I
The first time Zach Goode almost kissed Cammie Morgan, it was the first day of their senior year.
He still doesn't know what came over him. Just seeing her standing there after months of her absence did something to make his stomach twist and turn and jump and do all sorts of crazy things. He couldn't breathe because of it.
Because of her. And the way she looked, so happy, in her element, running her hand through her soft, blondish brown hair, biting her lip. For a while he just watched her stand there, beaming at everyone, saying the occasional hello, running up many times to give hugs to her sisters. He noticed too much, he thinks, about how the light danced off of her hair, making it look almost copper for a moment, and how her eyes grew wider and wider and wider each time she saw a familiar face.
Legs in just that knee length plaid skirt, it was all he could do not to stare. She was wearing her uniform already, but the vest was tucked into her bag, and her tie was a little loose, with the first button of her shirt popped open. The outfit was in no way revealing, but he thought it was nice. It was nice to see her relaxed every once in a while. She was always getting into trouble, always sticking her nose into something that wasn't worth the price she'd have to pay. Looking at her, you might think she's just a normal girl, wearing a snooty boarding school crest, squealing over seeing friends after two months.
It's her hair that's so… distracting, he decides. It's such an interesting color. He can't put his finger on it. Sometimes it seemed blonde, like when it was in a ponytail. Sometimes, when it was parted on the side, a light brown. And when the light hits just so, it's a whole new game. Of course, he's not going to blame this growing party his organs seemed to have been having in his abdomen on Cammie's hair.
It's also her eyes, and her skin, and, oh, god, her lips.
It's almost enough to make him cross the hall just then, and make her look at him with those beautiful kaleidoscope eyes before he gave her a proper 'Hello'.
And to this day he wonders if it would have been a hell of a lot easier if he had.
II
He hadn't felt that weird, uncomfortable, wonderful feeling in his stomach since that first day.
At first he was disappointed. He'd thought, maybe, if it had persisted, he's cough up the guts to make a move. Now, there was no way he'd do it.
But then he realized that it was better this way. After all, why would a girl so perfect ever go for a guy like him?
Sure, he realizes he's attractive. And that's not him being arrogant or narcissistic. He's just stating a fact. He'd have to be a fool to say otherwise, and a fool Zach Goode is not.
And, yeah, maybe he's a pretty great spy-in-training, (because no matter what, he refuses to refer to himself as an assassin) and gets the grades he wants, and hell, a ton of girls want to date him.
But Cammie's not one of them.
He doesn't know if she's doing it on purpose, but she's avoiding him.
It's almost as if she doesn't even notice he exists.
In the classes they have together, she doesn't seem to hear his voice when he answers questions. When they pass each other in the great halls of Gallagher, she stares right through him, to someone apparently more worthy of her time, and her smile, and that adorable little half hair-flick she does.
But not anymore.
"Hey, Zach," she says as she slides into the seat next to him, looking down at the writing on the desks. TW+NC 3 it says.
He's confused, because why won't she look at him? "Hey. So, haven't seen you around that much." Lie. He sees her everywhere.
"Yeah, I know. Good thing we got paired up for this project. I thought you were never going to talk to me," she says while pushing her hair back, and trailing her fingers back through it.
"Ha," he laughs sharply, but she doesn't seem to notice. "I guess everybody's just busy. Senior year, job recruitments. The future. Not a lot of time." Lie. Hell, it's senior year. He doesn't have more than four hours of classes a day.
She nods vigorously. "I know. It's difficult to decide. I mean, I've always kind of known that I'm going to go the CIA route, but there are a lot of other places that are making offers, you know? I don't think I've looked through all the options. Speaking of options, do you know where you're going?"
Shaking his head, he says, "No, not yet. I've had a couple of offers, but haven't made a decision." Another lie. He's had tons of offers, from the CIA, to MI5, to the NSA. Hell, even a few special ops teams. He thinks it's probably a 'keep your possible enemies closer' thing.
And of course, he knew where he was going from the moment the word 'CIA' dropped from her lips.
As soon as the thought of her lips crosses his mind, they don't leave for the rest of the hour. She's discussing the possible topics they could cover in the history of espionage before Gilly and Brian; he watches her perfect pink mouth. She laughs a laugh like crystalline water; he can't tear his eyes away.
He didn't realize they'd been leaning in to the other; her out of excitement and enthusiasm about the project, he supposes, him out of one-sided attraction. He contemplates moving a few more inches to taste those hypnotic lips, but the bell rings.
"Shit."
"What?"
"Uh… nothing."
III
Just do it, Goode. Since when have you been such a wimp? It's not that big of a deal. Grow a pair, walk up to her, and ask her.
Two weeks before the Christmas dance. It's a test, just like that one last year, but Zach thinks that he could still ask her. Plenty of guys had asked girls. Hell, even Jonas had asked one of Cammie's friends. Liz, the dainty blonde one. They were good together.
