Our Ghost Adventures

“Bagans!” I called as I walked through the door of his house. I was going to murder him! He was so dead! “Zachary-I don’t know your middle name-Bagans! Get your ass out here n-”

“Oh hello, I haven’t met you before,” I froze in absolute horror. There was some strange woman standing in Zak’s kitchen with dark brown hair and the same color eyes as him.

“Um…” I looked around awkwardly.

“Oh hey! Adri’s back!” Aaron said, walking into the kitchen area with a huge grin. “Zak, c’mon!”

“What’s going on here?” I asked, feeling really awkward. I had only left for two hours!

“Hi, I’m Stephanie,” the dark haired woman introduced. She looked to be my age, but I couldn’t be sure.

“Adrina,” I said. She smiled at me. She was very tall and thin, I felt short standing next to her and I was 5’7”!

“Oh, you’re Adrina? It’s so nice to meet you!” She held her hand out for me to shake. I shook it and noticed that she had a ring on her left hand.

“I am, is there something significant about that?” I asked, my eyebrows raised in confusion.

“Oh no, nothing at all.”

“Adrina!” Zak exclaimed coming from somewhere in the house. I hadn’t anticipated it, but he wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug. “I see you’ve met my younger sister, Stephanie.”

“Oh! You’re Zak’s sister!” I exclaimed in realization. I had almost forgotten that I was off the ground because Zak was still hugging me. “Um, Zak, hon, can you put me down, now?” I asked awkwardly.

“Sorry!” he exclaimed.

“It’s okay…Wait! I’m made at you!” I hit his solid chest. “I can’t believe you!”

“What did I do?” he asked.

“I don’t need your money, no matter how many times I tell you. I know that you put money in my freaking purse! I have money! Just because I haven’t gotten any payment from Travel doesn’t mean you have to give me money!”

“Adri, the only reason you had to go shopping is because of me!”

“Zak!”

“Oh man, you two fight like a married couple,” Stephanie laughed.

“Shut up Steph,” Zak said.

“They really do, don’t they?” Aaron asked.

“Shut up Aaron,” I said. “Take your money back, Zak.”

“No. It’s yours now.”

“No.” I dug the money out of my pocket and set it on the counter. “You already won’t let you give you any money for letting me stay here and you won’t let me stay at a hotel.”

“Of course not, you’re family. Which is why Steph is staying here too,” he said, his tone soft.

“Don’t forget about Jeff and Jez,” Stephanie said, working on something on the stove.

“That’s her husband and her daughter,” Zak clarified.

“Yeah, they’re upstairs sleeping. So Zak, when are you going to get married and have children?”

***Zak’s POV***

That was the thing I hated most about Stephanie’s visits. She always hounded me about getting married and having kids. But it wasn’t as easy as she thought it was; especially not in my line of work. Things followed me home and any past girlfriends had trouble dealing with things. I would have to have someone that could handle the paranormal stuff.

“Steph, I’ve told you before. It’ll happen when I meet the right girl.”

“Well when’s that gonna happen? Mom wants more grandkids!” I shook my head at her.

“So you give them to her!”

“But you’re the oldest!”

***Adrina’s POV***

One thing that I did like about Zak’s house was the back patio. I didn’t know what it was but I loved to sit out there with a cup of hot tea. And, apparently I wasn’t the only one. The sliding glass door opened and Zak’s sister walked out.

“Oh hey, I didn’t know you were out here,” she said.

“Well, here I am,” I noticed the mug in her hand. “Coffee?” I pointed to it.

“No, tea.”

“Me too,” I held up my mug and smiled. She smiled right back and sat down in the lawn chair next to me.

“Can you be honest with me about something?” she asked.

“Sure, what is it?”

“Do you like my brother-I mean like dating wise?”

“Why do you ask?” I was afraid what my brain would say if I didn’t take a minute.

“I mean…Well earlier you two fighting-it was cute. You both would make such a good couple and he likes you-I know he does, the way he looked at you was just so sweet!”

“Stephanie, I-you don’t understand. Zak is a great guy and I’ve loved spending time with him, he’s become a great friend, but I don’t know that it’ll be fair to him if we were to ‘date’.”

“What do you mean?”

“I lost my husband five years ago. I don’t know how I’d do in a relationship.”

“I’m so sorry about your husband…”

“I do like Zak though,” I had to admit it.

“Oh you do!?” She smiled so brightly I thought that her cheeks may split. “I think that you two would be so cute, I mean seriously! You should talk to him about it…”

“I don’t know,” I said.

***
I walked into the kitchen area later that evening; Stephanie had gone to bed-in the guest room where I had been staying-he only had one guest room, even though he had three bedrooms. Zak had told me earlier that I could go back to sharing a bed with him. It wasn’t like we hadn’t before. But still, it was going to be odd, especially after my admission of liking Zak. I hadn’t liked anybody since Aidan, I hadn’t even thought about any other guy. Instead of going up to bed, I got on my tiptoes and reached for the bottle of whiskey in his liquor cabinet.

“Here,” I was slightly shocked when I felt someone walk up behind me, and there was a rumble against my shoulder as they spoke. “Shortie.” Zak. I should’ve known. He ruffled my hair and grabbed two shot glasses from the cabinet.

“I thought you went up to bed,” I said, trying to be casual-which was really hard.

“I did. I’m just not tired now.”

“Oh.”

“What about you?”

“I don’t know…I just know that I won’t be able to sleep.” He poured the whiskey in each of the shot glasses and we both drank. Somehow drinking this only made me feel worse. I felt guilty. It was like the fact that I was even looking at Zak was cheating on Aidan! But he wanted me to move on. And, I think that he probably meant a whole lot sooner.

“Look, if you’re not comfortable sleeping in my room, I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“Zak, I’ve slept next to your more times than I can count,” I said with a shrug.

“Still, it’s different here.”

“If you don’t want me up there, I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“No, I’m fine with it; I just wanted to make sure that you were.” I felt his hand come to rest on my back for a moment. I looked over at him and he pulled it back.

“You don’t have to move your hand,” I said, biting my lip. I stepped closer to him and he placed his hand back onto my back in an affectionate way. “So you couldn’t warn me that your sister was coming?”

“I forgot about it…honest. We talked about this at the beginning of the season and then once filming started I completely forgot. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, I’m just saying…It was kind of odd to walk in and find another woman in your kitchen.”

“You don’t like seeing other women in my kitchen?” he asked. Of course that was the only thing he picked out of that! I sighed, but nodded. “And why’s that?”

“I don’t know…” I said, looking away from his deep blue eyes.

“You do know,” he said, closer to my ear. I couldn’t ignore the fact that my knees were going weak when he was so close.

“Clearly you do know why,” I tried. He only leaned closer and wrapped his arm tighter around me.

“Say it.”

“I like you Zak,” I couldn’t not say it. His speech sent shivers down my spine.

“I like you too, Adri,” he said, pressing a kiss to my cheek. Wow! Things changed so quickly! I turned and looked at him. He was giving me one of his deep stares. I couldn’t turn away and that’s when he drew me in. He pulled my face closer to his and pressed a kiss to my lips. He held me there with his hand on the side of my face. I couldn’t do anything but kiss him back. It was as if I were on a cloud. I deepened the kiss by wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him closer to me.

“Wow…” was all I could say.