My Fake Relationship (11 page)

“Yeah, sure.” he answered with a small smile.

I turned the radio up and listened to some music.

We got back to my house about 2 hours later. I dreaded getting out of the car and into the cold air. “We’ll make a run for it,” Zane said reading my thoughts. I nodded. I jumped out of the car when Zane did laughing as we ran to the door. I pushed open the door but it was locked. I laughed.

“Olivia!” Zane yelled. I pulled my keys out of my bag ,my hands shaking. They fell out and Zane laughed and chattered his teeth. “Just go!” he yelled. I laughed and pushed the key into the key hole and threw open the door. We stumbled in laughing. He slammed the door shut with his foot. I pulled off my jacket and threw it on the floor.

“It’s warm!” I yelled with pleasure. Zane laughed. “I’m going to go get changed. Do you need jeans?” I asked as I started for the stairs. Zane nodded.

“Um, yeah if you can find any.”

I nodded.

“You can borrow some of my dad’s.”

I got changed quickly and Zane came in wearing a pair of my dad’s old jeans. They fit him pretty well. I smiled.

“Not bad Mr. Walker,” I said and he rolled his eyes. I combed out my wet hair and was about to put on some makeup when a hand caught my wrist. I looked at Zane frowning.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. His hand was gently on my wrist.

“Don’t put any on,” I was watching his eyes. But they were just kind.

“Ok,” I said and put down my eye linger pen. I smiled.

“We have to go anyhow.” he said as he let go of my wrist and cleared his throat.

“OK, then let’s go.” We went back to the car and this time I dressed warmer. We headed down the road and into the city. “Where are we going anyhow?”

“My mom’s work. She works at a restaurant in the city.”

I nodded.

“And why are we going there?” I asked.

He sighed.

“She wants me to pick something up to take home. Probably something for a friend.”

I smiled. “Oh ok.”

We drove up to a small restaurant and got out. I wrapped my scarf around my neck tighter and we walked up to the door. Our hands accidently touched, then automatically they entangled together. It didn’t really feel like a surprise because we had always done it every time we walked into the school. We walked in and behind the counter was an older woman with dark blonde hair and very short.

“Mom,” Zane said and the woman looked up from a note pad. Her smile brightened and her blue eyes gleamed. Now I know where Zane get’s those eyes.

“Hey honey,” she said coming out from behind the counter. She put her hands on her hips and beamed at him.

“Mom, um, this is Olivia.” he said pointing down to me.

I smiled at her. Her eyes went to our hands then up to me and gave me a heartwarming smile.

“So you’re Olivia? Zane has told me a lot about you. But he never introduced me to you!” she gave him a mean look, and then smiled at me. I laughed.

“Mom,” Zane mumbled getting embarrassed.

“My name’s Jane.”

I smiled.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

“Yes, finally!” she gave Zane another look and I laughed. “So Olivia, what did my son here get you to do with him today?” I looked at him and he stared at his mother.

“Well, he took me back where you guys lived. We went to Lisa’s Diner to eat.” His mom raised an eyebrow at Zane.

“You didn’t, did you?” she asked almost laughing.

“Excuse me?” I asked. Zane looked down a little pink in his cheek. She looked at me.

“Did he take you to the pool?”

My mouth almost fell a little but I laughed.

“Yeah, actually he did. I had a lot of fun.”

Jane smiled at me and it had more of something admiring in it.

“Zane never takes girls there. You must be very important to him.” she said quietly and then winked. I blushed. I was the first girl he took there? Wow. That’s um….that really sweet. But stop thinking about him like that!

An hour later, Jane and I were still talking. She was so nice. Zane lounged beside me looking like he was about to fall asleep.

“Oh it was so funny! When Zane turned 10 he had a wetting the bed—“

“Ok, that’s enough!” Zane said looking like he was about to jump out of his seat. I laughed.

“Oh no, I want to hear this!” I said and Jane laughed.

“No, no, no I think it’s time we go now. Mom where’s the stuff to take home please?”

Jane pouted but smiled.

“Ok fine. But on one condition.” Zane narrowed his eyes playfully at her.

“And that would be?” he asked.

I smiled. She leaned over the table looking him straight in the eyes.

“You have to bring this adorable, amazing girl of yours to dinner next weekend.” He clucked his tongue and looked at me.

“What do you say?” he asked.

I smiled and nodded. He looked back at his mom. “It’s a deal. And you never bring up that conversation again.”

“Well I don’t know—“ she started but he growled and she laughed. He creaked a smile. “OK, Ok I will try not to say that you peed your pants during your play at school.”

His mouth fell and Jane and I burst out laughing.

“You little brat,” he said shaking his head his cheeks a little red.

“Aww, look he’s blushing again!” I said pointing to his cheeks. He grabbed my hand and chomped his teeth down close to it. I giggled and pulled it back.

