"Hey, Zacky!"

I groaned as Noel let himself fall on me with a huge smile.

"Don't freaking call me that."

Thanks to my innocent little sister for publicising that worthy piece of knowledge.

"Oh, why? Are you embarrassed by your beautiful name?" He nudged me with a teasing smirk.

"Of course, I am. I don't want a high school punk calling me 'Zacky.'"

"I'm not a punk." He furrowed his ugly little brows and raised 'em. "You don't get all riled up when Theo calls you that."

Ah, Ridge brothers and their jealousy.

"He's a kid." I stated. "Nobody minds what comes out of his mouth. He's barely eleven."

"Still, he's in middle school." He argued and I smiled.

"He'll always be a little kid to everyone."

Theo really was growing up, getting a bit taller and stuff, but that couldn't stop him from being childish.

"Oh, and I'm not? You're so damn partial." He made an annoyed face that could only make me laugh.

"Oh, so you're a kid. I guess then it's not so fine to have a girlfriend, is it? Lemme go tell it to Ivy." I got all ready to jump when he grabbed my arm.

"No! You won't."

I laughed at that innocent face. I have no idea how he puts up with all those high school toxicity with innocence and kindness.

Just like his sister.

"Little kids don't have girlfriends." I shrugged with a smirk and he sighed.

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Bullshit," I said in between fake coughs and received a punch on my shoulder.

Ha, good one.

"Are you working out?" I asked, punching him back and he smiled.

"No, you taught me that one."

Oh, did I? Maybe I did.

"Also, now that you'll be here, you can help me in throwing some 'extra mean' punches." He said and I sighed, shaking my head.

"I feel used."

He laughed and then hugged me out of nowhere.

"It's good to have you back, frère."

"Oh, now you're speaking French?" I asked and he nodded.

"High school shit."

Indeed, it is.

"So, where's your sister? Why isn't she coming down?" I frowned, looking up at her closed window.

"She was taking a shower. Maybe she's getting ready now?"

"Shower? Shit. I shouldn't have waited here." I sighed and heard an 'eww' from him.

"She doesn't know you're here, does she?"

"Nope. But she knew I was coming today."

"Thought so. She would've jumped from that window if she knew you were here."

A proud smirk caught my face as I looked up at her window again.

I did think about going in and meeting her, but then thought waiting outside would do.

"I'm glad that you guys didn't break up like dramatic couples when you went to LA." He said and I smiled.

Well, It wasn't too easy to stay away from all these amazing people for three years.

"Where's Theo? Didn't see him out." I've been sitting on this fence for almost an hour and sure didn't see him anywhere.

"Went to play, I think. Or he might be drooling over our new neighbour's daughter, who's eight." He smirked.

"Hmm, playing a bit early, isn't he? Should we intrude and prevent it, Agent Ridge?"

"As his only brothers, I think we should, Agent Smith." He nodded in complete seriousness and the next second, Ivy walked out and stood there stunned, staring at me.

There she is, looking beautiful as always.

"How did y-... When did-" she started her little surprise stutter and Noel cut it off.

"Let me save your time. He's been here for an hour or two waiting for you. Now go kiss your perfect boyfriend and let me go in so that I don't have to witness it." He mumbled as he went inside and got a smack from her.

"You could've told me," she said, walking towards me and I smiled.

"Hello to you too, working woman."

"Yes, working man." She smiled before I crashed my mouth into hers.

After so long and it still feels the same.

"Or businessman?" She asked in between and I thought about it.

"Technically, you have to wait until tomorrow to call me that. Unless you count me working for dad." I shrugged.

"Now, where were we?" I asked, making her roll her eyes as I pressed my smiling lips onto hers.

And within five minutes, I heard a squeaky voice.

"Zacky!"

There he goes. Successfully maintaining his consistency in interrupting our kiss for the last six years.

But there's no joy greater than watching him run to me like I'm some fricking superhero.

"Theo!" I scooped him up and gave him a little bite that made him giggle.

That giggle never changed. But the weight did, it was a lot easier when he was light as a feather.

