Lend Me Your Heart
Forty-Four
By request of zxw889 (she's awesome/nice/really funny/great) I'm putting up a new chapter at 12:15 pm. It's fine.
 
My eyes snapped open the next morning after feeling something roll on top of me.
I looked up to see a smiling Zach, his legs on either side of mine and his elbows by his sides, so he didn’t fall down on top of me.
I looked around nervously to make sure my parents weren’t watching.
“Zach,” I hissed, “What if my parents see?”
“They’ve walked by quite a few times already and nobody said anything,” he said.
His voice sounded so sexy. “Besides, I’m pretty sure they’re all gone now.”
“Gone?”
“Yeah, they just got in the car and left.”
“What? Do you think they’ll come back?”
“It’s Christmas Eve. Of course they’ll come back. Why? Don’t you want to be alone with me?”’ he asked, smirking suggestively. “I mean, this is where we had our first kiss, after all.”
I smiled, grateful that our first kiss what just as important to him as it was to me.
That’s when I remembered how close I was to telling him I loved him last night.
God, I was so close!
I should’ve just said it.
But I couldn’t.
I was way too nervous.
What if he didn’t say it back and things got awkward and our entire relationship was ruined?
No, I couldn’t.
Suddenly, just as Zach started to lean in towards me, we heard a car roll up our gravel driveway outside.
“Not alone anymore,” I said with a shrug as we both sat up unhappily.
“Ugh,” he groaned, trying to comb through his messy, black hair.
When his hair kept sticking up in random places, he looked at me with worried eyes.
“What do I do?” he asked, sounding panicked.
“Act natural,” I said quickly as my parents and brother walked through the front door. “They knew we slept on the couch the whole night anyway. You even said so.”
“True,” he muttered as they walked into the kitchen.
“Why did we leave them here alone again?” my brother groaned, his eyes sweeping over both Zach and me.
“I second that question,” said my dad, raising his eyebrows in frustration.
“We just woke up,” I said innocently, rubbing my eyes in exhaustion.
“Drop the act, Layne,” my brother spat.
“Shut up, Mike!” I retorted, sounding like a three-year-old.
“That’s enough, you two,” my mother said, frowning. “Mike, we were only gone for a few minutes. It’s alright.”
Zach smiled at my mom and then back at me, satisfied.
“You want to know why we left you two alone?” my mom asked Zach and I.
“Actually,” I said, “Yes. I do.”
“Well, number one, because I trust you. Number two, because we had to go pick up your Christmas gift, meaning for both of you.”
Zach turned his head to my mother and frowned.
“Mrs. Davis, thank you, but you didn’t have to get me anything,” he said, being polite as always.
“Oh nonsense,” said my mom. “Anyway, you’re going to have to open it now.”
“Now?” I asked, “But it’s not Christmas yet.”
“I know,” she said. “I still think you should open it now, though.”
She walked over to the couch and sat beside me, handing me an envelope.
“Mom, what-“
“Just open it, sweetie. Time is money.”
I rolled my eyes and laughed, opening the envelope.
Inside there were three sets of tickets held together with tiny, rubber bands.
My eyebrows creased in confusion as I took out the first pair.
“Zachary O’Connor and Layne Davis,” I said, reading the tickets aloud. “Single ride to New York City. December 24^th…. Mom, this is today!”
“I know!” she squealed. “Now open the other tickets.”
I pulled out the next pair, which gave us a ride back from the city for tomorrow morning.
Then, the last pair of tickets I pulled out said: “Nutcracker, David H. Koch Theater, Row Five, Seats A and B.”
My mouth fell ajar, staring at the six tickets in my hands, three for me and three for Zach, in utter shock.

 

My readers are better than your readers. #holla