Seize the Day

I awoke the next morning to bright light. Bright light that certainly didn't help the pain in my head. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, and slowly sat up. I had been laying on the front seat (which was a bench seat), and when I turned to look in the back, I saw Matt and Casey asleep on the backseat.

I turned and put my feet on the floor, and heard a low moan. I realized that my feet had actually collided with something solid that was not the floor. I looked down, and saw Zack lying on the floor. He rolled onto his back and squinted up at me.

"Zack, what are you doing on the floor?" I whispered down to him.

"Sleeping," he groaned. "Why the hell did you kick me?" he asked, rubbing his face.

"I didn't see you... I'm sorry. Get up here," I said, moving so he could get up in the seat. He sat up and rested his head back. I looked over at the clock, which read 10:37 a.m. Then I remembered it was Monday, and we were late for school.

"Fuck!" I said loudly.

"Don't be so loud..." Zack groaned as Matt and Casey stirred in the back seat.

"What about school!?" I whispered.

"We aren't going..." Zack said, leaning forward and resting his head on the steering wheel.

"...So... what are we gonna do?" I asked.

"Well, nothing right now. I'm not driving until I feel a whole lot better," he mumbled. "Get in the glove box for me," he said quietly. I did as he said, but didn't know what I should be looking for. Until I found the small bottle of aspirin. I got out four little white pills and handed two to Zack.

"Do you have any water in here?" I asked, not really wanting to dry swallow the pills.

"Yeah, its on the floor back there..." he replied. I turned around and reached over the seat, feeling around the floor for the bottle til I found it. I took a sip, popping the pills, and then handed it over to Zack who did the same.

"You see one of those little pink ones?" Zack asked, indicating the bottle of aspirin. I looked in the bottle, where there were a bunch of white pills, and a few pink ones as well.

"Yeah... what are they?" I asked.

"Just give me one... It'll knock me out for a few hours," he said, holding out his hand. I gave him one of those little pink pills, and he swallowed it. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

"Hey," I whispered. He picked his head up and looked at me. "Lay down," I said, patting my lap. He nodded before moving to the middle of the seat and laying his head in my lap. I reached over and turned the radio on low, and began to stroke his hair. Within about twenty minutes, Zack was asleep.

Quite some time later, as I was still sitting there with Zack's head in my lap, I could feel sleep starting to take over my body. I closed my eyes, still running my fingers through Zack's hair.

"Hey," I heard a voice next to my ear. I jumped slightly, not expecting it, and then quickly looked down to see if I had woken Zack.

"Don't worry... he's a heavy sleeper," I heard Matt's voice again. I turned to look at him, waiting for my heartbeat to return to normal again.

"Jesus Matt! You scared the shit outta me!" I whispered as I looked back at him and Casey.

By now it was almost noon, and I was getting really hungry. My headache was slowly starting to lift from my brain, but was still very much there.

"When do you think he'll wake up?" I asked as I looked back down at Zack.

"Um... probably not for a while. He could sleep for days if given the chance," Casey said quietly, laying her head on Matt's shoulder.

"Not with all this noise..." Zack mumbled from my lap. He sat back up and looked at the clock. He rubbed his eyes before starting the car.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"My house. I need food," Zack replied. He pulled from the parking lot, and started down the street. He stayed in parts of the city that I wasn't familiar with.

"Hey... drop us off at my place," Matt said from the back seat. Zack nodded, turning down another street. He pulled up to a small, but nice-looking house.

"See ya later Zacky. Bye Kim," Casey said as she and Matt got out of the car and walked into the house.

"So are you going home... or do you wanna come with me?" Zack asked.

"Umm... your house I guess. I wanna see where you live," I said with a smile. He drove down a few more streets, until he pulled into a driveway. It was a one-story house; a double-wide trailer.

Zack cleared his throat. "Its not big... buts it does the job," he said as he turned the car off. We got out, and walked up to the house. He unlocked the door and we went inside. The first room was a dining room type area, with a living room in with it. The first thing that caught my attention was the fireplace right next to the armchair.

"Oh my God..." I said quietly.

"What? Something wrong?" he asked nervously.

"No. You ... you have a fireplace!" I said.

"... Is that bad?" he asked.

"No! I love fireplaces! I wish I had one at my house, but I don't."

"Oh. Well, how about I give you the grand tour?" Zack asked from behind me.

"Okay, lets go," I smiled.

