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12. Hanging out

Wade opened his eyes and stared up to the ceiling. He couldn't remember the last time he was so happy. Yes, yesterday he had been all smiles too, but there had been the tingle of fear that she might turn him down. Now there was nothing that could bring him down. Zoe had not spent last night at home because she was avoiding him and even though she hadn't declared her love for him she'd said that she didn't hate him or think he was trash.

He sat up in his bed and looked out his window and into hers. Her bedroom was empty. He glanced at the old alarm clock by his bed. 8:45. Crap. He'd overslept. Again. He quickly got out of bed and tossed on the first jeans and shirt he came across on the floor and then hurried down to the kitchen where he grabbed an apple before running out the door.

The bell had just rung out the first class of the day when Wade burst in through the front door of the school. He leaned next to some lockers and let out a breath.

"What's with the heavy breath, did you run here or somethin'?"

Wade's old friend, Meatball, stood before him, looking at him with disdain.

"Yeah", Wade managed to get out between breaths.

"Why?" Meatball asked, with real confusion on his face.

Wade didn't really know how to answer. He didn't actually know why he'd ran to school. He'd overslept a million times and never had he even felt a tiny bit bad about it, but this morning it had felt imperative that he got to school as fast as he could. He could guess that it was because of Zoe, but it's not like he had made a conclusive decision to be a better man or some crap like that, however, his subconscious somehow tricked him into wanting to go to school on time.

"Whatever, dude" Meatball finally said when Wade didn't say anything. "So, ya up for some hangin' later? Maybe jam a little?"

"Yeah, sure man" Wade said, grabbing Meatballs hand in a typical guy like handshake/hug before walking off towards his next class.

He arrived outside of the classroom early. He felt weird. He couldn't remember the last time he'd arrived early for class. He was contemplating turning around and walking away to wait somewhere else for class to start when Zoe came walking down the hallway.

"Wade Kinsella is waiting outside of class. What has come of the world?" she joked as she walked up to him.

"It's a mystery. Maybe we'll find Lemon playin' football and Mr. Allan givin' out cookies" Wade replied, laughing, continuing her joke.

They both laughed for a moment.

"But, seriously, what's with waiting outside of class? Making up for the one you missed? Because I don't really think it works that way" Zoe said, a kind smile on her face.

"I don't know, when I woke up I had this strange feelin' that I wanted to be on time"

Zoe looked at him with a disbelieving look. "What about first period?"

"Oh, uhm, I overslept a bit" Wade said, grinning.

"A bit?" Zoe repeated, with a mildly scolding look.

"Hey, I'm tryin' here, you gotta give my some slack"

"Whatever" Zoe said as she shook her head.

There was an awkward silence between them, neither knowing what to say, both thinking of last night.

It was interrupted by the arrival of Annabeth.

"Hey Zoe, Wade" she said as she waked up to them. "It's unusual to see you waiting outside of class Wade"

"Jeez, can't a guy show up on time without bein' interrogated"

"Sorry, didn't know it was a touchy subject" Annabeth said, laughing at Wade's reaction before turning to Zoe. "Anyway, Zoe, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to maybe catch a movie with my on Friday night?"

"Tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, I guess, didn't realize it was Thursday already"

"I think I'm free, so I'd love to go to the movies with you"

"Awesome" Annabeth said, smiling.

There fell a silence over the group again but this time they were saved by the bell.

The day had gone by like usual. People were finally starting to behave normally around Zoe and she was thrilled.

She was starting to walk home from school when she heard a voice call out for her. She turned around and saw Wade running to catch up with her.

"Hey" she said when he finally caught up with her.

"Hey" he said, letting out a breath. "Where's the fire? The bell rang out, like just 10 seconds ago"

"Some of us have better things to do than hang around school all day" she said in a mocking tone, but meant it as a joke, since Wade wasn't really the type to spend any unnecessary time at school.

"Oh, really? Like what? Catch up on homework?" he said teasingly.

Zoe gave him a look and continued walking. Wade just laughed at her look and walked with her.

"Seriously, though, where are you goin'?" he asked.

"Thought I'd stop by dad's practice, see if he needed my to hang around"

"They haven't hired a new desk girl yet?"

"It's called a receptionist, Wade, and no, it's not really on high demand around here" she replied, a hint of sadness in her voice. He knew she would spend every afternoon at her dad's office if she had to, but obviously she wanted to spend her free time doing something else, though she'd never say no to her dad.

"Well, if he doesn't need you, think you wanna hang out or somethin'?" he asked, looking nervously at her and then down on his hands.

She was a little shocked by his offer, but recovered quickly. "Sure, you can hang around while I do my homework"

Wade's face had lit up as she started to answer but then his face turned to shock.

"Wait, what?"

Zoe burst out laughing at his expression. "Relax, it was a joke"

Wade's face eased up a little, but he was still somewhat stunned and didn't say anything else until they reached the practice. He jumped up on the fence and watched after Zoe as she walked inside.

Zoe's head was spinning when she closed the door of the medical practice behind her. She'd said yes to Wade's proposal, but now her stomach was starting to tighten as she started to over-analyze it. What had he meant by hang out? Did he want to actually do something or did he have some kind of a make-out session in mind? She wasn't really sure she was up for that. Yeah, she'd enjoyed their kiss the other night, but she really didn't know what she wanted. Sure, Wade was attractive and he could be fun if you didn't let him irritate you too much, but he was Wade Kinsella. She didn't want to be just one of many and it's not likely that he was going to change for her. She at least wasn't going to ask that off him. After all, did she want him to? Did she want to get into another relationship? Yeah, she kind of did. She had a tendency to get lonely and having a boyfriend made those moments of loneliness fewer. But now her friendship with Annabeth seemed to be taking off and she didn't have that much free time, especially not if she had to be working for her dad every day, so did she want to have to choose between Annabeth and Wade.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed her dad coming out to the hallway and staring at her expectantly.

