All I Have to Give

“Okay we have to go do something fun today or I’m gonna go absolutely batshit crazy,” I said when the credits of ‘10 Things I Hate About You’ started rolling. It was a week after I had been released from the hospital and I had basically done nothing but sit on the couch. I was currently stretched out with my feet in Zacky’s lap.

“Dr. Williams said you need to rest for two weeks,” Zacky said and scraped along the bottom of my foot with his fingernail. I squealed and jerked my foot away from him. The bastard knew my feet were extremely ticklish.

“We can at least go rest on the beach,” I whined. I gave him my best puppy dog eyes and a pout.

“Okay fine,” he said with a sigh. I hopped up off the couch and hurried upstairs to change into my bikini. I pulled on a sleeveless swimsuit cover that fell to mid thigh and grabbed my sunglasses off my dresser. I grabbed my beach tote and threw in a couple of beach towels, a blanket, and some sunscreen. I was ready to go within ten minutes.

When I got back down the stairs, Zacky was nowhere to be found. “Hey asshole, hurry up!” I yelled.

“Don’t call me an asshole, bitch!” He said as he walked into the living room.

“Let’s go!” I said excitedly.

Zacky rolled his eyes but followed me outside anyway. I hurried over to his car and climbed into the passenger’s seat, wincing as the skin on my legs came in contact with the hot leather seats.

“Your seats hurt me,” I said with a pout.

“That’s what you get for not wearing actual clothes,” Zacky pointed out.

I flipped him off and turned up the dial on his radio so music filled the car. I bobbed my head to the music as Zacky drove us to the beach. After he pulled into the parking area, I jumped out before the car had even come to a complete stop. I was so excited to finally be out of my apartment.

“You’re fucking crazy,” Zacky said, shaking his head as he climbed out of the car. He opened the back door to grab my bag and then we went to find a spot on the beach.

“This place looks comfy,” I said and took the bag from Zacky. I got out the blanket and spread it over the sand and we both sat down. I pulled out the sunscreen and pulled my swimsuit cover over my head. I rubbed it everywhere I could reach and struggled to hit every spot on my back.

“Give it here, I’ll do it,” Zacky said and snatched the bottle from my hands. I awkwardly nodded. I wanted help, but wasn’t sure if asking him to do it was such a good idea.

“All done, will you get mine for me?” he asked when he was finished and I nodded. I crawled over behind him and started rubbing the sunscreen on him, laughing when I hit a sensitive spot close to his ribs that made him jump.

“Zachary Baker, are you ticklish?” I asked and then dug my fingers into the same spot. He jumped again and tried to bat my hand away, but I kept doing it.

“Stop!” he said loudly through laughter. When I didn’t stop he turned around and grabbed my hands.

“Zacky, no!” I said, seeing that mischievous look in his eyes and knowing what he was about to do.

He stood up and yanked me up with him then threw me over his shoulder. He started walking toward the water while I flailed and screamed for him to put me down.

“Z, stop you’re hurting my ribs!” I finally screamed and he immediately put me back on my feet. He looked so concerned, I kind of felt bad for lying.

“I lied!” I screamed then took off running as fast as I could toward our blanket. I heard Zacky mutter something then start running after him.

I had almost made it back to the blanket when suddenly I felt his arms wrap around my waist and my feet left the ground for a second time. I wiggled around, trying to escape but I only succeeded in making Zacky lose his balance. We both fell onto the blanket, laughing our asses off.

“I didn’t hurt you did I?” Zacky asked and I shook my head. He pushed himself up onto his elbows and looked down at me. The smile slowly faded off his face.

“I really want to kiss you right now, so you should probably push me off of you if you don’t want me to,” he said quietly.

I didn’t move and I guess he took that as permission because he titled his head and leaned in closer. Just as his lips were about to touch mine, a voice interrupted us.

“Fucking seriously, Zacky?” Johnny spat and Zack quickly sat up and grabbed my hand to help me sit up. Johnny opened his mouth like he wanted to say something else, but he finally just turned on his heel and stormed away without another word.

I was on my feet and chasing after him before I even realized what was happening. When I finally caught up, I grabbed his arm and he spun around to face me.

“What the fuck, Johnny? You have no right to get pissed off! You’re the one that ended things!" I wanted to scream, but I kept my voice low.

“He’s my friend, he shouldn’t be trying to kiss my ex girlfriend!”

“Don’t come here trying to barge into my life again over some fucking bro code bullshit!” I screamed and tried to turn around and walk away, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back. I was preparing myself to scream at him some more but I had no chance to. The second he spun me around he stepped forward and roughly kissed me.

I took all of two seconds for me to shove him backwards. “Are you fucking serious? You can’t just kiss me! I’m not your girlfriend and you’re nothing to me!”

“I’m sorry, okay? I’m going crazy without you. You have no idea how much I regret fucking things up with us!” He reached out and tried to grab me again, but I backed away.

“Well you did it, so you’re just gonna have to fucking live with it!” I spun around and tried to run away but collided with someone, I looked up to see that it was Zacky. His arms wrapped around me and I leaned against him.

“Get out of here, Johnny. I’m getting sick and fucking tired of having to clean up your messes,” Zacky said to Johnny.

“I just want to talk to Melanie," Johnny said.

"Well I don't want to talk to you. I'll be perfectly fine if I never have to talk to you again," I said. I just wanted him to leave.

"Whatever," Johnny mumbled before finally walking away.

Turning his attention back to me Zacky asked, “Are you okay?” I nodded and he lifted one hand to wipe away tears I didn’t even know were falling.

“Let’s go back to the blanket, I don’t want to let him ruin my day” I said. We turned to walk back and Zacky kept his arm around my shoulders. We both sank down on the blanket and I lay down on my back. Zacky joined me after a few moments.

“I just want to lay here and forget about everything else for awhile,” I said.

I heard Zacky shuffling around and a few seconds later music started playing quiety. He settled back down beside me and we both just lay there in silence.
“Thanks for always being there for me, Z,” I said several minutes later. He rolled over on his side and propped himself up on his elbow.

“You don’t have to thank me, that’s my job as your best friend,” he said.

We both fell silent again, just looking into each other’s eyes. I decided I wanted to kiss him, just to see what it was really like. The other times he had taken me by surprise. I wanted to get the whole experience when I was ready for it.

“Kiss me,” I said suddenly and Zacky’s eyebrows shot up but he didn’t move. I raised up onto my elbow so our faces were on the same level.  “I’m serious, I want you to kiss me.”

He still didn’t move. He just sat there, staring at me like he was trying to figure out if he was dreaming or not. With a sigh, I gripped the back of his neck with my free hand and kissed him. That seemed to wake him up and his hand fell to my waist. When I parted my lips he took advantage and slipped his tongue into my mouth. He pulled me closer to him and oh god it felt so good to be close to him like this.

When we finally broke apart a couple of minutes later, I fell back down onto my back.

“Wow,” I murmured and Zacky smiled.

“What was that about?” he asked.

“Nothing, I’m starving let’s go back to my place and order chinese!” I started gathering all of our things up and we headed back to his car.

Zacky backed out of the parking spot and got us onto the road. I was thoughts in my thoughts so I was amazed when it seemed like I only blinked and he was already pulling up to my apartment complex. I got out and ran around the car to Zacky’s side and jumped on his back when he got out. He just laughed and carried me all the way into the elevator.

We were laughing and talking way too loud the whole way up to the my floor. I stopped mid-sentence and froze in my tracks when I saw Johnny sitting on the floor next to my door. Was he ever going to leave me alone?