Between The Lines

seventeen

The coming chapters will be a little longer than the previous ones. The story is kinda entering an eventful arc.

__________________________________________

     Zach reemerged from the locker room dressed in a baker street boys t-shirt. Not the recommended dressing for a party, sure, but I just loved this dorky side of him. Hadn't Sherlock been the one to spark that connection between us in the first place! Marcus, one of the team members, was throwing the party and although it seemed a little overconfident to organize a party even before the game, we had won and were more than ready for celebrating! Aaron was riding with the boys, I was going with Zach and Brooke was gonna join us directly at Marcus's place.

       We wasted no time and made our way to the party. I offered to drive since Zach had just played an exhausting game but he insisted on driving himself. Zach talked on and on about the game, and all their moves, and strategies, but all I could focus on was how happy he looked and the glimmer in his eyes. That reminded me how Aaron's eyes lit up when the score board showed that they'd won. I had somehow managed to capture that exact moment on my camera, and I was rather proud of it. Aaron only made photography that much easier, seeing how photogenic he was. My phone pinged and I looked down to check the message.

"It's Brooke. She won't be able to make it."

I informed Zach. Although I don't know why.

"She wasn't at the game either was she? I thought this being an important match for Aaron and all, I assumed she'd be here."

    He'd hit the nail right on the head. I really was struggling to figure out the nature of their relationship. They kept going from hot to cold all the time.

"She must have a valid reason I guess..."

    I tried to play it off casually but even I was a little skeptical of the whole deal. By then we had reached the place, and already had our drinks in hand. Zach had his beer and I stuck with coke. I was a major lightweight and did not want to get myself into any embarrassing situations! There was some upbeat music emerging from some corner of the room, and Zach pulled me into the crowd, to dance to it.

   I loved the feeling of being relaxed and carefree. We moved to the beat talking, laughing and enjoying the music. I would spot Aaron socializing ever so often. He didn't seem too upset that Brooke wasn't here to celebrate his big win.

    The number of people on the makeshift dance floor was increasing exponentially, pushing Zach and I much closer than we were used to.

    I couldn't say I was comfortable with it. Having sweaty, stinky people crunched up in such a small space couldn't possibly be a pleasant experience. Yet I liked how Zach's arm was now around my waist, my own locked behind his neck. But I couldn't deny the fact that we both felt a little awkward.

     A couple bumped into Zach from behind and we almost toppled over. He was standing extremely close to me now, nothing separating us other than my hand I put on his chest while we both stumbled.

    Something shifted between the two of us in that moment. And we both felt it. We were in an extremely intimate situation and there were two ways out of this. We could either brush it off, like nothing happened, or we could see where things went from there on.

     His eyes looked mesmerizing even in that horrid unflattering light. I could not look away, locked up in his intense gaze. Our breathing fell in sync. Neither one of us dared to move. I could feel my ears and cheeks steadily heating up. My legs started feeling like they were anesthetized, not so much from our awkward posture though.

    I finally snapped out of it and cleared my throat, standing up straight. Our breathing was still evidently heavy. Zach suddenly grabbed my hand and started pulling me out the door towards the patio. I thought I heard him mumbling something to do with fresh air. What stirred me though was that he didn't look back at me even once.

     So were we addressing it or ignoring it?
    When we were out on the patio he still hadn't let go of my hand. We both looked anywhere but at each other. If someone touched my ear with a thermometer then it probably would've burst.

    I didn't like that state of limbo. I didn't know what to do with myself. Zach had his eyes glued to the ground. The yellow light from the garden illuminated a side of his face. I could kill for this kinda lighting. I decided to capture the moment with my eyes instead.

    When he still hadn't made any move for about a minute I decided to take charge. I slowly intertwined our fingers nudging him to look at me. When he looked at me though, I froze and he took initiative instead. My heart started beating at an ultrasonic speed as he turned towards me and stepped closer.

Was he fucking trying to kill me!

   I closed my eyes and involuntarily held my breath as I felt his, awfully close to my face. I felt him rest his forehead on mine. I somehow knew that he was bursting with anticipation just as much as me. His nose touched mine and I could feel swirls of golden warmth bloom in my palms and feet travelling at a galactic speed all through my body.

    His lips were just millimeters away from mine and I thought I could burst in flames, brilliant embers dotting the space around us. Maybe then I could get the moment to slow down and last longer and never end because now his lips were actually touching mine very lightly, very hesitantly, and it was fireworks and snowflakes and sunshine and hot chocolate and hurricane and water ripples all bundled into one.

     The restraint and the anticipation was killing me but it was also the only thing holding me from combusting and then it happened.

Zach kissed me
and Bam!

What the hell!!

________________________________
There'll probably be a lot of fainting on my friends' part on reading this. So not my style..