A/N: Thanks to those who took the time to review - always much appreciated :)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 2
Zoe wasn't entirely surprised when she woke up alone. She had fallen asleep with somebody, but he was long gone now and that was okay. It was the deal they had made, after all. She only asked him for a night. Not for his name or his devotion or anything else, just one crazy night of fun.
He had certainly delivered on that, so much so that Zoe could not stop grinning at the memories. She was also pretty sure she wasn't going to be walking too well for the rest of the weekend, but that was okay too. It had been worth it. He had been more than worth it. Her first and only one-night stand had certainly been a lot more successful than some she had heard about from her friends.
Of course, as she lay there thinking about the night before, her mind soon drifted to why she had felt the need to let loose in the first place. All the many reasons for the sadness and pain that had overtaken her. The smile soon faded from Zoe's face and she got the urge to pull the covers up over her head and hide from the world a while.
It was Sunday, no classes until tomorrow morning, and certainly no friends around to miss her if she hid herself away. Maybe it was a bad idea to let her father get her a single room. If she had dorm-mates, at least she wouldn't be so completely alone, but Zoe had wanted it that way, at the time. A transfer student in her senior year of college, she was always going to be the odd one out. Everybody else would have formed friendships made years before. Not for the first time, Zoe started to wish she had stayed at Yale.
Not that she was exactly Little Miss Popular there either. She got along with her dorm-mates each year, but none of them were exactly going to be her friends for life. Zoe never really had entered into the spirit of college life. She went to very few parties and never had a real spring break at all, preferring instead to bury herself under her books, cramming in as much knowledge as possible, bound and determined to do her very best and make everyone proud.
So much for that. Her mother barely paid attention to her grades at all, and her dad, or at least the guy she thought was her dad up until a few months ago, was usually too busy to take as much notice as she would like either. Harley seemed very interested in her education, as well as in her life in general, but he also seemed like the type to be proud of a daughter no matter what she did career-wise.
Heaving a sigh, Zoe pulled the covers back down and swung her legs out of bed. It was no good. Lounging around in bed, wallowing in all the 'woe is me' wasn't going to help. All she really had were first world problems anyway. Besides, she was thirsty and, ironically, needed to pee as well.
Throwing on some comfy sweats, Zoe headed for the bathroom, and on returning, grabbed a bottle of water from the mini-fridge. Sitting down in the chair, she contemplated what to do with her day. She was already done with the reading for her classes, but there was more she could do to get ahead. Alternatively, she could actually make an effort to go out and meet some people, maybe knock on a couple of doors down the hall and say hello, try to make friends. Checking her clock, she realised it was only ten o'clock in the morning. She probably wouldn't make herself too popular waking college kids up at such an hour on a Sunday.
The sudden knock on her own door startled her from silent pondering. Clearly, somebody was up just as early as she was, though Zoe was convinced that whoever was there had clearly come to the wrong door. Unless of course it was her mysterious, sexy bartender from the night before, but she doubted that somehow.
"Zoe Wilkes?" said a chirpy voice, the moment she prised open the door.
"No... well, I guess, yeah," she said awkwardly.
Though she had been Zoe Hart her whole life, it was under the name of Wilkes that she had become enrolled at U of A, not least because it was Harley's influence that secured her place. She was his daughter and therefore everyone assumed she would be taking his name. For the moment, Zoe couldn't care enough to think about it. What was in a name, after all?
"Oh, I'm so sorry, did I get you up outta bed?" asked the smiling blonde on the other side of the threshold.
"No, I was up already, just not doing much." Zoe shook her head. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"
"Not directly, but I am here to change all that. My name is Lemon Breeland," she said, holding out a hand for Zoe to shake, which she dutifully did. "You know my daddy and your daddy work together at the practice in Bluebell? Well, they are just the two finest doctors in all of Alabama."
