Homecoming Week
Tuesday
The atmosphere was electric inside the Cheer Squad dressing room. It was homecoming week and the Mighty Shrimp were one game away from yet another perfect football season.
"Someday...You and me side by side, out in the broad daylight..." Addison quietly sang to herself as she tied her bright pink cheer bow into her white hair. As captain of the Mighty Shrimp Cheer Squad, she should have been reviewing cheers and stunts for Friday's homecoming game, but her every thought was pre-occupied with a certain zombie.
"What's with you, Addie?" her best friend Bree bubbly asked as she sat down beside her,"are you picturing a tiara on top of your head? I just know you and Zed are going to be crowned homecoming king and queen! Aren't you excited!"
"I'm excited alright," laughed Addison, "but to be honest, I'm a little distracted."
"Well anyone with two eyes could tell that! You've been brushing your hair and staring off into space for the last half hour. What's going on?" Bree asked as she carefully applied another layer of glitter lip balm.
"My parents told me this morning that they are going out of town this weekend for the Mayor's conference, and...I've been thinking that maybe Zed and I will finally have an uninterrupted opportunity to take our relationship to the next level." Addison quietly rushed out, looking around and hoping no one overheard.
You mean you two haven't already?"
"Of course not! We're always, and I do mean always, interrupted." Addison laughed quietly, "every time things start getting interesting someone walks in, one of our phones rings, the school bell rings...you name it, it's happened. I mean, don't get me wrong, we are far from chaste, we just haven't...you know..."
"Sorry, Addie! I just assumed. You guys have been together for like ever! The two of you are so close and always together..." Bree trailed off.
"Don't you think I would have told you! You're my BFF! We tell each other everything!"
"Not everything….." Bree muttered sheepishly.
"Bree! You and Bonzo?"
Bree silently nodded her head in agreement.
"When?! Where?!" Addison exclaimed just a little too loudly.
"Shhh...yes. Right before the school year started"
"OK, now I have like a hundred questions!"
"Later. For now, though, you have a squad to whip into shape before this Friday's game!" Bree muttered under her breath, effectively ending the conversation for now.
"Ugh. You're right. Cheer first, sexy thoughts about my sexy zom later!" Addison laughed with Bree as they headed down to the gymnasium to start practice.
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Two hours later a very sweaty, very handsome zombie sauntered into the gym just as Addison was being tossed in the air for a stunt.
"I've got this fellas!" Zed said as he dropped to his knees and caught Addison as she came out of a perfectly executed X-out basket.
"There's my favorite cheerleader," Zed said giving her her favorite lopsided smile.
"My favorite zombie" Addison said breathlessly as she stared into Zed's deep brown eyes. "You sure know how to sweep a girl off her feet."
"I don't know about that, but I can definitely keep you from landing on your face," he replied with a wink.
"There's what I've been missing this afternoon," Addison smiled as she hopped out of Zed's embrace. Addison righted herself and turned to address the squad. "Listen up guys! We've got 3 more practices before the big game Friday night," she announced to her teammates. "I want every move, every clap, every word perfect. The football team needs the whole squad cheering their best. I'll see you guys tomorrow afternoon." With that, Addison blew her captains whistle dismissing the team for the day. Turning her full attention to her boyfriend, Addison couldn't believe that even after four years, seeing him in his sweaty football gear still did things to her that made her blush.
"Why hello," Zed said as he gently caressed her arm.
"Hello yourself mister!" Addison giggled as she stood on her tip toes to give him a quick peck on the lips. "You sir, stink to high heaven. Shower up. We have dinner plans tonight with my parents, remember?"
"Aww. That's tonight?" Zed faked a whine. Not that he minded spending time with Addison's parents. Over the past four years, they had really come a long way. Their home was always open to Zed.
"Oh stop it. Besides, I think you'll be very interested in tonight's dinner table conversation" Addison added with a wink.
"Oh really?" Zed deadpanned, earning him a smack on his bicep from his tiny yet mighty girlfriend. "Okay, okay, I'll hit the showers and meet you by the lockers in 15 minutes...unless... you want to join me," Zed added with a lopsided grin.
"As tempting as your offer may be, I don't think either one of us would like half the football team seeing me naked.." Addison whispered to him as she kissed his cheek.
"Point taken!" Zed said quickly as he hurried off to the locker room.
Addison sighed as she watched him run off. No matter how short the duration, it was always physically painful whenever they were apart. Zed truly was the other half of her heart. From the very first time their eyes met, Addison was a goner. She knew deep down that there would never be anyone else for her. With another heavy sigh, Addison turned to go find Bree. The two of them had a lot to talk about, and if she knew her boyfriend, he'd be at her locker in less than ten minutes.
Luckily Addison didn't have to go very far. Bree was waiting for her outside the gymnasium bouncing from foot to foot.
"So, did you talk to him about it? What did he say?" Bree asked excitedly as the two made their way towards their lockers.