"Well, this is our living room dining room combo... if that wasn't obvious enough," he said before walking to his left, through a large doorframe (there was no door). "And this is a... well.. sort of storage room... I dunno, its under my parents' control," he said. He walked through that room, in through the door on the other side. "And this is my parents' room. They have a bathroom, which is back there." he said, pointing to another door. He then led me back into the 'storage room' which had another door-less entry adjacent to the door we came out of. This brought us to the kitchen. "And this... is the Kitchen obviously." (The living room, dining room, and kitchen were like one big 'L' shaped room of sorts). "And now we're back in the living room. And down here..." Zack said, walking into this small hall-way type space, and then turned left. "... is the bathroom..." He then turned to the right, across from the bathroom. "And this is my brother Matt's room."

I then heard scratching and whining coming from the closed door right in front of us. I looked over at Zack skeptically.

"Ohhh... that would be my dog... trapped in my room," he said, before opening his bedroom door. A dog came bolting our, jumping at Zack. It was a Rottweiler, and it didn't seem to be very old, since it was not completely full grown.

Zack got down, kneeling in front of the dog. "Hey buddy!" he said, petting the dog. He picked him up, and turned to me. "This is my boy, Ichabod," he stated, proudly.

I couldn't help but chuckle. "Ichabod?"

"Yeah... Hey, Ichabod is a cool name," he said, defending his choice in dog-naming.

"Awww... I think he's cute," I said, scratching the dog behind his ears. He put the dog down, walking into his room. I followed.

"And yeah.. this is my room," he said. He looked to his bed. "What're you doing in here?" he asked. I looked down at the bed, and saw a fat, grey Tabby cat laying in the bed.

"That's my mom's cat, Jax. He's huge..." he said.

I walked over and sat on the bed. It sunk in when I sat, and was really comfortable.

"Ohhh... I could sleep in this bed..." I said, laying down and petting Jax.

"So yeah... that's the tour," Zack said, sitting down next to me on the bed. Ichabod jumped up onto the bed, and came over, sniffing and me.

"Hey Icky," I said, giving him a nickname.

"Icky?" Zack questioned.

"Yeah... short for Ichabod," I smiled as Ichabod laid down across my stomach. I started petting him.

"Well, I gotta go take a shower. So you can stay in here, or go get food, or go watch TV or something," Zack said, as he got up and walked out of the room. I heard the bathroom door shut, and the shower turn on. I stayed on his bed, petting Ichabod and Jax, who I found were both very friendly. I grabbed a pillow, and put it under my head. It smelled like what I was presuming was Zack, and I liked it. And then I remembered the night before, and I remembered it all vividly. And then I wondered if Zack still remembered.

Then I heard the water shut off, and Zack walked in wearing a towel around his waist, and with water dripping from his body. He stopped when he saw me still laying there.
"Umm... I didn't think you'd still be in here," he said shyly.

"Its alright. I'll shut my eyes," I smiled, before shutting them. I heard him moving around and opening drawers, before I felt a damp towel land on my face.

Oh God... He's not naked... is he?!

I couldn't help what I did next. I pulled the towel from my face and peeked my eyes open. He was standing with his back to me, wearing a pair of boxers. I opened my eyes all the way, admiring his body. He had a few tattoos on his upper arms, and he was nicely toned, but still a bit pale. I smiled.

He turned around, now wearing pants, but no shirt. "What?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Nothing," I smiled. "Zack.. do you remember last night?"

"Mmhmm.. do you?" he asked, finding a shirt and putting it on.

"Yeah..." I said, still petting Ichabod, who had gotten off me and moved to my side. "Can I take a shower too? I can only imagine how shitty I must look," I said, sitting up.

Zack turned and looked at me. "Yeah... and you only look half shitty," he smiled.

"Oh thanks," I said as I got up, and slapped his ass.

"Hey! Do you have some fetish with touching my ass?" he asked. I blushed.

"Maybe..." I said. He did have a fine ass. I turned and walked quickly into the bathroom. I shut the door, and stripped down, getting under the hot water. I quickly washed myself and got back out. I dried off, and put my clothes back on.

I walked back into Zack's room, where he was now laying on the bed, with his eyes closed. I took the wet towel in my hands and threw it at him. He hastily pulled it off and opened his eyes.

"Damn! I was hoping you would be naked!" he said, looking disappointed.

"Awww.... I'm sorry. Would you like me to be?" I asked, playing with his head.

He nodded. "I'd quite like that," he said with a smirk.

I bit my lip, and lowered my hands to the top of my jeans, where I started manipulating the button. His eyes started to go wide. Then I smirked, and redid my pants.

"Wow. I thought you were serious," Zack said quietly.

"Psh. No," I giggled. I looked at his bedside clock. It read 2:05 p.m. "I'm hungry. Feed me," I whined.