The way she was talking so loud and smiling so much, Zoe almost felt like she was looking into the sun, and about to blinded in much the same way as a person might be from doing as much. Lemon Breeland. Of course, she had heard the name. As she said, her father worked with Harley, Zoe remembered being told, and she did also recall it being mentioned that Lemon herself attended U of A too. Not that Zoe had exactly expected to meet her this soon.
"I'm so sorry, is now not a good time?" asked Lemon then, drawing Zoe's attention the fact she was standing and staring at the blonde without saying much. "I realise it might be a little early for some, but I just felt so awful for not coming to find you yesterday. I did promise dear old Harley that it would be the first task on my to-do list, but then my sorority sisters swept me up into their usual chaos and I just plum forgot all about you until it was much too late to come calling."
Zoe let those words process through her brain and found it hard not to smile or even snigger. If this supposedly prim and proper little Southern miss had come calling on her late last night, she certainly would've gotten a surprise. The sight of Zoe and her bartender lover probably would've caused what she had heard called a conniption fit. The idea of it was certainly something to laugh at. Biting her lip so as not to make a fool of herself that way, Zoe moved aside from the door and invited Lemon into the dorm.
"It's fine," she assured her new acquaintance. "I was actually out last night, and then, I, uh, had some company anyway. Not that it's not nice to meet you now. I mean, thank you for coming by. Uh, can I get you a drink of water or soda or something?"
"Thank you, but no. I really can't stay long," said Lemon, perching delicately on the arm of the comfy chair. "I just wanted to say hello, introduce myself, and see if you might want to meet up later for some lunch and to spend the afternoon? My boyfriend, George Tucker, and I were hoping to make you feel all kinds of welcome here on campus. Oh, and please, you shouldn't feel awkward at all about agreeing to go out with a couple, because I am sure some of our other friends will be there too."
Zoe opened her mouth to decline the offer, but then thought better of it. As much as she was not an entirely social animal, she didn't really want to be a recluse either. As much as Lemon's voice was probably going to grate on her nerves if she spent too long in her company, at least she was being nice and friendly, and not the fake kind that Zoe had seen too many times before from other girls their age.
"Lunch might be nice," she considered. "In the cafeteria?"
"Oh, goodness no." Lemon shook her head daintily, pretty curls flying around her neck as she did so. "I plan on packing a lunch so we can enjoy a picnic on the lawn in all this fine weather we're havin'. Won't that be fun?"
"Sure, fun." Zoe smiled, feeling a little taken aback. "So, I guess I'll meet you there?"
"Nonsense, we will come by for you. Don't want you gettin' lost now, do we?" she said with a giggle, getting up and moving towards the door. "One o'clock sound good to you, Zoe Wilkes?"
"Sounds great."
"Well then, we will see you right at that time. Bye for now!"
She waved her hand and then she was gone, the door clicking shut in her wake. Zoe sat down heavily in the armchair again, all the breath going out of her in one big puff. Lemon Breeland really was a force of nature. Zoe wasn't sure why she had agreed to go to lunch with her and her boyfriend and potentially other friends besides. If they were all like Lemon, it was bound to be a very intense occasion.
A little part of Zoe was already wondering if she could just be out of her dorm around one o'clock, maybe hide away in the library until she was sure Lemon and her friends had stopped banging on her door. Another larger part of Zoe knew she would never actually do that. It was mean and unfair to a person who just wanted to be friendly. It was also giving up a perfectly good opportunity for company, which would be extremely foolish for a young woman who was just now bemoaning the fact she was feeling lonely.
"A picnic lunch on the lawn in the sunshine, getting to know new friends. It's a good thing," she told herself firmly, standing up to her full height. She took all of two steps that way before she slumped a little and dragged herself back into her bedroom. "Ugh, being social is hard!"
Despite her declaration, Zoe knew she really should make an effort. If she wanted friends, she had to try. If she wanted the full college experience, the social side was most definitely a part of that. With that in mind, by one o'clock, she had showered, fixed her hair, redone her make-up, and put on eight different outfits, some of them twice. It was so stupid. It wasn't as if she was going on a date or to a party or anything. She was just going to an informal picnic lunch with new friends, it really shouldn't be such a big deal.
