Last Good Thing (The Fallout Series Book 1)

by Heather Young-Nichols

  “What? I’m fine.”

  “I asked about your dad’s car.” Porter looked from me to Zac then back again, his blond curls falling onto his forehead.

  “Oh. My mom’s husband is selling it for me. I have the Jeep, so I don’t need it.”

  The Jeep Mom, Mitch, and Dad had bought me used a year ago so I could get back and forth to school easier. I’d tried to tell them not to because they were already paying for school, but they wouldn’t listen. It was a newer used car and in great shape. Mitch got them a hell of deal, Dad had said.

  “Your mom got remarried?” Zac asked, looking back down at me.

  “Yeah, like a year and a half ago. Coming up on two years.”

  “How is he?”

  “He’s… He’s Mitch. He’s a good guy. An accountant, so he’s incredibly boring, but Mom loves him and he’s not creepy and doesn’t try to be my dad, so I’m fine with him.”

  Porter spent the rest of lunch talking about the woman he was dating. Apparently, she was a stripper, which turned him on. His words, not mine.

  Zac shook his head when his friend said that.

  But that was Porter. Good-looking, great body, even a decent personality. Those baby blues had sucked in girl after girl in high school and the dark blond hair to top it off almost left them defenseless. However, I was surprised to find out that he hadn’t procreated by accident along the way. Because Porter had been the high school man-whore. He’d put his penis in just about anything back then and from the sounds of it, he still would.

  Yet it was Zac who’d ended up the teenage parent.

  They went back to work while I cleaned up after us. It was the least I could do. Just as I was finishing up, Porter called out to me. He was in the open door of the garage when I turned around with Zan leaning against the jamb.

  “Hey, Laney,” Porter called again. “The other night, I forgot to say how good you look these days.” His smile was infectious. He may be a man-whore, but he was such a boy, I couldn’t help but return the smile.

  “Thanks, Porter,” I said, shaking my head. He’d always said stuff like that to Maddie and me. The sexual innuendo and blatant comments were nothing new. Though I hadn’t heard the sexual innuendo since I’d come back.

  “And by the way Zac is studying your ass, I guess that looks good too.”

  Chapter Ten

  My eyes bulged at Porter’s comments. Zac turned to him, clasped a hand around the back of Porter’s neck with a loud slap, spinning the both of them around. I was able to get a glimpse of Zac and his shy grin before they disappeared in the garage.

  They worked hard out there the whole day, with the only interruption being me bringing them drinks every hour or so. But it was getting close to dinnertime and I hoped they’d quit soon. Otherwise, I’d start to feel bad. Then I remembered that Porter had said he was going to see his… whatever she was to him, at work and I knew they’d be done soon. Just as I had that thought, someone knocked on my door.

  Sweaty Zac stood there. Over his shoulder, I noticed Porter walking back toward his car parked in front of Zac’s house.

  “Thanks, Porter,” I called out.

  “Yup! See you tomorrow night.” He waved over his shoulder.

  “Yeah,” Zac’s voice brought my attention back to him. “We’re going to get back to it after work tomorrow and might finish up.”

  “Thank you so much. I can’t tell you how much I didn’t want to do it. Don’t want to do any of it honestly.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to sell any of it for you?”

  “Nope,” I told him. “It’s yours. I’ll just be happy to park in there when it’s done. I’m surprised my tires haven’t been stolen yet.”

  He chuckled quietly. “It’s not that bad around here.”

  “I know. I was joking.”

  We stood looking at each other through the screen door, but my brain was flashing neon lights at me that said, “He Was Checking Out Your Ass!!” I had to control myself not to lose it right in front of him. A weirdly loud cackle right then might have been off-putting. And disturbing for both of us.

  “Hey,” he said, “do you have an open night this week?”

  “Um… ” I sighed dramatically. “I’m not sure. You know I’m usually horribly booked up. Why?”

  “I’d like to take you out. But if you’re going to bust my balls about it… ” He shook his head and started to walk away.

