Hey all! Welcome to the second chapter. The game of dreidel played within this chapter was written while spinning the dreidel on google. It happened to work in my favor the way it landed for each spin. I couldn't have done it better without using the online dreidel.
Enjoy!
Entering the bedroom he smiled seeing his girlfriend sitting on the bed, her nose in a book. He kept his chuckle in. Leave it to his girlfriend to be laying in bed nose in a book, in the middle of the day. He could stand in the doorway, watching her for hours on end, as creepy as it is. With a great distance between them for a while, having her back in his life, where they share the same space, it's nice, better than nice actually. They had lived together in Huntsville, but for some reason that didn't make any sense when they moved home to Bluebell, they lived in two different places. Being across the pond wasn't the same as sharing an apartment, or a house together.
"Don't make me call Sheriff Bill, to report you for leering in the doorway," Zoe stated, her focus remaining on her book. A smile toying at the corners of her lips.
"It would only be a wasted trip for him," Wade commented, entering the bedroom. "Don't forget that my name is on the papers for this house too," he reminded her, joining her on the bed.
"Suggesting that I forgot we both own this house is a crime in itself," Zoe told him, marking the page she was on, sitting the book on her bedside table. "What brings you home during the lunch rush?" Zoe asked, turning to lay on her side, facing her boyfriend.
"Can't I come home and spend lunch with my girlfriend?" He asked, reaching out to tuck hair behind her ear.
"You can," Zoe told him, raising an eyebrow at him. "But it normally means you're up to something," she told him.
"How so?" He asked, feeling a bit dumbfounded at just how well she knows him. And how that yes he's up to something, but it's nothing huge. Little facts that he can easily file away.
"I don't think we have enough time for that," she teased.
"You're not nearly as funny as you think you are," he remarked. "Well you can put the suspicion away, the only thing I am up to is bringing the woman I love lunch," he reaffirmed, getting off the bed, holding a hand out for Zoe. "Care to join me?" He asked.
"Always," she smiled, slipping a hand into his, letting him help her off the bed.
Wade didn't release her hand until they got to the dining room. Zoe smiled, kissing his cheek as he pulled out her chair for her. In the middle of the table sat a small pile of Gelt coins. Next to the pile sat a box with the same wrapping paper as the Gelt the day prior.
"Mr. I'm not up to anything," Zoe teased, catching his green eyes with her brown ones as he sat across from her. "I can't recall you ever being this secretive over these little gifts," she told him, raising an eyebrow.
"Can't a guy make things a bit more excitable every now and again?" Wade asked, pushing the box her way.
"Sure you can," Zoe nodded, gently grabbing the box. "And I won't even question the motive behind it," she told him, pulling the lid to the box off. "Wade," she smiled, pulling the simple wooden dreidel from the box. It may be the same as years past but that doesn't matter to her, it's the thought he put into it that matters to her. Their tradition of the first few gifts of Hanukkah has always been the same and that's the one she likes about it.
"Don't mention it," he smiled. "How about a game while lunch warms up?" He asked, chuckling at the child-like glee written on her face.
"How can I say no to that offer?" She asked, moving the box to the side, spinning the dreidel.
"How much fun can a person have with this little wooden block?" Wade asked, spinning the dreidel top between his fingers.
"How can you say that?" Zoe asked, plucking the dreidel from his grasp.
"Because you only get chocolate," he dryly remarked. "We could spice it up," he stated, wagging his eyebrows.
"With your imagination, I don't even want to know what you're about to suggest," Zoe sighed, falling back into the couch.
She had thought Wade sweet for showing up at her house with a gift for the second day of Hanukkah. Getting the gelt the previous day had been enough to make the holiday that much more enjoyable. Opening the box to see a wooden dreidel, brought a massive smile to her face. The dreidel Harley got for her the first year she was in Bluebell, somehow got lost within the year. And she enjoys a nice game of Dreidel, brings back memories of being a little girl and learning to play the game for the first time with her mom and well Ethan. Not having a dreidel wasn't going to ruin her Hanukkah, it just makes it a bit better.
"You're a buzzkill," Wade chuckled, sitting on the couch next to her.
"I don't know what you thought we were going to be playing for, but it won't be for clothes or money," she told him. "Either you play for the chocolate, or you don't play at all," Zoe stated, daring him to challenge what she said.
"Or we make a bet," Wade tossed out.
"For what?" Zoe asked curiously. She wants to hear the rest of what he has to say, before agreeing or disagreeing with what he says.
"The winner gets to decide the punishment for the loser," Wade shrugged. He had thought about using it as a way to get a date out of this whole thing. But he thought better of it. He doesn't want Zoe to think that the only reason he wants to go out with her is because of some stupid bet. He doesn't want to hurt her like that.
"You're putting a lot of faith in my hands," Zoe smirked, holding her hand out. "But you're on," she commented.
"Me?" Wade asked with a chuckle. "You have no idea what I have in store for you when you lose," he remarked, shaking on their deal.