“You both are ganging up on me. It’s not fair,” he muttered. Jane laughed and left the room for a moment. He spun on the stool and looked at me.

“What?” I asked innocently. He shook his head and I laughed.

“Ok here we go,” she brought out a bag with a bowl of soup and homemade bread. “Take this home and put it in the frig right away. I don’t want it to get rotten.” As she gave the bag to me, I saw a bruise on her arm. I frowned. “Now you two have a good day and don’t get her into too much trouble.” she said pointing a finger at Zane. He smirked.

“I won’t but she might get me into trouble.”

I gasped.

“Will not!”

He grinned.

“OK honey, well, I’ll see you next weekend Olivia.” She said and gave me a small hug.

“Thanks Jane.”

She smiled.

“Oh and Scott will be there too.” Zane almost lost his balance and looked at his mom. I stared at him surprised. He was tense.

“What?” he asked his mom. She gave a nervous smile and she nodded.

“He might come. I’m sure he’d be happy to meet—“

“No,” he said suddenly and strong willed. I looked at him surprised.

“Oh come on Zane!” I complained.

“No way in hell is she meeting him.” he said through gritted teeth ignoring me. I was staring at him. What was going on?

“Zane, come on it will be fun.” I said he looked at me and his eyes were mean and something like hatred filled them. I flinched.

“We’re leaving,” he said and turned.

“Zane,” Jane called making him stop. His shoulders were so tight and his jaw was set. His eyes were blazing. He turned. Her eyes were teary. “Come here,” she whispered. He clenched his hands but walked over to her. “Give me a kiss.” he gently reached down and gave her a small peck on the cheek. She whispered something to him and I watched my eyes a little wide. He nodded but his eyes didn’t change.

“Mom,” I heard him whispered his voice pleading. I had never heard him sound like that before. They were whispering. “Fine.” he finally said. “But if anything…” he whispered the rest.

“OK, well you’re coming over this weekend don’t worry about it! I’ll make something very good. OK?” she asked me.

“Yeah, OK.” I smiled. I was still so confused but nodded. Zane wouldn’t meet my gaze.

“Bye,” Zane mumbled and started to leave.

“Have fun!” his mom called; her voice a little shaky.

“Bye,” I called a little confused. Zane stormed off ahead of me and I followed almost at a run. “Zane! Zane!” I yelled. He put the food in the back seat and stood there for a moment then turned to me. “What the hell was that about?” I asked my voice making puffs of smoke from the cold air. He was biting the inside of his mouth hard trying not from yelling.

“It’s nothing, lets go,” I frowned. “Zane…” I said stopping him as he went to go around the car. He looked down. “What is wrong?” I asked.

He looked up.

“Why won’t you listen to me?” His words caught me off guard.

“What?” I asked surprised. He looked away his jaw clenching. I heard him mumbling but I couldn’t hear. “What are you talking about?”

He shook his head.

“Never mind.” he said and moved around me his head still low. He got in and it took me a moment to regain myself then get into the car.

We started for the bad part of town. I started to get worried. Zane didn’t talk very much. I didn’t know what to say. Remember we’re just faking this whole thing; he doesn’t have to like you. Which he doesn’t. He doesn’t even probably like being my friend. I looked out the window and I realized this is nowhere close to where I live. This is a whole other country! This is the poor side of town. I live in the fancy part. I looked at Zane and he totally seemed at ease.

“Zane,” I asked.

He looked over at me for a moment then back at the road.

“What?” he asked flatly.

“Where are we going?”

He gasped. “My home.”

I gulped a little. My parents told me I could never come on these roads. They were dangerous but if Zane knew what he was doing then I should trust him. We pulled up alongside the curb and I looked up to see a falling apart building. Trash was strewn across the walk and loud booming music echoed through the streets. Zane got out and got the stuff. I slowly got out and looked up again at the apartment building. “This is it.” Zane said looking where I was. “Home sweet home.” he muttered and started for the entrance.

This is the exact opposite of where I thought Zane lived. I thought he lived where Kendra or Grant and I did. Some place nicer. “Hurry up,” Zane said and I ran across the walk beside him. We went up and Zane pulled out a whole bunch of keys then we went in. I followed him as we took the stairs and went up three floors. I could hear shouts from other doors and banging and music. It scared me a little. We got to a room and he unlocked several locks, then opened the door.

“Go ahead,” he said and motioned me forward.

I went in quickly. He came in and relocked all the locks. I turned and looked at the apartment. It was a whole lot smaller then my house but it had a cute kitchen and a small living room then a hallway going back somewhere, probably the bed rooms. Zane came in and sat the bags on the counter then put everything in the frig.

