Thinking of You

I love Josh.  He's hilarious.

 

Part 45: Chloe's Point of View

I walked outside and saw Ali on the swing set in the backyard. She had a peaceful look on her face as she sat in the hammock reading a book.

I walked up to her with a big smile on my face. "Aliii!" She ran up to me and gave me a giant hug.

"Hey Chloe! What's going on?" She looked around me and gestured towards the large window, if you looked really close, you could see Josh holding Zach by the collar and his fist was raised. Josh was screaming at him. Josh wouldn't do anything though, Zach is strong and quick. He could get out of the way fast.

I laughed and looked back at Ali. "Uhh.. Josh thinks that Zach hid his gummy sharks." Ali started laughing hysterically, to the point where I think she was having trouble breathing.

When she caught her breath, she managed to choke out a few words. "He's.. Such.. An.. Idiot. They're in his bag." We both started laughing again, I glanced back at the window again and saw Zach standing over Josh this time. Josh looked like a four year old, looking down and pouting because he did something wrong. "Oh my gosh that's so pretty!"

Ali carefully picked up the necklace that Zach had given me when he asked me to be his girlfriend. I'm probably never going to take it off. It means too much to me.

"Yeah." I felt a blush creep onto my face. "Zach gave it to me." I smiled remembering how cute it was.

Ali started jumping up and down. "OH MY GOSH! You didn't tell me he asked you out! You two are the CUTEST couple EVER! I swear. I could just die." It was moments like this when I was reminded why Ali and Josh are perfect for each other.

I smiled. "Isn't it obvious?" I laughed and she blushed a little bit.

"I guess not." She lifted the necklace back up to examine it. "This is SO pretty! Oh my gosh. He's perfect." I raised my eyebrow. "Don't worry Chloe." She flashed me her ring finger. "I'm engaged." She went back to looking at my necklace. "Wait! Awh, that's so sweet!"

I looked at her funny and she showed me what she was looking at. In small letters, 'I love you' was written on the inside.

I ran inside and Zach looked at me funny. I ran up to him and showed him my necklace. He smiled and pulled me closer to him. "I already told you baby. I'll tell you everyday for the rest of my life." He whispered into my ear. "I've been in love with you since the first time I saw you."

 

Part 46: Zach's Point of View

I grinned at Chloe. She looked at me with a questioning glance. "20 questions. You first." She smiled back. "What's your favorite color?" I pretended to think for a minute.

"Your eyes." I winked at her but she hit my arm playfully and gave me a 'Not what I meant' glare. "It's purple." She nodded.

"Where on Earth did you learn how to play basketball like such a boss?!"

She smirked. "Still upset that I beat you?" I glared at her. "Basketball camps every summer since 3rd grade. AAU, you know." I nodded. "Tell me about your childhood." She grinned at me, with a sparkle in her gorgeous eyes.

I thought for a minute. "Well, I was born on June 28th, 1993, I grew up with 2 older brothers and 2 older sisters." Her eyes widened. "Don't look so surprised Chloe." I stuck my tongue out at her, using the same line that she always used with me. "I don't know one of my brothers. I've never met him. My other brother is a lot older than me. He's 32."

Her eyes widened a lot more. "But your parents look so young!" I laughed.

"That's because they're Bennetts. But anyway, I grew up around a lot of bad stuff. Since I'm the youngest, I got the privilege to learn from my sibling's mistakes. I've seen them wasted as hell and so gone it's ridiculous. All of them are messed up in their own way. My oldest sister, Tasha, had a baby at 21. I'm not saying that's bad, but she's a recovering alcoholic. She started drinking when she was 14. She's 26 now. My second oldest sister, Emily, is 25 now and she kind of went through the same thing. But she didn't get pregnant. She just kind of got around.. A lot. She has major anger issues too. And then Josh moved in with us at the end of my Junior year. And you know how he is. My parents weren't around enough to really care. Let alone do anything about it."

She nodded her head. "But you're so perfect." She whispered. "How is that even possible?"

I moved closer to her. "I'm the youngest, and smartest. I learn from mistakes others have made. I've kept my head on straight, and I've learned how to treat people right. I've been hurt before, badly, and I learned not to hurt others. It's a ripple effect. The knowledge just keeps spreading."