  I pushed through the screen door to stop him. “Wait… Zac… I was kidding.”

  “So was I.” He turned back with a huge grin.

  “I’m wide open.” I flinched before all the words got out of my mouth. What a horrible way to put it. “I mean any night works for me. Or the weekend.”

  “It’s my weekend with Dylan. I don’t go out when I have him.”

  I think I swooned a little right there. He really did try to be a good dad and god damn, that was sexy. As if he needed any help.

  We agreed to wait and see when they got the garage done since that had become a priority for him. I didn’t mind. It meant I could look out the back window and catch a glimpse of him working away.

  They finished on Tuesday, but Zac had to work later than normal on Wednesday because he had to drive an hour away to part out this old car that had been brought to the junk yard owned by Joe’s friend. So he was taking me out on Thursday. Yes, I’ll admit it did something to my insides to know that he felt the need to let me know what he was doing, where he’d be.

  Not because he had to tell me but because he wanted to.

  He hadn’t said it was a date, so I wasn’t going to act like it was, but I felt close to him again as if the last four years hadn’t happened. Or at least like we were making up for it. Obviously, it had happened and there were still little moments when we were talking where he mentioned something that occurred during those years and he’d throw me this apologetic look. It was something we needed to discuss at some point because guilt wasn’t going to get us anywhere.

  I saw Maddie in passing a couple of times and she always stopped to chat, but we hadn’t hung out again since that day at my house. It was all totally normal, which kind of freaked me out.

  Zac picked me up Thursday evening and took me out of the neighborhood to eat. We went to a bar and grill quite a bit nicer than Mac’s. I devoured a burger and fries like it was going out of style. It wasn’t a date, after all, and Zac did the same thing while telling me about his parents. It seemed odd that he hadn’t mentioned them in the almost three weeks I’d been back. Hell, he’d barely said anything about his sister. It was time for me to ask.

  “How are your parents?” I took a huge bite of my burger so he’d have the choice of not answering and leaving us in awkward silence or manning up and giving me the details.

  I knew he’d choose the ladder.

  “Mom and Dad moved in with Aunt Gloria about a week after graduation.”

  “Why?”

  “She’d been sick for a while and wasn’t doing so well on her own. Mom only stayed here to get me to graduation. She said that was most important. But once school was done, there was no reason to stick around.”

  “So they just left?”

  He nodded.

  “How’s your aunt?”

  “She died that summer, but they stayed up north. Said they liked it better there. Got their own place so I talked to our landlord and got him to transfer their lease into my name so I wouldn’t have to move. It’s cheap and I needed somewhere decent I could bring Dylan.”

  “Do they see him often?” I asked.

  “As often as they can. Especially now that being up north has chilled my dad the fuck out. Or maybe it was not having kids anymore. I don’t know.”

  It always made me sad that I’d had something Zac never did. A dad who cared. Even though I hadn’t lived with my dad in years, I always knew I could’ve turned to him for anything and I’d talked to him all the time. Almost daily.

  But for Zac, it was especially sa
d since he was a guy and didn’t have that person to turn to. To ask questions about being a father himself. To teach him the things dads are supposed to teach their sons.

  Hell, my dad taught Zac how to drive. How to tie a tie for Homecoming in ninth grade. How to stand up for what’s right.

  “What else would you like to do?” he asked, bringing me out of my memories of us as a kid as we walked back to his car.

  “I’m so full, I don’t know if I could do anything else,” I admitted. He snorted but didn’t like the answer. His face fell and his jaw set to stone. “How about we go to my house and watch a movie or ten?”

  “Sounds good.” His face softened back to normal.

  When I got home, I went directly to my bedroom to change out of the skirt I was wearing into a pair of comfortable shorts and a tank top. I felt like I could never eat again and needed clothing that was more forgiving.

  After agreeing to a comedy, we settled onto the couch beside each other.

  “Hey, thanks for dinner,” I said before it started.

