Boyfriend Points

Zack

Did you regret
Ever standing by my side
Did you forget
What we were feeling inside
Now I'm left to forget
About us
~Demi Lovato, Don't forget

Love isn't a word I use in my day to day life.
I'm Zack Andrews, the word 'love' isn't in my vocabulary.
I don't do cliches. I don't believe in love at first sight or any of that Disney nonsense.

I'm realistic. Happily ever afters don't exist. I live in a world of reality checks.
Ever since I was thirteen and my dad died, I begun to see how completely unrealistic it was for one girl to fit one glass slipper in an entire kingdom. Or how creepy it really was to think that a stranger could find a random girl in a coffin in the middle of nowhere and just go straight up and kiss her.

Life has thrown reality bomb after reality bomb at me and I've never dodged them. I take them as they come and just try not to blow up in the explosion.

But all that changed when I met her.

And from the first time she kissed me, I knew I would eventually hate myself for giving a girl that much power over my heart.

I shouldn't have kissed her, I shouldn't have trusted her or let her hold my hand. I shouldn't have let her look into my eyes and see the truth behind them. A truth I could not hide.

I had fallen in love with her and there was no taking it back.

I gave her that much power over me and she did the one thing she wasn't supposed to, she let me down.

Daniel freaking Trueman? Really Cindy?
What does that golden boy have that I don't?

I glared at my phone, hoping I could just smash it and with that lose all the photos and memories I had of her. But who was I kidding? That wouldn't erase her.

"Zack? Baby, are you up there?" I heard my mother yell from down the stairs.

I got off my bed, willing myself to leave all the anger I currently felt up in my room. The last thing I wanted to do was lash out at my mother.
None of this was her fault.
She hadn't even known about Cindy.

I made my way down the stairs in time to find my mother in the living room hastily putting her set of house keys in her bag.

She smiled when she saw me. I could see the dark circles under her green eyes which were identical to mine.

I wondered how few hours of sleep she had gotten today.

She was wearing her scrubs and it didn't take long for me to guess where she was going.

"Another late shift?" I asked not even bothering to hide my disapproval.

Another parent would chastise me on how 'the bills weren't going to pay themselves' or how they were working all the time for my sorry butt but not my mother.

She smiled at me in that kind way that reminded me of all the good things in life like her freshly baked cookies or scoring the winning basket in a game.
I'm convinced that my mother is God's ultimate gift to me and he wrapped her in gold and delivered her to me as a promise of love and trust and light in dark times.

"Well you know how much of a workaholic I am, baby. I just can't stay away from that hospital. There's nothing that makes me happier than changing dirty bed pans and staying on my feet for hours." She speaks with all the seriousness in the world.

I can't help but to crack a smile. I walk the rest of the way towards her.
"You don't have to work so much, I got a job at the garage for that exact reason."

She pinched my cheek. "And I told you baby, you didn't need to do that for me."

"But I did. So could you please rest a little. I'll even cook supper tonight." I pleaded.

She laughed. "No thanks, as much as I appreciated your last 'casserole surprise', I think meals like that should only be reserved for very special days."

I give her a serious look. "Mum-"

"Zack." She counters before placing a kiss on my cheek. "I love you. Now I'll see you after my shift. I'm off to be 'Super Nurse' again."

She does her own personalised 'superman pose' before rushing out the door.

"Dinner is in the microwave!" She calls out before she completely disappears.

I'm left in the living room with my misery and the TV showing an episode of 'The Bachelor' which I assume my mother was obsessively watching before she had been called in to work.

I turn off the TV and walk over to the kitchen and open the microwave to find a half eaten lasagne.

I grab a fork, not even bothering to pick up a plate. To hell with it. I'm gonna be a caveman.

I take the dish and I'm about to head up the stairs when I hear my phone ring, using my free hand, I take it out of my pocket and see my mother's name.

I swipe the answer button.
"Did you forget your cape, 'super nurse'?"

"Oh come on, give me some credit, Super nurse never forgets her cape. I just remembered something, actually. Mr Stevens went camping this weekend with little Eddie."

I nod dutifully.
The Lieutenant, as I used to call him is our next door neighbour and it seems like it was just yesterday when I went on his annual camping trips with him. Well... that was before things changed.

"Maya stayed behind and she's home alone this whole weekend."

I almost laugh. I remember Maya never really liked the camping trips and would only go to make her father happy. It feels strange how that memory comes back to me so easily.

I haven't really even talked to Maya in five years.

"Anyway, Mr Stevens told me to check up on her when I had the time and I completely let it slip my mind so could you go over there and make sure she's okay?"

I don't want to tell my mother that the last thing I want to do is step out of this house. I had plans of locking myself in my room and wallowing in unhealthy anger.

I would probably leave my twenty - second voice mail on Cindy's phone until she called back or atleast texted.

But instead I tell my mother, "sure."

It doesn't occur to me immediately. It's funny how genius plans come at you out of nowhere and so suddenly.

I haven't talked to Maya in five years. I don't know much about what's been going on in her life. But I do know one thing for sure and I'm surprised it didn't come to me until now. How did I miss this? How did I not realise...

Up until a week ago, as far as I know, Maya had been Daniel Trueman's girlfriend.

I have never been into school gossip but it was no secret that Maya and Daniel had been one of those annoying power couples that ruled the school or whatever.

And now he was with Cindy, my Cindy.

Had Maya been cast away just like I had been?
If so then that only made an ingenious plan hatch in my mind.
I walked down the stairs, put the casserole dish on the coffee table in the living area and walked out the door.

The way I was calm and at ease on the outside surprised me when on the inside, excitement threatened to explode every cell in my body.

I walked used the back route knowing that Lieutenant Stevens security system lit up everything and threatened to blind you if you used the front lawn.

The kitchen was the safest entrance.
I pounded on the door.

Not even a minute later, she appeared looking confused. She was in an oversized shirt with a panda on it and plaid pajama pants. Her hair stuck out in all directions and her eyes were red, puffy and swollen.

I smiled on the inside knowing immediately that there was no way Maya Stevens could deny my proposal.