"Woah girl, reel it in!" Addison chuckled. "Of course I didn't talk to him about it yet, I don't think the middle of a sweaty gym is exactly the right place to have that particular conversation."
"Eh. Good point," Bree said with a shrug. After an uncharacteristically long moment of silence, Bree turned to Addison. "Listen, Addie, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Bonzo and me." she quietly said, finding her feet interesting. "I honestly thought you and Zed had already and you didn't tell me, so I thought you wouldn't want to know about me, and"
"Bree!" Addison cut her off and placed a hand on her best friends shoulder, "I love you like a sister. You have nothing to apologize for." she hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry you thought I was keeping something from you!" As the two girls embraced, Bonzo, came up behind Bree and gave her one of his signature zombie bear hugs.
"Za Breezaba, gar gar gazar" Bonzo said as he kissed her cheek.
"I gar gar gaza you too Bonz" Bree said while giggling. "You always say the sweetest things. Is band practice finished for this afternoon?"
"Zarzag," Bonzo stated in his native Zombie tongue. Addison smiled to herself remembering the summer between Freshman and Sophmore year that she and Bree spent learning Zombie. Zed hadn't been kidding when he said it was a rich language.
"Addie, we're going to go grab something to eat before we hit the books for homework. Do you and Zed want to join us?" Bree asked while placing her backpack on her shoulders.
"Thank you, but Zed and I are actually having dinner with my parents tonight," Addison said as she felt a strong pair of familiar arms wrap around her waist. " 7 minutes flat, that must be a new record" she laughed.
"You know me. Always eager to see your pretty face." Zed whispered into her ear sending electric chills throughout her body.
"You are such a smooth talker mister" Addison giggled.
"You know it," Zed said giving her a quick wink before acknowledging the rest of the group gathered by the brightly colored lockers. "Bonzo, my man!" he said as he and his best friend performed an intricate and carefully choreographed handshake. "And the always lovely Bree" he greeted and kissed her hand.
Bree giggled. "Addie, I'll call you tonight so we can, um, talk. Yeah, ok. We'll see you guys later!" she said as she grabbed Bonzo's hand and headed towards the front doors.
"What's up with Bree?" Zed asked curiously. "She's even more excited than normal," he chuckled.
"So, are you hungry?" Addison asked trying to change the subject as quickly as possible.
"Addie. Do you even need to ask that question? I'm always hungry"
"Good. Because I'm pretty sure my mom is ordering from La Bella's"
"Oh man, I love La Bella's. Wait. Why? Did something happen? Your parents only get La Bella's for special occasions." Zed rambled, suddenly curious.
"Well, they wanted to celebrate your undefeated season a little early," Addison said sweetly, trying not to spill the big news to him.
"Why not wait until Friday when it's officially an undefeated season then?"
Realizing she needed to distract him before she caved, she stood on her tiptoes to kiss him softly. "Let's get going before we're late and my dad decides to send a patrol to find us."
"Alright, alright, don't tell me what's going on." Zed laughed agreeing to drop it.
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"Everything was delicious, as always, Mayor Missy," Zed said with a smile. "La Bella is my favorite."
"Well thank you dear," she said while patting his arm. "Dale and I wanted to do something special to celebrate you leading the team to a 4th undefeated season, and since we will be at the Mayor's Conference this weekend, we decided to celebrate a little early."
"Thank you. I just hope that we can pull off one more victory this weekend. The Eels are always our toughest competition, and...wait a second did you say Mayor's Conference this weekend?" Zed asked suddenly catching on to what Addison had been so cryptically hinting at earlier.
"We sure did. Now I know that it's the same weekend as the homecoming game and dance, and we just feel terrible about missing it, but duty calls. And as mayor of Seabrook, I have to be there." Missy said, obviously upset about the scheduling conflict.
"Well, we will definitely miss you cheering in the stands. But, as you said, duty calls." Zed said trying to keep the excitement out of his voice.
"Oh, thank you for understanding Zed sweetie." Missy quickly wiped a tear from her eye and straightened herself back up. "And I want lots and lots of pictures of the two of you wearing your crowns!" she added, now smiling proudly at the two teens.
"Mom! King and Queen won't be announced until the dance. It's not a guarantee." Addison said trying to convince herself more than anything.
"Oh come on sweetie. You're the captain of the cheer team, Zed is captain of the football team, everyone adores you two." Dale stated. "I can't think of anyone else in all of Seabrook that deserves the honor more than the two of you," he added as he reached over to hold his daughter's hand with a look of pride clear on his face.
"Okay, okay, you're probably right." Addison finally agreed. "Eek!" she squealed with excitement at the thought. "I'm good. I'm calm. Phew, ok.." she stood up from the table, straightening her pastel blue skirt. "Mom, Dad, thank you for a wonderful dinner. Zed and I have a ton of homework, and we need to meet up with Eliza to finish our group project. I'll be home before 10." She looked over to Zed with a pleading glance.
