Broken Glasses

Broken Glasses

"Chloe, what happened?" Zack asked and saw the scared, distraught look on Chloe's face and knew something was wrong.

"N-N-Nothing" Chloe managed to stammer as she tried to turn away and hide the shame that she felt at being found out. Both friends instantly knew that it was a lie that wouldn't fly. They knew each other so well they could read their body language like an open book.

Zack instantly grabbed Chloe's hand before she could bolt from the room. "Chloe? Chloe what's wrong?" he asked softly even as he dreaded hearing her answer. Zack saw her try to look away and he grabbed both her hands, he felt his chest tighten inside him as he feared to know the answer. "Chloe?"

Chloe felt a wave of shame and guilt at what she had just done. She couldn't believe she had let herself do what she had just done. 'I shouldn't have listened to Meagan!' Chloe scolded herself as she stared down at her feet, she just couldn't look at his face. She didn't want to see the look of disappointment she knew she would find there. 'He's going to hate me if I tell him.'

"It's nothing, I... I... It's nothing," Chloe said as she tried to avoid the conversation even if she knew it wouldn't work with Zack. 'I'm sorry Zack,' she wanted to say. 'What did I do! How do I get out of this?' she berated herself.

Zack gently grabbed her chin and tilted her head up, he could sense the anguish inside her even before he looked into her beautiful blue eyes. Seeing the fear and hurt in her eyes just confirmed what he knew inside. He didn't know how he knew it, but he knew Kurt was the cause of her pain. Who else could it be. Zack pulled Chloe close to him and wrapped his arms tightly around her, holding her close, he impulsively kissed her forehead and rubbed her back while he whispered "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Chloe." Inside his heart, he cursed himself for not protecting Chloe from Kurt, for failing her.

Chloe hugged Zack tightly, clinging to him with her fingers digging into his shirt as she tried to **** her sadness back inside when she heard Zack say those words. She felt like she had betrayed his trust in her by hiding this and his heart-filled apology only made her feel worse inside. 'I should have gone straight to Zack like Hannah said! I shouldn't have listened to Meagan!' her mind screamed at her 'I shouldn't have listened to Meagan!'

Zack felt Chloe's body give a slight shudder in his arms and he leaned down to kiss her forehead again. "It will be ok" Zack whispered a few times and he rested his lips on her head while she buried her face in his shoulder.

Zack's loving attitude just made Cloe feel more ashamed of what she had done. She felt like she had betrayed not only herself but also Zack. The guilt hurt worse because she felt so safe with Zack. She couldn't understand how he could still hold her after what she had done. How could he still care for her?

The two friends could almost feel the anguish in each other. Zack couldn't understand why Chloe was so sad and scared and Chloe couldn't understand why Zack wasn't angry with her.

Chloe pulled away from Zack, a tear forming in the corner of her eye that Zack brushed away with his thumb. "I, I got to go," Chloe said hastily as she tried to leave.

"Chloe! Please Stay!" Zack said, "Chloe! Don't go back to him!" he urged her, but Chloe pulled away and Zack didn't have the will to keep her.

"I have to go!" Chloe said as she fled the room. On her way out Chloe flashed by Madison without seeing her. Zack stared at her for a moment before he followed her.

****

Madison had fled from Brandon and ran around the cabin but when he hadn't followed her Madison feared Brandon might have picked a fight with Zack. Fighting against her fears she came around the cabin and just managed to see Kurt leave the cabin, but instead of heading down to the lake he walked around the cabin. Kurt was followed a few moments later by Brandon and Madison managed to hide behind a bush. She was puzzled by Brandon's worried and confused expression and she wondered what had happened between him and Zack.

Nobody noticed how Kurt walked around the cabin and took a picture of Zack and Chloe together.

She silently moved behind him to the terrace and looked inside just in time to see Chloe enter the room from the garage and Zack from the foyer. Madison breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Zack was unhurt and she was even more surprised to catch the distraught look on Chloe's face and watched the scene between Zack and Chloe play out in the living room till she saw Chloe break away and run out the cabin.

