Chapter 427 - He Kept His Promise

Chapter 427: Chapter 427 - He Kept His Promise

For the next two weeks, Zac actually kept his promise, and Roxie slowly stopped waiting for something to ruin it.

Tuesday became theirs first. He came straight home after practice with takeout, still wearing half his Tennessee gear and smelling like the locker room, but he dropped his bag beside the door and went straight to the couch where Roxie was sitting with her laptop.

"You’re early."

Zac frowned as he sat beside her. "That sounded insulting."

"I was surprised."

"I come home early and this is how you react?"

She giggled and leaned over to give him a quick kiss. "Well, you can’t blame me."

He pinched her cheek before standing again. "I can’t leave my girlfriend alone too much or she’ll get bored and find ways to get jealous."

Roxie pouted, which only made him grin wider.

"Too soon?"

"It’s my boyfriend’s fault. He was neglecting me."

"Neglecting?"

"Yes."

"You survived."

"Barely."

Zac laughed while Roxie moved her laptop aside. "I thought Coach would find a way to ruin tonight."

"He tried."

Her eyes narrowed immediately.

Zac grinned. "I’m kidding."

"Asshole."

He leaned over and kissed her before she could hit him.

That first Tuesday they ate on the couch while watching a movie Roxie picked because Zac had chosen the last three. He complained through the first twenty minutes, got invested somewhere in the middle, then denied caring about the ending when Roxie came back from getting water and caught him staring at the screen like he had forgotten she left.

Thursday he came home with groceries and cooked. The week after that they finally had the date he owed her, and this time Zac kept his phone facedown on the table unless it actually rang. Roxie noticed but kept it to herself. She already felt stupid enough about everything that happened with Mason and Dylan, and Zac was clearly trying.

For a while, things simply felt good again.

They still annoyed each other over small things. Roxie complained about his wet towel on the bathroom floor. Zac complained that she somehow needed three different cups throughout the day and left all of them around the apartment. She told him his laundry smelled like death after practice, and he pulled a clump of her hair from the shower drain and asked whether she was secretly going bald.

Those arguments ended with somebody laughing or getting shoved instead of one of them leaving, and Roxie hadn’t realized how much she missed that until it came back.

Dylan never brought up the Mason call again, and neither did Zac. Mason unfortunately had less shame and called Roxie three days later just to ask what happened.

"You’re lucky you’re in Virginia."

"I knew you’d forgive me."

"I haven’t."

"Remember who helped you get the quarterback star."

Roxie snorted. "You’re really taking credit for that?"

"I deserve something. And you answered my call, so you already forgave me."

Roxie rolled her eyes and hung up while he was laughing.

Karen thought the whole thing was even funnier when Roxie told her Mason had lasted only a few hours before running straight to Dylan.

"Why did you trust Mason with a secret?"

"I was having a breakdown."

"Valid."

Roxie threatened to hang up on her too.

Mostly, though, she stopped thinking about Dylan. Zac was home more, their apartment felt like theirs again, and once Roxie wasn’t spending every evening wondering when he would come back, she started thinking about what she wanted to do with her own time.

That was how she ended up opening Tennessee’s cheer page again one afternoon.

She had bookmarked it weeks ago and looked at it more times than she wanted to admit, but this time she actually read through everything instead of scrolling through pictures of the team and closing the tab when the idea started feeling too serious. Tryouts were still months away, which gave her enough time to get herself back into shape without completely destroying her body.

She clicked through old routines, open practice information and the requirements until she had three tabs open and another one searching for nearby gyms.

The thought of walking into a college cheer gym made her nervous in a way Briarwick never had.

Briarwick had been hers. She knew Coach Miller, knew every girl on the team and knew exactly what she could do inside those routines. Tennessee was different. Bigger program, new people and girls who had probably spent years planning to cheer in college.

Roxie had already watched Zac walk into football here like he belonged.

Maybe it was time she tried doing the same thing.

Zac came home while she was comparing gym schedules. He dropped his bag beside the door, walked toward the kitchen and stopped when he noticed what she was doing.

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing."

Roxie lowered the laptop screen.

Zac stared at her. "Porn?"

"Obviously."

"Move."

She laughed and tried blocking him when he reached for the screen. "Zac."

"Now I need to know."

"You’re nosy."

"You checked my phone two weeks ago."

Roxie’s mouth dropped open. "You promised to stop bringing that up."

"I promised nothing."

"You’re such an asshole."

He was already laughing when he raised the screen enough to see the cheer page. His expression changed when he noticed all the tabs, and Roxie suddenly wished she hadn’t made such a big deal about hiding them because now it felt like she had announced something she wasn’t even sure she was going to do.

"Cheer?"

"Maybe."

"College cheer?"

Roxie gave him a look. "That’s usually what happens when the school is a college."

"You’re really trying out?"

"I was just looking."

She reached for the laptop, but Zac caught her wrist before she could close anything.

"You should."

Roxie looked at him. "You haven’t even seen if I’m still good."

"I watched you throw yourself into the air for years. I’m pretty sure you didn’t forget everything in a few months."

"That isn’t the same thing."

"You won Nationals."

"With a team I trained with forever."

Zac leaned against the counter beside her and studied her face. "You scared?"

Roxie frowned. "No."

"You’re trying to close the page every time I look at it."

"That means nothing."

"It means you’re scared."

"Shut up."

He smiled, and Roxie looked back at the laptop before he could see how much the question actually bothered her.

Maybe she was scared. Starting over had sounded exciting when everything was still far away. Now she was actually here, and walking into that gym meant being another girl nobody knew. Nobody there cared what she had done at Briarwick or that she had won Nationals. She would have to prove herself again.

She remembered Zac on the field and how easily he looked like he belonged there now.

