Old Enough to Love... (Just One of the Guys) by Kristi Pelton Page A

wasn’t working.
    Finally, I grabbed my Ipad and tapped my Facebook app. Two friend requests. I smiled instantly when Zachary Owens was one and I accepted immediately. Going straight to his wall, I was excited to see any piece of him that was foreign to me.  His friends from San Francisco, his parents, anything…but I hadn’t expected this.  Forty-two pictures of him and Estelle and the group that she had posted. Today! Torturously, I clicked my way through them. They were in front of the drinking fountains downtown. In his Jeep with the top down. In a house with a painting of a mountain behind them.  I tried to place the painting, his house?
    “What’s going on?”
    I flipped completely over, startled by his voice and presence in my room. 
    “I, uh.”
    He glanced at the screen and his shoulders fell ever so slightly.
    “Emma,” he said softly.
    Needless to say, I hadn’t expected him in my room today. My bed was only half made and dirty clothes were scattered around. Reesy met him, wagging her tail as he got closer.
    “Those were a long time ago.” He was upset, but there was tenderness in his voice. I untagged myself today but she must have retagged me.”
    “I’m sorry,” I said gazing down at my lap.
    He knelt on one knee in front of me. “For what?”
    “You can sit on the bed.” I patted a spot next to me.
    He pulled his saturated shirt away from his body. “I’m drenched and I stink. I’ll stay put.” His smile was beautiful.
              He was quiet. When I glanced up at him, his eyes were patient
    “I know that message was from her,” I whispered clearing my throat.
    He nodded. “Yes. It was. She texts me about twenty times a day.”
    “Why?”
    My words hadn’t angered him and I was relieved. “You can read any of them. All of ‘em. She asks me to call, text back, you name it…I don’t.”
    It was silly after last night and after being with him today that I felt the way I did.
    “Look.” He switched knees. “This Estelle thing is going to pass. I know it hurt you and I regret ever doing it. But I can’t take it back and I can’t take away your pain. I wish I could.” Remorse was thick in his voice. 
    “Why did she just now post the pictures?”
    Sweat beads trickled down his temples and he dabbed them with his shirt. “Why do you think?  To upset you. To upset us. Estelle doesn’t bother me. I understand and respect that it concerns you…but it is not a concern for me. What concerns me is that you don’t give you credit. You are a beautiful girl and you can’t understand why I’m attracted to you. I like you. I like spending time with you. Is that OK?”
    I nodded as he uncrossed my legs. Just him touching my leg blasted a shot of adrenaline through me. I swallowed hard trying to ignore what my body was saying. He took my hand and pulled me down to rest on his one knee then kissed the tip of my nose. “If I wanted to be somewhere else right now, I would be. But I don’t.”
    He left me speechless.
     
    The next couple of weeks went by in a blur with football and cross country.  Quality time together usually came only on the weekends and either after games or meets. But, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gone a day without seeing him. He had been amazingly attentive to me and in overdrive at distancing himself from Estelle. Our conversations were different now and centered around us and getting to know each other. We would talk for hours in his Jeep or on the sofa.
    I wasn’t sure if Ryan was just playing along or if he and Zach were really becoming friends.  Somewhere along the line, Zach stepped down as secondary quarterback and the coach put him in as a tailback, which could have something to do with Ryan’s behavior. I wondered if either of them did it for me.
    It was Friday night and Homecoming. With every ounce of my attention focused on the love of my life, I’d been slacking at home with dinner and laundry, school work and