Author's Note: Last night I was re-reading Lodylodylody's amazing Suite Life/Hannah Montana crossover story, Two Brothers and a Pop Tart and in chapter twenty four, Zack tells Cody London wants to wait to have sex until her wedding night.
That whole conversation between the brothers sparked Scarlett and this is what came out of it two interconnecting one shots...The first being about the night before Zack and London's wedding and the second being their wedding night.
Anticipation
Part One
With eager fingers, internationally famous heiress, London Tipton closes the door to her penthouse suite at her father's flagship hotel in Boston.
The wood makes a loud noise as it meets the door's frame, but the combination of being over tired and excited don't make the impoliteness of her actions register. Shrugging off her stylish black and white houndstooth knee length coat, she brushes her lush ebony hair out of her eyes and her fingers touch the plastic tiara on her head.
A bouncy giggle escapes her painted plump lips before she pouts momentarily wishing the tiara was real, but as she takes it off her head and the big letters spelling out the phrase, "BRIDE TO BE', are staring back at her she doesn't really mind that it isn't real.
Carefully she puts the tiara near the edge of her bed along with the bags of other gifts she received from her bachelorette party.
She yawns and stretches her arms above her head as she falls back against the cool sheets of the soft mattress, its familiarity comforting on a night when so many emotions are surging through her. Her signature bright smile crosses her lips as her eyes drift toward the bathroom door where a garment bag is hanging from a hanger.
Her smile grows just a little bigger as she thinks of what's inside the bag...Her wedding dress.
Closing her eyes it's almost like she can feel the silkiness of the ivory tafetta against her fingers...Like she can see the sweet crumb neckline, the beaded motif at the waist and how it all descends into a billowy ball gown style skirt that makes her feel like a Princess when she twirls.
Her fingers twitch, aching to really touch the silky fabric, but she doesn't move. At first she thinks her legs are too tired to move (what with all the dancing she did at her bachelorette party), but then another thought enters her head...Why are you so anxious to touch your dress? You'll be practically dying for Zack to take it off tomorrow!
Her cheeks flame and she swears her whole body is blushing just from that single thought.
In a room just below London's penthouse suite, her fiancee` Zack Martin aka the wunderkind of Hollywood agents, is tossing and turning his spacious bed.
Groaning, he rolls over from his left side to his right where he finds himself staring at the clock on the bedside table beside him. He can hear his twin brother Cody's voice in his head … You know, Zack, staring at the clock isn't going to make tomorrow come any faster.
"Oh shut up, Cody!" He shouts.
A heavy sigh falls from his smooth lips and even though he knows the Cody voice in his head is right, he can't stop staring at the big block letters. It's as if they're mocking him...Deliberately taking their time to mark the minutes that pass before his wedding.
His worries won't stop. His thoughts are rampant as they race through his mind.
But tonight the rampant thoughts racing through his mind are unusual. He isn't thinking about press releases (like the one that has to be drawn up for Mikayla now that she's pregnant) or haggling with a studio on behalf of a client or sifting through the latest press clippings and movie reviews.
No, tonight all of his thoughts always come back to London.
He knows she's staying in her penthouse or as she likes to call it her favorite home away from home.
He gave up staring at the clock and sunk below the comforter of his bed. Slowly he raises his head over the top of the covers and he can see his black Converse sneakers by the door.
I could go up there...It's not like I'll get grounded if I do, he thought, his signature mischievous grin crossing his lips.
But before he could even move an inch, a growl escaped and he pulled the covers back over his head, knowing there's no way London would let him in her room if he showed up outside her door. She'd flip out and tell him how it was bad luck to see her before the wedding.
Man, does this suck!
Never at a loss for ideas, one struck Zack as he stared at the ceiling above him. London said I couldn't see her before the wedding. She never said I couldn't call her.
With quick fingers, he reaches for the phone and then dials the number to her penthouse. Her voice is tired when it fills his ears and he feels his heart twinge with guilt, but just as she's about to hang up, he confesses, "Babe, I can't sleep."
Giggles pour from London's lips as she brings the old time handle bar phone to her lap, so she can be more comfortable.
Biting her lip, she murmurs, "I can't sleep either, Zacky."
She can hear the rustling of his bed sheets and she doesn't have to see him to know he practically darted upward at her confession. The surprise in his voice is evident when he asks, "Really?"
She wishes he called her on her cell phone, so she could put him on speaker and deliver a slightly different version of her signature "yay me!" exclamation and while she pouts briefly because she can't, she gets over it quickly.
