The Untouchables

Chapter 7 -- Uncomfortably Wet

"Zach, what the hell?" I screamed. He was running straight towards the fountain, too busy to formulate a proper response. He stopped just short of the stone carved edge, waiting until I caught up to him.
"You coming?" he asked, a smug grin still angled onto his face. Admittedly, it hadn't occurred to me that Zach would have this anarchic side to him. While he did appear to have a hard outer shell, I had assumed that it was just an act. Apparently, I was wrong.
"No, I'd rather not get arrested," I said snarkily, looking left to the sign which stated clearly that there was to be no swimming in the fountain. It was the middle of the day on a saturday with lots of people around. There tended to be lots of drug dealers and perverts in the park, but they all knew better than do whatever they did out in the open. The park rangers were actually very strict, as I had learned one very interesting evening after school. The afterschool special that day had involved Gabe, bushes, and a very harsh warning.
"Relax, Ms. Perfect, we'll be fine," he said, slipping his shoes and socks off. He looked to me, waiting for some sort of confirmation.
"Could you not call me that, Mr. Asshole," I crossed my arms. There was no way I was going into the fountain. I would just watch someone come by and yell at Zach, or worse.
"Maybe when you pull the stick out of your ass." At that particular comment, I felt such a rage boil up within my stomach, but I was just too shocked to say anything, besides, he was sorta right. What he had said may have been rude, but I needed to hear it. Ever since I had cut all things Gabe out of my life, parties and friends included, I had become one of the most boring people I knew. For once, the tables had turned; Zach was the one yelling at me, and I now had to listen.
Zach stepped cautiously into the water. Once he realized it wasn't too cold, he stood with both feet in the fountain. He looked back at me,"What, no witty comeback?"
I smiled, and rolled my eyes. No way I would ever admit out loud that Zach was right. I quickly slipped my sandals off and jumped over the barrier surrounding the fountain, any hesitation and I probably wouldn't have done it. Zach fliched at the small splash. He looked completely taken aback, almost as much as had I felt.
"Hey," I said, looking up to him in a totally new light. I had to stop being the scared damsel in distress that I was. If I didn't take chances I wouldn't get anywhere.
"Why the sudden change of heart, Ms. Perfect?" he wondered aloud.
"Just a feeling," I said. "Oh and, by the way, I'm far from perfect." Zach was the only person I knew who wasn't informed about the fact that my nudes were on the internet, and I intended to keep it that way, even if it meant that he had some false perception of me.
"Okay, whatever," Zach rolled his eyes.
I bent down and splashed some water into his face. "Oops," I shrugged.
"Okay, I probably deserved that," he admitted. He replied with an even bigger splash. His playful laugh carried through the air, slightly obstructed by the sounds of rushing water around us.
"Thanks, Mr. Asshole," I laughed and kicked water back at him.
"I would just like to point out that I am also not an asshole," Zach objected. "Though I do have one in case you were wondering," he added smartly.
"I think I'll need some proof to justify that," I smiled.
"Okay," Zach said. He turned around and curled his hands around the rim of his pants. He was about to shove them down.
"Stop!" I screamed and covered my eyes, soon followed by both of our laughter. Zach immediately put his hands up in the air in surrender, but quickly put them down to scoop more water into the air.
We had gotten incredibly soaked with water by then. Our clothes and hair stuck to our bodies stiffly. Luckily for me, Zack looked incredible. It was one of those moments again, where I wanted to pull his body into my arms and kiss him. The butterflies in my stomach suggested something more.
"Zach," I said. His name sounded so familiar on my lips. I wanted to savor its sweet taste forever.
"Yeah?" he looked at me. My heart started racing. I could feel my pulse rush across every inch of my body, from the top of my head to the ends of my toenails.
"I—" I started, but it was too late.
"Excuse me," a woman dressed in a park security uniform walked over to us. "I'm gonna have to ask both of you to step out of the fountain." Crap. I knew that was going to happen eventually. My paradise was short lived, as usual.
The officer's presence was somewhat of a relief though, seeing as how I was about to say something I would possibly regret. My huge release of breath was proof of that.
Zach stepped out of the water calmly. I wondered how he could possibly have kept such a straight face in a moment like that. He held his hands out toward me. I had to take a deep breath, but I was able to take his dripping palms in mine. There was a sort of electric shock when we touched, at least I felt it, but nothing on Zach's face seemed to indicate the feeling. Zach helped to pull me out of the fountain and face the security woman. I wasn't quite sure of what happened after that. I was too focused on what had  happened not just five seconds ago.
When our skin touched, it was as if everything was in slow motion. Zach calmed me, but at the same time made my heart race faster than ever. I felt like the whole world around us was just gone. Cliche, yeah, but that was part of what made it so incredible and breathtaking.
I felt Zach nudge me softly with his elbow. "Huh?" I was snapped back into reality.
"Your name," Zach whispered.
"Oh, um, I'm Taryn, uh, Bradbury," I stated, trying to appear more well adjusted than I was. I noticed that Zach's arm was still touching me from after he prodded mine with his elbow. I shuffled to the side a bit, so that we weren't touching.
"Ok, well I'll just let you two off with a warning because you didn't seem to disturb anyone, but please try not to let anyone catch you doing this again." We, well I, apologized for our immature behaviour and the officer let us go.