"Yes, thank you again, Mayor Missy and Chief Dale," Zed said as he stood up from the table and walked towards Addison who was already heading towards the front door.
Once they were a safe distance from the house, Zed wrapped his arms around Addison and pulled her in tight for a hug. "Addie?" he whispered just in case they weren't quite far enough from the house, "we don't have a group project. Why are we going to see Eliza?"
Addison smiled up at her cute, although at the moment clueless, boyfriend. "We're not, silly boyfriend of mine. I just wanted to get out of there so we could finally spend some time together in the Light Garden. Just. The. Two. Of. Us." She said, standing on her tip toes and kissing him between each word.
Zed laughed softly, "You, my dear, are amazing. How did a zombie like me get the most perfect girl in the entire world?" he asked as he stroked her cheek softly.
"What can I say, you won me over with your quick wit and charming smile"
The couple strolled quietly along the familiar path, hand in hand, enjoying the cool breeze that filled the air.
"So, are you staying at Bree's this weekend?" Zed asked as they reached the top of the garden.
"Nope," Addison replied with a smile.
"Eliza's?"
"Nope," she said again, her smile growing wider.
"Home alone?"
"Nope." she couldn't help but giggle at her poor boyfriend's confused look. "I'll be home with you," she said kissing him.
"Wait, you're staying at my place?" Zed asked, excitement clear in his voice.
"No silly!, We're staying at my place. Alone. With no one to interrupt." she said with a large smile. "That is...if you want to."
Suddenly catching on, Zed's imagination started to run wild with the possibilities that uninterrupted time presented. He leaned over and gave her a hard searing kiss. "How long will your parent's be gone?"
"They leave Thursday morning and come back Monday evening," she replied breathlessly, trying to recover from the sudden heated kiss.
"Whatever shall we do with 5 whole unsupervised days?" Zed pretended to ponder with a wicked smile playing on his lips.
"Well, to be fair, we do have school Thursday and Friday and Monday, not to mention the game and the dance, but..." Addison replied while running her fingers through Zed's thick green hair, "that still leaves us with plenty of time"
Zed kissed her deeply again, pulling her over onto his lap.
"Zed, I...I..." Addison stuttered while pulling away from him.
"Addie, what is it?" Zed asked her, his voice laced with concern.
With a deep breath, Addison looked deep into Zed's brown eyes. "I love you. I know we've had this conversation before, and we both agreed we should wait, but I'm tired of waiting. I know you're the only one for me. I love you with my whole heart. I have since I first met you. I'm ready for our someday"
"Addie, I love you too. I always have. You can call it love at first sight, or even a zing like they do in that cheesy monster movie we watched with Zoey. Whatever it was, I knew then that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. But, we've got forever. What's the rush?" he asked as he smoothed down her soft white hair.
"Why do I feel like our rolls are somehow reversed in this discussion? Isn't it usually the guy trying to talk the girl into this?"
"Ha. Trust me, you don't need to 'talk me into' anything. I want to. A lot. Probably more than I should admit. I just don't want us to rush into anything or have you regret anything."
"How about we don't rule anything out for this weekend. We go with the flow, no pressure, just the two of us, and we see where things go naturally."
Zed hopped up from where the two were sitting and began to pace nervously.
"Are you sure. Addie, it's not that I don't want to. I swear, I do. But I'm also more than a little nervous. What if my Z-band malfunctions. I don't want to ever hurt you. The whole humans and zombies together thing is so new. I don't know how I'll react. I know how primal I already feel when we're together. I would never forgive myself if I went full zom on you."
"Zed..." Addison said calmly as she stood up.
"And another thing, what if w..." Zed continued to ramble and pace nervously.
"Zed!" Addison said loudly finally cutting him off.
"What?" Zed anxiously asked, pulling the hair on his head.
"I think you may want to talk to Bonzo."
"Why? I mean I know he's my best friend and all, but..."
"He may be able to help alleviate some of your fears," she said with a small smile on her lips.
"Wait. Are you saying what I think you're saying? Bonzo and Bree have already..."
"Yep. Just found out right before cheer practice. That's why Bree was all worked up about talking later. I haven't heard the full story yet, but it happened at the end of the summer."
"Wow. He never said anything. Huh. Yeah, I guess I should talk to him." Zed muttered, obviously deep in thought.
"Zed, I trust you. You aren't a monster. You don't have to worry about hurting me. Come here."Addison said while gently pulling him closer to her. She stood on her tippy toes and kissed him with every ounce of passion that she could. Zed wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the ground and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He deepened the kiss, opening his mouth so her tongue could enter. The two were in their own universe. The building could have come crashing down around them and neither would have noticed. Everything in that moment was perfect. There were no worries about zombies and humans. It was just them. Zed and Addison. Until her phone rang.
"That's Dad's ringtone," Addison said, frustration clear in her voice.
Zed carefully set her down. "Always interrupted." he sighed.