  “You’re welcome.” He hadn’t looked at me when I spoke, so I knew something was up. Zac typically made some kind of eye contact with the person speaking, at least with me, he did. Not this time.

  “What’s wrong?” I hit pause and waited for his answer.

  “Nothing,” he said. Cocking my head to the side, I narrowed my eyes on him because I didn’t believe nothing was wrong, intending to stare until he caved. “I think I did this wrong,” he finally said.

  “Did what wrong? I had fun and will continue to have fun once this movie starts. I heard it’s really funny and I haven’t seen it yet.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about.” He shook his head but still wasn’t looking at me. So I put my hand on the opposite side of his face and forced him to turn toward me. It took a few seconds before he lifted his eyes to mine.

  “Then what?” I asked once I could finally see him.

  “What is tonight to you?”

  “I’m not sure I understand the question, but I thought we were hanging out. Trying to get back to something similar to what we used be. But correct me if I’m wrong.”

  And he was being confusing. We were trying to be friends again and I thought the night had gone well. At dinner it had almost been like old times. Not quite, because there was still this weirdness hanging between us, but I hoped that with enough time it would pass.

  I wanted it to pass.

  “Then I did it wrong,” he said again.

  “Quit talking in guy and tell me what the hell is going on.”

  He sighed, closed his eyes, then sat himself all the way up and turned so I could see him better. Or maybe so he could see me better. I wasn’t sure which.

  “I should’ve made it clear that I wanted tonight to be a date. I like you, Laney. Just as much—actually more than before. I mean, I know you know that I’ve always loved you because you were my best friend, but I like you.” He reached out and brushed a bit of my hair back behind my ear. If the person you want to date doesn’t know it’s a date, that’s the first clue that you’ve fucked it up.”

  There were a lot of words in that confession, most of which I think was like, but I understood the words he was saying. He’d always loved me as his best friend, but he liked me the way a guy likes a girl. Not as only friends.

  Just because I understood the words and their meaning didn’t automatically make my brain compute them.

  “You wanted tonight to be a date?” I asked out loud though mostly meant it for myself as I processed.

  Dear lord, my heart was going to pound right out of my chest. How embarrassing it was the way he could make parts of me lose control with a look or a few words. Or this seemingly innocent confession.

  “Yeah.”

  He tried to look away, but I placed my hand onto the side of his face a little harder than necessary to keep his eyes on me. With no idea of what came over me, I leaned in quickly, acting before I could think it through or talk myself out of it. Or allow sixteen-year-old me to freak out and ruin the moment.

  I pressed my lips softly against his.

  At first touch, his hand fisted in my hair at the back of my neck. Two more soft kisses and I had to climb closer. His other arm snaked around my waist, holding me to his chest as he licked my lips open at the same time. When his tongue stroked mine, it was like I was fifteen again being taught how to kiss by the hot guy next door.

  Only so freaking much better.

  His skin felt like heaven against mine. His lips and tongue were skilled in a way that made me not want to think about it.

  I was the one to break the moment only because I had to breathe but I didn’t move too far, as both of our chests rose and fell with excitement and pleasure because he’d wowed me with that one kiss. I could only hope that I’d wowed him right back.

  “Then it’s a date,” I said breathlessly.

  “Then it’s a date,” he agreed before letting me go and tucking me into his side as we returned to watching the movie.

  And I’d just kissed Zac, best friend, hot guy next door, lifelong crush. And not because he wanted me to know what I was doing.

  Because he’d wanted it as badly as I had.

  Chapter Eleven

  I might’ve had the best first date of my life with Zac. Once I knew it was supposed to be a date. I couldn’t get my mind off the fact that I had kissed Zac the way I’d dreamed of for years. Even when we weren’t talking, it was hard to keep my brain from floating back to that kiss.

  Especially when I was asleep. I kind of hated that I loved it so much.

  Before he left last night, Zac only dropped a completely chaste kiss onto my lips. He did have the look of a man who might’ve wanted to give me a little something more. But he decided to be cautious. Gentlemanly.

