chapter 14
Izzy
Seriously? How many times is someone going to walk in on us? I was so ready for Z to take me on any surface he could find. He kissed so incredible and I just keep losing myself with him. I looked up at him and he was shaking his head.
“Do you think it’s a sign that he keeps interrupting us?” I asked, curious to see what he would say.
He shook his head smirking, “No, actually, I think it’s a sign that we can’t keep our hands off each other.” He kissed me again so softly. “Come on. Mel and Flynn should be home soon. Might as well get dinner ready otherwise we’ll be walked in on again.”
A song I loved came on and I started singing and swaying to the music as I started on the salad. It felt so good to be myself again. When I was with HIM, I could only sing and dance when HE was at work and I was by myself.
Z came behind me and put his hands on my hips, swaying with me and started kissing my neck. God, if he keeps this up, I won’t be able to finish the meal. We might have to order pizza. I leaned my head back enjoying the shivers brought on by his lips skimming that perfect spot on my neck.
I let my mind wander about us. Maybe he does want something more than just a quickie to get over Sheila. We obviously do have a strong attraction to each other and it was definitely more than what I had with Mark. Maybe I should call Mark and just end it. Although I didn’t know what “it” was with Mark either. I really didn’t have that same connection with Mark that I have with Z.
Footsteps on the staircase caused Z to give me another quick kiss on my neck and step back so he could help me prepare the food. Clark came down just as the front door opened and Flynn walked in. “Hey” everyone said to each other. Flynn ran upstairs to change and just then Melanie walked in. She flopped down on a barstool exclaiming, “Oh God! What a day!”
Clark smugly smirked with his brows pulled together, “Really Mel? Were there that many yuppies buying art today?”
She rolled her eyes. “Screw you. I had a whole collection come in today and one was ripped. Try explaining that to the artist. I had to talk to the insurance company and you know how that goes.”
Flynn came back down. “Hey Mel.” Seeing her face he added, “Bad day?”
“Nope, it was a great day actually!” She gave him a smug smirk and walked upstairs to change.
Wow. This is going to go on for a while. Z shook his head. Flynn put his head in his hands. “Actually, she was just telling us how shitty her day was. Maybe you want to go up and talk to her?” Z clapped Flynn’s back, handing him a beer.
Clark looked at me and chuckled, “You chicks are so messed up.”
“What did I do? I’m just making dinner!” I jeered.
“Looked more like you were making Z! At least that’s better than that Mark dude!” My face fell. I turned quickly and started to put away the rest of the veggies in the fridge. Z was mouthing something to Clark, but I didn’t care to try to decipher it.
My phone rang again. I decided to go ahead and take the call this time. It had to be Mark since Mel was upstairs and she was the only other person who had my number. I walked over to the poolroom for privacy. “Hey!” I answered feeling a bit relieved to have an excuse from the discussion with Clark.
“Hi, Gorgeous.” Mark said in what I presumed to be his sexy voice. It seemed a little forced unlike the sexy huskiness that Z could do so naturally.
“Hi.” I giggled at his ‘gorgeous’ greeting.
“I thought I’d call to talk. Umm, you looked a bit uncomfortable today at the store. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t too weird for you.” He said slowly.
“Uh, no, I’m…good.” I stammered. I wasn’t sure what to say. Do I tell him now? Do I want to pursue something with Z?
Mark broke the discussion in my head, “Well, I wasn’t sure if you and Z…what I mean is…are you two dating?” I swallowed hard. How do I answer this one when I don’t even know myself? Technically, Z never asked me on a date.
“Umm…well, we, umm…we kind of….we’re friends with…he’s my roommate’s best friend…” I spit the last part out. What was I even trying to say? Do I want to tell him now? I should. That’s not fair to string him along, right? I took a deep breath. “Umm…look, we….I’m not sure what Z and I are, actually. I’m not sure how to answer that.” I tried to be honest, but it sounded confusing even to me.
“Yeah, that’s what I gathered. Look, I’m not into trying to contend with anyone. I like you. Actually, I like you a lot and would love to see where this goes, but I can’t get into some weird back and forth thing.”
“Yeah…I understand. I do. I don’t want to do that to you either.” I was still struggling with what to say to him.
