The Art of Subconscious Illusion

Chapter Eleven.

The barbecue was going fantastic, His family treated me like I was their own flesh and blood. Never had I felt so...welcomed. They questioned me about what I was going for in college and what I wanted to do in life and unlike my family...they didn’t put me down for doing something that I loved to do. They also continuously teased Zacky, to the point he was almost pouting, but he laughed it off easily. It was nice to get out of the limelight and just observe him, watching how he interacted with his family.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Zacky’s Aunt Carol saying something about a group picture.

“I can take it so no one is left out.” I offered, holding my hand out for the camera and she shook her head.

“No we have a stand, don’t want to leave you out.” She grinned and made our way to a beautiful grove of weeping willows, having the children in the front, then the teenagers, and then the adults. Zacky stood on the opposite side of me as I stood between him and his sister, while his aunt worked on setting up the camera on the stand.

“I really didn’t know they would do this…” Zacky whispered to me and I just let my hair fall in my face, watching as he moved my hair behind my ear and caused me to blush. “Don’t want it to be like that in the picture.” I nodded, as his aunt finished setting up and clicked the button, telling us to get ready. We stood there and at the very last moment, Zacky slipped his hand into mine and my eyes widened.

The camera flashed a few times and by the second or third, I had chosen to not look like I was scared out of my mind. We were getting so close to one another that it was strange to even think about, but only bad things could come of this. While everyone was crowded around the camera, looking at the picture, Zacky pulled me up to the house and into a room away from the others.

“Zacky, what the he…” I was interrupted by him bringing me against him and kissing me deeply, which caused me to freeze. What wa...my body decided to respond, running my hand through his hair and tangling them within. He pushed me against the wall, causing me to gasp and allowing him the chance to force his tongue in my mouth and we began to battle for dominance.

I pushed him back towards the bed, his legs hitting the edge of it and he fell backwards, pulling me along with him. Straddling his waist, he pulled me down to kiss him once again and running his hand up and down my back. I pulled away, beginning to pull his shirt off and his eyes widened in shock. Kissing down his chest, I made my way down towards the beginning of his pants, moving my fingers to unbutton them. He stopped me though, causing me to look up at him in shock and I sat up.

“That’s not why I brought you in here Lucy…” He whispered, sitting up against the wall as he looked into my eyes.

“Why did you bring me here, Zacky?” I asked, feeling my anger heat up as I got off from straddling his waist and sitting on the edge of the bed.

“I wanted them to meet you...you to meet them.” He explained, coming over and putting an arm on my shoulder and I shrugged him off.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” I glanced at him over my shoulder, glaring at him in hopes that he would be frightened into telling me the truth.

“Because I care about you, because I need you in my life...is that so damn hard to imagine?” He asked quietly and I rolled my eyes. “Don’t roll your eyes at me Susan.”

“Don’t call me Susan.”

“Don’t roll your eyes at me.”

“You are such an ass!” I exclaimed, standing up and turning to look at him. “Why the hell do you do this to me? You have never thought of me since the last time we saw one another in school and here you are two years later trying to fix that!”

“You are so wrong Susan...all I have ever done is think about you, from the first day I saw you to that moment I realized who you were at the concert. I could never get you off my mind since high school, you have haunted my every waking thought and Gena barely could help that. I love you Susan!” He poured his heart out to me and I felt tears stinging my eyes. He couldn’t love me. He didn’t even know me.

“I want to go home…” I whispered, tears beginning to fall and he put his shirt back on.

“Alright, we can do that then…” He stated, standing up and running a hand through his hair, biting his lip. I shook my head, fidgeting with my lip rings as I turned my back to him.

“No, I meant back to my home.”

“Susa…” He started and I held up my hand, glaring at him.

“Don’t call me that and I’ve made up my mind, my Spring Break here is over with.” I stated, before walking downstairs and into the bathroom, washing my face to calm down. I heard him come downstairs, walking past the door and begin talking with some of his family. I came out of the bathroom and said goodbye to his wonderful family, telling them thank you for everything and they told me to come back any time. We made our way to his car, awkward silence falling between us and he drove back.

The ride came to a sudden halt when he parked in his driveway, turned off the car and we got out, slamming the door. The others still weren’t back and it would just be he and I for the time being, He left the room, slamming the door to the bathroom and I sat down on the couch as Ichabod came to sit in my lap. Thirty minutes passed, the bathroom was silent and I began to worry. I got up, going over and knocking on the door, without a single reply.

“Zacky...you ok in there?” I asked, not hearing a reply and I tried the door, which was locked. “Zacky, open the door…”

There was a crash and a body hitting the floor, which caused me to go into a full blown panic. The front door opened, hearing everyone laughing and enjoying themselves. I made my way into the living room, tears streaming down my face.

“Lucy…” Mel stopped in her tracks. “What’s wrong…?”

“Zacky...bathroom...locked...crash…” I breathed out through sobs, Matt moved past me and tried what I had already did before literally Sparta kicking the door down.

“Oh Jesus Christ!” Matt’s voice came and we all made our way to the bathroom, finding him laying on the floor and completely motionless. “Don’t stand there, call the fucking ambulance!”

Zacky can’t die, he can’t die...oh god, this is all my fault!