact she didn’t know what Brian means with “happy”. It was a too large word.

“Have you got a boyfriend?”, he questioned, ordering another drink.

Chelsey felt really not at ease. She didn’t want to talk about that kind of thing with Brian Haner.
Brian glanced at her, and chuckled.

“Come on, you’re not 12 years old anymore. You can answer me.”, he encouraged.

“No.”, she simply replied.

“Come on, you’re not fun. There’s no big deal with this question!”

“Huh… I meant… No, I have no boyfriend…”, she chuckled nervously.

“Oh okay.”, Brian nodded. “How’s that?”

Chelsey started to feel really bored. She didn’t like that kind of conversation. ‘I don’t know.”, she responded nonchalantly.

Brian moved closer to her. “A cute girl like you shouldn’t be single..”, he said in a law voice.

Zack’s POV:

The green-eyed teen couldn’t help but look at Brian and Chelsey. Jealousy had taken possession of his mind. He wanted to punch Brian in the face.
He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Never on Earth he would have think that Brian could be interested in Chelsey. He was the one to treat her like she was insignificant, or to mock at her.
But now that she was all pretty in a pretty dress, he could finally find an interest in her. Fucking jerk!
The barman looked desperately at Zack. “Something wrong?”, he asked, trying to be friendly.
Zack jumped a little and looked at the man. “No. Everything is absolutely GREAT.”, he replied, rolling his eyes.
“Doesn’t look like it is…”, the man insisted.
Zack was bored by this man. “Listen, I know you’re trying to be nice but my life is none of your business!”, and with that he left the bar.

Chels’ POV

In the corner of her eyes, Chelsey saw Zack left the bar and she bit her lip. She looked at her feet.
Brian saw it, and smirked. “A problem?”, he asked softly.
Chelsey shook her head and looked at him.
“So…where were we?...So you’ve got no boyfriend, but do you have a crush on someone?”, he asked again.
Chelsey couldn’t help but blush. Brian chuckled. “I take that for a yes. Is he someone I know?”.

“I-I don’t want to talk about it with you!”, she retorted.
“Aww, Chelsey’s shy!”, he said playfully.
“That’s not funny!”

Chelsey had now her back against the counter, and Brian came in front of her. He moved closer, and whispered in her ear: “I think I know him pretty well”, he said, placing a hand on his waist.

Zack’s POV

He had to do something. He couldn’t just stay here and watch his best friend touch Chelsey like this.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Val, with a smile full of compassion.

“Matt told me about you and…this Chelsey girl.”, she simply said.

“Matt?!”, he almost shouted, wide eyed. “ So Matt…knows?”

Valary chuckled and squeezed Zack’s shoulder. “Yeah. In fact, everybody knows. I think it’s Brian who told them but I’m not sure.”

Hearing that name, Zack’s jaw clenched. “Yeah…maybe. Doesn’t seem like it refrains him from acting like that…”, he stated, glancing at the said Brian.

Val sighed. “I don’t know what’s going through his head right now. Maybe he’s just drunk?”

Zacky shrugged.

“Come talk to her, if you care about her..;”, the blonde advised.

“I think she’s pretty busy at the moment, with my fucking best friend!”, he shouted. He looked at Val, and pulled her into a hug. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get mad at you. It’s just…it hurts…”, he confessed.
Val kissed his cheek. “You’re a sweet guy, Zee. You’ll see, everything will be okay. I’m sure Brian can’t do that to you.”
“I hope.”, Zack chuckled nervously.
“But you can’t be passive! I don’t know… Kidnap her, or just forget about her for the night. Have fun, Zack! It’s a party after all!”, she winked, and headed where Matt was.

Zack hadn’t the time to say something, because a …obviously drunk girl came in front of him.

“You’re Zackyyyyy”, she said, laughing like an idiot.

The said teen rolled his eyes. “I think…haha…you’re cuuuute Zacharyyy.”, She continued, almost falling on him. She passed her arms around his neck for support.
The girl wasn’t ugly or something, it was just that her drunken state was quite repulsive, to Zack’s mind.
He wanted to push her away, not roughly of course, but she stopped him, and attached her lips with his.
He was too surprised to make a move.

Chelsey’s POV

Chelsey could see that scene from where she was, and she couldn’t help but feel anger in her stomach. She wasn’t listening to Brian anymore, she was looking at Zack.
He had finally pushed the girl away, and he now looked at Chelsey. Nothing came to break their eye contact. Chelsey wasn’t looking at him in a soft way. She was more like glaring at him, and Zack looked guilty.
Brian noticed that he had lose Chelsey’s attention, and turned to see what she was looking at.
He rolled his eyes when he saw Zack looking at them.
“Forget about him, babe…”, he whispered.
For once, Chelsey wanted to listen at Brian. She perfectly knew that Zack didn’t kiss the girl on purpose, that it wasn’t his fault but she couldn’t help but feel hurt.
She looked at Brian, smiled and nodded. Brian smiled victoriously. He bit his lips, thinking if he should do what he wanted or not…

Zack’s POV

Zack felt impuissant. When he saw the look in Chelsey’s eyes, he could have killed himself. She was obviously disappointed.
Zack could almost feel his heart break when she turned her attention back to Brian and smiled at him.
And then, his breath stopped when he saw Brian lean to kiss her.

