I know it's been a while, but I gave you guys a warning last time. Here's the latest chapter, it's by far the longest one yet so I hope you enjoy that. Enjoy and review, please :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Hart of Dixie

17. It's Official

"I'm off, see you later" Zoe called into the house as she went out the door. She was deep in thought as she walked down her driveway and nearly jumped ten feet in the air when she heard someone greet her as she turned at the end of her driveway.

"Wade, you scared me half to death" she said as she turned around and saw Wade leaning up against the fence.

"Not my fault that you're so caught up in Zoeland that you didn't see me" he smirked as they walked off towards the school together.

Zoe opened her mouth to say something back, but couldn't really come up with an argument since she had been really caught up in her thoughts so she just closed her mouth shut again and looked at Wade with a deadly glare which he just laughed at.

"What were you thinkin' of anyway?" he asked when he stopped laughing.

"Oh, just my chemistry essay" Zoe said casually but stopped when Wade snorted at her. "What?" she asked, confused.

"Well, you could've just said it was nothin' important, no need to flat out lie to me" he said, the hurt in his voice evident.

"I wasn't lying, I really was thinking about my essay, I spent all of Yesterday finishing it, and I'm not really pleased with it" she said and she started to ramble on about the parts which she wasn't happy about but stopped when Wade was in hysterics.

"What?" Now it was Zoe's turn to be offended.

"Oh, nothin', you're just adorable"

"Am not" Zoe said pouting.

"I don't know anyone who puts so much work into their schoolwork. Seriously, this essay is like 5% of our grade or somethin'"

"It doesn't matter how much it weighs, everything has to be perfect so I'll get a perfect grade and will get into NYU's pre-med program"

"There's no way you won't get in" Wade said, his voice saddening a little. He didn't really know why he got so down when she mentioned college. No, he knew, he just didn't really want to admit it. He knew Zoe wanted to be a doctor, and to do that you had to go to college, and he knew she wasn't the kind of person who'd want to go to Alabama State, she'd want to go to a fancy school to be the best. The problem was that he was finding himself caring more and more for her and he had even been searching the internet for college application deadlines and such, but he'd never get into a fancy school like NYU and he was not so sure he'd enjoy living in a big city like New York.

"Wade, are you even listening to me?" Zoe said, giving him a light shove.

"Sorry, what were you sayin'?" he said, snapping out of his depressing thoughts.

"Nothing important, look, there's AB, I need to talk to her, I'll see you later" she said and ran off, calling out to Annabeth.

Wade watched her go and continued staring into space long after the girls had disappeared.

"Wade, my man, you tryin' out for a job as a statue?" Wade was jerked out of his thoughts and turned around to see his friend Meatball walk up to him.

"Meatball, hey man, what's up?"

"Not much, haven't seen you much lately, what's up with that?"

"Oh, yeah, I got that job at the Rammer Jammer, remember, been busy there and puttin' some hours in at the garage as well"

"Dude, what's with that? Workin' is for pussies"

"How else am I supposed to pay for all the beer you keep scorin' us?"

"Speakin' off, my uncle's commin' to town tomorrow, he'll probably score us a few bottles, in for a game night?"

"Yeah, 'course I'm up for it"

"Nice, so, you hooked up with anyone good recently?"

"What? Oh, yeah, you know me" Wade said, uneasily. He wasn't about to tell Meatball that he was dating, or whatever it was that they were doing, Zoe Hart. He'd never stop laughing. Meatball didn't really believe in the whole one-woman thing, neither had Wade, but he was starting to appreciate it.

Meatball was in the middle of a very detailed description of his latest conquest but was stopped when the bell rang.

"Guess we must go to class, since we bothered showin' up" Wade said and the two slowly made their way into the school.

