Chapter Three - An Affair of the Heart:

"You looked lovely today." Zack purred into the phone. "Then again, you look lovely everyday. You just can't help yourself."

Her soft laughter traveled through the phone line and warmed his heart. He could just envision that beautiful smile of hers. He and Lisa had been on the phone for hours. Talking about everything and nothing at all. It had been two days since they took their relationship to the next level. Each day was better than the last. Each day they learned something new about each other. Each day they fell further in love with each other.

"Thank you." Lisa replied, the sleep in her voice, Zack found so cute. "You don't look so bad yourself."

He smiled. "Do you know how badly I wanted to take you in my arms and hold you today? How badly I just wanted to walk down the hall while holding your hand? Kiss you?"

"You know we can't do that, Zack." She warned. His ideas were appealing; she wanted to do the same things, but at school, they were not free to love each other. At least not in that way. At school they were simply friends. Friends who would stand almost too close together at their lockers; friends whose hands would brush against each other 'accidentally'; friends who shared stolen looks in classes when no one was paying attention.

"Why not, Lisa? We can make Kelly and Screech understand." He sighed and turned on his back as he lay in bed. "I'm tired of hiding what I feel. I'm tired of hiding that we're together and that we love each other."

"I am, too, Zack, but not yet." She could hear him groan. He would agree to continue to wait, reluctantly. He would never do anything to upset her. "It's not the right time."

"When is the right time?" He asked with a little more disdain in his voice than he intended. "Waiting is going to make it worse in the long run. They will be upset that we didn't tell them from the beginning. Or worse, they could figure it out before we tell them."

"How would they figure it out?"

"We have been acting a little more 'friendlier' towards each other in school the past couple of days. They could put two and two together."

Lisa sighed pensively. "I'm just scared, Zack." She admitted. She closed her eyes and the worst case scenario that was always there came to view. "I'm scared to lose them." She truly was. "They're going to hate us."

Sighing, "Maybe, maybe not." Zack replied. "We'll never know unless we tell them. And we'll never be free to be happy if we keep having to look over our shoulders. We love each other, Lisa; we shouldn't have to apologize for that."

"Okay, we'll tell them." She conceded. He did make a valid point. It was time for this to come out and whatever happened would just happen. She loved him and wanted to be free to do so in the company of her friends.

"You sure? I don't want to pressure you if you're still afraid. I was just-"

"You were just right." She interrupted him. "They should know and we deserve to have a normal relationship whether they accept it or not."

Zack beamed with pride. "That's my girl." He exclaimed and received a laugh from Lisa.

"I love you, Zack. Dream of me tonight." She joked, though she was half serious.

"I love you, too, Lis." Those words flowed from him like air. He loved her more each day. Everyday she became a more permanent fixture in his life; someone he couldn't do without. Just the need to see her became part of his daily routine. "And I do dream of you. I dream of you every night."

"What do you dream?"

"All types of things."

"Like? Tell me some." She laughed lightly; the joyous, giddy mood was constant in her whenever she spoke to or was with Zack.

"I dream of us getting married and having children some day." He admitted softly, feeling a little silly for telling her his dreams. "I dream of you having your own clothing line and me with my business degree going into business together to create a fashion company."

"I like that dream." She purred, sleepily.

"I bet." He joked. He was beginning to feel less uncomfortable about sharing his dreams with her, especially since she was a huge part of all of them. "I dream about making love to you. Holding you in my arms and kissing you. I've even had dreams about watching you sleep."

Lisa laughed loudly. "Why?"

"Because you know you really love someone when you can sit for hours and watch them sleep. Wondering what dreams were filling their head and if you're in them."

"Oh." She was smiling, he could tell. "You're always in my dreams, Zack." She said after a moment. "Always."

That made him smile and his heart beat with pride. "Goodnight, Lisa."

"Goodnight, Zack."

They both hung up the phone with bright smiles on their respective faces. They would go to sleep and dream of each other. Dream of the life they wanted for themselves and together. With the hopes that when they go to school tomorrow and tell their friends about their relationship, that everything would be okay.

- - -

The night melted away all too quickly for Lisa. She was having the sweetest dreams of her life with Zack. But every once in a while, during the night, a bad dream would sneak into her psyche. She and Zack would have worked up the nerve to tell their friends about them and Kelly and Screech would scream at them. Telling them how much they hated them, telling them that they were no longer friends. They would leave with their hearts broken and there was nothing Lisa could do about it.

