a Season to Remember (Book 1)

Chapter 13

"I don't think your parents like me very much."
Zack said, splashing me with water.

After Zack and I had lunch with my parents we decided to come back to his place and spend the rest of the afternoon swimming in the pool in his big backyard.

Lunch with my parents was interesting. I thought they weren't going to like Zack and they didn't, but once my dad was done asking him very personal questions they bonded over baseball.

"It's because you're not a Christian. They'll come around. Give it time." I splashed him back.

He pulled me into him and lifted my head up a bit until I was looking into his eyes.

"Hi," I breathed out.

He smiled a huge grin. "Hi."

Before I knew what was happening he brought his lips to mine.

I've kissed him before but this kiss felt different. A good different.

"Ahm, am I interrupting something?"

I didn't notice Zack's mom standing by the pool. I wonder how long she had been standing there. I didn't hear her come out.

"Oh, no, sorry." I quickly pulled away from Zack and got out of the pool.

"Oh, honey you don't have to get out. I just came out here to ask if you wanted to stay for the camp fire we're having tonight."

"I'd love to." I smiled.

"Perfect! Now if you'll excuse me I have some errands I need to run."

I watched Mrs. Idleman leave and turned to face Zack once we were alone again.

"Well, that was embarrassing." I hid my face behind my hands to try and hide my smile.

Zack laughed. "She doesn't care. Now come back here."

I laughed with him before jumping back in the pool.

***

I tried to balance three plates of food as I walked out the sliding glass doors.

I noticed a strange smell in the air as soon as I made it outside. It smelled like fine wine and summer. I've never smelled that combination of smell before so it was something I'd have to get used to.

"Melody do you need help?" Sarah asked from where she was sitting at the bar in her backyard.

"No, I got it." I said making it to the bar without dropping the plates.

I put a plate in front of Sarah and another one in front of Zack.

"You know you're the guest, right?" Zack laughed.

"And?"

"And you shouldn't be serving us. That's my job." He finished.

"Hush, hush." I playfully stuck my tongue out at him.

"Wow," he said.

Sarah laughed. "I like you, Melody."

"Awww, thank you Sarah. I like you too."

"Virgin piña colada's anyone?" Eric, Mrs. Idleman's boyfriend came outside with a pitcher in his hands.

"I'll take one," I said sitting down next to Zack with my own plate of food.

"I'll take some too!" Sarah handed Eric her cup.

As we ate our food we each talked about how our summer was going and what we planned to do for the rest of the time we had time off school.

When I was almost done with my steak and potatoes I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Zack standing behind me.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked.

"Come with me." He mentioned for me to follow him.

I followed Zack back inside and all the way up to his room.

"Hey, what are we doing?" I asked.

"We're just going to chill in my room for a bit." He closed the door behind him.

"Okay," I said.

I grabbed his teddy bear and decided to lay on his bed.

"So we can talk or play board games if you'd like." He said coming and laying next to me on the bed.

"What do you want to talk about?" I asked him.

"I don't know." He laughed. "You pick."

"Ask me anything."

"What's your dream job, Melody or what do you want to do when you get older?" He said moving to lay on his side.

I decided to do the same so we were facing each other.

"Um, I want to be an interior designer."

"You like interior designing?" He asked surprised.

"Yes, what about you Zack? At lunch earlier today you told my parents you wanted to go to UCLA...why?"

"Because they have the best program for what I want to do." He smiled.

"Which is what?"

"I want to be an accountant."

I was surprised at his answer but I didn't doubt him. If there was one thing I've learned from dating Zack it was that he definitely had the brains to do whatever he wanted in life.

"You'll make a great accountant one day." I assured him.

He chuckled. "Well, thank you."

We continued to talk about our dreams and what all we wanted to do when we got older. After we had our deep conversation we played Call of Duty on his Xbox. He was hesitant at first about us playing video games because he wanted to focus on us and bonding without the distractions, but I told him it was fine if we played. He didn't show it when we would play at Josephine's house and he wasn't showing it now, but I could tell he was surprised that I was actually good at video games. The only reason I was good was because Aizen taught me how to play these types of games last summer, but I didn't tell him that.

As we played the game I would catch myself smiling because I realized how much I liked Zack and how grateful I was to have met him.

But there was something I needed to ask him because I didn't think I was his first girlfriend just like he wasn't my first boyfriend.

"Zack can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, anything." His eyes were glued to the big flat screen tv in his room.

"How come you didn't have a girlfriend before we started dating-"

"Oh, I think it's time for us to go back downstairs. I just got a text from my mom saying the campfire was ready." He said showing me his phone.

At first I thought he was avoiding the question but then he showed me the text and I couldn't do anything but acknowledge that it was just bad timing on his mom's part.

"Okay, let's head back downstairs," I said, giving his hand a little squeeze before he got up and turned off the Xbox.