Operation: Break Up

Part 5- Duty Calls (Part I)

It was about 11:45 A.M. when my phone started ringing. Of course, it was Zack, probably about to tell me our plans for the day. I groaned, reaching over my silk body pillow to grab my phone from the nightstand.

"Hello," I said, my face pressed against the mattress, which only made me sound more tired.

"Good morning to you too, my darlin'," Zack's smirk reaches my end of the line. "Are you ready?"

"For what?" I sat up slowly. I don't recall him ever telling me what we were doing today, he just mentioned for me not to make plans with anyone but him. Does that sound a little possessive?

"Our day together." He says, the unamusement intertwining itself into his voice. I groan.

"Yeah. What time should I be ready?"

"Uhhh, is 10 minutes too soon for you? I know how long girls can take."

"Well first of all, how about 30 minutes? I have to get a quick shower. And second of all, consider yourself lucky, "boyfriend", because I don't cake myself with make-up like all of your one nighters." It was my turn to sneer at him through the phone. I hear Zack sigh.

"Fine. Now quit wasting time. Oh and bring your wallet. You have 28 minutes." Zack hung up just then, and I tossed my phone onto the bed and strolled over to my closet for my outfit of the day.

****

We arrived at the mall after 30 minutes of Zack's reckless driving and terrible singing. Of course, I was the fool laughing at him while gripping the door out of complete fear. When we finally arrived at the parking lot and Zack came around to open my door, I was more than relieved to touch ground again. I grabbed my wallet and phone from the seat and was about to shut the door when Zack stepped in front of me. "Here, I got it." He said, and pressed the lock button before shutting the door. We strolled up to the entrance, and he reached for my hand.

"Hold on, what are you doing? We're only fake dating," I stopped dead in my tracks, paralyzed by his touch. I was used to this by now, but that was because we were around Riley and all of Zack's buddies. I didn't think we had to make every move hand in hand.

"What? We're a couple now," Zack simply states before pulling me along, "besides, we wouldn't want to run into someone from school and blow our cover, right?"

I puff a random hair that had fallen into my face. "Fine." I said, and continued on to the main entrance.

When we were inside the mall, Zack lead me over to the Great American Cookie slot. "Do you want something to drink?" He asked before pulling out a 10 from his pocket.

"No. I'm good for right now. Maybe before we leave or something." Okay, that was a lie. I had been dying of thirst ever since Zack entered the freeway earlier. I nearly had a heart attack when he got his little truck up to 90 MPH trying to outrun an 18-wheeler who wouldn't move over so we could get on. Of course, I wasn't going to admit it to him and kill his vibe. Plus we were only faking our relationship, why was he trying to pay for my drink? I mean, we weren't at a bar.

"I need 2 sweet teas and a piece of cookie cake, please ma'am." Zack hands over the $10 to the lady standing behind the counter. He receives his change, and gets out of the way to wait for his order. "Okay, here's the deal. Tonight Caden's throwing a party at the lake. Everyone will be there, especially the happy couple themselves. So what I want to do is look for something nice for both of us to wear, considering we are trying to attract as much attention as possible. I'll pay for the outfits, but if you want to look for accessories or something, then that's fine, but you're paying. Got it?" Zack finishes up his statement by handing me one of the sweet teas and motioning me to sit down at a table in the food court.