The Unofficial Zack Warren Fan Club

by J. C. Isabella

  “Trust me, I know these jock types. Carlos is king. Zack is doing what any testosterone laden guy would do.”

  “First men are babies, now they’re animals marking territory?”

  “I like to imagine they vacillate between the two.”

  “You should really think of writing a book one day.”

  “Oh, I’m so there. I’ve got journal entries on human behavior, men especially.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, Carlos takes me to the park, and while he plays Frisbee I people watch. It is very interesting.”

  We poured the finished batter in the pan I greased and floured. I popped the brownies in the oven and set the timer for forty-five minutes.

  “Zack confessed something to me earlier today. He said he liked Max thinking I’m his girlfriend.” We stood at the counter, licking batter off the beaters.

  “Wow, that explains a lot.”

  “But he said I’m family now, and he has this crazy idea that he’s the only person allowed to give me a hard time.”

  She laughed. “He likes you!”

  “No.”

  “Yes. Take the spray tan, for example. Carlos started calling me bunny because he said I ate too many carrots, and they must have turned me orange. Or he ran from me when I tried to hug him because the tan would rub off.” She giggled. “But watch out, if anyone else cracked a joke about my botched tan. Pow! Into next week.”

  “Hello Chloe, and Chloe’s friend.” Glenn came into the kitchen, sniffing the air. “I smell chocolate.”

  I jumped in front of the oven, waving my arms. “No, they’re for after dinner.”

  “Okay, okay. I’ll just snag the cookie jar.”

  “So what have you and mom been up to?”

  “Oh, this and that. I put in a new pool filter. Molly bought some interesting paint colors.” He found the Oreo’s and set them on the counter to get a glass of milk. Glenn was a bit of a cookie monster.

  “What constitutes interesting paint colors?” Stella asked.

  “Anything resembling the beach at sunset.” He said.

  I grinned. “Mom must be doing a mural. Where?”

  “My office,” he chuckled, “I told her as long as it’s not girly, she could have at it.”

  “Smart man.” Stella said.

  He nodded. “Wall color isn’t important in the grand scheme of things.”

  “So, the pool, is it swimmable?” I asked, loading the dishwasher with our baking paraphernalia.

  “Sure, have at it. Just keep an eye out for lighting. Although I think it’s still far enough away.”

  Once the brownies were out of the oven, hidden in the microwave incase Glenn tried to sneak one, Stella and I grabbed a few towels and headed for the pool.

  We brought magazines with us and lounged on the cool deck under partly sunny skies. The rain didn’t seem to be much of a threat and we weren’t in any danger of being burnt crispy. It was a very nice afternoon.

  The pool sat a ways away from the house, more alongside it, and on the opposite side of a few trees. Nice, secluded, and temptingly private.

  If Lana were here she would have ditched her top. I’m not Lana, but since the chances of anyone coming to bother us were slim, I asked Stella, “I’m not an exhibitionist, but I’m thinking about taking off my shirt so I don’t have tan lines on my arms.”

  “Me too, not that I tan much.”

  We took off our shirts, and I realized that my pink bra covered more than my bikini, so it didn’t matter. It was the same for Stella in her sunny yellow one. But hers actually looked more like a bikini, since it was solid. Mine had a lacey back.

  I stuck on my sunglasses, rolled onto my stomach, and opened a magazine to find what season best fit my personality.

  “Apparently, I am a spring, and pastels suit me.” I said, letting one of my feet dangle into the pool. “Eh, not too sure about that.”

  “Bangs are making a comeback again…they seem to be a little late in reporting that.” Stella wrinkled her nose. “My quiz is wrong too.”

  “Really, about what?”

  “I’m best described as a flirtatious vixen, prone to hitting on guys who are in committed relationships, and one night stands.”

  I laughed. “Let me see that…no way. This quiz is a load of crap.”

  After taking the quiz, I tossed the magazine into the pile between us.

  “Which one did you get?” Stella asked.

  “Oh, just the drama queen. I need to be the center of attention, I have problems giving up control, and I scare the good men away.”

  “I wonder who makes those up.”

  “Must be a fun job.”

  I stuck my hand in the pool, debated jumping in. But I got a weird feeling. It felt like I was being watched. Behind me the coast was clear, except ahead of me in the marsh, that heavily treed area at the back of the property, I thought I saw something move. I squinted, frowning at the green leafiness. Probably just a bird.

  “Hey, Baker!” so we weren’t alone.

  Zack and Carlos came down the lawn through the trees.

  “God, what did you get into?” Stella sat up and eyed Carlos. His feet and legs were caked in mud, the front of his shirt spotted with black. His shorts dripped with murky water, and a funky, moldy smell wafted around them.

  “Just little puddles, nothing too juicy…until we hit the last one” He kicked off his flip-flops, and tried to scrape some of the gunk off with a stick. It stuck to him like glue.

  Zack used his hands to sloth mud off his legs, flicking it into the grass. “We didn’t even try to go in the house. Molly would kill us. Where’s the hose?”

