A/N: Hi everyone! Sorry that it's taken me so long to upload! I forgot to say before I left, but I went volunteering in Africa and it was honestly the most incredible experience I've ever had. Anyway, I now feel inspired, so the next chapter will be up very soon (for real this time!) and it's a long one, which is why this one is quite short. Hope you enjoy this chapter, see you soon.. xxx

"So I thought we should go on a date tomorrow night," Zach said to me at lunch one Thursday.

We were sitting outside under a tree with Liz, as far away from the stares and whispers in the cafeteria as we could get. Even after being back at school for three weeks, people still had nothing better to do than gossip about Zach having a girlfriend and Josh being pissed that I moved on so quickly. Sometimes I questioned whether people would even stay at the school if it weren't for the drama constantly supplied by my ever-complex love life.

"A date?" I choked, almost spitting out a mouthful of orange juice before turning to face Zach to see if he was serious. "We're not dating, though. And tomorrow is Friday." I glanced at Liz who was grinning widely at me, sending me looks as if she was trying to tell me she told me so.

"Yes. A date. A real date. I know tomorrow is Friday." Zach gave me a quizzical look.

I stared at Liz urging her to say something distracting so that I could gather my thoughts for a second. Zach fricking Goode just asked me out on a proper date. One that didn't involve our fake relationship. I think my heart was having a spasm.

"Well, I, for one think that's a great idea!" Liz added enthusiastically.

Zach nodded in agreement, "Thank you, Lizzie. Someone who appreciates my ideas."

My eyes widened even more, "I'm sure you have better things to do than hang out with me." It was true. I wasn't anything special. There was no reason for him to hang out with me outside of school hours.

"You don't want to be seen with me?" He frowned, nodding slowly as if understanding what I was talking about. He was wrong.

"No!" I almost shouted, lowering my voice when we got a few glares. "Of course I want to hang out with you, but I don't need your pity. I don't want a pity date, Zach."

"It's not a pity date, Cammie." He rolled his eyes. "You know I like hanging out with you, and we need to make public appearances occasionally to make this look believable." Zach sighed, pushing his curls out of his face.

"We make plenty of public appearances." Why would he want to hang out with me on a Friday night when he had friends and teammates that he could party with or whatever?

"Cam, you going to Zach's soccer practice at the crack of dawn on a Saturday when only the guys on the team can see you is not a public appearance. I still can't believe you woke me up for that." Liz replied disapprovingly.

"But we also-" I tried to argue back but was cut off by Zach stealing my juice from me and taking a huge mouthful.

He rolled his eyes at me, an action I'd seen him do repeatedly whenever we bickered, "And as much fun as it is making out with you in the school halls, the school parking lot, and homeroom, it's not the same. People in relationships go on dates." I sat up on my knees to face him, watching his mouth pull up into a smile when I wrapped my arms around his neck, his bright green eyes widening in surprise.

"You forgot making out in the cafeteria line, and the car, and in front of Josh's locker," I said. His eyes lit up, and a smirk formed on his soft, pink lips.

"That was fun. Best kiss ever. Even if you did have my back pushed into the damn padlock. Swear it's still bruised." He had a dreamy but pained expression on his face.

"That was all you, Casanova. Not my fault you got carried away." Not that I minded. Who would? I was fast becoming used to kissing Zach. Josh, however, was furious, muttering something about disinfecting his locker and indecent exposure followed by a few choice words thrown in my direction. There was nothing indecently exposed. I wasn't that kind of girl. But I will never forget the look on Josh's face when Zach finally stopped attacking me with his lips.

"Totally your fault," I added before staring into his mesmerising orbs dreamily.

Liz coughed loudly, interrupting the moment. A small blush had appeared on her cheeks as she announced that Bex had sent her a text asking where we were and that she was going to find her. It turns out that Bex and Lizzie were friends already since they were lab partners in AP Chemistry, which made the dynamics in our small friendship-group even closer. It took some effort getting Zach to open up to Bex, since he knew all about what went down on the road trip, but I think he secretly really liked her. She had an amazing personality and at the end of the day was extremely apologetic about not being there for me enough. For once I felt secure about my friends.

