All Chapters of Seaside Pictures: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

BOOK TWO: KEEPZaneMy palms slid against the guitar, slick with sweat, I tried to wipe them across my jeans, but it was no use. The noise was deafening. I had to remind myself why I was up there. "Saint! Saint! Saint!" Stomping ensued while I knelt down and made the sign of a cross in the air in front of me. "We want Saint! We want Saint!" With a muffled curse, I stood, then reached into my tight jeans to pull out a smashed marshmallow.I popped it in my mouth and closed my eyes, allowing myself to be transported back to a simpler time, a time when things were easy, when decisions weren't all on me. When life was about making mud pies and carrying around miniature marshmallows in a measuring cup."You don't have to save the world," she whispered. "You know that, right?""Right." I furrowed my brow. "But why is it wrong to try?""Oh, Zane," My grandma leaned down to eye level. "Just because your parents were taken from you, doesn't make it your job to make sure everyone and e

ZaneShe was nerd hot.Like the girl who peaks after high school but has no idea how damn cute she is.Her lips were soft, and I swear they tasted like marshmallow. What the hell kind of chapstick smelled like marshmallows and who did I have to kill to get a hold of some?I broke off the kiss just as she swayed toward me. "Well, Fallon." I held out my hand. "It's been nice doing business with you.""Hmm? Wh-what?" Her big blue eyes blinked at me through hella thick glasses."The kiss. Business transaction. Human shield. Saved my life. The end.""Good story.""What can I say? I'm a storyteller at heart." I winked and placed a shaky hand against the brick wall behind her.I acted like it was fine.But the shaking was getting worse.As if the screaming made the shaking harder to control.And just like that, I felt the choking sensation of anxiety as I tried to rein in my emotions and concentrate on the nerd in front of me, the nerd who really had saved me from having a menta

Fallon"Stop screaming!" I hushed Maggie with my hand. "You're going to attract attention... people... Seagulls!"She jerked away from me, her expression one of complete exasperation. "What is with you and birds?""Never mind!" I shivered and shoved my hands in my jean pockets. What had possessed me to tell her about meeting Zane? No idea. Maybe it was the fact that I was a horrible liar, and when she saw the scratch on my glasses she started asking questions. Had I run into a tree? Gotten hit by a car? Tripped over my own feet? Okay, fine so all of the above have at least happened to me once, in my life, but that wasn't the point.The point was, when I opened my mouth, I wasn't fast enough with my lie, and Maggie had known me since we were in first grade, meaning she saw right through me."Was he hot?""He was shirtless." I swallowed past the constant dryness in my throat, the dryness that had been there since yesterday when Zane stole my chapstick and asked me to make a house

FallonI wasn't entirely sure what a nervous breakdown looked like, but I did know crazy, and Zane fit the bill. Who just walked into some stranger's house, a house that said stranger is letting you stay in and starts pulling off their clothes?And he didn't have any sort of... underthings.I mentally shook my fist up at my grandma in heaven. She was the reason I used weird language. Always calling bras "braziers" and underwear "underthings", as if the word panty was too brazen to say out loud.It literally took me five trips to the Victoria's Secret in Portland to finally stutter out the word "bra." And even then, I was so exhausted and embarrassed afterward that Mags was afraid I was going to pass out.Then again, she was probably hoping I would so she could call in some hot paramedics. She was good at that, using my social awkwardness to further her dating calendar.I shoved my glasses aside to rub my burning eyes then put them back on. It was no use; the glasses were so old

FallonMy hands were shaking.And I was sweating.There was nothing attractive about the fact that I was barely able to keep the trembling out of my voice, meaning everything I said came out harsher than I wanted it to.Did he have any idea how difficult it was to just be around him and try to act normal? To focus so desperately on my speech, on the formation of every single word just so I wouldn't stutter as much?"Holy shit." Zane's breath hit the back of my neck causing warmth to spread down my arms. "Is that crab real?"I smirked at the giant, glass fish tank at the front of the restaurant. "You mean Helga?"He whistled. "You know what they say about names. If you name something, that means you have to keep it." A flash of emotion came and went, making me more curious than I needed to be.Because it was Zane Andrews.He acted like it didn't matter.But it did. And anyone with two eyes could see that he was just used to the world giving him things."Table for two," Zane