The rest of the weekend was a blur of boat rides, good food, sunburns, and (lots and lots) of Mario Kart.

By the time Grant pulled into my driveway, I was ready to go to bed and sleep for about twelve and a half hours. Zach and I clambered out of the car and grabbed our bags from the trunk. I couldn't wait to see Mom.

"Bye you guys," I shouted into the car as it slowly started peeling out of the driveway.

"Thanks for the weekend bro," Zach called out after the car, but he was drowned out by the sound of Liz hanging out the window to remind us both that we had to finish labeling the endocrine system by the sixth period.

We looked at each other for a second, before bursting out laughing. Liz really was like having a human planner.

It felt nice to have a moment and just laugh with Zach. For the latter half of the weekend, we hadn't really been alone too often. I hadn't had time to figure out how I felt about that, but it didn't really matter because suddenly here we were.

The sun was setting, and the sky was a ridiculous jumble of pink and orange clouds. It was honestly really pretty, and if we hadn't been standing in my driveway with our giant overnight bags and our bright red sunburns, it almost could have been romantic. Not that I would want it to be, obviously.

I turned to look at Zach and to probably mention how the orange sky really made his chemical burn pop, when the door to his front door suddenly flew open. Our heads snapped towards it and out came Tina Walters with her hands outstretched.

"Zachy!"

The only emotion I could feel at that moment was shock. Shock that Tina had just popped out of the Goode residence like a gossiping Jack-In-The-Box, shock that Katie was standing in the doorway looking absolutely miserable, and shock that the words Zachy had just been uttered and no one else was dry heaving in disgust.

My eyes bounced back and forth from Tina (who was still bee-lining towards Zach) to Kate (who was mouthing "Shoot me" behind her back) and Zach (who looked slightly annoyed).

"Hey Tee," he said as she crashed into him with a hug.

I realized I was just starting so I decided to say, "Hey Kate, hey Tina."

As if just becoming aware I was there, Tina detached herself from Zach's chest and turned to look at me. "Oh hey, Cammie" she chirped, but then went right back to Zach. "I thought I would surprise you when you got back since we haven't seen each other since Friday. I missed you!"

I took that as my cue to leave, and I scooped up my bag and started making my way towards my front door. "Um," was the first thing out of my mouth because I really didn't know what I should say in this situation. "See you guys tomorrow?"

Tina either didn't hear me or didn't care because she was pulling Zach towards his house already engaged in an endless stream of words.

Zach looking over his shoulder at me was the last thing I saw before I shut my door behind me.


Josh was waiting at my locker by the time I got to school that Monday morning. He was wearing a light blue shirt and an enormous smile.

"Good morning," he beamed when I walked up. I grinned back at him, grateful to see him. We hadn't been able to talk much over the weekend apart from the occasional text, but from what I had gathered he and DeeDee had had an amazing three-day movie marathon that consisted of an inhumane amount of pizza.

"Morning! How was your weekend?" I opened my locker and dumped my biology and trig textbooks in, thankful that my backpack now felt 80 pounds lighter.

"Obviously not as much fun as yours," Josh laughed, pointing at the sunburn that ran across my cheeks.

"Don't even talk about it, I look like a sunscreen ad."

The first bell rang across the hall and I slammed my locker shut. We sort of had a morning routine down, Josh and I. We would meet at my locker and then stroll so slow to my first period that I could hear the occasional huff of annoyance as someone hurried past us. I didn't really mind though, it gave us more time to catch up.

On this particular slow stroll, however, my mind felt a million miles away. I was acutely aware that Josh was giving me a quick rundown of his own holiday weekend. I heard the word "DeeDee" a couple of twenty times and he had a particularly dreamy smile on his face but honestly, I couldn't focus on a word he was saying.

Last night had ended in a surprising way, and even though Mom and I had a pretty fun recounting our individual holiday weekends, I still went to bed with the word "Zachy!" bouncing around in my head just as loud and shrill as Tina had screeched it.

By the time we were at my first period, I was so engulfed in whether or not Tina would be sitting with us at lunch that I had barely heard the question Josh was asking over the sound of the minute bell.

"So do you wanna?"

Snapping back to focus I realized I had zoned out for way longer than was considered polite. "Sorry," I said, shaking my head in a physical attempt to rattle away my annoying thoughts. "I didn't hear you over the bell, what?"

