"Why don't you take the bed, and I'll take the couch?" Wade suggested as he lead Zoe into his house.
"I wouldn't feel comfortable taking your bed" Zoe replied nervously. "Not when I just showed up at your front door like this."
"Nonsense" Wade shrugged. "My bed ain't nothing to get excited about. I've had it since high school, and the mattress is all lumpy."
"I'm sure it will be fine" Zoe giggled. Wade could be so sweet, but he always downplayed his kindness. She loved that about him. "Thanks again" she added.
"Not a problem" he smiled back. "What happened, did something freak you out?"
"Just a bad dream" she said, rubbing her hands together nervously.
"Happens to everyone" he said nonchalantly. He knew that what she was going through was beyond a simple bad dream, but he remembered how embarrassed she was before when she had a nightmare in the hospital and he wanted to put her mind at ease.
"My mom thought moving out so soon after I got the news about Stephen was a mistake" Zoe sighed as she sat on Wade's bed. "Maybe she was right."
"Well I'm sorry you're having such a hard time" he said sympathetically. "But a part of me is glad you ended up on my doorstep."
"Yeah?" she asked with a weak smile.
"Yeah" he grinned. "It can be lonely in this little house."
So Wade was lonely? That surprised her. "You haven't told me much about your family" she pointed out. "They live out of town?"
"Yeah" Wade nodded. "My parents moved out a few years ago when my dad got a job offer. Jesse took off right out of high school. He always wanted to leave and go live in a big city somewhere."
"And you didn't?"
"Nah. I kind of like it here. I mean it's not the best place to live if you actually want to be someone, but it's always been home to me."
"Big cities aren't all they're cracked up to be anyway" Zoe added. "It's pretty easy to fall through the cracks. So many people are always around you, but it's pretty obvious that none of them really care about you. But places like this…. I don't know, it just seems kind of like you're all one big family."
"Look at you" Wade teased. "You've only been here a couple of days and you're already talking like a regular Belle."
"Belle?"
"Oh, it's this ridiculous group of women here who have meetings… I don't really understand the point, it's lead by Lemon Breeland."
"Ah" Zoe nodded. "I met her, but it was weird."
"Weird?"
"Yeah, I kind of got the feeling that she didn't like me."
"Trust me" Wade chuckled. "If Lemon Breeland doesn't like you, she'll let you know. That woman is a lot of things, subtle ain't one of them."
"Ah she's one of those" Zoe smiled. "I always wished I could be like that. Let people know exactly what I think of them?"
"Yeah?" Wade asked curiously. "What would you say?"
"Oh I don't know" she smiled shyly. "I guess I'd tell people who cut me off in traffic to go to hell."
"Such salty language" he teased.
"Yeah" she laughed. "But I'd never have the guts to actually do it."
"So that's the only time you'd speak your mind?" he asked, hoping she'd have something to say about him.
Zoe shook her head, giving Wade a knowing look.
"Care to elaborate?" he asked with a grin.
"If I had feelings for somebody, I'd just come out and say it" she said shyly. "But I don't have the guts to do that either."
"That's too bad" he grinned. "Because this somebody might have the same feelings for you, and they might let you know that if you made the first move."
"Well I guess I'll just have to wait and find that out" she smiled.
"Or not" he shrugged in the heat of the moment. He knew two things about Zoe: she was subtle and she was shy. He could go back and forward with her like this all night long. He'd have to be the one to say it. "I like you Zoe" he finally admitted. "Actually, I like you a lot."
"Yeah?" she asked softly as her eyes widened.
"Yeah" he grinned.
"I like you too" she replied after a long pause. She expected her stomach to tie up in knots once she said the words, but instead she just felt really happy. In fact the two of them sat together for a few minutes grinning like two idiots.
"Good" he smiled "Now we've got that out of the way. We're halfway there."
"Halfway there?" she asked. "What's the other half?"
"Well, I don't know what the gentlemanly thing to do in this situation would be, but I'd really like to kiss you right now."
"Oh" she answered flustered as a blush crept across her cheeks.
"Hey" he said, worried that he was pushing her. "If this is moving too fast that's cool. We can just go to sleep now, talk more in the morning. We can even go get breakfast, the Rammer Jammer has great-"
"No!" Zoe interrupted, sounding more urgent than she intended too.
"Alright" he said throwing his hands in the air. "If you don't like the Rammer Jammer I think I might have bagels somewhere in the kitchen."
"That isn't what I meant" she said with a nervous giggle. "What I meant was… I want to kiss you too." As the words came out Zoe scolded herself internally, this was officially the most awkward build up for a kiss in the history of the world, but when she looked at Wade again she almost didn't care. This was actually happening. She and Wade were about to have their first kiss.
As the moment came together it was everything she dreamed of. The only thing that was missing was the fairy tale music playing in the background. Right before their lips touched, Wade gave her one of those unbelievably sexy crooked grins, and she heard a sharp intake of breath, but she wasn't quite sure if it was from him or her.