Chelsey’s POV

She could feel Brian’s lips on her, and strangely, she didn’t find it unpleasant. Sure, her thoughts came to Zack, and about what she’ll think of her, but on the moment she needed some affection, and Brian had been eager to give it to her. She didn’t kiss him back though, cause she was too shy and too afraid for that.

Brian’s POV

The dark-haired teen smiled into the kiss. Chelsey hadn’t slapped him or something yet. It was a good sign. He asked himself why she wasn’t kissing him back, but after all, that wasn’t a big deal.
Everything was perfect for him. Until he felt someone slapping him hard.
He opened his eyes, expecting to see Chelsey looking at him with anger in her gorgeous eyes.
But instead, he saw a really pissed off Michelle stand in front of him. He raised both his eyebrows at her.
“YOU ASSHOLE!”, she yelled, slapping him again. “How can you kiss that freak?!”, she asked.
“Wow, calm down, Michelle! We’re not together anymore, so I do what I want with WHO I want!”, he shouted back.
“I think we need to talk, Brian.”, the blonde stated.
“There’s nothing to talk about.”, he retorted harshly.
“BRIAN! YOU’RE COMING WITH ME OUTSIDE OR…..OR…”, she started to yell in her high pitchy voice.
Brian winced, and decided to do as she did. It was the best thing to do, for his ears’ safe. “Okay, okay let’s go outside.”

Chelsey’s POV

She felt more than confused. Like she didn’t understand a single thing around her. Brian and…the blonde called Michelle were already gone.
Who was that girl? Why was she yelling like that?
She started to think about Brian’s kiss. Why did she let that happen? She felt really guilty about that. She was conscious that Zack would be probably looking at her, so she took her head in the palm of her hand, trying to hide her ashamed face.

Zack’s POV

Chelsey looked so lost, so desperate. He wanted to go to talk to her. She was probably sad about Brian leaving with Michelle. He had to go tell her that Brian wasn’t worth it. But he was really afraid. What if she told him to leave her alone or something like that? Zack sighed, and remembered Val telling him not to be passive. He took a deep breath and headed to the bar.

Normal POV

“Hey…”, Zack said softly.

Chelsey shivered when she heard that voice. His voice. She didn’t want to look at him. But she felt a hesitant arm around her shoulders. She raised her head and looked at Zack.

“He…He’s just an ass…”, Zack stated.

Chelsey looked at him confused. “I mean Brian… He left you alone here just after…you know”, he explained.
Chelsey could feel jealousy in Zack’s tone. She blushed.

“That’s not a big deal…”, she responded.

It was Zack’s turn to be confused. He frowned and looked at her questioningly.
“I shouldn’t have let him…kiss me. It was a mistake…”, she explained.

“Why do you think that?”, Zack wanted to know.

Chelsey took a breath. “Because to be true I don’t care about him.”, she replied.

She looked in Zack’s eyes, and she only found confusion in them. “But…you stayed with him all this time, and…well…I saw you smile at him and everything…I thought that…”, he stopped, hoping that she would explain to him more clearly.
“I know… I don’t know why though. He was nice with me, and I can understand why now”, she rolled her eyes. “It was unusual for him to be just…like this with me, and I guess that’s why I didn’t tell him to fuck off.”. She chuckled. Zack nodded.

An awkward silence felt between the two of them.
Zack felt quite relieved by Chelsey’s explanations. A smile came to his face, and Chelsey noticed it.

“Why are you smiling?”, she asked softly.

Zack placed his hand on the back of his neck. “Hmmm, because I know you’re not sad that Brian left…”, he almost lied.
“Why does that make you smile?”, she frowned.
“Huh…Because…I don’t want you to be sad…”.

The conversation was very awkward, but Chelsey felt more at ease with Zack than she was with Brian. “Thanks”, was her simple response.

Zacky wanted to slap himself. She must think that he was an annoying boy. That’s it, she must start to feel bored. He sighed discretely. He wanted to tell her what she meant to him, but he didn’t know how to do it, or how to bring the subject in the conversation.

“It’s pretty hot here... I think that I’ll go outside to get some fresh air.”, she said.

Zacky saw her left toward the doors. Fuck!, he thought, before following her.

Chelsey opened the door and let the cold wind hit her face. It was a pleasant feeling. The street was silent, until she heard the door open again.

“Zack?”, she said surprised.

The raven-haired male smiled. “I needed fresh air too…”, he lied, and Chelsey nodded.

Chelsey was a bit disappointed because she needed to be alone for a while, but she wouldn’t complain because now she was totally alone with Zack.
The said Zack seemed to be in an internal conflict. He closed his eyes a few second, before opening them again.

