Song: I Think I Kinda, You Know by Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett from the series; HSMTMTS

Chapter Forty-two: In the place where the lost things go

I think I'm fat.

"I think you're fat." Reveka commented.

I gasped at how she read my mind. She wasn't allowed to say that. Only I was.

"She's not fat." Mum supported.

We were seated on the couch in Mum's hospital room.

It was Saturday, and apart from hearing Zane's voice every night, I did nothing but eat and eat and eat and sleep. Oh yeah, I went to school, but it was all a blur. I didn't realize how hungry I was until I finished all that food.

Dad had restocked the house with all my favorite foodstuff. Anastasia and her mum were quite pissed off that their green stuff had to be reduced for Reveka and I's stuff to fit the fridge. Aaron was pretty happy, complaining about how he never gets to eat any sweet stuff. Poor boy!

"She is. She's just hiding it all under that big T-shirt dress."

"It reaches my knee so she can see my legs. Do they look fat to you?"

"Yes."

I rolled my eyes at her. "We have the same stature so if I'm fat, you're fat."

"I'm not fat."

"Exactly."

She turned to Mum. "She's been feeding herself to death because Bruny's in Paris with a hot model."

I ignored the rest of her sentence. "You can't feed yourself to death." I snorted.

"You seem to be testing that hypothesis."

"If you keep arguing, I'll never get to share the good news with you."

We both turned to her.

"What could be better than what we'd already told you?" Reveka asked.

We had told Mum about Dad's promise and she was shocked at first then became very glad that she wouldn't have to carry the stress of doing it all by herself. She said she was fine with it and we shouldn't worry about them getting along. I let her get away with that lie because I remembered how she broke down in his office.

"That's great too. But this is also great."

I was eager to find out. "What is it?"

"Dr. Wallace just asked me to be his girlfriend."

I did something I wouldn't normally do. I squealed. Squealed, I tell you. Then I hugged her. 

"Mum I'm so happy for you." Rev cooed.

"Me too. That's really great."

"You both don't know if I said yes yet."

"We can tell."

She laughed at that. "There's also more good news, but I'm not sure how you're going to take it. You know this is the end of my third week in the hospital, and Dr. Wallace expects me to stay 3 more weeks."

Reveka nudged her elbow. "We know why now."

"You're lucky you're on the side of my good arm."

"Just continue." Rev pressed.

"Well... He said, when I get out of the clinic, he's taking me along with him on his trip to Africa."

"Oh God Mum! You've always wanted to go to Africa." 

"I know." She smiled. "He makes me so happy. We've been friends for years now and he knows me so well." 

"So you've gotten over dad?" Rev asked.

She played with her fingers for a while. "I'm getting there. I've been with him for years, but I think I'm getting past that now. Dr. Wallace is helping me with that. He's a good man. And I hope someday I can love him like he claims he loves me."

She beamed at the two of us. "But the thing is. We won't be back until the week of thanksgiving. We're spending about three weeks there."

Thanksgiving was about six weeks from now. So we're staying in Dad's house for six more weeks. Wow!

"Oh. So that's the down side."

"We'll be here by the Wednesday of that week."

"But that's just the day before thanksgiving. Our school gives us the whole week free. We'll have to spend all that time in Dad's house." Reveka pointed out.

"If you don't want me to go, I won't."

"Of course we want you to go." I nudged Reveka. "Because if we didn't, that would be selfish right Veka?"

"Right." She muttered.

"Are you sure?"

Yes." She hugged us. "I love you girls."

"We love you too."

********************

"Surprise!"

I opened my room door to see Zane standing with a small, colorful box with a bow on top. I couldn't help the smile that fought its way to my face. I knew he was coming back today, but I didn't expect him to show up at my door.

"What are you doing here?"

"Why don't you sound more excited? I mean, it's me." He let himself in and lay on my bed.

"So you didn't drop the arrogance of in France?"

"Nope."

"Clearly. What's that in the box? Did you buy me a present?"

"Open it up, and find out." He placed it on my bed side table. I gave him a weird look, before I walked over the table to pick the box.

"Is it a bomb?"

"If it was, I wouldn't be here."

My eyebrows shot up. "Is that the only reason? What about not wanting to blow the place up?"

"That could be put into consideration."

I rolled my eyes at him before opening the box. There was a white wrapping around whatever it was. I opened it and my eyes grew as big as saucers. I screamed and jumped on him. We both fell on my bed with him under, but I didn't even think too deep about it. I just threw my hands around him and hugged him tight.

"You bought me chili cheese dogs!!" I squealed.

"I know. I just didn't know you'd be this excited."

I raised my head to look into his hazel eyes. "Neither did I, I guess you can call me a foodie."

"I guess I can."

A strand of my hair fell on his face, and he tucked it behind my ear. "I thought you'd like something to munch on, on the ride we're going."

