"No! No, no no, no no!" Lavon protested as Zoe recounted her evening with Wade.
"Lavon, I need someone to talk to!" Zoe pouted.
"Ugh, so does this mean you guys are finally together at least?" he sighed in resignation.
"I think we're...casual."
"Wait, what does that even mean Big Z?"
"It means, that we're still best friends and the..."
"No! Don't say it!"
"Well IT was amazing, but we haven't talked about being a real couple." she shrugged.
"Z!" Lavon lamented covering his face with his hands in exasperation.
"What?! I thought you'd be happy!" she pouted.
"Happy? Z, you and I both know that you don't want to be 'casual' with Wade Kinsella."
"I could want to be casual..."
"No, no, you want to be with Wade and you'll take casual if you think it'll keep him from other girls."
"Well, what's so bad about that? I mean we're both adults and..."
"Z."
"Lavon, it's better than nothing." she pouted.
"You've got to tell him Z."
"But what if he doesn't feel the same?"
"Then we'll eat your feelings until you move on or he comes to his senses."
.
Dear Diary,
I HAD SEX WITH WADE KINSELLA.
Yes, that happened. I don't even know how it happened, it was just so natural and if I'm being honest his man slut ways have really...REALLY paid off. The thing is it was SO natural we didn't even talk about it the next morning, we woke up like normal, Wade had breakfast and coffee waiting for me, then he kissed me goodbye and went to work at the Rammer Jammer. No awkward moment, no profound declaration of love. Nothing.
I guess the real problem is we all know I may not really recover if he ends up picking some bar fly over me in the long run. But that being said, I can't bring myself to have THE TALK with him like Lavon wants me to. If this isn't for the long haul I kind of want to hold onto it as long as I can.
Until next time,
Sleepless-in-Bluebelle
.
Exactly three days had passed since the incident and Zoe was no closer to figuring out where she and Wade stood. In fact, she'd been so swamped they hadn't even had a chance to see each other. And with the reopening of the Rammer Jammer, a few handwritten notes left on doors and coffee pots was the extent of their contact, both too exhausted to initiate any real contact.
Nine AM and the practice was dead, but that didn't stop Zoe from pouring over patient files like some kind of mystery novel. Ever since taking over Harley's half of the business she realized just how much of his job was dependent on knowing every single patient's personal and medical history, something she wasn't going to learn by reading Dash's blog every week. So, like any good student, she made lists, sorted the files into groups and started attacking them with a new sense of purpose. Just as all the words were starting to blend together Zoe felt a shift in the air before she heard the knock on her door frame.
"Hey there Doc." Wade smirked as he walked towards the disheveled Doctor holding two steaming cups of coffee. Placing one cup on her desk he leaned over the stack of files and gave her a soft kiss before shaking his head at her messy desk. "Cramming for some big test? I thought you'd already passed all them doctoring classes."
In her defense, Zoe only took a second to recover from the coffee flavored kiss before registering the fact that Wade had spoken to her. "Yeah, the big test called MY LIFE!" she sighed taking a much-needed gulp of her coffee.
"I'm not followin'."
"I just...there's so much I don't know about the people of Bluebell."
"So you'll learn. You don't have to do it all in one day Doc."
"I know, but not knowing could make a huge difference in a diagnosis." She lamented.
"Wanna talk about it?" he asked taking a seat on her desk, shoving some of her carefully constructed chaos to the side in the process.
"It's nothing, I just almost made a huge mistake with a patient yesterday all because I didn't know the full family history. Luckily Brick was close by to intervene before things got ugly." she admitted looking a little defeated.
"Hey girl, no one expects you to know everything."
"I do." she argued earning her an eyebrow raise from her best friend. "Anyway, enough about all this...what brings you to this side of Bluebell? I thought you'd be swamped at the bar."
Wade shrugged taking a deliberate drink of his coffee before tossing the paper cup across the room and straight into the trash can. "In all honesty I've never been so busy, even when I was going to school, working, and trying to take care of Tansy and Earl to boot."
"So, my question still stands..."
"I actually have to be getting back," he admitted hopping off her desk, "but I missed you." he smirked giving her another lingering kiss before making his way towards the door, leaving Zoe with a dopey grin on her face.
After a long day at the practice, Zoe decided to make her way to the Rammer Jammer. She knew Wade would most likely be swamped and they had a standing Sunday hang out the next day, but if he could make the effort to see her she shouldn't feel weird seeing him especially considering Dash would get suspicious if she didn't show.
"Hey Big Z!" Lavon waved Zoe over from a corner table with AB.
"Hey guys!" Zoe greeted taking a seat and surveying the crowded bar. The Rammer Jammer being the Bluebell staple that it was always had steady business, but people seemed to really flock to the place under new ownership, whether it be out of support for Wade or because of his new additions to the menu and overall atmosphere of the place.
"Haven't seen you around in the last few days, I thought you'd practically be living here." AB quipped.
"That was the plan, then I realized I'd been slacking a little bit at the practice and in true form I tried to cram a year of knowledge in my brain all at once." She sighed still feeling a little guilty for not knowing everything about every patient.
"Z, that's crazy even for you." Lavon argued.
"That's what I told her." Wade chimed in placing a glass of white wine on the table over Zoe's shoulder giving her a quick peck as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Glad you could make it out Doc."