Now if he could only gather all of his guts together and get his feet to walk in her direction, his talented tongue could take care of the rest. Not usually one to toot his own horn (well, not always), Zach has to admit that he's charismatic. Of course, that could just be his eyes and smirk.
Seriously? She's just a girl. You've asked out tons of girls before.
But she's not just a girl.
God, that sounds cliché.
But it's true.
So Zach strides across the hall where they're eating and takes a seat diagonal from her at her table. All of her friends look up and smile, except the one with the nose ring. Sure she was hot. But she gave Zach the creeps. He feared for his… uh, manly parts around her.
"Hey, Zach," Cammie grins as their eyes meet. In that moment, Zach swears that her eyes are even more brilliant than her lips. They're blue-ish gray today. Gorgeous.
"Hey, Cam," he nods at her, and offers his most dazzling half smile. He grabs her hand across the table, and though she immediately looks down in shock, she doesn't pull away. "So. I have a question. About the Christmas Dance."
Giggling, her friends all whisper to each other, but Zach doesn't pay them any attention.
Giving them a look, Cam replies, "Yeah, sure. Go ahead." She tilts her head in anticipation.
Grinning, he says, "Well, it's coming up, so… I was wondering if you- "
"Cammie!" A voice sounds from two tables over. Zach groans as Dan jogs over, his too long black hair flopping over his matching eyes. It's not that he doesn't like Dan, but the kid has the worst timing. What's a junior doing over here, anyway? "Hey! I was just wondering if you knew what color dress you're wearing to the Christmas thing? You know, so like, for my tux… we could match?"
Shit.
Fuck.
Holy –
"Oh, uh, hey Dan," Cammie's eyes are wide. They're a light grey now. Maybe it's the light? Whatever. It doesn't matter. Zach is absolutely livid. "Um, no I haven't really decided yet. But, uh, when I figure it out, I'll let you know, okay?"
The kid grins and nods, before saluting her and running back to his junior friends, who are all offering high fives up for nailing a senior girl.
"So," oh god, her face is all red. "What was it you were saying, Zach?"
Holy crap. She was going to let him ask her! When she knew she already had a date! And she wanted him to still ask her now? What did she take him for?
"Oh, uh, no I don't really remember." Zach gets up to leave, but she holds onto his hand.
"Well, you were 'wondering if I – ' …?" She said. Prompting him to make a fool out of himself in front of all of her friends.
He's not proud of what he did next. Well no, if he said that he'd be lying. He was damn proud of thinking on his feet the way her did. And he shut her smiling perfect little lips, didn't he? Mocking him.
"Oh, yeah." Smiling sheepishly, he continues. "I was wondering if you might know if your friend Macey over there has a date."
It's almost satisfying seeing the way her expectant, indulging smile slid off her perfect face. Honestly, was she really expecting him to ask her after that whole spectacle?
But it hurt more.
And at that moment he wanted to kiss those downturned lips so hard that they had were petrified in a smile.
But instead he turned to the kind of scary girl with the rocking body and electric blue eyes filled with amusement, and grinned, asking her to the dance.
She said yes.
IV
The day of the dance comes. Zach thinks he's almost over Cammie. Her friend is awesome.
He never thought he'd be into another girl after Cammie. After all, she was basically his dream girl.
But Macey…
They'd spent that last two weeks hanging out. She was no Cammie. But she was on a totally different level.
Sure, she's gorgeous. That's the first thing he'd noticed about her when they went into town together two days after he'd asked her out. Her blue eyes were lined with a thick black line, but other than that, she had no makeup on. And she was wearing this soft blue tank top with a leather jacket, and she looked so perfectly tiny, though she was only four inches below Zach's own 6'2.
And when she laughed, the whole tough girl act was gone. She was actually pretty adorable. And she was funny, in a dry, witty sort of way.
Zach meets her at the stairs, and she's wearing a navy blue dress that's so simple, but makes her look so much better than every other girl there. As she reaches the bottom of the stairs, she puts a hand on her hip. "Well?"
Zach can't help himself. He grins. "You look amazing, Mace." He holds out his arm, and unlike Cammie at the last ball, she takes it willingly. Macey's headstrong, but if there's one thing she likes, it's being treated like a lady.
They have fun at the dance. Maybe not as much fun as Zach would've had with Cammie, but he can always count on Macey for good company. She made him laugh with her critical remarks on other girls' dresses, and on the guys' stupid gelled hairdos. He gets her punch like a perfect gentleman (which she makes fun of him for), and they dance to a couple of songs. She's surprisingly good.
"It's because of my dad. He used to make me attend 'cotillions' and other stuck up crap like that. I had to learn how to dance – with Preston Winters, no less." Zach holds in a snort before replying.
