Bang!

I jolt awake. "What the hell?" I frantically look around my surroundings to find I'm still on Zak's couch. "Shit!" I grab my phone off the coffee table where the popcorn bowl still sits and look at the time. 9:30am. Kelsey's tried calling me four times and sent me texts. I feel so bad I never told her I was staying here later than I thought, but I never thought I would actually fall asleep on his couch and stay the night. I still stare at my phone checking my messages when Kelsey calls. "Kelsey, I'm so sorry!"

"You didn't call me!"

"I know and I'm so sorry. I wasn't expecting to stay here."

"It's okay. I guess you're not coming to work today?"

"Shit. Tell Diane I'm extremely sorry, but I'm coming. I'll be there ASAP."

"Okay, but hurry."

"Alright bye."

"Bye."

I get my ass off the couch and head straight to the kitchen to grab my purse. I don't even bother looking for Zak since I'm already extremely late for work. I race out the front door to my car and speed home to change into my scrubs. I decide to call Zak and apologize on my way to work.

Ring.

"Shawn! Where did you run away to?"

"Zak! I had to be at work at 7:30! Why didn't you wake me?"

"Shit, Shawn. I'm sorry. God, I suck."

"You don't suck, Zak. It's my own fault. I promise I'll see you later. I didn't mean to crash and dash."

"It's alright. And I sure hope to see you."

"You will. Bye, Zak."

"See ya."

I finally make it to work at about 10:20 and I race straight into Diane's office to apologize. I barely get out a couple works and she blows up. "Do you not want to be here?!"

"What?" I'm taken aback that she's so upset. "Diane you know I would never mean to be so late. I'm never late and you know that."

"Well clearly you don't care to work out your two weeks. All you can focus on is stupid Ghost Adventures."

"Excuse me?" She don't dare bring them into this. "They have nothing to do with me being late." I lie since I'm a way it kinda was. I mean, I don't blame Zak. Like I said, it was my fault that I fell asleep on his couch and didn't wake up for work.

"Have you clocked in yet?"

"What?" I ask confused wondering why she would want to know.

"Have you punched in yet?"

"No."

"Okay, then. You can just leave. Don't bother finishing the week."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, I'm serious."

I look behind me through the door and everyone is staring. I don't bother to fight back with Diane and storm out of the hospital. This was absolutely ridiculous. I sit in my car for a minute before going back home and I get a group text from Kelsey with everyone in it. 'What happened?'

'Yeah, what the hell is going on?'

'Shawn, are you leaving?'

'Y'all, calm down. Diane freaked out because I was so late and she doesn't think that I want to be here and finish my two weeks so I'm not.'

'Oh, shit. Really?'

'No way!'

'You only have three more days until you finish. That's so dumb.'

'Guys, it's fine. I really enjoyed working with y'all. I'll miss y'all!'

'Miss you! Have fun with Ghost Adventures. We'll see you on tv!'

'Bye Shawn!'

'Bye!'

I could not believe I essentially just got kicked out of work and can't finish my two weeks. So much for having a job to fall back on in case Ghost Adventures didn't work out. Now I'll have to find a new hospital. I decide to call Zak on my home, but I didn't yet tell him what happened at work. I was scared that he would blame himself for not waking me up for work this morning. I make it home after about 15 minutes and change into skinny jeans, my olive green t-shirt and black chucks. I leave my hair down in waves and fix my makeup. At least Kelsey would say my shirt isn't black or grey. I grab my bathing suit really quick before heading out the door just in case we decide to swim at Zak's.

Knock knock.

"Hey, beautiful," Zak answers his front door. I grin at his greeting, but I keep quiet. Zak steps aside and offers me to come inside. We casually make our way into the kitchen and I set my purse and my keys down on the kitchen island with a big sigh. "So, why aren't you at work?"

Shit. Well I mean, of course, he would ask why I'm back at his house and not working. "The hospital manager didn't think I wanted to finish my two weeks since I was so late so she made me leave," I quickly spit out without looking at Zak.

"What? That's ridiculous," Zak hands me a glass of water. I finally look up at him and take the glass.

"Thank you," I take a sip.

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't. It's not your fault. I only had three days left, it's no big deal." We both take a long sip of our waters in the deafening silence. I'm not sure why things were getting so awkward between Zak and I. I thought we had smoothed everything out, but still I couldn't seem to have a normal conversation with him. I set my glass down on the kitchen island, "So how's Gracie? I hope she's better."

"Yeah, she's pretty much back to normal. Just a small cough still from the water, but I think it's getting better every day," he explains.

"Good," I smile.

"Speak of the devil."

Woof!

"Oh, hey Grace! How's the sweet girl?" I kneel down to her level and scratch behind her ears. She lets out a low groan and leans into my hand. I giggle and come back to my feet. "Wanna swim?" I turn and ask Zak. He stares at me, hesitating to answer. "Come on, you have a beautiful pool and it's a beautiful day."

"Okay, sure," he smiles.

"Yay!" I do a little hop over to him and kiss his cheek, feeling like such a schoolgirl. "I'll be right back. My bathing suit is in my car." I can hear him laughing at me as I turn to go to my car. Coming back inside, I head straight to the downstairs bathroom and change. I take a deep breath and let out a nervous sigh. "Just go outside. You're fine. Just swimming with Zak," I pep talk myself in the bathroom mirror. I slowly open the door with my clothes folded in hand, setting them on the couch. I find Zak lying out by the pool with Gracie sitting next to him. I only hoped she would be okay out here and not fall in again. I sigh again before opening the doors leading outside. "Is she going to be okay out here?" I ask referencing Gracie.

"Yeah, as long as we're out here to watch her," he states turning around to look at me. He stands to his feet and just stares. I feel so self conscious in my black and white bikini, but it's not like Zak hasn't seen a girl in her bathing suit before.

"So, we going in?" I point to the water, walking towards him. As I walk past Zak to the stairs of the pool he grabs my hand gently, stopping me dead in my tracks. We stare intently into each other's eyes, leaving me breathless in his grasp. He leans in quickly and kisses my lips, making me jump a little at his swift motion. He pulls back and I can't help but smile. I stand on my tip toes, leaning my head back and return his kiss. "Let's do this." We both laugh and he interlocks his fingers with mine as we jump into the pool together.

After a few minutes of swimming around together, Zak grabs me a raft from the outside storage closet by the pool. As I float, I have my arm swung over my eyes blocking the hot Vegas sun and Zak holds onto the side of the raft. "So we head for Goatman's Bridge in a week. I guess since I'm done with work early I'll start on more research."

"That would be great. I know you're not crazy about the location, but I think we'll get some awesome evidence."

"If that's what you wanna call it," I mumble.

"What do you mean?"

I move my arm, squinting from the sun and move on the raft carefully as to not fall in the pool, meeting Zak's eyes. "You're going to get more than just evidence, Zak. You'll get a hell of an experience, I'm sure."

"That's what we want."

"Even if it's bad?"

"Well, yeah. Whatever it takes."

I sigh and lay back down on the raft with my arm over my eyes. I understand that Zak wanted evidence and experience, but I worry for him, myself and the rest of the crew, especially at this location. I feel like sometimes he can take the investigations a little too far and I didn't want anyone getting hurt. We dry off and make our way back inside after a couple hours in the pool. We both change back into our clothes and cuddle up on the couch with a movie. This time we decide on the newer War of the Worlds. These times I've been sharing with Zak were amazing. I know once we start investigating things would change, but I hope things wouldn't change between Zak and I. We had an instant connection that neither of us could explain. I didn't exactly know what we were, but I knew it was good and, at this moment, that was all I could care about.