Title: One Summer
Author: Jailynn
Pairing: Zoe/Wade
Word Count: 2633
Feedback: Please and thank you
Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be mine.
Summary: Zoe finds out Harley is her real dad when she's 15 and is sent to Bluebell to get to know him.
Genre: Romance/AU
Warnings: Unbeta'd. Please forgive my mistakes

Chapter 1: Welcome to Bluebell, Miss Hart

It shot through Bluebell, Alabama like a firework on the fourth of July. A new girl in town. Harley Wilkes illegitimate daughter was coming to spend the summer with the good doctor and the gossip mill was working overtime. Wade Kinsella rolled his eyes at the older ladies chatting next to him as he walked down the street toward the small grocery store. He needed to pick up some things for his momma and then he had a date with the very pretty head cheerleader, Heather Knowles.

"I heard she was conceived in a one night stand," old woman Harris said as she fanned herself with a paper fan. Wade didn't understand why she even used that thing. It seemed like all it was doing was pushing the hot, summer air into her face. "So scandalous."

"I wonder what she'll be like." Sandra Marks said as she sipped her ice tea. "I heard she didn't even know that her daddy wasn't her real daddy until a couple of months ago. If you ask me, that's the real scandal."

Wade pulled open the store's door before he could hear anymore of the drivel (as his momma calls it) from the gossiping women. The air conditioned air hit his sweaty face as soon as he walked in and he sighed in relief. The temperature outside was already hitting the mid-90's and it was only ten in the morning. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the list he was given before he left the house then a bright yellow basket from next to the door. Milk. Eggs. Cheese. Bread. Peanut Butter. Grape Jelly. And, his momma's guilty pleasure- which she only allowed herself once in a while when they had some money, lemon bars.

He pulled the items off the shelf and into his basket as quick as he could, smiling at the people in the store as he moved through the aisles. Wade stopped at the end of the magazine aisle and grinned. Lavon Hayes, his best friend, was flipping through an SEC football magazine, staring at the players from each college.

"Thinkin' about it being you on those pages, Lavon," he asked as he walked up.

His friend, grinned at him, his brown eyes sparkling. "I am going to end up on these pages one day, Kinsella. Just you wait."

"Wearing the crimson and white?"

"Is there any other colors to wear?" Lavon asked as he put the magazine back on the stand with careful hands. "What are you doing today?"

"Picking up some groceries for momma and then getting ready for my date with Heather. We're hanging out at the creek, you gonna be there?"

"Nah," Lavon shook his head. "I gotta get ready for football camp. It starts up this week."

"Ah come on, man," Wade placed his basket on the counter and pulled out the wad of cash his momma handed him before he left the house as the cashier checked him out. "There are gonna be some hot girls there wearing next to nothing. Plus I'm pretty sure skinny dipping is gonna be on the list of activities tonight." He grinned at his friend. "Sure you don't wanna come?"

Lavon smiled a bit shyly. "Well..."

Wade laughed joyously as he paid for the food and slapped his friend on the back. He gathered the bag from the counter and together they walked out of the store and smack into a tiny brown haired girl with giant brown eyes. She really was beautiful. Petite and sweet looking. Until she opened her mouth that was... "Hey," she exclaimed, her drink slipping to the floor. "Uh," she huffed, then glared at the boys. "Don't you watch where you're going in this town?"

Wade instantly didn't like her. Her mouth pulled into a frown at the lack of response and she placed her hands on her hips. Her cheeks flushed red and her eyes flashed in annoyance. She tapped her foot impatiently. Then huffed again. "Well..."

"Well, what, princess," Wade said, drawing out his words. Lavon moved quietly beside him, shifting from foot to foot.

"Aren't you going to offer to buy me another drink?"

Wade pretended to think about it, then tilted his head to the side. "Nope." He followed the word up with a large grin. "Come on Lavon, I need to get home and we need to get ready for tonight. See ya princess!"