  My brain was still trying to make sense of going from thinking I’d never speak to Zac again to kissing him on my father’s couch in the span of a few weeks.

  The next morning, I woke earlier than I needed to given this was my summer vacation. I stood in the kitchen drinking a glass of water when I heard Zac’s back door shut loudly. Not like he slammed it. No. That was just the sound the door had made our entire lives. You had to pull super hard to get a good close. I watched him from the window, feeling like a total creeper, as he went to the garage, got his car out, and shut the garage door. Then he looked over suddenly and I dropped into a squat to keep him from seeing me. No reason for anyone else to know about my stalker tendencies.

  The car door shut and the engine roared to life. As the sound got further away, I knew I could stand up without outing myself. However, not two minutes later, I got a text that said, “You look beautiful in the morning.”

  “Doh!” I slapped my hand over my face. Of course he saw me. I groaned and tapped out my reply. “Have a nice day.” Grrrr.

  I spent the day giving the house a good old-fashioned cleaning. The normal things like dusting and vacuuming but as I went through each room, I began the job of cleaning out drawers. In my bedroom, I also pulled all the boxes out of the closet and pulled them out into the dining room. Every single thing had to be looked at, otherwise, I wouldn’t know if the box contained something I wanted to keep or not. Each time I opened a lid, I had no idea what to expect but still I slowly went through each one.

  Turned out that everything that had been in my bedroom closet was just there for storage. Christmas decorations, a few random things for other holidays, and things that pertained to me. Items any parent probably had shoved in a closet somewhere. My old stuff was the easiest to part with because it didn’t mean anything to me. Maybe my kindergarten finger paintings meant something to him but still I had no intention of keeping any of it.

  That project took more than half the day. Hours spent taking a trip down memory lane and anything I thought Mom would’ve wanted, I piled into separate boxes then dragged the rest out to the garage for trash day. However, on my first trip out, I realized I hadn’
t gotten the key back from Zac. Who was at work. And would be for several more hours.

  So, change of plans.

  I did a quick clean-up, splashing cool water on my face and brushing my hair quickly before heading out to the grocery store.

  I pushed the cart up and down each aisle slowly, making my choices and dropping things into the cart. I was only one person. As I turned the corner in aisle five, my cart almost slammed into another.

  “Sorry,” I said honestly as I looked up and found Maddie smiling widely.

  “Hey. Getting groceries?”

  “Yeah. I’ve been cleaning all day and decided I probably should be able to eat too.” I glanced around her to see if she had Dylan with her but alas, she seemed to be alone.

  “Right? I wanted to get ahold of you anyway,” she said in a way that made my stomach tighten. Wasn’t sure I was ready for whatever she wanted to say. “We need to hang out soon.” OK, much better than I was expecting.

  “Uh… ” I swallowed hard.

  “I know.” She stepped closer to me. “This is weird. The whole thing is weird, but I’d like to try to make it right. We’ve known each other since forever and it’s not like I’m talking about tonight. I have a date tonight.”

  Yeah. But they’d decided to not be part of my life anymore. Instead of throwing it in her face, I said, “Sure. We can try that sometime.”

  “Excellent. I have to run right now. This is just my lunch break and Dylan needed some things before he goes to Zac’s.”

  “Bye.” I didn’t intend to scurry away from her so obviously, yet I did and all I could do was hope she hadn’t noticed.

  I finished getting the necessities and by the time I got home, it was almost six-thirty.

  Zac’s car was already in his driveway when I got home and I assumed Dylan had been dropped off which meant, I was going to avoid Zac until Monday. Things were still too much in the air for me to be spending time with his kid and that decision wasn’t mine to make anyway.

  Until I was walking through the dining and caught my toe on one of the damn boxes. “Son of a motherfucking bitch,” I yelled to myself. Nope. Wasn’t going to do this another day. A quick trip next door to get the garage key couldn’t hurt anything.