Zayne’s large brown eyes scanned the faces of the passengers as they made their way into the lobby. Each time a new face came into view, he felt his heart practically skip a beat – a rush of adrenaline and anticipation would shoot right through him… Only to be replaced by disappointment.

After a few minutes of this, he gave up, sinking into one of the nearby seats with a small sigh. Zayne knew he was being ridiculous. She’d get there when she got there. Being anxious and impatient would do nothing to make things better… And yet he couldn’t help it.

It was driving him crazy. He had to see Hope again. It had been a little more than two months since they’d said that last goodbye. How had he lasted this long without her? All their texts and phone calls and Facebook messages had done little to fill the empty space she’d left behind. There was simply no substitute for having her there with him in person – vibrant and beautiful and perfect. The most amazing person he’d ever met. The best friend he’d ever had.

“Zayne!”

He leapt to his feet at the sound, his lips stretching into a smile as Hope’s beautiful face finally came into view. “Hey!” Zayne called out in reply.

His eyes had only moments to capture the perfect vision of her rushing toward him. Then, she was in his arms at last.

It felt like he was dreaming. Zayne wasn’t quite sure how it happened.

Did she kiss him? Or was he the one kissing her? Maybe both, he decided. It just felt so natural, so right. Her lips were soft and warm, parting slightly so her hot breath mingled with his as the kiss deepened. He ran one of his hands through her thick brown hair, pulling her body as close to his as he could manage. Zayne was certain they were putting on quite the show for the other passengers. But he was also certain that he did not care.

He suddenly felt so foolish for wasting all that time agonizing over whether Hope saw him as more than a friend. Guess I have my answer…

At last, Hope pulled away from him, a wide grin stretching across her face. “Damn… What a welcome.” She said breathlessly.

Zayne chuckled softly for a moment before replying. “Hopefully the flight was just as good?” He asked, stroking her cheek gently.

The young woman shook her head, giggling. “God, I wish. How long before they invent teleportation?”

“I dunno. Let me just whip out my time machine and I’ll go ask.” He smirked playfully at her as he spoke.

Hope rolled her eyes, but kept her smile.

“So do you wanna go grab some lunch or something?” Zayne offered. “Or we can stop by my place and I can whip something up. It’ll probably be a couple hours before you can check in at your hotel, right?”

She nodded. “Your place sounds great… I could probably use a shower.”

“Oh jeez. Yeah.” Zayne teased, feigning seriousness. “I thought you had some nasty new perfume or something. That makes a lot more sense.” He winked at her.

“You ass!” Hope smacked him on the arm, laughing.

“Kidding, kidding!”

She smiled warmly at him. “I know.” Hope paused for a moment and reached down to take his hand in hers. “I really missed you, Zayne.”

He marveled at how small and warm her hand was in his. “Me too.”

————————————-

Zayne sat on the bed in his apartment, listening to the sound of Hope’s hairdryer through his paper-thin walls. It was so hard not to think of her in there, her body damp and warm from the shower… Everything about her was just so perfect – surely her body must have been too.

Zayne would have given anything to find out for himself.

The taste of her kiss still lingered on his tongue as he sat there, thinking about the beautiful woman on the other side of the wall. It was such a tease… Almost too much for him to take. Zayne found himself wanting nothing more than for her to finally finish up. Then we can go get lunch and I can calm the fuck down. He told himself.

As though on cue, the bathroom door finally opened. Thank God.

“Oh! Zayne!” Hope’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight of him. “I didn’t realize you’d still be in here.”

Zayne’s eyes couldn’t help but widen as well — he hadn’t expected her to come out wearing nothing but a towel. He hesitated just a moment too long before turning away, his cheeks suddenly reddening. “Shit. Sorry. I… I’m an idiot.” He muttered awkwardly, rising to his feet. Duh. Wait in the fucking living room, dummy! “I… I guess… I’ll just…” His voice trailed away as he began heading for the bedroom door.

Hope took a step toward him. “Zayne, wait!”

