My Summer Love

Whirlwind

Chapter 17

REINA

I hold on to Zenith's hand as he reaches back behind his seat. We are headed to the movie theater with Xavier and Ashley. Of course, my brother called Shot Gun, so now I sit in the back with Ashley, who nudges me with a smirk on her face every time Zenith does something cute.

At first, his hand was gently caressing my knee when he reached back to find me. I got so many butterflies in my stomach from his touch. Now our fingers hold on to each other while he continues to drive.

"Now this song is fire." Xavier says as he scrolls through his Spotify Playlist.

Him and Zenith have been chatting it up the entire way. It's hard to believe that he lived right next door to my brother, and they never even talked before. Now they have this whole bromance thing happening between them. I've had to kick Xavier out of my room multiple times when Zenith has been over. He is always interrupting us, and it drives me crazy at times.

"Zay bear, can you please play Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift?" Ashley says, and to my surprise, he doesn't complain about it he just puts it on.

Ashley starts to sing and sway with her hands in the air. Her hair blowing crazily in the wind from the top to Zenith's jeep being off. The chorus to the song comes along, and Ashley is yelling for me to sing it out with her.

I laugh as the two of us belt the lyrics out together. Throwing our arms in the air.

"And it's new, the shape of your body it's blue, the feeling I've got and it's oooh, whoa, oh it's a cruel summer..."

We continue to feel the lyrics as we sing in each other's faces.

"It's cool, that's what I tell em no rules, in breakable heaven, but oooh, whoa, oh, it's a cruel summer, with you..."

I catch a glimpse of Zenith smiling to himself in the rear view mirror, his hand now resting on my knee again.

The song ends just as we pull into the parking lot for the theater. Zenith finds a spot to park and cuts off the engine, hopping out of his seat to come back and open the door for me.

I step out and smile up at him.

"Thank you, my good man."

"You're very welcome, my lady." We smile at each other, and then he takes my hand as we start towards the theater.

We wait in line to buy our drinks and popcorn. The aroma of the buttery popcorn was making my stomach rumble when we bought our tickets, so Zenith said he would buy me some. He never let's me pay for myself. Even when I offer. He has let me treat him a few times, but otherwise, he likes to do things for me. I'm learning that acts of service are a big love language for him.

I feel Zenith let go of my hand, and then he slips his arm around my waist, pulling me close to him. I smile up at him, letting my body lazily rest against his as I lean in to him. He kisses my forehead, causing an even bigger smile to spread across my face.

It's now our turn to order and I whine a little from our loss of contact as we step up to the counter.

"Don't worry, I'll cuddle you once we get our seats." Zenith winks at me, and I feel flutters.

"I need a large popcorn and two large drinks and these bags of M&Ms." Zenith tells the person behind the counter.

Now we are heading into our movie suite with Xavier and Ashely behind us. I peer around the corner and am happy to find an empty theater.