The Broken Road - A Zac Efron Novel (18+)

Chapter 7 - Catching Fire

That moment was only a split second in reality, but it was infinitely longer in my mind.

I stood there, taking stock of her.  Before that week, I saw her as a drop-dead gorgeous woman whom I would occasionally run into at social gatherings and awkwardly attempt to make small talk with. Something about her had always made me feel like a 2nd grader with a crush on his teacher.

Now, all of a sudden, I knew she was a smart, witty, down-to-earth, loving, caring woman who apparently had a penchant for beer, sports and frat-guy pranks. 

Standing there, with the taste of beef jerky still on my lips, I knew I had met my match.

She was...

Perfection.

"Zac, are you Ok?" she asked me, breaking me from my trance.  She had a concerned tone in her voice and she gently laid her hand on my upper arm.  Her touch in this moment was too intense and I pulled away.

"I'm fine," I gulped.

"Can someone get these two some mouthwash, please?" Tom yelled.  I could tell he was amused by our antics but also annoyed about this minor delay.

"Sorry, everyone," Jessica announced.  "We were just trying to take the edge off a little."

"I wasn't.  I'm just a terrible human being," I smirked as I touched the tip of her nose with my finger tip.  When she laughed really hard at something, her nose crinkled up and it drew your attention to the freckles that were scattered across the bridge of her nose and cheeks.

An assistant arrived with two paper cups of mouthwash and handed one to each of us. We both swished as we made silly faces, trying to make the other one laugh so we'd spit mouthwash all over. Both of us held strong and we spit and handed the cups back to the assistant.

We retook our marks and Tom called action as we began the dance again.

I wrapped my arms around the small of her back and she guided me backwards through the living room of the set.  We caressed each other's lips.  We rounded the corner and I gently tossed her on the bed before jumping on after her. 

As we kissed, I could feel my stomach get tight and my heart was racing.  This wasn't normal and I knew I shouldn't be feeling this way.  The feeling threw me off my game and I morphed into this stiff, almost serious, uncomfortable guy.  We were supposed to be in a light-hearted, sexy mood and I was like a wet mop.  I could not get my head in the game on this one.

We ran through that scene almost a dozen times and it was obvious to everyone the chemistry between us just wasn't there that day.

"Alright, we probably have enough there to get by," Tom said flatly.  "You two need to head back to wardrobe."

As we were walking back to the wardrobe trailer, she ran up behind me and touched her hand to my arm again.

"Hey, are you Ok?" she asked me.

"I'm fine.  I just...I don't know why but my ex popped into my head right before we started and it totally threw me off my game," I lied.

"Ah. I was beginning to think you might have been doing it on purpose," she said.  I looked at her quizzically.  "My lips are swollen from all of those retakes," she remarked as she lightly touched her fingertips to her lips.  She was clearly teasing me.

"Well, can you blame a guy?" I laughed.

"No," she smirked.  And just like that, she broke down the wall I put up.  She had a way of keeping things light and I liked that.