"You coming in or are you just going to stand in the doorway all day?"

"Sorry, dad, I got lost in my thoughts"

"It's alright, dear. Something troubling you?"

Well, yeah, but she wasn't really going to tell her dad about that, no matter how close they were.

"No, everything is fine" she said, smiling at her dad.

"Good. Now, it's been a really slow day, and neither Brick nor I have any appointments for this afternoon, so Brick has gone home, but I am going to hang around until closing, but I don't see a reason for you to stay, why don't you go home, you could go see your friends or something"

"Are you sure?" Zoe asked, hoping to delay her father a bit so she could think. Maybe, if she delayed long enough Wade would just leave.

"Positive, now go and have fun" Harley said as he opened the door and pushed her out before closing it behind her. So much for buying time. And Wade was still there, sitting on the fence.

He jumped down when she came out.

"Guess your free" he said, sporting his famous Kinsella smirk.

"Guess so" Zoe said, her voice low as she was falling into panic.

"You comin'?" Wade asked from the sidewalk as he looked back at Zoe who still stood in the same steps, at the front door.

"Oh, yeah" she managed as she snapped out of her frozen state.

They walked on for a bit in silence.

"So, where are we going" Zoe finally asked, when they'd almost reached their street.

"I don't know, thought we might go into the woods, unless you want to go somewhere else"

"No, the woods are fine"

They continued to walk on in silence, both their heads spinning.

Wade was nervous. He was never nervous around girls, why was it that now his stomach was so tightly wound but yet buzzing with butterflies. It was a rhetorical question, he knew the answer. Zoe Hart. He didn't quite know how or when it had happened, but she had him completely hooked.

They finally reached their clearing in the woods. They sat down on the ground, resting their backs against the fallen log.

They sat there in silence until Zoe suddenly made a sound of disgust.

Wade was so shocked he couldn't manage words, he just looked at her, completely lost.

"I just realized, is this where you brought all your conquests? Did you stain my secret hideout with tramps?"

Wade burst out laughing. He was so relieved. He didn't really know what he was expecting, but this was just so Zoe-like, it somehow made him laugh.

"No, I've actually never brought anyone here, didn't want to take a chance on them ruinin' my hideout, I kind of like it for myself" It wasn't a lie, he hadn't brought Hannah here, she had already been here.

"Good, I don't think I have enough hand sanitizer for this whole place"

"You know, it's funny how much of a city girl you actually are" Wade replied, as he brushed a loose strand of hair from Zoe's face and behind her ear.

Zoe was suddenly very aware of the fact that Wade's fingers were brushing her face and they were sitting really close, she could see the green in his eyes very clearly.

Wade looked into her eyes, those big, brown eyes that could just consume him and he could smell her scent, her perfume mixed with her coconut shampoo, it intoxicated him. He broke their gaze and looked at her lips, leaning forward, before catching her eyes again before their lips met.

God, he was a good kisser, Zoe thought as she opened her lips to meet his kiss. She lifted her hand from the ground and into his hair, his damn sexy, blond hair, letting her fingers get lost in it. She could feel him move his hand down from her face, down her neck, grazing over her breast before moving on to her back as he pulled her closer to him.

Wade was already thinking about whether he had protection on him but then something inside him snapped, what was he thinking, this was Zoe Hart. She wasn't just some conquest, no, she was meant to last. So he pulled his hand back from her back and put it on her cheek as he slowly drew the intensity of the kiss down before completely braking it.

He rested his forehead against hers as they caught their breaths.

"Go on a date with me" he said. It wasn't really phrased as a question.

"Wade" she said, pleading, not really wanting to ruin this moment.

"I mean it" he said, moving his head a bit away from hers so he could look her in the eye. "I know my reputation, I get why you wouldn't trust me, but Zoe, you've done somethin' to me. I can't stop thinkin' about you and I don't want to. I want to be different, better, so that you might actually want to be with me"

Zoe looked at him and could tell that he meant it.

"You don't need to be different or better for me, Wade. You are pretty amazing. Could maybe stand to take school a bit more seriously" she said, smiling kindly at him. She meant it too. She knew from experience that trying to change somebody only led to hurt and disappointment.

Wade didn't answer with words, just leaned in and kissed her sweetly on the lips.

"So, let's go on a date" he said when he leaned back.

"Are you sure you want to" she said, looking at him with uncertainty.

"Yes, Zoe. I know that you aren't like those other girls I've been with, and that's fine, it'll be good for me" he replied, smiling at her. "Just give it a shot"

"Ok, fine, I'll go on a date with you" she finally replied.

Wade smiled from ear to ear. "Tomorrow night, Fancies at 8"

"I can't, I'm hanging out with Annabeth" she said apologetically.

"Saturday then" he said, clearly not going to let something as trivial as this stop them from going on their date.

"Guess I'll see you Saturday then" she said as she stood up to leave.

"You'll actually see me tomorrow, if I can get out of bed"

Zoe just laughed at him as she hiked back through the woods. She was going on a date with Wade Kinsella. The world was clearly not spinning right these days, she thought as she walked home, unable to wipe the gigantic smile off her face.