He continued on his way very much aware of the glaring set of (pretty) pissed off brown eyes behind him.

xXx

It was too hot. The air was too muggy. Her hair was already starting to friz out. Her skin was sticky. She wanted to go home. She wanted to forget what she found out. She wanted to go back in time to a place where her dad was her dad, her mom never had an affair and Alabama had no connection to her except when she was doing a history report on the civil war.

Zoe Hart, or was it Wilkes now?, sighed, sliding down in the truck seat until she could barely see out the front window. Her stomach twisted violently as she looked at the man sitting next to her out of the corner of her eye. This was her real dad. This was the man that made up half her DNA and he was not a New York heart surgeon but a family doctor in rural Alabama.

It didn't make sense. The dots didn't connect. How was this possible? Well she knew how it was possible. Her mom took a cruise to Greece, met a man (that wasn't her boyfriend) and had a fling that led to her being conceived. Oh and then her mom lied to everyone. Zoe closed her eyes. God when did her life become a freaking soap opera storyline?

"Uh," Harley started. His voice a bit shaky. He was nervous. She could tell and was slightly relieved by that, at least she wasn't the only one. "I know Bluebell isn't anything like New York," 'Yeah, no joke,' she thought as they passed another cow. This had to make a hundred. "But if you give it a chance, I think you might actually like it."

'I doubt it,' was on the tip of her tongue before she managed to bite the bitter words back. "Maybe," was what she said instead.

"Your mom told me you wanna be a doctor," he tried again. A different tactic. A different topic.

"Yeah," she still wasn't giving him much. She knew she was being bitchy but, damn it, her life was in shambles and she wanted to be a bit of a bitch. "I do."

Harley swallowed. "Well if you wanna, you can work some with me at my practice. Maybe help out with the patients."

Zoe looked at him, really looked at him, for the first time since she met him at the airport and felt a little warmth settle into her chest. Her dad, her other dad, never offered to let her visit him at work. It was nice. And even though she wanted to refuse, out of loyalty to the man that raised her, she couldn't because she did want to learn. Licking her dry lips, she cracked a small smile. "I'd like that."

The older man relaxed a fraction of an inch and she in turned relaxed a little as well. Pulling her body up a little further in the seat, she looked out the front window and sighed again. The town looked like something out of a catalog. There were sidewalks bracketed by grass and the occasional black wood and iron bench on one side and old looking buildings on the other. Nothing was touched with spray paint. Everything looked quaint, untouched, and she felt completely out of place. They pulled into a parking space on first street, Harley told her the name of it, and he turned to face her.

"I need to run into the bank really quick. Did you want to get something to drink? The dinner has some great sweet tea."

"Sweet tea?" she asked with a pulled face. What was sweet tea?

Harley laughed, rich and full, nothing like her dad's, her other dad's laugh, "Sorry darlin', it's a southern thing. I remember your mother having the same reaction when I told her about the drink. They have soda there too."

"Okay," Zoe pushed her button to unlock her seat belt and opened the truck door. She stood next to it, biting at her bottom lip as she looked at him. "Should I meet you somewhere?"

Harley smiled. Real and sweet. "I'll find you." The words felt like they meant more than the face value she was choosing to take it at. "Do you need some money?"

She shook her head, "No, I got it."

She shut the door and looked around her. She got the uncomfortable feeling that people were watching her every move. Shaking her head, Zoe scolded herself for being paranoid and walked to the diner Harley pointed out. Pulling open the door, a small bell rang above her head, causing all the patrons to turn in unison and look in her direction. This time she couldn't say she was paranoid because everyone was watching her. Swallowing roughly against the dryness of her throat, she moved toward the counter with purpose. A sweet woman, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, carrying a notepad stood in front of her. Her reddish hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she had on a pair of black rimmed glasses. Zoe looked quickly at her name tag, proclaiming this woman to be Lily, and smiled.

"What can I get you, hon," Lily asked with a smack of her gum.

"I just need a coke, or whatever you have, to go," Zoe wanted to fidget. The people in the diner were still watching her. "Please," she added as an afterthought.

"Well sure," Lily grinned, sliding her note pad into her jean pocket. She grabbed a large paper cup that had the name, Milton's Diner, written on the front and filled it with ice, ooh ice!, and coke. She placed it on the counter in front of Zoe and grinned. "Is that all for you?"

