Finally the next chapter is up. It's short, and I'm sorry for that, but it's a bit of a filler chapter. I thought about making it longer, but then I'd either have to make it really long or cut it in half at the wrong part. So, I decided to just put this one up like this so you wouldn't give up on me for the extreme wait.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hart of Dixie

18. Catching up

Wade was so tired he thought he'd drop right then and there. In his plan to wait up for Zoe last night he'd forgot that he needed to be up bright and early to go to work. He tried to stifle a yawn as he continued to clear the tables after the morning rush.

"Hey, Wade, what's up?" he heard a voice ask behind him and turned around to see his friend George eating a late breakfast with his girlfriend Lemon.

"Tucker, Lemon, how you doin'?" he nodded as he walked over to them.

"We're good, or at least I am" George said when he got a stern look from his girlfriend.

"Apparently, Lemon doesn't like the we thing now" George continued when he saw the puzzled look on Wade's face.

"Since when is Lemon Breeland not up for the whole lovey-dovy thing?" Wade asked, looking at Lemon with a teasing grin.

"Since my mother walked out on us and I don't believe in that stuff anymore" she simply stated as she continued eating her food, not even bothering to look up at Wade.

"Whoa" was all Wade said as he turned back towards George.

"Yeah" George said under his breath, hoping Lemon was to preoccupied in her thoughts to notice them.

"Didn't her mom leave like a year ago or somethin'?" Wade asked, continuing with

"Yeah, don't ask me. I think she's just havin' a bad day" George said and the two looked over at Lemon who was staring down at her plate and pushing the food around with the fork, not actually eating it.

"I haven't seen you at football practice at all since school started, you finally gave up on it?" George asked, trying to find anything else to talk about.
"Nah, just didn't feel like it in the beginnin' of fall and then I got too busy. It's not like I was any good anyway"

"No one is anymore, the coach got spoiled with Lavon Hayes and now his standards are way to high" George said, a little bit of frustration in his voice, though he was too kind a person to actually hold a grudge against anyone.

"Tell me about it, not everyone can get into the NFL" Wade replied, a hint of dreaminess in his voice.

Then suddenly Lemon gave out a frustrated moan. "Perfect, just when I thought my day couldn't get any worse"

The guys looked over and saw that she was watching the entrance, where Zoe had just stepped through.

"Hey, watch it, that's my girlfriend you're talkin' about" Wade said just as Zoe walked over.

"Hey, Wade" Zoe said and greeted him with a light kiss. "George" she continued with a smile before her voice turned to ice. "Lemon".

"Miss Hart" Lemon replied just as icily.

"Yeah, yeah, the world knows y'all hate each other" George said, waving his hands at them dismissively. "Now what's that about her bein' your girlfriend? You two a couple now?" he asked, a look of total confusion and disbelieve on his face. "I didn't even know you were datin'?"

"Well, we weren't flaunting it around town, Wade needs to take care of his image" Zoe said and shoved Wade teasingly, in a way that was so cute it made George burst out laughing. He really wasn't used to see Wade being cute with a girl.

"Of course, the resident bad boy can't very well be seen with the local saint" George said, the looks on Zoe and Wade's faces causing him into more laughter. Wade's was a smug smirk but Zoe had a horrified expression.

"I'm not a saint" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, you are, and it's adorable. But I intend to corrupt you a bit" Wade said with a suggestive grin.

"But if Wade needs to protect his image or whatever, why are you ot in the open in broad daylight?" George asked.

"It was time" was all Wade said and was saved from further explanations that might permanently damage his reputation by Wally calling out to him to get back to work.

"George, it was nice seeing you, enjoy your breakfast, brunch, or whatever you want to call it" Zoe said with a smile before walking off and taking a seat at a table by the window.

She looked out the window and saw Annabeth walking up towards the Rammer Jammer.

"AB, what's up? Scratch that, I already know what's up, now give me the details" Zoe demanded the minute Annabeth walked in the door.

"I do not now what you are talking about, Miss Hart" Annabeth said, faking innocence as she took a seat opposite Zoe at the table.

