Girl Meets Wedding Bells(Joshaya & Rucas)

Girl Meets Now or Never

Vanessa and Emily had barely started their conversation, when Vanessa's phone buzzed. The girl sighed as she looked at the device's screen that showed that she had just received a text. She didn't even need to look to know who it was from. She already knew: Eli. Vanessa did her best not to roll her eyes. It was bad enough that the boy had asked for her number, but did he really need to message her right away? Emily noticed her friend's annoyance. 'If you want me to, I can tell him you're not interested', she offered. Vanessa shook her head. 'It's fine.' Emily bit her lip, before asking, 'You're not interested, though, or are you?' Vanessa shrugged. 'Does it matter?' 'Yes! Of course it does!' Emily exclaimed. 'Eli was literally all over you and he just met you. He should back off, unless there's a chance you could like him.' This time, Vanessa really rolled her eyes. 'I don't like him. I do not even know him. And besides...' She didn't finish her sentence, but Emily understood what she'd been talking about.

'I'm sorry about Zay', Emily said softly. The others had told her about the break-up. 'Yeah', Vanessa said, her eyes flat. 'Me too.' She had expected Emily to ask how it had happened, but was left surprised when the girl asked her an entirely different question. 'Do you still love him?' 'Of course I do', Vanessa answered. 'I have spent a year of my life loving him. Feelings like that don't go away so fast. I just wished... I want...' She let out a deep sigh. 'I honestly don't know what I want.' Emily put an arm around Vanessa's shoulder. 'You don't have to decide anything now', she said, her voice soothing the upset girl. Vanessa found it funny how quickly Emily caught up on things, like her internal debate about whether or not she should try and make things work with Zay again. She wanted to do so. But she feared the boy might have stopped loving already. Maybe he had never even felt as strongly about her as she had about him.

'What's up with you and Evan?' Vanessa asked all of a sudden, when she for some reason felt the desperate need to change the subject. She noticed how Emily's cheeks reddened just a little bit at the boy being mentioned, and the smile she wasn't able to fully hide. 'N- Nothing's up', Emily managed to reply. Vanessa nudged her. 'Now I know that is not true. I see the way you look at each other.' Emily sighed, shrugging. 'It doesn't matter. We're leaving Hawaii in, like, what, one and a half week or so?' 'Of course it matters', Vanessa replied. 'He's pretty much all over you', she added with a wink, referring to the talk the girls had just had about Eli. She felt relieved to be no longer talking about Zay or Eli, even though her ex-boyfriend was what she had originally planned on speaking of. Emily giggled. 'I suppose he has been somewhat affectionate', she said shyly. Vanessa found it adorable how the usually quite loud and outspoken girl turned shy whenever Evan was around or even when he was just mentioned in a conversation.

'I think you should go for it', Vanessa blurted out. 'W- what?' Emily asked. 'From the way you look, I can see you're thinking about him right now. You're blushing. You like him. And it's obvious he likes you too.' This made Emily's cheeks turned an even deeper shade of red.

'Back to you and Zay', Emily said. 'That's what you wanted to talk about, right?' Vanessa shook her head. 'At first, yeah, but right now? Honestly, no. So, you and Evan?' the girl said, wiggling her eyebrows. Emily chuckled. 'How about we don't mention the boys, like, at all?' 'Sounds good', Vanessa said, a trace of a smile on her face.

The two girls were surprised at how well they clicked, considering they hadn't had spent that much time before. After what seemed like their thousandth burst of laughter, Emily told Vanessa she was going to get soda's. When she was out of Vanessa's sight, Emily pulled out her phone and started typing.

In the meantime...

Zay tensed up when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. A part of him was secretly hoping he'd gotten a text from Vanessa. A little nauseous and nervous, Zay managed to retrieve the phone from his jeans' back pocket with trembling hands. His heart sank a little when he saw the message he'd received wasn't from the girl he considered his one and only. He wasn't surprised by the messenger, even though it was rather unusual for that person to text him. If he hadn't been so sad and disappointed at the moment, he would've found the text a little weird. But not now, no. Now, he read the words that were lighting up on his screen over and over, letting them sink in properly. Before he knew it, he was up and grabbing his jacket, putting it on as the words were still echoing in his head.

He had made a mistake when he ran out on Vanessa the first time. He had made a mistake when he started their fight. He had made the biggest mistake of his life by breaking up with the girl he had come to love so deeply.

Zay started running, afraid that if he stopped, Vanessa would slip away. Not that he still had her. He didn't think of how he'd been here, on the beach, earlier, running after the same girl. He didn't think of how that had ended. He only thought of Vanessa and the words in that text.

His heartbeat, which was already high because of the running, rose immensely when he spotted Vanessa sitting on the sand, all by herself. He sprinted the last few yards to her.

'Z- Zay?' Vanessa asked, when her eyes caught the panting boy in front of her. 'I need you to let me speak, and listen carefully. Can you do that?' Zay asked her. When she didn't answer straight away, he repeated, 'Can you do that? For me?' he added this time, his voice softening as his breathing became more steadily. Vanessa nodded. 'Y- yes. Of course.' She wondered if this might have been the reason Emily had gotten up just a minute earlier, claiming they needed some more soda's. Maybe the girl had seen Zay before Vanessa had. Vanessa shook the thought off. No, she told herself, it probably had been nothing more than a stupid coincidence. She focused on the boy in front of her, and waited for him to open his mouth.

'I'm an idiot', Zay said. 'I should have never gotten mad with you, or have walked out on you the way I did. I should have let you talk. I should have handled things differently. But I didn't. I am truly sorry for that. I am so sorry that I made you upset. I am sorry that you thought I was mad at you, when in reality, I was only frustrated with myself. All my fault. I am sorry that we had that fight. I am sorry that I was not awake a few days ago to hear you say you love me. I am sorry that we broke up. I am sorry that I walked away, and that I let you go. But I am not sorry for what I am about to do.'

Zay kneeled in front of Vanessa, lifting his hands to cup the dark-skinned girl's face, before smashing their lips together. The kiss was soft and sweet, and in the mean time, Zay let his fingers with the curls in Vanessa's hair, loving how it felt so familiar and so right.

It was Vanessa who broke away from the kiss after a few seconds, but only slightly, so that their lips were still almost touching. 'We- we shouldn't...' Zay shook his head. 'I know', he whispered, before placing his lips back on Vanessa's.

From a distance, Emily was watching the two with a smile on her face. She looked at her phone, which showed the text she'd sent Zay earlier.

It's either now or never. Choose wisely.

Hi everyone :) I hope you liked the new chapter. Are you excited to see what happens next with Zaynessa? Also, I realized I hadn't mentioned anything concerning the future of this story. By your answers to what I asked in the author's note a few chapters ago, it was pretty clear what most people wanted for this story's future. So, I will be continuing Girl Meets Wedding Bells for a little while longer, and I'm very excited for everything that is still to happen :) Thank you all so much for your comments on that chapter. A big thanks to everyone who reads this story! And of course a special thanks to those who voted on previous chapters and to those who added this story to their reading list. It truly means the world to me. I wish you all a lovely day!

Love,

♥