As Usual

"Hey Stranger, long time no see." I whirled around on my seat in front of our school's fountain at a tap on my shoulder. Yes, fountain. Although a complete waste of money in my eyes, I had to admit that it made the most convenient of meeting places. Turning around, I wasn't surprised to see nothing behind except the usual mob of students that filled the sidewalks after school.

"Very funny. Ha. Ha. Ha. You're so stupid Zac." Another terrible gag of his was the infamous tapping the other shoulder and hiding.

"I'm stupid? You're the one who always falls for it." I caught the sunlight lifting his blond hair and sparkling in his mischievous brown eyes as he appeared in sight.

"Whatever, let's just go already." I stood up and slid my backpack across my shoulders.

"Whoa, someone's a little cranky today," Zac immediately picked up on the irritation in my voice. "You aren't PMS-ing again, are you?"

"No!" I glared at the annoyed expression on his face. "Just sick of people wanting to make my life miserable. I'm perfectly capable of doing that myself, PMS aside."

"Which I don't have." I emphasized in a quiet voice, casting my eyes down on the sidewalk as I started walking home. Although not particularly interesting, I watched the sidewalk cracks pass underneath my feet. At least it was distracting.

"What happened?" The lightness in his voice had been replaced with concern. He jogged to catch up with me, then synchronized his walking pace with mine.

"Oh, nothing-" I started to say when a voice behind us interrupted me.

"Zac!" Both of us stopped and turned around at the mentioning of his name and a short car honk that followed. My heart sank when I saw where it had come from. I could only stand and watch as Samantha pulled up next to the curb in her spotlessly white Camero. Knowing her father's salary, I could only guess that it was brand-new.

"Oh my God," Zac stared at the sight in front of us. Surprised, I threw him a dirty look.

"Careful, you're drooling." I reached up and pretended to wipe off his chin. Inside, I was horrified.

Please tell me he's not into her, I prayed.

Anyone but her. He slapped my hand away lightly and didn't answer me, his eyes definently fixed on something other than me.

"Hey," she called, throwing him a big smile. Zac remained rooted to his spot on the sidewalk, utterly speechless. I was afraid his eyes would fall out of his head, they were opened so wide. Although I'd seen this happen many times, usually guys looking at my older sister, I'd never witnessed it from this side before. I certainly didn't like it, to say the least.

Oh god damnit, he does like her. The thought burned inside me deeply, my fist clenching together more tightly as my anger towards my best friend grew.

You're better than that Zac..

"Can I give you a ride Zac?" Samantha spoke in a flirtatious voice, one practically coated with honey, and patted the empty passenger's seat next to her.

Conveniently, it's only a two-seater. I frowned, crossing my arms in front of my chest and glanced at Zac. He still hadn't moved from his gawking pose. After a few seconds of him continuing to make an ass of himself, I sighed loudly and kicked the back of his knee with my foot. Sure enough, it did the trick.

"Sure!" he squeaked loudly, jumping when I kicked him. I immediately dropped my hands in surprise.

"Zac," I said quietly. "We always walk home together.."

"But Linds, it's a brand new Camero. Do you know how much one of those is worth?. I can't pass this up." I almost doubled over in laughter. Leave it to Zac to fall head over heels in love -- with Samantha's car. Still, the thought was totally reassuring to me, I restored my confidence in the guy.

Shouldn't judge so quickly, I made a mental note.

"I'll call you later," he whispered, squeezing my shoulder lightly before hopping into the passenger's seat. I smiled meekly in response.

"Bye Lindsey," Samantha made sure to call over her shoulder as they pulled away. Waiting until she drove around a corner, I stuck up my right hand, middle finger raised.

"That's the spirit," I heard someone call, laughing behind me.

"You just made my afternoon Lindsey." I turned around and saw JoAnn climbing into Greg's car. I grinned and waved good-bye to them and resumed my walk home. This was the first time since freshman year Zac had bailed on me. Even though we lived six blocks from the high school, we'd have the best talks. It felt so much longer walking by myself.