"Chloe!" Madison called out to ask what was wrong but Chloe just ignored her and blew right past her. Then she saw a worried Zack come out following Chloe. Madison tried to stop Zack but ended up sped-walking next to him. "What happened to Chloe!" she asked.

"I don't know," Zack said, as he tried to hurry after her, ""She won't tell me what's wrong!"

"Is it a girl thing?" Madison offered hopefully.

Zack just shook his head in disbelief and said with frustration, "Then why won't she tell me?"

"Let me talk to her," Madison offered and stopped when Zack stopped pursuing Chloe, "She's my friend too. If it's a girl thing maybe she'll tell me? Maybe I can help her."

Zack stood there looking back and forth between Madison and back at where Chloe was going "OK" Zack agreed "But tell me what happened, please?"

"OK! I'll be right back.!" Madison said and she started running after Chloe till she caught up with her and the other girls.

Zack stayed back and walked around in circles worried about what to do till he suddenly remember Peter. Looking down at the lake he could see where Peter was standing up and starting to head back to the cabin. Zack walked down the slope to meet Peter.

"Pete, Can you help me?" Zack asked hesitantly when they meet.

"Sure," Peter said noticing how worried Zack looked, and kept glancing over where the girls had all gathered around. "Girl trouble?" he asked and when Zack nodded Peter put his arm around Zack's shoulder and steered him down to the lake. "Let's go down to the fire pit."

Zack nodded and remembered the last time they had talked and said, "But no **** please."

"No, no ****!" Peter said shaking his head "Taylor would kill me if drank any without her permission."

"Thanks." Zack signed with relief. He didn't want to say it but Peter had been a bad drunk that night.

****

"What's wrong Chloe?" Taylor asked the distraught teen. She was worried about what might have happened to make her so unsettled.

"I screwed up!" Chloe said almost tearfully, "And now Zack knows!"

Both Taylor put her arm around the redhead's shoulder and they both sat down with Hannah, Meagan, and Madison. "C'mon, you can tell me." Taylor said soothingly "It can't be that bad."

"Yes it is," Chloe said as she clenched her fists in frustration, "He's not going to talk to me again."

"Nah! How bad can it be?" Hannah said. "I mean, It's not like you were cheating on him? Right?" Chloe buried her head in her hands and groaned. "Wait!? What happened?" Hannah said in surprise. She had said that jokingly to ease the tension but now she was really worried about what had happened.

"Let it out Chloe," Taylor said soothingly as she held the young girl. Even Madison reached out and took her hand.

"I... I..." Chloe said tentatively, softly. She was embarrassed by what she had done but being with her friends, especially girls, she felt she could trust them, "I had sex with Kurt."

"WHAT!?" all the girls said at the same time. Chloe just groaned louder as she buried her head.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Meagan angrily questioned her.

"Cause you told me to!" Chloe groaned.

"I told you to go after Zack! Not... that!" Meagan said.

"Yes you did!" Chloe said facing her friend.

"Wait! You told me that last night you went to talk to Zack while he cleaned the grill right?" Meagan said and when Chloe said yes she continued, "And you told me that you think Zack almost kissed you right?" Again Chloe said yes. "So then you said you went over to the bench under the bolder and that Zack came up behind you and felt you up?"

"NO! It was KURT!" Chloe shot back. and the girls all looked at her in surprise. 'So that's who it was' Hannah said to herself.

Meagan slapped Chloe's shoulder and said "You never said it was Kurt! I thought it was Zack all along! I'd never tell you to go after him! You know that!"

"Oh God! I'm sorry Taylor! I screwed up, I screwed up!" Chloe apologized. Chloe couldn't believe how dumb she had been to do that.

"Chloe? Do you like Zack?" Chloe heard someone ask softly but she couldn't remember who said it.

"No! I can't like him!" Chloe tried to defend her own emotions. "Maddie likes him! She's trying to get his attention! I can't like him!"