He smiled. "My thoughts exactly," he said before getting up and going out into the kitchen. I sat on the couch, turning on the TV. A couple minutes later, Zack sat down next to me, handing me a bowl of Lucky Charms.

"Oh God... I love this stuff," I said before I started to eat the cereal.

A while later, Zack took me back home. I had to coax Louisa into not telling my parents that I hadn't shown up the night before. But she loved me, so that was pretty easy to do.

It wouldn't be for another week until things really started to go crazy...

My room phone began to ring as I was doing homework Friday night.

"Hello?" I asked, picking it up.

"Hey Kim. Its Brian."

"Oh... what do you want?" I asked, somewhat bitterly. I didn't really know why I treated Brian this way. I guess I thought he deserved it for running his mouth...

"Well, you should come over here right now," he said.

"... And why would I do that?" I asked.

"Because Zack, Matt, and Casey are over here.. and we wanna have some fun," he replied.

"Oh.. I dunno... whenever you say we're doing something fun I kinda start to get scared, Brian," I chuckled.

"Ohhh come on.. I'm serious. It'll be fun," he said, practically begging me.

"Alright... I'll go ask my mom. She undoubtedly won't care cuz she thinks you're a good kid."

"... Are you saying that I'm not a good kid?" he asked, sounding sad.

"... No.... I don't think any of us are good kids," I laughed.

"Whatever Kimmy.. just.. get your ass over here," he said before he hung up.

I hung up and went down to find my mom in the study.

"Mom... Brian wants me to go over to his house, cuz some of our friends are over there.. and they want me there too. So can I go?" I asked my mom as she was working on the computer.

She looked up at me skeptically. "... I thought you hated Brian?" she asked.

"Well, I did. But I guess we kinda hang out now.. so he's not so bad... So can I?" I asked again.

"I suppose...What time are you leaving and when will you be back?" she asked as she went back to typing on the computer.

I looked at the clock, which showed it was almost 8:30. "Like... right now. And I don't know when I'll be home.. I might just crash there," I said, hoping she wouldn't bite my head off or something. But she usually wasn't around enough to really care who I hung out with and what I did.

"I guess. Just behave yourself. I don't want a call from Mrs. Haner telling me you're being a miscreant," she said while she continued her work.

"Alright, thanks mom," I said before grabbing my jacket and putting on my shoes. I walked the extremely short distance to Brian's house, and knocked on the door. Matt answered.

"Wow Matt... you don't even live here and yet you answer the door," I said before stepping inside. He smirked and slapped my ass.

"What the hell?" I asked.

"You deserved it..." he smirked.

"Right... so.. where are they?" I asked curiously.

"Oh.. right. Upstairs," Matt said before leading me up to Brian's room. There they were. Brian, Zack, Casey, and now Matt and I. They were sitting in what seemed a somewhat circular position on the floor, not doing anything.

"Jesus woman! Finally! We were almost about to start without you!" Brian said as I took a seat between Zack and Matt, who sat down as soon as he had entered the room.

"...Start what?" I asked.

Brian smiled, pulling a small baggie from his pocket.

"...You're kidding me..." I said, giving Brian a stern look.

"No. I'm not. None of us are," Brian replied, taking out one of the rolled joints.

"Where the hell did you get that shit?" I asked as he lit one up.

"Ask Zack," he said before taking a puff from the joint. I turned to look at Zack who just gave me a guilty look and shrugged.

"And... why didn't you guys tell me you're potheads?" I asked, slightly disappointed in them.

"Cuz we're not Kimmy," Zack supplied. "Its not like we do this all the time... Just... sometimes... Like now," he told me.

"Oh..." was all I could say as I watched Brian pass the joint off to Matt. He then got up, went to a drawer in his desk, and pulled out a few bottles of alcohol. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Wow. I did not know that being friends with you guys would turn out like this..." I said before standing up, preparing to go home. I felt someone grab my hand to keep me from leaving.

"No.. stay... please?" I turned my head to look down at Zack sitting on the floor, my hand in his. He was almost pleading with his eyes. I sighed.

"Alright... fine," I said before sitting back down in the spot I had previously occupied.

Matt then gave up the joint and passed it front of me to Zack, who took it. I watched him take a hit from it, and exhale the smoke. He did this a few more times before offering it to me.

"I -- I don't know how..." I said lamely.

"I thought you said you've done drugs before?!" asked Matt from beside me.

"Well yeah.... that doesn't mean I smoked pot."

"Well then, what the hell did you do?" he asked.

"Hash cookies. Damn, they were good. Worst cotton mouth ever though," I said with a smile.