Wade was laying on his bed, exhausted. He had been working from noon til midnight and he had to be up again early to take the morning shift. But then he'd be off in the afternoon and he finally had plans with Zoe. It had been two weeks since their last date and he'd walked with her to and from school everyday but that was it, that was the only alone time he'd gotten with her and he found that he really missed her. It was still weird for Wade, being so hooked on just one girl, but he liked it. However it was kind of awkward when other girls approached him, and they did that a lot, because he and Zoe hadn't really made anything official. He was thinking of how he wanted to change that. He wanted to be able to call her his girlfriend and have the whole world knowing about it, because recently she'd come up a lot in the boy's locker room and every time he felt like he was going to explode. The only thing that was nagging him was how to make it happen. He wasn't really so good with words, expressing his feelings and such, and he was nervous. What if she turned him down? He didn't really think that she would, but who knew. After all she was Zoe Hart, this great girl with all the potential in the world and he was just some lousy small town guy who'd probably never even leave the state. He sighed and jammed his eyes shut. He needed to stop thinking like that, it wouldn't do anyone any good, so in stead he decided to reminisce about their last date and especially the ending and he fell asleep with a large smile on his lips.

Zoe was in her room, getting ready for her date with Wade. She was so excited to be finally going out with him again. She really liked him walking with her to school everyday, but she wanted more.

She was having trouble with deciding on a skirt so she thought she'd called Annabeth for advise, but just as she was reaching for her phone it started ringing. She looked at the screen and saw it was Whitney.

"Hey, Whitney, what's up?" she asked as she answered. She had grown close with Whitney and Kyle the last couple of weeks, she saw them as the big brothers she never had.

"Not much, just layin' in the park with Kyle and Josh, pretendin' to study but really lookin' at girls"

"Nice, real classy"

"Thanks. So anyway, the reason I'm callin', there's this party at one of the sorority houses at school tonight and I thought you might wanna join us"

"A college party? That would be so cool, but I'm finally going on a date with Wade tonight"

"Oh, I forgot about that, don't really know how though, you've been blabberin' on about it for ages"

"Shut up"

"Just teasin' Zo. But hey, I don't wanna keep you from gettin' your gameface on, catch you later" he said and hung up.

Zoe put down the phone but then remembered her dilemma and picked it up again to call Annabeth.

"Hey, AB, major emergency, need your help"

"I'm so sorry, Zoe, I can't come over, I'm up in Mobile with Lemon and Crickett, but maybe I can help you over the phone?"

"Nah, it's okay, just had a bit of a dilemma deciding on an outfit for tonight"

"Oh, yeah, your big date with Wade. Don't worry, that boy's hooked on you, you could wear sweats and he'd be thinking how amazing you look"

Zoe just laughed at her and then they said goodbye, leaving Zoe to make her wardrobe decisions by herself.

She cranked up the music she was listening to and danced around her room in her underwear, like every other girl cliché.

Wade had just stepped out of the shower when he heard the phone ringing downstairs. He waited for a few moments, wondering if his dad was home, and if he was, whether or not he'd answer it. When he didn't hear any movement he ran down the stairs to get it.

"Wade"

"Wade, I caught you, good. Listen, your dad's here and he's havin' a fit, but I can't deal with it 'cause there are people from the bank comin' in five minutes, can you come get him out'a here?" he heard Lenny say on the other end.

Wade sighed. "Yeah, I'm on my way" he told Lenny before hanging up the phone and hurrying upstairs to put on some clothes. As he walked in his room he caught a glimpse of Zoe dancing around in her underwear through the window and he stopped for a second, chuckling to himself. She was adorable, he thought and a warm feeling spread over his body.

He turned around, grabbed his jeans and T-shirt, tossed them on before running down the stairs and out the door.

It couldn't have been more than five minutes since he'd talked with Lenny on the phone but the situation had escalated to a whole new level. He saw a sleek black car parked outside, the men from the bank must've got here already, he thought. He parked the car at the curb and rushed out and into the garage door.