"Pfft!" Hannah snorted catching everyone's attention, "That's easy. You two can just share him!" All the girls looked at her in shock. "What?" Hannah asked as she looked back in surprise that they were shocked by what she had just proposed.

"Hannah!" Taylor chided her friend as her eyes bored into Hannah for suggesting that at a time like this.

"What?" Hannah said innocently, "They can take turns with Zack if they only want a one-on-one. I'm sure he can keep them both happy."

Hannah turned to the two girls and pretended to cover her mouth and pretended to whisper but she was still loud enough for everyone to hear, "Zack's got a big cock!" she said and spread her hands out wide to exaggerate the size.

"How can you say that!" Taylor berated Hannah.

"What? It's true!" Hannah said pretending to be clueless, "You're not gonna tell me you never saw the bulge in his pants whenever I tease him? That's why I do it to him. You know? "Get a 'rise' out of little Zakie" Hannah turned to the other girls and winked "Little Zackie isn't little" the girls all giggled and even Meagan couldn't help but chuckle. "They've all seen the tent in his swimming trunks when he saw us in a bikini, well maybe not Meagan," Hannah continues while Meagan just roll her eyes in annoyance and Chloe and Madison both started to laugh, "but THEY have, right girls? I bet they'd both want to see how thick and hard he is, unless they already done it, You have girls? Right?" she said winking at Madison and Chloe. The brunette and redhead both blushed and looked away, they blush even harder when they saw how red each other's faces were. "See!! And I'm sure Zack's got a nice, thick, big cock and can make them both very, veerrryy happy with his pussy pleaser!"

"That's not what I meant! How can you think sharing Zack is a good idea?" Taylor shot back at her friend. Annoyed at how her answer was always sex. "You can't fix everything with sex!"

"Sure I can! Sex fixes everything." Hannah said confidently, Besides," Hannah continues coyly with a sly smile, "You know it's every boy's dream come true. I don't think Zack could say no to these two hot babes. You wouldn't keep them away from Zack would you?"

"Taylor lifted a shaking hand at Hannah. She didn't know if she should scold her best friends, tell her to fuck off, or slap some sense into her. "How can you even think that's going to help Chloe?" she whispered

"Just because you don't want to admit you like Peter doesn't mean Chloe can't admit she like Zack." Hannah said, "And just because you don't want us to share Peter together doesn't mean Chloe and Madison can't share Zack." Taylor just stared flabbergasted at Hannah's rant. Hannah smiled at her friend's discomfort. "You'd know it if you'd just admit what you feel about us!"

"AWW GOD! You're incorrigible!" Taylor said roughly as she stood up and pulled Chloe up with her. "C'mon Chloe," Taylor said as she pulled Chloe away from the other.

"I Love you too!" Hannah called out to Taylor as she left with Chloe. They heard Hannah start to say something to the other two girls but they soon were out of range to hear more of Hannah's rant.

Taylor draped one arm over Chloe's shoulder as she led her away from the other girls for a few minutes. Taylor led Chloe to a spot and finally sat down under a tree and watched the sun set over Silver Lake and the full moon started to cast its silvery reflection over the water. "You know Chloe. It's normal for friends to have feelings for each other." She said.

"But I don't have feelings for Zack!" Chloe said defensively.

"Really? Then why are you so upset that Zack found out?" Taylor said nudging Chloe. "Why do you feel like you cheated on Zack if you don't have feelings for him?" Chloe started to protest but Taylor cut her off. "I saw how you reacted when Hannah said that. You feel you cheated on him. right?"

Chloe just sat there in silence and absentmindedly nodded as she shifted through her chaotic emotions. 'Do I really feel like I cheated on Zack? Do I feel like that because I do love him? What if Zack doesn't feel the same for me? Is he disappointed in me for being with Kurt or something else? But, If he feels the same for me wouldn't he be mad at me?' These were just some of the questions Chloe asked herself while she looked up at the full moon and wondered how things would change with Zack. Because she knew that after what just happened, things were going to change with Zack.

