Dear Diary,

Wade Kinsella KISSED me. Okay so it was midnight on New Year's Eve but still, it changes things...only it didn't. I know you know that Wade was my first kiss (not just of the year but ever), but this was different. We're different, we aren't kids anymore and if I'm honest I can't stop thinking about it. I felt everything you're supposed to when you kiss someone, all weird and fluttery, yet it was completely natural, and we went back to being us right after it happened. That's the real problem. We haven't changed anything, but shouldn't things change? Gah! Normally I have Wade to talk me down from a freakout but now he's the issue. I can't have a crush on WADE! If I have a crush on him that means I'll for sure fall in love with him because let's face it, he's annoyingly loveable. And if I fall in love with him and he doesn't feel the same then we'll be OVER! Okay, maybe not but there will be an awkward period in there somewhere. Why couldn't he just be ugly? Or stupid, stupid is a turn off too! I'm telling you I have half a mind to march over there and smack him just for making me think so much. First thing in the morning I'm enlisting Lavon in this mess.

Until next time,

Z

.

"Come on!"

"Z, don't you have someone you usually bug with this stuff?" Lavon asked in exasperation stealing one of Zoe's cookies.

"Yes, but seeing as the person I usually talk to is the problem that leaves you." She sighed dramatically.

"Lavon Hayes thinks you have a thing for Wade Kinsella, so why don't you just be a big girl and tell him?"

"I can't do that!"

"Sure you can Big Z."

"Nope, not happening, and you can't make me!"

"Make you do what?" Wade asked walking into the kitchen.

"Participate in one of Lemon's stupid Belle things." Zoe responded without missing a beat.

"Oh, no no no no no. I'm with the runt on this one Mayor. Last time she did one of them things I was roped into it just so she wouldn't get herself killed." Wade argued pouring himself some coffee. "In fact can't you just make some kind of law banning Zoe here from any further Belle participation? Do us all a favor?" he begged.

The next few weeks went by in pretty much the same fashion. Wade and Zoe flirting a bit here and there, movie nights every Wednesday, Sundays reserved for "learning" new things which usually ended with one or both of them going in to see Dr. Breeland. But for all their natural chemistry and fun, neither one seemed willing to make an obvious move in a more romantic direction which is how Zoe found herself at Lavon's door, wearing Wade's old flannel over her shorts and tank top, hair in messy pigtails, and a box of Black and White cookies in hand.

"Oh Big Z..." Lavon sighed, opening the door before she could even knock.

"Help me eat my feelings?" she asked offering him her cookies.

"Come on girl." he directed steering her into the living room where she flopped onto his over-sized couch. "So...I take it you heard?"

"Heard? Why didn't they just higher a skywriter? First, it was Lemon, then the kid down at the Dixie Stop, then the old ladies who hate my shorts...by the time I made it over to the Rammer Jammer all I had to do was say 'I know' to Tom, Wanda, and Dash! Then of course Wade himself came out...I think he was going to hide it but all he said was 'Who told you?'" Zoe grumbled, aggressively biting her cookie.

"Z, I know Wade's your boy...mine too for that matter, but he's an idiot." Lavon tried to console her.

"No, I think that title goes to me. I actually thought that maybe he had a crush on me too. I know it makes me a horrible person, but when he and Tansy broke up I kind of thought maybe it was because he and I would eventually find our way to each other...It's like I'm fifteen all over again. But that's okay, after today I promise no more pining for Wade Kinsella, it's obvious that even though HE kissed ME I'm just the same little Runt I've always been."

"Come on now Z, you don't mean that. Just because Wade is too thick to admit that he likes you doesn't mean that he doesn't. "

"I'm not sure I can wait around and find out if you're right."

.

Dear Diary,

So, it seems that my plan to let Wade make the first move, you know because he's the one who was married and I didn't want to push him BLEW UP IN MY FACE! Turns out he just said yes to the first bar fly that asked him out! I mean sure he's hooked up with girls after he and T broke things off, but then he kissed me and he seemed to have stopped "hanging out" with all those girls so stupidly I got my hopes up that maybe he wasn't hooking up with them because he was ready to move things into a more romantic place with me. But nope. I'm not sure if I should be offended or not that he never tried to do anything more than actually sleep with me all those nights we've spent together...oh great something ELSE for me to stress over. But I told Lavon that I'd let it go, so that means I'm going to take a page out of Wade's book and accept the first date offer I get. Wish me luck...some of these Bluebellians freak me out still.

