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College Years: The Next Year

Chapter 4

Graduation and Gifts

"Jake! What are you doing here?"

Jake got up off of the chair he was sitting on. He didn't look at all like Zack had pictured. In Zack's mind, Jake was large with black hair and dark eyes. In truth, Jake was kind of small, probably only a little taller than Maddie, with light brown hair and big blue eyes. He didn't look like the type of person to cheat on someone, but obviously that wasn't true.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend, Maddie?"

Maddie's eyes were wide with shock. She never thought she'd see Jake again. She said slowly, "Zack, this is Jake. My ex-fiancé." She emphasized 'ex', "Jake, this is Zack. My boyfriend."

Jake repeated, "Boyfriend? This scrawny blonde boy?" He motioned towards Zack, "What do you see in him?"

Zack answered, "Well I don't cheat on her for one thing!"

Jake glared at him.

"I wouldn't be making such smart remarks if I were you, Zack."

"And why not? What? Are you going to do something about it?"

"What year are you, anyway? Freshman?"

"So what if I am?"

"I'd kick your ass so don't try me."

"I'd like to see you try!"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah!"

Maddie screamed as Jake came lunging at Zack. Zack moved aside quickly, pushing Maddie softly out of the way. Jake hit the wall and turned to Zack, a look of utmost anger in his eyes. He raised his arm and his fist came at Zack's face. Zack ducked and punched Jake in the jaw.

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that one, pretty boy!"

"Mhm, yeah, right."

Jake came at Zack again but Zack pushed him quickly and he fell to the floor. Zack put his foot on Jake's chest and said, "Proof enough for you that you shouldn't mess with me when it comes to Maddie?" Jake glared up at Zack.

"You know, Jake? I should kick your face in…" He heard Maddie gasp, "No!" behind him, "…but you're not worth it. Get out of here before I change my mind." He took his foot off of Jake's chest and Jake rose slowly. He turned to Maddie and said, "I came back here to tell you I was sorry and that I loved you."

"The feeling's not mutual."

Jake stalked through the door, slamming it after him. Zack turned to Maddie and rushed to her, quickly hugging her.

"Zack! Are you okay?"

He nodded and she said, "I can't believe my boyfriend just got into a fight with my ex-boyfriend."

"Hey, he came at me. I was just using self defense."

"Oh, I know. Don't worry."

He leaned down and kissed her quickly.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, Maddie."

"I'm sorry you had to meet him an kick the crap out of him."

"I'm really sorry."

"It's okay."

He kissed her again.

Two weeks passed and before Maddie knew it, she was putting on her black cap and gown and sitting in a chair surrounded by so many kids that she didn't even know went to Berkeley. The Dean stood up and welcomed everyone and introduced guest speakers and the valedictorian who made a really long speech. Then the Dean stood up again and started calling names. It seemed to take forever for it to get to Maddie. Finally the Dean called, "Madeline Fitzpatrick."

Zack started cheering loudly along with Maddie's parents, Cody, Sarah and Carrie. He'd never been more proud of her. As she crossed the stage and the next name was called, Zack reached for his pocket and felt the large package inside it. He thought to himself, Oh, she's going to be so surprised.

Over the last two weeks, Zack and Maddie spent every waking moment together. They decided that with two weeks left of school, it was pointless of Zack to move into Maddie's dorm and then have to move back out of it in two weeks to go back home. They had, however, pushed the beds together in each dorm so that there was a double bed in each and they took turns spending the night at each other's dorms.

Each night they would talk. They would talk about a lot of things from renting an apartment so they could stay together during Zack's last years of college to the difference between French fries and mashed potatoes. Zack felt at ease with Maddie, and vice versa, and they both felt they could open up easily. One night, the subject of marriage had come up unexpectedly. Zack had asked, "Would you want to get married? And I'm not talking about in general, I'm talking about us." She had responded, "If the right time came along." Zack wasn't sure what she meant at the time, but he was pretty sure now.

After the graduation, Maddie's parents had arranged a small Graduation party at a local hotel for Maddie. Maddie couldn't have been happier. Zack pulled her aside and took the package out of his pocket.

"Here, Maddie. I want you to open this."

"Oh, Zack, you didn't have to get me anything!"

He put the package in her hand and said, "I know, but I wanted to. Open it."

She smiled and tore off the red wrapping paper to reveal a small, velvet box. She looked at it inquisitively and then opened it. It snapped open to reveal a gold ring with a large diamond in the middle with two smaller diamonds on the sides of it. Maddie's mouth dropped open in surprise.

"Zack…?"