"Um...yeah. You look pretty swamped." she observed.
"Hey I ain't complainin'! Though I really only have time to take y'all's order while Wanda takes a break before I have to hop back behind the bar." he apologized.
"Ah, so that's why the free wine."
"Who said I wouldn't make you pay Doc?" he smirked.
.
By the time Wade got home from the Rammer Jammer he was beyond exhausted. So exhausted in fact that he didn't think anything of the lights being on in his house until he went to take off his boots and found Zoe curled up on his couch fast asleep an impressive array of junk food on the coffee table in front of her. Shaking his head, Wade went about getting ready for the night before lifting the tiny doctor off the couch and onto the bed.
He was just starting to fall asleep when he heard Zoe speak. "I'm sorry..." she mumbled shifting her body closer to his, obviously still half asleep.
"Now what do you got to be sorry about girl?" he asked fighting back a yawn. He could have ignored her and gone to sleep, but if there's one thing Wade Kinsella knew it was not to ignore Zoe Hart when she wanted to talk, that always ended with her overthinking things and having them blow up in everyone's face.
"I fell asleep. I was going to surprise you and bring you food. But you need rest. I shouldn't have broken in." she ranted sleepily causing Wade to chuckle.
"Come 'ere." he sighed wrapping his arms around her. "I was mighty surprised to find you here tonight, but you know you're welcome to break in any time Doc."
"...need rest." she argued.
"Well I can rest easy now knowing you won't hurt yourself in that big ol' house of yours." this simply earned him a smack instead of a verbal response causing him to chuckle.
"To believe I came because I missed you." she sighed snuggling closer to Wade despite her teasing words.
"I'm glad you did Doc." he whispered slowly giving in to the sleep he'd been fighting since he waked through the door.
"Me too Cowboy."
.
Z
Checking on Earl, be home soon.
W
.
Zoe took the note off the coffee cup waiting for her on the nightstand, unable to contain her silly grin.
She loved this side of Wade, thoughtful and secretly romantic. Unfortunately, she also knew he tended to balance that side out with his recklessness and womanizing ways. Resigning herself to the fact that she needed to have the dreaded talk sooner rather than later Zoe went about getting ready for the day.
.
Whatever Wade was expecting when he got home, it was not a pristine living room and Zoe sitting on his perfectly made bed wearing her own clothes for once.
"Hey Doc, what's goin' on?" he asked cautiously giving her a peck on the lips.
"That's what's going on."
"You don't want me to kiss you?"
"No! Yes, I want you to kiss me." She sighed in exasperation letting herself fall back on the bed dramatically.
"Okay…Doc I know I can be boneheaded and that must be real annoying to a know it all like you, but you're gonna have to spell this one out for me."
"Yes, I want you to kiss me but I only want you to kiss me."
"So…like, no sex?" he asked unsure of where the conversation was going.
"What? No."
"No, what Doc?" Wade asked even more confused than before.
"Wade, what are we doing?" She finally asked.
"Well I thought we could give that cooking thing another shot today, but now I'm not so sure."
"I mean us, in general not today. You kissed me, and then you started blowing off dates, and we…we…you know…had sex." She whispered the last part.
"I know, I thought we were on the same page about all that stuff?" Wade asked confused, thigs seemed to be going better than ever. He thought they may have finally had their Manhattan moment only now he wasn't so sure.
"I mean I hope we are, but that's what I'm trying to find out. If we're on the same page."
"Okay, so what do you want?" he asked finally taking a seat next to Zoe on the bed.
"I want this." She sighed reaching for the coffee with the post-it still attached.
"Can't you go one minute without coffee woman?"
"Not the coffee, well yes the coffee…always the coffee, but the note on the coffee when I wake up in the morning." She corrected placing the cup back down. "I want to go to sleep next to you and to wake up knowing that you'll be back."
"I'll always come back to you girl; you know that."
"I don't think I'm saying this right."
"Then just spit it out, whatever you're saying I can take it."
"Don't laugh at me."
"I won't."
"Or mock me."
"I would never, Doc."
"This isn't a joke Wade!" Zoe pouted.
"Look at this face Doc, it's my serious face." Wade smirked winking at her causing some of the tension to leave her body.
"Okay, just like ripping off a band-aid. I can't keep doing this if you're going to still date other people. Either we're just friends or we're doing this, but I can't handle the middle ground. There I said it!" Zoe breathed out quickly grabbing a pillow to cover her reddening face. She'd never been good at being that vulnerable let alone when she stood to lose her best friend in the process.
"You've got to be kiddin' Doc."
"I'm sorry!" Zoe called out from behind her pillow, before Wade gently pulled it out of her grasp.
"Didn't I already tell you I wasn't willin' to share?"
"What?"
"For being so brilliant you can be pretty dumb sometimes Doc, I'm not planning on dating anybody else anytime soon. In fact I'd be pretty dang pissed off if I saw you dating someone after I thought we HAD been exclusive." He chuckled.
"Well, you could have TOLD me that sooner, for a doctor I can be pretty boneheaded sometimes you know." She said immediately going to unbutton his shirt.
"I'm just glad you're down to have sex even if you can't seem to say it." He laughed.
"What? Oh, no I was just getting my favorite shirt back before the cooking lesson," She smirked.
"Oh, I'll give you a lesson alright!"