After watching her walk off, Zach placed his hands around my waist and pulled me closer to him. "You were saying something about Casanova…" He murmured softly. I wound my arms around his neck again and closed the distance between us to kiss him. I still felt nervous about kissing him. Even though we had kissed in all of those places, and quite a lot too, it was always Zach initiating things. I had never felt confident enough just to land one on him at random times. I always let him make the first move. But when I heard that small moaning sound from the back of his throat, I knew I hadn't crossed a line.

"And besides, I heard Josh and Dee Dee talking about going to the drive-in tomorrow night to watch that new chick flick. Wanna make them jealous?" He cleared his throat and grinned cheekily. I couldn't refuse him. Not when he looked at me like that-with that smile and those excited eyes.

As terrible as it sounded, I'd quite enjoyed seeing Josh's reactions to things over the past couple of weeks. Zach and I being in a relationship was clearly getting to him. His beautiful, show-stopping, movie-star smile had completely disappeared and had been replaced by what Zach named Josh's perma-scowl. It was evident he didn't want me to move on and that he expected me to pine after him, but I refused to do that. Every day I spent with Zach made it that little bit easier to forget how much I had loved Josh and how I was truly better off without him.

"Okay, let's go. It could be fun." I nodded, shifting so I could sit beside him and steal a fry from his tray.

Hey," he complained, reaching to grab it back from me. But I just shrugged and shoved it in my mouth before smiling and leaning back into his arms.

I was becoming increasingly comfortable around Zach the more time I spent with him. It was getting easier to act as his girlfriend now with small gestures like cuddling up to him and holding his hand. Maybe now I could add kissing to the list of things I was comfortable doing. Or maybe not. It was still weird. I didn't want him to think that I wanted to kiss him because I liked him in that way or anything. Because I didn't. That would be awkward. I didn't want him to get the wrong idea or freak out. Maybe I'd just leave the big gestures like kissing to him. But I wouldn't complain. Ever.

"Urgh, you guys are so sweet it's disgusting." Bex exclaimed, releasing her linked arm with Lizzie's and sitting beside us.

"Disgusting?" I asked.

At the same time, Zach screwed up his nose and asked, "Sweet?"

"Yes, disgusting and sweet. Looking all loved up and sexy." She narrowed her eyes at Zach. "And happy together cuddling under a tree. I want tree cuddles. Zach, do you have an identical twin you could introduce me to?"

"Sorry, Bex. It's just me." He laughed, absentmindedly tracing patterns on my waist where his hand was resting.

Bex furrowed her brow. "Damn it. I need to find a boyfriend, or at least a date for prom."

"Speaking of prom dates, I think I'm going to go solo this year. I haven't really had the time to find anyone since I've been trying to get extra credit for college." added Liz.

"Why don't you both just go solo together? I mean, who needs men?" I replied.

They scoffed jokingly. "Cams, that's easy for you to say, you've got your own piece of hunk already."

Zach feigned hurt," This piece of hunk has a name you know."

"Has the piece of hunk got any hot friends he wants to share with us?" Bex teased grinning.

He thought about it for a moment with hand on his chin, before suddenly sitting up straight. "Ladies, never fear, your night in shining armour is here. I'm on the case!"

We laughed at him. "You're so cringe, you know that right?" I teased.

He wrapped me in his arms even tighter before nuzzling his face into the crook of my neck, "You love it really."

"Come on, Zach, I'm desperate. My life-long crush on my brother's best friend has not worked out like I thought it would and I need someone to take my mind off of it." Bex whined.

"Hey, what about, Grant?" I asked. "He's single." I tilted my head to look at Zach.

