Always

Chapter 7

Zach looked down at me. My eyes filled with tears and I cringed at the memory of the crash. I gently touched the scar, and he put his arm around me again. "Wow, you alright?" He asked. "I'll walk you home, if you'd like." "NO!" I screamed. "Why?" He frowned. "I mean, no, no. I'm fine, thanks though." I smiled. "And thanks for the chat." I kissed him on the cheek and took off into a sprint.

"Okay Curiosity, you have to stay here." I whispered to the kitten as she wondered around my room. "You don't want my dad to catch you." Just then there was a knock on the door. "Hello?" I heard his raspy voice. "What do you want." I said angrily. "There's a party down the block, for the new people who just moved in to the Grayson's old place. Do you want to go?" He asked groggily through the door. "Are you going?" I asked harshly. "No, I'm not feeling very well today." "Oh, I wonder why." I said sarcastically. "Don't get sassy with me young lady. Now do you want to go or not?" He asked irritated. "Fine, I'll go." "Okay well, it starts at 6:30, and its 4:00 now. So, whenever your ready. And don't stay out too late." "You know I won't." "I know. So, how are you doing anyway?" "You gave up the right to ask me that a long time ago." I replied. And that, was that.

I went through my entire closet and all my drawers and found nothing. All I had was t-shirts and jeans. Sh*t! I got out my phone and started texting Zach.

•Olivia - hey, what's up?
•Zach - nothing much, you?
•Olivia - same. So anyway, are you going to this party later? I need to hang out with someone!
•Zach - umm, yah sure
•Olivia - okay great! I know your not a girl but... I have NOTHING to wear.
•Zach - haha! Your right, I'm not a girl! If I knew where you lived I would drop something off, but someone doesn't want to tell me.
•Olivia - I'm sorry, but my house is crap!
•Zach - idc! Whatever, meet me at the corner of Smith and I'll give you something there. Okay?
•Olivia - sure Thx! Your a life saver. I think it would be embarrassing if I showed up in a t-shirt and jeans. Lol
•Zach - yah! C u in 5!
•Olivia - k

I clicked off my phone and headed down to the corner of Smith, and there, waiting for me was Zach. "Hey!" He said happily. "Hey!" I smiled. "So, like girl, like, this is like, a total, like umm, disaster, like right!?" Zach imitated the popular girls. I laughed and said. "Thanks again! I didn't want to go looking like this." I gestured to my clothing, and he smiled. "No problem. It's my sisters old dress. She is a bit of a partier." He laughed. "Here, I tried to pick a pretty one, but I'm a guy." I snickered and said " 'nuff' said." We burst out laughing. I took the dress from him and looked it up and down. It was red, short, flowy, and had what looked like mirror shards around the waist line. It was beautiful! "Thank you again." I gave him a hug, and as I ran back to my house so I could get ready in time I heard him say, "Always."

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I had gotten ready in record time. I curled my brown hair and pinned it back. I put on dark makeup and slipped on the dress. I twirled in the mirror. It was perfect. I sighed "I wish you were her mom." I walked down the stairs and saw my dad settling down on the couch. "What, no beer?" I asked looking at the glass of water in front of him. "Haha" he took a sip of it and cringed. I suddenly noticed, that it wasn't water. "That's too much vodka." I said. He shrugged his shoulders. "You, are, hopeless." I snapped.

I was almost down the block when I saw the popular girls coming down the road. I tried to run but they saw me. "Hey,look." Cassandra pointed towards me. As they walked up to me Anna said "Woah, who'd you steal that from?" "I didn't steal it! Zach let me borrow it." "Whatever," Cassandra spat, "You see, I'm wearing red." She gestured to her tight red dress. "And if you were to wear red, I would look silly because you are mocking that color by wearing it." She walked closer to me. So did Anna and Lucy. "So, do you see my predicament?" She pouted and put her hand on my dress and pulled. A long piece of fabric tore off. I felt like I was in Cinderella. "Stop! This isn't mine!" I cried out. Then Lucy and Anna were tearing at the dress too. "Stop being such a bit..." I began. "Shut the hell up." Cassandra roared. "I am not being a b*tch. I'm just doing what I have to do, to get rid of you! Come along girls." She laughed and they walked away. I ran straight home and didn't look back.

Dad was passed out on the couch, the glass now empty. I ran to my room and threw myself onto my bed. The dress was in shreds and my makeup was
running down my face. This couldn't be happening. How was I going to tell Zach what happened and that his sisters dress was ruined. Just then, my phone buzzed.

• Zach - hey it's Zach, I'm at the party where are you????
• Olivia - I'm not going
• Zach - what!? Y?
• Olivia - it's a longggg story.
• Zach - where do you live?
• Olivia - what?
• Zach - where do you live?
• Olivia - it doesn't matter
• Zach - WHERE DO U LIVE?
• Olivia - 22 red rock
*nothing*
• Olivia - Zach you there?
• Olivia - hello
• Olivia - Zach?

*knock knock knock*

I slowly walked to the door and opened it. There standing in front of me was Zach, good old reliable Zach. He was smiling, then he saw the dress and began to frown. "I'm sorry!" I began to cry. "What happened?" He muttered. "I was walking to the party and Cassandra, Lucy and Anna saw me and started tearing the dress apart because Cassandra was wearing red too." I choked out. He gave me a hug and began stoking my hair as I cried into his chest. "My sister has plenty other dresses with her in L.A, it's just one of the dresses she left behind." He laughed. "What?" I snuffled. I pulled away from him trying to understand his laughter. "Your a fricking hot mess." He laughed again, and I laughed too. "Yeah, I know." "Come on let's get you cleaned up."

I was in the bathroom fixing my makeup and hair when Zach walked in. "Hey liv, look what I found in the spare room." He held up a green dress. It was the one I had worn on the night of the crash. "You can wear this one!" He said cheerfully. "That's the one I wore that night." I sighed. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'll find something else." He flashed me a smile. "No, no. It's perfect." I took the dress and went to my room to change.

When I opened the door Zach was waiting patiently in the doorframe of the bathroom. When he saw me he gasped. "Wow, you were thirteen when you wore that and your seventeen year old body still fits in that dress?" "Yeah it was my sisters when I wore it, so I had to wear a tank top and shorts under it so I didn't flash anyone." I laughed. I never remembered laughing after that night until now, all because of I boy I met that morning. "You ready?" He asked. "As I'll ever be." I smiled. We linked arms and walked down the stairs, out the door, down the road, and to the party... Together. And as we walked up the driveway the word "always" swirled around in my head.