Ahh, deal with it. Sighing, I looked down at the sidewalk cracks again, so predictable in their spacing, coming into view every two and a half steps. I kept my head down and walked the rest of the way in silence.

"Home sweet home," I smiled as our tiny little house came into view. A one-story, split-level white dwelling, although small in size, always held the promise of comfort, of stability, and of some guy making out with my sister on our living room couch. Today was no different- I heard swear words muttered under breath and scuffling as Heidi immediately disentangled herself from him and sat upright seconds after I'd slammed the front door shut.

"Nice to meet you Lloyd," I muttered quietly, walking slowly towards the living room. I wanted to make sure Heidi had ample time to get her shirt back on, I could only imagine. I grinned at the typical scene that greeted me in the living room, Heidi running her fingers through her hair nonchalantly as some guy, dark-haired with eyes to match, flipped through television stations with the same casualness.

"Hey Heidi," I said.

"You're home early," she glanced at the clock on the VCR before sending a frown at me. Catching me glancing curiously at her 'friend,' if I could call him that, she explained,

"This is Chris."

"Chris?" The name came out more like a question. I couldn't help but wonder what happened to poor Lloyd.

Probably got the pink slip already. Fortunately, with Heidi's attention span towards the male species, they usually didn't last very long.

"Hey." He nodded in my direction.

Quite the talkative one, I rolled my eyes and headed upstairs. Here's your damn privacy Heidi.

After quietly shutting my door (for who'd want to hear them start going at it again?), I dropped my backpack on my bed and headed over to my desk. While waiting for my computer to start up, looking around my room distractedly, I caught a glance of myself in the mirror over my dresser. Noticing a few stray frizzies, I yanked out my ponytail with a jerk of my wrist. After a few seconds of tedious smoothing down and combing over with my fingers, my hair was back up in its usual bun. Ponytails with my hair ended up looking like a poodle's tail, so I always bound it up in a bun. Less of a hassle to think about as well.

"Come on, come on," I tapped my fingers on my desk, mentally making a note to ask my parents for a new computer for my birthday.

Nah, a car's better. I reminded myself.

But Dad's no corporate executive, I thought of Samantha's father. My father worked as a truck driver. Now remember, we live in a normal house, not a trailer or anything, and I don't have buck teeth that stick out from here to Nebraska, we're not hicks. He drives a supply truck for a snack food company and fills up the vending machines for different companies. Yup, that's his full-time job. Mom's a secretary for a law firm office. Well, at least when I turned sixteen I could join the workforce as well. Not willingly, but any job has to pay more than baby-sitting Zac's brothers and sisters. Wouldn't be as much fun, but it wouldn't hurt to earn a little more than $3/hour and all the chocolate brownies Mrs. Hanson can bake.

Speaking of Hansons.. I thought of Zac's little car adventure with Samantha with a smile.

If she's at least as half as smart as I think she is, she won't let him drive it. I couldn't help but wonder what they were doing..

"So are you hungry?" Samantha asked Zac after they left the rec. center parking lot. He'd wanted to drive past his hockey friends and show off the Camero, and of course she'd been more than happy to comply. She couldn't believe how much they had in common, except for the fact he talked about hockey way too much in her opinion. But she had noticed how attractive he'd grown in the last few years. She only wished she had more chances to see him.

Unlike that fat slob he calls his best friend. Glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, Samantha couldn't believe what he saw in me, even on a friendship level.

The girl is nothing.

"Normally I'm always up for food, but I'm going to have to pass on the offer Sam. I appreciate it though." He said, his eyes searching the neighborhoods they drove through. He didn't even so much as glance at her in reply.

"Well," she huffed. "The least you could do is have something to eat with me. I don't think it's asking too much."

