by Billy Taylor
We returned to the apartment afterwards, and I got showered and changed and packed a little toiletry bag with my toothbrush and deodorant. By the time I had done that it was time to drive over to Zac’s. Ted was snoring on the sofa as I came out of my room. He knew my plans already so I left without waking him.
I was really excited to spend the night at Zac’s. I’ve been there before, but never slept over.
Zac was wearing denim short dungarees. I think that is what they’re called. Whatever they were, she looked so hot in them when she opened the door. I found myself gawing at her.
“Will?” she said with a frown.
“You look so hot,” I said.
She smiled her tight-lipped smile and her eyes wandered around. “Thanks.” We didn’t say anything for a few seconds. She didn’t stand aside to let me in. She looked unbelievable. “Will, will you stop staring at me, please. You’re freaking me out.”
“You look really hot.” I stepped forward and kissed her, and then picked her up.
“Wait,” she said. “The door.” I took a couple of steps backward and then she swung her arm and shut it. I laid Zac on her back onto the sofa and continued to make out with her.
I don’t know how long we were kissing for, but her apartment door opening suddenly interrupted us. We stopped kissing and froze. Zac brushed aside her hair as we stared at her front entrance, waiting to see who it was. And then Natalie appeared from behind the wall. She jumped a little to see us both lying on the sofa. I only had my shirt off so it wasn’t the worst sight she could have found herself walking into.
Zac and I stood and waited to see if she had anything to say. Natalie smirked and she didn’t seem to take her eyes off me. “I was feeling bad about ending things with Jordan, but this has definitely brightened my mood. Thank you, Will.” She continued to stand there watching me.
“Natalie,” Zac whispered.
“Yep. I’ll go in a minute. I’m going to listen to some loud music so don’t let me interrupt your evening.” She tilted her head as she continued to stare at me, and I was becoming a little self-conscious now. Because for the past thirty seconds everyone was silently staring at me.
“Ok, Natalie,” Zac said, standing in front of me.
“Sorry,” she said, shaking herself and venturing into her bedroom. I put on my shirt and then Zac and I went and lay on her bed. Her bed is only small. We just about fit on it widthwise, but lengthwise my feet hang off the end of the bed.
Zac shut her eyes for a moment and rolled over so her back was facing me and she was facing the wall. I shut my eyes, too. And I woke up an hour or so later to see her resting her head on my chest. She looked so peaceful. It was nice. No cuddling was one of her rules so this was a rare moment.
I wasn’t really tired. So I lay there and watched her sleep. She woke up not long after and she jolted and sat up. It freaked me out and I thought something was wrong.
“Are you ok?” I asked her.
“Why were we cuddling?” she asked as she pulled her legs to her chest and rubbed her eyes.
“I fell asleep and when I woke up, you were lying like that, I didn’t want to disturb you.”
She continued to rub her eyes and then she mumbled, “Ok.” And then she rested her head on my chest again and returned to her peaceful slumber.
February 28th
Zac was sat in her underwear on the floor in front of her large mirror in her bedroom when I returned from the kitchen to bring her a cup of tea in bed. I stopped at the doorframe and watched her as she put some hot device through her hair. It could have been a hair straightener or curler or something else. All I know is that it was hot.
She glanced up at me and then placed down whatever it was. She covered herself with her arms and said, “What?”
“Nothing,” I said. “Just watching you. You look beautiful.”
She blushed and then grabbed her dressing gown from off the edge of her bed and dressed into it.
“Tea?” I asked, holding the mug out towards her.
“Thank you,” she said, taking it from me.
“I’m sorry about last night,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“The whole cuddling thing. I was exhausted.”
“There’s no need to apologise. You’re the only one who doesn’t want to cuddle here. I’m only following your rules.”
She smirked down at her mug. “What do you think I should wear today?” she then asked, looking up at me and tilting her head.
“We’re only going to my mum’s, you don’t need to worry about what you’re wearing that much.”
“I know. But I always like to make a good first impression.”
“How about, since I know what I am wearing, I sit on the bed and you show me some clothes?”
Zac grinned. “Like one of those cheesy movies?”
“Like one of those cheesy movies,” I replied.
So Zac spent maybe ten to fifteen minutes holding up different types of shirts and dresses and then t-shirts with jackets. She showed me a lot of clothes. It was hard to believe that she could fit it all in her small wardroabe. In the end she decided she was going to wear her Timberlands and ripped black jeans. Then she chose this tartan-style red and black long-sleeved shirt to go with it.
“I’m just going to wear this flannel,” she said. “I think that would look nice.”
“I thought a flannel was a small towel?” I asked.
“What?” she replied with a small giggle.
“You know, a small towel that you would wash your face with. They’re called flannels, aren’t they?”
Zac frowned and continued to giggle at me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but this type of shirt is called a flannel.”
“Ok,” I said, feeling like I was receiving an education about clothing. She put on a blue jacket accompanied with the blue beanie I bought her, and she was ready to go.
