The Heartthrob Won't Leave

Chapter Thirty-One (New Chapters)

It was later that she realized that she forgot she had to get permission to leave the house, feeling stupid for promising Zac and potentially having to cancel later. She tried to get up the courage to ask a few times, but had always chickened out. Mostly because Stacy and Gracy were already angry about something that another girl did, so the time never seemed right. But, days passed and soon it was Thursday, the day before she'd be meeting Zac. It had been strange, noticing the way that Lucian basically avoided her now. It was as if he was always looking in the other direction, but he was always in her vicinity. They wouldn't speak, but they would be in the same room, talking to different people.

She gently approached Gracy, sitting on the couch in the public area. The older woman lifted her head at Blake's approach, lifting an eyebrow at her slightly shaking frame.

"Did you do your homework?" she asked, and Blake was quick to nod "did you help with dishes?"

"Yes," she spoke quick.

"Then-" she turned on the couch to face her "What's on your mind?" Blake couldn't stop twiddling with her thumbs

"I h-have a request" she claimed, trying to maintain control of her voice pitch "I have this-" she suddenly wondered what she call Zac. It's not like they had spent a lot of time together "f-friend"

"Does this friend need help?" Gracy asked, her eyes hard but intrigued. Blake was quick to shake her head. Gracy just sighed, leaning back on the couch "Then what about this friend?" She sounded annoyed, which wasn't very encouraging/ Maybe I should have asked Stacy.

"Well...He asked me to go to t-the...m-movies with h-him" she finally got it out, and felt kind of relieved about it too. Blake stood like stone as Gracy just stared at her, it reminded her of Jane's stink eye. Blake wanted to cower, maybe even burst back to her room calling apologies into the air. She hadn't done anything wrong right? Asking a question wasn't wrong. At least she thought so, but she wasn't positive.

"Does this friend have a criminal record?" Gracy asked. Blake thought of Zac, and concluded he was probably the only person she didn't clearly have an answer to that question for. She knew he did get around, everyone knew it, but whether he ever got caught she wasn't sure.

"I don't know" Blake responded truthfully, inquiry in her voice. She had never thought about it.

"No" Blake lifted her head, a shock in her heart. She had thought that Gracy had said no, but calmed when she saw her shaking her head "I don't think you could be friends with a criminal" Blake raised a slight eyebrow. I suppose doing anything bad would have been far out of her comfort zone, she'd be too terrified about what would have happened if she ever got caught. "I mean, no offense" Blake almost wanted to laugh at her words.

"Is he coming here?" she nodded quickly "Then, just introduce us first" Blake felt relief flooding through her entire body. The thought of telling Zac she had to cancel had been a weight on her shoulders for far too long.

"Thank y-you"

It wasn't until the next day, after the second period that Blake saw Zac again. He was at his locker, changing out his books. At least he wasn't one of those bad kids that could care less about their future. Surely he did things that would make Blake question, but at least he cared about school and making something of himself otherwise.

"Zac" she watched as he turned, then smiled at her. She didn't have much more courage than to hold out a piece of folded paper towards him, watching as he looked down and took it with curious eyes.

"It's where I live now" she spoke quickly, trying to contain herself

"Sounds good, I'll be there" he claimed, shoving it into the pocket of his dark jacket. She noticed as his eyes wondered suddenly, looking at something behind her. She was about to turn to see what it was, that was, until Zac spoke again. "What's up Lucian?" She stalled, frozen still hoping like some sort of ghost that if she stayed still he wouldn't see her. Her chest jumped, and her heart started to palpate so hard it was audio in her ears. With just a small shift, I could feel the heat of another body. It was as if he was right behind her, almost touching her! She slowly turned her head, lifting her chin to sight the muddled look on his features, but she could definitely sense his anger, coming off of him so thick she could have drowned in it.

"I wanted to borrow a pencil-" he said stiffly, his eyes fully trained on the boy in front of her. She wasn't sure why he was so upset, perhaps it was because of his distance from her. They had fought, maybe in his effort to get a pencil, he hated the fact that he even had to be anywhere near her. She just looked down slightly, the sight of her own small sneakers and his larger boots less than a foot apart on the linoleum floor. Zac held out the pencil, and Lucian just snatched it from his hand. She watched as he left, walking down the hall with the small piece of wood clenched tightly in his hand. It truly is over, isn't it? She thought, saying her gentle goodbye to Zac so she could make her way to her own class. She had been preparing for this moment since the day she had run into him outside the school yard, before she even knew they would have any kind of contact at all. She had spent her entire life accepting rejection, accepting when people just didn't want to be around her or even hated her, so parting with Lucian shouldn't have been so different, shouldn't it? Then why am I so sad every time I look at him?

She sat on the porch steps, slightly shivering in the cold air every time the wind blew. Zac was twenty minutes late than the time he claimed he would be there, and she wasn't sure whether she was happy or upset about that. Either she had to face the reality that Zac had ditched her, or she could use the time to mentally prepare for the night ahead. She was scared, she wouldn't deny that. She didn't even know what this meeting was! How she was supposed to act, how to be ideal. Luckily Zac had no seemingly romantic interest in her, so she could rest easy knowing that if she did do something to screw this up, it wouldn't hurt as bad when it blew to pieces. She kept her head in her hands, trying to calm her racing pulse. Perhaps she should have given in and taken some sort of drug to calm her nerves, but before that thought could even finish she heard the sudden entrance of an engine and wheels enter her ears. Her head shot up, startled at the sight of Zac's jeep pulling over to the side of the road in front of the driveway.

"Sorry, I'm late! Traffic was super crammed" he claimed as he got out of the driver's side. She stood up quickly from the step, watching him approach.

"It's fine, r-really" she claimed assuringly. She guided him towards the front door, letting him in where Stacy and Gracy were waiting, sitting on the couch in the adjoined living room. She watched as he glanced around, noticing the girls that were overlooking the scene from the top of the staircase. Gracy got up, approached them, and suddenly held out her hand.

"I'm Gracy" she spoke, the signature edge to her tone.

"Zac" he responded, looking a little stiff, but she did watch as he held out his hand and shook hers.

"So Zac-" Gracy spoke, arms folded crossed against her chest "What will you be doing with Blakelyn tonight?"

"Well-" he looked a little nervous, glancing at her, not that looking at how nervous she was would ease his anxiety. It's like their emotions were building off one another to a potential explosion worse than Pompeii. "I wanted to just take her to a movie" The girls watching the entire exchange from the staircase like an audience wasn't helping.

"What time will she be home?" Gracy asked, raising an eyebrow

"10:30...maybe" he responded. She could tell he was trying to maintain a calm demeanor. Gracy was someone that scared everybody, not just him. In a way, Blake felt sorry for him.

"Before 10" she responded stiffly, her tone absolute and demanding

"Sounds good to me" Zac spoke quickly, and Gracy turned her head to look at Blake.

"We'll see you then, Blakelyn" She nodded vigorously

"He's so hot!" she heard the silent whisper of one of the girls talking to the others, as if those below couldn't hear them.

"Good enough to eat off of" another responded as the girls giggled. Blake couldn't help but feel a flutter of laughter enter her mind, watching the girls scurry around as they left out the front door, into the cold air. Her breath was a fog, slightly obscuring her view as they walked down the driveway.