"Wade, my boy, come here and explain to these gentlemen that I, Earl Kinsella, own this place. It's called Earl's Garage, after all" his father shouted at him the moment he came in and Wade could smell the alcohol off him from where he was standing, ten feet or so away.

He looked at the scene in front of him. His dad was standing on the middle of the garage floor, a half bottle of scotch in his hand, facing two men in suits who had their back to Wade. Lenny was standing at the side, trying to get Earl to calm down. Wade carefully walked over.

"What seems to be the matter?" he asked as he stopped next to Lenny, with a view of both the men and his father.

"These men are sayin' this place ain't mine anymore" Earl said, pointing his free hand at the men, raising the other one to his mouth and taking a gulp of the scotch.

"What?" Wade asked, looking at the men and then at Lenny in confusion.

"Wade, I'm sorry, but recently business has been down, way down, and I just haven't been able to make all the payments" Lenny said, looking at Wade apologetically.

"So what? The bank owns this place now ?" he questioned, looking at the bank officers. He felt anger start to build up inside him, though he knew there was nothing that Lenny could've done.

"Yes, Mr. Kinsella, this garage is now a property of the bank, we came by to collect the keys and deed of the property from Mr. Hank here" the taller of the bank officers said.

"On a Saturday?" Wade asked. He didn't really know why he'd managed to realize what day it was, his head was spinning so hard.

"Well, this property is located in a great place and holds huge potential. The bank wanted to get it's hands on it as soon as possible to be able to start in on the renovations" the other bank officer said.

"Wait, what renovations" Wade asked. This whole situation was only going from bad to worse.

"This property has already been sold to a corporate company that is planning to open a new outlet of their branch here in Bluebell" the tall one spoke again. It was like they were programmed to alternate answers.

"What corporate company?" Wade asked, outraged that some corporation was ruining his father's garage.

"We're not at liberty to say" the tall one continued. Looks like they're not robots after all.

"Now, if you would please excuse yourselves, we have gotten what we came for and request that you remove yourselves from the premises" the smaller one said, gesturing his hand towards the door.

"We'll do no such thing" Earl suddenly spoke up. If it weren't for the smell of alcohol Wade would've forgotten he was there.

"Mr. Kinsella, we advise you to go quietly or we will be forced to call the sheriff"

"Go, call'im. Sheriff Pickett and I are old friends" he said and swaggered towards the two men. Wade saw that this could easily turn into a real nasty situation so he quickly stepped between his dad and the bank officials.

"Common, dad, let's just go. We'll go see Mr. Tucker on Monday, see if he can't do somethin', alright?" he said, dragging his father towards the door.

"Yeah, old Harold'll sue your asses" he shouted as Wade dragged him through the door and out on the street. Lenny quickly followed.

"Wade, I'm really sorry, I was goin' to tell you about this, but it all just happened so fast, an' I thought I might be able to swing it around" he started as soon as he had closed the door behind him.

"Lenny, it's okay, it's not your fault, I know you did the best you could" he said and Lenny pulled him into an awkward hug.

"Just sucks that they sold it to some corporation. Can't you buy it?" Wade asked and looked up to Lenny like a little kid.

"Wish I could, really do, I love this place, but the deal's already made, I asked" Lenny said, sad to watch the small glint of hope vanish from Wade's eyes.

"Oh well. Maybe now I can go back to sleepin' at night" Wade attempted a joke which Lenny nervously tried to laugh at.

"Wade, I have to go, this took longer than I expected, Cara's home waitin' on me, want me to help you get Earl home?"

"No, I got this, go home to your wife, give her my best"

"Will do, you take care, kid" he said and gave Wade another hug before heading down the street.

Wade watched him go until he turned a corner and then he turned to his dad, who was laying on the sidewalk, hugging his now empty bottle of scotch.

"Common, dad, let's get you home" he said and tugged at his dad's arm.

