Seize the Day

Weeks had passed since my first day on the job, and I worked there pretty regularly and earned quite a good deal of money. I was able to work a lot of hours because it just so happened that we were on an extensive winter vacation for Christmas and New Years.

Zacky's mother, at first, would not accept any sort of monitorial contributions for letting me stay, but after seeing how stubborn I was about it she finally caved in.

The girl Matt had broken up with Casey over was now pretty much part of the group. Her name was Val and she was a senior like the rest of us. She and I got along great, both of us being thankful that we had each other to confide in about... well... girl stuff.

"Zacky!" I called out from the bathroom. I heard him get up from the couch and he appeared in the doorway.

"Yes my love?" he asked with a goofy little smile on his face. I laughed as I looked at myself in the mirror.

"Baby, do you know how to dye hair?" I asked as I looked back at my reflection.

"Yeah, why?" he asked.

"Well duh. I want to dye my hair but I don't know how. So you're going to do it for me," I said, turning to smile cheekily at him.

"Oh really? And what if I told you I wouldn't do it?" he asked.

"Why are you trying to kid? You love me too much not to," I joked playfully.

"...Okay... so you got me on that one. You wanna do it now?" he asked as he leaned against the doorframe.

"Yeah. Let me go get some money real quick," I replied, and then went into Zacky's room to grab my wallet.

We went downtown to the pharmacy and strolled along the aisle looking at different hair dyes.

"Wait, do you want permanent or temporary?" Zacky asked.

"....Does it matter?" I asked dumbly, cocking my head to the side. Zacky chuckled at my stupidity.

"Yes it matters. If you go permanent it stays that color until your hair grows out. It takes forever. Temporary is the stuff that washes out in like a month," he explained. I really felt like a moron for not knowing that. But hey, I'm not an expert with hair dye, mk?

"Uh... I'll just do temporary. In case it turns out bad or something..." I said. Zacky nodded and dragged me a little farther down the aisle to where I was assuming the temporary dye was. He then got down so he was crouching. I smiled, he looked so friggen cute...

"Natural or... unnatural?" he asked.

"For what?" I asked back, snapping out of my little daze.

"For the color," he said, smiling up at me. I blushed against at my stupidity.

"Um... natural. I'm going for a like, dark brown," I said, and I watched as he side-stepped in his little crouching position. He motioned for me to get down there next to him so I did. And picking would be a little harder than I thought. There were about a million different shades of dark brown. After a couple minutes of close scrutiny, I picked a color called Hazelnut. It was pretty much the color I had in mind from the start anyways.

So, we paid for the hair dye and made our way back to Zacky's house. He ushered me into the bathroom.

"Get your hair wet and then dry it a little with a towel while I mix the stuff," he instructed. I did as told and by the time I was ready, so was he. He'd also gone and gotten one of the stools from the kitchen and had placed it in the bathroom. I sat down on it, my back to Zacky, and he got started on getting the dye mix in my hair. After a couple minutes he got it all in, and we had to sit there and wait. Which I wasn't good at.

"If your skin starts burning, let me know okay?" Zacky asked as he sat up on the counter next to the sink.

"You're gonna sit in here for the next 10 minutes and do nothing?" I asked as I watched him just sit there.

"Sure am," he smiled down at me. I stood up and positioned myself so I was standing between his legs. I rested my hands on his thighs as I looked up at him. Neither of us could wipe the smiles off our faces. I looked back down to his thighs as just looked at my hands, sometimes running my fingers in delicate patterns or crazy designs. I just liked to run my hands down them and feel the muscles. I laughed to myself and looked up at Zacky, who was looking down at me contentedly with his hands resting on the counter.

"You know what?" I asked.

"Hm?"

"I just realized... that I have this crazy fetish with your thighs," I finished with a goofy smile on my face. He smiled, and leaned down to gently kiss my lips.

The rest of the 10 minutes finished up, and Zacky had me wash out all the dye in the tub. I finished rinsing it out and grabbed a towel to dry it out a bit. I stood up and pulled the towel away from my hair. I combed my fingers through it as I turned to Zacky whose eyes were wide.

"...What?" I asked casually.

"Um... its uh... purple..." he said. My eyes practically bulged out of their sockets.

"WHAT!?" I yelled. "Zacky, don't even kid around. That's not funny," I said sternly.

"I swear I'm not kidding babe. It looks purple," he replied; his expression never changing. He was serious. I hurried over to the mirror, and my hand shot to my mouth.

