26. Zack means trouble

*Feel free to keep asking me questions for my Q and A cx* ^^Pic of Noah above

Chapter 26: Zack means trouble

Kelsey's POV

*****

"At least he's leaving tomorrow," Lara said as she was helping me wash the dishes after lunch, a gleeful smile plastered on her face at the thought.

"Yeah. You see, it wasn't that bad," I said, sending her a small smile.

I was relieved that Zack's stay at the house was nearly coming to an end. After finding out about what he did, I couldn't look at him in the same way. Before I thought that he was a cocky player who tried to make his cousin's life miserable, but all I could see after the story was someone who murdered a dog and didn't stop to apologise or show any remorse about what he had done.

"I wouldn't be too quick to say that," Noah said as he walked in, continuing with Lara and I's conversation.

"Why do you say that?" I curiously asked.

"Zack means trouble. I'm still waiting for the missile to blow," he nonchalantly said while grabbing an apple.

Noah's words scared me, we were so close to getting rid of Zack, and I was certainly not ready for him to do something to disrupt everything. I found myself looking forward to the time in which he had to leave, and where we would finally be able to catch a breath again.

"Gee stop being so optimistic," Lara sarcastically replied to her brother as she rolled her eyes, clearly not happy about what Noah was saying.

"I'm only speaking the truth baby girl," he said as he walked off.

I couldn't help but frown at his attitude. There was something weird about Noah, I knew that he never talked like that. I could tell that he was clearly worried about something, and I certainly couldn't say that he was the only one.

"Do you think so Kelsey?" Lara asked, worry etched on her features.

"I don't know sweetie, but let's just hope not okay?" I said. Lara was smart for her age, and so I didn't want to lie to her by telling her that I was certain that Noah was exaggerating. She would have known I was lying, and worried even more. I knew that the best thing to do in that situation was to tell the truth, hoping that she would be reassured anyways.

I was glad when she decided to overlook it by simply nodding her head and carry on helping me. I couldn't wait until Zack was out of the house for good so that everybody's happiness could be restored.

*****

"You know, there's only one thing I'm going to be upset about when Zack leaves," Ethan said as we were sitting on the sofa watching TV, his arm around my shoulders as I was comfortably leaning on him.

The one good thing that probably came out of Zack's visit in the Walker's household was Ethan and I getting closer. We had been much more comfortable with each other, and I couldn't even remember when the transition even happened. I loved my newfound close friendship with Ethan, even if it came about from something so horrible.

"Oh yeah, what's that?" I curiously asked, turning my body sideways to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

I couldn't understand what Ethan could possibly miss about Zack being over, and I was certainly curious to know what he was going to say.

"Getting to be your boyfriend." My eyes widened as soon as those words came out of his mouth, and I could feel my stomach doing a somersault.

I could feel my cheeks heating up at that. It was rare for me to not find something to say, and that moment was one of those.

"Oh, that's one of the things I'm going to miss least," I joked, trying to get rid of the feeling I had just gotten by pulling his leg instead of acting flustered.

"Seriously?" He asked frowning.

I let out a laugh, giving away the fact that it was simply a joke, and I couldn't help but smile at the look of relief that overtook Ethan's features. He seemed to be so upset when I told him that I wasn't going to miss being his girlfriend, and the sole thought of that made my insides churn.

"God, don't do that ever again," he chuckled.

"You should've seen your face. What's the matter Ethy boy, have you fallen for me?" I smirked.

To anybody else, I was just making a joke in an attempt to see him get flustered, but in reality, I truly wanted to hear his answer to that. He had told me that he liked me so many times, and he also said that he would wait for me, but I couldn't help but feel self conscious, and continuously question whether I was worth waiting for. I constantly feared that he would stop liking me, but no matter how much I did, I still didn't feel ready for a relationship.

To love somebody else, I had to love myself first. I didn't want to give all of me to someone and make them my other half. I wanted to be my everything, and if I ever would have gotten a boyfriend, I just wanted him to be an add-on, and I didn't feel like I was ready for that yet. I still had a lot to learn about myself, and about relationships.

"You know I have," he replied, looking intently, the truth in his voice sending a shiver down my spine.

I felt happy about his words, and I wanted to say something, but I couldn't. Being the awkward person that I was, I didn't know what to answer. I simply, leaned my head on his shoulder, not saying anything. Honestly, I was beginning to fall for him too, and it pained me to know that I couldn't do much about it before I felt completely ready.

"What is it?" I asked as I caught him staring at me.

"Nothing, you're just cute when you smile," he said, making me smile, my cheeks heating up.

"But I wasn't smiling," I said with a small laugh and a small shake of the head.

"You are now," he winked, making butterflies erupt in my stomach.

God, what was that guy doing to me? Every single word that was coming out of his mouth made my heart beat faster than it possibly could, and that in itself scared me.

