Zack's Morning

Zack finished his shower and dressed in the bathroom with the clothes Gavin had thoughtfully brought him. For a moment he wondered how Gavin had bypassed the lock on the bathroom door before dismissing the thought. He had more important things on his mind.

He was still working through everything from last night. Last night with Peter had been a real eye-opener for him. Peter tried to help him understand that having a crush was fine and all, that he did nothing wrong, and shared some of his own experience and pain. Peter also told him all about the subtle clues girls tended to show when they were interested in a guy, like playing with their hair while they talked or fiddling with a necklace, earring, or the collar of their shirt, body posture, and stuff like that. Peter also surprised Zack with the fact that most girls in college would say yes to a cup of coffee after chatting for a few minutes, something Zack found hard to believe at first. Of course, hooking up was another story and that was yet another eye-opener for Zack.

But the real shock came when Peter started getting drunk and started telling Zack of his own personal experience with girls and even more when his drunken rambling led to talking about Hannah and Taylor amid bouts of puking and even more drinking. It wasn't a pretty sight and Zack felt really sad seeing the older teen that he so admired crumble and pour out his inner turmoil. Zack hoped he never ever got drunk like that. It made him feel so bad for Peter that he wondered if one day he could help him just as Peter had always helped Zack.

He gingerly put on his jeans and t-shirt, the long gash on his forearm seemed to ache every time his muscles flexed. 'Taylor can fix it' he thought looking at the gasp on his arm again as he stepped out of the bathroom. He knew Taylor could patch him up so it wouldn't get infected. A sense of dread filled him at the thought of going back and confronting everyone. He had felt Vicky's harsh stare burn into him while he helped drag Peter inside and saw Kurt's smug grin next to her. Taking a deep breath Zack steeled himself and went into the living room looking for Taylor and Chloe.

"Take a seat Bishop," Heather said pointing to a chair next to Ashley.

"Where's Taylor?" Zack asked looking around for her but could only see Gavin trying to disappear into the walls.

"She left with Hannah and Chloe," Heather said.

"They left to get Chloe a bathing suit." Ashley quickly added seeing the surprise on Zack's face before glaring at Heather for just dumping the news on Zack like a cold bucket of water.

Heather just shrugged and added "They said they'd be back for lunch. They should be on their way right now."

"They're... They're gone?" Zack asked, surprised and confused at why his sister and best friend had left him alone. Zack suddenly felt like he'd been punched in the gut again as he sank down in the chair. He couldn't believe Taylor had Chloe had left without him. He couldn't believe they had abandoned him, left him all alone here.

"ZACK!" Ashley's voice brought him back out of a depressing daze. "How did you get hurt?" He barely noticed while Ashley examined and cleaned the open gasp. First Aid was one of the things her mother had taught her when Ashley had decided to study to become a kindergarten teacher. 'those little kids are going to get hurt and when they do they're going to want their teacher to fix their boo-boo' her mother had said. It was also something she had helped out a few times on the field with the football team or with the squad when someone got hurt.

"Oh, emm," Zack start to mumble "I was helping Peter walk when he stumbled and started to fall. I tried to stop it but he fell into me and well, we both fell next to the trail. I, I think I scraped it with a rock or one of the thorny bushes there when he fell on top of me."

"Awww" Ashley sighed with awe. "That's really sweet of you to take care of him. Thanks Zack!"

"Well... It doesn't look like you'll need stitches." She said squeezing the skin flaps close while Heather and Gavin helped putting super glue to keep the skin together before putting gauze and tape over it.

"There. That should keep it clean." Ashley said triumphantly as she took Zack's hand in hers and patted him with her free hand. "Just make sure it stays clean and dry and it should be good in a few days. Taylor can take a look at it she gets back and changes the bandages" Zack mumbled his thanks and Ashley squeezed his hands, staring into his blue eyes, and said, "It's going to be okay."

Zack nodded and started to get up when Madison came over with a loaded tray, "I got your breakfast Zack!" she said hopefully.

Zack just shook his head and said "I'm not hungry. I'm... I'm going home."

The girls all looked at each other and over at Gavin. Gavin finally spoke up. "Em... Chloe took your keys" Gavin said sheepishly. "She and Taylor send you a message. You should check your phone." Gavin said passing Zack his phone "I charged it for you."

Zack's nodded his thanks, his shoulders slumped in defeat, he took the phone and went to his room and locked the door.

******

The rest of the teens stood around the table for a few moments looking at each other when Brandon and Trent came back down the stairs. "Ok, Peter just finished his shower and he's changing in his room now," Brandon said. "We... stayed just in case he fell, again."