"As much as I love the gelt, I love it more when we make bets," Zoe remarked, falling back on the bed. The game quickly changing scenery from the dining table to the bed rather quickly, when they forego the chocolate for articles of clothing.
"I love when we get down to the nitty-gritty of the game," Wade smirked, pressing a kiss to his girlfriend's sweat-covered shoulder.
"Not so much a boring game now is it?" She asked with a smirk to match his. Remembering how much he disliked the game when she first told him how to play it. Despite him not liking the game, he was there to play it every year. Over the years she preferred the taste of the melted Gelt coating his tongue.
"Babe, I hardly think your dad would have been okay with us exchanging the little chocolate coins for articles of clothing," he remarked, running his fingertips down the bare flesh of her side.
"But kisses were on the table?" She asked, sucking her bottom lip between her teeth. "Dad wouldn't have been very kosher with us making out like the horny teens we were back then on his couch if he would have walked in and caught us," she reminded him.
"Don't I know it," Wade huffed, laughing quietly under his breath. "He caught us making out once and we had to be supervised for like a month. I think the townsfolk still keep their eyes out and we've been together since we've been 16," he stated.
"And here we are living in sin," Zoe teased, pushing herself from his embrace. "What?" she asked, pulling his shirt over her head, seeing the pale far-off look on his face.
"You know that I love you, right?" He asked, swiping his briefs off the floor to slip on.
"Yes," Zoe said hesitantly, grabbing a pair of yoga pants to slip on.
"And I like what we have, and with the past concerning our parents, I didn't want us to rush into anything," he explained, pulling her into him. "I don't mind living in sin with you, Zoe Hart," he smiled, gently kissing her nose. The very last thing he needs is for Zoe to start thinking that he has a proposal coming, even though he does.
"We've talked about this Wade, I need you and nothing else. We've had multiple conversations about marriage and kids. I like what we have, I love you," she told him, pulling him down for a soft and loving kiss.
"Let's go have lunch, huh?" He asked, spinning her around and leading her downstairs to where they left their lunch to stay warm in the oven. "The first game we bet on, I was going to use that for an excuse to ask you out," Wade confessed, heading to the oven to take their lunch out.
"Why didn't you?" Zoe asked, heading to the fridge for their drinks.
"I didn't want you to think I was only asking you out because I won a game of dreidel," he told her, placing the food on the table.
"I would have known that to not be the case," she shared, helping him get the plates and cutlery. "It might have hurt to think at first that you only wanted to date me because of a bet over a silly game, but I would have believed sooner rather than later, that you asking me out would have had nothing to do with a silly bet," she shared, sitting at the table.
"It wouldn't have been the right start to our relationship, I wouldn't want anyone to think we only started to date because of some bet," he shared, joining her at the table.
"Thank you for that," Zoe told him, reaching across the table to squeeze his hand. "I'm not sure everyone thinking we were hooking up because of a little bet was any better," she teased him.
"Yeah because all of Bluebell thought we were hooking up because of a game of Dreidel," Wade said dryly. "They knew we were hooking up because they could see how crazy we were and still are for each other," Wade tossed out there.
"Except Lemon there for a few weeks she was positive I was going to break her and George up," she commented with an eye roll.
"Talk about the drama," Wade remarked. "Why would you break up a friend's relationship, when you had all of this at your disposal?" He questioned, motioning to himself.
"You're so full of yourself," Zoe laughed, taking a bite of her food. "Don't," she warned, once she swallowed the mouthful of food.
"I wasn't going to say anything," Wade chuckled. "You're the one thinking it," he pointed out.
"What are we betting on?" Zoe asked, opening a gelt coin to eat now that they wouldn't be playing for them.
"You already ruled out clothes," he remarked teasingly. "I was thinking maybe a kiss," he shrugged. "Or something else," he said, not wanting Zoe to feel uncomfortable with the idea of them kissing.
"Okay how about this," Zoe told him, picking the dreidel up to show him each symbol. "Nun, means you get no kisses, Gimel means a kiss on the lips, Hay means you get a kiss on the cheek, and shin means you have to answer a question truthfully," she explained to him.
"I can get behind that," Wade nodded. "You'll have to remind me which one means which," he told her. "Ladies first," he nodded, towards the dreidel in her hand.
"That's not the hardest thing in the world," Zoe retorted, giving the dreidel a spin. "Where's my kiss on the cheek?" She asked him, as the dreidel landed on hay. Chuckling Wade leaned over the coffee table to place a soft brief kiss on her cheek.
"What does this one mean?" Wade asked looking at the symbol that looked like a W.
"It's Shin, and it means that you have to answer a question truthfully," Zoe retorted, a smile playing across her lips.
"Give me your worst," Wade sighed, shaking his head. It would be just his luck that he would land on Shin.
"Hmm, why me?" She asked him.
"Why you what?" He asked, not understanding the question she is asking of him.
"Since I have been here I've heard plenty of rumors about you, but they don't add up to the guy that I get to see, so why change who you were, for me?" She asked him.