“Before we go in, what am I telling my mum and Rosie about us? They’re not believing the whole ‘just friends’ thing. And I can hardly tell them you’re Panda, the captain of my ship,” I said as we drove from Zac’s apartment to my mum’s house. My mum lives out in the countryside, which isn’t a surprise since she’s a gardener. But it’s only a thirty-minute drive; depending on the traffic it can be less.
“Why not?” Zac asked, flipping down the sun visor and checking that her blue beanie was in its correct position in the mirror. She ruffled or fluffed, I’ve never had long hair so describing the actions you do with it is new to me.
“Because she’ll think we’re seeing each other or we’re in a relationship.”
“You can introduce me as anything, but your mum will still think we’re something more than that.”
“That’s true,” I said. “I’ll just introduce you as Zac, and leave it as that.”
“Ok.”
Zac’s shyness rating was increasing as we parked up in the courtyard outside my mum’s house. There are three cottages surrounding the small courtyard. Two on one side, and one on the other. Mum’s cottage is the one by itself. It’s been a while since I last visited. The cottage looked like how you would expect it to. The courtyard has a waist-high wall running around it. But along the wall in front of Mum’s cottage was a gate, providing entrance into the garden and leading up to the front door. The garden wasn’t fully visible from the car, but you could seem some lovely colourful flowers blooming in some of the hanging baskets that were visible.
Zac was waddling behind me as I made my way towards the gate. I tried to stop and let her walk beside or in front of me, but her beautiful blue eyes flicked up at me as if to say she was happy where she was. We’d not even crossed the halfway point of the courtyard and she must have stood on the heel of my shoes three times. I could actually feel her nose pushing into my back, she was that close.
“What are you doing?” I asked, stopping and turning to face her.
“I’m nervous,” she replied.
�
�So why do you keep standing on my shoes?”
She smirked. “I don’t know.”
“Right, well, walk in front of me or beside me.”
Zac’s eyes flicked up at me and then to the brick courtyard ground. She wasn’t going to budge.
“Fine. You leave me no choice.” Without warning I picked her up and flung her over my shoulder, and decided carrying her would be the more efficient option. She screamed and then she covered her mouth and the scream dimmed.
“Put me down!” she squeaked.
“No,” I said. “It would take us an hour to get inside otherwise.” She wiggled around and tried kicking, but my right hand was on her ankles so her heavy boots couldn’t kick me.
“This is unacceptable. I command you to put me down,” she said.
“Sorry, Captain. A mutiny has taken place.”
“What the hell is a mutiny?” she asked.
“When the crew overpower the captain and take control of the ship.”
“That’s not a thing!”
“Yes, it is, look it up online!”
I opened the gate once we came to it. I maintained my forward position otherwise Zac would hit her head on something.
“Will, you’re going to ruin my hair!” she yelled. I ignored her and carefully rotated so I could close the gate, and then walked along the small winding path through the garden to the front door of Mum’s cottage.
“Aw, this is such a nice garden,” she then said all childish. “I like the tulips over there.”
I quickly perused the garden as we walked. It looked even more spectacular than when I last saw it. The sunflowers I had planted with her a couple of months ago were looking all tall and yellow now. They looked great. I don’t know where she finds the space. There’s only so much garden she can work with, and somehow she manages to plant something new every time I visit.
“Oh wait, Will, I dropped my beanie!” Zac said, patting my bum. I sighed and took a step backwards.
“Can you reach it?” I asked.
She made a weird noise, I think that was her stretch, reach for something noise. She then started laughing. “No, I can’t!”
I sighed again and turned around. I crouched down and picked up her beanie. It wasn’t so easy to do so since I had Zac resting on my shoulder. I held the beanie behind me so she could grab it.
“Thank you,” she said. “Will you put me down now, please?”
“Nope.” There are three stone steps up to the front entrance, which I walked up with ease; the difficult part was making sure I didn’t let Zac bump into any wooden posts or hanging baskets. It’s like being in an obstacle course if you’re not familiar with the garden. You never know what you can and can’t stand on.
I knocked on the door and heard a voice start to yell inside.
“Will, put me down or I will get very angry,” Zac growled. Her angry should really be her cute.
“Be quiet you,” I replied.
“I can’t meet your family like this!”
The door then opened, and Rosie stood there with the happiest look on her face, her brown hair tied up and her rosy cheeks as rosy as ever. Rosie has dark brown eyes and really straight white teeth. And she is five foot ten and a half. I know this because her height was often mentioned as a teenager. And she measured herself frequently so she could tell everyone when they asked.
“Freckles,” I said. Freckles is the nickname I gave her when we were younger. She still has them now, but they’re not as distinctive.
“Will!” she screeched. “And…someone’s ass,” she said, not so excited.
“This is Zac. She was a little shy to come in so I thought I would give her a hand.”
“I see… Come on in then.” She stood inside and allowed us entry. Rosie shut the door behind us. I placed Zac onto her feet. She pushed me with an angry look on her face.
“That wasn’t nice, Will,” she said.
“You liked it really,” I replied. A smirk broke through her frown. She fiddled with her hair and then placed her beanie on. “Zac, this is my sister, Rosie,” I said. Zac turned to look at my sister and she seemed a little shocked. Rosie’s height always seems to catch people off guard.