"You guys probably looked great together."
He knows he earned the smack he got, after all, Preston's a dork, but it was worth it. He feels like Macey could be one of his best friends, and they'd only really been on speaking terms for two weeks.
They sit for an hour or two and just talk. The subject turns to their friends.
"Yeah, Jonas looks like he's having fun with your friend, Liz." Zach smirks, running a hand through his unruly brown hair. Every girl within a twenty-foot radius that saw swooned a little, but Macey doesn't even blink.
"Yeah. Liz is adorable. But cut the crap, Zach. I know you're totally head over heels for Cam."
He almost falls off of his chair. "Wait – what? How do you know?"
She rolls her bright eyes – that unlike Cammie's are always consistently a ravishing blue. "Please, Zach. Give me some credit. Cammie's my friend. You're my friend too, now, when you're not acting like an idiot. And it was so obvious that you came over to ask her out. Nice cover, though. I think everyone else bought it, except for me. I kind of have an amazing bullshit radar."
And at this, despite his shock, he laughs. He laughs hard and loud, and after staring at him like he's an idiot for a few seconds, Macey joins in. They laugh for a good five minutes. Or was it ten?
They wipe their eyes after a while and then just stare at each other.
"So why'd you say yes?" Zach breaks the silence.
"Because, I figured that Cammie needed a shove in the right direction, and thought that jealously might do the trick. Also, you're big and tough, and if I was going with you, then I was guaranteed not to be bothered by any guys begging for me to go with them." She said casually.
"Yeah, well, I don't think Cammie really budged all that much. She's dancing with Dan right now."
"Yeah, and she keeps turning him so that she can look over at us."
One glance out of the corner of his eye confirmed this for Zach. Turning fully to her, he grinning and raised a hand in greeting.
Embarrassed at being caught in the act, Cammie blushed and looked away. Still smiling, Zach turned back to Macey, who smirks back.
"Go get 'em, Tiger."
So at the next slow song, Zach walks up and waltzes Cammie away from the punch table, and her date, who was goofing off with his friends, sticking pretzel sticks on either side of his mouth and making seal noises.
"Zach, my date – "
"The walrus? He can wait."
Turning beet red, she grins. "Shut up."
"Gladly. If you dance with me."
And with that, she's swept up in all her floor length purple dress glory against his chest, and her eyes look a little more green than blue today. Her normally wavy hair has loose curls in it, and Zach wants to wind one around his finger and bring it to his nose and see how she smells. Hell, no, he wants to press his face against her porcelain neck and breathe deeply, get lost in her scent.
But he settles for just staring into her eyes as they sway slowly on the dance floor.
Halfway through the second song, Cammie clears her throat. "Listen, Zach. About Dan, I only said yes because it was getting close to the dance… and well, nobody wants to go alone."
The boy towering over her slight frame nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I get it. No worries, I mean, Dan's a great kid. A little dorky, but hey, so are you." She smacks him, hard, and he quickly adds, "Joking! I'm joking, Cams," chuckling they both lean in. A few inches away, Zach whispers almost against her lips, "You know, I was going to ask you. But then Dan came up. Worst timing in the world, that kid has."
Her eyes are wide, and her cheeks are flaming, but she manages a breathy chuckle. "Yeah, I guess."
And they lean in, breath mingling. She smells a little minty, and he thinks she'll taste good. Closer, two inches, half that, almost there –
"Zach! Hey, dude, mind if I steal my date back?" Dan is standing there, oblivious, in a retro, light blue tux that in no way matches Cam's dress. If he wasn't so furious, Zach might've found it in him to snicker at the younger boy. But he couldn't.
So he left with a forced wink in Cammie's direction and a growl in Dan's.
That night when Macey asks how it went, he just shows her his purple foot, swollen from kicking the brick wall of Gallagher. Repeatedly.
V
Zach hasn't talked to Cammie about what (almost) happened at the Christmas Ball.
Cammie hasn't talked to Dan at all.
Neither has Zach. Because he thinks that he might break the kids face.
Its February, February 13th to be exact. The entire school is in Roseville town to celebrate and shop for Valentine's Day.
Zach had promised to help Jonas pick out a present for Liz, who he had been dating since a week after the Christmas Ball, and Grant was going to tag along and help, too.
"You realize how long it's been since we've all hung out like this?" Grant asks as they walk through the ugly melting brown snow lining the sidewalks to a little chocolates store.
"Yeah, dude," Zach grins and punches his friend lightly in the arm. "You're too busy trying to 'woo' Baxter."
"Please, she'll fall for me in the end. I'm irresistible."
Jonas simply rolls his eyes and pushes open the door to the store. The warm aroma of fresh chocolate assaulted all three boys' noses and their stomachs grumbled.
"Sure, bro. Whatever gets you to sleep at night."