“You know…I feel really bad for the times where the guys or me used to do things to annoy you…”, he started.
Chelsey smiled. “I already told you my opinion about that.”, she simply replied.
“Yeah, but I want you to know that I completely changed my mind about all this, …about you.”.
The dark-haired girl could feel her heart beat fast. She turned to face him. She looked at him in the eyes, encouraging him to continue.
“I realized that you weren’t the nerd we thought you were. You’re different.”.
Chelsey rolled her eyes. “Well I guess you guys decided to grow up a little. But that’s a good thing. It was a big change to see Jimmy, Matt, and Brian not being jerks toward me..”, she said looking at the sky.
Zack took a few seconds to understand what she had just said. Matt, Brian and Jim? Nice with her?... Well, that’s maybe they knew about his feelings for her. Well, maybe in Brian’s case, it was for others reasons, Zack thought.
“You remember when I walked you home?”, he asked.
Chelsey nodded. “Do…Do you still think I’m a bad guy?”, he asked again.
Chelsey bit her lip. “You can be very sweet sometimes, but changed into a total asshole in a few minutes..”, she responded quickly.
Zack looked at his feet. “I don’t want you to think that anymore.”, he stated.
Chelsey frowned and looked at him. What the hell was that supposed to mean? “I-I don’t understand…”.
Zack came closer to her, and looked deeply in her eyes. He has to do it. He couldn’t believe that it was happening just right now, but it was now…or probably never.
“When I’m with you, and I mean alone with you, I can’t help but look at you or try not to hurt you. Sometimes I said harsh thing though, but it’s only because I was afraid of what my friends could think about you. Well I already knew their opinion about you and I didn’t want them to make fun of me because I cared about you. It’s heartbreaking to know that things I said, or did, caused some pain to you. I would like to take it back, but I can’t. All I can is to tell that I’m sorry, and that it won’t happen again…”.
Chelsey was a bit astonished by Zack’s words. But something came to her mind. “How can you be sure that it won’t happen again?”, she questioned.
“Because I discovered that my friends changed their mind about you…because they know how I feel about you.”. He said the last part very quickly.
“How do you feel about me?”, she asked. She could see stress and hesitation in the male’s eyes.
“I haven’t a word to put on that. But all I know is that I want to see you smile, to see you happy to live. I want this fear you seem to feel when I talk to you to disappear. I want you to trust me. I want you to believe that every time I see you my heart goes crazy, and my mind starts to imagine that I could be with you, without shame or without fear. I want to be there for you every time you need me. I want you to believe that I’m not as bad as you think I am. I…I think I like you Chels.”
Zack’s words replayed again and again in Chelsey’s mind. Chels. He called her Chels. It was the first time.
She almost couldn’t believe what she just heard. A part of her was still suspicious. Who could blame her after all? Zachary Baker had been a nightmare for her for the past three years. But a part of her wanted to trust him, because she wanted it at least as much as him.
She realized that she hadn’t say anything to Zack. The said man looked very anxious. He was starting to think that he shouldn’t have opened his mind and his heart like this. He waited for her to say something, but nothing came. He closed his eyes to hold back the tears that threatened to fall, and started to turn back. He needed something to drink. Right now.

“Zack!”, Chelsey called him back.
He turned to look at her, and before he could understand what happened to him, Chelsey had both her arms around his neck. She rested her head on his shoulder and hugged him tightly. Zack’s arms went hesitantly to her waist. He breathed the scent of her hair. Unsure, he kissed her cheek. She smiled. She pulled away to look at him in the eyes.
“Maybe I’m crazy, Zack, but…I think I can give it a try. I don’t know if it will work or not, but the only way to know it, is to try it. And…I think I like you too.”, she said looking at her hands.
Zack placed a finger under her chin, in order to make her look at him. They looked at each other for what felt like hours. Zack smiled to her, and so she did. He cupped her face softly, and slowly leaned to kiss her.
Chelsey wasn’t shy or reluctant like she was when Brian kissed her. Now she wanted to show him how much she cared about him. She caressed his cheek with her thumbs, and kissed him back. Zack smiled through the kiss.
It was a soft passionate kiss. It has nothing to deal with lust – well, just a little. It was a sweet intimate moment.
They didn’t want it to end, but they soon needed some air. Zack rested his forehead against hers and smiled.
“Chelsey?”, he asked out of breath.
“Yeah?”, she responded on an equal tone.
“Be my girlfriend?”, he asked smiling brightly.
They both laughed, and Chelsey whispered a soft “yes” in his ear.

They decided that it was time to go back home. Zack borrowed Matt’s car. The drive to Chelsey’s home was calm and silent. It wasn’t an awkward silence. It was a comfortable one.
Zack stopped in front of her house. He took her hand in his and brought it to his mouth. He placed a soft kiss on her hand, before releasing it. Chelsey blushed. Zack could be really cute sometimes.
After another sweet kiss, Chelsey exited the car, and headed for her house. But she ran back to the car, and opened Zack’s door.

“Goodnight, bad boy!”, she winked. Zack chuckled. “Goodnight, princess.”, he said back.

On his way home, Zack’s smile didn’t leave his face. Tomorrow he had to tell his friends about his girlfriend, but he wasn’t afraid of that. Anymore.