When their lips finally made contact she felt as if they became one for a moment… as corny and cliché as that sounded.
"Whoa" Wade said, clearing his throat as he pulled away. "You're um… you're pretty good at that."
"Yeah you too" she smiled as she leaned in to kiss him again.
This kiss continued until they were both desperate to gasp for air. "My God" he said in a raspy whisper as he leaned his head onto her shoulder. "You are so damn sexy."
By the time she was able to process his words, his lips were on hers again. She gasped slightly, surprised by how quickly the situation was escalating, and by how much of an effect his words were having on her. He took her gasp as an opportunity to deepen the kiss and began to gently guide her back towards the bed.
As the thought of what might happen next entered her mind her nerves took over. Her hands were shaking, and her heart rate was through the roof. "Wade" she said in a breathy whisper.
"Mmm" he moaned softly against her lips.
"I- I can't."
"Oh" he gasped as he quickly pulled away from her. "I'm sorry, I didn't meant to-"
"No, it's okay. It's not you it's me. It's just- I'm not very used to this" she said motioning at the bed.
"Of course not" he said, as he covered his face with his hands. He had pushed things too far too fast and now he felt horrible. "You didn't do anything wrong. It's like I said before we can take this whole thing real slow. As slow as you want."
"Are you saying that because you pity how screwed up my life has been?" she asked in a shaky voice.
"No" he answered grinning at her widely. "I'm saying this because I know you aren't the kind of lady who jumps into bed with men left and right, and I like that about you."
"Yeah" Zoe whispered. Wade was being totally sweet, but for some reason she felt really uncomfortable. She wondered what Wade's reaction would be if he found out just how inexperienced she really was. What would he think if he knew she was a virgin?
"Listen" Wade sighed. "Why don't the two of us get some sleep? We'll talk in the morning."
"Okay" she nodded, picking at a thread on the bottom of her shorts.
"Hey I meant what I said" he said as he tilted her chin up so she was looking at him. "I like you Zoe Hart."
"And I like you Wade Kinsella" she smiled back.
"Good night" he added, placing a quick kiss on her forehead.
"Oh my God" she thought to herself as she laid down and pulled the blanket over herself."Did that really just happen?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX
As Zoe lifted her eyes open, she met with a sight any woman would have loved. Wade Kinsella, half-dressed, cooking.
"Hey there sleepy head" he called out to her when he noticed she had woken up.
"Hey" she responded flustered a bit. She was surprised by just how intense her feelings for him were, and how different it was now that they had admitted their feelings.
"Have another nightmare?" he asked with concern in his voice as he walked towards her.
"No" she shrugged. "That only happens once in a while. I feel much better."
"Good" he smiled as he looked into her eyes. He had noticed that Zoe's eyes were brown before, but hadn't noticed the little flecks of green that were spread across them. "Um… I'm making bagels" he said as he broke out of his Zoe-induced trans. "But we can do something else for breakfast if you want."
"Bagels will be fine" she smiled as she stood to her feet. "Do you have any orange juice?"
"No" Wade sighed. "I have beer, and water… tap water."
"Oh my God" Zoe groaned. "You are such a guy."
"Guilty as charged" he shrugged.
"I'll have water" she giggled. "It's a little early for beer."
"Right" Wade nodded as he set the table. "So what are you going to be up to today?"
"Well, I have the rest of my stuff to unpack" she shrugged. "And I should probably start looking for a job."
"No need for that, I'm sure Harley will hire you."
"Uh, I don't know about that" she said with a look of distaste on her face. "Blood, and guts…"
"It isn't the E.R." Wade chuckled. "There isn't a whole lot of guts."
"But you like your job, right?" Zoe asked, breaking off a piece of bagel and popping it in her mouth.
"That's kind of a sore subject with me" Wade shrugged. "Let's just say it was never my dream to take blood pressures and stick people with needles all day long."
"Then what was it?"
"Oh I don't know" he said shyly. "I guess I wanted to own a bar when I was in high school, but it wasn't really all that practical."
"Why not?" Zoe asked. "The people who owned the shop I used to work at seemed to love it. I'm sure you'd be great."
"Yeah, I don't know" he sighed. "How about you little missy? What kind of job are you thinking of getting?"
"Well, speaking of bars, I was thinking about getting a job at the Rammer Jammer."
"Huh" he said surprised. "I never fancied you a bartender."
"Oh I make a kick-ass martini" she bragged.
"Yeah" he chuckled. "There aren't a lot of martini drinkers in Bluebell. It's mostly beer. Or light beer. Except for those church-going folks, they usually go with Root Beer."
"Well that's easy enough to remember" Zoe laughed. "I should go for it. I should totally be a bartender."
"Alright" Wade smiled as he stood to his feet and offered her his hand. "Let's go get you a job."
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