"I don't wanna go home, I wanna lay here with my friend Macallan, he ain't gonna leave me" Earl said, shaking off Wade's hand and clutching the bottle tighter. Wade sighed, this was going to be a long night.

Zoe was sitting at the kitchen table, tapping her foot impatiently on the ground. She glanced up on the clock, 7:45. Wade was supposed to pick her up at 7. She glanced over at her phone, no messages or missed calls. Where the hell was he and why hadn't he called.

She got up from the table and walked over to the window that faced his house. The lights were all out and Wade's car wasn't in the driveway. She let out a sigh of frustration. She knew Wade wasn't the most patient guy in the world but forty-five minutes was pushing it. Clearly he wasn't rushing over here to see here and she wasn't about to waste an entire evening sitting around waiting for him. She picked up her phone from the table and dialed Whitney's number.

"Z, what's up? Thought you were on your big date" his voice said after just a couple of rings.

"The bastard stood me up, so I was thinking if your offer still stands?"

"Hell yeah, we were just about to head over but we'll wait for you, get your ass up here, girl"

"Alright, I'll just check with my dad and get the car, then I'm on my way"

"Such a good girl" he said, teasingly.

"Shut up, I'll see you in a few" she replied before hanging up and going into the living room where Harley and Pauline were watching a movie.

"Hey, dad, I was wondering if I could borrow the car?" she asked shyly as she stepped into the room.

"Why do you need the car, Wade has his own. He didn't crash it, did he?" he asked, looking up from the TV with a concerned look on his face.

"No, he didn't crash it, I think, he didn't show, so I'm going up to Mobile to meet Kyle and Whitney"

Harley looked at Zoe for a second, contemplating what she'd said.

"Honey, I know those guys have become your friends, but they are in college"

"Yes, dad, I am aware of that"

"Are you aware of what college boys do on Saturday nights?"

"Dad, common, I can take care of myself"

"I know you can, but Mobile is a whole different scene than Bluebell. I'm just worried about you, honey. I don't know what I would do if something happened to you"

"Dad, nothing's gonna happen, okay? Whitney and Kyle are good guys, they'll look after me" she said, walking towards her father.

"They better, the Sheriff owes me a favor" he said as he grabbed Zoe in a bear hug.

"So I can go?" she asked hopefully as her father let her go.

"I guess. Like I said, can't prevent you from growing up, can I?"

"No, but once I get my medical degree I'll start working on that" Zoe joked as she walked out of the room, grabbing the car keys out of the bowl in the hall.

"Be careful, and don't stay out too late" Harley called after her and sighed as he heard the front door slam shut.

"She'll be fine, she's a good and responsible girl" Pauline said, squeezing his hand reassuringly.

"About time, we've been waitin' for hours" Whitney said as he opened the door to his and Kyle's dorm room.

"No, you haven't, you're just drunk and want to find you some poor girl to harass" Zoe said as she stepped into the room, followed by Annabeth.

"Well, that's true, but you still took your sweet time" he said as he closed the door behind her.

"What are you doin' here?" Kyle asked his sister as he saw Zoe had brought complany.

"I asked Annabeth to come along, hope you don't mind" Zoe said, a little sorry for not checking with Kyle first, maybe he didn't want his baby sister along at a party, but Annabeth was her friend and she wanted to have her there, as backup.

"Whatever, just don't embarrass me, okay?" Kyle said as he got up from his bed. "So, shall we go then, don't want all the hot girls to be gone"

"Let's hit the road, whoo" Whitney shouted and they headed outside and walked over to the sorority.

"Hey, Zo, were you plannin' on wearin' this to your big date?" Whitney asked when they'd been walking for a little while.

"No, I changed when I picked up AB, why?" she asked, confused as to why he cared what she had planned to wear on her date with Wade.

