Water Doesn't Wash Away Everything (Zack Merrick)

Chapter 6

He bumped into her while they walked making her laugh. She tightened her hoodie around her and crossed her arms as the wind picked up. They lost track of how long they had been walking and talking.

“Are you feeling homesick yet?” he asked her. She sighed.

“I’ve felt homesick ever since I got on the plane,” she said laughing slightly.

“I’ve never been that way.”

“Really?” He shook his head and shrugged.

“I don’t know why, it just takes a lot for me to miss home.”

“Hmm,” she commented. They walked in a comfortable silence for a moment.

“Oh my God.” They both looked over to where the laughing voice was coming from. “What are you doing here?”

Meg’s hands clenched up and she glared at the man coming closer to them. Zack glanced at the guy and then saw Megan’s irritated face. He automatically felt angry towards the guy he had no idea who was.

“Hello my lovely,” the guy said grinning. “Decided to finally come the United States I see.”

“What are you doing in Maryland Eli?” she asked, bitterness obvious in her voice.

“Visiting an old friend,” he replied. “Who’s this? Find a new lad?”

“Actually—“

“Yea, she has,” Zack interrupted her wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Megan looked up at his face trying not to show her confusion to Eli. Zack looked down at Meg and smiled. She smiled back up at him and then looked at Eli. The look on his face made Megan want to burst into laughter but she held it back.

“Huh,” he grunted. “You’ve stooped to American boys now?”

“No, stooping was when I was with you,” she said calmly.

“I’ll see you around Megan,” he said with his hands in his pockets and walked past them. They turned the corner and then let out their laughter. Meg held onto her stomach as she laughed. She looked up at Zack.

“Thank you,” she said as her laughter died down.

“Anytime,” he smiled and ran in hand through his hair. The smile kept plastered on her face. Zack kept glancing over at her with a small smile on his face as they continued to walk. She peered over at him through the corner of her eye.

“What?” she asked softly.

“There’s the smile I was waiting for.” 

She smiled and looked down at the sidewalk.

“So who was that guy?” he asked. She sighed and crossed her arms again.

“Some guy I used to date.”

“Let me guess, he turned out to be a total douche bag.”

“Yea, I guess I thought I saw something in him that wasn’t actually there.”

“Is there some other guy waiting for you back at home?”

She shook her head, “Nope.” She glanced over at Zack. “You?”

“The same.” Megan nodded and Zack felt buzzing coming from his pocket. He pulled out his phone to see Alex’s name on the screen.

“Hello?”

“Where are you guys? You’ve been gone for hours!” Alex yelled through the phone. Megan laughed softly when she overheard him.

“We haven’t been gone for hours.”

“Well, get back to the house. We miss Meg.”

“Oh, thanks,” Zack scoffed.

“Anytime bro.” They said bye before hanging up.

“What was that about?” Meg asked laughing.

“They miss you.”

“What about you?”

“Apparently I’m not being missed.”

“Aw,” she said but couldn’t keep her laugh in. She looked up to see that it was actually kind of getting dark. She got distracted by the moon and ending up tripping over her own feet. Zack quickly grabbed her arms before she could fall.

“You ok?” She started laughing--full out, cracking up, laughing. “Meg?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she said through her laughter. “Thank you, again.”

“Anytime,” he chuckled. “Again.”