“When you decide if you want to pursue something with me, let me know, okay. No hard feelings.” He was being so sincere; I wanted to tell him I might still want to see him. But I didn’t, did I?
I answered without thinking, “Okay, thank you. You’re very sweet and maybe we can still run together sometimes?”
“Sounds great. I’ll see you around on the trails some time, okay?” He asked nicely, but I could hear the disappointment in his voice.
“Yeah, I’d like that, thanks.” I responded slowly.
“Bye.” he said sadly.
“Bye.” I hung up the phone and stood there for a moment. Did I just end it with Mark to pursue something with Z? I felt sad all of a sudden like I made the wrong choice. Shit. Am I a rebound for Z or not? It had only been a week since he broke up with Sheila. How long had he been with her? I turned and walked back into the kitchen. Everyone was whispering to each other, but quickly tried to make idle conversation when I walked back in.
I grabbed a beer and drank. Okay…it was more like I chugged…the whole thing down. Melanie was eyeing me. I took a deep breath and turned around to the oven to check on the cake. Shit. I forgot to turn on the timer! It was completely burnt. I took it out and tossed it onto the stove.
Melanie came over and hugged me from behind. “It’s alright. We didn’t need dessert anyway.”
I gave a half laugh, “Nah, I’ll whip up a strawberry dessert instead. I just wanted some chocolate today.” I said with a huff.
She laughed as she still had her head on my shoulder. “Well you could probably lick Z! He seems to have it all over his back.” I turned to look at Z. He was chatting with Clark and Flynn and sure enough, there was a huge chocolate stripe down his back. I looked at Mel and started giggling. Oops.
Melanie watched me, trying to gauge my expression. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I looked back over to make sure Z was still chatting with the guys. “I think I just broke it off with Mark…or maybe he did with me.” Melanie looked a bit cautious and excited at the same time.
“Well, is that what you want? I mean, I thought you liked him too?” I glanced back over at Z who was looking over at us. He smiled at us and gave me a nod, turning back to the guys.
“I’m not sure what I’m doing.” I whispered nervously.
“What do you mean? Clark told me he walked in on you guys again! Are you sure you want to pursue something with Z? I mean, I like you two getting together, but I really think maybe you should go slow.”
“I know and I keep coming back to the whole rebound thing.” I said, frowning as I placed the potatoes into the oven to roast them and this time turned on the timer.
Melanie took a deep breath, “You came out of a long, and I might add weird, one too. And I’m sure he feels just as worried about the same thing. So, if you two do decide to get together, you should really think about going slow.”
I turned to her. “Yeah, you’re right. Maybe I should just give him a shot and take our time.” I looked over at him again.
He turned, smiled at me making my heart flutter and walked over. “What’s going on over here? Girl pow-wow?” Melanie laughed and went to grab a beer.
“Just girl talk.” I smiled up at him. He wrapped his arms around me and gave me a kiss. “Yeah, girl talk, huh? What are you girls gabbing about?” He kissed me again.
“Get a room guys!” Clark yelled, “Come on Izzy, I’m starving!” I shook my head realizing he was always going to interrupt us, wasn’t he? Z released me and shot him another look to which Clark laughed at. Clark, Melanie and Flynn turned back to talk about their day at work.
The timer went off and I checked the roasted potatoes and started cooking the chicken. I thought I would go ahead and tell him about Mark, but I wasn’t sure if he wanted something more than what we were doing. What were we doing? Just fooling around, I guess? “I…umm. Mark, that was Mark on the phone. We…I,” I stuttered trying to get any form of sentence out of my mouth. “We’re not going to see each other anymore.” I continued staring at the chicken, but glanced up at Z. He was smiling from ear to ear, which made my heart skip a beat.
“Really? That’s great. I mean, if you’re good with that.” He frowned when he said the last part.
I looked him in the eyes. “I’m good with that.” I bit my lip and looked at him. He smiled and bent down giving me a kiss. He gave me another one that led to a deeper kiss.
We heard cheering from the couch and broke our embrace, looking over to the living room.
“Finally!” Flynn exclaimed.
I looked away embarrassed and Z started laughing. “I better watch the chicken, I don’t want to burn them like I did the cake!”
He smirked, “Got it. I’ll get a plate.”