"Ha, and what about you and Morgan? You've been dancing around each other since Christmas. TWO months ago. I don't even know why you try with her, bro." Grant shrugs, looking through the glass cases at some chocolate roses. "I mean, she's cute I guess, in a kind of plain way. But you could do way better. And I mean that in the best possible way."
Sighing, Zach waits a bit before responding. "I don't know. I just like her, I guess."
"Yeah, well," Grant claps Zach on the back, reaching up slightly to do so because he's a bit stockier at 5'10. "Good luck with that."
They look at chocolates for the next fifteen minutes, not wanting to leave the warmth of the little shop, before a group of six or so girls push in through the door.
"Zach!" Macey calls to him. He grins, before noticing the shorter girl next to her. And then he grins even wider.
"Hey Mace," He nods to Baxter, Liz, Eva and Mick. "'Alright, Cam?"
She blushes a little and nods. "I'm good. How's your forensics project going?"
"Great." Zach winks at Mick. "Morrison's a great partner." The voluptuous girl, who's currently dating Tray Gerrards, one of Zach's friends, takes it in stride and throws one right back before making her way to the counter. Grinning, Zach leans close to Cammie and whispers in her ear, "Not as good of a partner as you, though."
He pulls back before he tests his restraint too much.
They smile at each other goofily for what must have been hours, but all Zach does is take the girl of his dreams' hand. He tugs her closer and is about to wrap his arms around her when Liz drags Cammie away with more force than is natural for a girl of her size. "Sorry, Zach, but we all have to be… not here."
He stands there in shock.
So. Close.
Chuckling, Grant comes up to his best friend. "Lizzie and Jonas can't be in the same place at the same time without turning into tomatoes."
After five more minutes, Jonas exclaims that nothing in the shop is just "Liz enough." He and Grant both leave empty handed.
However, Zach buys a big box of assorted truffles and spends the rest of his town day watching a chick flick and stuffing his face.
I
Zach has never really believed in fate, or a 'Force' that controls what will happen to him.
However, he figures that with the number of times he's been thwarted in attempts to kiss Cammie, either by his lack of guts, her friends, or Cammie herself, the 'universe' is obviously trying to tell him something.
For her part, Cammie seems to have given up, too. She even brought a date with her the next Town Day. At least this guy was a senior, and dressed better. Good. She deserved someone great.
So Zach asked out Eva. Mick had told him during one of their study sessions (their project killed everyone else's – besides Jonas and Liz's. Those nerds.) that she had liked him for a while, but hadn't made a move because she thought that he was into Cammie.
So they went to grab lunch at a diner. It was May, and it was perfect weather. Zach wore a pair of shorts with an un-tucked button down and a backwards baseball hat. Jonas said he looked cool. Grant said he looked like a frat boy. Zach agreed with both of them.
Eva was the epitome of nice.
She had a nice disposition, was nice-looking, wore nice clothes, said nice things. She was probably one of the sweetest girls Zach had ever met.
"So, how do you like Gallagher?"
"It's cool. I mean, it's comfy. Our school isn't really like this."
"Really? Well, I guess it's a good thing you're finishing off high school here then. It's too comfy here sometimes."
They both chuckled and made perfectly 'nice' small talk. Zach was actually having a genuinely 'nice' time with Eva until Cammie waltzed in, looking all perfect and adorable in a floral skirt and cardigan with flats and a headband with a big bow on it.
Zach quickly turned his head, pretending not to notice her and her group of Macey, Liz, and Bex (who he secretly thought was into Grant, but he figured he'd let him sweat it out a little longer). He shot a charming smile at the blonde across from him and got back into the conversation. Everything was going perfectly fine until Eva reached across the table and put her hand on top of his.
Immediately, he heard a thud.
Cammie had pushed out of her booth (landing Liz on her butt on the less than sanitary linoleum floor) and stomped her way over to Zach and Eva.
"Hey, Ca – "
But Zach was cut off.
By Cammie's lips.
On his.
And after a few seconds, somewhere in the back of his brain, Zack acknowledged Eva sliding out of her seat and leaving with Bex, Liz and Macey. He knew he should've apologized but he couldn't bring himself to tear away from this girl whose face was glued to his in the most mind-blowing kiss he'd ever had.
And Zach knew that he had most definitely not given up, no matter what he told himself, because this kiss? This utterly amazing, spectacular, stomach-flipping kiss?
It made up for every 'almost' they had ever had.
Hey! I hope you enjoyed that, I loved writing it. I always wanted to do a 'five times when…' or something like that. They're actually super fun to write, so I'll probably do another soon.
So if you liked it (or didn't) tell me what you think. Just drop me a line and give me some feedback.
Remember to review! (Because it's kind of annoying that 400 people read Chocolates within 24 hours, 30 people favorited, and no one reviewed).
-Goldie