It was Christmas day. After the party the night before, Zac dropped me off, walked me to the door and gave me a goodnight kiss. We agreed to talk more in the morning about what had happened between us.
"Here Ash," I said, "open my present." Reguardless of the fact that we were not getting along, we were still exchanging presents. We were best friends after all. At least we were supposed to be. I handed my gift over to her.
"Thanks. I love them!" She said cheerfully. She seemed to be in a getter mood today, but I feared all of that would change once she found out about Zac and I. She held up the polka-dot slippers and new designer jeans that I had bought her and admired them. Unlike me, she was really into designer stuff. "Open mine." She handed me my present.
"Aw how cute!" I exclaimed, holding up the Marilyn Monroe t-shirt she had gotten me. "I love it!"
"It's hard to buy for you." She said. "I mean, it's not like you can't afford to buy yourself anything you want."
I laughed. "Ya well, I may have all this money, but I still don't go on mad shopping sprees."
"I know." Ashleigh replied, "If I were you, my millions would be gone by now."
We began to laugh together. The first real laugh we had shared in months. At that moment though, Zac walked through the door.
"Hey guys!" He said. He was holding a small package, wrapped in shiny silver paper.
"Hey Zac!" Ashleigh said, hopping to her feet. She ran over and gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek. I couldn't help but frown.
"Hey Ashleigh." Zac replied. "Hey Chloe." He walked over and sat down next to me, gently kissing me on the head. I could see Ashleigh out of the corner of my eye, and she didn't look happy. Zac had no idea that my relationship with her was going down hill, and he especially did not know that it was because of him. Although it definitly was not his fault.
"Hey." I said, smiling at him.
"I got you something." He said.
"I got you something too." I replied.
"Do you wanna go upstairs?" He asked.
I glanced at Ashleigh, who folded her arms. "Sure." I wasn't going to let her get to me.
Zac and I headed upstairs to my bedroom. When we got there, he closed the door behind him, and we both took a seat on my bed.
"You go first." He said with a smile.
"Okay." I reached under my bed and pulled out the gift I had bought him. "I hope you like it. It's not much."
As he unwrapped it, I couldn't help but smile. He looked so excited, like a little kid would. Finally, he pulled out the silver pocket watch with 'To Zac, xox, Chloe.' engraved onto the back.
"Chlo, I love it!" He said excitedly.
"Really? Cause I mean, I can get you something else..."
"No." He cut me off in mid sentence. "It's great. I really do love it. Thanks so much." He smiled and leaned over, kissing me on the lips softly. I sighed when he pulled away. "Here, open mine now." He handed me the small silver package.
"Zac..." when I pulled out the 1950's silver necklace with emerald green diamonds in it, I couldn't believe my eyes. He knew I loved vintage stuff, and this must of cost him a fortune. "This is amazing."
"You like it?"
"I love it! Thank you so much! Seriously. You shouldn't have."
"Yes I should have."
I smiled at him, and he reached out, taking the necklace from me. "Let me put it on you." He said.
I leaned toward him, and he clasped the necklace around my neck. I stood up and walked over to the mirror on the back of the door. "It's so pretty." I said.
"I'm glad you like it."
"I do. I love it!"
He came over to the mirror, and stood behind me, wrapping his arms around me and resting his head on my shoulder. "It looks good on you." He smiled and kissed the nape of my neck.
I turned around to face him.
"So..." He said.
"So?"
"Um, what are we going to do?" He asked. "About us?"
"I don't know. What do you mean? What do you want to do?"
"Well," He started, "I want to be with you."
"And I want to be with you." I replied.
"So, you want to be my girlfriend?"
"Obviously." I laughed a little, and he put his finger under my chin.
"Good." He said with a smile, then leaned down and began to kiss me.
Every time we kissed, it felt like the first time all over again. He was so amazing, and I honestly could not believe that he felt the same way about me as I felt about him. He wrapped his arms around me as we continued to kiss, and I felt so comfortable, so safe. Just then, my door swung open.
"Hey Zac, I was just wondering if...." It was Ashleigh's voice, and before I had the chance to pull away, she saw us kissing. "What the hell is this?" She asked, angrily.
"Ashleigh, I..."
"Shut up Chloe." She said sternly. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"What's going on?" Zac asked, looking confused.
"You know that Zac is mine. Why would you take him up here to seduce him like this? What kind of friend are you?"
"Ash! I didn't take him up here to seduce him, he asked me to come upstairs, remember? And anyway, he is not yours. He's not a piece of meat you know. You can't just claim him!" I was furious.
"Guys! Guys, calm down! Do you want to explain to me what's going on?" Zac asked, holding his hands up in the air.
"What's going on is that you're little friend here is trying to steal you from me!" Ashleigh shouted. I could not even believe she would say something like that to him.
"Steal me from you? When did I ever belong to you?" It was the first time I had ever heard Zac say anything remotly rude, except in this situation, it really wasn't rude at all. Ashleigh was way out of line.
"I'm the one who found you." Ashleigh said. "And she knew I liked you.
"Ash," Zac said, "I thought you knew as well as I did that we had absolutely no chemistry, other than to just be friends."
"It didn't feel that way to me." She said in a snotty voice. "Maybe you would have felt something if you weren't being seduced by Chloe all this time."
"I was not seducing him!" I screamed.
"That's a load of crap, and you know it." Ashleigh snapped.
"Ashleigh, really. Give Chloe a break. Never once did she make it obvious to me that she had feelings for me. Nothing ever happened until last night, and that was because I made the first move." Zac explained.
"I don't believe that." Ashleigh stated.
"Well, it's true." I said.
"Shut up Chloe!" Ashleigh yelled.
"You can't tell me to shut up in my own house!" I yelled back.
"You're house? Since when is this your house?"
"Um...since I bought it. Since I have been paying all the bills. Since I have been letting you live here for free because I thought you were my best friend." I argued.
"Me? You're the one who stabbed me in the back!" She shouted.
"Give it up Ash! I didn't do anything! Zac doesn't like you that way, and he never did! That's not my fault, and if you took two seconds to get over yourself, maybe you would have been able to see that!"
"He liked me until you got in the way." He looked so mad, I thought she might hit me. At this point though, I was so mad, I could have pounded her into the ground. Reguardless of the fact that I was small, I could seriously hurt her, and she knew this. I think that was the only reason she didn't try to hit me.
"Ashleigh!" Zac yelled. "Stop it! Really, I'm sorry but I never liked you as more than a friend. I love Chloe."
"You love her?" Ashleigh asked, rolling her eyes.
"Yes."
"Well, I hope you two are happy together!" She yelled sarcasticly. "I am so out of here. I'm staying in a hotel tonight. I'll be back for my things tomorrow."
With that, she stormed out of the room, and a few seconds later, I heard her car screech off. I turned to Zac, and he looked at me with concern. He could tell I was upset. He knew she had been my best friend since we were little girls.
"Chloe, I'm so sorry!" He wrapped his arms around me in a super tight hug. "I had no idea I was getting in the way of things. I feel horrible."
"Don't worry about it Zac. It's not your fault." I said. "She's so selfish. I don't need her. I mean, if she was really my friend, she would be happy for me. She always just wants everything for herself."
"Well, are you okay?"
"No." I admitted.
"Do you want me to stay here with you tonight?" He asked, running his fingers through my hair.
"That would be nice." I replied, nodding my head. "Thanks."