"When did you come?" He asked, fully excited.

"Just now. You ready to go?" I asked and he nodded pretty fast.

"Where?"

"Anywhere. Restaurant, beach or home. Wherever you say."

It's crazy how things have changed. At first Theo, Noel and even Ivy used to call it 'my' home or Sasha's home. But now, it's just home. It's just our home.

"So...how was your day?" I asked as Theo ran to change.

It's pretty great that now she's an editor. Never left the old jobs, though.
Can't blame, Annie's such a sweetie pie. Only that she's too old to manage it and Ivy is the one who's mostly doing it.

"Oh, good. I saw Tyler today."

"Perfect." I sighed. "Did he say anything?"

"Nothing much. I'm surprised that he actually smiled at me. I think he has changed." She smiled.

"Thanks to whoever's behind it."

I remember how much of an annoying jackass he was. But if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have met her in that most interesting way.

Before we could say anything more, Theo called her in to find his shirt.

"I'll go help that lazy freak to find his shirt and change mine if we're going out." She said, walking back home.

"Need help?" I shouted when she almost got in and received a death glare in return as she looked around, making sure no one heard.

Some things never change.

"Help for what?" Noel came with a frown and I shrugged.

"Nothing." I mumbled with a smirk as he sat down. "Where's your mom? Is she alright now?"

Shirley was weak, very fucking weak. The last time I was here, she was hospitalised because of her poor immune system, which was bound to happen. I mean, she almost ruined all her organs by stuffing them with a whole lot of meth and alcohol, so yeah... it wasn't a big surprise to me.

"Went to friend's house."

I snapped my head at him with a frown. "Friend?"

Last time she went to a friend's home...

"Don't worry, Zacky. It's Ivy's boss's home. They're good friends now." He smiled.

That sounds okay.

She wasn't all fun and laughs with any of us. Warm, friendly and nice, but not too attached, not even to her own kids. And that's totally her fault. What she did in the past detached her from them.

"You're not going again, are you?" Theo came a minute later, jumping on to Noel this time.

"Nope. You won't let me. You keep calling me for your little personal parent-teacher meeting." I smirked.

It's usually Ivy who attends those but in some special cases of ditching classes, failing tests and fights, I'm the one. And nobody knows it, not a single soul.

That's kind of our dirty little secret.

"Oh yeah, speaking of which, you have one this Friday." Noel said.

"Great. What now?"

"I failed in math. Ivy would kill me if she knew."

That's probably true. Especially when graduation is around the corner.

"You both need to come to my school too." Theo chipped in his opinion and I was quite surprised.

"You failed too?"

"No. I'm not Noel." He said, to which Noel glared and mumbled something about calculus. "A guy in my class keeps annoying me."

"Ignore him, he'll probably stop it soon." Noel said and I looked at him.

That's some major Evelyn essence in him talking.

"I did. But he fights with me and he even tried to hit me from the back today."

"Is that, by any chance, Tyler's kid?" I frowned. "It sure sounds like a miniature version of him."

Noel laughed and turned to Theo. "I honestly don't think you're too innocent in this, but if he punches you without any reason, give him one back."

"Yeah, knock his teeth off. We got your back dude." We did a fist bump, ready to vanish all the duplicate Tylers from the world.

"Okay, I'm done." Ivy came, looking pretty as usual.

"Off we go then," I said quickly before she could doubt anything and she sighed as we marched our way into the car.

A beep sound from my phone showed two new texts, one from mom and the other one from Sasha. Both had the same words.

All ready?

I typed out a yes to both of them with a smile and started the engine, ready to go with three happy faces in my car and a beautiful ring in my pocket.

💫💫

Hope nobody finds it bad or boring and I'm sorry if it is. Please do ignore this part if it's that bad😝

Thanks to you amazinglyawkward16 for encouraging me to write an epilogue. This one's totally dedicated to you.❤️😘

Edit: Also, a teeny tiny description of another story with one of Zack's friends as the main character on the next page. 😁