A/N- Sorry! Just a quick note: I think I mixed up the tenses in this chapter, so please excuse the writing. Thanks! Here's the story!
I woke up to a frustrated tapping on my window. I groggily sat up, stretched, and got out of bed. I walked over to my window, pulling the drapes away just a little bit to see who or what was making the noise. I peek out of the hole I made, and I see Zach standing there in a loose shirt and shorts. I glare at him, annoyed at him waking me up. He raises his hands in mock surrender, amusement twinkling in his eyes.
I open the window and start screaming at Zach.
"What the hell was that for? Do you have any good reason for waking me up when I could've slept in? What's wrong with you?" He chuckles at my performance.
"Well, if you must know, Courtney is dying to play with you, so I decided to wake you up and tell you to get ready."
"Oh, how nice. You could've come over later and tell me, you know, instead of waking me up!"
"Yeah, I could've... but where's the fun in that?" I glared at him for a few good seconds before a question popped into my head.
"How did you get over here? Did you jump or something?" I asked.
"Bingo!"
"How? That's dangerous!" He smirks at me.
"It's easy, really. You can watch if you'd like." At that note, he walked to the railing, hoisted himself up, and jumped to his balcony. I felt my mouth drop open.
"Close those lips, babe. We don't want that pretty mouth to catch flies, now, do we?" His smirk grew even bigger as my eyes narrowed.
"I really hate you, you know that?"
"Love you too, babe." With that, he walked back into his room, as if nothing happened.
I knocked on the Goode's door, waiting for somebody to open it. Zach's mom opened the door, and she smiled at me.
"Hey, Cammie! Glad you could make it. Come on in!" She said. I followed her into the house, and as soon as we reached the dining room, I heard running feet.
"Cammie!" I turn around and see Courtney running at me, her arms open. I caught her in a hug, spinning her around once.
"How ya doing, honey? Wanna play another game of dolls today?" I asked her, putting her down on her feet.
"Yes! I got all the dolls out, ready to play. Come on!" She pulled me to the play room, just like yesterday. "Same people as yesterday, but I took out a few other dolls. They're really pretty, too. And they're not royal. I also found some boy dolls. They're really ugly, but two of them are princes, so I don't really care. Come see!"
Seeing all the dolls laid out on the floor, I sit down next to Courtney who's already picked out a few of them. Since Courtney took the dolls she used yesterday, I took the left over dolls- the ones that I used. She picked two of the boys and I picked the other two. ("You can have one prince, and I'll have one so it's even. I would've taken both, but I'm being nice and sharing." she explained to me.)
As our game progresses, I catch Zach standing in the corner of the room. I pretend I don't notice him, but when Courtney sees him, she runs up and gives him a hug, pausing the game. I turn to the side, watching them.
"Aw! Sometimes I wish my brother and I were like that. He doesn't like it when I give him hugs, and he never hugs me." I say, pouting. Zach chuckles, still holding on to Courtney.
"You have a brother?" Courtney asks me. I nod. "Can you maybe bring him over later? I'd like to meet him."
"I guess so. If he's not busy and woud like to come, then I'll bring him." I reply.
"Cool! Now let's continue our game. Zachy, would you like to play with us?"
"No, thanks. I'll just watch." he says.
"Oh, come on! We'll let you be the princes!" she tries to persuade him...
"Fine." ... and she succeeds.
The game went surprisingly well.
We're all cleaning up the dolls now, since we finished our game and lunch is going to be ready any minute.
"You know what? How 'bout I run to my house to see if Sam's there, and I'll bring him here after we're done eating at home?" I ask.
"You sure you don't want to eat here and then go?" Zach asks me, his eyes blazing.
"I feel like I'd be a bother. Plus, this way I'll make sure my brother actually eats." I catch a glimpse of disappointment in his eyes, although I'm not so sure why he'd even care.
"You're not a bother, trust me." Unless he's just being super polite?
"Thanks, but if you want to meet my brother now, then I'm going. Otherwise, you can come over after you eat, but it's whatever you guys want."
"Yes! I want to see your house and meet your brother. Only if it's okay, that is..." Courtney bursts, her sentence trailing off at the end, almost as if waiting for me to give permission.
"It should be fine. What about you, Zach?" I see a look in his eyes that I can't quite place, but he nods.
"Yeah, I'd like to come." he replies.
"Alrighty, then. I'll meet you guys when you're done eating."
"See ya, Ace Ventura."
"Who's Ace Ventura?" Courtney asks Zach. I smile at her, and answer for him.
"He's a pet detective in a movie. You'll be able to watch it when you're older. He says 'alrighty then' a lot."
"Oh, so you know what I was talking about?" Zach asks me. I nod. "Then how come you didn't laugh?"
"'Cause it wasn't funny." I bluntly retort. Zach frowns, and I start laughing.
"Yo, Sam! You home?" I yell into the house after closing the door behind me.
"Yeah, I'm in the kitchen. You don't need to scream." he says, annoyed. I walk into the kitchen, leaning against the frame, watching him eat his sandwich that he made..
"Well, so-rry. Sheesh. I was just wondering if you'd like to meet Zach and Courtney, our next door neighbors. They're coming after they finish eating, so be nice if you decide to be social."
"Sure. Is Courtney cute?"
"Yeah, you'll like her. She's your age, too."
"What about Zach? How old is he?"
"He's my age."
"Ooh. Zach and Cammie sitting in-"
"Don't even go there, little bro, unless you want to get punched." That shut him up nicely. He knows I'll punch him.
Hard.
"Sorry. I was just thinking that you've got a crush on him or whatever. I'll be able to confirm my theory when he comes. You know, see what you're reaction to him is." I stick my tongue out at him.
"You're annoying."