"The least I could do?" he echoed, glancing at her with a slightly confused look in his soft brown eyes. "Do I owe you in another life or something?"

"I-no." She stuttered, in shock at how rude he was acting all of the sudden. "I.. was just kidding Zac."

"Oh, ok." He reached his right arm up and rested it on the open window sill next to him. Closing his eyes, he loved the feeling of the wind blowing lightly against his cheeks.

Too bad it's her car, not mine, he thought, opening his eyes. Back to being a pedestrian.

"Thanks for the ride. It was fun." he said with a grin. "If you want to drop me off two blocks down from here, that'd be great." He pointed to a parking lot down the road.

"You're leaving already?" Samantha asked, surprised.

He's only been here for thirty minutes.

"Yeah. I have hockey practice tonight, not to mention homework for Metzner's class." He groaned, already feeling a headache coming on thinking about math.

"You manage to play hockey and do homework?" Samantha asked in a flirtatious voice. "You're so smart Zac."

"You'd think differently if you saw my grades." He laughed outloud at his recent quiz score, completely missing her compliment.

"Well, grades aren't everything." She said in a seductive voice as she pulled to a stop at a sign. She looked over, smiled and batted her eyelashes at him before driving again.

"Umm.. They are if you want to go to college." He gave her a funny look.

"Oh, right here's fine." He pointed to the parking lot.

".. Or not.." She drove by it.

"Oops! Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you meant the next one down." She giggled.

"Uhh, there aren't any other parking lots up there." He sent another strange look in her direction.

"No problem, I'll just pull around the block." She waved her hand, as if it was no bother. She turned at the next intersection and proceeded to make a rectangle until pulling up the parking lot again.

"Stop this time, will ya?" Zac laughed as she slowed down and pulled up to the curb.

"Can I help it I want to spend more time with you?" She asked, putting the car in park. She moved her hand from the gear shift and placed it warmly on his thigh. The gesture made him more than extremely uncomfortable.

"Sam.." he said in surprise. Thinking it best to leave as soon as possible, he reached for the car door.

"Thanks for the ride!" He nearly flew out of his seat getting out of the car, but had forgotten to unbuckle his seat belt prior to standing up. He snapped back into the seat, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of him. He felt his cheeks flush red as another round of feminine giggles escaped from Samantha's lips.

"Silly boy, like this." She reached across his waist and slowly undid the latch on his seat belt. She made sure to lean over and brush her head against his shoulder in doing so. Although she personally hated the sport, she had to admit hockey had put Zac in great shape. However, little did she know his thoughts as her blonde hair tumbled over his chest:

My god, how much hairspray crap does she use? He wrinkled his nose as the smell entered his nose. It was cutting off his oxygen supply.

"Umm, thanks." He mumbled, breathing a sigh of relief as she pulled away. He bounded out of the passenger's seat as if it were on fire.

"Not a problem. We should do it again, when you have more time."

"Ha, that won't be for weeks. Hockey season's just barely started." He crossed his arms across his chest and grinned. Samantha melted at the sight of the sun lighting his hair as the wind picked it up and tossed it around his face.

"Well, you let me know when your games are and I'll be sure to come cheer for you." She smiled before slipping a pair of Armani sunglasses over her eyes.

"Oh, Lindsey's more than enough of a cheerleading squad for the entire team." He rolled his eyes, remembering last season. The scene of me painting my face half in blue, half white, the team colors, screaming at the top of my lungs in the first row, second seat over from the bench on the left side was more than enough to bring a smile from his lips.

"I gotta run. Thanks again for the ride." He looked down at the car, as if saying good-bye to it instead of her.

"See you later Zac," she blew him a kiss before pealing out of the parking lot. She watched with confidence in her rearview mirror as he waved before turning and walking away.

If only he hadn't mentioned Lindsey, this is going perfectly, she thought as she headed to her house.

If I get my way on this, Zac'll be mine by the end of the week for sure. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror.

And I always get my way.