  I pointed to a spigot attached the side of the house.

  “I’m glad we stayed here.” Stella sounded relieved. “No telling what kind of crap they’re covered in.”

  I shrugged, “I don’t know, I think it might be fun as long as it stays out of my hair, and we avoid that last juicy puddle.”

  Zack, now mostly free of mud, went to the deep end of the pool. “Dare me?”

  I raised my eyebrows. “To jump in?”

  “Sure.”

  There had to be a catch. “Uh, okay.”

  He peeled his soaking wet, t-shirt off and tossed it onto the deck. I had to keep my mouth from hanging open. All the baseball Zack played agreed with him. He had muscles in places I didn’t know existed.

  His chest was chiseled, sculpted, but not rock hard like the guys who live in the gym. He wasn’t very hairy, sporting a very light smattering of blonde curls on his abdomen. The girls who I’d heard talking about his six-pack were right.

  It was marvelous.

  He smirked at me and I felt my cheeks flame.

  Had he caught me checking him out?

  “Cannon ball!” He backed up and got a running start.

  I watched him fly through the air, and screamed when the water from his splash hit me. Stella shrieked too.

  Zack surfaced and swam to the side of the pool to look up at me. “Cute.”

  I pushed my wet hair out of my eyes. “You planned this!”

  “Maybe, come on, get in.”

  “No, thanks. I’m good.” I shook my head, trying scooting away from the side of the pool.

  “Okay,” he turned like he was going to swim away. Suddenly his hand shot out and closed around my wrist, yanking me in.

  I dropped headfirst into the pool, and kicked my way to the surface. “You jerk!”

  He laughed. “Come on Chloe, chill.”

  Throwing my sunglasses onto the deck, “I’m in the pool, now what?”

  He produced a little orange ball from behind his back and tossed it to me. “Basketball.”

  I glanced at the hoop sitting on the side of the pool. “You’re kidding, I’ll never beat you.”

  Carlos jumped in, Stella right behind him.

  “Girls against boys!” she shouted.

  I laughed. “This is going to be embarrassing.”

  I wa
s able to make the first shot, Stella got one too, after that we lost miserably. Carlos and Zack creamed us, and I could tell they were going easy. Unfortunately, my feet couldn’t quiet touch the bottom of the pool near the hoop, so I had no leverage. Stella’s hand eye coordination sucked.

  With a bit of luck the slippery ball skittered out of Carlos’s hands and I snatched it, lunging for the hoop. Zack snagged me around the waist, lifting me out of the water. I went airborne into the deepest part of the pool. “I almost had that!”

  He grinned. “Sure you did.”

  I heaved the ball at him, hitting his shoulder.

  The sound of a cell phone ringing brought our game to a halt. Stella slipped out of the pool to check the text. “It’s the office. Apparently there was a last minute swamp tour scheduled. We gotta go, Carlos”

  We said goodbye. I told Stella that we should go shopping next weekend. She said knew where the best shops were.

  I got out of the pool and went back to my towel, letting the sun dry me. Zack swam laps. Did he ever run out of energy? I dangled my legs over the side, thinking that he had to be conditioning himself for the major leagues. I knew scouts were looking at him. so it was if he got signed, it was when.

  And when he did, all those bubblehead sluts were going to be fighting over him. He would just be hot. He’d be hot, famous, and rich.

  I pouted, watching the line of trees.

  Something was out there. I saw it move again. Behind a big bush with purple flours was a smattering of red. Tall red. Wide. And it shifted, darting behind a smaller bush, heading off the property.

  Not a dog, and not a bird.

  It looked more like a person. But the area was so shaded I thought maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me.

  Why would someone sneak around the back of our house in the swamp?

  Weren’t they afraid of getting eaten?

  “Victoria’s Secret.” Zack swam up to where I was sitting and floated on his back.

  “Like you’ve never seen a bra before.” I kicked my feet to splash him.

  “On you, once.” he chuckled, grabbing my ankles to stop me.

  I looked up, keeping my eyes trained on the trees, even though I could feel Zack drinking in what I was wearing.

  “You okay?” he let go of my ankles, the water lapping around shoulders as he rested his arms on the pool wall beside me.

  “Sure,” I squinted. Nope, nothing behind the bush now. It was long gone or hidden really well. And it wasn’t a person. It couldn’t be. No one lived behind us. Must have been a bird…

  “You seem out of it.”

  “I’m seeing things.” It was probably the heat. Or a flock of birds.

  “Like you’re crazy?”

  “No.” I wasn’t all that hot. I knew it wasn’t a bird, or a flock of birds. So if it wasn’t animals, wasn’t a person…what was it? A ghost?

  I pushed up, thinking I’d go inside. Zack caught my leg before I could get away. “Whoa, explain this too me. What do you think you see?”

  I licked my lips, throat going dry, and plopped back down onto the deck. “I felt someone watching me. Then I think I saw him.” I pointed, “over there.”

  He swam to the other side in the pool, studying the area I pointed out. “You saw a person?”

