Chapter 12
Zack
Meredith sent me a text offering to bring a movie to the hospital. I almost took her up on it, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It wasn't personal; I didn't want to see anybody. My accident had been on the news, and people I didn't even know had sent flowers and gifts, and several of my friends and a few people I barely even knew had come up to the hospital to check in on me. I knew it shouldn't bother me that I had guests, I just hated being confined to a bed, and didn't know what to say to any of them. I had to remind myself it was better than nobody caring enough to stop by.
Long story short, I wasn't in the best of moods, and I was in a bad way with my personal hygiene routine. This combination made me less than excited to entertain people. It took a little effort to look like I normally did. I wasn't afraid to admit that I needed a little gunk to keep my mop from looking like a teddy bear. It wasn't just my hair, though. I felt gross in general. Gross that I didn't have my normal soap, deodorant, hair stuff, cologne or anything else for that matter. Not being able to stand up just added to my shame, so I told Meredith not to worry about the movie, and I'd be seeing her later. I hoped it didn't seem too rude to turn her down, but I just couldn't face her in the state of mind I was in right then.
I stayed in the hospital for a total of six days, and when I checked out, I went to my mom's house instead of my own. I'd been poked and prodded, and been made to endure at least half a dozen different types of scans. I had visitors a few times each day. Most of them were people I'd consider close friends, a few were random people who I didn’t know very well, but were concerned enough to make a trip to the hospital.
Meredith didn't come. In fact, I hadn't heard from her at all since I told her not to bother bringing me a movie. Collin and Rachel had come by twice during my stay, but Meredith didn't come with them. I figured she was busy with her first week at work.
It had been eight days since my accident. I was staying at my mom's house, and the rehab I was starting to do with my knee was shaping up to be painful and extremely time consuming.
I'd long since seen my face, but it was a slightly sore subject for me because, honestly, the scar was worse than I imagined. It was at least three inches long (though I dared not measure for fear of it being even longer than that) and it ran from the top of my cheek, right under my eye, down to my ear. While it wasn't ground meat like we joked, it was definitely noticeable—more than noticeable. I felt safe in assuming it would be the first thing someone looked at when they saw my face.
My doctor said the scar would lighten with time, and I was hoping that day would come soon, but right now it looked like a big fucking red line on my face and I wasn't too fond of it. My mom did a good job of trying to keep me encouraged, but this business of being an invalid was extremely annoying. I tried not to slip into victim mentality, but that was easier said than done.
It was a random Monday night near the end of March, and most of my friends were at a restaurant celebrating our friend Emily's birthday. I'd been invited, but I wasn't ready to deal with this leg and all it's paraphernalia in public, so I declined. No body was giving me a hard time about my status as a hermit—at least not yet.
Most of my friends were preoccupied with Emily's birthday party, so it really surprised me when my stepdad came into my bedroom and announced that someone was here to see me. I ran a hand through my hair as if it would actually help the situation up there.
"Who is it?"
"He's a young guy. Your age. Your mother seems to recognize him," he said shrugging. "They're talking about swimming, but that doesn't really narrow it down since that's all everyone wants to know about."
He didn't mean anything by it, but something about his statement made me cringe a little on the inside. I looked around my room. There was a bowl on the nightstand from a snack my mom had brought earlier, but otherwise my room was pretty presentable. It didn't really matter what I thought about inviting him in anyway. My mom was already at the door. I watched it swing open and saw my friend Gabe standing behind my mother, smiling at me. Gabe was one of the competitive swimmers with Collin and I at L.A. Aquatics. He's not and will never be on the national team, but he's doing pretty well in college. I could have been mistaken, but I thought he had a full ride at UCLA. He was a good guy, and it was nice to see him. "Damn, bro," he said, taking in my leg from the doorway. "You really did a number."
I turned so he could see the left side of my face, and pointed to it.
"Shit Zack, I'm sorry Mrs. Moseley." He squinted to take in my scar. "It's really not that bad, dude, but right there by your eye. You're lucky—"
"I know, I know, I keep hearing about how lucky I am."
Gabe crossed the room to sit in the recliner my stepdad brought in there. He reached out a hand to fist bump me before he sat down. "This ain't nothing, man, your mom was just telling me you could get back to a hundred percent. That's amazing."
"I know. It's definitely not as bad as it could have been. Just a bad way to spend a birthday, I guess."
"I forgot about that happening on your birthday. The news really played up that part of it. The reporters told the girl who hit you about it being your birthday, and she started crying right there on camera."
I knew it was a girl who'd hit me, but I chose not to look at the pictures of her that could have easily been accessed with a simple Google search. We didn't really talk about her much around here, and Gabe's casual mention of her and whatever tears she shed gave me an unsettled feeling.
"What chu been up to?" I asked, trying to act normal. I didn't want to hear any more about the girl. I was still a little too mad to confront any of those details, and it sucked that it was a girl who'd done it, because I felt guilty for being pissed at her.
