Chapter 2: Hearts Don't Stop For Pretty Girls
"I met a girl today," he said to Hodgins later. He tried to keep the pride out of his voice, but he wasn't successful. Although if he was being entirely honest with himself, he would have admitted that the smugness wasn't as unintentional as he would have had Hodgins believe.
Zack, after all, had many chances to be smug about intelligence. When it came to facts and empirical data, it was clear that he was superior to his friend. But for once, Zack had the chance to display alpha male overconfidence about possible sexual partnership. Which was a much more socially accepted thing to be smug about for males in his age range.
And he thought, from the small chuckle, that Hodgins understood.
"Oh, yeah? Was she hot?"
Zack came humiliatingly close to answering that it was a warm day and she had been wearing a sleeveless top so she was probably at least somewhat warmer than average. Thankfully, he realized in time that the temperature was not what Hodgins was referring to.
When he paid attention to context, deciphering the meanings of words was simple. However most of the time he was more focused on his work, which always took precedence over personal conversations. His absent listening almost always resulted in embarrassing situations. Incredulous laughter from Hodgins or Angela, blank stares from Booth and Dr. Goodman, and a pitying clarification from Dr. Brennan, who only felt bad because she used to be the same way.
"She was beautiful," he said. He didn't think that 'hot' was the right word. It didn't fit. It was too crude. Classless. It implied that she put a degree of effort into her looks, like the plastic peroxide princesses that Hodgins tended to date.
No, Georgia was beautiful. Like her name.
"Did you talk to her?"
"Not really. Booth was asking her questions. Though I did get to tell her that the victim was male. She found the body." He paused to remember and thoughtfully mentioned, "and she didn't seem disgusted by it."
"Well, either she's a freak like you or there's a good chance she's our killer."
Zack frowned.
He hoped she was a freak like him.
"Mr. Addy? There's a woman who says she's here to see you."
Zack turned away from the remains on the table with surprise. He briefly hoped that it was Naomi from paleontology before he realized that security wouldn't need to alert him. And Naomi wouldn't visit.
It was Georgia standing with one of the security officers, a stack of papers in her hands and a sheepish smile on her face. He couldn't think of any logical reason why she would have wanted to see him, but he was certainly not unhappy about the circumstances.
"You've got to be kidding me," Hodgins muttered. His disbelief was clear, even to Zack.
Zack grinned at him and moved across the platform to the stairs. She stood at the bottom, looking up at him with her wide eyes and her beautiful smile. He felt his mouth go dry.
"What are you doing here?" he asked finally. Not unkindly.
"I looked through some of the creative writing assignments that I collected from the kids before break, and I found the ones that Nester wrote," she said sadly. "I still can't believe that it was Nester up there. I just thought maybe these would help prove that it wasn't a suicide. Prove that he wasn't depressed."
Zack thought that it was a very nice thing of her to do, coming all the way out here to give him some papers. He wasn't the right person to give them to, of course, but that didn't matter much. Not to him.
"Sweetie, maybe I should deal with this," Angela said, tentatively coming up behind him. She didn't know about Georgia. She couldn't have understood that Zack wanted to show Hodgins that pretty girls could like him, too. But still Zack was a little annoyed.
"No," he replied carefully. "I can handle it." He turned back to Georgia. "You should probably give that stuff to Agent Booth. That's what he does."
"Booth! That was his name! I couldn't remember. I was so nervous at the crime scene, I wasn't paying attention to anything. That's why I came here. I could only remember you.
Angela made a humming noise behind his back and gave Hodgins a look. Zack didn't see it, but he knew that it had happened. He had been friends with them long enough to know when they were judging him.
"Zack, sweetie, maybe you should call Booth and take Georgia to wait in Brennan's office until she and Booth get back." Angela's soothing tone indicated that she had realized Zack didn't know what he was supposed to do in this situation. "Instead of making her drive all the way to the F.B.I. offices. Hodgins and I can handle things while you wait with her."
Zack looked at Angela. He didn't think she was making fun of him. He thought maybe she was even trying to help.
"Okay," he said. He wasn't totally sure that he trusted her, but he decided to try it her way. She knew more about women than he did. He turned back to Georgia. "Would you mind waiting?"
"Not at all."
Georgia's smile was bright and pretty. Zack thought for a second that his heart had stopped.