"Just wouldn't think you'd be let out of the house in such a slutty outfit, heard your father's a bit old school"

"It's not slutty, is it?" she asked, panicking as she looked down on herself. When she'd went to get Annabeth they'd both changed into something that was appropriate for a college sorority party. Zoe was wearing leather shorts and a tight purple tanktop covered in glitter topped off with black heels and Annabeth was in a black dress that went down to just barely over the ass and sporting a pair of heels as well.

"A bit, but that's what you're supposed to go for" Whitney said, smiling at her, as he put his arm around her shoulders and they walked up towards the house. The front lawn was covered with plastic cups and drunk bodies and the music was blasting so loud you could barely hear your own thoughts.

"Kyle, there you are" a blonde girl exclaimed and attacked him as soon as they stepped foot into the house.

"Hey, Louise, how you been girl?" Zoe heard him say before they walked away.

"Lets go get a beer" Whitney said and walked off into the kitchen, Annabeth following him before Zoe could protest so she followed too.

The kitchen was not as crowded as the rest of the house, there was a couple making out in one corner and two guys were standing over by the kitchen island, talking.

Whitney walked over to the keg and grabbed three plastic cups and started to fill them up.

"None for me, Whitney, I'm driving, remember?" Zoe said as he started to fill the third cup.

"Oh, right, well, just more for me then" he smiled and drowned down what he'd put in her cup.

"There's a few get-home-save cars goin' rounds, ya know" one of the guys said and turned around to face them. He was fairly attractive, tanned with neatly cut blond hair.

"Doubt they go all the way to my door" Zoe said.

"Why, you live somewhere far?" the guy asked, intrigued.

"I'm not about to tell a perfect stranger where I live, but yeah, it's far" she said, crossing her arms.

"Hey, sorry, I promise, I'm not a serial killer, just your average college jock whose intrigued by a pretty girl" he said, hands up in the air in a show of innocence.

"Well, I doubt you'd tell me if you were a serial killer" she said, relaxing her hands.

"What are you, a criminologist or somethin'?"

Before Zoe could answer Whitney stepped in. "You guys, this is a party, not an interrogation, let's go dance" he said, dragging Zoe and Annabeth with him into the living room where the people had made a dancefloor in the middle of the room.

It was late when Wade finally drove up his driveway. His dad had passed out in the backseat of Wade's car as soon as Wade had managed to drag him into it. He hadn't felt like going home so he'd driven up to the woods and gone to his hideout to think.

It was sad that the garage wouldn't be there anymore and he'd miss going in there to work on cars, he liked working on cars, it was something that he was good at, and the make believe movie theater had proven itself, but on the other hand it was good to have more free time and now he could go on and do whatever he wanted without feeling guilty for leaving his dad out to dry. That was the problem, though, how were they going to have money for food now? Lenny had always sent over all the money from the garage after he'd taken his salary out. Now there would be no more money. Wade did not make enough at the Rammer Jammer, and he couldn't really ask for more work because then someone would notice that he was the one providing for Earl, not the other way around, and someone might call social services or whatever since Wade was only seventeen. He'd be eighteen in four months, though, so he'd just have to make it through those and after that no one would care.

He sighed as he got out of the car and looked over to the Wilkes' house. Crap, he thought. He'd forgotten all about his date with Zoe. He checked his phone. No messages or missed calls. Maybe she thought he was blowing her off and got frustrated and didn't want to contact him, or maybe she didn't want to seem to desperate. He hoped it was the latter. He didn't want Zoe out on a Saturday night all frustrated and wanting revenge on him. He glanced over at her window. It was dark. Maybe she had gone to bed already, Wade tried to think positively. But there was a light on downstairs, and he thought that must mean that Zoe was out and Harley was waiting up on her. Or maybe she was doing something downstairs. He walked over and peeked in the window. He saw Harley, dozing off in front of the TV. Yup, he had fallen asleep waiting up for Zoe. He turned around and noticed that the car wasn't in the driveway. He sighed again and sat down on the porch steps. He'd sit there and wait for her to come home, no matter how long it would take, so he could explain to her that he hadn't been blowing her off. Hopefully it wasn't too late already.

