PART 1As Zoe walked away from the remains of the Christmas celebration and the Miss Cinnamon Beauty Pageant, she resisted the urge to turn around and walk right back in Wades direction. Things needed to change, and fun as it was to annoy each other and give him a hard time, Wade was a good guy, a good friend, and he deserved to have her act like it for a change. If she was going to last here in Bluebell for the rest of the year, and lets face it, possibly longer, things needed to change. She needed to change. And she was going to start by doing the most difficult thing she'd maybe ever done. Talk to Lemon. Like a grown up.
#~#~#~#
Lemon and George made their way down the street slowly, hand in hand. George was talking about asking her dad to consult on his upcoming case, and Lemon was trying very hard to focus on what he was saying, and not what had happened outside her mother's, or with Lavon. She knew he was right, she should be able to talk to George about this. But her mother was such a hard topic for her to talk about. With Lavon it had all come out in an emotional overflow, and consequently, much easier to repeat.
She was distracted from her thoughts as George suddenly paused at the end of the path to the house. Startled, Lemon looked up to see what had caused the abrupt halt. And suddenly tensed. Zoe Hart was sitting on their top step. "What is she doing here?" she whispered to George, who shrugged and moved on up the path pulling her along with him.
"Hey Zoe" George nodded as she stood.
"Hey George" Zoe smiled a little, but turned to face Lemon.
"Do you mind if we talk for a bit? In private?" Zoe asked hesitantly. Lemon frowned even more, but nodded, jerkily towards the porch swing. "George would you mind getting me a glass of lemonade, I'm sure Zoe would like one to." Lemon smiled that not quite plastic smile and nudged George towards the door. As soon as the door closed she spun around to face Zoe who was seated on the swing. "I don't know what you think we could possibly have to say to each other, but manners demanded that I hear you out so if you must, talk." Lemon settled against the railing.
'Right' Zoe thought, 'I can do this, I've been sitting here for half an hour going over and over it in my head. Just spit it out Zoe.'
"I know we got off on the wrong foot, my first day in town. Everything in Bluebell is so different from what I was used to, and I admit, I didn't really want to be here. It was a means to an end for me. A way of getting back to my life in New York and getting my life back on track. I admit, I was judgmental and narrow-minded and a bit of a snob. I can accept my part in how things started, and how they continued." Zoe grimaced as she thought of the ridiculous display she and Lemon had made of themselves during that outburst outside the Hair Salon. "I would like for us to try and start over. I'm not saying we will ever be friends but we don't have to be openly hostile like we have been."
George chose that moment to emerge from the house with a tray holding a jug of lemonade and 2 glasses. Sensing that his presence was counter-productive, he settled the tray on the nearby table. Kissed Lemon lightly on the cheek, and said, "I'll be in the study when you're done here. Night Zoe."
"Night George" Zoe called after him as he retreated back into the house, standing from the swing and diving back into what she had been saying.
"I know that Brick wants me out of the practice. I know he wants it to himself. And even though I was only planning on being here for the year, when I started, I know better than to make those kinds of plans now. The Practice is my only link to my father. It's the only thing of his that I have and I'm not prepared to let that go without a fight. But I wish it didn't have to be a fight. I've already learned a lot from your dad, and I'm a good doctor. I just want a chance to show it."
"And in the spirit of being thoroughly truthful, I can admit when I first arrived, I had a bit of a crush on George, Please hear me out." She rushed as Lemon's face flushed with righteous indignation
"He was never interested, and crush or not, I'm not that person. I'm not a *home wrecker*. I did get over it. You probably don't know this but, that crush? Ancient history!"
Zoe smiled a little whimsically as her thoughts drifted to the cheeky eyes and the church social smile. She was so ready for that *rain check* Shaking off that thought, she continued. "But George and I are friends though, and I don't want that to make things difficult between the two of you. I'm not a threat to you Lemon. And more importantly, I don't want to be. I would really like it if we could start over?"
Zoe stopped abruptly, completely out of breath and on tenterhooks for Lemon's response.
Lemon seemed to be taking her time in composing her thoughts?
