After Hannah Baker- Zach Dempsey's New Life

27: Talking

When Mercedes, Ethan, and I walked upstairs to my room, Ryan was now wearing the hoodie I gave her to wear and a pair of shorts. She smiled when I laid down next to her slowly. 

"Have you just been watching movies the whole time your parents have been gone?" Ethan chuckled when Mercedes slowly sat on the chair in the corner of the room. 

"Yeah, pretty much," I nodded when Ryan slowly put her head on my chest. 

"Are you two even dating?" Ethan laughed lightly when Mercedes slowly took Alex out of her car seat. Mercedes looked at Ethan with an eyebrow raised. 

"All you two did when you started dating was have sex," Ryan said sitting up and glaring at Ethan. 

"Shut up," Ethan chuckled. Ryan smiled then slowly cuddled into me. 

"When are your family and Justin getting back?" Mercedes asked. 

"Late Saturday night or early Sunday morning," I shrugged then looked at Ryan who was slowly drawing figure eights on my chest. 

"So are you going to throw a party?" Ethan asked with a chuckle. I looked at him then shook my head. 

"My mom would hear about it and I would get in so much trouble," I said then sighed. "And I'm busy anyway," I looked at Ryan who looked at me confused then I winked at her. 

"No you aren't," Ethan chuckled. 

"Babe stop," Mercedes said slowly. "They haven't been alone since Ryan moved in here," Mercedes smiled slowly rubbing Alex's back. Ethan held his hands up then looked at Alex who was slowly moving her hands around. 

"Can I hold her?" Ryan asked slowly crawling over me to climb out of bed. 

"Sure," Mercedes chuckled then let Ryan take Alex. 

Ryan smiled then slowly sat back down on my bed by my feet. I sat up to give her room then smiled when she cradled Alex. I looked over Ryan's shoulder at Alex who was looking at Ryan. 

After about two hours Mercedes and Ethan left. Ryan came back up to my room after walking them out. She was carrying May's kitten with her. 

She smiled then sat down with her legs below her and set the kitten on her lap. "So what are you busy doing?" she asked when I slowly stretched. 

"We could be doing plenty of things," I said then slowly leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. "But I need to go work out," I mumbled then stood up and walked over to my dresser and pulled a shirt out. 

"Where are you going to work out?" she asked when I looked at her.

"The basement," I said slowly, "Where the work out equipment is," I said when she slowly stood up and picked up the kitten. 

"I didn't know there was work out equipment was down there," she said following me out of the room. "I didn't snoop around your house," she laughed following me down the stairs to the basement. 

"I told you that you could," I chuckled while walking to the big open area at the end of the hall where Justin and Ryan's rooms were. 

"I told you I wouldn't," she said when I walked over to some weights. 

"Are you just going to watch me?" I asked slowly picking up some dumbbells. 

"I can't watch you work out?" she asked slowly sitting down on the bench in front of me, still holding the kitten.  

"You're so weird," I said when she laid down on the bench and laid the kitten on her chest. 

"I am not," she giggled then lightly petted the kitten. 

I chuckled then walked over to a wall full of mirrors to start warming up. 

Twenty minutes later I was slowly doing pushups, Ryan was trying to get me to let her stand on my back while I did push-ups but I kept refusing. "Ryan," I chuckled when she slowly put the kitten on my back. The kitten meowed then Ryan giggled. 

"You are so distracting," I said slowly laying flat on the ground. 

"I know," she took the kitten from my back then laid down next to me. 

***

On Saturday morning, I had to wake up early to go get my family and Justin from the airport. They were all pretty exhausted so it is was a quiet ride home. My parents let Justin sit in the passenger seat so we could talk quietly. 

"How was Jess?" I asked him quietly. 

 "She was good," he chuckled, "Her dad is being relocated to Massachusetts so she won't be that far away anymore," he smiled lightly then cleared his throat. "How was Ryan?" he asked quietly. 

"Shut up Justin," I chuckled lightly. 

"We'll talk later," he said quietly. 

"No, we won't," I shook my head merging onto the highway. 

"We will," he nodded slowly. 

"Shut up Justin," I chuckled lightly then looked in the rear-view mirror to look at my sleeping family. 

"I know something happened," he chuckled quietly. "You wouldn't say you aren't going to talk about it if nothing happened," he pointed out. 

"Well I'm not going to tell you or anyone what happened if anything did happen," I said then cleared my throat. 

I pulled into the driveway an hour later, Justin went inside ahead of us. May walked inside still half asleep while I brought her bag inside for her. My parents brought their bags downstairs to start their laundry. 

Ryan was sitting at the kitchen island slowly eating cereal when I walked inside. She smiled when I kissed her on the forehead, "What did you tell Justin?" she whispered quietly. 

"I didn't tell him anything," I said then slowly sat down next to her. "He's assuming we did something," I chuckled then watched Justin slowly walk up the stairs. 

Ryan nodded slowly then looked at Justin and smiled. "How was home?" Ryan asked watching Justin grab some food from the fridge. 

"It was home," he nodded then smiled slowly turning to look at us, "How was your break?" he asked then slowly winked. 

"My break was great," Ryan said ignoring Justin's wink. 

"What did you two do?" he asked slowly. 

"We watched some movies and visited with Ethan and Mercedes baby," Ryan smiled slowly then lightly placed her hand on my leg under the countertop. 

"They had their baby?" Mom smiled lightly walking up the stairs. "What did they name her?" she asked. 

"Alex," Ryan said slowly then pulled a picture up on her phone. 

"Can you ask them to bring her over?" Mom asked looking at the picture happily. 

"Of course, I will a little later," Ryan sighed then lightly put her head on my shoulder. Mom handed Ryan her phone back then smiled at us. 

"So you two only watched movies while we were gone," Mom asked raising an eyebrow. Ryan stood up slowly and brought her bowl to the sink while Mom continued to look at me. 

"We slept, and cleaned the house," Ryan said after a minute, "Zach worked out while I played with May's cat," she said rinsing out her bowl then walked back over to where I was sitting and sat back down. 

"How was the dance?" Mom asked changing the subject. 

"It was fun," Ryan smiled lightly. "Mercedes went into to labor about half way through the dance so they had to leave early," she said then nodded.