"Cut the crap. Now, when I escaped that drunk jock last night I found you pinned up against a wall with Whitney on your face. How did that happen and what happened afterwards"

"We were dancing but suddenly you were gone and there was a slow song and Whitney just grabbed me and we started slow dancing and it was really nice, but I was totally freaking out, I mean, this is Whitney, for Lord's sake, I've had a crush on him for ages and he was standing so close to me, I could feel almost every muscle in his body, and he smelled so good, it was intoxicating. Then, all off a sudden, his lips were on mine and we were kissing, on oh, my Lord, he's a good kisser. Not that I've kissed that many guys, but still, I could tell that he's really good. Then I just kind of lost track of time. We'd stopped dancing and were just making out. Somehow, Whitney had managed to get us from the middle of the room and up against the wall." Annabeth paused for a minute when the waitress came over to take their orders.

When she left Zoe noticed Lemon making her way towards them.

"Annabeth, what do you think you're doin'?" Lemon asked when she'd reached their table.

"I'm havin' lunch with my friend" Annabeth replied, full of confidence.

"It's barely eleven"

"Well, it's an early lunch"

"Annabeth, my mother left me and I need my friends around. And my friends aren't friends with her" Lemon said, not bothering to even look in Zoe's direction.

"Lemon, Zoe's my friend and I intend to keep it that way. If you can't handle it than that's just your problem. I'm not going to stop seeing Zoe just because you said so" Annabeth stated, her hands on her hips.

Lemon gave a frustrated huff and turned on her heels before storming off, snapping her fingers at George to follow her outside.

"Wow, AB, I've never seen you stand up to Lemon like that" Zoe said, impressed when Lemon and George had left.

"I know, right. I just feel full of confidence today" Annabeth said, smiling.

"There's no doubt about what's causing that" Zoe said teasingly and grinned when she saw Annabeth blush. "So, you'd covered how you got to where I found you, now all that's left is what happened next, which is way more exciting" she continued, rubbing her hands together in excitement.

"Okay, so we were making out, and it was getting really heated when my brother shows up" Annabeth said, rolling her eyes. "He said something about you ordering him to keep an eye on me" she continued, giving Zoe a scolding look.

"Hey, I was being a good friend, I'd had enough of the party and was going home, but I didn't want to ruin your night so I got someone to make sure you'd be safe. It was a college party, for God's sake, who knows what could've happened" Zoe said, claiming innocence and defending herself.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, but having your brother walk in on you making out with his best friend, not so cool. Anyway, so Kyle comes and he's a little shocked at first that it's Whitney that I'm making out with but he get's over it rather quickly, having had a few beers and some female entertainment. He just orders Whitney to behave himself and make sure I don't get killed and then he went away."

"Good grief, I clearly picked the wrong chaperone."

Annabeth chuckled before continuing. "After Kyle had left it was kind of awkward, like Whitney had realized that he'd been making out with his best friends' little sister. I started to freak out, thinking he'd be ashamed and regret it, but then he just shrugged it off and dove back in"

Annabeth paused for a little while when the waitress brought their food over.

"So, we'd been making out for what seemed like forever when Whitney asked if we should get out of there and I agreed. We walked back over to his dorm room and kind of had sex" Annabeth's face had turned bright red and she looked down on her plate as Zoe nearly choked on the french fry she'd been eating.

"What?" was all she could manage. "You had sex?" she exclaimed, maybe a little too loud but the Rammer Jammer wasn't too crowded and there was no one in hearing range.

"Keep your voice down" Annabeth scolded. "But, yeah" she said shyly.

"Oh my Lord, AB, that's huge. No, not huge, enormous. So, how was it?" Zoe asked curiously.

"It was alright" Annabeth shrugged as Zoe laughed at her.

"Alright?" she asked, one eyebrow up.

"Yeah, you know, the first time most of the time isn't great, but it wasn't bad or anything, just wasn't a mind blowing experience, ya' know" Annabeth mumbled on, trying to explain herself.
"Yeah, I guess" Zoe said, taking a sip of her milkshake.

They were silent for a while, eating their burgers, but then Annabeth suddenly spoke up.

"Hey, you said something earlier about escaping a jock, what was that about?"

Zoe blushed a little. "Oh, nothing. Just when I'd left you and Whitney on the dancefloor I went back into the kitchen for a drink and ran into that guy that had been talking to us before and he was all over me, trying, and succeeding a little bit, to kiss me"

"What do you mean succeeding a little bit? I thought you were happy with Wade" Annabeth asked, curious.