"So you and George never…?"
"No… God No! It was a short-lived thing on my part, he had lived in New York. Someone I could relate to a little in this town, which was so alien to me. He was never more than friendly. I never really had a high school crush, maybe this was my form of therapy." Zoe babbled.
They both looked at each other, each trying to get the measure of each other.
There was a long uncomfortable silence as Lemon processed everything that Zoe had just told her. Thinking of the constant tension and nastiness between herself and Zoe Hart, and poor George, so kind to everyone and trying to keep everyone happy. Maybe this way Lemon could come at this from a different angle, and still make Zoe Hart realise that she didn't belong here. Finally Lemon stood, her skirts flowing around her legs. Zoe hurried to stand to.
"Alright," Lemon held out a graceful hand, much the way she had done the day they met, with a slightly more sincere smile on her face, "Lemon Breeland, I believe you'll be working with my daddy for a time, It's nice to meet you."
Zoe's smile was huge as she returned the handshake enthusiastically, "Zoe Hart, nice to meet you too, and yeah, turns out my illegitimate father, whom I didn't know, left me half his practice, in this amazing original little town in Alabama," Zoe rolled her eyes "go figure."
Unsure where to go next both girls dropped their hands and before the silence could become uncomfortable again, Zoe jerked to attention, "I should go. It's getting late. Maybe we could have lunch some day and you could let me know some of the things to look out for in town?" she enquired as she made her way down the steps.
Lemon smiled uncertainly as she turned to lean on the post at the top of the stairs, "Sure, I'll swing by the practice someday this week."
"Great!" Zoe shouted as she hurried off before Lemon could change her mind.
Wandering into the house in a bit of a daze, Lemon found George hovering in the doorway of the study, and looking desperately like he wanted to quiz her.
"Well there was no screaming so I guess it went well?" George enquired, stuffing his hands in his pockets and shuffling a little towards her.
"The strangest thing," Lemon said, shaking her head as if trying to clear the cobwebs, "I think I just agreed to have lunch with Zoe Hart and declared a truce."
George chuckled and pulled Lemon close, "I'm glad to hear that, I'm so proud of you and I love you so much." Lemon decided to take a leaf out of the horrible Scarlet O'Hara's playbook and think about it tomorrow. Right now she was in the arms of an amazing man who loved her. Nothing else mattered.
#~#~#~#
Zoe sauntered into Lavon's house around lunchtime. The guys were playing a crazy computer game in which Wade was kicking Lavon's B U T T.
Zoe got a mischievous grin on her face as she wandered to Wade's side of the otherwise empty sofa, Lavon preferred the chair next to it.
"Wade"
"Yeah just a sec Zoe, I'm kicking butt here"
"Wade…"
"Aww Zoe, you made me crash, now I'm back to the start again." Wade grumbled, "What did you want anyway?"
Zoe glanced at Lavon and jerked her head ever so slightly towards the kitchen, and Lavon quickly excused himself. Zoe stepped around Wade, and sat abruptly on his lap sideways facing the armrest of the sofa. In Wades stunned silence, she leaned towards him, raised one hand to cup his jaw, her thumb grazing his stubble from cheek to jaw, Zoe whispered 2 words "rain check" before closing the distance between them and kissing him.
Wade was too stunned to really react at first, by the time his wits were returning Zoe was out of his lap and half way back towards the door. "See you later Lavon" she called as she exited the kitchen into the garden and headed back towards the guesthouse. As the door snapped shut, he jerked out of his seat. "Later Lavon" he bolted out the door to catch up to Zoe.
PART 2Zoe was hurrying along the path to the guesthouse biting her lower lip through the wide grin as she heard the door to the main house clatter shut behind her, she glanced over her shoulder to see Wade bounding after her, she squeaked and broke out into a full on run, giggling, glad she was wearing converse and not her usual high heals. She could hear Wade getting closer, and just as she came round the bend to the houses, she was scooped up around the waist and Wade just kept going as she lost her breath laughing. Right up until she saw where he was heading.
"WADE NO!" was all Zoe managed to say as they both went headlong into the lake.
