Free Falling (Best Friend 2)

“Sounds great. I’ll remember to put on nice underwear then,” I joked, rolling my eyes.

She grinned. “I’m going to wear Bridget Jones pants and make sure that Ste gets a peek, you know he loves those big pants, the freaky boy.”

I laughed and shook my head; she was always like this, crude, loud and in your face. But it was nice because she seemed to bring out the best of me too. “Are we ready for class?” I asked hopefully.

She nodded, throwing in one last handful of cereal. “Mmm rebby,” she mumbled with her mouth full.

The walk to college was short because we lived just outside the campus. Georgia linked her arm through mine as we walked; telling me about the bars that we would visit tonight and which ones we had to avoid because they’d already rumbled our fake IDs.

When we finally arrived and started making our way up the steps into the main building, someone called my name behind me. I turned, automatically plastering on a fake smile because I knew that was to be expected of me.

As I turned I saw a guy with light brown hair that fell over his forehead and curled at the nape of his neck, and a shaggy, messy beard covered his face. His blue eyes met mine and crinkled around the edges as he smiled broadly. I frowned, a little bemused. I didn’t recognise the guy at all, so had no idea how he would know my name.

“Hi,” I greeted politely.

He laughed, and the sound struck a chord somewhere deep down inside me, but I had no idea why. “Don’t you recognise me?” he asked, holding his hands out to the side and looking down at himself. I raked my eyes over him too. Taking in his cowboy boots, fitted jeans, his white button down shirt, and brown suit jacket that that he wore over the top. He held a single red rose in one hand. I looked back up at his face. His nose and lips looked a little familiar, but other than that, nothing.

“Should I?” I asked, raising one eyebrow in question.

He took a step closer to me and Georgia’s hand wrapped around my forearm, pulling me closer to her. The guy noticed and grinned, shaking his head. “I won’t hurt her, don’t worry.”

His voice. There was something about the way his words sounded and flowed, how his amusement coloured his tone. It was extremely familiar to me, but I couldn’t place it.

“Still not recognise me? That hurts, little rebel,” he teased.

My heart leapt into my throat at the nickname. “Zach?” I gasped, looking him over again and shaking my head in disbelief. He looked so different it was no wonder I hadn’t known who he was.

A grin split his face. “The one and only,” he confirmed cockily.

Before I could stop myself I’d taken the three steps and closed the distance between us, throwing my arms around him and hugging him tightly. Tears pooled in my eyes as he hugged me back, lifting me clean off my feet and crushing me against his chest. His smell filled my lungs as his familiarity washed over me, calming my senses and relaxing my muscles. I laughed, letting some of the stress leave my body. I’d missed him something chronic.

We still kept in touch regularly, emailing, texting and skyping, but I had only seen him in person once since I left home because his schedule was full and we couldn’t ever get time to meet up. When I skyped with him two weeks ago he hadn’t told me he was coming here – and he definitely didn’t have long hair and a scruffy looking beard!

“What are you doing here? Why didn’t you tell me you were coming, and what on earth is up with the big homeless person beard?” I cried, squeezing him tightly.

He laughed and set me back down on my feet, keeping one arm around my waist. “I’m working. I wanted to surprise you. And the beard is for the shoot,” he answered my questions in turn, grinning from ear to ear.

My mouth dropped open in shock. They were filming a movie in and around our college at the moment and had been for the last couple of months. Apparently it was about a college professor who gets into trouble when he witnesses a murder of one of the students. They’d paid our college a lot of money to use the campus, and a lot of us even had roles as extras as we roamed the halls.

I looked around quickly now. Cameras, both handheld and mounted, were strewn everywhere. People sat around in wooden chairs eating and drinking food from the static caravan thing that was parked there. When they first arrived there had been a huge buzz about it all, but the novelty had worn off of it now, so it was more of an inconvenience to the students because it meant we couldn’t just cut across the middle of town to get to college, we had to take a longer route, and we had to be quiet all the time while the cameras were rolling. Apparently they were scheduled to do another month of shooting here at least before they moved off to another location. The film crew had been on campus for the past two months, and in that time we’d been fortunate enough to meet both Hugh Jackman and Charlize Theron. That had made Georgia’s year.

“You’re working? Here? On this movie?” I gasped, looking at him proudly. He hadn’t mentioned anything about this at all. He’d told me he was trying desperately to get a part that he wanted, but he didn’t say it was for this one.

He nodded. “Yep. You’re looking at Hugh’s body double and the lead stuntman for the movie,” he boasted, smirking at me.

I let out a little squeal as I jumped on the spot. So far in his career he’d never been lead stuntman, only part of a team of them. “Zach, that’s great!” I chirped, throwing myself at him for another hug. His beard scratched my cheek as I squeezed him tightly. “Though I’m not too sure about the hair and make-up,” I added, fingering the back of his hair as I pulled back slightly. The hair felt weird, wiry, and I realised then that it was a wig.

He chuckled and nodded, rubbing along his jawline and turning his nose up. “I look like an old man, huh?” he mused.

“And you’re wearing contacts,” I observed, seeing that his eyes were blue instead of the usual chocolate brown. I preferred the brown if I was honest. Zach had lovely warm eyes and the contacts masked that.

