The Struggles of Being a Teenage Wife

Chapter 4

He caught me snooping through his stuff! His photo albums are on the floor sprawled around me and I have this dumbfounded, confused look on my face.

"Zach, I'm so sorry I didn't--" 

"I'm not mad, it's OK, I just wish you would have talked to me if you were curious," he remarks in a soft tone, smiling at the last word, while lowering himself onto the floor next to me.

"No, it's not 'OK', it's an invasion of your privacy." I start to close the album but he interjects and takes it into his hands, his fingertips slightly grazing mine. He murmurs something like "what is this?"

"Oh, I remember," he says with a smile. He's looking at a picture of him at his high school graduation. "You know, I actually wasn't that thrilled to graduate high school. I did so well and I actually liked it," he sighs. It's evident with the big smile and valedictorian sash he's wearing. He flips to look at more pictures. Him laughing, smiling with friends, with family, nothing of which I am particularly familiar with. He flips the page, and there's a picture of my father with Zach. He lingers on it, although I know he's uncomfortable, because right next to it is a picture of Zach and his father. 

"You-you actually liked high school?" I ask, trying to take his attention away from the photo.

He chuckles and looks up from the album, and leans back slightly onto the wall. I casually mimic his movement, trying not to think about the fact that he's sitting really, really close to me.

"Yeah, do you not like high school?"

He doesn't think I'm still in high school, does he?

"I didn't particularly like it. I was younger than everyone yet I took the more advanced classes, so I got teased about it. I graduated two months ago, though, so at least that's over," I casually add. He raises his eyebrow.

"You graduated already? I didn't know."

I shrug. "I skipped a few grades, I was always just a little ahead of the public school system. Anyways, I didn't want to make a big deal out of my graduation."

"Why?" He says this softer now, almost like a whisper, and he leans a little closer to me.

"My dad." The words are out of my mouth before I can even regret it, but they're true. Although, I think it was less because of my dad, and more because of my mom's response to my dad's death, that I didn't feel like celebrating.

We're both silent for a minute. I can hear him breathing, and it feels nice to have said that out loud, even if I didn't elaborate. I'm so used to being alone now that talking to Zach is both strange and relieving.

"What convinced you to... marry me," he asks hesitantly, and lightly taps the wedding band on my finger. I forgot it was there. 

"There wasn't really a specific moment or reason that convinced me. My mom told me this is what my dad and grandparents wanted, and while I doubted her, I just... I don't know. I still can't believe this is what they really wanted for me"--I look at Zach, who's looking down at his hands--"not that being married to you is bad or anything, but--"

"I get it."

"It was just a lot of things that I'm still trying to make sense of myself." He nods, and I notice that he adjusts the position of his glasses a lot. "What about you?"

He looks at me for a split second then looks back down at his hands. "A lot of things I'm trying to make sense of, too." I chuckle, and he looks at me again. He clears his throat. "Now, I guess we have to decide how to run the company. I know I would be more than willing to take over, you're still so young--"