Life, Love, & Lies

Twenty-Five

⚠️ TW// mild ⚠️

"Alright, get your ass off that couch and come with me." LoLo looks up from her book as Zach nudges her knee with his leg.

"What?"

"Get off your ass, and come with me. You've been all sad and energy draining for way too long now. We are going on a walk and I will get you to talk." He smiles down at her.

"And if I refuse?" She grumbles.

"I wasn't asking, I was telling you to get off your ass and come with me, or I'll make you." He crosses his arms, the look on his face clearly asking her to challenge him on the matter.

"Fine." She huffs, pushing off the couch in the green room to follow him out of the room.

"Good job, LoLo, was that so hard?" He chuckles, leading her through the backstage space of the venue where they will be playing tonight's show in Dallas.

"Moving physically? No, that wasn't hard. Having to have a conversation I'm already sure I don't want, that sounds terrible." She replies, surprised when he leads her out into the backlot of the arena.

"You have to talk to someone, LoLo, and I know you won't be talking to Reese since it was her brother who dumped you."

"I dumped him. He cheated on me. Don't mix those two things up. And just because I'm single now does not mean I plan on letting you try and date me. You're still, at least to some extent, my boss."

"Wow, I'm just out here trying to be a friend and help you out, and all you can do is assume I'm a pig who's trying to swoop in now that you're single." He scoffs, clearly joking, or at least mostly.

"I'm just making sure we are on the same page, and that that page is crystal clear." She shrugs.

"I get it LoLo, but I don't think the biggest reason you are unwilling to even consider the idea of dating me has anything to do with being employed by the band."

"Excuse me?" She frowns.

"I think it has to do with Matt." He shrugs nonchalantly.

"Are you accusing me of being into Matt? That's more far-fetched than the gossip articles attaching us to each other." She laughs, though alarms are starting to sound in her head at his accusation.

"Really? Because I'm pretty damn sure you already dated him." He turns to look at her, no hint of amusement or joking in his eyes.

"That's absurd." She shakes her head, "I met Matt two months ago, just like I met you and the rest of the band."

"LoLo may have met Matt two months ago, but what about Felicity?" He asks, grabbing her elbow softly to turn her to face him straight on.

"What? You mean his ex-girlfriend?" She tries to contort her face into confusion to hide her panic.

"I know LoLo, the way you've been acting, the similarities he and Milo see, his sisters commenting on how you look like her after they saw you in New York. The way you were acting leading up to New York, and while we were in the city. You were gone the second that show ended, and we didn't see you again until bus call two days later. I know what happened that night, everyone knows what happened, Nolan Abernathy was executed by lethal injection. But what did surprise me, and everyone else, his daughter showed up, and her dark hair was seen under the massive black hoodie she was wearing to hide her new identity."

"What are you trying to say, Zach? Because Lauren Anderson and Felicity Abernathy are two very different people."

"Oh I believe that, but both of them are you. It makes sense."