“Hello,” Rosie said, stepping forward and hugging Zac.
“Hi,” Zac said, hugging her back. “You’re really tall.” Rosie and I laughed. “Was that rude?” Zac asked. “I thought it sounded like a compliment.”
“It’s fine,” Rosie said. “It’s nice to meet you, Zac.” She then stamped her feet and rushed to me to hug me.
“How were or are things in America?” I asked as we firmly embraced.
“Good,” she said. “I broke up with Mike. Can’t be bothered with relationships at the moment. I don’t think I like American guys either. They’re super enthusiastic, but at the same time dull.”
“Ted is available. He’s made that very clear. I’m sure he’d fly out there to be with you in a heartbeat.”
“Aw, Ted. How is he? How are you?”
“We’re good. We’re working and stuff, and it’s going well. Where’s Mum?”
“She’s on the phone. Let’s go sit down.”
We took off our shoes, and then walked down the step into the living room. The stairs to the bedrooms are to the left of the entrance, and then to the right and kind of behind them is the living room. The living room is the biggest room in the house. It’s shaped like a square. The TV is on the back wall, so it is facing you as you walk into the cottage. And then the step down to the living room is the bottom of the square. It has the comfiest sofas in the world, too. They’re on the right and left side of the square. Rosie jumped onto the left one while Zac and I occupied the right one.
“So, Zac, what do you do?” Rosie asked, spreading herself across the sofa and then leaning on her hand to lift up her head.
“I work in a cinema. I sometimes give people popcorn and hot dogs or I check people’s tickets,” Zac replied.
“That sounds cool. Are you studying at university as well?”
“No, just working in the cinema at the moment. I haven’t decided if I want to go to university yet.”
“Ok. And if you did go to university, what would you study?”
“I’m not sure.”
Rosie glanced over at me. I think all of her questions that she had thought of asking had been asked. “Does anyone want a cup of tea?” I asked, rising from the sofa.
Zac gripped my arm. “Where are you going?”
“To make tea,” I replied.
“I’ll have one, Will,” Rosie said.
“Do you want one?” I asked Zac. She nodded. “Talk to Rosie, she won’t bite,” I said, signalling over to her. Rosie pulled a funny face and stuck out her tongue. “She’s not really twenty-five,” I said. “She’s still fifteen in her head.”
“I’m actually sixteen!” she corrected. I smiled at them both and then walked back up the step and to the left into the kitchen to make some tea. When I returned, Zac and Rosie were sitting on Rosie’s sofa together, looking at an old photo album.
“Rosie!” I said, placing their mugs in front of them on Mum’s special rose coasters. If you didn’t put your drink on a coaster, you’re basically asking for death. Mum will burn a hole into your soul with her terrifying glare.
“What!” she said.
“Don’t you play dumb! You had that beside the sofa, didn’t you? So you could show Zac once I’d left the room.”
“You know how much everyone loves to see your baby photos and see you running around on the beach with your tiny penis. Believe me, this is the least embarrassing thing I could have shown her.”
I took a deep breath. Zac and I made eye contact. She tried to fold in her lips to prevent herself from sniggering.
“Aw, look at this one,” Rosie said as I returned to my sofa and kept a wary eye on them. “He used to love running around naked. We could never get him into clothes. I used to call him No-Pants Peter. He was so mischievous.” Zac laughed a
nd looked over to me. I didn’t share the same amusement as her. “His penis hasn’t grown a lot since then. Has it, Zac?” Rosie then asked. She’s never been considerate. She and Ted have always teased me. This was why I avoided bringing a girl home. Not that I have any to bring.
I choked on my tea and almost spat it all over Mum’s carpet, which would have been even worse than not putting your mug on a coaster.
“I wouldn’t know,” Zac said. “I’ve not seen it.”
Rosie leant back and laughed once. A very, very, very emphatic fake laugh. “She can play the cover-up well, though,” Rosie said, nudging Zac.
Before the situation could get any worse, Mum’s stomping footsteps were then heard above us. She gradually then became visible on the stairs as she descended them. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she and Zac instantly made eye contact. It was like Mum knew where she was before she even came downstairs.
My mum is only small. She is maybe five foot one or two. And my dad wasn’t much taller either. So that doesn’t explain why Rosie and I are so tall. Mum has long blonde hair, and she has green/brown-coloured eyes. Mum turned fifty—I mean, thirty-seven in December.
“Holy shit, Will, she’s beautiful,” Mum said. She held out her arms as if she was an Italian opera singer singing to his love.
Zac looked over at me, unsure what to do.
“Thanks, Mum,” Rosie said.
“Not you,” Mum quickly responded. “I’m talking about Zac.” Mum sat beside Zac and gave her a hug, which Zac returned. “Sit next to Will, let me take a look at you,” Mum then said afterwards. I closed my eyes and accepted that no matter what I tried to say or do, my mum would still get her way. Zac looked at me again, and then wandered over and sat next to me.
“Aw, don’t they make a lovely couple,” Mum said, sitting next to Rosie and then staring at Zac and me.