Josh readjusted the strap of his backpack on his shoulder and laughed. "Do you wanna get dinner tonight? There's a list of places you need to eat at as a Roseville newby."

I grinned. "Definitely."

Josh smiled, looking absolutely adorable under his mop of curly hair. "Pick you up at 7," he said as the tardy bell echoed through the hall. He strode off to class at a pace which almost made him inevitably late. He didn't seem to care.

School went by as normally as ever. I had three more assignments to do this week, everyone was looking forward to Friday's game, and the occasional freshman asked me a question in the hall that they assumed I knew the answer to just because I was the principal's daughter.

By the time lunch rolled around the only notable difference in my day was that Tina had migrated from her usual end of the lunch table to sit on our side.

It wasn't a problem or anything. Tina was cool and all, I just would've preferred a heads up that I was being forced to relocate. I mean, one minute you're riding the high of finding out its chicken nugget day in the cafeteria line, and the next you see Tina and her two "besties" cackling over their food in your usual spot. Zach could've at least shot us a text.

The look Macey shared with me when I sat down across from her told me she felt the exact same way.

It wasn't that I didn't like Tina, because I did. Seriously, I did. She was funny, she was loud, and if there was one thing she could do it was command a room. We had gotten along fine every time we talked, and she always had something juicy to tell me about a teacher or some kid whose name I didn't even know. Plus she usually sat at our table. Just, you know, on the other end. The far end. Now she was draped across Zach's arm as he tried (with difficulty) to pick up a piece of chicken while she gripped his bicep with both hands.

Our conversation wasn't as fun and exciting as usual. They spent the majority of the time talking about some kid named Eddie Sanchez who I had never met but apparently had a tattoo of Jessica Alba on his left calf. I found myself spending most of the lunch hunched over in the opposite direction talking to Bex, Liz, and Macey about my date with Josh tonight.

By the time I was stalking off to fifth period I knew what to wear, how to do my hair, and at which intervals my friends expected me to text them. We broke off in different directions at the start of the science hallway, and Liz and I headed towards biology while Macey and Bex stalked off to trig.

I slid into my desk and fished my endocrine system worksheet out of my backpack. I definitely had not had the energy to do it last night so it was jotted down hastily between second and third period. I glanced over at Liz's which was so neat it practically could've been printed in a textbook.

It wasn't until right before the tardy bell that Zach slid into his seat, a fresh lip gloss lined imprint around the edges of his mouth. The minor twang of bitterness I felt in my chest was wiped away by the fact that he would actually be mortified by this.

"That is such a nice color on you," I said very matter of factly. Dr. Fibbs was shuffling papers on his desk and had yet to start the class. I capitalized on this free time. "I think I have that same shade myself."

Zach narrowed his eyes suspiciously at me. "I don't know what you're talking about Gallagher Girl but I have a feeling it's going to annoy me."

I feigned offense. "Fine." Huffing, I twisted my mouth into a frown. "But don't wear so much lip gloss next time if you don't want compliments on it." I turned to face the front of the class just as Dr. Fibbs was clearing his throat.

Even from the corner of my eye, I could see the bright red flush of Zach's cheeks. His hand rushed to his mouth and he wiped at it furiously with the back of his hand. A major feeling of victory rushed over me. He was always the one making me blush, it was nice to return the favor. My gloating was short lived however, because a low whisper was now being directed to me.

"What, am I giving you ideas on what shade of lipstick to wear on your date tonight?"

Now it was my turn to narrow my eyes. I turned in my desk, completely ignoring the fact that Dr. Fibbs was starting to review instructions for the class today. "Gloss," I corrected bitingly in an effort to fish for something to say. "And how do you know about my date?"

Dr. Fibbs was now handing out papers throughout the class. Zach was ignoring him just as blatantly as I was, staring at me with a lipgloss-free amused grin. "Please Gallagher Girl, there was only so long I could listen to the artistic designs etched into Eddie Chavez's calves." Then before I could retort, he added over my shoulder. "Liz, I'm partnering with Cammie today."

I looked around. I hadn't even realized the class had been sectioning off into pairs. Liz shrugged, offering me a quick open mouthed look of excitement, then turned to partner with the girl to her left.

