My Imaginary Ex (COMPLETE)

Chapter 17

I woke up to the following text messages.

Ramon: I don't know what's happening. We'll be here another hour.

Ramon: The guys are getting restless. I'll take them out in thirty minutes.

Ramon: You can stay there until four PM. Then I have to pay for an extra night. Text me.

Lena: Is everything okay?

Marjorie: Well?

It was ten thirty-four AM.

"Shit," I cursed under my breath, firing off a quick "not feeling well, staying home today, please ask Marian to take charge of applicants today I'm sorry I'm sorry" to my boss.

The covers stirred, and Zack's head emerged from underneath a pillow. He had a happy smile on his face.

"Good morning," I grinned. "You look..."

"Rested?"

I tilted my head. "I was going to say younger."

"I feel both right now, thank you. I slept very well. How are you?"

I touched my face. "Oily."

"I was going to say you look worried. What's wrong?"

I showed him the time. "It's Thursday. We have work."

"Right. Okay." He reached over the bed for his pants and checked his pockets. "I think my phone's outside. But Ramon will cover for me."

"He's a good friend," I said.

"Did he have anything to do with last night?"

"Maybe seventy percent."

"I should thank him." He dropped his pants back on the floor and curved his arm around my waist, pulling me back to bed. I rolled with him onto my side and laughed as I got tangled in the blanket.

I knew how he looked in the morning. Bed hair, sleepy eyes. The morning-after awkwardness wasn't there.

"It really does feel like we've done this before," I said, planting a kiss on his chin.

"Well yes. In my mind we have. In many different ways."

I rolled him onto his back and kissed his neck, underneath his Adam's apple.

"When did you know you felt this way about me?" he asked.

His throat made curiously wonderful vibrations against my lips. "Years," I said.

"You're retconning."

"You're not asking the right question. I've known for years that you were always going to be part of my life. That I'll always care about you. That it would be nice if I actually found out what it was like to kiss you, and everything else. I knew that. Even if it seemed impossible because of the other people who were around. But two weeks ago was when I decided to do something about it."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. With the help of some fairy godmothers."

Last night was a risk that wasn't easy to take, but in a few hours I was repeatedly reminded how glad I was that I took it. He shifted on top of me. Unlike last night, the room was flooded with light, and he looked at me without saying a word. Long enough to make my toes curl back, self-conscious.

"I'm actually happy that we just did this now," he smiled. "I'm sorry if last night it sounded like I wished it had been sooner."

"We did waste a lot of time."

"But I would have been different."

"I don't think you're different. You're still my Zack from college."

"I am different," he insisted. "I don't know if I'm any better or worse, but I would have probably lost you if we had gotten together earlier. I made some bad decisions in college. Hell, even after."

"Well, you did base your first relationship on a lie."

"See? You would have left me before we even graduated."

"So you think Lena was right? About her first girlfriend theory?"

"I didn't do very well with my second or third girlfriend either."

"Let's not tell Lena." Might as well keep that a secret too.

"You're different too, Jas." Zack's finger lazily traced a path from my forehead to the tip of my nose. "You went from this girl who avoided everyone to someone confident. Passionate. Sexy."

"Yes, the college Jas was definitely not any of those things."

"But I fell in love with you anyway. And I still love you now. I've always loved you."

"You told me." I smiled at the memory. "Last night. Several times."

Then his mood changed. "I have to talk to Kimmy," he said, his tone somber.

I sighed. I knew reality was going to find us eventually. "You're calling off the wedding, right?"

He looked at me, somewhat horrified. "Yes." Duh. "But she's not going to take it well."