Author's note: This is the last chapter. Thank you for all the reviews, faves and follows. Your feedback has been amazing.

Wade arrived in Bluebell at 4am and parked his car in front of his parents' house. He opened the door quietly and snuck upstairs, falling into his bed. When he woke up, he jumped seeing Jackie standing over him with her hands on her hips.

"What are you doing here?" she said shortly.

"I came to visit. Can't I just come and see my mom?" Wade said, rubbing his eyes.

"Well of course you can. But it was a shock seeing you car outside this morning. Why didn't you call first?" she asked, sitting down on his bed.

"It was a spur of the moment thing I guess," he shrugged.

"Is Zoe in your brother's room?"

"No, why would she be there?"

"I figured she'd come with, you two are inseparable. More so than ever these days," Jackie said, eyeing him.

"She had to work."

"Oh ok, good. I was worried you broke up or something," she said, standing up.

"We're not... We're just..." Wade stammered.

"Whatever you say sweetie. I'm going to go make you some breakfast. Come down when you're ready." She kissed his cheek and left the room. Wade sighed and looked at his phone. He had 10 missed calls from Zoe and 5 voice messages. He called his voicemail and listened to them.

"Hey, just leaving the hospital, will be there soon. Order me a glass of wine. See you soon," her voice said.

"Where are you? Did you leave already? Call me when you get this."

"Are you ok? No one knows where you went. Josh said you just left without saying anything. Call me please."

"I've been waiting for an hour so I'm guessing you're not coming back. I'll see you at home."

"Well it's 1:10 so I take it you're not sleeping here. Did you go home with someone cause I thought... We never really talked about... Never mind um... just text me when you get this and um... let me know that you're safe. Yeah, ok. Bye."

He threw his phone down onto the bed and put his head in his hands.

Early that afternoon, he went to the Rammer Jammer and was sitting at the bar, nursing a beer when someone sat next to him. He turned to look and saw Lemon Breeland, one of his oldest friends sitting next to him. They had drifted apart when they went off to college and her and George broke up but they were always there for each other when they needed to be.

"Wade Kinsella," she greeted with a tight smile.

"Good to see you Lemon," he nodded.

"What are you doing in the Rammer Jammer in February? You never come here unless there's an important event or birthday and both your parents are born in June."

"I needed to get away," he admitted, taking a long drink.

"What's going on?"

"I think Zoe and I are together."

"You think?"

"We've been havin' sex on a fairly regular basis since October." Lemon scrunched up her nose.

"As dignified as that sounds, that doesn't make you a couple."

"It's not just sex. We've started sleepin' in the same bed, we kiss without it leading anywhere and we... cuddle on the couch," Wade said, blushing.

"Well it's about time. There has been a pool going for ages. I think there's only 3 people still in it cause we all thought you'd be together years ago" Wade glared at her. "I don't see why this is a bad thing?" Lemon asked.

"I realised last night, this girl was tryna get me to go home with her and," Lemon shuddered and Wade scowled at her before continuing. "I turned her down by saying I had a girlfriend. The words just left my mouth and I didn' even think twice about."

"I'm still not seeing a problem here."

"Zoe is gonna freak out and put a stop to it."

"I'm sure you'll find someone else to have sex with in no time."

"It's not about the sex. It's about everythin'. I can't jus' be her friend. Not when I know what it could be like to be her... not friend."

"Talk to her, maybe she feels the same way you do."

"I doubt it."

"The only 2 people in the world who ever thought you were just friends with zero feelings were you two. You've been in denial for years."

"I never felt anythin' for her before, I mean yeah, I thought she was hot and the funniest person I know and carin' and awesome but I never wanted to date her."

"You never wanted to date her because you basically WERE dating her you idiot."

"Hey!"

"You spend all your free time together, she spends holidays with your family, you cook dinner for each other..."

"She can't cook," he interrupted.

"Not the point. You eat lunch together almost every day, your friends are her friends, everyone you meet thinks you're together, you touch each other all the time. The only thing you weren't doing that real couples do was have sex. And now you do."

"That's all fine but that doesn' mean Zoe feels the same."

"If she doesn't then it's her loss because you are a catch, Wade Kinsella."

"Thanks Lemon," he said, giving her a quick hug.

"Talk to her. I bet you didn't even tell her where you were, she's probably worrying herself silly." Wade sunk down into his chair sheepishly and Lemon smacked his arm with her purse.

Wade said goodbye to his parents and got in his car, driving back to Nashville. He made it back in 5 and a half hours and walked into the apartment. Zoe looked up from the couch as he walked in. He noticed that her eyes were red from crying and his heart clenched. She got off the couch and glared at him before turning on her heels and storming off to her room. He ran after her but before he reached her door, she slammed it and he heard the lock click.

"Zoe, can we talk please?" he said through the door. He waited but she didn't open the door. He knocked for half an hour until she pulled the door open and slapped him through the face as hard as she could.

"Zoe, I..." She slapped him again.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I was worried sick! You don't call me, you don't message me. What is your problem?" she yelled.

"I'm sorry," he said flinching as she lifted her hand again. "Please don't slap me again," he added, holding up his hands in surrender.

"Where were you?" she yelled.

"I went to Bluebell," he mumbled.

"Why? Did you get any of my messages? Why didn't you let me know that you were at least safe?" She was yelling even louder.

"I needed to get away."

"I've been sitting on the couch all day thinking that you had gone off with some slut or were dead in ditch somewhere and all you can come up with is 'I needed to get away'?"

"I'm sorry. It was a last minute decision."

"That's not an excuse to not message me after I left you a bunch of messages." She smacked his arm over and over before pushing him into the hallway and slamming her door shut again.

