So, it occurs to me that I haven't updated in a while, and I'm a terrible person. I was procrastinating on some homework today and felt that I should at least do something productive, so here is a new chapter. Please excuse any errors on my part!
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Ally Carter.
Chapter NINE
"We missed you last night."
Those were the first words out of Bex's mouth when I answered the door the next morning. It was eight in the morning and while I was still tromping around in my pajamas, Bex had donned a beige cami tucked into plum colored high-waisted shorts with a matching blazer.
"Hello, Bex, how are you this morning?" I mumbled. "Oh, I'm fine, Cammie, just jolly. How fare ye?"
"'How fare ye,' Cam, really? I'm part British, not part Shakespeare."
I smiled and opened the door wider so she could step into the foyer. "I'm sorry I didn't come over last night; I completely blanked."
"No biggie. I would have called but Macey said it'd just go to voicemail." She quirked an eyebrow at me. "What's the story behind that?"
"Oh, uh, nothing." I said. "Zach dismantled my phone so..."
"I see."
She was quiet for a moment and avoided meeting my eye. "What?"
She shook her head and looked back at me. "Nothing." But the guilty look on her face said otherwise.
"What did you and Macey talk about last night?" I asked slowly, and her face flushed.
Bingo.
"Oh, God. She told you that ridiculous theory, too, didn't she?"
"It didn't so ridiculous to me."
I stared at her. "It's official. My friends have gone insane. Did Liz at least see some sense?"
Bex shook her head. "I don't get what the big deal is. So, you've got a little crush. So does just about every girl who sees him. There's no need to sweat over it."
"I have a boyfriend."
"Who's thousands of miles away."
"What's that supposed to mean?" The question came out a little harsher than I intended and she looked at me for a moment before turning away and saying, "Nothing."
Somehow the atmosphere in the room had become very tense. I was gripping the banister at the bottom of the stairs so hard that my knuckles were white. Bex, who was usually the epitome of relaxed, was standing pin straight like there was a metal rod attached to her spine.
I sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. It's just I find it all to be so..."
"Ridiculous?" She smiled a little, and I returned it.
"Yeah."
She shrugged and relaxed again. "It's cool. I shouldn't have brought it up. I just wanted to see the look on your face."
For a second, I had the strange urge to look at the ground, as if I were guilty of something. I couldn't meet Bex's eyes when she said that. I didn't know why.
"Uh, do you want something to eat? I was gonna whip up a bowl of cereal."
She waved my offer away with a hand. "Nah, I ate at home. I wouldn't say no to a cup of joe, though."
"Coming right up."
After I got Bex her mug of coffee (she was addicted to the stuff), our conversation went far smoother. She didn't mention anything about Zach or Josh or meaningful glances, and I was eternally grateful. While I loved Macey with all of my heart, she didn't know when to drop the issue. She pushed and pushed until everyone was either pissed off and yelling or crying in the corner. Bex, on the other hand, allowed you at least a chance of forming a viable argument of whatever tangent her mind was currently running on.
"So, are you going to the bonfire this weekend?" She asked after taking a sip of her steaming hot coffee.
I leaned back in my seat and nursed my own mug. "I haven't decided yet."
"What's there to decide? You've barely hung out with anyone all summer, choosing to mope around your house or Bucky's on the few days you do work." Bex gave me a serious look. "I was talking to Eva a couple days ago and she asked me if you ended up leaving with Josh for the summer."
I laughed a little and brushed my hair out of my face. "Nope, still here."
Bex placed her mug down on the wooden surface of the table and grabbed my hand. "You should come to the party. It'll be a good distractor. Plus, it's the Fourth of July bonfire. We always go to the Fourth of July bonfire."
I heaved a sigh. "Fine, I'll go. But only because you begged."
"Fantastic. Liz's going to be able to make it, too." She beamed at me. "It's going to be a night to remember."
I smiled back at her, though slightly more sarcastic. "And possibly one we wish we could forget."
She shoved my shoulder and slumped against her seat. "Hush, you. I don't need you weighing down on me with your negativity. What I do need is for you tell me exactly what you plan to wear this Saturday."
"I have a better idea. Can you tell me what the hell is up with Macey? She's been acting like a maniac lately."
Bex shrugged. "You noticed that, too? At first I thought nothing of it - I figured it had to be her stressing over our trip. But it's not. Last Thursday we went to a movie just the two of us and halfway through - right as they're getting to the good stuff, mind you - she charges out of the theater and starts going on about misogynists and harlots. It was weird."
"Oh my gosh. What were you guys watching?"
"The late night animation showing. It was Bambi, Cammie. Bambi." Bex's eyes were wide and one hundred percent serious.
I broke out laughing.
Bex smiled at me as she continued. "But seriously, I'm glad you brought this up. Macey's been like a ticking time bomb these past couple weeks. Is something going on with her and her parents?"
I shook my head as my laughter died down. "Not as far as I know." I paused for a minute. "She did want a cobb salad yesterday."
"Better known as the Macey Mating Salad?" Bex smirked and quirked an eyebrow at me.
"The very one."
"Do you think she's hooking up with someone?"
I rolled my eyes. "She literally laughed in my face when I proposed that. Apparently Zach's not her type."
"So she's not hooking up with Zach. That doesn't mean she's still not getting up on some other guy we know." She thought for a moment. "Although, who else in this town would she date?"
I recalled another detail from yesterday's lunch. "Tina did say something about a mystery man."
Bex grinned wickedly. "Sounds sexy. I'm already imagining the torrid love affair. Macey, the mayor's daughter and Jacque, the pauper."
"The pauper?" I gave her an unimpressed look. "Are we living in a modern day fiefdom?"