"I turned twenty-one, remember?" Gabe asked. I nodded even though I didn't remember anything about it. "I've been out partying the past few weekends."
"Oh yeah, you getting some action, Gabe?" I asked, smiling.
"Yeah, actually," he said. "I've brought a couple girls home with me." He lifted his chin at me like he was all gangsta, and I smiled with approval of his transformation to playa. Gabe had never come out with us since he was a little younger, but he was a nice enough looking guy, and I could imagine he wouldn't have any problems hooking up. "You'll never believe it," he said, as if he was just remembering something really important. He looked around the room to make sure my mom and stepdad were out of sight. "I was kissing this girl the other night, and she turned out to be Collin's little sister."
I would have never in a million ba-jillion years have expected those words to come out of Gabe Sanchez's mouth. Had he just said what I thought he said? Did he say he randomly kissed Meredith Blake? Gabe certainly wasn't meaning to do it, but he was 0 for 3 tonight with the small talk, and it seemed like every word that came out of his mouth was just destined to piss me off.
"Where were you when you ran into her?" I asked.
"We were at a party in the woods this past Saturday night. It was a bunch of rich people. She was there with some girl from a soap opera."
"Are you talking about Meredith? The girl with the short hair?" I was hoping the shorthair thing would throw him off and he would say there'd been a misunderstanding.
"Yeah, short, dark hair. She's so flamin hot, dude. I almost puked when we figured out I knew her brother."
Funny he should say puke, because that was exactly what I wanted to do. What the hell was Meredith doing randomly kissing Gabe Sanchez at a party, and how many guys had this happened with?
"Was she with you all night or what?" I asked.
Gabe looked at me suspiciously at the question. "No, not really. She sat with me around the campfire and we, you know, started kissing. You're not gonna tell Collin, are you?"
"Me, huh? Tell Collin? No. I'm just curious about Meredith, because I know her."
"You do?" His head cocked curiously to the side. "What do you mean, you know her? Is there something wrong with
her or something?"
"No, no, she's just a friend of mine and she didn't say anything about running into you."
He looked sheepish. "I think it was just a one time thing as far as she was concerned. I text her a couple of times, but she doesn't seem into it."
"She goes out a lot," I said.
"I know. That's the best part. I figured she'd be into hanging out no commitment, you know? I scratch your back, you scratch mine."
Nobody was going to be getting their back scratched if I had anything to say about it. "She's not like that." I said, probably a little too sternly. "She'll kiss a guy, but she doesn't go any further than that."
Obviously, I was lying. I had no idea how many guys she'd been with. All I knew was that she didn't consider herself proficient in bed yet. That's why she'd asked for my help, which I thought I was still scheduled to be giving her. I could say one thing for sure, kissing Gabe Sanchez and God knows who else was not in my plan. I remembered back to the time I was going to watch her kiss another guy, and couldn't imagine what I'd been thinking. Right then I wanted nothing more than to throat punch Gabe Sanchez for putting his hands on her.
"What's wrong, dude?"
"Nothing. My knee's just hurting a little bit."
"You want me to get your mom or something?"
I loved Gabe and everything, but I wasn’t really in the mood to have company anymore. He was totally oblivious to how uncomfortable I was, so he was surprised when I told him thanks for coming over, but I'd needed to get some rest.
I texted Meredith Blake the minute Gabe walked out the door.
Me: "What you been up to?"
She answered within seconds.
Meredith: "I'm at Ethan and Emily's for her birthday thing. Thought you might come. How's the leg? Face?"
Me: "I'm good. Healing up. I thought you guys were going out."
Meredith: "Some of us are in a little bit. We won't stay out all night since it's Monday, but Emily's got to order a customary drink."
Me: "Have you been going out a lot?"
Meredith: "Yeah, some. Why?"
Me: "I heard you met my friend Gabe."
Meredith: "Sorry can't help you."
Me: "Party in the woods. He's a swimmer. Mexican. He knows your brother."
Meredith: "That guy? I think he told me his name was Gabriel. That's why I didn't know who you were talking about."
Me: "Did you kiss him?"
Thirty minutes passed before I heard back.
Meredith: "Of course I kissed him. He's a freaking hottie."
Me: "Seriously? Gabe?"
Meredith: "Gabe's in the bigs, Zack, quit being in denial."
Me: "Please tell me you're joking. Gabe's got nothing on me."
Again, quite a few minutes passed before I heard back from her.
Meredith: "Sorry. Everybody's wanting to figure out what we're going to do tonight. And, yes, you're right. He's cute, but he's got nothing on you."
Me: "Why'd you kiss him?"
Meredith: "You jealous?"
Me: "I guess I am."
Meredith: "Aw, do you need to be kissed? Sounds like someone's been stuck in the house."
Me: "I'm perfectly fine being stuck in the house, I just thought it was weird that you randomly kissed one of the guys from the pool the other night and I wondered how many you'd kissed before and since then."
Meredith: "Not sure if I should be flattered or offended that you're curious enough to ask me something like that. It's nobody's business who I kiss, but if you need to know, he's the only guy I was with last weekend."
