"I'm no longer single! Yes!" Jessica squealed.
"Feels good, doesn't it?" Nicole asked.
"Uh huh."
"We have boyfriends!" Emily said.
"Yay!" Erin said, clapping her hands.
"I hated being single. It sucked." Nicole said.
"I've always been single." Emily pointed out.
"Oh yeah. So Dwight's your first?" Nicole asked.
"Yeah. Gosh, I'm so excited!" Emily said.
The four girls all squealed and started giggling at each other. They were up in Nicole's room a few hours later on the floor, their sleepingbags in a circle in the middle of the room. One by one, their eyes drifted to Katie and they stopped. She smiled awkwardly.
"Sorry." Nicole muttered.
Katie plastered a smile on her face. "No, it's okay guys. Really."
Erin gave her a sympathetic look. "Are you sure? I was so sure you guys were gonna hook up tonight."
"Yeah." Emily said.
"I thought so too." Jessica said.
"You guys..." Katie said with a sigh. "I've told you before, Zac and I aren't getting back together. At least not now."
"Oh, you say that, but you guys have to."
"No, we don't." Katie said.
"You know you will." Nicole said.
"Yeah." Her other friends added.
"I doubt it." Katie said. She really wanted to drop the subject and be left alone- at this rate, she would rather listen to her friends go on about their new boyfriends than talk about the prospect of her and Zac getting back together. Katie hugged her pillow to her chest, trying to keep it together.
"Nah. I don't believe it." Nicole said.
"Nicole." Katie whined.
"Don't you miss him? You were so perfect." Nicole gave her a sympathetic look. "You have to miss him."
"No." Katie shook her head and hugged her pillow against her chest tighter. She thought of Zac's raspy voice and soft touch as she leaned on him earlier that night, outside Nicole's basement, and later when she rested against him during the movie. She felt the tears start to well up in her eyes. She stopped shaking her head no for a moment, then started to nod 'yes' as the tears started to stream down her cheeks.
"Awww....." Her cousin leaned over and gave her a hug. "I"m sorry." Nicole said.
"I miss him so much." Katie said.
"Oh, it's okay." Her friends scooted closer and patted her on the back.
"Shhh......" Nicole tried to soothe Katie's frazzled nerves. "I didn't mean to make you cry!" She joked.
Katie smiled and wiped her eyes. "I"m okay." She said.
"Oh...." Nicole said. "I'm sorry. I didn't know it was still....touchy."
"It's been 3 months....it should be!" Katie said.
"You can't help it though." Erin said.
"Yeah...but you should give him another chance." Emily said.
"I don't know though." Katie said, wiping her eyes and sniffing.
"Katie, face it." Jessica said. "If you didn't like him and he wasn't worth it, why would you be crying now, almost three months later?" She asked.
Katie looked at her blankly. "I don't know." She stuttered.
"That's what I thought." She said.
It was all Katie could do to now burst back into tears.
Across the street and down three houses, Zac wans't in any better of a mood. It was just his luck; all his friends wanted to talk about was girls.
"Dude, she so went for it." Dwight said.
"Really?" Nate asked. "I still can't believe Emily said yes."
"I'm the first person she's gone out with." Dwight said.
"And vice versa." Scott said with a laugh.
"Hey, tease all you like. She's hot."
"Dude, wasn't that awesome when they were all dancing around to Britney Spears? I just about died laughing." Nate said.
"Well, we're not allowed to comment anymore." Adam said. "We all have girlfriends now."
"Oh yeah." The other boys remembered.
"I'm not so sure about this." Scott said.
"Just give it a try; it's okay." Nate said.
"Yeah, just ask Zac." Dwight said.
"Yeah." Scott agreed. "You've been quiet this evening.
Zac snapped out of his trance. "Oh, what?"
The other boys chuckled at him. "Whatcha thinkin about?"
"Nothin." Zac said, trying to smile.
"Katie." They said in unison.
"No I wasn't." He defended himself.
"Right." Adam said, patting Zac on the shoulder. He knew that Katie was just about ALL that was on Zac's mind lately.
"Whatever." Zac said, pulling his knees up to his chest and grinning.
"Are you guys gonna hook up soon or what?" Nate asked.
"Yeah, what's going on with you two?" Scott asked.
Zac shook his head. "To tell you the truth, I don't even know."