"Yeah," Trent added. "Never seen hangover like that."

"I'll take him his breakfast," Ashley said.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Brandon said holding his hands up "You're not going up there alone with him."

"What the hell Bran!" Ashley said annoyed. "You heard Hannah! He needs to have something in his stomach."

"Yeah well, she al..." Brandon quickly shut up when he saw the furious look on his petite girlfriend's face and realized the was about to screw things up again and tried to fix it before he completely screwed up. He quickly nodded and changed his tone "I mean... I don't know if he's dressed... Let me take it to him." he added and took the tray.

Ashley rolled her eyes as she watched Brandon try to balance the tray with unsteady hands and took it from him before he spilled it. "Give it to me before you spill it all. Just go in front and make _suuurree _he has clothes on," she said with a wry look on her face. With Brandon leading the way Ashley looked back at Heather and tilted her head over to Madison and then to where Zack had gone.

Once Brandon was out of sight Heather turned to Madison with a wink and gave her a knowing grin, "Maddie? why don't you take Zack his breakfast? He needs to keep his strength up. And we want to keep him hydrated, You know, keep his electrolytes up."

"But he said he wasn't hungry." Madison protested.

"He needs his breakfast," Heather hissed tilting her head, her eyes darting over to Zack's room. Madison's eye's suddenly lit up and she quickly picked up the tray for Zack and headed over.

****

"Zack?" Madison whispered as she entered the room after Gavin had opened the door for her, "I brought you your breakfast. I made it myself" she said proudly. Her mother had often said that the path to a man's heart sometimes ran through his stomach. She softly walked into the room and set the tray down on the coffee table in front of Zack. As she did so Madison bent over at the waist in front of him, almost pushing her butt in his face.

Zack pulled back from his phone and was surprised to come face to face with Madison's butt. The swirling colored patterns on her yoga pants immediately drew his eyes to her crotch, right at the gap between her legs, he stared and the way the tight pants stretched and clung to every curve and cleft on her body. He sucked in his breath and felt his heartbeat quicken when he noticed he could trace every outline of her panties.

Leaning back onto the couch he swallowed hard and **** his eyes to look away to find something to distract him and found it in Gavin standing by the doorway. Gavin was also staring at Madison's rump jutting out and the swell of her breast within the tight t-shirt she was wearing over her tank top. His eyes were wide open in surprise and felt a sudden stirring in his pants at the sexy sight of Madison bending over. He also felt a sudden pang of jealousy mixed with his arousal that the girl he had once had a crush on was practically pushing her butt into his best friend's face.

"What did Chloe say?" Madison repeated herself.

Zack shook his head and looked back up at Madison, Now she was standing up and turning around next to the coffee table but still her crotch was right at his eye level. Zack remembered what his mother and Taylor and Hannah had told him and **** his eyes up to look at Madison's face.

"Em," he stuttered, caught off guard again and blushing, hoping she hadn't noticed him looking at her butt and at her crotch. He took a deep breath and said, "Yeah, she said she was going with Taylor, Hannah, and Meagan to get her bathing suit and that Taylor had insisted she take my keys so that..." He paused not wanting to repeat the 'not run away' part that Taylor had said, "And well, she said she was sorry, that they wouldn't let her stay with him and that the girls had promised to be by for lunch."

Madison had indeed noticed Zack's, and Gavin's, eyes admiring her. She had quickly learned to notice men's wandering eyes these last few years and know when is just simple admiration or lust. She was glad that she had, in fact, caught the attention of both boys. She sat down next to Zack on the sofa. "So, what else did they say?" she said brushing a strand of hair from her eyes and twirling it in her fingers.

"Well, not much else, I was just starting to watch it," he said.

"Can we watch?" she asked looking over at Gavin who silently nodded. He was surprised when he saw Madison wink.

"I guess," Zack answered. He felt comfortable that Madison at least knew that he and Chloe were just friends, same with Gavin and Ashley. Pulling his phone back up he started again the Video from Chloe and they watched her sadly apologize for leaving him, that Taylor hadn't given her much choice in the matter.

While they watch the Video from Chloe and Taylor Zack could see Madison again play with a strand of her hair, and absentmindedly adjust her clothing. It reminded him of Peter's comments last night. 'Could it be true? Is she giving me signs?' Zack started to wonder as they talked 'Or is it for Gavin? Must be for Gavin.... unless... unless it's a trap to see if I'm a pervert so that Brandon can beat me up and kick my ass.' All these thoughts started running around in his head as he tried to decide what to make of it all.