Chapter 13

Zoe was in bed trying to work up the energy to get up and go to the kitchen to get a tablet for her headache. She had been out late at Rose's house the night before and when she came home she had got distracted with some sappy movie on the TV and stayed up even later. From memory, she had also finished the bottle of white wine in the fridge – and that was on top of the several herself and Rose had consumed earlier in the evening. 'Uugh' Zoe moaned as she rolled over in the bed & buried her head in the pillow.

'Damn' Rose may have coerced her into admitting that she liked Wade. What was the point in admitting to that? Rose wouldn't tell Pete would she? She had been full of ridiculous advice about how Zoe could make a first move. Like that was ever going to happen! Wade made moves on everyone – the least he could do was to make a move on her.

Her train of thought was interupted by a knock on the door.

'Go away' Zoe moaned to herself.

"Zoe, it's just me, Wade".

Holy crap, what was happening? Could Rose have already spoken to Pete who had spoken to Wade? No – that wasn't possible right? Zoe got out of bed and pulled on the nearest sweater. She barely registered that it was Justin's college one.

On seeing Wade's face when she opened the door she realised she must look even worse than she thought. He looked pretty shocked and almost ... concerned.

"Are you working this morning Doc" Wade asked slowly taking in her appearance.

"No – afternoon shift" Zoe replied hoarsely, coughing to clear her throat.

"Okay, well then get dressed. And shower maybe" Wade suggested politely. "I'm taking you out of this apartment for the morning"

Zoe looked at him confused. What was happening?

"I'll be over in ten minutes to collect you" Wade continued. "Or maybe fifteen" he suggested solemly trying not to stare at her dishevelled appearance.

"Okay Wade, what's happening?" Zoe asked bemused when they finally stepped into the lift. She was still a bit woozie and wondered was she, in fact, still a little drunk. No worries, the tablets she took should kick in soon. She had grabbed some very large sunglasses on her way out the door just in case Wade was going to make her go into the sunlight. "Are you kidnapping me? I've never been kidnapped before ..." she said wistfully "Where are you going to take me? Is there a ransom?" she added excitedly.

Wade was barely listening – he realised he didn't have a particular plan for where they were going. One thing was for sure, Zoe was not herself. Could she still be a bit drunk from the night before he wondered? Were things that bad that she was drinking alone in the evenings? He didn't like that thought – way too close to home. At least she had cleaned up and was back to looking like Zoe – she had looked a mess when she answered the door that morning – she must be taking the break-up pretty bad.

He suddenly found a hand on his chest. "So, do you want my Daddy's address?" Zoe was in front of him drawing the outline of the cross he wore around his neck through his t-shirt. Jeez, what was she trying to do to him? He was trying real hard to be her friend and she had finally decided to flirt wth him. Wade reluctantly lifted her hand off his chest and placing her at arms length, looked at her questioningly.

"For the ransom note" Zoe whispered loudly still off in her kidnapping fantasy. Wade ignored her and took the sunglasses out of her other hand. He placed them carefully on her face "I had a plan but I think we may need some hydration first..." he decided wondering who this new Zoe was and what would have happened if he had met her first. Unfortunately the new Wade was painfully fixed in 'friend' mode.

X X X

Zoe sat on the grass finishing her hot-dog. She looked up and watched Wade returning with their ice-creams. If she could have guessed this morning how this day was going to turn out, she would never in her wildest dreams have thought that Wade was going to turn up at her door and bring her on a tour of Central Park and then to the Zoo and now a picnic of hotdogs and ice-cream. She was supposed to be the New Yorker but it looked like his morning runs had given him a pretty good knowledge of the Park and it's attractions. He had even picked the perfect place for their picnic – slightly off the beaten track with a nice view of the Turtle Pond and the softball pitch where the faint noise of a rowdy game could be heard.

And they had had fun. Or at least she had. No, they both had – she was convinced of it. He had been quite attentive too which was unexpected and nice. Okay, really nice she admitted to herself. He had made her drink a bottle of water the minute they hit the street which she had needed more than she realised. And the Zoo had been funny – Wade had insisted on visiting all the animals local to Alabama which had limited them to Alligators and the snakes in the indoor Tropic Zone - until he saw how green the smell of all the reptiles was making her and brought her out to the sun again. They had caught the seals feeding time and sat for ages just watching the seals and teasing each other about which animal in the Zoo the other was most like.

He sat himself down beside her and threw over her ice-cream.

"Thanks" Zoe said looking at him. "So, Wade, When are you going to tell me what this is all about?"

Wade looked over saying nothing. He turned over to lie on the grass and carefully opened his ice-cream. "Shelly was in the 'Jammer last night" he started.

'I bet she was' thought Zoe not sure if she wanted to hear what was going to come next.

"Apparently you and Justin have broken up and nobody's seen you and your friends are worried that you've locked yourself in your apartment to mope." Wade explained carefully "And with Lavon away, she asked me to call over and see if you were okay – you know – make sure you weren't freaking out – spendin' all day in bed, drinking wine by yourself or wandering around in Justin's old clothes – all that sappy girly stuff".

"Wow, Wade, don't start writing any 'Dear Sally' columns any time soon". Zoe retorted before falling into silence to consider his words.

"So was she right?"

Zoe wondered what he would do if he knew that Shelly was partially right – right that Zoe was brooding but wrong that it was about Justin.

"Zoe?"

"Okay Wade – yes, Justin and I broke up but I'm fine with it" "Really" she added when she saw him look over with a disbelieving expression.

"I have been hanging out a bit, and I did take some days off work but I just needed a break and some time to think. And I HAVE been out – I was in Rose's last night but we may have drunk a bit too much. And yes, I still have Justin's sweater but I only put it on this morning because my neighbour called to my door really early and I was still in bed and I would have been indecent otherwise".