Zoe came up spluttering, pushing her hair out of her face, "Why did you do that?" She glared.
Wade padded the water between them, with his usual smirk, "Well the minute I got my hands on you I knew I needed a cold shower. This just seemed more expedient." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.
Zoe couldn't help but laugh. Biting her lip again, she swam right up in front of him, dipping down so her chin was barely out of the water, and looked up at him. "Do I get you hot Wade?" Zoe grinned.
"Zoe you have no idea" Wade said with a serious shake of his head. Zoe took the opportunity to kiss him again. This kiss was different that the ones they had had before, less desperate the first one in the car, less abrupt than the second one about the parade float, and less innocent than the one on the sofa just now. This one was raw. A baring of each of their souls. It exposed the hope and sweetness and pure heat of what they hoped this might become. Unfortunately they both got so lost in kissing each other, they forgot to swim and dunked again.
Both of them came up spluttering and laughing, and awkwardly swam for the edge. Wade got there first, and he reached down as Zoe reached up, to pull her up and out of the water. As they both made their way towards the Gatehouse, they were still holding hands, smiling silly at each other.
Zoe was trying to focus on anything other than a Wade that was soaked to the skin, his worn red t-shirt sticking to his skin, his wet jeans riding low on his hips from the extra weight. If she hadn't been so distracted she may have thought about her own drenched condition which Wade was finding equally distracting. The denim cut-offs didn't leave much to the imagination most of the time, but the white peasant top was clinging to her in an entirely different way than normal.
As they made their way into Wade's house he reluctantly dropped Zoe's hand and headed to the bathroom to grab some towels.
When he came out he found Zoe lingering over by a small collection of photographs on a shelf above his guitar amp.
"You look happy" Zoe said as she turned towards him, and nodded the image in the centre. It showed a fair-haired young teenager, in the town centre at one of the many Bluebell parades, holding a bottle of soda, and laughing with an older man who nursing a beer, both looking adoringly at the camera.
Wade stood over her shoulder smiling softly as the memories came back to him. "My mum was permanently attached to that camera. I don't have any pictures of her cause she always insisted on taking the photo. I can't even remember which parade that one was taken at. Not surprising really, with the amount of them in Bluebell. But she was always so happy behind the camera, it made it easy to be happy in front of it." Wade's smile dropped as the memories kept coming. "She was so shy, and sweet, and never wanted to be a bother, so when she got sick she kept it to herself for so long. When we managed to get her to go to Doc Harley, there wasn't much he could do. She had progressive Addison's Disease. She refused to go to the hospital; she wanted to die at home with me and took care of her, made her as comfortable as possible. I used to sit with her and watch old movies. That was the first time I ever sang Moon River. Lord knows I cant hold a tune, but it made her smile. Dad was falling apart even before she died, he came home while I was singing to her she was smiling so big that the 2 of us stayed up all night serenading her. When she was finally gone, he was just so lost without her. Over time he just became Crazy Earl, the town drunk."
Wade wrapped the towel he was holding around Zoe's shoulders, and rubbed his hands up and down her arms. Zoe Leaned back against his chest her arms crossed over her own as her hands rose to catch his. "I'm sorry Wade". They shared this awkward hug for a few moments, before mutually stepping apart.
"So about that rain check, you want a beer?" Wade asked as he stepped back and turned towards the icebox in the corner.
"I'd rather have a shirt." Zoe mumbled as she turned her head upside down to dry her hair off with the towel .
Wade smirked back "Well if you want to skip the beer…" he trailed off as his hands went to the base of his t-shirt and raised it up over his head and off his body, and threw it at her. Zoe deflected the damp cotton with the fluffy towel in her hands, and laughed, "I meant a dry one!" "Yeah Right! You just want to see me naked" he called over his shoulder as he turned toward a basket of *folded* clothes in a basket on the small table that served as a dinner table when he bothered to bring food home. He picked out a soft grey t-shirt and pulled it over his head and then picked a red and grey checked soft cotton shirt and threw it across to Zoe.