"That's literally eavesdropping. And it's rude," I grumbled. I grabbed my paper and followed Zach to the back of the room where our lab tables were covered in small vials of liquid. I pulled a pair of gloves on and crossed my arms across my chest in an effort to show him I was super annoyed and also how dare he listen to private conversations like that.

Zach shrugged and slid goggles onto his face. He bent over the instructions and started to read them over. Something told me that I should probably do that too since I hadn't been listening when Dr. Fibbs had been speaking, but I was much too preoccupied huffing to myself in annoyance to read about how the acid in the tubes represented some sort of bile in our stomachs.

Zach looked up from the directions and dropped a penny into one of the vials. It immediately began to fizz and bubble. He watched it for a moment before looking up. At the sight of my scowl and crossed arms he started to grin again. "If you want my opinion you should wear your hair up. It looks nice like that."

I watched the penny start to turn green as the layers of copper continued to burn off. I didn't really know what to say in response to that. The girls and I had decided I would leave my hair down-maybe even curl it-but for some reason I found myself repeating his words in my head. It looks nice like that.

In the beaker, the penny was now a pale, worn green color. I distracted myself by marking the results down on my worksheet. I realized way too much time had passed for me to fire back a retort so instead I let out a non-committal grunt instead.

We operated around each other in silence for a few moments, dropping another penny in another vile, watching another reaction. When we both bent over to record the response down on our sheet, I decided to speak again.

"Maybe I'll google 'Jessica Alba hairstyles' for inspiration."

Zach stilled, his pencil hovering over his paper. He closed his eyes, letting out a long exhale from his nose-one that seriously lasted at least five seconds-his mouth twitching. I could tell he was trying not to laugh, to not give me the satisfaction of not only making a good joke but at one that was at the expense of his new…girl (friend? girlfriend?).

I dropped a penny in the third vial and it landed with a satisfying plonk.

"You know," Zach clipped as this penny contracted a gross yellowish foam, "I will never offer you advice again."

"Good. It was unsolicited advice."

"Helpful advice."

"The only bit of helpful advice you offered me today was what shade of gloss makes this sunburn look worse."

At this Zach finally let himself laugh. He chuckled, shaking his head and not long after I found myself laughing too. Laughing with him felt good, natural. Like it was some sort of confirmation I secretly needed that told me things weren't awkward between us.

We joked until the bell, hurling insults at each other and making fun of Dr. Fibbs each time he continued to take sips of his coffee and burn his mouth. When the bell rang, were still quietly giggling as we stepped out into the hallway to head for seventh period.

We hadn't even made it two steps outside the door when Tina materialized out of the crowd.

"Walk me to cheer?" She asked, eyes only trained on Zach. His laughter fizzled out in his throat and for a brief moment he stared at her in surprise. It was immediately replaced by a charming and satisfied smile that only made Tina's grow double in comparison.

"Hi Tina, nice to see you too," Liz grumbled.

Her comment was directed at their backs however, because they were already walking away, hands interlocked.


It turns out that the Roseville restaurant Josh wanted me to try was a giant South-of-the-border Tex-Mex place called Iguana Joe's.

The building was massive, but even more massive than that was the ceramic Iguana in a sombrero that towered over the top of the spanish-style roof (King-Kong like). The sign by the front door boasted about their world famous salsa, their strong margaritas, and their Sunday senior citizen specials. When Josh pulled into the parking lot I caught a glimpse of the waiters inside wearing sombreros.

"Okay," he started, putting the car into park. "I know this looks like a lot but this place has the best sweet pork tacos in the world. Trust me."

I laughed. "You look nervous." And then as an act of showing my support, I reached out and squeezed his hand. "Don't worry, it looks great."

Because it was a Monday, I figured the restaurant would only contain a few regular diners or people who were celebrating something. I actually couldn't have been more wrong. Almost every table looked like it was full of people. The hostess looked seriously overwhelmed when Josh told her that he had reserved a table for two.

She led us to the back of the restaurant where a small table was pressed up against a massive window. It overlooked a steep forest drop-off and was absolutely beautiful. I raised my eyebrows at Josh, impressed. He shrugged modestly.

Once we were seated and the complimentary tortilla chips were in between us, Josh leaned in. "So, tell me about the lakehouse."

And I did. I plunged into all the details of the long weekend-the rope swing, the mario kart, my first shot. When it came to retelling that first night, however, I brushed over the whole swimming with Zach fiasco. Even though I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, I still felt awkward about it. I wondered if it was almost worse that I was putting so much thought into an innocent moment between friends.