"Are you ever goin' to come out so we can talk?" he asked after a while of sitting outside her door.

"Leave me alone Wade. I don't want to talk to you right now," Zoe shouted. Wade leaned his head back against the door.

"I called you my girlfriend," he said after 10 minutes. There was a few seconds of silence until Wade heard the door unlock. He looked up as she opened the door.

"What?" she said, looking down at him with wide eyes.

"Last night, I jus' said it and I freaked and that's why I left."

"Doesn't give you the right to not let me know you're ok. Even if the thought of me being your girlfriend is so horrible it causes you to flee the state."

"That's not why I freaked out."

"Alright, why did you then?"

"Can you sit down?" She sat down on the floor next to his door and leaned against the wall, facing him.

"I'm waiting," she said impatiently.

"I freaked out cause I was scared that when you came to the same conclusion, you'd stop whatever it is that we're doin'."

"What conclusion?"

"That we're a couple."

"How are we a couple?"

"Jus'... we do things couples do."

"Are you talking about the sex?"

"Yes and no. It's not only the sex. We sleep in the same bed, we cuddle, we kiss."

"Yeah," Zoe whispered. "You said you were scared I'd stop it?"

"I like what we've got goin' here."

"So you want to carry on doing what we're doing?"

"No, I don't." Wade said, looking at her.

"Oh... well then..." Zoe looked at the floor and blinked away a few tears.

"I want to make it official."

"Official?" she murmured, looking up slowly.

"I wanna take you out on a date, kiss you for all the world to see. When people assume we're dating, I want to be able to say that we are."

"I want that too," she said smiling.

"You sure?"

"More than anything. I've felt like we're a couple for a while to be honest."

"Me too," he smiled at her.

"So we're doing this?"

"Oh yeah, we're really doin' this." He crawled over to her and she grabbed his shirt, pulling his lips onto hers. He smiled into her mouth and she giggled.

XXX

Wade pushed Zoe against the door and kissed her neck. Her hands fumbled for his belt as his lips found hers again. He stuck one hand in her purse and dug around, pulling out the house keys. Without breaking the kiss, he tried to find the keyhole. Eventually, he got the door unlocked and lifted Zoe up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he walked into the apartment. He laid her down on the couch and climbed on top of her. She pushed him onto his back and sat on top of him. She kissed his neck, finding the spot that made him go crazy. He moaned her name and ran his hands up her back. She sat up and he whimpered.

"I'm gonna go slip into something more comfortable," she breathed.

"No Baby," he begged.

"I bought something just for Valentine's Day and it's gonna go to waste if I don't put it on now." He sat up and brushed a strand of hair from her face.

"You are leavin' me all hot and bothered," he moaned.

"Just think of how much better it'll be with all this anticipation," she whispered in his ear. He moaned and moved to kiss her but she leaned away. "I promise, you are gonna wanna see me in what I bought. It's very sexy," she kissed him and pulled away before he could deepened the kiss. "And see through." He made a low growl and sighed.

"Ok go but you better hurry cause I'd take you right now if I had my way." She giggled and climbed off him.

Wade lay back on the couch and let out a long sigh. He heard a knock on the door and got up, walking to the door.

"Mom, Dad. Uh... what are you doin' here?"

"Your father surprised me with a trip to Chicago for Valentine's but he could only get out of work this afternoon so we'll celebrate tomorrow instead."

"Thought we'd stay over in Nashville to make the drive there tomorrow shorter," Earl added. Wade swallowed and nodded before looking back over his shoulder.

"That's great. Uh... I'll be right back, I jus' need to..."

"Don't you greet your momma with a kiss anymore?" Jackie interrupted, crossing her arms. Wade looked over his shoulder again and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I will but I really need to go and stop..."

"I hope you haven't cooled down yet Baby cause things are about to get a lot hotter," Zoe said seductively as she walked back into the room. Wade whipped his head around and saw Zoe walk into the room in a tight see through red lingerie ensemble with stilettos. He gulped and Jackie and Earl gasped. Zoe screamed when she saw them and ran out of the room.

"I take it you're officially together then," Earl said awkwardly. Wade closed his eyes and nodded his head.

"I think you should go," Wade mumbled. Jackie and Earl nodded.

"I'm sorry," Jackie said before they left.

"It's ok Momma. Just maybe... call first next time."

"Have a good night Son," Earl winked and Jackie smacked him. Wade went bright red and closed the door. He walked over to the bedroom and knocked on the door.

"Zo?" he called, walking in and not seeing her.

"Are they gone?" she asked, sticking her head out of the bathroom.

"Yeah, all clear."

"That was the most embarrassing moment of my life," she whined, coming out of the bathroom wearing Wade's shirt and a pair of sweats. "I can never look at your parents ever again."

"It wasn' that bad," he said, trying to comfort her. She gave him a look and he pulled her into his arms. "Ok it was. So maybe we don't see them till my birthday, I'm sure they'll have forgotten by then."

"Maybe I'll be working that day," she mused.

"Oh shush," he laughed. "I liked it."

"Of course you did but I don't think your mom was too happy knowing her son was going to get seriously lucky tonight."

"She shouldn't have come by on Valentine's Day. Her fault," he shrugged.

"She wouldn't have if we told her about us last week when we got together."

"Maybe." He kissed her head. "So I'm really not gonna get to see you close up in that outfit?" he asked, pouting.

"Nope, not tonight. Sorry Baby, I'm not in the mood anymore."

"It's ok, a night cuddling on the couch is pretty much as perfect as it gets." She looked up at him and smiled and he kissed her gently.