  “Yes, and this is going to sound crazy, but it looked like Max.” He had been wearing a red shirt earlier.

  “Doesn’t sound crazy at all. He’s got peeping Tom written all over him. Bastard. I could fuck up his face with pleasure.”

  “I’m not sure it was him though.” I grabbed my towel and wrapped it around me, feeling less exposed now that I was covered up. After all, I was in my bra. “Can we go inside, where there are locks on the doors?”

  He swam back. “You’re really spooked?”

  “I know what I saw.” I tucked the towel tighter under my arms and shivered, despite the sunny day.

  Zack gripped the pool wall, slipping between my legs where they dangled in the water. If he dunked me again, I was going to hurt him. “I believe you.”

  I blinked, surprised at his softened voice and understanding, “So lets go inside.” I tugged on his arm, but that only made him drift closer.

  “Not yet.” He grinned.

  “What are you waiting for?”

  He shrugged, making the water splash up to where I sat, but I didn’t care. “I want to make sure whoever’s out there is watching.”

  “Watching what?”

  “This.” He surged out of the water, bracing himself on the side of the pool, bringing us nose to nose.

  And then, Zack Warren kissed me.

  Chapter 21

  I was shocked, for about a second.

  Then I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him back. He lost his grip on the wall and we sank into the pool. It was like fireworks went off inside me. The harder I kissed him, the harder he kissed me.

  His arm wrapped tight around my waist. My hands slicked through his hair and over his shoulders. Our feet weren’t close to touching the bottom of the pool, so he kept one hand firmly planted on the deck. It was like we were never going to stop. We kissed until my lips felt tingly and swollen and numb. Until I was limp like I would sink happily to the bottom if he let go of me.

  “Chloe,’ he breathed. I could feel his words vibrate in my mouth, “I think he got the point.”

  “Right.” I nodded, pulled away. Then I actually started to sink.

  Zack curled free arm back around my bare waist, holing me against his chest. The towel had floated somewhere off behind me. His fingers were burning my skin, like they’d leave marks when he took them away.

  “We should go inside.” He said, eyeing my lips again. I licked them, knowing he wanted to kiss me more.

  “Sure.” I boldly started another round of kisses.

  We somehow made it back to the shallow end of the pool. Zack sat on the steps, pulling me into his lap. Never once did we break our kiss. His hands were all over me now. Sliding up my legs, my thighs, grasping my butt. I felt like I couldn’t get close enough to him. My body was screaming for him. Our breathing was so heavy I was sure someone would hear us if they got anywhere near the pool. But I couldn’t make myself care.

  I allowed him to kiss me once more, and pulled back. Our eyes locked instantly. The blue of his gaze made me shiver. “Wow.”

  He ran his thumb along my bottom lip. “Yeah.”

  “We should stop, our parents could see.” I glanced down, realizing that not only was I in his lap, my legs were locked around his waist.

  When I finally extracted myself from his hold, my legs and arms were shaky. I wasn’t sure I could lift myself out of the pool. I’d never kissed anyone like that before. Not a real, soul-shaking kiss. The only other kiss that got close to open mouth was with Eddie Winooski last year at a party. I’m not even sure if you could consider what Eddie and I did as kissing, more like knocking heads and teeth.

  Now I knew what Lana meant when she said that just kissing could make her feel faint.

  I managed it to get out of the pool without falling face first onto the deck. I snagged another dry towel, wrapped it snuggly, and headed for the house, reeling from the fact that I’d kissed Zack.

  I kissed him!

  But reality was setting in and my stomach hurt.

  I was kissing him because I liked it, and more importantly, I liked him.

  “Chloe, what’s wrong?” he kept up with me, looking unfazed by our kiss. He was cool and barely ruffled. Me, I was a mess inside. “Stop.”

  “I have to get dressed, Vince will be here soon.” It took way too much effort to keep my voice from shaking.

  “Screw Vince. Why are you running away from me?”

  I swallowed, my eyes growing hot with the tears. “I don’t know.”

  “It was just a kiss.”

  “Not to me. I don’t go around kissing people.” I whipped back, hurt by the fact that he could kiss me like that and not feel anything. was he re
ally so cold? I poked him in the chest, forcing my sadness to become anger. “You are the first boy I’ve ever kissed like that.”

  “Oh, Chloe…” He grabbed my hand to keep my nail from jabbing him, squeezing it gently. How pathetic I must look to him.

  “I never asked you to help me. You did, and although I’m grateful, you helped me the wrong way.”

  “Max assumed I was your boyfriend. I was only doing what any other guy would do if they were alone with their girlfriend.”

  How could I argue with that logic? “I know, but you’ve made it worse.” So much worse. How was I supposed to live with him now that I’ve kissed him? Now that I know what it feels like? Now that I know I love it? I pulled away and turned for the house.

  “You dragged me into this.” He shouted, sharing in my anger. Good. I wanted him to be mad. I couldn’t handle him being nice or wanting to help me. I needed him pissed so I could be pissed and forget how much I liked kissing him.