Five Foot Four ((Zach Abels Fanfic))

Chapter Fifteen

    Everything was packed up and ready for us to go, but I wasn't ready yet. Honestly, I wasn't ready at all. I wanted to make a final decision with Rainey. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't waiting for her to stop me and ask to come along. It was all my mind could think about because it seemed wrong to think here onwards without her around.

    I held her in my arms and the guys just waited around for me. They didn't seem to mind one bit though, which I was grateful for.

    Lucy said her goodbyes to everyone and asked someone to take a huge picture of us all. Everyone huddled together in the picture and looked towards the camera, including Rainey. She smiled straight ahead and her right arm draped around my back and fitted on my side.

    The flash was bright and she quickly looked down to the ground. It flashed again with her eyes still to the ground.

    When she eventually brought her head back up, her jaw was clenched and her eyes were dimmed, it was like she was trying to keep her face as straight as she could.

    "You should go." She said, trying to dismiss that horrible goodbye.

    The guys all piled onto the bus and I stood, still, watching her.

    "Rainey," I started.

    "Zachary." She tried to smile.

    "You know, this isn't it." I brought her chin up with my hand and kissed her. "This isn't it."

    She shook her head and kissed me back.

    "See you around, Zeeko." She whispered.

    My hand touched her and I started to back away from her.

    Her eyes were on me and she clenched the strap of her bag. Her knees began to shake and fidget. Her shoulders lifted and then dropped as if she had just let out a huge breath. Lucy came from behind her and stood beside her. They stood silently as they watched to climb the steps.

    Lucy said something to Rainey and it looked like it hit her pretty hard. Her hands fumbled inside her bag and she pulled out a couple pieces of paper.

    "Zach!" She shouted.

    I rushed down the stairs and walked towards her.

    "Can you sign this!" She held out her tickets along with a pen.

    She offered me a simple smile and I just pulled her close again. She shook in my arms and against my chest. Her hand held onto the material of the bottom of my shirt.

    I lifted my head and looked over her shoulder to Luce, who had a smile plastered on her face.

    We both let go at the same time and I took the pen out of her hand and wrote on the paper.

    Once I was finished, I leaned over and put them into her bag and then dropped the pen in afterwards.

    "My favourite fan." I kissed her forehead and then jogged back to the bus.

    The doors shut to the bus and I took a seat, looking out the window.

    Rainey and Lucy hugged each other and then waved towards the bus. They stood under the street light as the rain started to get even heavier.

    The bus started to move down the dark street and slowly away from her and the sinking feeling in my stomach got worse.

    "Anyone hungry?" Jeremy called out, looking through the fridge and cupboards, ignoring the late hour.

    Everyone shook their heads and sat awkwardly together.

    "Check instagram." Dev said to me, without taking her eyes off her phone.

    The guys all looked at me, with their phones in their hands and grinned at me, nudging each other and whispering quietly.

    I unlocked my phone and opened the app. I scrolled down the notifications until I saw a post by an account called luce.y.art. I pressed onto the name and it led me to an account which was full of pictures of mostly drawings and some pictures in groups and on her own. I instantly recognised Lucy and scrolled through her pictures. There was one put up - earlier today - of her and Rainey together.

    Rainey looked at the camera with her white hat on and smiled brightly.

    The caption was just emojis.

    I came out of the picture to see the most recent one. The group picture.

    My eyes found Rainey and she was looking to floor as my eyes were on her.

    I tapped the picture to see the tagged users. I looked through all the names and found Rainey's. I clicked onto it and waited for her page to load.

    The latest picture was tiny on the small screen of my phone.

    I clicked on it to zoom in and see the bigger version.

    The photo was me. On stage.

    There was no caption.