Disclaimer: I own the plot and that's all.
Chapter 6
Looking over at him during the movie was easier than trying to sneak glances at him in the pizza parlor he took her too. Zack had voted for a Deep-dish Chicago style pizza with lots of pepperoni and sausage. He told her all about the places he visited including where Cody got all of the snow globes that she now owned and how each letter took them days to write. They walked down to the cinema past the Tipton and decided on a horror flick that she had been dying to see. Opening credits came and went and after the first 12 minutes in the movie that's when she noticed that she couldn't stop looking at him. Attention divided she didn't notice what was really happening so when a scary part came up that was designed to make the audience jump she did, and she landed right in his lap. Turning into him to apologize she didn't notice how close their faces were until she was staring into his eyes. Zack made the first move, which basically was second nature to him, he put his hand behind her head and brought her in for a kiss that she would later tell Harper was simply "Wow". They didn't pull away from each other until the movie had ended and the credits were rolling. Looking sheepishly at each other Alex grabbed his hand and led him out of the theatre.
"So where to next?"
"Why don't we go see how Bailey and Cody are?"
"Where are they at?"
"I think he took her to go meet our dad."
"Well lets go then."
Dragging him out onto the street she looked at him expectantly at which point he took over the lead and in less than a few minutes they were outside a hotel styled apartment complex and on there way up to his floor. Zack's mind was reeling as he kept it was only their first date and she was already meeting his dad. In his mind that meant that she might mean a little bit more than the others that he had brought here before. The last one here was a mistake because his dad walked in and they stopped seeing each other afterwards. In the dating department he wasn't doing as well as most believed and because of the feelings he had for Alex he hadn't even looked at the other girls in the different places they had visited.
Once outside the door to his dad's room Zach looked over at Alex.
"I'm not going to lie to you but this scares the hell out of me."
"Why, are you embarrassed of your dad that much? Trust me he can't be worse than mine."
"It's nothing like that, it's just I hope you don't think that this is all going really fast."
"Why should I? Normally it would be you meeting my parents on the first date. I'm just glad it's the other way around."
Zach just gave her a sheepish grin and knocked on the door. Cody was the one who opened it and a look of surprise crossed his face.
"Zach, Alex, what are you two doing here?"
"We came to check on you bro." Zach said as he pushed past his twin and into the small living room.
"Zach! Hey son, who's your friend?"
"This is Alex. Her dad runs a substation on Waverly Place."
"Well it's nice to meet you Alex. So what did my son do to you that you dragged him down here to see me?"
"He bought me a pizza and took me to a movie. Nothing to serious."
Both eyebrows shot up on his face in what Alex would call disprise a cross between disbelief and surprise.
"Oh! Well if he hasn't done anything wrong then it's really nice to meet you."
"Thank you sir it was nice to meet you as well."
All of a sudden Alex was tackled backwards by a squealing girl.
"ALEX!!! OH MY GOD!!!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!!!!"
"Hey Bailey, Zach brought me over. We were wondering how your date was going."
"Amazing. Cody baked some corn bread with spaghetti and meatballs and it was heaven."
"That sounds so good. We ate deep dish pizza that was too die for."
As the girls were trading date stories Zach pulled his brother aside to express his fears.
"What if this one date is all she wants? What if she never wants to see me again?"
"Zach, you have nothing to worry about, she can hardly take her eyes off of you."
When he said that Zach looked over at her and noticed that she quickly looked down. He could still see her eyes trying to glance over at him without him noticing.
"So have you kissed her yet?"
This snapped Zach back to reality and he quickly looked at his brother.
"You know I don't tell you if I do."
There was enough of a smile on his face for Cody to guess and he lightly punched his brothers arm.
"How long?"
"Almost the entire movie."
"And you're worried that she's not going to want to stay with you?
"When you put it that way it seems kind of foolish."
"It is foolish. You're a great guy Zach, you just got to drop that harsh layer you keep putting up around your heart."
"This coming from the guy who cried over Irma?"
"We all make mistakes."
Zach just rolled his eyes at his brother and walked over to Alex.
"We have one more place to go to before we call it a night."
Zach could see the question she longed to ask but he just shook his head warding her question off.
Grabbing her hand he led her out of the apartment after a quick goodbye to his dad and brother. Once outside Alex looked at Zach again and noticed he was pulling her towards the subway station.
"Where are we taking the subway too?"
"Just wait and see." He said giving her a quick kiss on the cheek without even thinking. It was becoming almost second nature for Zach to be affectionate towards Alex and yet he still had a guard up at the same time.
While on the subway Alex started to drill him about his mom and dad.
"Well mom works at the Tipton as a singer and dad is in a rock band."
"Do they live together or what?"
"No, which sucks because it means that Cody and I have to travel a lot to see either one of them."
"So which parent made you go on the trip?"
"Technically neither. Cody and I did it to get away from both of our parents and to broaden our knowledge of the world. Or at least that's why Cody did it."
"Why did you?"
"To find that one person to break down my walls."
Zach hadn't realized he had said it out loud until he turned to look at her face.
"What?"
"What walls are you talking about?"
"Um…. The ones around my heart as my brother likes to put it."
"But why are they there?"
Zach got up all of a sudden when the subway pulled to a halt.
"We're here."
Grabbing her hand again he pulled her off her seat and out of the car. Arriving on the street Alex looked around and the first thing that caught her eye was…
"A dance club? You're not even 18."
"I know the bouncer." He said shrugging it off.
"Zach I've been wanting to go to this club since forever."
"Well than it's a good thing that our names are on the list."
"How did you even know I was going to say yes to tonight?"
"Because the only other answer was no."
Alex let out a giggle that brought out a genuine smile from Zach. He loved that laugh as much as he loved the way her eyes seemed to shine with some mysterious light.
Inside the club Alex cast a scanning charm seeing if there were any wizards around. She had been doing this everywhere she went just in case if they were about to run into trouble. She now seemed to understand why her dad gave up his powers to be with a mortal all those years ago.
"What are you thinking about?"
"About how much fun I'm having."
"And how much is that?" He asked while leaning in towards her.
"It's more of a show you." She replied back and caught him by surprise when she kissed him.
Zach had been hoping for another kiss but not one that seemed to rock his very heart. He could feel those walls that Cody kept mentioning start to crumble and he knew he would give anything in the world for this night to not be their last.