She would awake with a cold jolt when those dreams shook her. She would calm her beating heart and remember that whatever the future held, she and Zack would face it together. That calming thought was just what she needed to drift back to sleep again.

Seven in the morning came and she awoke to the sound of her alarm. Hurrying out of bed, she pulled her clothes from the closet and rushed into her bathroom. Zack and his parents would be at her house at seven-thirty for the big announcement. Lisa and Zack felt that if they were going to be in this relationship, they might as well do it right; starting by telling their parents. Once the parents were taken care of, their friends would be next.

The warm shower did little to bring her from her sleep. If anything, it put her into a deeper dream state. She would close her eyes and run her soap-filled hands over her body and image it was Zack. Her mind would bring forth the memory of their encounter in his shower that first day they had sex. He was so gentle, so loving. He caressed every inch of her skin, but his touch went much deeper. He touched her soul. She could feel his warm lips pressed against hers as his hands roamed her body. It amazed her how they stayed standing with the way their bodies were entwined. She had never felt a sensation more fulfilling than that of making love to Zack.

After her shower, she dressed quickly and was downstairs just in time for the doorbell to ring. She opened it and was met with Zack's smiling face. Behind him, his parents gave her the courteous smile she was used to, but their eyes held confusion. They had no idea why their son had dragged them to Lisa Turtle's house so early in the morning. Nor could they imagine what they needed to tell them.

"Mom, Dad," Lisa called as she stepped aside, receiving a kiss on the cheek from Zack that further confused his parents, allowing them inside before she closed the door. "The Morrises are here."

Almost on cue, Lisa's parents walked in from the dining room. Smiles and greetings were all abound as they parents sat down on the sofa while Lisa and Zack stood off into the corner gathering their thoughts. While the parents made polite conversation, Lisa and Zack took this time to build up their courage.

"How are you?" Was Zack's first question. His eyes landed on her still wet hair that had been pulled up into a sloppy ponytail on her head. She wore shorts and a tank top, which looked incredible hanging tightly to each of her soft curves. She had on flip-flops and was looking very 'unLisa-like'. Everyone in school was used to the fashionable, always well kept Lisa. Only Zack knew of her love to be comfortable. It was her figure and sense of style that made her fashionable. Not the clothes she wore. "Are you ready?"

Lisa bit her lip before nodding her head silently. Her eyes were still roaming over his handsome face. His sun kissed hair was damp, having recently been washed. He wore blue jeans that were positively sinful. They were loose but gave impressions to what lurked beneath. The white tee he wore clung to his muscular frame and Lisa wanted nothing more than to rip that shirt off his body and send her fingers roaming over his chest. "Yeah, I'm ready." She finally said. Zack caressed her face and she turned her face into his palm and kissed it.

"So," Lisa's father began. "What do you kids have to tell us?"

Moment of truth.

Now or never.

Zack and Lisa looked at each and then at their parents as they moved to stand in front of them. They grabbed hands and Zack cleared his throat, signaling to Lisa that he would go first. "We got you guys together over here so early to tell you that something wonderful has happened."

The parents smiled, not quite sure at what. Zack's parents in particular looked more confused.

"Zack and I are dating." Lisa finished. "We've been secretly dating for a couple of days now."

"Why secretly?" asked Mrs. Morris. When they remained silent, it dawned on her why. "You're afraid of what Kelly and Screech will think." She revealed.

"We're afraid of what all of them will think, Mom." Zack replied. "But, yes, those two in particular."

"So why tell us now?" asked Mr. Morris. "You don't need our permission to date our son, Lisa. We love you as a daughter already."

"And the same goes for you, Zack." Mrs. Turtle said.

"We told you because we mean a lot to each other." Lisa answered. "Because we want to do this the right way. And because we're going to tell everyone else today."

"So, some things might change." Zack chimed in. "We just wanted you to know our intentions."

After a moment of silence, "I think that it was very responsible of you kids to come to us and let us know what is going on in your lives." said Mr. Turtle. "I think that if you go to your friends with the same courage you came to us with, you'll be fine."

"That's what we're hoping." Zack said.

"Everything will work out, kids." Mrs. Morris said. "You'll see."