Page 34 of For the Love of Lily

“So, did he disappear?”

I nodded, “I don’t know what Luke said, but it scared the crap out of him. Next I knew, he moved away, and the rest is history. Think he just played at being a bit psycho, and as soon as someone stood up to him, he scarpered.” I paused and drank more water. “Do you see now why Luke and I have the bond that we do? Why he found it so hard to tell me what he felt? I hate that I’ve lost him.”

“I know I get jealous of him, but thank god he was there.”

“Now you know, can we leave it in the past? I want to focus on the future.”

“I’m here for the good bits and the bad bits. Don’t ever apologise for what you feel,” he loosened the hug. “I don’t know what’s best to suggest. Shall we get out of here? Want to come back to mine? Total change of scenery. We can go and get smashed in those nice bars you like?”

“You drove all the way here, you’d be exhausted,” I pointed out.

“I’d drive anywhere for you. Don’t even worry about that,” he placed a light kiss on my lips. “Drive to mine, get your sexy clothes on, drink as many cocktails as you like, in as many bars as you fancy. Then pass out in bed after letting you take advantage of me. Tomorrow morning I’ll bring you breakfast in bed, and we can make plans. I have big plans for us.”

“That sounds amazing. Too many memories here right now. Thank you, Zack, for everything, for being so understanding.”

“I love you, it’s what I do,” he smiled. “Go pack a bag.”

I felt drained as I gathered a weekend bag together. Luke’s kiss continued to play on repeat in my mind. I knew it was Luke’s goodbye, but it had changed something in me. Surely, we weren’t leaving it at that? I pulled my phone from my pocket.

Do you think we should talk? x

I think that kiss said it all x

How can that be it for us?

I have to go Lily, I need to do this. That kiss though… me and you aren’t done, not by a long way. A lot can happen in a year, let’s just see. Look after yourself xx

You too, my ever so pretty ‘what if’ x

Guilt and confusion bubbled away in my mind, yet it seemed as if right now there was nothing I could do. I shouldn’t have kissed Luke back, but I hadn’t been able to resist. I needed to talk to Cassie, but Zack was waiting for me. I craved distraction from this situation, so maybe his idea was the best plan right now. Since when had fancy cocktails not helped!?

Twelve

I remembered most of the night… possibly. Zack’s town was gentrified - beautiful bars and restaurants lined the main streets. As I lay in his bed the next morning and swiped through drunken photographs on my phone, I realised we’d visited most of them. How many selfies had we taken? Who were those people? And what had possessed us to take those photos when we got home?!

The screen showed me it was gone noon. The significance wasn’t lost that Luke’s plane would’ve left. I looked over at Zack on the pillow next to me. He’d been so amazing last night. He was the right decision, for sure. I snuggled up to him, that gorgeous face and warm body, and remembered how lucky I was.

But that kiss…

Soft lips fluttered onto my cheek as Zack slipped out of bed. I didn’t have the energy to move yet, but as I heard the bedroom door open a few minutes later, I opened a sleepy eye. Zack laughed to himself as he brought a tray full of coffee and toast over. He placed it down on the bed and grinned at me, before slipping back under the covers. I couldn’t fathom why he looked so happy, I felt like I’d been drowned in tequila.

“Adam just told me something that’s either insanely hot or mortifying. I can’t make my mind up,” Zack smirked at me.

“What? Tell me!” I replied, grateful as I grabbed a coffee and took a large, hot gulp.

“Do you remember getting home last night?” Zack asked, still smiling.

“Ish…”

“I think I couldn’t unlock the door and we were laughing, which turned into kissing. Ring a bell?”

“It does. We were doing that kissing, walking, undressing thing on the way to your room.” I moved closer to him as I remembered how good that felt. “I love doing that.”

“Mmmm,” Zack kissed me. “Well, apparently we were so carried away, we didn’t notice Adam was sitting on the couch in the middle of a raid.”

“You’re using boy speak again. He was in the middle of a what?”

“A raid. It’s like a group event on his game. You work together. The whole group were watching Adam because he co-designed it and, so, consequently, saw us drunkenly dry humping in the background of his call for a good minute.” Zack watched me for my reaction.

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