"I might go to one of the open practices first," she said. "Just try it out."

Zac nodded like the answer was obvious. "Go."

"Stop sounding excited."

"Why?"

"Because then I actually have to do it."

He laughed and kissed the side of her head. "You’ll be fine."

Roxie rolled her eyes, but she left the tabs open.

That Thursday was theirs again, and by then Roxie had stopped checking the clock waiting for Zac to suddenly message that something had changed. He came home when he said he would, showered, then started cooking while Roxie sat on the counter and pretended she was helping.

Mostly she stole food.

"Stop."

"I haven’t done anything."

"You’ve eaten half the chicken."

"That sounds dramatic."

Zac slapped her hand away when she reached toward the pan again. Roxie laughed and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him between her knees.

"You’re distracting the chef."

"You’re cooking chicken."

"Exactly. Dangerous."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him anyway.

His phone started ringing on the counter behind her.

Roxie felt Zac hesitate, but he kept kissing her until the phone stopped.

She smiled against his mouth. "Look at you."

"Don’t start."

A few seconds later it rang again.

Zac sighed and rested his forehead against hers.

"Check it."

"No."

"Zac, somebody called twice."

"It’s our night."

Part of Roxie loved hearing him say that. Two weeks ago, all she had wanted was for him to protect some time for them, and now he was doing exactly that. Still, whoever was calling twice probably wasn’t doing it for fun.

She tapped his shoulder toward the phone. "Check it."

He looked at her for another second before finally reaching for it.

The change in his face came quickly.

Roxie stopped smiling. "Who is it?"

"Dylan."

Something tightened inside her before she could stop it, and she immediately hated herself for even noticing. Two weeks ago, she had turned Dylan into a problem when he hadn’t actually done anything. She wasn’t doing that again.

Zac answered.

"Hey."

Roxie stayed sitting on the counter while his expression became more serious. She couldn’t hear Dylan, but whatever he was saying made Zac straighten and move away from the stove.

"What happened?"

He listened for several seconds.

"When?"

Another pause.

"Where are you?"

By then Roxie had forgotten about dinner.

Zac rubbed the back of his neck while Dylan spoke, and when he finally looked toward her, she recognized the guilty expression that had ruined their lunch two weeks earlier.

This time it worried her.

Zac ended the call but kept the phone in his hand.

"What happened?"

"He got into it with his dad."

Roxie’s stomach sank. "How bad?"

Zac hesitated. "Bad."

That was enough.

She knew some of what had happened with Dylan’s family after they found out about him. Zac hadn’t given her every detail because some of it wasn’t his to tell, but Roxie knew enough to understand that Dylan calling twice meant something had really happened.

"Is he alone?"

"Yeah."

Roxie glanced toward the stove where dinner was almost finished before looking back at Zac.

He noticed.

"I can stay."

Her chest tightened.

He meant it. If she asked him to stay, he would probably put the phone down and finish dinner with her because this was one of the nights he promised.

Then another message came through, and Zac glanced at the screen before looking back at her.

He wanted to go.

Roxie couldn’t even blame him for that.

Dylan had been Zac’s best friend for years. When Zac had been at his lowest, Dylan had been there. If Dylan needed him now, Roxie couldn’t be the reason Zac stayed home.

"He needs you."

Zac frowned slightly. "He’ll probably calm down."

"You don’t know that."

"Rox."

"Go."

He stayed where he was, clearly trying to decide whether she really meant it.

Roxie gave him a small smile. "Seriously. Go check on him."

"This was supposed to be our night." He bit his lip before looking toward the stove. "He got into fist fight with his dad and he’s not leaving. I need to go there. I’m sorry."

The disappointment still came. Roxie wanted him to stay, finish dinner with her and sit on the couch complaining about whatever movie they picked. She wanted one whole night where nobody called and nothing changed.

But Zac had kept his promise.

For two weeks he had come home when he said he would, given her the time she asked for and stopped automatically staying with Dylan after practice. Roxie had gotten the nights she wanted.

Tonight Dylan needed him. He needed him more than her tonight.

"We’ll have another night."

"You sure?"

A selfish part of her wanted to use the question. She could say no, and watch if Zac would stay. She could tell him this was their night and let somebody else deal with Dylan. But that would make him choose between them.

Roxie leaned forward and kissed him instead.

"I’m sure. Go before I change my mind."

That finally made him smile, although he still watched her carefully.

"I’ll come back."

"You better."

He kissed her again, longer this time, before stepping away and turning off the stove.

"I’ll text you."

"Drive safe."

Zac grabbed his jacket and keys while Roxie stayed on the counter. Before leaving, he looked back at her.

"Love you."

"Love you too."

Then he was gone.

Roxie listened to the door close and stayed there until she heard his car start outside. The apartment felt quiet immediately, and when she looked toward the stove, dinner for two was still sitting there. Zac hadn’t even stopped to eat, which told her enough about how serious Dylan must have sounded.

Of course she wanted to know what happened.

Normally she would have asked Zac a hundred questions when he came home because who wouldn’t want to know what caused Dylan to call twice and send Zac running out the door?

After everything she had done two weeks ago, though, Roxie wasn’t touching that.

She was still embarrassed enough about calling Mason and turning Dylan’s old feelings into everybody’s problem. If Dylan wanted Zac to tell her what happened, Zac would tell her. Roxie wasn’t going digging again.

She slid off the counter and grabbed two containers from the cabinet. She packed Zac’s portion first because he said he was coming back, then covered hers and put both into the refrigerator.

Her laptop was still open on the other side of the kitchen, Tennessee’s cheer page waiting exactly where she had left it.

Roxie carried it to the couch, tucked her legs underneath herself and reopened the information about the next open practice.

She’s not going to be that girlfriend.