~Althia~

Once I had gotten home, I lied to my parents saying that Zach will probably not be able to make it for dinner since he's got a late practice and an essay to write.

I stayed up in my room since I arrived from school and I could hear my parents making dinner and talking amongst themselves.

"Althia! Door!" My dad called out for me

I groaned as I got out of bed and made my way downstairs to open the door.

To my surprise, it was Zach with flowers

"Hi" I greeted him

"Hey" He responded

Before we could say anything else, my mom was running towards us happily

"Ah, Zach! It's so nice for you to join us" She exclaimed "We thought that you wouldn't be able to make it" She added

"I finished everything I needed to do, I promised I would be here and there's no way I would miss dinner" Zach told her "These are for you Mrs.Knight" He added while handing her the flowers

"That's so sweet of you and please, call me Lydia" Mom smiled at him "You kids can hang around for a bit while we finish up supper" She said as she went off into the kitchen

Zach took of his shoes and bent down to kiss me but I turned my head the other way

"I appreciate you coming over here but we still need to talk" I whispered at him

"Okay" He nodded

While my parents finished whatever it was they were making, Zach and I sat in mostly silence, in the living room, as we waited.

The beginning of dinner started off as awkward but it slowly got better

"So Zach, Althia never really told us how you guys happened... Maybe you could fill in the gaps" Mom questioned him, changing the comfortable subject we were just talking about

"Oh, well, we were friends and we spent a lot of time together since we always have a lab to do in chemistry and then I eventually asked her out on a official date and one thing led to another" Zach answered her

I stayed quiet as I played with my food

"How's the team going?" Dad asked him, changing the subject once again seeing that we were uncomfortable

"We're doing pretty good so far, I think we're going to come back home from the finals with a gold this year instead of a bronze or a silver" Zach said "You should come and see a game with Althia soon" He added

My dad smiled, happy with Zach's response

For the rest of dinner, we answered whatever question my parents asked

"Is it ok if we go for a walk?" I asked my parents as I cleared the table "I'll clean up once I get back" I promised

"There's no need, I'll clean" Dad told me, before my mom could say anything "You two go have fun" He added

I thanked him and made my way to my foyer with Zach close behind me

We put our shoes and coats on and stepped outside, making our way down the driveway and then down my street

"What you did this morning, Zach, really hurt my feelings" I finally broke our silence

I kept my gaze straight forward as I heard him take a breath

"Althia-" Zach started

"No" I interrupted him "I'm not done" I said

"What you did was one of the worse things you could have done and said to me, Zach. I know it doesn't seem like that big of a deal because you just walked away and said things that I hope you didn't mean but I..." I trailed off "I don't even know how I feel" I said "This jealousy you have against Justin, it's-" I tried to continue

"I'm not jealous of Justin" Zach scoffed

I stopped on my tracks and so did he

"Do not interrupt me again or else I will walk away like you did this morning and you can bet that I won't come back, Zachary" I threatened him

Zach opened his mouth but then shut it again, giving me his full attention

"Look I get it, Justin kissed me. I get that. It's the shittest thing a friend could do but you have to realize that it sucks for me too. Ever since that day, I feel like things between us have been different. I understand why but you've gotta see that my friend kissed me knowing that I have a boyfriend and that my boyfriend was also his friend. We really have to move past this or else what's the point of having an us" I started again "I trusted you last night, with everything thing in me. I know that I would have eventually told you the story but if I'm being completely honest, I never thought I would tell you the full story and then you took that and you turned it against me. You know all about my past and you know everything that happened with Hannah and all of them and you go and say that I only care about Justin? You say that if it were anybody else I wouldn't care? I wear my heart on my sleeve and to hear you say that just crushed me" I continued "I hope that you know that if any single one of my friends needed me, I would be there for them in a heartbeat. I promised myself that I would never take friendships for granted ever again and that I would never lose myself like I did and that's just what I'm trying to do. I've already lost 3 friends and I can't lose you or anybody else please. I'm trying, really trying, and I'm still new to this whole real relationship thing but I promise you that I am trying. Just please don't give up on me" I finished, my voice cracking at the end

"Thi" Zach reached over and wiped away the tears that were falling down my face that I haven't even noticed "I'm sorry" He mumbled as he wrapped his arms around me slowly, seeing if I would let him

I rested my head on his chest and let him hold me closer

"My intention was never to hurt you and I'm sorry. I took your trust and just threw it away because I was in my head" Zach said "I know that we've talked about the whole Justin thing and that I said it was in the past but, honestly, I'm still not over it. It still bothers me but now I see that not only is it hurting my friendship with Justin but it's also hurting our relationship and that's the last thing I want to do" He continued

"I get it, it's a hard thing to forget but please try to forgive him" I looked up at him for the first in forever it seemed "As for me, I'll set some boundaries with him" I added

"No, don't do that" Zach shook his head "Knowing that he can go over to yours whenever he needs to is the kind of security Justin needs and I would be a total asshole if I let you do anything less than that. What you do for him is exactly what a friend should be doing" He added

"Okay" I simply responded

Zach didn't say anything else, all he did was pull me closer to him

"Can we please never fight again" I mumbled against his chest, half wanting him to hear it and half wanting him to not hear it

"I never want to fight with you ever again" He replied "Seeing you cry because of me made me feel even more like a dick than I was already feeling" He added

"Ugh, I can't believe I cried in front of you" I said "That's so not like me" I added while making a face

Zach laughed and I grinned at him

"Thank you for still coming over to have dinner with my parents" I told him

"Of course, I need to get on their good side" He replied "Plus, Jeff gave me an earful about how much I had hurt your feelings and that if I didn't make things right, he would show at your place to have dinner with your parents instead of me" He added

"Oh, I see... So if it wasn't for Jeff, you wouldn't have came?" I questioned, teasing him a bit

"Not at all, I promised you that I would go and I did" Zach answered "Jeff just pushed me to think about what I did more" He informed me

"Well I'm glad" I said

"How did I do though?" Zach asked "With your parents?" He questioned

"You already know that my dad adores you and now he's going to come with me to every single one of your games now since you invited him to one" I answered him "As for my mom, I'm pretty sure you cracked her too. I mean she's still going to be bleh but she was nice to you and didn't make any rude comments so she must like you a lot" I added

"Thank God" He let out a breath

I laughed a bit and went on my tippy toes to kiss his cheek

Slowly, we started to make our way back to my house where Zach said goodbye to me and my parents before leaving for the evening.

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Hi lovelies, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Today was my first day of senior year, how's your school going so far?

Much love as always xx