————————————-

Holy shit… Did that really just happen?! Zayne reached into the sink, splashing some cool water on his face for a moment. He quickly pulled on his boxers, grateful he’d remembered to retrieve them from the bedroom floor. The rest of his clothes still lay forgotten beside the bed.

He almost couldn’t believe it. It all just seemed too good to be true. It had been just like the kiss… So natural. So right. Like it was meant to be.

And, just like the kiss, neither one of them had even mentioned it afterward. When it was all over, they just held each other for a minute or two while they caught their breath, then Zayne headed to the bathroom to clean up and give Hope a chance to get dressed.

What if this was all just some weird heat-of-the-moment thing? Zayne wondered. Did it mean the same thing to her it meant to him? And what would he possibly say to her when he went back out there?

Only one way to find out. With one last deep breath, he finally opened the door.

To his surprise, he found Hope sitting on the edge of his bed, wearing nothing but her bra and underwear. He’d expected her to be fully dressed and ready to go to lunch by now. She smiled sweetly at him as he approached. “Hey.”

Even after everything they’d just shared, her smile alone was still enough to make him weak in the knees. “Hey.” He replied, sitting beside her.

Hope wrapped her arms around him for a moment then, pressing her lips to his. Zayne pulled away from her slightly. “Do you just wanna like… hang out for a while?” He offered.

She nodded eagerly. Zayne lifted her gently into his arms and pulled her with him as he lay back on the bed. His gaze bored deeply into hers as they lay there for a few moments, silent and unmoving. It was amazing. God, I wish we could just lay like this forever. He thought as she ran her fingers through his hair.

“Wow.” Hope whispered at last. “That was…” She hesitated for a moment. Zayne practically held his breath as she waited for her to finish her thought. “Unexpected.”

A loud burst of laughter escaped Zayne’s lips at her words.

“What?”

“Nothing, I just… Well, I was kind of hoping you’d pick another word to describe it.” He chuckled.

Hope smirked at him. “Oh, were you expecting me to go on and on about what a sex god you are?”

“Well, not on and on, but…” Zayne teased, giving her a small wink.

She let out a giggle and gave him a soft kiss before propping herself up, looking into his eyes as she continued. “You know what I mean though.” Hope’s tone was more serious this time.

Zayne nodded slowly. “I know. I’ve been taking things so slow… Maybe too slow.” He admitted. “And it’s not that I didn’t want to take things further, y’know? Try to be more than friends… God, you have no idea how much I’ve wanted to.”

“Oh trust me, I have some idea.” Hope assured him with a small smile. “And I get why you’re nervous… I really like you, Zayne. Maybe more than I’ve ever liked anybody.” She confessed. “And I want to make this work.”

“Me too…” He smiled, sitting up to better meet her gaze. “Hope, you’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met in my life. But I’ve never done this whole ‘long distance’ thing before. And I don’t wanna mess it up.”

“Oh, don’t worry. You won’t.” She teased. “I won’t let you.”

“Is that so?” Zayne pulled her back against his chest, suppressing a laugh as he planted a soft kiss against her lips.

“Mmm-hmm…” Hope murmured against his lips. He felt her head bob slightly in agreement as she returned his kiss.

“So… what ever happened to lunch?”He pulled away from her at last. “Didn’t you say you wanted something to eat? Or… Can it wait a while?” Zayne asked almost hopefully.

Hope rose to her knees, her mouth curling into a playful smile as she pressed her lips to his.

————————————-

And you guys didn’t trust me! 😉

One quick moment to interrupt the HoZay’s first official voyage! I know many of you are members of The Sims forums. I am starting something new on my Ashes to Ashes thread, where every Friday (to start with, at least) I’ll be posting some kind of thought or question to stimulate some back and forth discussion there 🙂 (also, any time someone has a thought or question they wanna bring up to me or other readers, always feel free to share over in my thread (even if it’s not a Friday 😛 )

I’ll be trying this out for the first time tomorrow morning with a light/somewhat silly question to start. I hope to see some of you there!

You may now resume your shipping and/or worrying 😛