Zoe had been dancing with Whitney and Annabeth for some time but she was starting to feel like a third wheel. It seemed like Whitney had finally started to notice Annabeth and Zoe wasn't about to ruin this for her friend. Though she felt she should probably remind her that she did indeed have a boyfriend, but decided it could wait, it wasn't like anything had happened yet. She smiled to herself and walked back into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"Lookin' for somethin'?" she heard a male voice ask behind her and turned around. It was the blonde guy from earlier.

"Nah, just fancied a glass of water but it doesn't seem to be a clean glass in the house" she said.

"Think those ran out hours ago" he said and moved closer to her, so he was standing just a foot away. "I see you got rid of your friend" he said, nudging his head towards the dancefloor where Whitney and Annabeth had gotten real close.

"He knows I have a boyfriend" she said, exaggerating a little, she and Wade weren't official yet, and maybe they weren't anything anymore, seeing as how he'd stood her up without so much as a text.

"Where's he tonight?" the guy asked, edging even closer so they were just barely touching.

"I don't know" Zoe said, breathing in his scent. He definitely smelled good and he was hot, but somehow she found herself comparing him to Wade in her head and he kept coming up short. Damn Wade.

"Guess there's no harm in my doin' this then" he said and closed the little distance that was left between them as he brought their lips together in a kiss. The kiss was nothing but gentle, he pushed himself on her with urgency and had his hands all over her in an instant.

At first Zoe was a little taken aback, though she kind of knew it was coming, then she felt guilty for kissing another guy, but then she decided to screw Wade, he was probably kissing another girl right now anyways. But he kicked up the intensity fast and Zoe wasn't about to go anywhere with this guy and she only felt discomfort when he placed his hands on her breast, so she broke the kiss and pushed him off, which was hard. He hadn't been lying when he'd said he was a jock, he was strong.

"Whoa, what do you think your doing, I said I have a boyfriend" she said.

"Yeah, well you didn't sound so sorry when you said you didn't know where he was. Plus, you weren't in a hurry to push me off" he said, grabbing her by the waist and diving in again, grabbing her ass with both of his hands.

Zoe pushed him and tried to spring free of his grip.

"Stop it, I'm not interested" she said, trying to back away from him.

"Whatever, you ain't that hot anyway" he said, walking away.

Zoe turned around and walked into the living room to go look for Whitney and Annabeth. When she did her mouth dropped open. Whitney had Annabeth pinned up against a wall with his body, one hand on her ass, fidgeting with her dress's hem, the other on on her breast, his mouth locked on hers. She had both her hands lost in his hair. Zoe thought about trying to get to them, but decided not to. Annabeth hadn't seemed that interested in Simon recently but if tomorrow she wanted to just forget about this Zoe would gladly do that. However, she had had enough of this party and just wanted to go home, so she decided to try and find Kyle to make sure he'd see to it that Annabeth was safe. She had just stumbled into the hall when she spotted Kyle walking down the stairs, putting on his shirt.

"Got lucky?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah" he said with a smirk that deserved a punch, and got one.

"Hey, she knew what she was gettin' into" he said as he rubbed his shoulder where Zoe had punched him.

"Mhm" Zoe said, nodding unconvincingly. "Anyways, I've had enough of partying for one night and am going to head home, however, your sister was quite busy and I didn't have the heart to disturb her, so if you'd please make sure she gets home safely, that would be lovely"

"Annabeth was gettin' some? Here? Really?" he asked, shocked.

"Hey, don't be mean" Zoe said, scolding him, though she got his point. Annabeth was a beautiful girl, she was just a little shy and didn't really put herself out there, so guys tended not to notice her. But this wasn't just any guy, it was Whitney.

"So, you'll do it?" Zoe asked when they'd been silent for a moment.