"Thanks" Zoe turned slightly away from him and pulled off her soaked top, dropping it on the floor, she shrugged on the dry shirt wade gave her and did up a few buttons, then did that crazy girl thing of taking off her bra under the shirt and pulling it out the neckline to drop on top of the wet shirt. The dry shirt came down almost to her knees so she stepped out of her cut offs as well, there is little else more uncomfortable that wet denim. Then ignoring Wade where he seemed to be frozen in place in reaction to her little display, she stepped outside and draped her clothes over the rail.
When she came back inside Wade was still standing by the laundry basket where she had left him. "What?" she asked defensively.
Wade raised his hands in a universal sign of surrender "Nothing, just thinking I might need to go jump in the lake again" he chuckled.
"I'll take that Beer now." Zoe announced as she settled herself on the sofa, kicking off her wet trainers, tucking her feet up under her. As she watched Wade head back towards the ice box the realised she had smiled more and laughed more in the last hour that she had in the last month. And even then, most of those times were either with Wade, Lavon or Rose. What a strange motley bunch of friends. And maybe more, she smiled. Wade handed her a beer, set another on the opposite armrest, and headed to the basket again change out of his wet jeans. He was just behind her peripheral vision so Zoe had to restrain herself from turning her head in his direction as the heard the thump of shoes and rustle of clothes.
She was so focused on ignoring Wade and what he was doing, just sip the beer Zoe, don't look, that she was completely startled when he lounged back on the sofa beside her.
"So…" Zoe took another sip of beer.
"So…" Wade set his on the table out of reach, and moved to cup Zoe's face and leaned in to kiss her.
"Wait!" Zoe gasped before their lips touched. Wade sighed, dropped his hand and his head and…. waited.
Zoe shuffled, reached to set her beer over too and then rested her hand on Wade's knee.
"Wade, I really like you, and in spite of all the mixed signals I know I've given you in the past, I don't want this to just be about sex. Like I said that night of the heat wave, I'm just not that kind of girl. I'm not good at this relationship thing, in case you haven't noticed." Zoe rolled her eyes and shuffled a little closer, "In fact the only major relationship I was ever part of lasted all through medical school and we never went on a single date, before he dumped me for talking too much about my work, which was his work too, to be honest I think he was jealous that I was better than he was, but that's not the point. The point is that I like you Wade, and I would like to try and do this right. But if that's not what you're after I understand, and maybe we should stop this while we are still friends."
Wade, couldn't believe what he was hearing, he actually had a real chance with Zoe as more than just her free pass.
He leaned in again, his hand lifting to tuck a piece if drying hair behind her ear, "Zoe, I don't have a friend who lives near the airport, Lavon could never make a gumbo that won second place, and there's no-one else I know that could get me to sleep on a couch to protect them from ghosts. I'm crazy about you Zo, and I have been since you drunkenly swore me to silence, as you climbed out of my car. It was beyond adorable. But if we're *doing this right* does that mean I cant kiss you again before I take you on a date?"
Zoe grinned "Oh hell no, I just wanted to establish a few things before we went any further." Zoe exclaimed, and she slid one knee over his lap so that she was facing him. "Now where were we?" She asked just as she finally put poor Wade out of his misery and kissed him again.
PART 3"Your all done, Jeremy." Zoe said to the little dark haired boy as she lifted him down off. Turning to his anxious young mother she continued, "Its really fairly mild allergic reaction, not chicken pox or anything like that. If you have him take one of these a day and just use some calimine lotion on the spots, he should be fine in a few days," Zoe handed the smiling, relived woman a small bottle of tablets. "and it looks like you get out of tomatoes in the future little guy." Zoe grinned as she ruffled Jeremy's hair. "I bet if you go and ask Addie really nicely she might let you have a lollypop instead." She whispered conspiratorially into the little boy's ear. Jeremy raced out the door to the reception desk, momentarily forgetting about his painful itchy rash as Zoe and his mum laughed quietly.