"Aww, aren't you guys a cute couple?" Zack said as soon as he entered the living room, with Jenna trailing behind him.

"Hey Ethan," Jenna smiled as she sent him a small wave, which Ethan blatantly ignored.

"Hi Jenna," he replied coldly, making me snicker at the way he answered her and which clearly didn't go unnoticed by Jenna after the glare she shot me.

"Were we interrupting something?" Zack asked as he looked at me and sent me a wink.

It seemed as if he wasn't planning on peeling his eyes off of me, and that certainly made me rather uncomfortable. The mischievous glint in his eyes told me that he was up to something, and not only did I not know what he was thinking about, but I certainly didn't want to know. I knew that whatever it was, it certainly wasn't anything good.

I would always be suspicious of people, even when they have the best intentions. It wasn't the first time that I had made Meg laugh at my crazy theories about people, but I knew that with Zack, might skepticism wasn't unmotivated.

"No, we were just watching a movie," Ethan replied as I felt him stiffen beside me, clearly uncomfortable at having the two of them in the room with us. Zack's departure was so close, but it was also so far away. A lot could happen during that time, and that thought in itself made me feel sick to my stomach.

"Cool, Zacky, let's join them," Jenna said as she grabbed Zack by the arm and pulled him with her on the sofa as they sat in between Ethan and I, separating the two of us.

I found myself really uncomfortable with Zack sitting next to me, whilst Jenna was sitting next to Ethan. Both of them were incredibly close to the two of us, and I could see by the look that Ethan shot me that I wasn't the only one who was feeling ill at ease with the situation.

"What are we watching?" Zack asked as he put his arm around me.

I could see Ethan glaring at him from the corner of my eyes, and no matter how many times I tried removing Zack's hand from around me, it always made its way back. I had no other choice but to give up trying, and to attempt to pretend that it wasn't there-no matter how hard that was to do.

"A movie," Ethan shortly replied as he kept glaring at Zack, who seemed to be acting oblivious at his cousin attempting to murder him with his eyes.

It was suddenly getting very uncomfortable in there, and all I wanted was to get as further away from Zack and Jenna as I possibly could. The sofa was already small enough as it was, and it was nearly impossible for me to keep enough distance between Zack and I.

"For the record, I know that you and Ethan aren't really together," Zack whispered in my ear, making everything around me seem to be frozen in place.

My eyes widened at his words as I could feel my face becoming pale, a sudden wave of dizziness overtaking me. I knew that Zack was up to something, that he was a ticking time bomb ready to eventually explode. I didn't know how he could have possibly known about Ethan and I, but I had a huge feeling that it had something to do with the person sitting next to him on the other side.

*****

Ethan quickly let out a sigh of relief as soon as Zack announced that he was going to take Jenna to her house. I sent him a small smile as I saw the relieved smile on his face, but I couldn't stop thinking about what Zack had told me.

"I can't believe they ate all my popcorn," I pouted as I tried to not show Ethan that there was something bothering me, making him laugh at my words. "It's not funny!" I said, gently slapping his arm as I rolled my eyes at his teasing smile.

He opened his mouth, about to say something, before we heard the door unlock and Zack walk in. I found myself freezing as he got in the living room and leaned on the wall, his gaze fixated on me. The queasy feeling I got every time I thought about his earlier words was horrible, and no matter how much I hated the idea, I knew that I had to talk to him and figure it out.

As soon as I asked Zack if we could talk, my heart ached for the shocked look that Ethan gave me. I wanted to tell him what it was all about, I didn't want us to have problems anymore, and I knew that he wasn't getting any positive thoughts about me requesting to have a chat with Zack. Despite that, I couldn't talk to Ethan before I talked to Zack. All I hoped was that Ethan trusted me enough to not get the wrong idea.

"Sure baby girl," Zack said with a wink before smirking at Ethan and leaning away from the wall.

"Should I go then?" Ethan asked, the frown on his face making a lump form on my throat. I could tell that the fact that I wanted to talk to Zack alone hurt him, but there was no other way.

"Nah, we could just go talk upstairs," Zack said, making both Ethan and I snap our heads at him. I did not feel very comfortable thinking that Zack wanted us to talk in one of the bedrooms, alone.

I didn't want things to seem worse than they probably already did to Ethan, and so I tried the best I could to convince Zack to stay downstairs, but it was to no avail. Zack was dead set on talking to me upstairs, and there was no way I could have said no to him. I didn't know why he had to be so hard-headed and bossy, and I couldn't help but feel like going to talk to him upstairs was a horrible idea, but I also knew that he wouldn't have allowed me to speak to him unless I did what he said.

Mouthing a quick apology to Ethan, I walked upstairs with Zack to confront him, leaving behind a very upsetting looking Ethan.

*****