In the end, she decided on a pretty sleeveless shirt and short-shorts combo. She had tried a couple of dresses, but they just didn't look right, and outside in any kind of clingy pants was only going to cause her problems, with the afternoon heat increasing all the time. Alabama weather took some getting used to, that was for sure.
"Alabama people too," Zoe said to herself, as an almost tuneful kind of a knock came on her door.
Taking a deep breath, Zoe opened it up and painted on a smile to greet the people on the other side.
"Hi, Lemon."
"Well, hello, again, Zoe Wilkes. Don't you just look adorable in your little outfit?" she said, grinning as if she meant it, even if the comment might have an undercurrent of catty, or so Zoe thought. "May I introduce my long-time boyfriend, George Tucker. George, this is Zoe Wilkes."
"Pleased to meet you, Zoe," said George, offering a hand and shaking hers the moment she gave him the chance. "You know you look exactly like your picture."
"Well, of course, she does, silly." Lemon rolled her eyes and laughed like a bell. "Honestly, I'm surprised your dear daddy, Harley, didn't wear out that picture of you that he has. He showed just about everybody in town, sometimes more than once! Of course, only George and I have been lucky enough to meet you in person so far, but all the folks in Bluebell are so looking forward to you paying them a visit real soon."
"That's... nice," said Zoe, awkwardly, already a little concerned about how her father's hometown would react to actually meeting her.
It was genuinely nice to know there didn't seem to be any prejudice at all, at least, not from the way Lemon told it. Zoe was well aware of the old-fashioned way the Southern folks seemed to think and behave, as a rule. She half-expected judgement aplenty when Bluebell heard that their beloved doctor had an out-of-wedlock daughter, but apparently, they were more open-minded than Zoe ever could've guessed.
"So, you just about ready to head out?" asked Lemon then.
"Sure, I'm ready," Zoe agreed, stepping out into the hallway and closing the door behind her. "I thought you said there would be other people?"
"Oh, well, we didn't want to ambush you with too many folks all at once," said George, as the three of them began walking towards the exit. "I did ask a buddy of mine if he wanted to come along and he'll probably meet us outside, but that's all."
Zoe smiled and nodded, though the moment George and Lemon looked away, she started frowning some. They invited her and one male friend? Zoe smelled a set up, though she couldn't really imagine how or why they would do such a thing. She just this second met George and only had one extremely brief conversation with Lemon thus far. There was no way they could find the right type of guy for her just like that. Not that she was looking for a boyfriend anyway. She had far too much studying in store this year to be bothered about dating.
"There's a great spot just past this building," Lemon explained when they got outside. "The trees block the sun just enough that you won't have to worry about burning up, but it's still warm enough to sit comfortably, even in the cooler months."
"There are cooler months down here?" asked Zoe curiously. "All I've had so far is hot."
"It probably takes some getting used to when you're a born and raised New Yorker." George smiled at her, reminding Zoe of the guy from a toothpaste ad, which made her want to laugh. "Oh, there he is. Hey, Wade!" he cupped his hands around his mouth and called out to a friend across the way, then hurried over to meet him.
Zoe was getting blinded by the sun and saw nothing, following behind in the shadow of Lemon and hoping she was walking a safe straight line.
"Now, you'll have to excuse Wade Kinsella," said Lemon, reaching for Zoe and taking a hold of her arm, encouraging her to walk beside her. "He's a little loud and overly flirty sometimes, but I swear he means no harm. He's the salt of the earth, I promise you."
"Hey, come on over and meet Zoe," George was saying to his friend as they approached. "Wade Kinsella, Zoe Wilkes."
As they boys stepped in the way of the sun's bright rays, Zoe looked up and was finally able to see. She felt her eyes get really wide and her mouth drop open when she saw who Wade actually was.
"You," she gasped into the face of the bartender she had taken into her bed just the night before.
"Well, hey there, sweetheart." Wade grinned down at her. "Ain't you a real nice surprise?"
To Be Continued...