As Jeremy and his mum made their way out the door, Lemon was coming up the steps. Zoe reached for her purse and headed for the door to meet her. "Addie, I'll see you after lunch." she called over her shoulder as she closed the Practice door behind her, completely missing Addie's confused disbelieving look. "Did you want to talk to your dad first or are we ok to head on to lunch?" Zoe asked Lemon.
Shaking her head, "He's already out to lunch, I passed him on my way over." Lemon explained as the made their way down the steps and started the short walk to the diner.
"Oh." Zoe frowned slightly. "Did you tell him you were having lunch with me?"
"I did. As we will be dining in the same establishment, he could hardly have failed to notice that we were eating together once we reached our destination so it seemed wise to pre-empt any sever reaction he may have while informing him as we were standing in the street and hence he was unable to make a scene about it, should that have been his reaction. Fortunately Daddy seems to be reserving judgement on the entire issue." Lemon replied with a toss of her perfectly coiffed hair.
"Alrighty then." Zoe breathed a relieved sigh as they reached the door of the diner, and Tom long held the door open for them as he exited.
"Zoe, Lemon..?" he said as the made their way past him.
"Why thank you Tom, such a gentleman." Lemon replied graciously, while studiously ignoring the apparent disbelief in his voice at the sight of the two young women together.
As Lemon was showing a distinct dis-inclination to sit at one of the comfortable booths that lined both sides of the old diner, she probably thought is was less elegant or something, Zoe suggested they sit at one of the small tables next to the window and a fair distance from where Brick was eating at the counter and talking to the diner owner.
After placing their order, and trying to ignore the hush that had fallen over the diner as soon as they entered, both women fussed with their menus, the cutlery, and various condiment's on the table. Finally Zoe let out a short exasperated breath. "This is ridiculous! We need to find some common ground here Lemon. Some kind of starting point. Anything! Anything other than the agreement not to try and destroy each other any more. And I'm open, no I'm begging for suggestions." She whispered.
Lemon was taken aback at the obvious lack of decorum, but her shoulders did sag minutely, as she mentally nodded and frowned in thought.
Worried by the continued silence and assuming she had just ruined everything before it really had a chance to start, Zoe tried to lighten the mood. "Otherwise I may have to start talking about my new almost, sort-of boyfriend. And since I understand you grew up together, that might get a bit awkward." She laughed, and blushed as her thoughts immediately drifted to the extended make out session she and Wade had engaged in the night before. She hadn't made out like that since she was a teenager. It was hot as all hell! Right up until Wade waked her to her door, a whole 50 yards away. She couldn't possibly have gotten there on her own. Then it just became sappy.
Noticing the dopey expression Zoe was now exhibiting, Lemons face lit up at the prospect of new juicy gossip, and she ardently leaned her elbows on the table as she moved to get closer. "No, I think that's a great place to start. Sharing relationship secrets. Who is this paragon of southern charm who has managed to entice a world weary, and reputation suggests cynical, New Yorker to express such romantic delight? Especially as I supposedly know such a person?" A sudden terrible thought struck Lemon. Levon. "Its not Levon?" Lemon whispered pleadingly.
"Eww, no. eugh." Zoe shuddered. Then at Lemon's slightly affronted expression, Zoe rushed on, "I mean, Levon is great. He's probably my best friend. But we DO Not see each other that way. We're buds!" she finished emphatically.
"Alright." Lemon leaned back in her chair in relief. "Then again I ask, who in this town could possibly hold such allure?"
Zoe smirked mischeviously, "Lemon, I really don't know that many men in town, that awfully well. I'm sure you can maybe figure it out."
Lemon frowned again. And mentally made a list. Her father, while still an attractive man by no means past his prime, was an obvious and definite No. George, well we established just he other day that he was a No also. Levon, apparently a ridiculous option. Then that really only left…..
"WADE Kinsella is your sort of boyfriend?" Lemon whispered just as the waitress approached with their meals.
"uh huh" Zoe replied nonchalantly, after the waitress walked off, and stuffed several fries into her mouth…. only to follow by opening her mouth mid chew and waving her hand in front of her face, "hot Hot HOT." She chewed quickly, reaching for her water glass and taking several long gulps to cool her off again. At which point Lemon seemed to have regained her composure, and her well hidden sense of humor. She delicately placed the napkin over her lap and reached for her Ceaser salad.