Josh took his turn telling me about his weekend with DeeDee. He left nothing out and even disclosed apologetically that he and DeeDee had fallen asleep in his bed after the third or fourth movie. Even though I really didn't care that they had slept in the same bed because, after all, they had literally been best friends for like ten years, his candor made me feel slightly guilty about not mentioning the swimming. But now, if I brought it up it would be even weirder.

I was playing mental ping pong with these thoughts when our waitress set two steaming plates of sweet pork tacos in front of us.

"This looks," I inhaled appreciatively, "amazing."

Josh grinned, tossing a thanks to the waitress and then taking an enormous bite of his food. "I hope you like them," he admitted.

One bite in and I let out a borderline sexual moan. It was amazing. I relayed this thought to Josh. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"I used to come here all the time with my parents," Josh told me once he had completely housed one of his tacos. "I would only ever get these tacos. One time they ran out of the sweet pork and I cried so hard I spit up on the table."

I let out a laugh that threatened to be accompanied with the food in my mouth. Once swallowing, I asked, "How old were you?"

"Fifteen."

At this, I laughed so hard I actually did fling food out of my mouth. I knocked it off the table before Josh could notice. Luckily he was too interested in his side of rice and beans to pay attention.

"What about you," he asked. "Any New York places you'd dry heave over the thought of eating at one more time?"

Instantly, my mind raced to all the places I used to frequent when I was at Gallagher Academy. There was the Asian restaurant that served soup dumplings that could melt in your mouth. The bakery on Park with the best almond croissants. The Italian food truck that had the enormous calzones off 34th.

I momentarily got lost in the sense of nostalgia I felt for all these places that I hadn't realized wouldn't always be just a few blocks away. I almost would've felt sad if it hadn't been for the cute boy across from me and the piping hot plate of delicious tacos in front of me.

I exhaled a hmmm, tapping on the table while I thought of a particular restaurant that could match Josh's love for Iguana Joe's. Then it hit me,

"Oh my God, Dan's."

At this Josh perked up, leaning forward. "Go on…"

Memories of Dan's began flooding in. I described them to Josh… It was a small Ma & Pa burger shop that was hedged in between a Men's Foot Locker and nail salon. My parents and I had found it one day when Dad had tried to take us to a new art gallery he had heard of and completely botched the directions getting off the subway. We had been wandering around for hours looking for this gallery when I decided that it was the perfect moment to throw a fit. I was eight years old and I had been far too well behaved in the three hours that we had been wandering the streets, so I decided at that very moment I was going to ball my hands into fists and SCREAM.

I am tired, I said. They know, my parents said. We don't know where we are, I reminded them. They know, they conceded. I'm hungry and if I don't get food right now I will absolutely lose my mind, I relayed to them via a blood-curdling shriek. Oh my God let's just eat here, they replied.

We slipped into the skinny doors and seated ourselves just like the sign at the front prodded us to. Then we proceeded to have the best burger of our freaking lives. Seriously. The best. By the time we had finished our food, my dad had ordered three more burgers to go and the lost art gallery was a distant memory in our minds.

When I finished Josh was leaning back in his seat staring at me fondly. He reached out across the table and squeezed my hand. "It's nice hearing you talk about New York," he told me. "You get all flushed and excited."

The compliment was so sweet and sincere I couldn't help but blush. I was probably still beet red when the waitress circled around to deliver our check.

As Josh and I headed back towards his truck, he laced his fingers between mine. I leaned into him contentedly. "If I ever go to New York the first place I'm gonna look for is Dan's," he told me a matter of factly.

I fastened my seatbelt around me. "If you go Dan's and don't bring me six mushroom swiss burgers to go, I'm hitting you with my car."

Josh chuckled, lurching the car into reverse. "Something about a girl who's passionate about her burgers really does it for me."

We spent the car ride debating the best and worst toppings to get on burgers, what sides were superior, and the power of the onion ring. By the time we pulled into my driveway I was almost hungry again.

"Thank you for dinner tonight," I said after he killed the engine. I had insisted he not walk me to the door this time because it was cold outside and seriously what was the point. Still, when it was time to leave, I wasn't quite ready and my hand lingered on the door handle. "It really was amazing."

