Chapter 15: Chapter 15

Vega diced the fruit, her eyes cutting at Zach who worked on cutting the vegetables, working because he was sweating buckets, yet moving at a snail's pace. He shook the hair out of his face, concentrating on the task before sighing in frustration.

"I thought you said lunch together, not cooking a meal" he grumbled.

Vega rolled her eyes. "You'll never appreciate the chefs if you don't cook your meals. Besides, cooking is fun." Zach's shoulders slumped making her giggle. She watched him struggle to arrange the vegetables, before carefully slicing them. Oh well, this lunch was going to take forever, Vega sighed at the same time he did.

"Gosh, my neck killing me". He complained, looking miserable.

"That's because you're too strung up. Put in more effort. I won't help you out, got that, so you..." Her phone pinged, halting her speech. She answered the call.

She smiled, holding a finger up to silence Zach's protest."Hey, Noah."

Over the phone. "where are you?"

"I am with Zach, we're making lunch" her eyes darted to Zach's, noticing the ugly scowl.

"Zach doesn't cook, I'd bet you ten thousand dollars that he can't make instant noodles... Why are you making lunch with him tho, aren't you two like sworn enemies" he joked, fishing for gossip.

"We're not enemies. I love my boyfriend very much" she got out, watching Zach's hand freeze where he stood.

"Boyfriend" his voice was more shrill than normal. "I thought Markus was your boyfriend".

"Duh, I'm talking about Markus. I'm making lunch..." Her eyes cut to Zach's before she whispered conspiratorially into the phone. "For Markus".

Noah seemed to prefer that because his voice was calmer. "Cool. I'll talk to you later then".

"Bye Noah" she chirped, ending the call. She looked up at Zach, her smile freezing at the darts shooting out of his eyes. She cleared her throat. "Continue cutting those, I need them for the sauce, and the ways you're doing it, we won't be leaving this kitchen anytime soon". She walked past him to check on the cake in the oven. It was perfectly done. She turned it off, pulled on her muffins, and took the tray of cake out.

"I'll go get more flowers, so we can make the last batch of pie ok," she told him, as she placed the second set of her flour batch into the oven. Zach nodded, still slicing. Vega shook her head, moving out of the kitchen.

Zach took a deep breath, relaxing his shoulder. Everything scented wholesome around him, making him nostalgic. He also realized how on edge he had been as she moved around the kitchen. She reminded him of his mother. He shook his head, trying to shrug off the thought. Zach's eyes darted to the phone she left behind when she hurried off. He dropped the chopping knife and grabbed at the offending item, eyes darting to the door every few seconds like a criminal.

He scrolled through her contact list, searching for Markus's number. He didn't find any with the name, but he came across Noah's contact instead. He screened the door, adding it to the blocked list, and then froze in shock.

"Wait, what the hell am I doing? I am Zach Dante for godsakes, I don't go through a girl's phone acting petty". He groaned in frustration. I'm doing it for her good. Noah doesn't even like her sincerely. He dropped the phone, getting back to what he had come to term a horrendous task. Who knew cutting vegetables could make a person feel like their shoulders were about to fall off. I hope this lunch tastes great or else... And why the hell was I sweating so much. He dropped the knife, taking off his shirt. He smirked once he thought about the effect it would have on Vega. He went back to work, suddenly in a happy mood.

"It took like ages for me to find this, can you..." She stopped in her track so abruptly, that she almost face-planted. He turned to face her, smirking as he subtly flexed his muscles.

She clenched one of her eyes shut, taking in his frame with the other. High holy hell! What in the world of porn was I seeing right now? such flawless skin and those lean toned muscles... Was I seeing Jungkook's body right now, or what, cause he was perfect. She clutched at the packet of flowers, eyes trailing over every inch of the skin on display.

"You're taking a very long while to drool over me, but I guess it's as expected. You must not have seen a lot of guys without their shirt on".

His words snapped her out of her stupor, causing her to blink repeatedly before she forced out a laugh she knew sounded like she was insane.

"Me?" She pointed to her chest and gave him a look that screamed ridiculous. "Drool over you, you must be insane". The laughter died from her lips, and she forced herself to stare him at him severely. "You don't get to take your shirt off in my kitchen, I don't want you contaminating the food.". She stepped past him, pouring the flour into the bowl with shaky hands. She peeked at him from the corner of her eyes just because she couldn't help herself and they were both standing in such close quarters. Was the kitchen on fire? He made no move to put on his shirt, and just crossed his arms, edging closer to her.

