Chapter Five
A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed on the last chapter and here's the next one! Sorry it's a bit shorter - I'll try and make the next one longer :)
"So what do you want to watch?" Zane asked, tucking Rikki up on the sofa with a fluffy blanket. He held up the DVDs. "'Death to Angels', 'Timmy the Monkey'… or '30 Days of Love'?"
"The last one," Rikki smiled.
"Yeah, I was going to say that," said Zane. "It was the one we watched in the cinema together." He slotted the DVD into the player and picked up the remote. He crawled under the blanket on the sofa beside Rikki and pressed play.
The movie started with the soft intro music that led into a shot of a camp beside a lake. The story in '30 Days Of Love' follows a teenage girl who goes to a summer camp, expecting it to be thirty days, in the whole of August, of boredom. But she meets a boy and they fall in love. The story sort of reminded Rikki of herself. She hadn't expected to stay this long in Gold Coast; she had expected to move on after maybe six months. But the unexpected had happened and now she had so many reasons to stay: Mako, Emma and Cleo, and Zane of course.
Rikki leant her head on Zane's shoulder and he put his arm around her. Rikki smiled. With Zane, she felt strangely content.
"I've had a great night, Ash," Emma smiled.
"Me too," Ash agreed. "Are you ready to go?"
Sam was coming back from the water fountain with a glass. His foot got caught on a chair leg and he tumbled forward, the water spilling out of his glass… and onto Emma. Emma gave out a small shriek and made a run for the bathroom. She only had time to shut the door before she changed.
"You idiot!" Ash shouted. "Look what you've done!" He stormed off angrily to find Emma.
"Don't come in!" Emma said from the disabled toilet as Ash knocked on the door.
"It's me, Ash. Are you alright?" Ash asked.
"Oh, Ash, yeah I'm fine. That was close though," Emma replied.
Ash poked his head round the door. "That Sam is the biggest idiot I've ever met," he raged.
"It was an accident," said Emma with a shrug.
"How long will it take for you to dry off?" Ash asked.
"I don't know," said Emma. "If Rikki was here, she could just steam-dry me but it looks like I'll have to dry myself."
Ash came in and locked the door. He picked up the hand towel and awkwardly handed it to Emma. "Here," he said.
"Thanks," Emma replied and started to dry off. "Our date was going so well."
"And it would have stayed that way if Sam hadn't turned up," said Ash hotly.
"It wasn't his fault," said Emma, shaking her head.
"Stop protecting him!" said Ash, a look of anger on his face. "All you do is take his side!"
"Ash..." Emma looked at him helplessly, looking hurt.
"Emma… I'm sorry," said Ash. He sat down by her. "It doesn't matter, honestly. I'm sorry."
Emma finished drying off and transformed back into a human girl again. She smiled a little. "Shall we go now?"
"Yes," said Ash and the two of them went outside. "Oh, I don't think any taxis are available," Ash commented.
"We can walk," said Emma. "It's not too far."
"I wanted this to be special," Ash told her.
"It is," Emma replied, "and even more romantic if you walk me home."
And so they started to walk towards Emma's house. Emma suddenly shivered in the night air and Ash looked concerned. "Are you cold?" he asked.
"A little," Emma shrugged.
"You're shivering!" Ash said. "Here," he added, taking off his jacket, "put this on." He helped Emma slide her arms into the sleeves of his suit jacket and she wrapped it around her.
"Thanks," she smiled.
They soon reached the Gilbert residence and Emma paused before she opened the front door. "As I said, I've had a really good night," she said. "Thank you."
"It's my pleasure," said Ash softly and then it seemed the right sort of moment to kiss her. He leaned in and their lips met in goodbye.
"Emma?" Mrs Gilbert asked, opening the front door.
Ash and Emma broke apart. "Coming, mum," said Emma. "See you tomorrow." She handed back the jacket.
"Goodbye," said Ash as he gave her a hug and turned and walked back down the drive.
The credits started to roll down the screen as Zane said, "That movie was good, right, Rikki?"
Rikki didn't respond. She was curled up next to Zane with her head on his lap, just poking out from the blanket. Zane brushed some stray curls off her face. "Rikki? You haven't fallen asleep on me, have you?"
"No, Zane," said Rikki in a voice that seemed almost trancelike. Her eyes were barely open as she reached a hand up to Zane's face and brushed his fringe to the side.
"Rikki," said Zane, feeling confused and slightly worried, "what's up? You're acting weird."
"People act strangely when they're in love," said Rikki dreamily, sitting up and leaning in to kiss him.
Zane shuffled away. "Rikki, you're seriously scaring me now. Snap out of it!"
Rikki moved closer, her hands locking around his neck. "Do you love me, Zane?" she asked. Her eyes seemed almost misty with... something.
Zane jumped up off the sofa. "RIKKI! I said snap out of it! I don't know what's wrong!" He picked up his phone and dialled a number.