After reading reviews I caved and have you guys what you wanted. This whole chapter is a flashback, months after the flashback in the previous chapter. I promise the Wade/Earl talk will happen in the next chapter. Enjoy and have a good weekend everyone.
~Flashback~
"We need to talk," Jesse informed Wade, interrupting the study session going on in the living room between Wade and Zoe.
"Can't it wait?" Wade questioned. He wouldn't even care if he didn't have to worry about what grade Zoe would get. He had no choice but to pull his weight on their project; Zoe was making him do so.
"It's fine, Wade. I need to go. Dinner with the whole Wilkes clan," she smiled, getting her things put away. "Call if you need me," she told him, walking out, sparing no glance at Jesse.
"What's going on?" Wade asked, stuffing his papers into a folder.
"Dad called; he's not coming home, Wade." It was the worst news that you could give your little brother. "He wants to..."
"He can want a lot of things, doesn't mean I need to hear them when the one thing I need is for my dad to come home and be a father, even if it is for a weekend. How many excuses do you need him to tell you, before you get sick of it?" Wade asked, walking out the door.
He needed Zoe, and he felt horrible for depending on her so much as of late. Other than Zoe and his brother, he didn't have anyone else he could go to that knew what they did. His friends told him that they were there for him, he just, couldn't do it.
"What happened?" Zoe asked, shutting the car door. She was getting inside her dad's car when Wade showed up.
"My dad isn't coming for a visit," he whispered.
Zoe nodded, taking a few minutes to talk with her dad. She was looking forward to seeing her family, and she would suggest Wade come with them, but she had a feeling that was the last thing on his mind, and he would rather be alone or at the very most with her.
"Come on," she said ushering Wade into the house and up to her room. "Want to talk about it?" She asked sitting on her bed; her legs stretched out in front of her.
Wade said nothing, sitting on the bed next to her, kicking his shoes off. He laid down, placing his head on her lap. A sad smile on his lips feeling Zoe's fingers in his hair.
"I really wanted to see him; I've learned over the last few months not to get my hopes up when it comes to him and visiting for a weekend, I figured this time would be different," he explained, gripping onto her leg. "I wanted it to be different, Zo."
"I can't make promises or excuses for him," she started off saying, gently scratching his scalp. "I can't tell you what you want to hear neither."
"Then what can you tell me?" He asked with a small hint of amusement to his voice.
"That I will be here for you because I care about you, that you are an amazing person, you have a big heart, that you're strong even when you doubt yourself. You are my best friend, Wade. I get you miss your dad, and that is perfectly okay. He hurt you, and that isn't something you can easily let go, and he keeps doing it, but I'm sure that's not how he sees it. He did things wrong, but he had to go and him staying away there has to be a reason behind it, doesn't mean you have to like it," she told him.
"There is a reason, I didn't stay to listen to what that reason might be. I'm fed up with reasons and excuses on why he can't come back here. I'm proud of him for what he is doing, I won't take that away from him, but I do miss him," he sighed, trailing his fingers down Zoe's leg, making her squirm.
"Wade, stop that tickles," she laughed, trying to move his hand.
Wade smirked, his fingers moving to tickle her sides. She tried to push his hands away, but he was stronger, his fingers easily moving up her sides; he tossed a leg over her, straddling her lap as he tickled.
"Stop," she laughed, pushing against his chest, her hands staying on his chest as her laughter drifted off, his fingers stilling against her sides, their eyes locked.
"I should go," he said, his eyes glancing at her lips. "I have to go," he quickly said, scrambling to his feet.
"Wade," she said, sitting up, fixing her shirt from where to rode up while he was tickling her. She didn't want him to feel weird or for things to suddenly become awkward between them over what did and didn't happen.
"Thanks, you are a true very, a good one," he told her, scooping his shoes up and walking out of her bedroom.
Zoe fell back on her bed, closing her eyes to go over everything that went on in her head; they hadn't even kissed, and she felt like a big idiot. This was his way of showing her that he didn't feel anything other than friendship for her. It was clear that he saw her feelings for him, and it hurt to know that he would never see her as anything other than a friend.
"I'm a horrible friend," Wade burst out seeing his brother on the couch. Jesse chuckled, tossing his pen down, apparently his brother was over his father not coming to visit them and was onto something or rather someone else, and he had a good inkling that it had to do with Zoe.
"What dear brother makes you say that?" Jesse asked with a half smirk.
"I want to have sex with my best friend," he blurted out, falling into a chair. "I want to be with her, be her boyfriend," he confessed.
