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I was curled up on the corner of my couch, and Zac was sitting next to me. For the past few hours, we had been watching horror movies. (An interesting choice for Christmas day, I will admit!)
"So where do you think Ashleigh will go tomarrow?" Zac asked out of nowhere.
"I don't really know. I guess she might go back to Maine, but I really doubt it. She has some money saved up, so maybe she will just rent an apartment and start looking for a job. Either way, I don't really care what she does."
"Yes you do." He said, knowing better.
"Well, maybe I care a little bit, but I mean...did you hear the way she spoke to me? I honestly don't think we will ever be friends again."
"You never know."
"I'm pretty sure. I mean, we have gotten into lots of fights, but nothing was ever as serious as that. And she was so rude to me. I don't think I can forgive her."
"Don't blame you there."
"She's so self absorbed. I really don't know why we were even friends to begin with. We are so different from one another. All she cares about is herself."
"Well, you two definitly are different. You are so caring, and I think the last person you ever think about is yourself." Zac added.
"You're kinda right."
"But you know...you should put yourself first sometimes. You deserve it."
I smiled at him. "You're so sweet."
"That's why you love me." He said with a mischievous smile.
"Damn right." I laughed.
Zac leaned over me and kissed me on the lips. I put my hand in his hair and kissed him back. He started to kiss me harder and more passionately, slowly and carefully climbing on top of me. Our hands explored every part of eachothers' bodies. Before I knew it, his shirt was on the floor, and his pants were unbuttoned. He started to unbutton my shirt, kissing me softly and gently biting my bottom lip. Then he stopped and looked down at me.
"Wait..." He said, taking a deep breath.
"Is something wrong?" I asked, pulling myself up a little.
"No, it's just...I don't think we should do this. Not yet."
"Why? Did I do something wrong?" I asked, worried. Maybe he was having second thoughts about us. Maybe he decided he wasn't sexually attracted to me.
"You didn't do anything wrong Chloe." He explained. "I just, I don't want to take things too fast. I feel like I would be taking advantage of you or something."
"You wouldn't be, trust me." I replied.
"Chloe, I love you. I can wait. We don't have to do this now. Don't you think it would be better if we took things slow?"
"I guess so." I admitted. "Are you sure I didn't do anything?"
"No! Trust me. You didn't. I mean, my body...really wants to do this. But I can't. I think we should build our relationship a little more first, before we get mixed up in all this sex stuff. We've only been dating for less than a day, and sex can sometimes complicate things. I don't want to complicate things with us."
"I don't either." I agreed. I still felt unsure, like he didn't want me, and he was just making up excuses.
"Chloe, don't worry." It was like he read my mind. "I do want this. And it will happen. But when the time is right."
I smiled. I believed him. Most guys would jump at the chance to sleep with a willing girl, but he was different. He cared about me, and he wanted to make sure that we were both ready. Neither of us were virgins by any means, but neither of us had ever been in love before. It was totally different with us. There were emotions behind all of this, not just hormones.
"I love you so much." He said, leaning down and kissing me one more time. I could see it in his eyes. He meant it.
I put my hand on the side of his face. "I love you too."
"Maybe we should go to bed." He suggested. "It's getting kind of late, and I have to meet with my agent tomorrow morning."
"Okay." I agreed.
"So uh...should I take the couch, or...?"
"You can sleep in my bed with me." I suggested. "I'm not going to jump you while you're sleeping or anything. I promise." I laughed and gave him a wink.
"Okay." He smiled, and we headed upstairs.
When we got to my room, Zac pulled off his pants so he was just in his boxers (since his shirt was already off.) I couldn't help but stare at him. He was built like a god. I wasn't into huge muscley guys. Zac was built just right. He was tall and lean, but in perfect shape. He climbed under the covers, and I turned away, heading to my dresser. I pulled out a pair of little shorts that I liked to sleep in, and a tank top.
"I'm just going to go put these on." I said, heading for the bathroom that was attached to my room.
"Oh, okay." he said.
I came back into the room a few minutes later. Zac was flipping through the channels on my TV as he layed in the bed. When I walked through the door, he turned his attention toward me.
