A Promise Kept

By Jeune Ecrivain

Rated PG

Genre: Romance/Humor (Zack/Maddie)

Summary: Five years after "A Prom Story," Maddie dances with Zack at his prom as she promised. As a result, the two friends soon discover that the difference between 17 and 20 doesn't mean as much as the difference between 12 and 15.

Part IV

"Zack, can I ask you something?"

Zack turned to face Maddie as the two glided alongside each other in rented ice skates atop the polished rink floor. "Sure."

Maddie pursed her lips. "When you were 12, what made you decide to have an active crush on a 15-year-old? I mean, most 12-year-olds who found older girls attractive would've admired them from afar for a while, realized they didn't have a chance because of the age difference, and moved on. What made you stick with me for so long when I wasn't exactly open to the idea of dating a tween?"

Zack paused for a moment in contemplation. He had never really thought about it until then. "Well," he began, "I think it's because there was something there that was more than just your good looks and the macho prestige of dating an older girl." He smirked playfully at her before turning serious again. "You weren't quite like any other girl I knew. Your personality kind of fascinated me. Plus, for most teenagers with younger admirers, whoever it is that likes them is just an annoyance. They don't really care about them. I didn't get that vibe from you. You made it quite clear that you didn't want to date me, but you still treated me like a friend at least. That meant a lot to me." He finished with a lopsided grin. "To top it all of, you were just so darn beautiful!"

Maddie chuckled and blushed simultaneously. "C'mon, Zack. Maybe I'm pretty, but 'beautiful' is probably an overstatement. Let's not forget that model Trevor dumped me for. Now she was beautiful."

"Let's not forget either that Trevor had to repeat eleventh grade," Zack retorted with a witty smile. "What does that tell you?" He took her hand and applied a gentle pull, causing her to slide smoothly towards him until their forward motion was turned into a graceful rotation on the ice as they faced each other. "What about you?" he said with a challenging grin. "What changed your mind about me enough to kiss me at prom?"

"Well…" Maddie smiled at him in mock coyness and pressed her hands against his chest, propelling herself away from him. Her eyes daring him to follow her as she drifted lithely away on the smooth ice, she gave herself thrust on the ice by clicking one skate-clad foot against it. "You're taller,…" she stated as she glided in an arc around him with one leg extended behind her. "…cuter,…" She thrust herself into another arc, effectively completing a circle around Zack. "…and smarter." She weaved her way in a curved zig-zag back towards him and met him at the center of the circle she had made with her hands on her hips. "And that's just the Cliff Notes version," she quipped before turning sincere and looking him in the eye. "Seriously, Zack, you've always been special to me. I think I just got used to thinking of you as the nice little boy with an amusing-slash-annoying little crush on me." She stepped closer to him. "Then we got closer as friends over the last few years, and of course I knew all along you were getting older and stuff, but my mind never really made the connection that you weren't such a little boy anymore…until now."

Zack grinned. "That's right…because a little boy can't do this!"

Maddie yelped as Zack gripped her firmly around her lower back with one arm, brought his other arm behind her knees, and lifted her smoothly off her feet in one swift motion. Touching the toe of one skate to the ice, he applied a strong torque and began spinning smoothly on the smooth surface.

"Zachary Daniel Martin, put me down!" she said, failing miserably to convey sternness as she giggled helplessly. "I'm getting dizzy!"

"So am I," Zack replied, obviously getting a rush from it all. "That's why this is so fun!"

Maddie laughed harder, and they spun together for a few more minutes until Zack finally slowed to a stop. The two giggled as Zack set Maddie back on her feet, but Maddie yelped once more as she failed to gain her footing and landed flat on her butt on the ice. Zack cracked up laughing while Maddie sat there indignantly, propped up by her arms. "Not funny, Zachary," she said with a glare, extending one arm out towards him as if commanding him to help her up.

Chuckling, Zack obliged and took her hand, but he soon found the tables turned on him as Maddie promptly yanked him onto the floor with her. "Hey, no fair!" he protested. He raised himself up to look down at her, catching her gaze with his own. A soft giggle escaped Maddie's lips, the last vestige of their playful mood as it surrendered to a different sensation. Zack leaned in slowly and teased her lips with his own, and she wasted little time in kissing him back. The kiss was relatively mild at first, but the passion was quickly rising. Unfortunately, they were brought back to reality quite rudely by an annoyed voice yelling, "Get a room!"

Maddie blushed as she realized that she and Zack had completely forgotten that the rink was in fact dotted with several other skaters. Zack chuckled and looked at her, and she smiled warmly at him. In that moment, they were both thinking the same thing: I could get used to this!