Her own voice is filled with awe when she speaks again. "You know what that means don't you? We are so meant to be together! I can't sleep when you can't sleep! It's like we're mind readers or something. Yay us!"
A moment passes as Zack absorbs her familiar bouncy demeanor. While the heiress he's known for what feels like forever now, has matured in many ways, she still maintained the bouncy, larger than life persona she had when they first met and he wouldn't have it any other way.
"Yes, yay us." His voice doesn't hold the same excitement, but he taps on the side table loud enough for her to hear to simulate the clapping of hands. "So," He says. "Are you excited about tomorrow?"
"Like you even have to ask, silly! Of course I'm excited! I get to wear the prettiest dress ever, have everyone stare at me and tell me how pretty I am and then I get presents and cake. What's there not to be excited about?"
She pauses for a moment before she continues, her tone of voice softer and more earnest. "But what I'm really excited about is the married part. That's going to be better than all that other stuff. Especially when the priest says, 'You're now husband and wife.' I'm really going to like that."
London can imagine the smile on Zack's face as he listens to her. It's that smile, the endearing one that's filled with a mixture of bravado and sweetness and she swears, just imagining it is making her fall for him all over again.
"So how was your big single lady blow out? Knowing that sister-in-law of mine," Zack said, referring to Mikayla. "She had to have something crazy up her sleeve. But nothing too crazy, right? Some naked dude didn't jump out of a cake did he?"
The heiress couldn't help the snickers that escaped her. Twirling the cord of her phone, she leaned back against the bed's plush head board. "There was a cake, but it wasn't big enough for anything to jump out of. We just danced and played drinking games."
Realizing what she said, she made one major correction to her previous statement. "Everyone but Mikayla drank. Because she can't since she's having a baby and it would be bad if she drank. So don't worry Maddie, Chelsea, Hannah and Lola made sure she didn't."
Continuing her previous train of thought, London added. "After we played the games, they gave me a tiara which wasn't real but I felt better about it when I saw that it said BRIDE TO BE in these big letters and then I got presents!"
Zack's ears couldn't help but perk up at the word presents.
He remembered Cody telling him about all the presents Mikayla got at her bachelorette party and he could feel his heart skip a beat.
"Presents, huh?" He asks, trying his best to sound casual. "What kind of presents do girls get at bachelorette parties anyway?"
"I can't remember." He can hear her scrambling out of bed as she says so.
The sound of her fingers rifling through tissue paper are what he hears next. Then her voice is filling his ears again, when she says, "Maddie got me edible body paint and underwear."
Oh, God...
Swallowing hard, Zack gives up trying to sound casual, he just hopes he sounds vaguely normal and not like he just swallowed a frog.
While his voice doesn't crack, it's tight when he finally speaks again. "What did everyone else get you?"
"More than half this stuff is lingerie," The coy edge to her voice filters through and his imagination is in hyper drive. But the coy edge is quickly replaced by a serious one, when she says, "But most of it is stuff I would never wear, so don't even think of getting any ideas, Mister."
"You say that now, but I bet could find a way to get you to try wearing some of it, Babe." He breathes out and he knows she can detect more than just the normal mischievous air to his tone.
"You'd probably get away with it too, Zacky." She whispers, her voice breathier than before.
Shifting his weight, he bites down on the inside of his cheek before taking their conversation in another direction. "Are you scare- I mean – Are you nervous about tomorrow? I mean you know when all the married stuff is...Over?"
He knows he doesn't have to finish his sentence in a more succinct way for London to understand what he's too flustered to say.
"Kinda." She admits, her voice small. "But I...I love you and you love me so that means we'll be fine...Doesn't it?"
"We'll figure things out." He chuckles, hoping to put her at ease.
"It's been a long time … Us waiting, I mean. And waiting is supposed to make things better, right? Isn't that what poor people say when they finally get money?"
Laughing at London's logic, Zack takes a deep breath and rubs the back of his neck. "Well, we should be seeing fireworks tomorrow then...With as long as we've been waiting."
"Fireworks sound nice. But um...If you're still n—nervous...Mikayla gave me books for her present."
"Books?" He asked stunned. Who would give London books, ever?!
Nervous laughter falls from her lips. "It was a joke or something because we've never...you know..."
"What kind?" Zack sits up in a rush as he asks. "Are you talking about Kama Sutra stuff? Like the kind of thing Cody and I would be skinned alive if we got caught looking at?"
"Yeah..." London stutters as she rustles though more tissue paper. "There's that one and even Sex for Dummies!"
