I have absolutely no idea where this story came from or where I'm going with it, so it will be quite the journey for all of us. This chapter just came out as I sat down to work on a different story. To those of you that happen to read A New Beginning and Rockin' Love I will try to have an update asap for you guys. But until then, I hope you guys can enjoy this one.
Disclaimer: I don't own the show or the characters.
"I love you." Those three words hung between the couple. He was holding his breath waiting to see what she was going to say. Seeing the fear in her eyes wasn't what he had in mind. Her hand fell from his. He could feel his own anger boiling up inside of him. Saying those three words to her was the only time he told a girlfriend that he loved them, he was never more serious about three little words in his life.
They had been dating for the past six months, been friends since they were babies. Four years they had been without each other, she went off to college in Boston to become the doctor she is now and he had gone off to play college football a few hours from home. They lost contact after a very few long months. Home during breaks and holidays they would hold small conversations but they weren't the friends they had been growing up. Neither one of them was quite sure how they were going to ever get back to being the best of friends, they told each other everything. They had no secrets. It felt like they were never going to go back to that place they once were at. He got injured and there went his chance at making it to the pros, he dropped out of school and moved back home. After she finished up at school she moved back home claiming that small town was where she wanted to be at and that no city held her heart like her charming little hometown. Things between the friends started off awkward but they were determined to put all of that behind them and over the next 3 months they had done just that, friends again. Only something more was between them and they took their friendship to relationship in just a few short days. And for the past six months things had been good for them, they fought like cats and dogs but they made up like rabbits.
"Wade, you know that I love you as my best friend but I'm not ready to say those words to you in the context you just said them, I'm sorry for that, but…" she trailed off, wiping away the moisture that was collecting in the corner of her eyes. She did love him, he was her best friend and she was falling for him but saying those three words to him as her boyfriend, she couldn't do that, she wasn't ready to say those words to him like that.
"That makes no sense to me Zoe," Wade huffed his response to her. "How can you love me as your friend but you refuse to love me as your boyfriend?" He yelled, throwing his hands in the air, before roughly shoving them in his pockets.
"I've loved you as my best friend since we were kids, I missed you like crazy the four years that we were apart, that showed me that I need you in my life and I enjoy being with you Wade in every since, and I want to say those words to you I do, but I'm not going to say them if I don't truly mean them. It wouldn't do either one of us any good," she slowly explained, licking her lips, her eyes locked with his green ones. "I appreciate that you put your heart out there and told me how you feel because that means a lot, Wade and your love is special to me. I just need more time, Wade," Zoe told him, pleading with not only her words but her chocolate eyes as well.
There was something about her words that made his anger slowly vanish from his body, her words touched him. He knew that he would give her all the time in the world to say a simple 'I love you', he just hoped that he wouldn't have to wait that long. Those four years were some of the worst years in his life, there was so many things that he wanted to share with Zoe and he couldn't because he didn't know how to fix what was broken between them then. And now he wasn't going to lose her because she was afraid to say three simple little words that held a helluva punch. He tried not to take that personal, because he heard the stories that floated around town about what she went through with her ex while she was away at school, he knew enough that he needed to be patient with her now even if he felt he couldn't be. "Ya know I mean it. I do love you, so damn much, Zo. I started out loving you as my best friend and I was left with this hole in my chest the size of my heart when we stopped being friends," he paused, to pull her flush against his body, dropping a soft kiss the crown of her head. "It was easy to fall for you in a different way over the last few months. I'd be crazy to let you walk away now, take what time you need, just please don't take forever," he whispered, resting his cheek on the top of her head, his arms winding around her waist to hold her even closer to him.
"I promise that won't happen, Wade," she whispered back a smile resting peacefully on her lips, as she listened to the steady beating of his heart in her ear.
"Get in here you crazy kids," Earl called from the back door, "dinners ready and ya know how your Ma gets," he grumbled with a soft chuckle falling from his lips. "Zo, don't me get started on your Pops." Zoe rolled her eyes, moving from her boyfriend's embrace, lacing her fingers with his.
If it wouldn't have been for her mom making that last minute decision to break up with Ethan and move to Bluebell to be with Harley, she couldn't even fathom how her life would've turned out to be like. Her parents were married before she was born; her mom and Jackie owned a cute little boutique in town and together they had a become Bluebell's best and only realtors in town. Earl and Harley were the best of friends, ever since they were kids. So it was easy to see why Wade and Zoe have been best friends since they were in diapers.
"I saw this cute little house over on Crest Street today," Jackie mused once they were sitting at the table, the food served.
"Ma," Wade groaned, hanging his head. It wasn't that he was embarrassed about it or that he wasn't ready to live with Zoe yet, because the truth of the matter was they had been secretly looking at houses when they would walk around Bluebell. He just didn't want to listen to his parents discuss his future with Zoe; it was unnerving and awkward at best.
"What?" Jackie asked, turning to look at her son. "It's perfect for both of you," she gushed.
"Do ya think that maybe we're not at that stage in our relationship yet?" Wade asked, glancing at Zoe who was sitting next to him. He could see the light hint of a blush on her cheeks as she picked at the chicken on her plate. "Besides Ma, when we're ready to move in together we'll find our perfect house," he stated.
"Your Ma is only trying to help because she loves the both of ya," Earl cut in.
Wade went to speak but Zoe placed her hand on his leg under the table, shutting him up just as quickly. "We know that and thank you for the concern, Jackie, we do appreciate where you're coming from and when we're ready to take that step, we'll check the house out, is it the little yellow one?" Zoe asked, earning a nod from Jackie. "That is a lovely home," she gushed, "but when we're ready and if the house is still on the market, we'll take a look at it," she finished with a bright smile.
"It really is beautiful," Candice stated. "It's the perfect house to turn into the perfect home."
"Thank you Zoe," Jackie flashed Zoe a smile turning to Candice to talk more about the house. Wade slid his hand under Zoe's linking them together. He had always been amazed at how easy she could reel his mom in from her crazy and wacky ideas.
"How was the practice today?" Zoe asked turning to look at her dad. She had today off and tomorrow she had off as while. She had spent her day with Wade and tomorrow she was headed to Fairhope with Lemon and Annabeth to have a little girl time.
"It was good and I don't expect to see you there tomorrow as a Doctor or as a patient either," he chuckled. Zoe smiled looking down at her left arm seeing the wrap around her wrist from where the snake had bitten her. Her and Wade were walking through the woods and she had tripped over a tree root sticking up from the ground, when she landed her hand happened to graze a snake and the snake attacked. She wasn't scared because she knew just what type it was and that there was nothing to worry about as long she went straight to the practice.
"I can't really promise you on that one," she laughed lightly, smiling when she felt Wade run his thumb over her wrist that was bandaged up. She may not be ready to say 'I love you' to Wade but it wasn't going to be long before she was ready. She had to get past her own fear and stop taking that out on Wade when it was someone else's fault altogether.