Josh smiled, turning a little in his seat to face me. "I'm really glad you liked it, I had a lot of fun."

There was a second of silence, and the two of us stared at each other. He knew what was coming. I knew what was coming. He knew that I knew what was coming. We both leaned in a fraction of an inch and pretty soon we were kissing. The kiss was slow and sweet, but still enough to leave us both blushing a bright shade of red after.

I don't think I was any less red by the time I said goodbye and had made it to my front door. As I fumbled with my keys, my vision illuminated by Josh's headlights ("I'm not leaving till I know you get inside safe Cammie and no, don't even start arguing"), I glanced up at the roof.

The last time I had been coming home from a date Zach had been sitting up there. Now it was vacant, the spot he had once inhabited empty and illuminated by the small sliver of moon in the sky. I tried to ignore the tug of disappointment I felt. Then when the thought 'he's probably with Tina' whooshed into my mind, I ignored that too.

I pushed the door open, offering a wave to Josh who was finally backing out of the driveway now, and shut the door behind me. Mom was curled up on the couch with a glass of red wine. She knocked the volume on the TV down a bit and patted the spot next to her.

I slid into the couch beside her, curling into her warmth. The fireplace was on, filling the living room with a comfy heat. "Hey," I said dropping my head on her shoulder.

She rested her head on mine and snuggled into me. "Hey. How was the date kiddo?"

I offered her a recount of the night (good practice for when I would have to do it for Bex, Liz, and Macey), and when I got to the part about the kiss she was wiggling her eyebrows so hard I thought they would basically take flight off her forehead.

Talking about this stuff with Mom was never awkward-I mean, I had practically rehashed every detail of my first kiss to her almost immediately after it happened-however when she did especially cringy things like this I usually took it as my cue to leave. Which is exactly what I did.

With a roll of my eyes and a hug, I bid Mom good night and headed upstairs to get ready for bed. I was tired, and I had neglected a homework assignment that I would definitely have to be up early to complete. So, as I took off my make up and brushed my teeth I was counting down the minutes until I could crawl under the covers.

When the time finally came, I practically deep nose-dived into my bed. I was teetering on the edge of sleep when I heard a THUD outside my window.

I bolted upright in bed and stared at my closed blinds. I had learned to shut them when I was showering or doing most things that involved nudity. They were still shut from when I changed for my date and when they flung open to reveal none other than Zach Goode stumbling into my room, I almost shrieked.

Actually, I did shriek.

"Zach," I (you guessed it) shrieked. "What are you doing?!"

Recovering from his grand entrance, Zach caught his balance. He turned away from me only to move the blinds back, shut the window, and then spin around with a grin.

"Hey Gallagher Girl."

I was actually at a loss for words. How was someone so deranged? Why was everything he did actually so bizarre?

"You are breaking and entering!" I was no longer shrieking but my voice was a lot more high pitched than I would have liked. I was hyper aware of the fact that I was in my pajamas which really just consisted of an oversized t-shirt (no bra!) and a pair of ridiculously skimpy sleep shorts.

Zach shrugged and dropped onto the foot of my bed. The way he did it was so comfortable, so not panicking like me, that it took everything in me not to kick him in the chin. "Your window was unlocked."

And of course, he said that as if it justified this outrageous behavior, which it of course did not. I could feel my heart hammering in my chest at holy-crap-your-house-is-being-invaded rates per minute, but after a few deep breaths it settled down to a (still high) Zach-is-in-your-bed rates per minute.

I folded my knees up, hugging them to my chest and feeling immensely grateful for the thick layer of comforter that was separating us. "What are you doing here?"

Zach, who had been staring at the ceiling with his arms crossed behind his head, turned to look at me. "Kate has a date over and I can't bear to hear another second of it."

I shuddered at that thought-at what was implied that Zach was overhearing. The discomfort must have been clear on my face because he sat up quickly. "Ew, no Gallagher Girl. I mean, he came over to cook her dinner and they haven't stopped the lovey-dovey stuff in hours. He was actually singing-singing-" (his hands slammed on the bed) "-Frank Sinatra to her like two minutes ago." Then with a mischievous smirk that only pulled up one side of his mouth he added, "Can't believe you were thinking about sex."

The word sex made my brain short circuit.

Actually, let me rephrase.

The word sex, coming out of Zach's mouth, made my brain short circuit. The word bounced around the walls of my completely thoughtless head.