London waits for him to stop laughing and telling her to remind him to mention the books to Mikayla at the wedding.
"Zack?" She questions timidly, her voice breaking as she says his name.
"What's up, Hot Stuff?"
"If I ask you something...And I'm being serious right now...Will you promise you won't laugh at me?"
He can feel his heart clench at the sincere edge to her voice that also holds a fair amount of fear. His joking manner from moments before his left behind when he says, "I'd never laugh at you. With you, yeah sure I would. But at you? Never in a million years."
"I um...I..." Biting down on her lip, the heiress takes a deep breath before continuing. "I was just think- I mean I was wondering if you ever thought about what it will be...like?"
"Special." He answered without missing a beat. "It'll probably be awkward too cause you know...Neither of us has ever done it...But mostly it's gonna be special. I know it."
London smiles, an easy feeling washing over her as she holds the phone closer to her ear. "Have you been thinking about it a lot?"
"I've thought about it more than a few times since we first got together. But since I proposed on New Year's and the big day's gotten closer and closer, I've been thinking about it way more. Now that we're back here, though, it's impossible not to think about it 24/7."
The beautiful heiress doesn't know where her next question came from, but as soon as it flashed her mind she couldn't stop herself from asking.
Her voice was shaky and her heart hammered in her chest when she asked, "Um...Ha—Have you ever thought about it while...You were um...by yourself?"
She hears his sharp intake of breath and the thickness of his voice sends shivers down her spine when he finally answers her. "Yeah." He admits, swallowing harshly.
Her hand falls to the smooth curve of her knee, running over the gauzy material of her billowy baby doll negligee as she thinks harder. Her mind takes her back to all the times she and Zack have had this conversation before and they've gotten so close to the line without crossing it many times.
In so many ways they've created their own boundaries.
She knows what it's like to be lie in his arms, naked, without fear or inhibitions. She remembers her body shaking the first time they tried doing that, trembling when her bare skin met his while he held her close to his chest.
But most of all, she remembers how safe it felt to be held like that; how comforting it was to be close to him like that.
He has touched her. His fingers have brushed against the curve of her bare shoulder, trailed over the suppleness of her burnt caramel colored skin but never where she's truly wanted them to be. She knows what it's like to feel her skin come alive with goosebumps underneath the warm touch of his fingertips. And when she's been alone, she's often imagined what it would be like if his fingertips were replaced by his lips.
And the only conclusion she's come to is, she'd be a shuddering mess or a bowl of jelly like Mikayla mentioned Cody turning her into whenever he kissed her all over.
She remembers the sound of his voice when it's had trouble freeing itself from his throat. Panting, in the darkness of his bedroom in his Hollywood Hills bungalow, against her neck, against her ear. Warm, strangled words like beautiful, hot and gorgeous, but mostly it was her name that left his lips.
Over and over... London...London...London...
He knows what it's like to lie there next to her with his hands balled into fists and his breathing so sharp it feels like knives are stabbing at his chest. He knows what it's like to crave something so badly and to be torn..Between wanting something so bad it hurts and stopping because he knows that's what she wants.
And because she wants it...Her fairytale of waiting...He stops because he loves her enough to.
It's painful, keeping her curious and seeking hands away from him and breathing out the word, "Stop," as she breathes out, "You're right. We...We have to wait. We can't."
But he knows it'll be worth it when they can finally say yes. When there will be no stopping and no saying they can't.
And right now in the same hotel (where they fell in love) but in different rooms on different floors, the two heartbeats are the same – loud and pounding rapidly – just like their breathing patterns are the same … Erratic and growing more and more shallow.
It's so close they can taste it.
Tomorrow is only hours away. And tomorrow they'll be able to say yes. Tomorrow, the boundaries they created will disappear...The ties will be cut and slip away. They will be able to reach for each other...With the freedom to touch any and everywhere and no consequences.
Finally.
End Note: I know I said this was supposed to be two interconnecting one shots but this one was so long that I had to split it up. And if I didn't split it up here, it would have gone on forever.
I don't know about you guys but I hate super long chapters. Squinting to look at the computer screen sucks and my computer chair isn't as comfy as my couch, okkkkkkkkkk?
BTW, how many of you have seen the post on OceanUp where they have a picture of Cole with his arm around this girl named Cody Kennedy who's apparently playing his new love interest on SLOD? I've recently really gotten into this show, so I apologize if you already knew this and it isn't news.
I'm just being curious, LOL.