Ricki walked in just as Zac set down the phone and threw himself back on his bed with a heavy sigh. Ricki sensed something was wrong.

"What's up?" SHe asked, setting down the basket of clean laundry she was carrying.

Zac sighed, then sat back up. His eyes met hers. "I have to go."

Ricki felt her heart start to race. "Go? Go where?"

"Away. To help my brothers." Zac said.

Ricki's eyes dropped from his. "Oh." She said. She had known that this day would come. Sooner or later, anyway.

"When?" She asked.

"Tomorrow."

"Where are you going?"

"LA."

"Why?"

"To help with the new album."

"Oh."

"Why the twenty questions?" He asked.

Ricki shrugged. "No reason." She said nonchalantly, turning to open one of her dresser drawers.

"Oh." Zac said. "Okay." Something is up....

He watched as Ricki frowned while she folded and put away her jeans. She bit her lip, then sighed and frowned some more.

"Ricki, we knew this was going to happen sooner or later." He said, getting up from the bed. He walked over to her.

"I know. I didn't say anything." She said, keeping her attention to folding her jeans.

"But you were thinking it." He said, looking her in the eyes.

Ricki suddenly turned around. "Oh, so now you know what I'm thinking?!?" She asked. She found herself almost face to face with Zac.

"I think so." He said confidently.

Ricki was begginning to see red. "You think, huh?"

"Yeah." He said.

"Well you're wrong." She said flatly, turning to put the jeans she was holding into a drawer.

Zac took a deep breath as she turned around. "Let's hope not." He said. Before she could say anything else, he kissed her, letting his lips linger on hers. When Zac didn't feel her pull away, he moved a hand up to rest on her cheek. He was surprised when she opened her mouth wider and slipped her tongue in his mouth.

A few seconds later they broke apart, still in a daze.

"I have laundry to do." She said slowly, not taking her eyes from his.

"Yeah...yeah..." Zac said. "I have to....go...pack....yeah." He said slowly. She broke their gaze, and threw her jeans in the drawer. Zac stumbled back over to his side of the room. Ricki folded and put away clothes, and Zac stuffed some clothes into a suitcase. They kept glancing at one another, not sure what to think.



That night, Zac couldn't sleep. He was absolutely posetive that if the lights in the room had been on, he could have seen Ricki looking over at him, just like he was doing at the moment. Their room was so dark that he could only see what there bed was, he couldn't see her. He hadn't come down yet from the cloud he had been on since they kissed, and he couldn't think of anything else except her soft lips on his and the sweet taste of her.

Should I tell her I have feelings for her? What if she's just leading me on? What if she really likes me? He turned over onto his other side, facing the wall. He sighed loudly. He could get up and go to the bathroom and turn the light on, then he could see if she was awake. No, that would be stupid if he woke her up. Then she would really hate him.

He was leaving in a few hours. He was getting on a plane and flying across the country, not knowing when he would be back. He had no plans, and no idea of where he was going after they finished the album work, and he had no clue as to how long he would gone, or even if he was coming back. He wasn't there to get his master's; he was just there to get a few college classes and knowledge.

Sleep was useless. How could he sleep with the feelings he was still hiding and knowing that he was going to be thousands of miles away in a matter of hours? He didn't want to go. he didn't want to leave school, his room, Ricki. He didn't want to leave her period. But he had to. It was his job, his life, his obligation.

The album will take us until at least June....then we're going on tour until September....and I don't even know what they'll have planned for us after that. I don't want to leave tomorrow to work on the stupid album. I don't want to leave Ricki. What am I going to do?



Across the room, Ricki wasn't having any more luck with sleep. Like Zac, it just wouldn't come that night. Ricki was used to it; It was a feeling she had been feeling a lot lately. She was tired during the day, and restless during the night. With the accident, and school, she didn't have time to worry about anything else.

Except for Zac. She knew she had to say something to him before he left tomorrow, but what? What could she say to him, after all that had happened? She sighed, and looked to his side of the room, which seemed even darker than hers. Was he still awake? She couldn't tell.

He's right over there...I could wake him up and turn on the light, and we could sort this out all right now. But I can't. I can't get in the way of his work. If I told him, what would happen? Would that change anything? He has his obligations...and I'm not one of them.



Zac heard his alarm clock, but he didn't want to believe it. He smacked the snooze, then opened his eyes. The sunlight was just starting to pour into the room, at six in the morning.

I don't even remember falling asleep....least I got some. I could get some on the plane. he thought. That plane....oh shit...I leave today...

He instinctively looked over at Ricki's bed. She was in it, on her side facing him. He got up out of bed and walked as slowly and quietly as possible over to stand a few feet from her bed. He watched her sleep a few moments; he had never seen her look so calm or angelic. He sighed.

"If you only knew." He said quietly. He watched her a few more minutes, then remembered that his flight was to leave in two hours. That's all he had. Two hours.



When she heard the bathroom door close and the shower start, Ricki opened her eyes. She stayed in bed for a few more moments.

"But I do know." She whispered, a few tears running down her cheeks.