After a second too late, I recovered (seriously, what was wrong with me) and bristled. "I wasn't thinking about it, it was implied with your comment. And frankly that sounds super cute to me."

At this Zach let out an amused chuckle. He sat up on the bed now and pushed himself back so that he was leaning against the wall. I was about to yell at him to keep his shoes off my bed but when I looked down I saw that his legs were so long, his feet were dangling off. He had a hole in the toe of his sneakers and I stared at it for one, two, three seconds.

When I finally looked back at him, he was studying me. His face was a canvas painted with an unreadable expression and slightly narrowed eyes. He titled his head to the side and stated, "Nah, you would hate it if a guy did something like that. You're definitely into more understated grand gestures."

I didn't answer.

I didn't even know how to answer. I mean, he wasn't wrong. At all. I would hate that type of thing. I was mainly just saying it was cute for the sake of arguing with him. But the fact that he had said it was such definitive confidence-like he was positive of it, like he knew for a fact what I would like or dislike-it threw me.

"Would you ever do something like that?" I asked. Under the covers, I unfolded my legs and extended them the length of my bed. They nudged Zach and he shifted a little so that my feet could slide under his legs.

He waited a moment as if he was running his answer through his head. He was looking back at the ceiling again and I tried my hardest not to notice the sharp angle of his jaw or how dark and long his lashes were. When his eyes slid to look at me I fought the urge to look away guiltily. "I think I would," he admitted. "But only if it was the type of thing the girl I'm with would actually enjoy."

The next thing that came out of my mouth slipped out before my brain could catch up. It was the type of thing I would preferably think in my head, proofread in my brain, and then smartly tuck away in the 'Things That Don't Need to Be Said Because It Makes You Look Childish' sector of my cerebrum. Unfortunately, it bypassed all this and popped right out of my mouth.

"I bet Tina would like something like that."

I wanted to crawl under my covers and die. It was such a weird and random thing to say. I sounded like I was prodding or trying to pull a response from him. I could feel my face start to burn and I looked anywhere but him.

"Maybe," was all Zach said in response to that. I drew my eyes to him and he was staring at me again, the same unreadable look on his face. "I see Bone Daddy won a spot on the bed." It was spoken without a break in eye contact, like most of the things he said. I was grateful for the quick subject change.

I picked up the stuffed dino and twirled him around in my hands. "Of course he did. How could you say no to those eyes?" I cooed. Turning Bone Daddy's 'crazy eyes' towards Zach, I pushed the stuffed animal into his chest.

Zach shuddered, tossing him back to me. "I can't believe you sleep with that," was all he mumbled.

I bit back another comment that involved 'Tina', 'him', and 'sleeping with' and successfully filed it into the 'Things That Don't Need to Be Said Because It Makes You Look Childish' file.

"I can't believe you hate Sinatra so much you're willing to commit a felony just to escape your house."

Zach chuckled, plunging a hand through his hair. I noticed it was damp and couldn't decide which direction it wanted to stick up in. "He's tone deaf Gallagher Girl, you really have no idea. It's been going on for hours, too. I almost offered to drive the guy home myself."

I wiggled my toes and they bumped against his leg. It was obnoxious but he laughed anyway. "Or," I offered, "you could take some pointers from the guy. How to be a good lover 101 or whatever."

Zach's eyebrow twitched, and the same one-sided smirk appeared on his face. "Lover? Really Gallagher Girl? I sneak into your room and suddenly making love is all you can think about."

I cringed so deep into my body I thought I would snap in half. I held up an indignant finger. "First of all, never in your life say making love again," I warned him.

"Yeah, instant regret. Better than fucking though, right?"

"Honestly, no. A second of all," I jabbed the finger into his chest. "You're the one making everything sexual. Just admit that you're the one who snuck into my room and is now getting all hot and bothered thinking about sex."

Zach blinked. "Okay."

"What?"

"Okay," he repeated. That dumb one-sided smirk was still tugging at his lips and he looked obnoxiously amused. It could've been a trick of the light, but I could swear his eyes were a shade darker than before.

"Okay, as in you're agreeing to never say making love again?" I asked, confused. My mind was reeling and for some reason the room started to feel very hot. "Okay, as in you're admitting you're the one who is making everything about sex? Or like, okay that being in my room is making you think about sex?"