"You're strange you know that right, cause no matter how I try to wrap my head around your relationship with Markus, it still bothers me. Why are you dating Markus when he's with your best friend?"

She shrugged "Duh! Because I like him". She continued mixing. FYI, Markus wasn't Bi, he liked men. Period!.

He looked confused. "So you prefer sharing then? That's so stupid, you can get any guy you want and he'd love you wholeheartedly".

Vega stopped mixing, turning to face him because that was not what she had expected to ever come out of his pretty lips. "Well, love doesn't come that easy to people like me. It kills me to say this but you're really good-looking, heck more than just that. You've got a perfect life, girls flock all over you, so you have it easy in that department. I don't, that's why I'll take what I can get. Someone who loves me when I look like a freaking hippie, and when I am all dolled up" she turned back to mixing, furiously beating at the flour.

*****

Zach watched her closely, noticing that she didn't look all that badass anymore. She leaned more on the cute adorable side with her hair looking all wavy and soft as they curled around her face. It was ethereal, and it made him feel like something was clogging around his chest, his fingers itched to feel her hair texture, bury his nose into it so he could discover her scent. He whipped his gaze back to his task and finished the last batch of vegetables, thinking until his brain almost went numb. He peeked at her, deciding to wing it.

"You can..." She trailed off with a soft shocked gasp that went straight to his cock as she noticed the little space between them. Zach stepped towards her because all he wanted to do was get in her space and crowd into her. Vega backed against the counter, leaning back as he moved closer and his hands came down beside the counter on both sides, effectively trapping her between his body and the counter. She gulped nervously, eyes straying down his torso before she forced them back to his eyes. "W-what are you doing." she stuttered, her face heating up.

"You said you wanted the perfect one, and you also admitted that I was the perfect guy, so what's stopping you from hitting on me," he asked, cocky. Her eyes widened, as she tried to disappear into the counter. He smiled, inching closer, eyes zeroing on her lips as she swiped her tongue over it. All the blood in his body rushed south and he groaned as he hardened in his jeans. It was so unexpected, but so was the way his skin seemed to burn at the stare of Vega. Her hands moved to push him away, but he caught hold of it in time, giving her a chastising look. "Don't do that Vega" he murmured, lips almost touching hers when the oven went crazy, making them jerk apart. The smoke coming out of the oven was enough to douse the fire between them. Zach rushed for the fire extinguisher, spraying it at the fire and Vega turned the oven off, pulling out the burnt pie in a hurry, her face aghast as she saw the charred residue.

"Oh my goodness! See what you caused. It's all ruined, you're such a distraction!" she wailed, looking around the smokey kitchen.

"At least you admit I distract you". He grinned, getting a kick at the little admission. She glared at him, thrusting the tray into his face.

"You think this is funny... The kitchen is a mess, and the pie's burnt, just look at it" she cried, surprising him.

"Hey, it's just a pie. You're being a tad dramatic. We can make a new one".

The idea didn't work the way he expected. "Make a new one. Do you know how much love and effort I placed into making this one" she yelled, bursting Into tears? Zach couldn't help fretting, he didn't know how to console people. He stepped closer to her, tentatively reaching to pat her arm.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to distract you". He pulled her closer, giving in to the temptation of petting her hair, gliding his fingers through the soft tendrils. "I'll help you make a new one" he found himself promising.

"You don't even know how to cook" she murmured into his shirt, sniffling.

He searched for a solution desperately. "Ok, I'll take you to a secret spot of mine, then we'll have a picnic there, My treat." She wiggled out of his hold, holding his gaze.

"Really?" She asked skeptically and he nodded.

"Yeah, but only if you stop crying. Go change your outfit, and wash your hair, you've got flowers on them". She wiped at the tears on her face, a blinding smile replacing the sullen look.

It happened almost in slow motion, her eyes brightened, crinkling at the corners and her lips stretched, showing a perfect white set of teeth, her lush lips curving beautifully.

Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump!

He took unsteady steps back, afraid that she would hear the sudden thumping sounds his heart was making.

"Alright then. I'll be right back". Zach nodded furiously and Vega gazed at him suspiciously, before rushing out of the kitchen. He gasped, releasing the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. He dragged his hand through his hair. "What the fuck am I feeling?".