"Well there's never been much argument there," Lemon grinned, deliberately misconstruing Zoe's reaction to the fresh, hot french fries. "Wade has always triggered an inexplicable attraction in the majority of the female species but I'm fairly certain that isn't the only requirement to gain the attention of such an educated woman."
Zoe swished some water around her slightly scalded mouth, and swallowed. Then laughed with Lemon. "True, but there's a lot of reasons. Wade is more complicated than you might think on first impression. I'm sure you know that, having known him such a long time." Zoe picked up a few more fries and blew on them to cool them down a bit before eating them tentatively this time. "The most important reasons would be, Wade hasn't once let me down since I got to Bluebell. In fact he backed me up a few times I didn't even know about until recently." she smiled softly, thinking about forest rescues and cook-off prizes. "And unlike with Lavon, there was an intense attraction between the two of us from almost the moment we met. One that I fought religiously for quite a while. I degenerated to the actions of a stroppy child, who had her metaphorical pigtails tugged, many a time." She paused to take another bite of her club sandwich. "I admit my feelings for Wade were a major instigator in this…" Zoe gestured between the two of them, "truce, or whatever we have going here. I wanted to prove to him, and myself, that I was prepared to make some changes. Especially if it meant the possibility to staying in Blubell."
Lemon nodded thoughtfully, and decided to ignore the part about staying in Bluebell. They both fell into a comfortable silence as they continued eating.
"So how are things going then?" Lemon asked with slightly raised eyebrows after a few quiet minutes.
Zoe gave a goofy smile again, "We haven't gotten very far. We really only agreed on Saturday that we wanted to be together. Our first date is tonight. To be honest I'm kinda nervous. The only dates I've been on is six years, was with Judson. And everyone knows I stood him up the first time and the second time was more of a *let me buy you an apology drink*. I have no idea what we're doing, where we're going. I have no idea what to wear, and what if I screw up. I'm really not good at this relationship thing. I mean, I really like Wade. Not only am I attracted to him, we're friends. He's one of the very few friends I have here. If I ruin this, I could lose him, even as a friend, and I don't know what I would do if that happened." Zoe babbled.
Lemon, couldn't believe this. The cool, cocky New York Doctor in front of her was dissolving before her eyes. With a roll of her eyes, Lemon decided to take pity on her and leaned forward over the table again. "Zoe. You don't get it. You got Wade to agree to a *date*. Wade doesn't *date*. He sleeps around. Has one-night stands. And randomly got married that one time. But all of that is a defence mechanism, against getting hurt again like his dad hurt him. And still hurts him time he sees him. Deep down he's a good man. A bit immature sometimes, but I suppose that could be part of his charm? Wade must already be quite serious about you. And when he sets his sights on something, there's not much will scare him off. Now you should get back to work so you can leave on time to get ready for this date. Wear something comfortable but feminine, if Wade hasn't given you any further advice on the location of your outing. Try not to put too much pressure on both of you right out of the gate." Lemon stood and gathered her things and left money on top of the bill that miraculously arrived when they were talking. "I have some where to be, myself. This was actually relatively painless, maybe we should try this again. After your date and you can fill me in some more," Lemon nodded as she shrugged on her jacket. "Good Luck tonight."
Lemon swept out of the diner serenely, while buzzing to share this new gossip with Annabeth.
Zoe paused, and smiled. A relatively successful encounter. There may be hope. Zoe stood and left enough money on the small bill tray to cover her portion of the meal and a generous tip, and turn towards the door. As she did she realised that nearly every patron of the diner was conspicuously and intently focused on what they were doing.
Faking a grump, "See you later Brick" Zoe called out as she passed towards the door. She didn't hear his response, as she was already mentally perusing her wardrobe for something that would meet the possible requirements of tonights adventure. Her First Date with Wade. Zoe tried to ignore the butterflies in her tummy as she made her way back to the Practice for her last few hours of the day.
