Zailey (Sequel) ✔️

Part Forty Six

The outskirts of Reef Bay came into view and I couldn't help but groan, slumping back into the passenger seat of Zander's car, my right hand linked with Zander's left one and our wrists gently resting on the centre console.
"You okay?"
I eyed Zander, surprised.
Clearly he'd either felt some tension through my hand, or he'd heard my groan.
Or maybe he'd been keeping an eye on my face and had noticed a change in my expression.
"Why must all amazing things come to an end?!"
I whined, pouting and giving his hand a squeeze.
He returned the squeeze, offering Me a smile.
"Who says anything's ending?"
I used my left hand to point towards the steadily approaching township we called Home.
"We're home."
I pointed out.
The car suddenly faltered, the momentum that I'd been used to suddenly disappearing.
Zander slipped his left hand out of mine and placed his onto the gear stick, adjusting the car into a lower gear.
The engine groaned as it tried to wind down in revs, attempting to obey the driver's request.
"What are you doing? Is there something wrong with the car?!"
I asked, alarmed, straightening in my seat.
Zander pulled the car off the road and parked her up alongside the road, the grass and sticks crackling and breaking under the car's tyres.
Zander slipped the gear stick into neutral and twisted around to face Me.
"Let Me know if you want Me to turn around and we can just find somewhere else to go."
He declared.
My heart quite literally pounded with relief.
Clearly nothing was wrong with the car.
I couldn't help but smile, scoring myself as close towards the centre console as I could get and straining against my seat belt in an effort to get close enough to grasp his face and give him a kiss.
He automatically kissed Me back, lifting his right hand and sliding it around the back of my neck.
A delicious shiver courses down my spine.
You'd think after an entire weekend (which was actually a long weekend considering we'd left on Friday, skipping school with permission and today was Monday and we were returning, also with permission to miss another school day) we'd manage to have some restraint when it came to our inner urges.
Apparently we hadn't had enough time to get over wanting each other in every way possible.
I groaned against my amazing Boyfriend's lips.
"You're making me really badly want to say yes..."
He laughed lightly against my lips.
With a sigh, I pulled back, slumping back into my seat.
We had to go home.
If we didn't, we'd never have permission to take days off again.
"We've gotta go back..."
I sighed.
"Even if I definitely don't want to..."
Zander raised a questioning eyebrow at Me.
"You're not even missing Phoenix and Knox?"
Phoenix!
Knox!
"I definitely am!"
I nodded quickly.
Immediately I felt bad.
I certainly didn't want Zander to think I loved my Horse and Dog more than him.
I offered Zander a smile.
"I say next time we want a Holiday, we take them with us! That way we can stay away as damn long as we want!"
Smiling, my Boyfriend shook his head.
"Don't worry. I get that you love them in a different way than you love Me."
My heart squeezed.
Was he-?
He reached his left hand out to gently brush some of the loose strands of my hair off my face.
"Your passion for them is just one of the many things that I love about you."
I scrambled to unbuckle my seat belt and get onto my knees.
I strained to reach over the centre console and pull Zander into a hug.
"I freakin' love you! So, so much!"
I reminded him.

"What's wrong?"
I asked, frowning at Zander's expression of concentration.
His gaze kept flickering from the road, down to the dashboard and to his side mirror.
He never drives like that...
Zander glanced over at Me, then once again pulled the car off to the side of the road.
"Babe?"
I queried, my anxiousness beginning to awaken.
"There's a weird noise... and a strange feel..."
He muttered, stopping the Hilux and slotting the gear stick into neutral.
"What do you mean?!"
I asked, my eyes widening.
"Just wait a sec."
He told Me and unbuckled his seat belt.
"Zander-"
He ignored Me and pushed the driver's side door open.
I frowned after his back as he dropped down from the driver's seat.
He left the door open and walked towards the back of the Ute.
Frowning, I unbuckled my own seat belt and pushed the passenger door open.
"Zander what's going on?"
I asked, walking towards the back end of the car.
He was now at my side of the back end of the car and a look of complete and utter frustration, mixed with relief was as plain as day on his face.
He lifted his hands into his inky hair and swung his right thong clad foot forward to give the rear tyre a flat footed kick.
"Babe?"
I questioned, turning my gaze to follow his gesture at the sound of the thud.
My eyes automatically widened.
You didn't have to be a tyre fitter to know the tyre was flat.
Relief washed over Me, like a bucket of cool water on a hot summer's day.
I turned to Zander, smiling.
"We have a spare right?"
Surely as the youngest of eight full Brother's he knows how to change a tyre...
Even I knew a few of the basics.
You need the jack thing, to get the car's weight off that wheel.
Then you needed the wheel brace thing, to undo the nuts...
He grabbed onto the tailgate of the tray and hung his head.
My heart began to sink.
He doesn't have a spare wheel?
"I don't have two!"
Zander informed Me.
Two-?
I rolled my eyes.
"What do we need two for? Let's just change this one and when we get back in town we can go to the tyre shop!"
See?
Easy!
Zander lifted his head, looking Me in the eye.
"Both rear tyres are flat."
Both-?
I felt my eyeballs just about try and pop out of their sockets.
Both the damn tyres are flat?!
How did they both go flat at once?!
"A-are the t-tyres old?"
I stammered.
Zander sighed heavily, his shoulders moving with the gesture.
"No. They're not old. Somethings punctured them."
A look of a mixture between anger and frustration came over his face and he clenched his right hand into a fist and gave the tailgate a punch, making the metal clang.
I cringed.
"And I fucking bet it was when I pulled up just back there!"
He turned around to point down the road.
Biting into my lower lip, I too looked down the road.
We'd only stopped a couple of hundred metres back.
I swallowed, my throat feeling thick.
"I'm sorry."
I whispered, dropping my gaze to the sparsely gravelled ground beneath my converse clad feet.
It was my fault we'd stopped back there.
I'd been whining and distracted him.
Zander sighed heavily and ran his hands over his face before he strode over to Me and tucked a couple of his fingers underneath my chin, propping my head back to look at his face.
My nerves began to simmer.
"Don't blame yourself."
He told Me, his dark blue gaze locked on my much lighter blue one.
"I'm just not too sure what the fuck we're gonna do. I can't drive back on those tyres because it will fuck more than just the rim's and I can't just change one, because driving with one flat will still leave the same issue."
Well shit...
I looked to my left, in the direction we were still supposed to be traveling.
Yeah, I could see rooftops, but we hadn't even come across the WELCOME TO REEF BAY sign yet.
Biting into my lower lip, I turned back to Zander and wrapped my arms around his back, burying my face into his chest.
This definitely wasn't the way I thought our weekend would be ending...