“Not what you expected, was it?” he asked with an amused anger/sad sort of way. I turned to him but he was loading stuff in the frig.

“Not exactly,” I said quietly.

He gasped.

“Did you think I lived where you did?” he asked. I shrugged and looked down. I did. I had never been here before. I always thought he lived where we did.

“Has Kendra been here before?” I asked.

He stopped what he was doing and turned around to me. “No,” he said.

I frowned. Why wouldn’t he? They had been dating for what a year? And he never brought her here. He finished and got a drink of water.

 “Why bring me here?” I asked.

He looked at me and put down his cup slowly. He looked down for a moment then up his eyes confused.

“I’m not sure,” he answered. It was silent for a while.

“I think I’m going to go change my pants,” he said looking down at my dad’s jeans.

I nodded.

“You can come too,” he said and we went back the hallway and to the first door on the left. It was a tiny room. There was a small single bed stuffed in the corner with a dresser at the end and a desk right across from it. The rest of the room was piled with clothes if there was a lot of room left. He went over to the dresser and yanked the draws open. I looked around at the band posters and gray sheets messed up on his bed. It smelled like him. I walked over to his bed and sat down. It was lumpy and my butt went deep into the bed.

“So this is your room,” I said as he went across the room and picked up a pair of jeans and sniffed them.

“Yeah,” he said and sniffed them again. He shrugged.

“It’s nice.”

He gasped and shook his head.

“I’m sure!”

“No, really,” I said.

He turned and looked at me. “It’s not like my house but sometimes I wish this is where I lived. Some place where it felt like home. My house is just an empty hollow cave. This,” I said pointing around to the room. “Is cozy and feels like a home.” He looked me in the eyes and I gave a small, sad smile.

“Mm,” he answered and turned around. He unzipped his pants and I gasped.

“What are you doing?!” I asked turning around. He laughed.

“Changing what does it look like?” I glanced over at him as he pulled off my dad’s jeans and he had red boxers on. I raised an eyebrow as I looked at his legs then up his body. He pulled up his jeans then turned to me and zipped them up and winked. I rolled my eyes. “Nothing you haven’t seen before.” he said. I blushed a little and looked down.

“Oh look she’s blushing again,” Zane said coming over to me. I looked up as he bent over a little and wiggled his eye brows. “Decide yet that you’re madly in love with me?”

I shook my head. “Not even close,” I said getting closer to him.

“Really?” he asked.

I nodded. I looked down. His shirt had come up from pulling his jeans on and was lifted to see his left hip. There was a bruise. I frowned. I reached up and put my fingers on it. Zane flinched slightly and stood back. I stood up and followed him as he walked backwards trying to get out of my reach. His back hit against the wall. I kept my fingers on it. Then lifted the shirt up a little my eyes focused on that bruise. It was the size of a baseball. I looked up my eyes wide and on the verge of tears.

“Zane…” I whispered. His eyes were hurt but he was trying to cover it up. He reached down and took my hand and pulled his shirt back down over it. He brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it. I was shocked at this but just looked at him.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said and shrugged. “We should probably get you home soon Princess.” he said with a geeky smile as he pushed around me to grab his wallet from his jeans.

I stared at the wall. Why was he hiding something from me?

“What time do your parents want you home?” he asked.

I turned around.

“Um, er, I’m not sure.”

He laughed a little and nodded.

“OK, well let’s get something to eat because I’m starving!” he said patting his stomach.

“When aren’t you?!” I said and laughed. He shrugged and grinned.

We got something to eat at his house then headed back to mine. I got out of the car and he did too. “Listen, I should probably just go back home. My mom is going to be getting off work.”

I nodded.

“Yeah, I probably will have to deal with the parents inside.” I said rolling my eyes. He smiled. “Good luck.”

“Yeah I’m going to need it.” I reached for the door but stopped and turned around. “Thanks Zane, I had a lot of fun today. I think I needed it. It’s just everything that is going on….” I trailed off. I looked at him. Now is not the time to tell him. “Thanks.” I said quickly.

He nodded.

“See you on Monday.” he leaned forward and kissed my cheek then quickly went to his car. I was stunned once again. After he left I let out a girlie giggle and sighed. I opened up the door feeling giddy.

“Mom, dad, I’m home!” I called. They were in the den arguing but stopped when they saw me.

“Oh, hey honey,” mom said pushing her hair back with a smile. Dad nodded at me looking like he was sweating badly. “How was your day?” she asked sweetly. I bit at my lip.

“Um, it was good. Zane and I ate at a diner then went—“ I stopped midsentence. If my parents found out about that, they would murder me. “Um, just hung out.” Mom smiled and nodded.

“I’m going to my room.” I said and left quickly. I heard them muttering some words but ignored it. I shut my door and stripped out of my clothes getting into something comfortable and started to read with a smile on my face.