"I am. It's just I thought Wade was blowing me off doing God knows what and thought why couldn't I do it too. But it only took a couple of seconds for me to come back to my senses. Plus, the guy couldn't kiss at all"

This sent Annabeth in a fit of laughter.

"Zoe Hart, you naughty girl" she teased.

"Hey, like I said, barely anything happened. Plus, your indescression is way worse, you have a boyfriend, Wade and I didn't become official until late last night, after my half kiss with that asshole, and you did way more than I" Zoe shot back.

"WHAT? Wade's your BOYFRIEND? Why didn't you tell me the minute I walked in?" Annabeth exclaimed loud enough for everyone inside the Rammer Jammer and a few people standing outside to hear.

"AB, keep your voice down. There's no need for all the people of Alabama to hear you" Zoe scolded, her face bright red as she tried to disappear into her seat.

"Zoe, this is amazing news, I'd yell it over all the fifty states if I could"

"Listen, you're changing the subject. What are you going to do about Simon?" Zoe asked.

"I guess I should break up with him. I mean, I guess I never really gave him a shot, Whitney was always there in the back of my mind, but now, now I'll be lucky if he'll go to the back" Annabeth replied, laughing.

"You better do it soon. It's mean to drag him along, and, if I know Bluebell, this'll go around quickly"

"This is a little to personal for the gossip mill, right?" Annabeth asked, naïve hope in her eyes.

Zoe just shook her head, looking at Annabeth with compassion.

"I'll call him right now" Annabeth decided, taking up her phone.

"Don't do it over the phone, that's so cheesy" Zoe said.

"I'm just texting him to meet, chill, I ain't that horrible" Annabeth said, tapping at her phone. "Done and done. We're meeting at the gazebo in fifteen."

"You ready for this?" Zoe asked as she cleared the last of her fries of her plate.

"Yeah. Simon's a good guy, he'll be cool"

"Let's hope so" Zoe said and the girls got up to leave. "You wanna hang later?"

"I think I better get that paper for Mrs. Trent over with, or I'll have to pull an all-nighter, and that ain't good for my skin" Annabeth said apologetically as they walked out the door.

"Oh, well. Good luck, text me after" Zoe said as they parted ways.

The next day the whole school was buzzing with the latest gossip. Wade Kinsella had a girlfriend, and the lucky girl was no other than little miss Zoe Hart. People were wondering how on earth that had happened and there were various pools going on about their relationship.

The only two people who weren't involved in it were Wade and Zoe.

"Seriously, the schoolday's almost over and they still haven't moved on to another subject" Zoe spat out furiously as three girls in freshman year walked past, their noses glued together, stealing glances over at Zoe and Wade.

"You can't blame them, we're awesome, of course they'd want to talk about us" Wade said, his cocky grin in place.

"It's just so infuriating" she said as another group of girls walked past. "I can hear you" she yelled after them, letting out an exasperated sigh.

"Wade, dude, what's this I hear about you getting a girlfriend? Am I goin' deaf or did someone knock you over the head"

Zoe and Wade turned their heads to see Meatball making his way down the hall towards them.

When he reached them he finally spotted Zoe, sitting on the windowsill next to were Wade was standing.

"Oh, no. Wade. Her?" he asked, not hiding his feelings. "You go from getting' a new pussy to play with every night to the stuck up wanna-be doctor that walks around with a stick up her ass"

Zoe's mouth dropped in shock, but she soon gathered her senses, turning her look of shock into clear insult.

"Excuse me" she exclaimed, getting all defensive.

"You heard me, you're just some high-class prude that can't wait to get off hear and find some suit to suck off" Meatball spat out at her.

"Why would I be sucking anyone off if I'm such a prude?" Zoe shot back.

"Because you only give it up to fancy billionaires" Meatball finally managed back after stumbling for words for a few minutes.

Zoe had a retort at her lips but before she could say anything Wade interrupted.

"Hey, hey, y'all need to stop this. Meatball, you heard right, Zoe is my girlfriend now so you need to stop talkin' shit about her. Zoe, Meatball's my best friend, so you need to be nice to him"

Zoe and Meatball both just stared at him, both equally offended that he hadn't taken their side, and then they both let out a dissatisfied huff before storming off in separate directions, leaving Wade leaning up against the windowsill.