"What, oh, yeah, I'll see to it she wont fall into the wrong hands" he said and waved Zoe goodbye before heading off after a blonde in a skirt that barely covered anything.

Zoe just laughed to herself and headed back towards their dorm to get to her car.

Wade woke up to the bright light shining in his eyes. He put his hand in front of them so he could see the outlines of Dr. Wilkes' car in the driveway. The lights went out and Zoe stepped out of the car, not looking happy to see him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked sharply as she stopped in front of Wade.

"Zoe, listen, I wanted to explain to you why I didn't show up earlier" he said as he got up to his feet.

"What, how you didn't blew my off, probably to be with some big chested blonde" she spit out, crossing her hands in front of her.

"No, that's not what happened. I …. I" he stumbled off. He didn't really want to get into all this with Zoe. It's not that he didn't trust her or anything, it's more that he didn't want the pity. He didn't want people to know how bad the situation really was.

Zoe let out a frustrated sigh and stormed up the porch steps.

"Zoe, wait" he said, grabbing her arm.

"Why, Wade. You can't even come up with a lie" she said, shaking his hand off her.

"Zoe, I wasn't with anyone, okay. Or, well, I was, but not like you think, I was with my dad" he rushed out, looking down at his feet.

Zoe didn't say anything, just kept looking at Wade, hoping he'd explain further. She knew Earl had been hitting the bottle a lot recently, but what, Wade was drinking with him now?

"The bank has taken over his garage and sold it to some corporation" he blurted out before he could stop himself and he sighed and sat down on the steps, burying his face in his hands.

"What? Oh, Wade, I'm sorry" she said, taking a seat next to him.

"Earl has not been in in a few years, so it probably was just a matter of time, but I really thought, with all the hours I put in and Lenny's been workin' so hard, I guess I was just bein' naïve" he continued, not able to stop himself, he needed to vent to someone.

"So today, when they came and my dad was there, he caused a scene, not doin' us any favors, and I had to take care of him and then I just needed to get away and I went to the woods and lost track of time, I'm so sorry, Zoe, I should've at least texted you" he trailed off, finally looking up at her.

She reached over and took his hand in hers.

"Wade, it's okay. I didn't realize things were so bad, you should've said something"

"Like what? How my dad hasn't really been my dad ever since my mother died? How my stupid brother is a selfish ass that just does whatever he wants and acts like a freakin' hero, showin' off to everyone when all he's done is run? How even if by some miracle I got into college there was no way I'd ever be able to pay for it? You don't need to know that, Zoe, you shouldn't be dragged down into this shit" he said, looking down at his hands, still intertwined with hers.

"Wade, I want to know, okay? I … I want you to want to tell me" she said, blushing. Now it was her turn to look down on her hands.

Wade didn't know what to say so they just sat there in silence for a moment.

"You know, I told someone I had a boyfriend tonight" she suddenly said, not knowing where she'd found the courage to speak up.

Wade just looked at her questioningly.

"It felt nice, it always has felt nice. But I guess that's maybe not your scene" she continued, going back to looking at the grass.

Wade released his hands from hers and grabbed her face with both hands and turned it to face him.

"I don't really know what my scene is anymore, but I know I want you in it, and if you want to call me your boyfriend, then I'm okay, hell, I'm more than okay with it" he said, pulling her face towards his and pressing their lips together.

"Really?" Zoe asked when they broke apart.

"Yeah, really" he said and looked at her with a funny look in his eyes before continuing. "Zoe Hart, will you be my girlfriend?" he asked.

She chuckled nervously before nodding and going in for another kiss.

When they were both starting to get oxygen deprived they broke apart.

"I guess you better get in so Harley can get on goin' to bed" he finally said, nodding towards her house.

"Yeah, guess so. We don't want him to ground me forever." she said as they got up.

"I'll see you tomorrow" she said and gave him a light peck before opening the door.

"You better" he called after her before turning around and jumping over the fence and into his own front yard.