I took a deep breath realizing that I think we just discussed getting together. But all of a sudden I wasn’t sure how to act around him. He pulled my hair to one side and started kissing my neck again. I swallowed hard and realized I needed to concentrate on the chicken or I’d really burn them. I giggled and told him they were done and that we need finish setting up for dinner. Although if I were cooking for just the two of us, I’d have let the chicken burn to have him continue kissing my neck like that.
He set out the salad and the chicken while I finished adding the roasted garlic to the potatoes. “It’s about time! I’m really hungry, Iz!” Clark said laughing. “Z, you better leave her alone ‘til after we eat.” I just shook my head and set out the potatoes. Everyone grabbed a plate and their food and we all sat down to eat.
We had a great time talking about things that happened during their day at work. Flynn was excited about a new project he was given as his to take. Usually, his Dad was overseeing his projects, but this would be his first by himself. Melanie looked very happy for him and told him so. Clark said work sucks, there was nothing new at his job and that he couldn’t wait until Thursday for the bar. Tuesdays and Wednesdays weren’t that busy so he didn’t usually work as a bouncer at the bar those nights.
As everyone started clearing their plates, I went back to the strawberries and started to shake the can for whipped cream. I started preparing everyone’s dessert, but when I tipped the can for the whipped cream, something happened where it exploded all over me. It was all over the cabinets. It was a mess! Everyone started laughing so hard. Clark started clapping and telling Mel to cover herself with it so he could have a really good show. Z came over to try to help wipe some off but wound up laughing so hard, he wasn’t very helpful.
“Really, I can cook, but this just hasn’t been my night!” I whined while laughing.
“No, you did great. It really was a good meal!” He said trying to help me clean the cabinets.
Clark’s phone rang and we could all hear his conversation. “Yeah”…“Hey”…“Are you okay?”…“What’s wrong?”…“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be right over.”
“Who was that?” Flynn asked Clark after he hung up.
Clark smirked and clapped his hands, rubbing them together excitedly, “It was Tina. Her boyfriend just broke up with her! Time for me to swoop in guys!” He stood up and grabbed his wallet and keys. “She needs a shoulder to cry on and hopefully, I can get some while I’m consoling her!” He laughed.
“You are such a pig!” Melanie shouted out. “How can you do that? She’s heartbroken!”
Clark laughed and stretched his arms out wide, “Really? Then why did she call me? She obviously wants some! Otherwise, she would have called one of her girlfriends!”
Melanie shook her head and rolled her eyes. Both guys were shrugging and nodding their heads in agreement. I had to admit too, he had a point. I decided not to take sides in this and went back to cleaning. Clark headed out, shouting “Later!” as he left.
Melanie decided to pick a fight with Flynn. “Are you defending him? Why would he do something like that?”
Flynn just shook his head, “I’m not defending him, but you have to admit he has a point. Why wouldn’t she have called her girlfriend? Iz called you and not some fling when she left her ex.” Great, thanks…bring me into this! I kept cleaning and decided to let them have it out. Z continued to help me clean, choosing the same option.
“Don’t bring Iz into this. She’s got a different situation than most.” Mel shot back.
“I’m right here guys! Can we not talk about me in your little argument?” I shot out.
“Sorry, right Iz…didn’t mean anything by that.” Flynn said.
Melanie continued, “I’m just saying that things are a bit different in your situation. You wouldn’t go running into another relationship right after what you’ve been through.” My heart sank…I thought that’s what I was doing. I mean, what else is Z? My ears were burning and I told Z that I needed to go wash up since I had whipped cream in my hair. I turned and ran up the stairs. I closed the bathroom door and began to wash whipped cream out of my hair and clothes.
I heard a knock at the door and opened it to find Z standing there with a sad face and his head tilted. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I guess so.” I swallowed hard not knowing what to say.
“You know we never really discussed what we’re doing together, have we?” he asked.
I looked away and sighed. “No, not really.”
“It doesn’t have to be anything more than you want. I’ll go as slow as you need to. I get that you came from a...different…relationship, so I get it. I’d really like to take our time, if that’s what you want. I don’t want to be your rebound any more than you want to be mine, okay?” His smile was so sweet and sincere. I knew then and there I made the right choice.
Relieved, I smiled. “Okay…I’d really like that.” I leaned forward and gave him a kiss. He wrapped his arms around me for a strong embrace.