"Okay," was all he said in response, shrugging.

I was overthinking.

There was no reason for me to be flustered over that stupid two syllable word. There was no innuendo behind it, he was simply conceding to me for once. Why was I making it weird?

I physically shook my head to clear my thoughts and Zach's grin widened. I had the annoying feeling he knew what was going on in my head.

"O-o-okay," I said slowly. My eyes scanned my room, something I should've done the minute he stepped foot in it. Seeing no outrageously embarrassing things, I turned my attention back to him. "If you're gonna take refuge in my house the least you could do is my AP Gov assignment."

Zach turned his attention back to the ceiling with a roll of his eyes. "You haven't finished that yet? It took me like fifteen minutes max."

I narrowed my eyes, kicking my feet up so his legs flew in the air a little. He narrowed his eyes back and slammed them down on top of my comforter. It crushed my toes just a little. "Some of us," I reminded him venomously, "had plans tonight and therefore did not have time to do it."

A twitch of Zach's jaw.

He looked for a moment like he was going to say something but then he pushed off my bed and headed towards my desk. "Let's see how much you have left."

I watched as his hands filtered through my backpack. I mentally noted how big they were, and how he had veins running up his arms. I tucked that information into the That's a Weird Thing to Notice, Cammie file of my brainclopedia.

Zach had now located my AP Gov book and had flipped open my laptop, where I had already started the assignment. It was an easy one, basically busy work. Realistically, I knew I could finish it pretty quick tomorrow, but the idea of not doing it at all? Now that was magical.

His eyes scanned over my work and then bounced over to me. "This is really good," he told me.

"Thanks," I replied, and true to my character, the compliment had made me blush. "It's mostly done honestly, I just need a conclusion paragraph."

"Mmmhmm," was Zach's response as his long fingers began to brush over the keys.

I watched as he worked in silence for a moment. I was actually surprised he was finishing the assignment. I had suggested it as a joke, but it was clearly working in my favor.

"So," Zach began. His eyes were fixated on my laptop screen, and I prayed no iMessages popped up while he was sitting in front of it. "Too tired after your date to type out one measly conclusion paragraph, huh?"

I leaned my head back against the headboard and closed my eyes. "Too full is more like it. We went to Iguana Joe's and I ate my body weight in pork tacos."

"Mmmm."

More typing.

The silence stretched on for a few seconds. I wanted to fill it, but I didn't know how.

Finally Zach did with a giant sigh.

"What?" I asked. I opened my eyes to see him shaking his head.

He started laughing and I watched as his hands flitted across the mouse pad. His giant fingers pushed the submit button and he folded my laptop shut.

"You're ridiculous."

I frowned at him. "Me? How?"

Zach swiveled in my desk chair to face me. He groaned and tilted his head back. "You're right. You're not ridiculous. I'm ridiculous."

I was still very confused. One moment he was concluding my AP Gov essay, and the next he was having some sort of crisis.

"What are you talking about?" I snapped.

His hands were now back in his hair, raking through it with frustration. "You make me act ridiculous," he said plainly. He met my gaze and his eyes were so dark I momentarily forgot they were usually green. "I'm breaking into your window. I'm doing your homework. You just got back from a date and, Jesus Christ, I'm doing your homework."

At this I threw my covers off and stood indignantly. He stood too, shoving the desk chair back with the sudden movement. Hands on my hips, I glared up at him. "I said the homework comment as a joke, you know. I didn't expect you to really do it, Zach. You're the one who took me up on it."

In the heat of the moment I had forgotten what I was wearing. I had popped out of bed, ready to give him a piece of my mind and had completely spaced on my ridiculous sleep outfit.

Zach's eyes traveled the length of my body, head to toe, and then relocated immediately to the ceiling. "I know," he said to my overhead fan. "That's the point."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Zach opened his mouth to reply, his eyes still fixated upwards. Before he could though, a pair of lights cut into the room, followed by the sound of a car pulling out of the driveway.

He clamped his mouth shut and glanced out the window. When he looked back at me, whatever he had been about to say had very clearly been swallowed away.

"Looks like Mr. Sinatra finally left," he said, making his way to the window and offering me a smile. "Good night Gallagher Girl."

He ducked out before I could even throw Bone Daddy in his direction.


hi it's winter break so I'm back. read and review so i can distract myself from the fact it took me forever to update