“Yeah. They irritate like a son of a bitch,” he muttered, blinking a couple of times.

I grinned, turning to look at Georgia as she touched my back. “It’s nice to see you in person, Zach,” she greeted. She’d spoken to him a couple of times when she’d been in my room when we’d skyped, but they’d never officially met. She turned to me and smiled apologetically. “We should get to class.”

I frowned, turning back to Zach. I didn’t want to go to class; I wanted to catch up with him. “Maybe I could skip and we could hang out?” I offered.

“Are you asking me out, Maisie?” he gasped, faking shock and putting his hand over his heart.

I laughed, feeling heat flood my face as I slapped his shoulder. “No!” I protested. “And you don’t date anyway, so what’s the point?” I added smugly. Zach still hadn’t been out with anyone since I moved away. My talk with him on the day I left had obviously had no effect at all. He was just as single as I was.

He shrugged casually. “The only reason I haven’t dated anyone for the last year and a half is because the only girl I’ve ever been interested in doesn’t look at me in that way. I got friend zoned to the max. It doesn’t help that she moved halfway across the country so I barely get to see her. Plus, she’s not ready to date anyone yet after all the shit she went through,” he replied. His head cocked to the side as he looked at me through the coloured contacts.

I shifted on my feet uncomfortably, dropping my eyes to the floor, not knowing what to say to the revelations. Zach likes me, for real? Or is he joking? I gulped and forced my eyes up to meet his. “I… I…” I stuttered, shaking my head. I wasn’t really sure how to feel about my newfound knowledge. On the one hand, dating wasn’t something I had ever considered, especially not dating Zach. But now that he’d said the words the idea of having someone there for me, of being part of something special, I missed that. And it wasn’t as if I wasn’t attracted to Zach, because I was, of course I was. He was handsome, funny, witty and thoughtful. But I wasn’t sure I was ready for anything more, with anyone, let alone a friend that I held dear to me.

He smiled sadly. “You should go to class. I have a scene to shoot anyway. Maybe we could meet up for coffee after you’re done? Catch up? By then I’ll have this ridiculous get up off,” he suggested, scratching up under the side of his wig and tugging on the lapel of his jacket. “Can’t do anything about the facial hair though for a while, that’s mine unfortunately and I have to keep it until they finish shooting,” he added.

I chuckled awkwardly. “I actually don’t mind the facial hair. In a weird way it kind of suits you,” I admitted, smiling. I wasn’t a beard kind of girl, but he actually pulled it off. “And I’d love to catch up.” It was weird seeing him again in person. He was taller than I remembered, broader across the shoulders, like he’d maybe built a lot of muscle for the part of something. “How long do I have you for?” I asked, silently praying he wasn’t going to disappear out of my life too quickly.

He raised a teasing eyebrow as a smirk slipped onto his face. “How long do you want me for?” he answered. I rolled my eyes and pushed on his shoulder playfully. He chuckled. “A month. I’m here for a month.”

My heart leapt at that knowledge. A whole month of hanging out with Zach. It sounded fantastic. “Yeah? That’s great!” I chirped, grinning from ear to ear. “I’ve missed you,” I admitted, dragging my eyes over his features that I recognised, his straight nose and his full pink lips.

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I’ve missed you too,” he replied. He brought his hand up, holding out the single red rose that I’d noticed earlier but not paid any attention to. “Happy valentine’s day,” he said softly, bending and planting a lingering kiss on my cheek.

His lips felt oddly beautiful on my skin. I closed my eyes, turning my head an inch towards his as my arm snaked up around his neck, clamping him to me. The hardness of his chest pressed against mine made my heart start to flutter and the hair on my scalp prickle with sensation. My breath caught in my throat as something I hadn’t felt for a long time settled in the pit of my stomach. He pulled his mouth away from my cheek. His breath blew down my neck, and I suppressed a little shiver at the sensations that were invading my system.

More confused than I had been in a long time, I pulled back, looking into his now blue eyes. “Thanks for the rose,” I whispered, chewing on my lip.

“You’re welcome.” He stepped back, letting his arms drop from my waist as he nodded over his shoulder. “I’d better get back, the crew will be wondering where I am. I’ll meet you here at what time?” he asked.

“Three?” I suggested, shrugging.

He nodded, smiling that cocky smile that I remembered so well. “It’s a date,” he confirmed. Before I could protest and say anything about it not really being a date, he turned and jogged across the campus, effortlessly leaping the wooden barrier that cordoned off the film set, and was out of sight within seconds. I stood there, unable to move as I watched the last place that I’d seen Zachary Anderson. Suddenly I realised what that feeling was that I’d felt when he’d kissed my cheek. The feeling was so alien after so long that I hadn’t recognised it at first, but now I knew, and I wasn’t sure how to deal with that knowledge. The feeling had been longing, need, happiness and contentment.

I could feel a blush forming, creeping up my neck and slowly filling my whole face as I looked down at the rose that I held in my hand. My lips twitched with a smile as I brought it to my nose, inhaling the sweet aroma. A month was a long time but, seeing him now, it didn’t seem nearly long enough.