Zack took the box from her and got down on one knee.

"Oh my gosh…"

"Maddie?"

Maddie put her hands to her face and squeaked, "Yeah?"

"I love you. I want to marry you. I remember what you said about wanting to wait for the right time. For me, it's always been the right time, but I wanted to make sure it was the right time for you. I want you to know that if you say yes, it will be a long engagement and we'll wait until you're ready for the marriage. If you say no, then we'll wait until you're ready to get engaged. I'm ready, but I want you to be ready." He paused and then said, "Madeline Fitzpatrick, will you marry me?" (A/N- I want you to know that I was going to be completely evil and end it here and make you wait until I get back from a three week vacation to find out what she says. I decided to be nice. You better love me for it, too.)

"Oh my gosh…"

Zack stared up at her and bit his lip.

Maddie thought to herself, Marriage? Is he serious? Well, of course he is. He bought you a ring and everything! And just look at that ring! Isn't it gorgeous? I know I love him, but am I ready to marry him? I know he'd never be like Jake and cheat on me. And he said he'd wait for me to be ready to actually walk down the aisle. I look in his eyes and I feel complete. I feel his arms around me and I feel so safe and warm. If this isn't true love, I don't know what is. Do I want to marry him? I know I could be happy with him for the rest of my life.

"Zack?"

"Yeah?"

"Yes."

"Yes?"

She nodded and said, "Yes. I'll marry you, Zachary Martin."

He jumped up and kissed her passionately. When they broke apart he stared into her eyes and said, "I love you."

"I love you, too."

He took the ring out of the box and slid it onto her finger.

"Do you want to announce it now or later?"

Maddie thought for a minute and said, "I'm so happy. I can't contain this. Now…definitely now. Everyone we'd want to tell is here!" Zack smiled. It made him happier than anything, even her saying yes to his proposal, to know that their engagement made her happy.

They walked, hand in hand, to the front of the room where there was a microphone on a stage. They climbed the stairs to the stage and stood in front of the microphone for a few moments before anyone noticed them there. Zack tapped the microphone and said, "Testing, testing." His voice erupted through the room. He stepped back and said, "First of all, I want to say congratulations to the woman I love on a job well done." The crowd, giving him their undivided attention now, clapped, "And second, I'd like to announce something very important…and very special." He paused for dramatic effect, "The woman standing next to me," he motioned to Maddie who had a silly smile plastered on her face, "is not only my love and my girlfriend…she is now my fiancée." He held up her hand that showed the ring.

The crowd broke out in applause and murmurs. Zack and Maddie got off the stage and were instantly met by Carrie, the Fitzpatrick's, Cody, and Sarah. Carrie started off, "You're engaged? Since when?" Zack answered calmly, "Since about…" He looked at his watch for yet another dramatic effect, "Ten minutes ago."

Mrs. Fitzpatrick cried, "I didn't even know the two of you were dating this seriously and now you're engaged!" Mr. Fitzpatrick continued, "When were you planning on telling us, dear, that you'd found the love of your life again? The wedding day perhaps?"

Maddie dropped Zack's hand and said, "Mom, Dad, listen. I love Zack, okay? I feel like I could spend my life with him. But it's not like we're going to get married this instant! This is going to be a long engagement," she glanced at Zack and caught his eye, "and we'll get married when we're both totally ready."

Carrie said, "So you've gotten engaged to stay on a pretty much girlfriend/boyfriend basis? Where's the sense in that?"

Zack retorted, "Mom, we got engaged so that when we were ready, we were ready to go ahead and just go. We got engaged to—to strengthen our relationship and make it more—more unbreakable. You know, I thought everyone would be happy for us. I guess that was too much to ask of my family." He glared at his mother and then at the Fitzpatrick's and stormed off. Maddie gave them looks and said, "Maybe he was a little too harsh about it, but he's right. You should be happy for us. Not telling us it's a mistake." She looked to her parents, "I'm scared, too. Marriage is a big step that I'm not sure I'm ready to take. But talking about marriage and talking about spending my life with Zack feel like two opposite things. Marriage sounds so formal. I feel like the word marriage doesn't have the love Zack and I share behind it. I'm rambling, so anyway…" She looked to Carrie, "You're like a second mom to me. You're okay with your actual son," she motioned towards Cody and Sarah who were still standing behind Carrie, "moving halfway across the country to live with a woman he'd known for 4 months…but you won't be happy for your 'daughter' marrying someone who loves her more than anything and has loved her for seven years?" She looked down at her feet, "I know it's a big step and that's why we're waiting to go ahead with the wedding. I wish you'd be happy for us, and for me…instead of telling me it's wrong and giving me excuses as to why it's a mistake." With that she hurried off to find Zack.