"You know. It's okay to want to take the next step with Zack. I felt that too with Peter. The same thing happened to me and Peter. Well almost." Taylor said looking out over the lake. "I had feelings for him, I just didn't want to admit it. I lied to myself about what I felt for Peter. You know the whole 'Boys and Girls can be friends, We're just friends, He's like a brother,' that stuff," she watched Chloe nod in agreement, "Don't wait too long to admit your feelings for Zack or it might be too late. I almost waited too long with Peter."

"Are you dating Peter?" Chloe asked in surprise, "I didn't know. Zack never told me..."

"Nobody knows," Taylor said. "We just started, but we don't want to tell anyone yet. You're the first one to know."

"Why not?" Chloe asked confused as to why Taylor hadn't said anything and why she wanted to hide it.

Taylor took a deep breath and sighed before she answered. "Because once we make it official Hannah's gonna want to be a part of it and I don't know if I want that. She hurt Peter pretty badly when they broke up. I don't want her to hurt Peter again." They fell into a short-lived silence again.

"So you better make up your mind about how you feel about Zack before Hannah or someone else comes along and takes him away from you, forever," Taylor warned her.

Chloe just shook her head and said firmly, "Nobody's ever going to take Zack away from me."

Taylor looked at Chloe and raised her eyebrow, "Nobody's going to take Zack away from you?" she grinned and watched Chloe's eyes go wide open when she realized what she had said and why "So, you admit that he's... your boy?" Taylor nudged a surprised Chloe with her elbow.

****

Zack and Peter sat down in silence by the fire pit next to the lake. Peter waited a few minutes as the sun set while Zack collected his thoughts. He didn't know how to feel, things were starting to look great until... now. He didn't know if should feel angry, hurt, or hopeful or what.

"Soooo... what happened since we last talked?" Peter prodded Zack with the open question. Zack slowly started to tell Peter what had happened and he quickly picked up the pace of his story. He left out the part about fucking Hannah because he didn't want to hurt Peter's feelings but it was clear that he "Had done something with someone, and more than once with that someone."

"Huh? So you like Madison? Peter asked him.

"Yeah, I mean, she cute and all, She got some spunk too, it's just too bad that Brandon's always on her case," Zack said sheepishly.

"But you also like Chloe?" Peter added.

"I don't know what's wrong and she won't tell me!" Zack blurted out in frustration, his words flowing as if a dam inside him had finally broken. "How can I help her if she won't tell me what's wrong? I can't protect her if I don't know what she's afraid of! I have to do something but I don't know what to do!"

Peter mulled over the situation. He was starting to get an idea of what Zack's dilemma might be. In his mind, Peter started piecing together what he knew about Zack's life like it was a storyboard for a romance novel he was writing. Peter looked at Zack's love life like the plot of a novel, The Hero's Journey, with its plot twists and turns, and red herrings. In his mind he started to fit a few moments in Zack's life into some of the steps of the story, he could start to see some of the "The Call to Adventure, The Refusal, The Trials, etc"

Peter realized that Zack's crush on Victoria had started about the same time as his problems with the basketball team and why he had refused to join the team after they made fun of his friendship with Chloe. Also his first fight with Brandon and Chloe's accidental... 'OH! So that's it.' He suddenly realized what one of the pieces was, he almost forgot about it. Chloe. Zack's romance novel took on a new form and he started to guess what was really happening.

"Who do you think you have to protect Chloe from?" He asked throwing in the 'Who' instead of the 'What'

"From guys like Kurt!" Zack said.

"What's wrong with Kurt?" Peter asked innocently prodding Zack, poking him to get his reaction. "He seems like a nice guy, talks well, handsome, you know, the guy most girls like. Maybe Chloe likes him."