****************************

I wasn't really ready for the 'trip', and Zane didn't let me change so I was wearing another T-shirt dress. But this one was long sleeved and black. What can I say? They're the only comfortable things to where when you're stuffing yourself to death. As Rev gently put it.

"Is the blindfold really necessary?"

"Nope."

"And I still have to use it?"

"Yup."

He helped me down from the car, and put a hand on the small of my back, holding my hand with his other one.

"What time is it?" I asked him.

"About six pm."

"Well, hurry up. I was saving my chili cheese dogs for the way back."

It would be cold.

And I would still love it.

"That was a good idea."

"Why?"

"You'll see."

"You know, I don't like mysterious things."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Well too bad. Jump!" I jumped. "What was that?"

"Nothing. I just thought it'd be funny to see you jump over nothing."

I elbowed him in his stomach. It was too bad I couldn't see the look on his face, but at least, I got to hear him groan. You call that sadistic, I call that ambitious.

"So.. Is this a long walk?"

"Sort of."

"Where are we? We drove for quite a while."

"The outskirts of town."

"I see. So since it's still far. I have some questions for you."

"My trip with Serena was fine. She did all her photo shoots really well and she's scheduled for another one in Spain next month."

"I wasn't going to ask that."

"Sure, you weren't." 

"Can you stop with this mind reading thing?"

"No. Now, I have a question for you."

"I'm not hiding anything important." I guessed.

"Now who's mind reading?"

I shrugged. "I guess it's our thing."

"Our thing." He repeated. "I want to know what you're hiding."

"You have to give me something in return."

"What?"

"I want to know your own secret."

He was quiet for a while. "Deal."

"Good. You know, it was a pretty stupid deal. I'm not hiding anything important. I would have told you anyways."

"Still. I want to tell you."

"Then why wait this long?"

"Perfect time. Perfect place."

"I see."

"Now tell me what happened while I was gone."

"Okay so starting from Monday. I met this guy named Jayden."

"And why is he important?"

"He's Jaxon's brother."

Zane stopped and stooped me as well.

I decided to continue. "I was with my friends and he came up to us, and introduced himself to me as Jaxon's brother. And said he could recognize me because Jaxon had my photo."

"You were at Tate's, weren't you?"

"My friends wanted to eat there, and I couldn't give them a good enough reason not to go."

"Jaxon has a photo of you?" He asked slowly.

"That's what Jayden said. Jaxon also has my old phone. Remember that day we saw Wren at Tate's and you thought you saw Jaxon. When you left me in the car to talk to Wren, Jaxon came to stand about a few feet from the car, resting on the building. He was using my phone. I was about to go meet him, but when you entered the car and I turned back, he was gone. So I thought it was unnecessary to mention it."

"You wanted to go meet him?"

"Yeah?"

"God Cherry! Thank God I entered when I did. You can't just go meet him."

"I know."

"Let's just forget about it. Is that all?"

"About Jaxon, yeah. Also on Monday, we made up with my dad."

"That's great. How did it happen?"

"I don't know. I can't really explain it. And also, no more Avery Adams. Dad promised to pay all our bills and fees."

We started walking again. "I think that's the best news I've heard all night. I never want to see you near that place again."

"I live near there. At least, when I leave my Dad's house."

He groaned.

"Let's just skip that okay? It's not important."

"Fine. Is there anything else?"

"Nope. Now your turn."

"Let's get there first."

"Really?" I groaned as I stomped my feet like a child. I really looked forward to hearing about Zaiden.

"Yes. That's important."

"Fine."

***

"We're here."

He untied the blindfold and my eyes widened like saucers for the second time today. Around us were trees, and we were standing by a waterfall- not too big, but still as beautiful- that fell into a little lake that was downward. After the lake, there was a clear landing with grass. And then about 10 feet away, there was a tree house.

"This place is beautiful." 

He came to stand beside me. "I used to come here when I was little."

Don't say with Serena. Don't say with Serena.

"The only person that knew this place was Zaiden. We built that tree house."

Here it comes...

"Is that the secret?"

"One of it. I'm not sure if I should say it because I don't want to say it yet. I have an amazing night planned."

"An amazing night?" I raised my brows.

"Yeah. But I guess I'm just going to come out and say it. It shouldn't be a secret after all." He turned to me, as if asking for permission. I nodded. "We should go down first."

"How do we get down?"

He gave me an unnerving smile that told me exactly what he was thinking.

"No! No, no, no. We are not jumping."

"Why not?" He whined.

"Because although it may not be too high, I'm not the best fan of heights."

"Fine." He grumbled. "We'll follow the boring way."

I rolled my eyes. He led us down a steep, but firm path all the way down to the clearing. At least, it wasn't raining. That won't be pretty.

When we got to the bottom, he went to the edge of the lake, pulled off his shoes, sat down and put his legs in. He patted the space next to him. "Come here."