"I'm being the little brother I'm supposed to be, then." I push his shoulder and smack him lightly on the side of his head.
"Hey! That wasn't nice!" He complains.
"It wasn't supposed to be." He glares at me. I hear a knock on the door, and Sam runs up to get it. I follow him.
Sam opens the door.
"Hey, guys! Zach, Courtney, this is my brother Sam. Come on in!" I introduce them. Sam closes the door behind them and then shakes hands with Zach.
"Hey, dude. Wazzup?" Zach asks.
"Same old. You?"" They do the whole boys-handshake thing, which I don't know how Sam knows it, and I look at Courtney to see her staring at Sam. i saunter over to her, lightly hitting her shoulder with mine. She looks up at me, and I give her a knowing look.
She stands on her tippy-toes, so I bend down. She cups her hands around her mouth, and whispers: "He's just cute. I don't have a crush on him."
"Sure." I tease. I smile and wink at her, and then Sam turns toward us.
"You're Courtney, right?" he asks her.
"Yup. Sam?"
"Correct!" I look over at Zach who's shaking his head, smirking.
"Alrighty, lovebirds. What do both of you like to play?" I ask Sam and Courtney. They both look at me with terror etched in their faces. Zach and I bust out laughing.
"Who you callin' lovebirds, sis? You and Zach seem pretty cozy." Sam snaps. There's an awkward silence for a few seconds, Zach and I not knowing what to say.
"Well, I must say, your sister's a beauty." Zach breaks the ice. I blush. "A little insane, but pretty nonetheless." I start to laugh.
"Oh, why thank-you, Zach! Considering you're out of your mind crazy and can't seem to stop smirking, you're ok. I don't particularly like you, but you're ok." I wink at him.
"Anything nice you'd like to say to me?"
"Um... you're a good at being a spoiled prince doll?" It comes out in a question. Courtney starts giggling, and Zach just smirks. Sam doesn't get what's going on.
"I'll tell you later, little bro. Don't worry." I smile at Sam. He nods, clearly still confused.
Zach and I are in my room, talking on my bed. Sam and Courtney are playing downstairs (I think they're building with Legos, not so sure).
"Do you play any instruments?" I ask Zach, after figuring out that he actually likes to read (shocker, I know).
"Not really." he replies.
"Care to explain?"
"I played the keyboard for like, half a year, and then continued with guitar for the rest of it. How about you?"
"I've been playing guitar for a couple of years, and I'm hoping that I'm able to convince my parents to get me a drum-set." I smile.
"So you want to be a drummer, too?"
"Dying to be! You know what, how about we get a set together and learn to play? We'll figure out who's house and all the rest, but we could try."
"Cam, I don't think that's gonna work."
"But it might!" he starts laughing at me.
"You're grasping on to strings to get drums, you'll do whatever you can, even if in the end you won't get it."
"Oh, hey! That reminds me of Holding On To Strings, Better Left To Fray. You know the band, Seether? That's a name of one of their albums." the look that he gives me, of pure astonishment, is so funny I can't help but laugh. "What?"
"One- you switched subjects with me so quickly, I don't even know where my head is, and two- you like Seether also?"
Smiling at him, I answer: "I guess I'm known to change subjects a lot. Everybody's used to it already, though. And just so you know, yes, I also like Seether. You know the band Three Days Grace?"
"Who doesn't?"
"Um... Some of my friends? One of my friends does know them because I made her listen to them, but she says they're just noise. Can you believe it? They're awesome!"
"I agree with you on that. They are awesome. What's your favorite song?"
"You might think me crazy, but it's Never Too Late. You?" He gives me this odd look.
"You're not, ya know, into that stuff, right?"
"I don't know what you mean." I say truthfully.
"Then never mind. I'm really not so sure what my favorite song is. They've got a lot of good ones, but I guess I'd have to go with I Hate Everything About You. You know that one, right?"
"Of course! My brother and I enjoy screaming at each other when we're listening to it together." I start laughing.
"What do you mean?"
"We do this weird dance, and whenever the chorus comes up, we start yelling the words. We do it just to be funny- we don't really hate each other."
"Good to know." He smirks.
"Whatever." I stick out my tongue.
"Speaking of dancing, you enjoy it, right?" This time it's his turn to change the subject.
"I love it! Why?" A wicked smile crosses his face.
"No reason." I search his eyes and face, not finding anything that might indicate what he suggested.
A light-bulb goes off in my head- when he watched me dance yesterday!
"I am NOT going to dance like that for you!" I exclaim. His smile widens, an evil glint running through his eyes.
"I'm not gonna make you do it, but you will. Trust me on this one, 'k?" He's leaning closer to me. "You're gonna want to do it," he whispers in my ear, "and I'm gonna take whatever you give me." His breath is warm, tickling my ear. He tilts his head a little to the side and kisses me right next to my ear and then down my jaw to my neck. His hands grab my waist, pulling me to sit on him. I run my hands down his chest, and he groans softly.
"I'm going to kiss you now, Cammie." He whispers. I can feel his breath, hot on my mouth. I move in a little closer, our lips barely touching. "Oh, Cam." he whispers softly, so very softly. One of his hands moves to cup my cheek, and then he kisses me.
Soft, sweet, but intense.
"Zach." I moan his name into his mouth.
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Okay, kiddies, that's all you're getting. ;-) For now, anyway. Okay- I'm really sorry that I haven't uploaded in time. I believe that the author should tell their readers in the beginning how often they'll be uploading. I didn't, and I'm very sorry. With me, it depends. Either every week or month. It depends on school and when each holiday is. Sorry, guys, but I appreciate it.
Thanks for the wonderful reviews, everybody!
(MadBooksHatter01- watch out! You don't want me telling Mommy what you read)