Toxic

Toxic: Chapter #35 | Did My Heart Love Til Now?

Zach's Past

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I was so nervous about my first date with Giana, and I hated how nervous I was, but I reminded myself over and over again that such a feeling was to be expected. I mean I got away from Jayden and was free at last. Now, I was once again putting myself out there and though I knew Giana was the furthest thing from Jayden, it didn't stop my thoughts of what if. After all, I had dated three other people prior to Giana, and I often thought that dating wasn't my forte. I mean two of my relationships were ended by the other person's will (Lu and Addie) and one was ended by my will (Jayden). My relationship with Addie was the only one to end amicably.

So, I wanted my first date with Giana to be absolutely perfect. Lu and I were fast and intense. Addie and I were pretty fast as well, and she was the first girl I dated. Jayden was a whole separate set of circumstances and I'll bear the scars, bear the trauma, for the rest of my life. I'm pretty sure that Jayden love bombed me at the start of everything.

I ran through a list of ideas hating all of them. I kept crossing them out one right after the other as none of them seemed to fit.

ZuZu walked by in time to see me throw another crumpled-up piece of paper towards my trash can. "Zorro? What is the reason behind you littering your room with paper?"

I sunk further into my desk chair. "I'm trying to decide what to do with Giana on our first date." I should have expected the squeal of excitement and ZuZu got loud.

She wrapped her arms around me from behind. "OMFG!!! Date!!! So, she said YES?!"

I smiled and nodded, relaxing into my sister's embrace. "Yes. She said yes."

ZuZu smacked a kiss on my cheek and giggled. "Girlfriend?!"

I was overwhelmed but I loved it. "Yes, ZuZu!" I said with a laugh.

She let go of me and I turned to face her, finding her grinning ear to ear. "I'm so excited for you."

I raised an eyebrow. "You are. Wow. I had no idea." My tone was deadpan, and I darted out of the way when she attempted to wage a tickle war. The two of us couldn't stop laughing, and continued to do so until my stomach hurt from laughing so hard and I had tears in my eyes. It had been a long time since I laughed that hard.

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After we recovered from laughing, she started brainstorming date ideas with me. "What about a simple dinner, Zorro?"

I looked at her, chewing on my lip and shrugged one shoulder. "I don't know. I mean, isn't that cliché?"

She sighed and shook her head. "No. It's an iconic and classic. The perfect choice for a first date, especially when you're a nervous nelly."

My eyebrow quirked at the term. "A nervous nelly?"

ZuZu blushed lightly. "Shut up. So, what if I picked up some stuff from Grandma Hayes."

"I'm sure Benji loves it," I teased.

"As a matter of fact, he does. He thinks it's adorable. So there!"

I smiled, raised my hands in a gesture of surrender and pulled up the browser on my laptop. I started by searching for a restaurant and quickly found two I loved. I couldn't choose one though but thankfully, ZuZu helped me pick. After that, I had to decide what to wear and if I should bring flowers too.

"ZuZu why am I so nervous?" I asked, staring at my closet with a defeated slump to my shoulders.

She gently put a hand on my shoulder and got me to look at her. "When you dated before you never did it this way...slow and careful."