I glared at him. "I'm not a dog, you know."

"Yet you're coming." I punched his shoulder, before taking off my own shoes and putting my legs in the water.

"Zaiden is my brother." He blurted out.

I turned to him with an alarmed face. I didn't know he had a brother. "Where is he?"

He gave me a small smile. "In heaven, I hope."

God! He's dead!

"No! Stop with the waterworks."

"How can I? After you just told me that. If you're not going to cry, I'll cry for you."

"I've cried enough. It's been 8 years."

"How old is he?"

"He turned 17 this year. He was just a year younger than me." He stared into the water, kicking his legs slowly. "When we left Argentina, he was just three. A few years after we got to America, we noticed something about him that was different. He never wanted to make eye contact. He obsessed over a particular way of doing things. He walked weirdly. He was sensitive to a lot of things. He didn't speak to anyone but me and my parents. He spoke weirdly and he didn't understand abstract thinking."

It dawned on me. "He had Asperger's syndrome, didn't he?"

Zane only nodded.

"What happened?"

"One day he was just walking down the stairs, and he tripped on his own leg. He hit his head and lost a lot of blood. We were home schooled so no one really knew us. His burial was a quiet and peaceful one. Just the way we liked it."

"I'm so sorry Zane." I rested my head on his shoulder. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes. Wipe your tears."

I raised my head up to look at him and gasped. "You're the one who told me the story. Why so morbid?"

"Because if you cry, I'll cry too." He said as he fought the tears that slipped down his face. "I know it may not seem long, but I knew him the first 9 years of his life. He was my best friend and I finally came to terms with the fact that he was gone so I'm allowed to be morbid if I don't want to sink back into that depressing stage of my life."

I gave him a friendly hug and rested my head on his shoulder. "He's not gone. He's in the place where the lost things go."

He chuckled. I raised up my head from his shoulder and pushed his shoulder. "Stop laughing I'm serious."

He gave me an incredulous look. "You're quoting a kid's movie."

"Yes, but it's something that has a lot of meaning to it. Just imagine that he's up there watching over you." I pointed at the stars. 

He looked up with me as we stared at the twinkling stars before he looked back down at me and smiled, "Simba really did make you wise."

I looked at him and smiled back. We just stared into each others eyes with not a single care in the world.

He finally snapped out of it. "If I don't get to do what I planned I'd back out of it again." Before I could question him some more, he stood up pulled down his trousers and took of his shirt. I didn't get to drool over his beautifully sculpted body because he jumped into the lake and started swimming away.

"Come back here you morbid coward!" I yelled at him.

"Come over here you sensitive cry baby!" He yelled back.

I gasped. "I'm not a cry baby and everyone would be sensitive about what you said."

He started swimming back towards my direction. "But if you cry, then I'll cry and that can't happen. Now hop in. The water feels great."

"I can't swim." I lied.

"You were on the girl's swimming team."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do."

"Hmm." I smiled. "Well, I don't have anything to wear." 

"Well you could try skinny dipping."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm sure you'd love that."

"I'm not denying it." He laughed.

Without another word, I just jumped in. The water did feel great. It wasn't too cold because the sun just started going down. It felt relaxing. I went under the water to soak my hair. It felt so good.

"I told you you'd love it."

I smiled at him. "And as usual, you're correct."

"Let's swim over to the waterfall." He started swimming towards it and I followed him.

When we got under, there wasn't water falling because we were under the cliff itself, but we could reach out and touch the waterfall. How did he even find this place? It's amazing.

I felt Zane wrap his arms around me. I turned to him with a perplexed look. I wanted to lean into him, but I needed to understand first so I let him do the talking.

"I realized something while I was in France. I missed you so bad that I figured everything was so much better when you were around. I realized that every day I spend with you becomes the new best day of my life."

I smiled, hoping this was going where I thought it was going. "Okay, that's just cheesy."

He brushed his fingers through my hair. "But it's the truth Cherry." He continued. "I planned a thousand ways to tell you this, and I couldn't choose one."

If this is going where I think it's going, I'm going to combust and then explode.

You can't-

Shhhh.

"Then I remembered that this was you I was talking about. You don't care about diamonds and pearls and extravaganzas. So I took you to a simple, but beautiful place. Right under the waterfall where it's just me and you and the rest of the world around us freezes. All this to tell you..."

Please be what I want to hear.

"I'm crazy in love with you, Cherry. I can't escape the way I love you. And I don't want to."

*******************

There it was! That you-know-what part! It was so greatly planned in my head, and although it might not have come out as perfect, I hoped you guys still liked it. I'd love to hear your comments about it.

And this time, the song above was planned to fit it. I don't exactly know why I chose it, but I did. What's done is done!

Also please vote, comment and share. All feedback is appreciated ;)