"Zack... you teach her," Brian ordered.

"What the hell... how do you teach someone to smoke weed?" Zack asked, bewildered.

"Fuck it... I'll teach her," Casey said, speaking up for the first time since I came over.

She came over to me, took the joint from Zack, and handed it to me.

"Okay... It's not that hard. So... you're gonna suck in, right? Just, not too hard since you've never done this. And then... you breath it out. A fucking retard could do it..." Casey explained. I looked down at the joint, but still didn't do anything.

I felt a nudge in my side from Zack.

Only for you...

I placed the joint to my lips, took a drag, and started coughing like crazy. Matt took the joint from me before I dropped it, while I leaned forward.

"Alright.. so yeah... it takes getting used to," Zack said as he started patting my back while I coughed. I finally got my breathing normal and looked at them.

"How the fuck do you do that?" I asked.

Brian shrugged. "Like Zack said... you get used to it..."

"Well then... How about we give me something I know how to do?" I asked.

"Sorry Kimmy.... I don't think we have any condoms to spare..." Brian teased as he took a sip from the Jack Daniels bottle.

"Oh ha ha ha. You're funny. I meant the alcohol dumbass," I said as I took the bottle from him, taking a swig. It burned going down my throat, but it didn't bother me.

"Hey... give me some of that..." Zack said, and I felt him slip his right arm around my waist. I don't know why, but whenever I first start drinking, I get feeling a little feisty. And having the guy I liked sitting next to me with his arm around me seemed like encouragement.

"Alright..." I said, taking another drink from the bottle, leaving some on my lips. I turned to Zack, who was waiting for the bottle and not expecting what I was about to do. I leaned up to meet his face and kissed him, slipping my tongue into his mouth, which he eagerly replied to. I wasn't sure if it was for the JD or for me, but he did.

"Hey... hey. HEY!" Brian said, trying to catch out attention. We pulled apart, and I looked into his toxic eyes for a second before looking at Brian.

"If you plan on... making out or fucking or whatever it is you're doing... do it somewhere else," he said, giving us a disgusted look.

The time passed, we'd gone through 8 joints -- all that was in the bag -- and I'm pretty sure I had about 1 and a half of them, which might not sound like a lot, but it was for me. I'd drank quite a bit more, and my head felt like it weighed a ton. My legs were on fire, and I was spacing out a lot.

I sat there, lookin' at the blank wall. I barely felt someone shaking me.

"Hey Kimmy?... Kim? You okay?.... YO!" someone shouted from next to me, snapping their fingers in front of my face a few times.

"Huh?" I said lazily, turning my head toward Zacky.

"You alright?" he asked, clearly not as out of it as I was.

"Yeah... I'm... way tired," I said slowly. I tried shutting my eyes to sleep, but I couldn't block out the sounds.

"Brian... dude... help me keep her awake.. I don't think she should sleep right now," I could hear Zack's voice say from far away.

I felt someone grab my shoulders, shaking me. I snapped my eyes open.

"Kim... you gotta stay awake okay?" Brian said in front of my face. I didn't care what he said... I was tired and I wanted to go to sleep. I slowly got up, and tried to go out to the bathroom first. But I fell once I reached the hallway. And it alerted the attention of Brian's parents.

Mrs. Haner walked up the stairs, just in time to see Brian trying to get me up off the floor.

"Brian... what is going on up here? Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Uhhh... nothing Mom. Everything's fine..." he said, not looking his mother in the eyes. His were clearly bloodshot.

"... What is that smell?... Brian, what are you doing in your room?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him. She didn't wait for an answer, but came up closer to us.

"What is wrong?... Brian, you have pot don't you?" she asked.

"N-no! No..." he said.

"Then it's alcohol... something. Brian..." she sighed as she walked past him to his room, walking in. She saw Matt and Zack and Casey with the empty alcohol bottles and the empty baggie on the floor.

"Goddamn it Brian! I thought I brought you up better than that! You know what, I'm not gonna bother tonight! But tomorrow, you better believe there's going to be some punishing," she said sternly before going back downstairs.

"Guys... can I please go to sleep?" I whined, still being held up by Brian.

"Yeah... you can. Zacky, take her to the spare," Brian said, handing me off to Zack, who took me to the spare bedroom.

"Zackyyy... its my fault Brian is in trouble... isn't it?" I asked, slurring heavily.

"No... no Kimmy, it's not. It's ours," he said as he set me in on the bed, with my head in his lap as he leaned against the headboard.

"You just go to sleep now, okay? Don't worry about anything right now..." Zack said quietly as he stroked my hair, and my sight soon faded out...