"What brought this on?" Jesse asked more seriously.
"We were talking, and then that turned into me tickling her, and I wanted to kiss her, and I think she wanted me to kiss her, but I took off," he explained, running a hand through his hair.
"And how in the world did wanting to kiss her turn into wanting have sex with her?" Jesse asked, wondering how that one worked out for his little brother.
"It didn't at first," he stated, feeling slightly offended. "On the walk home, I got to thinking because I couldn't not think about wanting to kiss Zoe and see if her lips felt as soft and juicy as they look and BAM!" He yelled, clapping his hands together. "The next thing I'm thinking about is sex with my best friend, which can't happen because I need Zoe," he pleaded.
"You know kissing Zoe or even dating her wouldn't ruin the bond you have with her; it would only make it stronger. That girl has had the biggest crush on you for the past few years, and you have been blind by what's going on in this family to see it," Jesse told him. Wade shook his head, she did not like him in any way other than a friend. "You could walk up to her and kiss her out of the damn blue and what do you think she would do?" Jesse asked, leaning forward.
"She would shove me away, then slap me across the face, mutter how big of a disgrace I am and avoid me, and because I was being stupid about kissing her, I would lose her as my friend," he retorted. Jesse shook his head.
"You wouldn't lose her, Wade. That scenario is wrong. She would gladly kiss you back. If you don't believe me, go up to her and kiss her, and if you are too much of a chicken shit to do that, then talk to her and be honest with her, both are scary options but both need to be done," Jesse told him getting up. "I see you guys together, and I see how she looks at you and how you have been looking at her. I want you to have happiness in our chaotic life; you deserve it," Jesse said, leaving him be.
He shook off the ridiculous notion of Zoe wanting to be with him. That was the furthest thing from the truth. However, the look in her eye when he was about to kiss her, that told him something else. Even so, it didn't mean that she wanted to date him, making out and dating were too very different things.
He took the weekend to think about the actions he was going to take come Monday morning. Kissing her sounded terrifying if not amazing, talking to her sounded stupid to an extent, whether he kissed her or not it needed to happen, he couldn't hide his feelings for her, which he realized he did have, he couldn't pinpoint when he started to see her as more, but it happened and he did have to do something about that. He couldn't lose her over something like this, and if he didn't tell her that was going to happen, he would push her away. He knew what needed to be done, and he hoped that she wouldn't laugh at him. It was a bit much to ask of her to like him as anything other than a friend.
When Monday came he was running late. The plan had been to talk to Zoe on the walk to school, get it over with so he wouldn't freak out all day about it and overact. That plan was shot to hell because he overslept, and his brother had left an hour before he had to get up to make it to his class on time. The thought of staying home was a pleasant one; however, it was one that couldn't happen for him.
"Zoe, can we talk?" He asked, spotting his friend minutes before the bell was to ring for first period.
"Can it wait? I don't want to be late for class," she told him.
"It is important, but uh yeah it can wait, lunch okay with you?" He asked.
"Lunch would be perfect," she told him with a smile, relieved that he was talking to her. She spent her weekend worried that he would no longer want anything to do with her.
"Great," he smiled, heading to his own class, the bell ringing before he got through the door. It wouldn't be the last time he would be late for class.
For Zoe the day moved by fast, and lunch was there with a little blink of her eye; however, for Wade; the day had dragged on and by the time lunch came around he felt as if they should be leaving school for home.
"I want to talk about what happened at your house," Wade said, sitting outside under a tree, no one else around them.
"If it is better for you nothing else happened," she stated, looking down.
"It wouldn't be better actually. Jesse suggested that I just kiss you," he confessed, getting Zoe to snap her head up.
"What?" Zoe asked, choking on her voice.
"He said I should do this," Wade said softly, cupping her cheeks and pulling her face towards his. Their lips meeting in a soft kiss. "Be my girlfriend, Zoe."
"Yes, of course I'll be your girlfriend, but what brought this on?" She questioned, her palm against his cheek. A smile upon her face.
"I came to my senses," he responded. "Jesse was there to help me along, why didn't you say anything? All those times I asked about who you had a crush on and who you were trying to impress, it was me, wasn't it?" He asked with a small laugh.
"It was," she smiled. "Scared, you had this interest in all these other girls, and I didn't want to lose your friendship, Wade."
"I know what you mean, I felt the same until I was told that our bond wouldn't break, it would become stronger and now that you are mine Zoe Wilkes; I believe that," he smiled, kissing her once more.