"Yes," she licked her lips, "Thank you."

"That'll be two twenty," Lily told her. Zoe pulled out a five and handed it to her. "Let me get your change."

"No," Zoe said quickly grabbing her drink. She didn't want to be the entertainment in this place any longer. Plus she was taught by her dad, her other dad, to always tip generously. Waitressing wasn't easy and they deserved the money for working so hard. "Please keep the change." She grabbed the cold drink and quickly turned to leave. "Thanks!"

She inserted the straw and took a long pull from the beverage as soon as she was out of the diner. The flavor danced on her tongue and she sighed. It was cold and delicious and tasted the same as the coke she drank at home, when she was allowed to drink it. Zoe was finally starting to relax, looking at all the things around her, like the large grass square in the center of town where kids were playing and the American flags flying proudly at almost every single business and the different flowers blooming on the brushes and trees lining the sidewalk, when two boys smacked into her. Her hand opened and her drink slipped to the concrete at her foot. She wanted to whine. She was still so thirsty. "Hey!"

She glanced up to see who caused the mess and came face to face with a blonde boy with piercing blue eyes. Her eyes shifted to the other boy, a black boy with sweet features and a small amount of guilt in his brown eyes, before focusing back on the blonde. He was hot. No other way to describe it. He was hot and from the way he carried himself, he knew it, which was a major turn off. And he was checking her out. Quite a lot. It caused the hairs on her arms to stand up and her back to straighten, and a small shiver to slide down her spine.

"Uh," she huffed. "Don't you watch were you are going in this town?" His blue eyes turned a little colder and a cocky smile was flirting around the edges of his mouth. She placed her hands on her hips and tapped her feet impatiently. "Well..."

"Well," ooh his voice was like heated honey- sweet, hot and slightly slow- damn it, you shouldn't like the sound, Zoe! "What princess?"

Princess? Ugh! She frowned. "Aren't you going to offer to buy me another drink?"

This boy- dressed in tight jean shorts and a white t-shirt that clung to his body thanks to the heat, pretended to think about it. His head tilted and then he said, "Nope." The word was accompanied by a large grin. She instantly didn't like him. "Come on Lavon, I need to get home and we need to get ready for tonight. See ya princess!" He walked away without a backwards glance. Of course all he would see was one pissed off New Yorker if he did turn.

The black boy, Lavon, sighed and handed her two folded dollars, "Sorry about that. Here this should be enough to get another one."

Zoe smiled and shook her head, "It's fine. Thank you though." She thrust her hand out, grinning. "My name is Zoe."

Lavon smiled, "I know. You're big news right now." He shook her hand, "My name is Lavon. Welcome to Bluebell."

"Thanks," she opened her mouth to say more, but she heard her name and turned to see Harley walking toward her. "I need to go. It was nice meeting you Lavon."

"You too Zoe," he nodded his head at Harley. "I hope to see you around."

She watched him leave and then walked back to Harley. So she wasn't paranoid about the eyes on her. Great, just great. It was going to be a long summer. Welcome to Bluebell Miss Hart, she thought sarcastically.

xXx

Lavon caught up with Wade quickly enough and fell into step with him. "Did you have to be so rude?"

"She wasn't exactly sweet and sunshine either, man," Wade defended.

"Maybe," Lavon said slowly, "but I think she maybe a little nervous about being here. I mean, think about it, she's the talk of the town, meeting her dad for the first time and she doesn't know anyone. I think she could use a friend."

Wade hated to admit when he was wrong- which is why he rarely if ever did- but he had to admit Lavon was right. Looking at his friend he sighed, "You talked with her a little?"

"A little."

"And..."

Lavon grinned. "She was much nicer after you left." Wade frowned. His friend laughed, "Maybe next time she'll show you that side."

"Eh," Wade shrugged, shifting the bag from one arm to the other. "I don't care if she does or doesn't. Now about tonight..." He wrapped his arm around his friend's shoulders and walked the rest of the way home, almost forgetting about the brunette he just met. Almost.

xXx

Should I continue?