Home is where the heart is at ~ Zachary Merrick (book 2)

~9~

~Alyssa~
After work, I got home and fell onto the couch. "Alyssa?" Dad walked into the living room from the hall.

"Hi, Dad." I took my shoes off and threw them with the others by the door. "You look drained." I sighed. "I had to work a four hour shift and guess who came in?"

He thought for a moment and sat next to me. "Lisa?" I leaned back. "Max. The girl who tormented me my freshman year and told the whole school I was a criminal's daughter."

He pulled me into a side hug and wrapped both arms around me. "Hey, I'm sorry you had a bad day, but you shouldn't let someone like her ruin it. She's just trying to get into your head."

He was right. I smiled up at him. "Thanks." The doorbell rang and I groaned, getting up from the couch.

I opened it and Zack was standing there with Cookie. "Liar." I slapped my forehead. "I was supposed to come over after school! I'm so sorry."

I let him in and he let Cookie loose. "You look exhausted." I took a deep breath and leaned against him. "I had to work after school and Max came in, trying to cause mayhem."

He rubbed my back. "You know what I think you need?" I glanced up at him. "A good, old fashioned movie night?"

I shot him a look, crossing my arms. "How is screaming at each other about movies supposed to help?" He rolled his eyes.

"Not the two of us. All of us. We haven't had an All Time Low movie night since last summer." Oh. "Oh. I'm kinda dumb."

He wrapped his arms around me. "If you were dumb, you wouldn't be valedictorian." I sighed and rested my head against his chest.

~Zachary~
We were all at my house, getting settled into the basement for movie night. Lisa and Alyssa walked up to us.

"We're gonna head to the store and get snacks. Who wants what?" Jack jumped up. "No, we're not getting alcohol."

He frowned and sat back down. We all just looked at each other. "I don't know, I guess the usual?" Alyssa nodded and kissed my cheek.

"Okay. We'll be back." They went upstairs and I heard the front door shut. I faced the guys. "Okay, I have something to talk to you about."

Alex glanced up from his phone. "What's up?" I took a deep breath. "So, remember how we went to Alyssa's family reunion this weekend?"

They all gave some sort of response. "Well, on Friday, when all of us kids were swimming, I got out to get Alyssa in and her grandfather gave me a ring."

Rian looked up. "In front of her? That's kinda stupid." Alex rolled his eyes and smacked him with a pillow. "No, dumbass! Probably when she walked away!"

"The thing is," I caught their attention again, "I have no clue what to do. Do I do it now, wait, or what?" Alex stood up and put his arm on my shoulder.

"Think about this. You two have been together for three years. It's not like it's too sudden." Jack and Rian agreed.

"But she's about to graduate, our band is starting to take off, how would we have time to work on a wedding and shit?"

I sat down on the couch and they all looked at me. "You don't have to plan it immediately. Long engagements are a thing."

I wouldn't mind it, I was thinking more on what Alyssa would think. "Before even planning what to do, talk with her parents first and see what they think on it."

I stood up. "Yeah, I should do that. Anyway, I'll go grab it and show you guys." I walked towards the stairs and Alyssa was walking down.

"Showing then what?" I stopped. "I thought you were going to the store?" I was hoping she didn't hear that conversation.

"I was. Lisa forgot her wallet so I drove back to retrieve it." Alex handed it to her. "Okay. Hurry up so we can watch this movie."

She nodded and went back upstairs. I waited until I heard a door shut and glanced at them. "That was close. I don't want any of you mentioning it."

They zipped their mouths shut and I went up to my room to grab the small box to show them.