"You look so cute." He said, smiling.
"Thanks." I crossed my arms, insecure.
"Chlo! Stop it! You're beautiful. Now get over here!" he patted the spot next to him on the bed.
I climbed in next to him, and he turned the TV off, then wrapped his arms around me.
"Goodnight." He whispered, kissing my cheek.
***
The next day while Zac was meeting with his agent, I decided to go out and get some groceries. I hated the grocery store, so I made it as quick as possible. While I was standing in line to pay for my things, a girl who looked to be a few years younger than me approached me.
"I saw you on TV today." she said.
"What? You must me thinking of someone else."
"No." She said, rudely. "You're the horrible girl who seduced Zac Efron for his money. You're a gold digger."
"Excuse me?"
"Yeah, I saw a picture. You were making out on a couch. The person on TV said that you told a close personal friend that you were going to lour Zac in, just so you could get his money. That you don't even really like him."
"That's bull!" I yelled. "Who would say that? And where did that picture come from?" Then it hit me. Ashleigh.
I stormed out of the store, not even bothering to get my groceries. When I got into the parking lot, I called Zac.
"Chlo," He said when he picked up the phone. "Can I call you back? I'm almost done my meeting."
"Zac! Ashleigh is screwing with us. Somehow she got a picture of us on the couch last night. I don't know, she must have taken it through the window. She told the media that I'm a gold digger."
"WHAT?" He sounded furious. "Why would she do that?"
"She's malicious, that's why." I replied, completely bitter.
"How do you know about this? How did the picture get out so fast?"
"You know the media better than I do." I said. "They get off on this kind of stuff. Ash must of went to them first thing in the morning. I'm gonna kill her!"
"We have to clear this up." He said. "I don't want people to think that about you."
"Well, if they knew how much money I had, they would know it's not true."
"Ya, but the whole reason you moved here is so that nobody would know about all your money." He said.
"So what are we going to do?" I asked.
"For now, we just ignore it. We will go public with our relationship as soon as possible, and hopefully people will just accept it quickly and get over the whole thing."
"I hope you're right. How do we go public? I'm not exactly used to that kind of stuff."
"I take you to an event, I guess." He replied. "I was going to ask you anyway. There is this movie premier I am supposed to go to friday night. Can you come to that?"
"Of course. But, everyone there is going to hate me."
"No they won't." Zac said.
"I hope you're right. Ugh, I hate Ashleigh so much right now."
"If it wasn't her, it would be someone else." He said. "People love to make stuff up about people in this business."
"I don't know how you deal with that."
"Yeah...well, Chloe, I really have to go. I'll see you tonight. We'll talk more, okay?"
"Alright, bye." I hung up and stormed off to my car.
***
That night, I went over to Zac's house for supper. We were sitting at the table, eating. We weren't speaking much. I was just so fumed about Ashleigh, I wasn't able to think about anything else.
"Chlo." Zac said suddenly.
"Yeah?" I looked up from my food.
"Earlier, on the phone...you said something, and it kind of got to me."
"I did? What did I say?"
"You said you didn't know how I deal with the media and stuff. You know, if we're together, you're going to be in the media almost as much as I am."
"I never really thought about that..." I said, sighing.
"Is that a problem? I mean...can you deal with that? I don't want that to cause trouble with us. I don't want you to leave."
My heart sank. He looked and sounded so upset. He was worried.
"Zac..." I stood up and walked around the table, sitting down on his lap and wrapping my arms around his shoulder. "It's not a problem, trust me. I mean, it sucks that people are so terrible, but I can deal with it. I'm not going anywhere."
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"Positive."
"I'm sorry it has to be this way. You'd probably be happier with a regular guy."
"There is no way I could be happier with anyone else. I don't care about the media, okay. This will work itself out. I care about you. Besides, you are an amazing actor. You are so talented. It's part of what I love about you, and I wouldn't ever change that."
"Really?"
"Really! I mean, I love that you are an actor, and the fact that you are rich is just a plus." I giggled, and he smiled at me. "Just joking." I said with a laugh. I kissed him, and he wrapped his arms around me, hugging me.