The morning came and when I opened my eyes, I still had a really bad headache. Had I cried that much yesterday? I say up and the pounding became even worse. Zac moved beside me, bringing my eyes upon his body. He was still asleep, his lips parted slightly. He looked almost perfect lying there. The grandfather clock struck 6:00 am and then chimed six times. It was only 6:00? It seemed like it should have been at least noon. I roughly laid my head back against my pillow.

"Ow! Ang, my arm was under there!" Zac moaned, pulling his arm out from under my pillow.

"Sorry! I didn't know." I gasped. He held a look of pain across his face. "Really! I didn't know!"

"Well, it's okay...just keep it down...it's still early. Don't wake anybody up." He said in a hushed tone. I nodded. "So, how did you sleep?"

"Pretty good, I guess. This was the first time that I woke up."

"That's good..." he said, turning to his side to face me. I loved him so much. His eyes looked like they were so full of admiration, faith and trust when they looked into mine. I smiled. "What?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing."

"Why'd you smile?"

"Just 'cause." I replied, then smiled again. Was it wrong to feel so happy this soon after my mother's death? I felt a little guilty for feeling happy. Not happy because my mother was dead, but happy because I was with Zac. I kissed him and he took a deep breath. He responded to my kisses with enough burning to take anyone's breath away.

I moved closer to him, sort of like leaning over him. He rolled over onto his back, pulling me on top of him. Our chests pressed together, our legs intertwined and our lips caressed the other’s. His hands rested firmly on my hips and ever so slowly found the bottom of my shirt and touched my bare skin.

Fire erupted and I kissed him with more ravenousness than I ever imagined kissing anyone. We were riding on blazing gusts of passion as we became unaware of everything around us. Love swelled my veins with surge after surge of hot eager blood. Thoughts entered my mind one after the other…

Is this wrong? Shouldn’t we be more careful? What if someone catches us? What about Bobby? Is this right? Should I feel guilty about enjoying this so much this soon after my mom died?

I wanted to stop, to pull away when Zac’s hands caressed my back, my bare skin. But I couldn’t pull away and I couldn’t stop. There was something magical about his touch, something that made me want more. His hands were flowing so gently over my skin, memorizing every curve they touched. My hands were resting permanently on his chest. I pushed away. His eyes opened and looked into mine.

“Zac, I uh, I think that this is a bit overboard, don’t you?”

“No.” he answered truthfully. He was right, too. It didn’t feel wrong because it all felt so right. The only reason I pulled away is because I am constantly paranoid that something bad is going to happen. I smiled and our lips pressed together again.

“I think this has gone far enough.”

Shocked, we both froze. I looked behind us and Zac lifted his head. Even though we already knew that it was going to be his father standing there in the doorway of the living room with his arms crossed angrily over his chest, we both had to look, just to make sure that we hadn’t imagined his voice. It wasn’t our imagination. I looked back at Zac and rolled over onto the mattress. His eyes bared fear, but he remained calm. I was about to panic, though.

“You’ve got some explaining to do.” He said, directing it the both of us. I glanced over Zac, who glanced nervously at me. Then I looked up at Walker. He kept the stern look on his face and turned towards the kitchen. I let out the breath I had been holding inside ever since he caught us.

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Walker didn’t go to the kitchen. He went back up the stairs and to the bedroom in which Diana sat waiting for him to return. He nodded and she knew what he had seen.

“He’s only 13 years old, why is he doing that?” Walker asked aloud, sitting down on the bed. Diana placed a loving hand on his shoulder and, leaning her head on his other shoulder.

“Well dear, I think that it’s safe to say that we’ve lost tow of our boys. First Taylor fell in love with Simone and is still madly infatuated with her. And you know that Zac and Angela grew up as best friends. It was basically only a matter of time before this happened to them.”

“But at 13?” Walker still persisted about the age thing. Diana shrugged her shoulders.

“I know this isn’t going to help, but he is almost 14.”

“You’re right, it didn’t help.” Walker smiled.

“I feel so terrible about Angie losing her mother. I offered her to stay here as long as she needed.” Diana said.

“But she’s not going to sleep with Zac anymore. God only knows what-- ”

“I’m ashamed of you. You know that we’ve taught our children right from wrong. Zac would never even think about that, especially when Angie is in such a vulnerable condition right now. Don’t you understand? Zac is the only person that she has right now and I am not going to take him away from her, too. I’m not going to separate them.” She explained. She admitted to herself that maybe 13, so close to 14, was a bit young to be so involved, but she knew that Zac cared for Angie and she didn’t want to stand in the way. Walker nodded, agreeing with his wife.