She smiled and leaned up to kiss me. I had to lean down because I'm about a foot and a half taller than her. Electricity raced through my whole body. I smiled as we pulled away. "What do you want to be when you grow up?" She smiled shyly at me.

"Well, you probably won't like this very much considering your parents and everything, but I want to be a lawyer." She looked down, probably thinking I would get mad at her. I don't get mad easily, that's something she'll learn about me overtime.

I smiled. "I think that's great. If that's what you want to do, then go ahead. No one can stop you baby, I support you. It was only hard for me because both of my parents were lawyers and they were gone all the time. So they kind of missed me growing up."

She looked at me with an adorable smile on her face. "You're so cute." She said giggling. "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I looked at her with a smirk on my face.

"Your husband." I said winking. I waited for a few minutes for dramatic effect. "Slash a doctor slash a father slash an NBA player slash a little league sports coach. Yeah sounds great to me."

She laughed. Music to my ears. "Sounds like you've got it all figured out."

I smiled back at her. "Believe me, I do."

 

Part 47: Chloe's Point of View

We have been at Zach's parents' for about a week, maybe more. I haven't been able to keep track of time. It doesn't matter to me anymore. Zach woke me up early today, saying that he had a surprise for me, but it wasn't coming 'till later.

I went downstairs and Zach's Mom was cooking breakfast. I smiled at her. "Good morning, Mrs. Bennett!" She looked over her shoulder and smiled.

"Ew. Mrs. Bennett is my mother and law." She laughed. "Call me Mom or Julia. Whatever works for you." She gave me a motherly smile and went back to cooking.

I heard Zach's footsteps coming down from upstairs. He turned around the corner and looked towards the stove. "Since when do you cook, Mom?" He laughed and gave me a hug. "Good morning baby." He said as he kissed my cheek and hugged me from behind.

Josh followed right behind Zach. "Since when do you know HOW to cook, ma?" Mom. I liked that. I've never had anyone to call that before, or not for a while. Mom looked at Josh and Zach and glared daggers at them.

"I'll have you two know that I've been taking cooking classes and I'm doing quite well." She wiped her hands on her apron in a 'Take That!' sort of way. Josh shrugged and started to walk out the door.

"Yo Zach. I'mma go shoot hoops. You in?" Zach looked at me to ask if I wanted to go. I mouthed 'Go ahead' to him. He kissed my cheek and headed out the door yelling at Josh that he was doomed.

I turned back to face Mom. "Do you know what the big surprise is?" Mom turned around and gave me a knowing smile.

"Zach's siblings are coming today. All 3 of them!" I raised my eyebrow. Zach has 4 siblings.. Mom lowered her voice. "Oh honey. Hasn't he told you?" I shook my head. "Well, I suppose he wouldn't know, he never met him. One of Zach's older brothers died last year, a drunk driver hit him. Poor Zach. He never even got to meet his older brother. Tyler was such a good kid."

In a couple of hours, Zach's other siblings showed up altogether. They each came up and introduced themselves one by one. Tasha was really nice, she seemed like a really happy person, and her son Luke was adorable! Chris was nice, the oldest one, but I had a feeling he didn't really want to be here. Zach was looking around for someone.

"Zach, who are you looking for?" He continued to look around.

"My other sister, Emily. You have to meet everyone silly. The Bennett family is very extensive." He laughed. I can see that.

He pulled my hand downstairs towards the theater, we walked in and saw someone sitting in the corner of the room, watching a Disney movie. When we came in she immediately stiffened.

"There you are sis!" Zach went up to the girl who I assumed was Emily and gave her a large hug. She was taller than me, as most of them are, and she had curly black hair, and piercing green eyes. She has high cheekbones, just like their mom, and a strong figure, also like their mom's.

"Emily, I want you to meet my girlfriend Chloe." He kissed my cheek and went to go leave the room. "I'll let you two get to know each other." and with that he turned and left.

After he left the room the door slowly slammed shut. I put my hand to shake her hand. "Hi I'm Chl-"

She slapped my hand away and slowly walked towards me, in a very threatening way.

"Listen close, because I'm only going to say it once. Stay the f*ck away from my brother. You don't deserve him."