"Oh my God," I whispered. My hair was indeed a very deep shade of purple. "May--Maybe if I dry it, it'll look normal," I said quietly. Zacky nodded and left the bathroom before I started blow drying my hair. I finished a couple minutes later. I was right, thank God. I guess it just looked purple when wet.

"Zacky!" I called out to him, much like I had before we'd left the house. He came walking into
the bathroom.

"Do you see any purple?" I asked.

"Well... kinda. It still looks like its got this purplish tint, but for the most part yeah, its gone," he said.

"Oh... well, is whatever purple you see a good or bad thing?" I asked.

"Good thing. Purple is sexy," he grinned and we went back out into the living room.

I woke with a pounding headache for the fourth day in a row. Groaning, I carefully picked myself up from the bed and trudged to the bathroom, finding the Advil in the cabinet and taking three. Sure, I'm only supposed to take two, but this headache crap really needed to stop. I never got headaches. Ever. Unless I was really really sick, and I definitely wasn't sick this time. I slowly went back to Zacky's room and crawled back under the covers, trying to get some more sleep. That was another thing I didn't understand. It seemed as soon as I started getting these headaches, I was getting less and less sleep. Whatever it was that I was coming down with had better not be staying for long.

"Hey... Kimmy. Baby, wake up."

I opened my eyes to see Zacky sitting on the edge of the bed next to me. I propped myself up on my elbows and yawned.

"You okay?" he asked me, looking concerned.

"Yeah Zacky. I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" I asked.

"Well, you've been sleeping all day. Its already almost 6 in the evening," he explained. I furrowed my eyebrows together and looked at the clock on the nightstand. Sure enough, it was 5:50 pm.

Things were getting weird. I went from not being able to sleep enough, to sleeping too much. At least the headache I woke up with earlier was gone.

I sat up fully and stretched my legs out in front of me. "How come you didn't wake me up sooner?" I asked through another yawn.

"...Dunno. Just figured you were tired and wanted to sleep in. You sure you're okay?" he asked again, placing a hand on my forehead.

"Yeah. I guess I was making up for all the sleep I haven't been getting lately," I replied.

"Oh. Well are you hungry? We're all getting ready to sit down for dinner."
I nodded slowly, and Zacky got up from the bed. He went to his dresser and got out one of his shirts.

"Here, put this on," he said and threw it to me. I had been sleeping in just a bra and a pair of pajama bottoms, so I pulled his shirt on and followed him out of the room.We sat down at the table with the rest of the family and started eating.

"Are you feeling okay Kim?" Mr. Baker asked me with the same curious look that Zacky had given when he asked me earlier.

"Yeah... you do look awfully pale sweetie," Mrs. Baker added.

"Yeah. Maybe I'm just getting a cold or the flu or something. I haven't been sick in awhile so its probably about time I was," I said as I played with the food on the plate with my fork.

"Oh well that's not good. There's only a couple days left before winter vacation is over and you kids go back to school. Hopefully it clears up before then," his mother sympathized.

I just nodded my head, keeping my eyes lowered to my plate. I ate a couple bites and just didn't feel hungry after awhile.

"I... I think I'm gonna go lay down again. My headache is starting to come back," I said quietly, and got up from the table.

"Alright sweetie. If you need anything just let us know," he mother said. She was always so nice; I loved it. I nodded in reply, kissed Zacky on the cheek, and walked into the bathroom. I took three more Advils, and did my business.

I was late. It happens. Its done it to me on more than one occasion. Maybe that was why I was a bit off lately.

I shrugged it off, and went into Zacky's room, falling instantly to sleep.

I sat there eating after Kimmy left the room.

"Zack, are you sure she's okay?" my mother asked.

"Yeah I guess. If there is something wrong, she's not telling me. And I think she'd tell me if there was something wrong..."

"You don't think she could be.... pregnant... do you?" my dad asked. My eyes opened wide as I choked on my drink.

"What?! No way. Of course she's not. We haven't even... done that yet..." I lied. They all looked at me like I was stupid.

"Oh come on son, do you think we're that stupid?" Dad asked.

"Alright, alright. So we did," I confessed.

"....How many times?" my mom asked, looking at me with a cocked eyebrow.

"Ew... mom, no. Doesn't matter," I shuddered.

"Zack."

"Ugh... I don't know... uh..." I said, thinking in my head. "At least ten," I finished, feeling my face get hot. I hated interrogations about my sex life.