She shrugged and replied cryptically, "Depends on who you ask."
I rolled my eyes. "Anyways..."
Bex refocused. "Yes, anyways, we'll keep an eye on her. It's a good thing our vacay is just one blessed week away. We'll squeeze every last secret out of her."
"You know, sometimes I wonder what kind of person you might have been like in another life."
Her look was undeniably irritated. "I would think it were apparent, Cammie dear. Obviously, I worked for MI6 as the renowned and highly feared female James Bond. I'm gonna devote an entire section of my life's memoir to this very subject one day."
I laughed and got up from the table. "Wait for me to get dressed?"
She nodded her agreement, and I headed upstairs to change. Fifteen minutes later I was locking up the house and heading towards her car when I thought to make a quick detour.
With a gesture of exasperation, Bex settled into her car as I trudged over to Zach's house. I hadn't even rung the door bell when the door opened, however.
"Well, g'morning!" Abby said, incredibly amiable for eight thirty in the morning.
"Morning, Abby. Is Zach home?"
"Just woke up. Wanna come in?" Abby opened the door wider but I hesitated.
"Uh, well, I'm kind of heading out. I just needed to pick something up."
She shook head and smiled mischievously. "You should probably ask him about that yourself. I can never find anything of his." She beckoned me in again with a nod of her head. "Come on, his room's right upstairs. Last door on the right."
I sighed. "Okay, then." I turned and waved at Bex to let her know it'd be just another minute before I entered the foyer.
With a respectable amount of shyness, I walked through the foyer and to the wide staircase that led to the second floor. The wood was smooth and without a single creak as I ascended the steps, and I had to stifle the urge to creep like a ninja to Zach's room. The door that Abby had marked as Zach's was cracked open when I reached it. I knocked lightly before opening, but even that little pressure was enough to make the well-oiled hinges work, and the door swung open.
At first, I didn't see anyone in the room. And then Zach walked through a door on the adjacent wall. Wet and shirtless.
For a second, I was frozen and just watched him as he walked across his room completely ambivalent to my presence. He'd obviously just finished his shower; his hair still had water clinging to his, and he had a white towel draped across his shoulders. His jeans were slung low on his hips, just an inch of his underwear peeking over. I'd never noticed what a well-shaped butt he had before...
I found my sanity and quickly diverted my gaze. My face blazed red from the realization that I had just been ogling my friend's ass.
"Hey, Zach." I squeaked.
"Hey, Cammie." He replied instinctively and then he seemed to realize who was in his room. "Holy...Cammie! What are you-What are you doing in here?"
"Abby let me in. I'm sorry. I knocked..." I trailed and shot a quick glance at him. He was quickly shoving his arms and head through a navy t-shirt that I'd seen him wearing last week and knew hugged his abs, although how I suddenly knew that tidbit was a mystery to me. It hadn't even run through my mind when I'd seen him in it last week.
"So, what do you need?" Zach asked me, now fully clothed.
I didn't respond immediately, as my focus was still a little disoriented. "I, uh...I need my SIM card. For my phone."
He snapped his fingers. "Right. Of course. I knew that."
He walked over to his nightstand and opened its solitary drawer. He found the card, but instead of tossing it over the bed to me, he walked around it and handed it to me personally.
I took it slowly. "Thanks." The single word was short of breath. Odd.
"You're welcome."
Despite the obvious awkwardness of the moment, it was still comfortable standing in front of Zach, a displaced SIM card between us like a baton. If only we were actually in a relay; then I would be able to explain the pounding rhythm of my heart.
"I should go." I said, but I made no move to leave.
"Got places to be?"
I nodded. "Bex and I are picking up supplies for our girls' getaway."
"Sounds...girly."
I bit my lip to back a laugh. "That would be an apt description."
"Don't let me keep you then."
He extended his hand to his open bedroom door, and I consented. With a final goodbye, I headed back down the hall. I looked back towards his door when I reached the top of the staircase but he wasn't in sight. I was surprised to find myself a little disappointed.
I left his house quickly after that, waving to Abby on my way out. Once I was settled into Bex's car, I let out a deep breath that I hadn't realized I was holding onto.
"What is it?" My friend asked as she backed out of my driveway.
"What does it mean when you check out the ass of a guy who isn't your boyfriend?"
She gave me an astonished look, and I had to remind her to watch the road. "You checked out Zach's ass?"
"That's not the point."
"Maybe it should be." She said with a little chuckle.
"Bex."
"Relax, Cam. That doesn't make you a cheater. It just makes you human. A little looking is perfectly fine. I encourage it, actually. That way you know how good or bad you've got it." She grinned at me. "Now, to the stuff that's actually interesting. Zach's got a great gluteus maximus, doesn't he?"
"You've checked it out?"
"Only every time his back's turned to me. You don't see butts like that every day, you know. Gotta take advantage of it when you can."
"I feel scarred."
Bex barked out a short laugh. "Don't act so innocent, Cammie. You and Josh have been together for years. There's no way you can be that uncorrupted."
"Josh is a complete gentleman."
"Well, even gentlemen can be naughty."
I blushed and Bex took that as all the evidence she needed.
I decided not to mention the fact that I had also seen Zach shirtless. If Bex had this kind of reaction to a fully clothed part of his body, I shuddered to imagine what would happen if I told her about his bare chest and the way his abs had that perfect amount of definition. And how the muscles in his back had glided so smoothly as he ambled casually through his room, merely going from point A to point B.
No, I definitely was keeping that to myself.
What do you think? I know it's a bit of a filler chapter but hopefully I'll be able to get some of my big events in here soon. I've got things planned, guys. It'll be epic. Hopefully.
Reviews, comments, and questions welcomed!