Until next time,

Undateable-in-Bluebell

.

"No! How can you be out of coffee?" Wade complained dropping onto one of the stools in Lavon's kitchen.

"Well, maybe I'm out because you and Z seem to think this is the local coffee shop." Ignoring Wade's glare Lavon pressed on, "speaking of Z, why don't you just head over there and steal some of her fancy stuff?" He asked pulling his backup energy drink from the back of the fridge and handing it to Wade.

"Normally I would, but I don't know what's wrong with her lately and I'm not sure that I'd make it out of there without her throwing the coffee pot at my head." Wade admitted taking a sip of the Monster then pulling a face before taking a larger gulp.

"Wait, I thought y'all were cool? Didn't you just have one of those movie nights a couple of days ago?"

"Yeah, but see that's just it! Normally I can't get her to shut up and we end up missing half of whatever frufru movie she conned me into watching to begin with. But this week she was, I don't know quiet...well quiet for Zoe, and she even let me watch 300. She hates that movie."

"Well, did you try asking her?"

"Are you kidding me? Sure I did, and she just blew me off! Why isn't she complaining to me about whatever is bugging her? That's not natural."

"You do realize you're actually upset that Z isn't talking your ear off right?" Lavon asked with a chuckle.

"I must be crazy, but yes."

"Now why would that bug you so much?"

"Because it's Z."

"Huh, Lavon Hayes thinks this may have something to do with that kiss..." he trailed off.

"What? Come on Lavon, that was weeks ago and nothing really changed after that." Wade countered.

"Ah, but did you want it to?"

"That's crazy, this is Zoe we're talking about. If things changed between us there's no telling how horrible the fall out would be."

"What do you mean?" Lavon asked suspiciously.

"Well it wouldn't be long before she started throwing things at me and then we'd be back to not speaking for years and heaven help me for admitting this, but I missed the neurotic little runt."

"What about me?" Zoe asked stumbling into Lavon's kitchen with half a doughnut in her mouth having only caught the end of Wade's sentence.

"Just that you're probably the reason the mayor here is out of coffee."

"No! I wanted coffee." Zoe pouted sitting next to Wade and stealing his half-empty energy drink.

.

"Gah!" Zoe exclaimed glaring at her coffee cup.

"You okay Zoe?" Rose asked coming up to the doctor in the middle of the town square.

"Yeah, just burned myself trying to drink my coffee too fast." she sighed.

"Okay, now that I know why you're acting crazy in public...what about you and Wade?" she asked falling into step beside her.

"We're fine, why wouldn't we be?" Zoe asked wondering not for the first time how this teenager could be so perceptive.

"Well after that kiss on New Year's Eve...we all kind of assumed you guys would finally get together but well it seems he's gone back to his old ways, which leads one to believe y'all had a falling out," Rose explained.

"Oh geez. No falling out at all actually, we're the same as always." Zoe sighed.

"But you don't want to be the same." Rose confirmed.

"Doesn't matter Rose, because like it or not to Wade Kinsella I'll always be fifteen years old. And if he's "dating" then so should I." to Rose's skeptical look she continued, "in fact that can be our new project, figure out who's single in Bluebell." Zoe grinned sitting behind her desk.

"Well that'll fill up all of two seconds," Rose sighed rolling her eyes "just Wade an' Crazy Earl...well the mayor too but he and AB seem to have a thing going on."

.

Dear Diary,

It's been a week since Wade's first PNYKHU (Post New Years Kiss Hook Up) and it finally happened! No, he didn't declare his undying love for me, but someone asked me out! Not Crazy Earl either, but a vet named Judson from the next town over. I have to admit he's pretty dreamy. We're getting a bite to eat tomorrow at Fancie's. I figured it was safer than the Rammer Jammer, given that Wade works there, and while I'm not avoiding him and we're still best friends it might be a little awkward to go on a date where I can see Wade the whole time. I know from experience that trying to be romantic with someone while your best friend is in the room tends to make things weird. Well I'm always the best friend and Wade is the one trying to hook up, but he does always joke that I'm the biggest mojo killer when it comes to his bar flies since we tend to get in a bickering match and then the girls lose interest leaving me stuck with a sexually frustrated (yuck I didn't need to write that) and grumpy Wade.

Until next time,

Z