"NO!" Zack said firmly, "He feels slimy. He's got shifty eyes. He's always looking at other girls even while he's flirting with Vicky" Zack said. Peter raised an eyebrow of surprise. He hadn't noticed that and neither Hannah nor Taylor had said anything and they usually were right on top of those things, but then again they had been busy. "Chloe's really special. She needs a guy who will respect her, who loves her for who she is and-"

"-She needs a guy like you?" Peter said interrupting Zack.

"Yes! Exactly that! What? No! No! Not me!" Zack said defending himself.

"So what Chloe needs is Clone-Zack? Why not give her the original Zack? Like really give it to her?" Peter winked as he teased Zack.

Seeing Zack roll his eyes at another jab of him and Chloe being a couple. Peter shrugged and continued "Still, I can understand Kurt, Chloe's a cute redhead, kinda innocent with a nice big pair of watermelons," Peter added holding out his hands in front of him. "Wonder who has bigger tits, Hannah, Heather, or Chloe?" Peter mussed as he glanced sideways at Zack to gauge his reaction. "Hannah's are just a little bit bigger than Heather's but I'd have to check out Chloe. Do you think she'd let me grab a handful? Maybe put all three together to ...."

Peter trailed off his comments when she saw how Zack was starting to tense up at the tease. Peter started laughing and he playfully smacked Zack on his shoulder, "Dude, Just messing with you! I'm not going to do anything with Chloe. You don't have to get jealous."

"I'm not jealous!" Zack shot back, but Peter just smiled and laughed good-naturedly as he ruffled Zack's hair.

"RRiiigghhtt!! Suurrreee!!" Peter drawled out as he smiled at Zack. "That's why you wanted to kill Kurt when is asked if 'Chloe's rug matched her curtains' right?"

Zack smiled sheepishly because he knew the answer even if he had never seen Chloe naked. He had to admit to himself that it was something he once wanted to see.

"You're really worried about Chloe, aren't you? This is really getting to you?" Peter said changing his tone to be more conciliatory with Zack.

The concerned look on Peter's face made Zack relax. His emotions were still high and he could see Peter was just trying to cheer him up and help him relax even if is nerves seemed about to fray.

"Yeah, I'm worried about her." Zack said, "It's been a long time since I saw her that scared and... something else. It's starting to scare me too and I don't know what to do."

"She's really important to you right?" Peter asked and saw Zack nod in agreement.

Peter nodded in understanding before he said "You never got this worried when Ashley started dating, especially with Brandon"

"That's different, Ashley's got Hannah and Heather and all the girls on the cheer squad. She's like... like more confidant," Zack said, "but Chloe not like that. Chloe's like.. yeah she has the soccer team and she's got-"

"-You?" Peter interrupted Zack again and watched him nod.

"You know what I see?" Peter seemed to muse almost absentmindedly, "You're not worried for Ashley 'cause she's your friend. But you ARE worried about Chloe because she's... she's your girl." Peter watched Zack's eyes open and his comment it seemed to hit home.

"It's okay buddy," Peter added while he put a reassuring hand on Zack's shoulder. "I felt the same with Taylor. I never liked any of her boyfriends, They were all stupid jocks, every single one of them. None of them deserved to be with Taylor. She was special... and she's just for me."

Zack stared up at Peter, surprised that he was admitting that he felt that way about Taylor. It was almost the same thing he felt with Chloe. They sat in silence for a few more minutes while Zack mulled over the new information and his feelings.

"It's okay to want to take things to the next level with Chloe." Peter said, "I did the same with Hannah and... now Taylor."

"You mean like friends with benefits?" Zack asked.

Peter chuckled and shook his head, he wagged his fingers at Zack and chuckled, "No. You've been listening too much to Hannah. I would never treat Taylor like a 'friend-with-benefits,' No way! She's too special for me. She's the real deal for me. Can't see myself without her. Can't even imagine a future without her. know what I mean?"

"Yeah" Zack said understanding Peter's point.

Peter looked sideways at Zack, "Chloe's special right?" He watched Zack nod, "She's really precious to you right?" and Zack nodded again. "Can you imagine a future without her?"