Zac sighed as he walked down the hall to his room. He looked at the pieces of paper in his hand, and opened the door. He saw Ricki on her bed, reading as usual. She glanced up without moving, and when she saw it was only him, went back to her book.
Zac walked over to her bed, stopped, dropped the object on her bed, and walked into the bathroom, closing the door. Ricki followed him with her eyes and didn't move until he was in the bathroom with the door locked and the shower water running. She sat up from her slouched position and picked up the object he had tossed on her bed. As she looked at what she held in her hands, her eyes widened.
"Oh my god." She said, covering her mouth.
Ten minutes later, Zac emerged in sweats and a t-shirt, freshly showered. Ricki raced up to him, tickets in hand.
"Why did you get these?" She asked.
"because I wanted to do something nice." He said with a shrug, toweling off his wet hair.
Ricki looked down at the tickets, then back at Zac. "You didn't have to."
Zac smirked at her. "I know I didn't have to. That's the beauty of it."
Ricki looked back at the tickets, barely believing they were there in her hands. The silence in the small room was taunting.
"Thank you." She was finally able to choke out. Zac turned around, still toweling his hair off.
He raised his eyebrows, and looked at her for a moment. He stopped drying his hair, and threw the dirty towel onto his bed. "You're welcome."
Ricki turned the tickets over in her hand. There was one more thing she was drying to know.
"Zac, why......just.....why?" She asked, holding them up.
Zac looked at her, then picked up his hair brush. "I don't know." He replied.
"Oh." She said stiffly. "Okay."
She sat back down on her bed, still holding the tickets. She was only able to stare at them blankly. She heard Zac come back out of the bathroom.
"You want to know why, Ricki? You want to know why?" He asked.
She turned around to face him, where he was standing in the doorway.
"Why?" She said quietly, her voice almost a whisper.
"Because....because....because I wanted to."
Ricki was silent for a moment. "But you didn't have to."
"No." Zac said. "You're right. But I wanted to. And I did." He looked at Ricki with such intensity she felt electric bolts go through her body. His eyes connected with hers for what seemed like the first time in weeks. She finally broke the hold, and looked back down at her bed, unable to comprehend.
The plane ride home the next day was quick and numb. The last twenty four hours had been the same way, in fact. Ricki set down her book and looked out the window. The earth slugged by below her. Every now and then a cloud would go by, bumping and then breaking with the plane. The small and almost un-real landscape miles below seemed much farther away than in reality.
After she had gotten the tickets, Ricki had gone to tell Mary Anne, and Mary Anne was just as surprised as she was. That night, Zac had gone out one last time before break with Susan, and she and Ricki had exchanged dirty glances before they left. Ricki had been alone that evening to pack, and Zac had come home alone that evening alone, when Ricki was asleep. She had awoken as he came in, but for some reason, she didn't say anything to him. She had listened as he undressed, thrown his dirty clothes on the floor, brushed his teeth, dug for pajamas, and then finally climbed into bed. That wasn't the strange part.
He watched her. She knew it; she could sense it. He had lain in bed on his side with the light on for almost fifteen minutes, just watching her. She didn't know it for sure, but she was almost sure of it. Then he had sighed heavily and turned out the light. Even then he didn't sleep. For the rest of the night, she heard him tossing and turning.
She had left very early that morning. So early in fact, that Zac hadn't been awake when she left. She almost prefferred it that way. She didn't want to deal with him in the morning.
The rest of Ricki's flight went by slowly. She poked at the ice in her soda with her straw; airplane drinks were always strange tasting. When it was finally time to land, she had never felt more relieved. The cramp space and the snoring man beside her in coach were making her anxious. She had found her father in the airport, and then the ride home had been choppy and uncomfortable.
Ricki didn't really know her father. Of course she knew him, but not well. He worked a lot and didn't get to spend a lot of time with his familiy due to his job. Ricki remembered her father before his big job promotion. He would laugh and play with his girls; they would spend endless afternoons with him in the backyard or at the park. But when Ricki was ten he recieved a higher paying, more important and cutting edge job. That's when the party had ended. Ricki had barely seen her father since.
"Eh, you mother will be happy to see you. So will your sisters." Her father attempted small talk.
"Oh really? I'm surprised mom remembered me."
Her father frowned as he turned onto their street. "Oh, stop that. Your mother loves you. She's just....eh, busy."
"Yeah." Ricki muttered.
"Oh Ricki!" Her mother exclaimed. "I'm glad you could make it earlier! You look great dear!"
"I look like shit." Ricki muttered, struggling to get her suitcase and bag through the door of her house.
"What dear?"
"Nothing. I said my bag's....heavy to lift."
Her mother frowned slightly. "That's alright....just get it in here..that's right."
Ricki dragged her suticase up the stairs and down the hall to her old bedroom. She had recieved the smallest room at the end of the hall; she hadn't been there when her sisters were allowed to pick rooms in their new house. Ricki's room was actually meant to be an office or storage room. Naturally, it was small and crampt.
She banged her elbow on the corner of her dresser getting in the door.
"Ow!" She exclaimed, grabbing it. She rolled her eyes. "Home sweet home."
It was going to be a long three weeks.