Wade was about to assure her that he wouldn't have minded her answering the door indecent but it was too easy. Some things went without saying.

The two continued to eat in comfortable silence. Wade contemplated her insistance that she was fine about Justin. He wasn't sure he believed her but she was acting strange these days – he didn't seem to be able to read her as well as usual.

Zoe was wondering why she was suddenly sad. Wade had taken her out to cheer her up which was undoubtedly nice but she wished he had done it off his own bat and not because Shelley had told him to.

"So, what went wrong with Golden Boy?" asked Wade finshing his ice-cream and stretching back in the grass.

"Too perfect?"

"Hair too neat?"

"Teeth too straight?"

"Shoes too clean?"

Zoe ignored him and let him continue listing Justin's potential flaws which he seemed to be thoroughy enjoying.

"Bad kisser?" suggested Wade with a grin, rolling over onto his side to face her.

"Definitely not" Zoe finally responded licking the last piece of ice-cream from the spoon. "Justin had his flaws but kissing was not one of them" she declared confidently "Definitely an 'A'.

"Just an 'A' – not an 'A+'" teased Wade.

Zoe laughed. "Sorry Wade, Justin was a great kisser – you're not going to get me to say anything otherwise. Although you, no doubt, are an A+?" she teased.

"I haven't had any complaints" he admitted modestly.

"So", she said innocently, as she lay down beside him putting a hand under her head to face him "That must have been just an off night the night we first met ...?" she teased trying to keep a straight face but finally falling backwards laughing.

"Hang on, hang on, that's not fair – you were as drunk as a boiled owl that night – that doesn't count" cried Wade trying to defend himself. "You probably don't remember how good it was ..."

"Well if we're only taking in the opinion of sober women...",

"Funny" noted Wade. "When did you get so funny?" he asked sarcastically picking up some grass and throwing it at her "I prefered you when you were sad and pinning over Justin".

"C'mon Wade, show me what an A+ kiss is' teased Zoe looking over and enjoying his discomfort.

"Kiss me Wade" she laughed, closing her eyes and lifting a puckered mouth to him. Yep, the time had definitely come to call Wade Kinsella's bluff.

Wade didn't know why he did it. He knew she was only joking. But she had looked so sexy lying on the grass beside him, hair all spread out around her, laughing, joking - and she kept talking about kissing – he couldn't even remember why anymore - as he leaned over and brought his open mouth down on hers. He gave her two long, hard kisses feeling her gradually soften and begin to kiss him back before he realised what he had done.

Pulling away slightly he shut his eyes and cursed "Zoe, sorry - I ...' he groaned quietly. He opened his eyes to see her eyes still closed beneath him. The smile was gone and her face was flushed. He went to pull away but felt a small hand grab hold of his t-shirt tightly and pull him back down. "Zoe" he asked, confused, "Are you sure?". Zoe raised her head and returned her lips to his, bringing him slowly back down.

This time he was softer, more hesitatant, a myriad of thoughts going through his head. Even as his mind pushed back the nagging thought that this was wrong, his lips and tongue knew what they wanted to do and the soft mouth underneath him was more than happy to oblige.

Realising he was coming close to losing the run of himself, Wade eventually broke away and rolling on to his back, distanced himself from her, breathing heavily.

Zoe could not move. She had melted into the grass - conscious only of her rapid, loud breathing and her heart thumping in her chest.

They both lay in silence for a moment, aware suddenly of their exposed location – the background noises suddenly audible again - distant traffic, children laughing, the softball match in the grass below.

On two occasions Wade raised his head and went to speak but he had no idea what to say – no idea what he was supposed to say. And it had been such a perfect morning up until then! They had laughed, were having fun, why did he have to go and mess it up?

He rolled over onto his front and put his head in his hands. Looking over at Zoe, he saw that her eyes were still shut – the only thing moving was the still rapid rise and fall of her chest. He reached out and touched her arm beside him. There was no reaction. Leaving his hand there, he put his head down and shut his eyes.

They stayed like that for what seemed like ten minutes until Wade eventually got concerned. Zoe still hadn't moved or said anything in all this time. "Zoe" he called gently, squeezing her arm, noticing that her breathing had returned to normal. "Zoe" he called again, giving the arm a small shake.

"C'mon Zoe, say something .."

Eventually, she spoke. "I'm not talking to you".

Wade thought for a moment and concluded that this was promising - although she still hadn't moved nor opened her eyes. Wade took a chance and reaching out, slowly traced a finger lightly along her stomach where her top had risen away from her jeans. From the corner of his eye he saw a flicker of a reaction from the edge of Zoe's mouth. He then gently put his hand under her top and slowly began to move it up towards ...Yep. That got the reaction he wanted.

Zoe clamped Wade's wandering hand and with the other one started hitting him in the chest. "This is all your fault" she shouted. "Why did you have to do that – I was only joking about kissing me".

Wade let her rant.

Zoe finshed and reluctantly rolled over to face him handing him back his errant hand. "Cheap trick" she commented.

"Sorry for kissing you" he said, looking her in the eye.

"Again!"

"Again" conceeded Wade smiling.

There was a pause for a moment before Wade's vanity couldn't resist the obvious question: "How was it?"

Zoe looked over at him in shock. He was incorrigiable! Well he wasn't getting what he wanted from her. She tried to sound nonchalant "B, B-"

"You're lyin'" Wade replied laughing.

"I am not" retorted Zoe.

"Zoe Hart" said Wade grinning, getting to his knees and coming towards her, "Admit that you are lying or I shall tickle you until you are crying out in pain".