You are a drug and it is quick

Chapter Ten

The car ride home was silent. Though Zac had promised Abigail that they would have all kinds of time to talk, he hardly said a word to her. He hardly even looked at her, for that matter. After a few hours of trying unsuccessfully to make small talk, Abby gave up and laid her head against the window, pretending she was sleeping while her brain actually went a mile a minute trying to figure everything out.

When they arrived back in Tulsa, they only had one day together before Zac and his brothers were on a plane; first to Los Angeles and then to New York. They'd be gone for a week, and if things were normal between Zac and Abby, they would have spent every second of the time they had left together; watching movies in their pajamas, cuddling, and likely even making out a little bit. However, things were not normal. Practically as soon as they stepped foot in their home, Zac retreated to his bedroom and only came out when he had to. Abby would try to strike up conversations whenever she caught him, but he kept their discussions to a minimum. He wasn't rude or bitter toward her, just quiet. It was almost worse than if he were to be flat out mean to her.

In the morning, Abby knew that Zac would be leaving really early to catch his flight. She woke before the sun, stopping quickly in her bathroom to pee and brush her teeth, then made her way down the hall and to the dark kitchen to find Zac standing at the counter, drinking a coffee. His luggage was at the door.

"What are you doing up?" He asked when he noticed her watching him, rubbing her tired eyes.

"I wanted to say goodbye to you." She yawned.

"Oh."

"I'll miss you." She said quietly, stepping closer to him. She felt awkward, like she wasn't sure if he would push her away or not.

Zac frowned and set down his coffee cup, grabbing her gently by the wrist. For a second she thought he was going to pull her into a hug, but instead he dropped her wrist and sighed. "I'll miss you, too."

"Will you call me while you're gone?"

"Yeah, I'll try."

Zac headed for the living room. "I've gotta get going." He said, grabbing his luggage and opening the front door.

"Okay..." Abby followed him to the door. "Have a great time."

She stood on her tip toes and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. Zac looked down, his long shaggy hair falling over his face.

"Bye, Abby." He said quietly, stepping outside into the early morning darkness.

Abby threw herself on to her couch, letting out a heavy groan. This really, really sucked.

***

By Wednesday, Abby still had not heard from Zac. Not a single text message or phone call. She was trying her best not to contact him - she knew that for whatever reason, he obviously needed time and space away from her. A few times, she had started composing a text message to him, only to delete it before sending.

The only up side to her week without Zac was that she was so busy, it was going by fairly quickly. Kelly wasn't kidding when she said they would go into full wedding planning mode as soon as they arrived back in Oklahoma. By Monday she had the venue booked, Tuesday after work, they went shopping for decorations (she and Taylor had decided on silver and navy blue as their wedding colors), and today after work, Abby planned on helping Kelly address all of the invitations. It was seriously hard to believe that in just three weeks, Kelly and Taylor would be married.

Twenty minutes before her shift was supposed to end, Abby sat on the counter of the empty coffee shop, watching as her shift partner Justin cleaned. It had been a very slow night, so he figured he'd get an early start on closing duties, insisting that Abby didn't need to help. He could tell there was something wrong with her, though she hadn't spilled any details the few times he tried to press her for information.