She found him waiting in the hall outside the doors. She stood in front of him and said, "I thought you would have left…"

"Yeah, well, Cody's my ride…"

"Oh…"

"And I didn't want to leave you here."

She gave him a half-smile and said, "Zack, doesn't this seem rushed?"

"Rushed? I waited seven years and it's rushed? What? Did you want me to wait ten?" He joked.

She smiled now and said, "No, I mean…we've been together for like six and a half months…well, officially. And while I feel like I know you better than I know myself, marriage just seems like such a huge step. We got back together, what? Three weeks ago?"

Zack's smile fell as he said, "We've been engaged for twenty minutes and you already want to break it off?"

"No, no, no, that's not what I'm saying!"

"Then what are you saying?"

"I don't even know anymore."

"I meant what I said when I proposed. I waited seven years for you; I can wait a few more for you to be ready to get married. We don't even have to say we're engaged. We could just say we're dating…if you want."

"No, I like how it sounded. Zack and Maddie, Maddie and Zack. Engaged. It sounds really nice. And I also like waiting until I'm ready for the marriage bit of it. I want to be engaged. But I'm not ready to get married. Does that make any sense?"

"Makes perfect sense to me." She smiled as he continued, "To be honest, I'm not sure I'm ready to get married. I'm 19!"

"You're not 19! You're 18."

"Okay, so I'll be 19 in two weeks. Come on, humor me?"

She smiled and said, "Fine, fine. Humoring you."

"I'm only 18, as you so lovely pointed out, and marriage does seem like a huge step. But I'm in love with the idea of spending my life with you. I can't tell you how much joy and pleasure I get out of waking up next to you. I stay awake at nights sometimes…just to watch you sleep. You look so peaceful. I hate going to asleep…'cause I'm afraid I'll miss one smile…one pleasant dream on your face…"

"Just like that Bon Jovi song…" She smiled.

"Exactly." He sang, "I don't want to close my eyes. I don't want to fall asleep 'cause I'd miss you, baby. And I don't want to miss a thing. 'Cause even when I dream of you, the sweetest dream will never do, I'd still miss you, baby. And I don't want to miss a thing."

She smiled and blushed, looking down at her feet. He reached out and put his finger under her chin and pushed her face back up to look into her eyes. He said softly, "I want to marry you. And I can't wait. But I will wait…for you." He pulled her face to his and kissed her deeply.


A/N-

Note #1- Wanted to remind you that you better love me for adding all this extra stuff in. I was TOTALLY going to end it on the proposal and make ALL OF YOU SUFFER…but I'm in such a giving mood, I decided to write some more! Heh heh…

Note #2- this chapter isn't as long as I had hoped, but I hope it'll do. It's a bit longer than my average chapter but it's shorter than I wanted. I'm sorry, guys. I promise when I get back from my trip near the end of July, I'll update with a really long chapter. How about that?

Note #3- Before any of you jump down my butt, I wanted to talk about this REALLY rushed engagement. Yes, I know things are moving fast. Trust me, it's going to be a LONG engagement. As I was writing this, I kept thinking, "I can make Maddie like this if I want. She's under my control and I can make her do what I want." But I knew that I've grown so attached to these characters that I just knew that Maddie would feel it was rushed. Precisely why I added all the talk about waiting and such.

Note #4- I do NOT own the song I mentioned. Is it by Bon Jovi? I could swear it was but I'm not sure. It's 1:45 in the morning, so cut me some slack? I hope I'm right, but either way, I do NOT own the song.

Note #5- Something I wanted to run by some reviewers. What do you think of Maddie and Zack having kids? Not until after the wedding, of course, as this IS a kid's show and I'm sure a lot of you are under 14 and I don't want to go around supporting teen sex and such. But after the wedding? How many do you think they should have? Boys vs. girls? Names? I'm so confused and I'd greatly appreciate some ideas if anyone's got 'em.

Note #6- some of you are "Nameless Love" fans. I just wanted to inform you that my next story to work on IS that one, so the update should be around soon. It's probably going to be a country song. I'm pretty sure I've got the song picked out, I just need some inspiration. But I'm NOT working on ANY other story until I update that one. I swear by it, y'all as my witnesses.

Note #7- Please review! I'd love you forever if you do. Thank you SO much to previous reviewers and continued reviewers. I'm trying to get back into the habit of replying to reviewers, but my time is scarce.

Hope to hear from you soon,

Love,

DC