"And did you use a co-"

"Yes mother. Every time. We were careful. Therefore, she just can't be," I interrupted, trying to end the conversation as quickly as possible.

"Maybe you should suggest that to her and see what she says..." my dad said.

"Alright, okay. Can we possibly get off this subject now?" I asked hastily. The rest of the meal was silent.

I woke up to the feeling of feather light kisses being placed along my jawbone. I opened my eyes slowly as the kissing moved to my neck and looked over at the clock. It was only a little after 11, so it was completely dark in the room.

I felt Zacky's hands try and pull my shirt over my head, but I groaned and put my hands over his.

"Stop it Zacky," I mumbled at him.

"Come on baby..." he whined as he kissed at my neck again.

"Nooo... I don't feel good right now," I said back, closing my eyes again.

"I know, which is why we should. It'll make you feel better, I promise," he whispered in my ear.

I practically growled at him, pulling his hands off me. "I said I didn't want to Zacky, goddamn it!" I yelled. He sighed.

"Fine," he said, and moved to his side of the bed. I rolled onto my side away from him, but didn't close my eyes. I felt bad at yelling at him now.

"My parents want to know if you think you're pregnant," he blurted out all at once.

I shot up in the bed. "Huh? I'm not pregnant," I said shakily, the thought of it finally registering. Maybe I was...

"You sure?"

"Yeah... I just finished my period two days ago... So I'm not," I lied.

"Oh... alright," he said before shutting up and going to sleep.

The next morning was Sunday. And I had a headache. Again. For the millionth time. I got up and went to the bathroom in search of the Advil. It wasn't there. I groaned and walked back to Zacky's room.

"Zacky..." I whined, shaking him.

"Hmm?" he mumbled into the pillow.

"Where's the Advil? Its not in the bathroom...." I mumbled.

"....Go check Matt's room. Maybe he took it," he mumbled in reply before falling back asleep. I sighed and walked over to Matt's door. It was shut, and I figured it was early enough in the morning that he'd be asleep and wouldn't even know I was there. But... I was wrong.

I quietly opened the door and looked toward the bed.

"Oh my God!" I shouted. My eyes were practically bulging out of my head. For there on the bed, were Matt and Johnny. Making out.

Zacky was soon standing at my side, laughing hysterically. Both boys were gawking at us, mouths wide open. Then they looked at each other, and Johnny practically flew across the room as they both screamed.

"What the hell is going on?" Zacky asked as he was finally able to stop laughing so hard. They both just stayed where they were, on opposite sides of the room, and didn't answer.

I sniffed at the air. "HAHA! You guys are high! Oh my God, that's rich," I laughed, and Zacky and I left the room and sat on his bed.

"Oh jeez. You don't think they're really... gay do you?" I asked amidst my laughter.

"Naw. They're baked, they probably didn't realize what was going on til you screamed. Cuz yeah, that happened to me once, and I'm not gay," Zacky said back.

"You made out with a guy?! WHO!?" I asked.

He blushed. "Brian. It was just me and him at his house. We were so out of it though..." he laughed.

"Dude, that would be so hot. I'd pay to see that shit..." I said, looking at the wall, daydreaming. Then it got real quiet.

My mind had wandered back to last night.

"Zacky, I'm sorry I yelled at you last night. I just really didn't feel good at all..." I apologized, looking down at my lap.

"Naw, I'm sorry I got pissed that you said no. I deserved it," he replied quietly. Then another thought struck my mind.

"I'm, I'm gonna get ready. There's some things I... gotta go do," I said vaguely.

"Alright. I'm gonna go back to sleep anyways."

"Ok. I'll see you later," I said, kissing him quickly, and getting into the bathroom. I got ready, grabbed some money, and started to walk. To the Drug Store.

School had started up again. I was a wreck. Literally. Zacky was constantly asking if I was alright, and I hated lying to him. I was so overwhelmed. I couldn't believe it had happened.

I sat quietly at the lunch table, looking off at the wall. I felt a hand touch my arm, and turned my head to see Val sitting next to me.

"You feeling alright hun?" she asked, looking worried.

"Uh yeah. I'm just... sick," I lied. She looked at me a little while longer. I felt like she could read my eyes; like she could tell what was really going on. After a couple her seconds her gaze softened and she gave me a half smile - one of sympathy - before turning away. I think she knew...

I couldn't take it. I hated lying to all my friends. But I just couldn't tell them this. I couldn't tell them that I was pregnant.