Girl Next Door

Moments Later

Moments Later

"This means we can go apartment shopping," Zoey said excitedly.

"Yeah it does," Max whispered back.

"Great," Zoey grinned. "Cause I was thinking the Mongunmary building has some really beautiful balcony apartments."

"I have heard that as well," Max smiled at her. He couldn't help smiling. It was almost strange how much his life had changed in the last ten minutes and yet it was the same. He was still here beside his best friend like he always had been.

Max had kinda stopped listening as Zoey began listing all the good qualities of the apartment complex, comparing them to other rental listings she'd researched. He was happy to just look at her in such an animated fashion. He hadn't quite realized until now just how much she'd wanted to live with him.

"What's with that dopy look on your face?" Zoey asked, her eyes narrowing accusingly.

"I just can't help it," Max laughed. "I feel kinda high at the moment if I'm being honest. Like I'm dreaming."

Zoey's hand moved and suddenly there was a jolt of pain up Max's arm. She'd pinched him. "Ouch!" Max complained. "What was that for?"

"See you aren't dreaming," Zoey told him firmly.

"Thanks for the clarification," Max laughed.

"What are friends for?" Zoey mumbled.

"Physical violence it would seem," Max chuckled.

"Serves you right for thinking this was all a dream," Zoey said in a huff.

Max decided to keep his very sappy thoughts to himself. His mind however knew that if this was a dream, he would have happily dreamed his life away. All these romantic thoughts were making him want to kiss her again, but he decided to wait a little. After all, he'd had a lifetime of practice at not kissing her, surely he could wait till she wanted to kiss him too.

"Hey Max," Zoey began. "Can I ask you something?"

Max almost laughed at the absurdity of her question. "Of course you can," he said instead.

"What was the first moment you can remember thinking about me romantically?" she asked, so directly she quite caught him off guard. Max paused for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to answer her before speaking.

"It goes back so far it's hard to remember a start," Max began. He wanted a proper answer for her and thought hard about it until he realized. "Though maybe when we had champagne at your brother's wedding and you fell asleep in my lap. I do remember something new about how I felt then, but I'm also very sure I didn't become aware of anything for years after that."

"I see," Zoey said, as she buried her face in his chest. Max wrapped his arms around her gently, still marveling at how it felt to hold her.

She didn't speak for a while after that and the silence started to become too much so he broke it.

"I wish I knew what you were thinking right now," Max said, simply.

"Oh just the past," Zoey answered. "Seeing it from a new perspective." She paused for a moment then added. "So this is why you were so down back when I was with Simon, huh?" She hid her face even more from him as she added, "Urg and I used to go on and on about him too. I'm the worst!"

"Hey now," Max said, gently encouraging her to look at him with a hand under her chin. "You didn't know."

"I mean I could have guessed," Zoey grumbled. "If I'd been willing to really notice anything."