He pouted thoughtfully before shrugging. Grant was one of the guys on Zach's soccer team and one of his closest friends. We'd had lunch a couple of times after practice the past couple of weeks. He was so warm and friendly it was hard not to like him. Unfortunately, he didn't go to our school, much like the rest of Zach's friends. Grant could at least take her out a few times and then to the dance, maybe get her mind off of her brother's best friend for a while.

"Grant? Who's Grant? What's he like? Is he single?" Bex asked a hundred miles an hour, her eyes shining bright with anticipation.

"One of Zach's friends. Yes he's hot, single, and looking for a girlfriend. We can introduce them, yeah, Goode?" I nudged him when I noticed he was frowning. His fingers had stopped trailing patterns on my skin. "What's wrong?"

"You think Grant's hot?" he asked quietly, avoiding eye contact. Was he seriously jealous? I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to grab hold of that confidence I had slowly been building.

"Not as hot as you. No one compares to you," I told him before pressing my lips to his.

He didn't respond at first, and I didn't move. I kept my lips on his, ignoring my friends' gagging sounds in the background. I finally felt Zach's mouth curl into a small smile and felt one arm wrap around my waist before breaking apart. "I already know that, love." He winked, "Alright Bex, I'll talk to Granty for you and Elizabeth, don't think I've forgotten about you either! I have just the person in mind."

Lizzie blushed embarrassed whilst Bex pulled us into a bone-crushing hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Zach laughed clutching me closer, "Now if you ladies don't mind I have some very important business to get back to." He exclaimed, wiggling his eyebrows before placing me in his lap.

"Ohhh…kay, that's our cue to leave. Real subtle Goode. Come on Liz, we're leaving now. This is getting rather uncomfortable." Bex announced, gathering her bag.

"Fine by me!" Lizzie squealed, reminding us all of how pure she still was.

"Oh look, Josh is coming this way," Bex chimed whilst Zach found his way up to my lips again. "Call us when we can meet the guys you mentioned!"

At this point I had become lost in the motion of Zach's soft kisses that I couldn't register anything else that was happening. I heard them shuffling around to leave but didn't acknowledge it. Instead, Zach's right hand grasped my shoulder and began pushing me backwards gently, until I was down on the grass with his long body pressed against my side. My fingers found their way into Zach's hair and pulled his mouth down to mine again when he broke the kiss.

"I wasn't finished," I mumbled against his mouth, earning a chuckle from him before I felt his tongue trace along my bottom lip. I immediately parted my mouth, letting him deepen the kiss. I could feel eyes on us like someone was staring, and I was vaguely aware that we were in the schoolyard and remembered Bex announcing something about Josh, but I was too lost in Zach's kiss and the warmth of his large hand gripping my waist to care.

Finally, when we were both struggling for breath, Zach pulled away slightly and looking down at me, smiled. "Damn it, Cammie. That was some kiss." I laughed at that and ran my thumb across his bottom lip, noticing how pink and swollen it looked from the intensity of it.

"It was," I agreed. "You're a mess, sorry." I smoothed my hands over his hair to tame it.

"So are you, but I like this dishevelled just-been-kissed look on you." He smirked. "Can't wait to see the dishevelled just been fu-" I reached up and pinched his mouth shut with my fingers.

"Don't finish that sentence." I tried to sound stern and severe but was trying not to laugh at him at the same time. He sighed as I released my gag.

"Just saying that is definitely a look I want to see on you." He winked.

"In your dreams, Goode," I told him, slapping him on the chest as the warning bell rang.

"Every night," he admitted, pushing himself up and helping me to stand. I was just about to respond when Zach stiffened and looked over my shoulder. I turned to look in the direction he was staring and saw Josh standing there watching, mad as hell. "Jimmy," Zach growled.

"You didn't know he was there?" I thought that was why he had pushed me down and kissed me like that.

"No, why?"

"That kiss. I thought you were trying to piss him off."

"That kiss was all you, Cammie."

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