"I don't feel like I've changed for you," Wade told her. "It's more about how you should be treated, and I'm not saying that's what the others deserved. It's more about how I wasn't enough for you, and I may never be because I don't know where my life is taking me, where you do. I didn't change who I am because of you, I did it for me," he explained. He'd never put something as big as changing as a person on Zoe. He had come to that conclusion all on his own.
"I get it," Zoe nodded, picking the dreidel up. "You'll figure it out, Wade," she nodded, fiddling with the dreidel. "Whatever you end up doing, you'll be good enough, because I'll know that you're trying," she shrugged, spinning the dreidel. "Nun, means I get nothing," she shrugged.
"You get the company of your best friend, I wouldn't say that's nothing," Wade smirked, spinning the dreidel. "Again?" Wade asked, shaking his head, seeing the same symbol for shin. "I think this game hates me," he chuckled.
"It's your Karma," Zoe laughed. "I'll go easy on you this time," she told him. "First kiss?" She asked.
"Was a disaster," Wade sighed, giving her nothing more.
"That's all I get?" She asked, reaching for the dreidel.
"Yep," Wade nodded. "I don't feel like sharing my first kiss story, do you?" He asked.
"Guess not," she answered, sending the dreidel into a spin. "That's hay, so I get a second kiss," she teased.
"Don't get too cocky," Wade warned, pecking her cheek. "I swear if I get Shin again, I am going to start thinking you rigged this game," he stated, waiting to see what the dreidel lands on.
"Happy?" Zoe asked, picking the dreidel up to spin. "You get nothing," she smirked. "And I get, Shin, what do you want to know?" She asked with a soft sigh, fearing what Wade is going to ask.
"It's nothing bad, promise," Wade assured her. "How do you like Bluebell?" He asked her.
"So far, it's been fun," she nodded. "Though that might have something to do with the people and not the place," she said.
"Acceptable answer," he nodded, taking his turn. "Again?" Wade sighed, getting nun once again.
"Don't be sour about it," she said, stifling a laugh, spinning the dreidel. "I'm ready for my second question," she told him, seeing the symbol for Shin.
"First kiss?" He asked her.
"Wasn't ready for it," she answered, giving him the same amount of information that he had given her when asked the same question.
"Well played," he chuckled, taking his turn. "Pucker up," he teased, pointing to his cheek.
"Thought you didn't know what the symbols meant?" She teased, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek.
"It's not hard to learn," he shrugged, waiting to see what Zoe would end up getting. "I didn't realize how hard it is to get to gimel," he commented seeing Zoe got Nun.
"Sometimes it's not hard at all," she told him, watching the dreidel spin, and land on Shin for Wade. "Favorite present you have ever gotten?" She asked him.
"Easy, my guitar. I begged my parents for it," he smiled, kissing her cheek as it landed on hay for her. "Let's have it," he told her, as it landed on Shin for him.
"Favorite tradition?" She asked him.
"Most people would use this chance to get deep dark secrets out into the open," Wade pointed out.
"I'm not most people," she tossed out.
"Before losing my mom, it was making Christmas cookies, now I don't have any traditions that I do," he told her with a shrug, wanting to keep his emotions of his mother out of it. This time of the year is hard enough on him, and it's only going to get harder for him.
"I'm sorry," she told him, spinning the dreidel. "We can stop playing," she told him.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, and we're not going to stop playing. Not when you get the first Gimel of the night," he remarked.
"What do you know gimel it is," she nodded, licking her lips. Her nerves starting to overwhelm her.
"We don't have to if you're not comfortable with it," he told her. "I'm not going to make you do something you don't want. I'm not that type of guy," he told her.
"I know you're not, Wade," she told him with a soft smile. "I do want to kiss you, more than I should want to kiss my best friend," she confessed.
"We can easily be more than friends," Wade whispered, moving closer to her.
"Can we?" She asked, gulping, her eyes locking onto his lips.
"Sure, let's take some time to test things out, huh?" Wade asked, zeroing in on her plump pink lips.
"Yeah, I can get behind that," Zoe whispered, softly pressing her lips against his.
"I don't think we've ever gotten through a game of Dreidel," Zoe chuckled, placing the newest dreidel on the fireplace mantle in the living room.
"Sure we have," Wade commented, coming up behind her, placing his hands on her waist, placing open mouth kisses to her neck. "The game always ends in us winning the grand prize," he remarked. "Isn't that what the game is about?" He asked her.
"The game is about having fun," Zoe retorted.
"And yet we have plenty of fun while playing," Wade pointed out. "So I say we cross it all off the board. Don't you?" He asked, kissing behind her ear.
"Mmm, I guess so," Zoe hummed, falling back into him. "Don't you have to get back to work, customers to please, and all that?" Zoe asked, closing her eyes.
"I've got a girlfriend to please and all that," he husked in her ear. "Are you up for the task?"
"The question is are you up for the task?" She asked, biting her lip, spinning around to wrap herself around her boyfriend.
"That's never been questioned, and I'll let you tell me," he remarked, moving them to the couch.