Me: "He said you weren't with him."
Meredith: "I kissed him. Does that not count as being with him?"
Me: "No, I thought you meant you were with him, with him."
Meredith: "Still holding out for you, baby. And I love it that you're all controlling and jealous about Gabe. That's kind of hot."
Me: "You're hilarious."
Meredith: "Can I come see you sometime?"
Me: "For sure. I'll text you soon and we'll figure out a time."
Meredith: "I heard about your scar. I heard it was handsome on you."
I put the phone down beside me on the bed. I didn’t know how I felt about people talking about my scar, although you can only expect it to be a topic of conversation. I decided to react as if it didn't bother me at all even though my heart fell at the mention of it.
Me: "I like it."
Meredith: "That's all that matters. See you soon?"
Me: "Yep."
Chapter 13
Meredith
I went to see Zack the very next day. Yeah so maybe I wasn't invited per say, but I knew other people had seen him, and I was a little hurt that he'd been avoiding plans for me to stop by. It wasn't hard to talk my brother into giving me Zack's mom's address. He knew I'd find it if he didn't tell me.
I didn't know if my brother was going to let Zack know I was planning on coming over, but I certainly wasn't going to tell him. He'd just have to be stuck with seeing me face to face with no prior warning. I got off work at 6PM, which was an hour and a half later than usual. I didn't let that stop me though. I went home, ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich, showered, and got ready to go to Zack's.
I loved that he complained about me kissing that other guy. It made me feel like he was jealous over me, which gave me a warm, satisfied feeling in my chest.
The clock on my car stereo said 7:43 as I pulled into Zack's mom's driveway. I took some Listerine breath spray out of my purse and squirted in my mouth three times, and then I made a final check in the rearview mirror before approaching the house. I knocked on the heavy, wood door with the cast iron knocker that hung in the center. I heard at least one small dog cross the house and stand at the door, barking like crazy to announce my arrival.
I was shaking like a leaf, and came really close to turning and running off, but I made myself stay. Zack's stepdad answered the door about three seconds after I had that thought, so I was glad I didn't have my back turned.
"Well, hello sweetie," he said with a broad smile.
"Hi Mr. Moseley."
"Come on in." He stepped back and gestured for me to step inside.
"Does Zack know you're coming?"
"No sir."
"I'll take you back there. Linda's in the shower, she'll want you to come say hi before you leave."
"Definitely."
I followed him through the house and down a hallway. He stopped when he came to a closed door. He knocked on it three times softly, and we both stood there quiet as a couple of mice, waiting for a response.
"Yeah?" we heard from inside.
"You decent?"
"Yeah."
Zack's stepdad reached out and turned the doorknob. I was almost breathless with anticipation as the light from the room spilled into the hallway. I squinted to focus on Zack as I stepped past the threshold. I could tell by the stunned expression on Zack's face that my brother had not filled him in on me coming over.
He was looking at me all sideways because he was trying to hide the left side of his face. He was trying to be discrete about it, but I could tell, even at that distance, he was shielding it from me. With no hesitation whatsoever, I started walking across the room towards the far side of the bed—the side he was uncomfortable with me seeing. He squirmed a little as if he was actually going to go somewhere. When he realized there was nothing he could do to stop the inevitable, he leaned his head against the headboard with a sigh and put his hands over his face.
"I had no idea you were coming over here," he said, face still covered.
I sat on the chair that had obviously been put there for whoever wanted to sit at his bedside. "Well duh. That's because I didn't tell you I was coming." I reached up to pry his hand from his face, but stopped before I made contact with him. Instead, I let him keep his face covered. I sat next to him on the bed, being careful not to come too close to his hurt leg. I snuggled up to him with my back to his side.
"I like your room," I said.
"We might as well go ahead and get it over with," he said.
"Get what over with?"
I was already turning to look at him when he drew his hand up and pointed at his face. I stared at it shamelessly, like it was a freaking science experiment. It was the coolest looking scar I'd ever laid eyes on. The angle of it perfectly complimented his strong jawline, and to be honest, it made him look like even more of a badass than he did already. All this I could see under the row of clear tape that was holding the whole thing together.
I was so busy looking at the beautiful angle of the scar, that it took me a little while to notice his expression. He was looking away while I inspected the damage. I could see the frustration in the way his jaw was set. "Zack, this is a really cool looking scar." I shifted, trying to get him to look at me, but he hesitated to make eye contact. His face told me that he didn't want my pity. "I'm not kidding," I continued. "It looks really good on you. You can see that, right?"
He gave me a half-smile, and used the tip of his finger to trace the skin next to the fresh scar. My finger went up and followed his, gently brushing the tape-covered skin about an inch from the actual scar.
"I'm not as convinced, but I'm glad you like it."
"If you're not convinced, you're blind. Or you're at least not seeing it right." I sat back, studying the scar once again. "It couldn't have cut at a better angle. Seriously Zack, it's cool looking."
Three Months and You're Mine (In Too Deep) Page 9