Zac cleared his throat picking the strings on his guitar before looking up at her. “So why
are you being a stranger?” He smirked gesturing with his head for her to sit with him.
“I’m sorry,” she said getting off the couch and joining him on the bed.
“Sorry about the whole open-door policy,” Zac said.
“That’s alright. We’ll live. So can I hear something you wrote?”
“Sure,” Zac said tuning his guitar. Ruby curled her legs underneath her
and leaned her shoulder against the wall.
Zac continued to play a couple songs for Ruby stopping between songs to talk
about them. Before they knew it, it was midnight and Ruby decided to head home. Zac
walked her across the street leaving her with a sweet goodnight kiss and told her he’d be
there on Monday.
************************************************************************
“Mom said you didn’t have to use chlorine today. Just get all the crap out,” Ruby
explained standing next to Zac by the pool Monday afternoon.
“No problem. Anything else?” Zac asked.
“Um,” Ruby ran her fingers through her hair. “The sprinklers need to be turned on
in the front -” Zac interrupted her by leaning down to place his lips on hers. Ruby’s hands
slid up Zac’s chest and around his neck as she helplessly pressed herself against his body.
Zac pulled away slowly. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
“Don’t be,” she smiled. “You know what?” Ruby asked. “I can’t believe Mom
pays you to turn on the sprinklers. I think I’m fully capable of doing that task.”
“So you’re saying I should go home?” Zac asked.
“No, no, no,” Ruby smiled grabbing onto his hand. “There’s still another task I
need you for.”
“Oh really?” Zac asked grinning. “What’s that?”
Ruby looked off to the side and shrugged her shoulders. “Let me know when
you’re done cleaning the pool. I’ll be in my room,” she said as she headed inside the
house through the sliding glass door.
Zac let out a laugh and walked over to the shed. “Someone’s gotta be kidding
me,” he said to himself.
************************************************************************
“Ruby?” Zac asked as he knocked on her bedroom door half an hour later.
“Come in,” she called.
Zac entered Ruby’s bedroom to find her sitting on the floor leaned up against the
bed with a sketch pad resting on her legs. A Dave Matthews CD was playing from her
stereo as she leisurely brushed a pencil across the page.
“Hey,” he said walking over and sitting beside her on the floor.
“Hi,” she said looking over at him.
“That’s cool,” he said referring to her sketch of the New York City skyline.
“Thanks,” she smiled and returned to her drawing.
“You miss New York?” He asked getting up to study the walls of her room.
She leaned her head back against the bed and looked at him. “Not at the
moment.”
Zac smiled. “I’ve never really seen your room before.”
“You’ve been up here, remember?”
“I was a little preoccupied last time,” Zac said with a smirk on his face. “I love
this one,” he told her looking at a framed print of Salvador Dali’s “Persistance of
Memory.” “There was this awesome Surrealist exhibit at the Modern when we were in New
York last summer. I love Dali's stuff,” Zac continued.
Ruby looked up from her drawing and stared at him. “Are you really 16?”
Zac turned from his gaze at the painting on the wall. “Yes,” he laughed. “You
wanna see my license?”
“I’ve just never met anyone like you before. You impress me,” she said.
“Impress you?” Zac smiled. “How is that?”
“It’s people like you who revive my faith in the human race.”
“Wow,” Zac laughed putting a framed picture of Ruby and her older sister back
down on her dresser. “That would have to be the best thing anyone’s ever told me.”
“Well,” Ruby put her sketch pad on the floor beside her, “for future reference - it’s
true.”
Zac smiled and returned to his position on the floor beside Ruby. “Some of the
things you say to me,” he said, his almost flawless face inches from hers. “I must say I’m
speechless.”
Chapter 11
