❛ DEJA VU ❜ - 𝖼𝗆𝖻 ✓

018; it's best if you go home

third person.

the next day, the group made their way down to the beach the house was right beside, the same one corbyn and mollie were sat on the night before.

and with a drink in everyone's hand, corbyn and mollie were sat a few feet away from the rest of the group, laughing with one another as they dug into some snacks corbyn had bought along with him for the day.

but from where the majority of them were sat, zach and harper were beside one another. the girl had been watching the pair for the past ten minutes, noticing how mollie was acting around her boyfriend and how she looked at him.

"zach," harper spoke up as he looked at her, "are you sure those two don't have any history or anything?"

"uh, no.. why?" he asked, leaning closer towards where she sat to see a clearer view of the pair.

"it just.. he acts different when he's with her compared to when he's with me." she replied, "don't you think?"

"in a good way or bad way?"

"i mean like, she looks at him like she's in love with him," harper explained, glancing around the group before gesturing over to charlie and jack in the middle of a conversation, "it's like how charlie looks at jack."

the boy paused for a moment or two before he turned to charlie and jack, a confused look on his face before looking at harper, "what do you mean?"

"..like she's in love." harper shrugged, "and he isn't doing anything to stop it, i thought he would."

"they're just friends harper." zach quickly said, standing up and walking up to where his girlfriend and best friend were sat.

"yeah but... oh, okay." she slowly nodded, sighing and looking back at corbyn and mollie.

"char can we talk in private a second?" zach asked, disrupting her and jack's conversation as she nodded and stood up, following the boy to a more private area away from the group.

"you look upset," she noticed with a frown on her face, "are you okay?"

"uh, is something going on with you and jack?" he asked, fiddling with the rings on his fingers as charlie tilted her head in confusion.

"why would- why would i.. what?" charlie replied, a confused tone in her voice as zach glanced towards the floor.

"it's just harper said that mollie looks at corbyn the same way you look at jack and we all know how she looks at corbyn," zach explained, "i just.."

"maybe she got confused with who dates who," she suggested, "she's still quite new to the group."

"but it shouldn't have to be confusing, it should be obvious." zach said, "and if you're looking at jack like that then..?"

"zach nothing is going on between me and jack, we wouldn't do that to you and nicole and we don't have any feelings for each other."

"but if harper can notice something and she's new then surely something is." zach shrugged.

"she's new and her only focus is corbyn." charlie gestured towards the girl stood with the friend group, who were all glancing over at the couple every so often with curiosity.

"maybe it isn't, maybe she cares about the group just as much as everyone else does." zach replied, "i don't know char, it's just weird that she seemed to be able to point that out."

"zach," charlie frowned, folding her arms as she shrugged and glanced around, "i don't know what to tell you to make you believe me."

"the fact that you can't think of anything worries me." he told her.

"i haven't done anything with jack," charlie said, "she must've saw the conversation we were having and assumed we're dating."

"it's more than obvious to see nicole and jack are together," he replied, looking over to the couple, "see? even now they're all cuddly with each other."

"and you still can't believe me?"

"well i thought you had been distant recently," he shrugged, his hand moving to the back of his neck as a few tears appeared in his eyes.

"why didn't you speak to me about that?" she argued, "zach i.. i don't know what to say."

"maybe it's best if you go home," he suggested as her face immediately fell before shaking her head.

"no, no i'm not doing that. this is my friend group too." charlie frowned as zach slowly shrugged, "i told you jack and i were just talking, you can ask him if you want. harper must've just assumed."

"clearly she saw something if she assumed it."

"i don't want to go home, i don't like home right now." she said while shaking her head, "you're not even going to believe me or talk to jack about it?"

"if i talk to jack then nicole will get involved." he said, "and i don't want to upset her, char it's just a week and a half i just don't want to talk to you right now.."

"alright fine, i'll go home." she held her arms up in defence, walking back over to the friend group to grab her phone.

"char are you alright?" nicole looked over at charlie, who replied with a quick nod before wiping one of her eyes, "why are you crying..?"

"it's fine, i'll see you in about a week i need to take a flight home." charlie told her, throwing her bag onto her shoulder before walking past zach.

as she wondered away from the group, nicole looked to zach in confusion to see he was in tears too, "zach?"

"i don't want to-"

"what happened?"

"her and jack." he said before jack looked up from his phone as nicole turned towards him, "sneaking around."

"what?" jack furrowed his brows, "me and who? charlie?"

"you and charlie have something going on?" nic asked him as he shook his head.

"no? where is everyone getting this from?"

"harper just told me." zach said.

"oh come on nic do you really think i'd do that to you or zach?" jack glanced between the both of them, "nothing is going on, what are you on about?"

"wait, harper told you?" nicole looked back at zach, "how would she know anything?"

"she said mollie looks at corbyn the same way charlie looks at jack." he explained.

"she doesn't know shit about the group." she shook her head, "you believed that?"

"i had every reason to, charlie's been distant the past few weeks and jack hasn't been too close with me either."

"some of us have other things to deal with than you zach." jack told him, "nothing happened and nothing will happen, i don't know why you'd believe her."

"i don't know." he mumbled before shrugging, "i just pieced a few things together."

jack and nicole glanced to each other confused until jack looked back at zach and nodded, forcing a smile onto his face then took another sip of his drink as zach sighed and sat on a spare chair where daniel and cara were.

♡

a/n

double update 😋

how we feeling about this bc y'all predicted jack and nic 😦😦 i am so full of surprises