Zach and I stayed quiet until she was out of earshot. I let out a breath that I hadn't realized I was holding for quite some time. "Well that was fun," Zach tried to lighten the mood.
I sighed deeply. He just didn't get it. "I told you that would happen," I lamented.
"We had fun though. Besides, it's not like we actually got into any trouble," he reassured me. But it wasn't okay. We would never have known that the officer wouldn't give us a bigger punishment, especially since it wasn't my first offence, but she never asked for ID so I guess we were in the clear. Sure my parents could make anything go away, but it didn't matter. Doing bad things would always have bad consequences.
I had almost ten minutes of a perfectly stress free encounter with Zach. I had let go, and it felt so good, but it all went out the door the second we were approached by that woman. Even if the sensations I had felt when Zach and I touched could alter my whole perception of reality, reality was still there. And the reality was that I shouldn't be with a guy like Zach. He was only good for getting into trouble, which I didn't need any help with.
"Don't you see, Zach? We could have gotten so much worse than a warning," I was back to being mad at him again.
He stood in front of me so that we were looking directly at each other."Look at us, Taryn," he began, referring to our water-drenched state, "We're a fucking mess, but who isn't? We had fun. That's the only reason I need to be able say it was worth it."
His words went through mind mind forward and backwards and over again. All I could think was, "it was worth it." But was it?
I remembered the adrenaline pumping through my blood as I jumped into the fountain. I felt fearless. I wanted to feel that way all the time.
I took a breath to relax. "Okay, Zach, I... I guess you're alright," I half smiled.
"Not Mr. Asshole? See, we're making progress already," he grinned, getting a slight laugh out of me.
"Shut up," I rolled my eyes and turned away. I began walking at a brisk pace towards the exit of the park. After about two seconds I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my foot.
I looked down to see that blood was starting to trickle down the side of my foot. "Shit," I mumbled under my breath. My foot felt very numb,which may have been a good thing, judging from the initial pain.
I sat down on the ground to examine the wound, taking my shoe off. A sizable piece of glass had found its way to the side of my foot. Just my luck that the exact spot the glass had caught was devoid of protection my sandal. I picked out the piece of glass and began putting my sandal back on.
"Hey, wait," Zach panted, running up next to me. "Ooh," he winced after figuring out what had happened
"It's fine," I said while buckling up my sandal. In truth, the cut was beginning to sting quite a bit. I decided it was karma, that I was paying the price for "having fun" with Zach.
"Wait, you shouldn't put it back on. It'll get rubbish in your cut," he said.
"Relax, it's only a few blocks. I'll just clean it up at home," I assured him. He didn't seem so convinced, apparent in his refusal to give me the other sandal. I decided to give up and let him help me. I tried to brush him off, but he pulled me off the ground.
"Here, lean on my arm," he directed. I looked at him suspiciously, but thought better than to argue with him yet again. He couldn't have had any ulterior motives, or so I had hoped. Skin to skin, yet again. Volts of electricity pumped through so powerfully that we could probably jumpstart a car at that point.
The duration of our walk back to my apartment was filled with empty complaints by me. I wasn't sure why he didn't just leave me to die in the middle of traffic at one point. I got especially annoying when my blood began to drip onto the concrete. Since we didn't have and tissues or bandages, my blood just sort of spread all over my foot.
"Hey, wait," I said as we passed by a small cafe. It was one of the kind that Zach had branded as terrible and "rubbish." "Go in there and grab a napkin. I'll probably be evicted if I get blood on any of the carpeting in my building," I told him. It was far too close to the truth. Once a woman's water broke in the lobby and a neighbor filed a complaint against her.
"Okay," Zach grumbled, "fine." He sat me down on the bench just outside and ran into the cafe as quickly as humanly possible. I turned to look at him through the window. He wore only an expression of pure disgust, trying to keep his head down and not touch anyone. I laughed silently at his frustration. He came out quickly, practically throwing the napkin at me.
"What? Were all the little old women and moms in yoga pants too scary for you?" I teased. He grinned fakely and rolled his eyes, pulling more laughter out of me.
"I'm never going back into one of those, ever again," he marked firmly, adding a shiver for effect.
"Whatever, just help me up."
We walked home laughing about all that we had done that day, which I realized had been very eventful, though I slept through most of it.
Zach was definitely nothing like Gabe, but I was still trying to figure out what I should do about him, about us. I was seriously about to tell him I wanted to kiss him when we were in the fountain. I wondered what would have happened if I had spoken up. Maybe it was too early, we would just built up quickly and fall apart even faster, just like Gabe and me. Or maybe I was waiting too long and nothing was ever going to happen because of what I had missed out on. As we entered the elevator, for once without any awkward tension, I came to the conclusion that there was no use in dwelling on the past.
Zach, again, was happy. His shirt was still mostly wet, as was mine, but his hair had dried into a poofy mess. It was kind of adorable, especially since it was rare to see anyone not trying so hard to look a certain way. The curls folded in every direction, unkempt and uncontrolled. Seeing him like that gave me this strange sense of happiness.
"Hey mom!" I shouted just after unlocking the door.
"Hi hon—Oh my gosh, what happened?" she gasped once she saw my condition.
"Oh, I just got run over by a bus," I shrugged nonchalantly. Zach snorted beside me. I elbowed him hard enough that he produced an quiet grumble.
"Oh no," mom played along, well aware of my usual sarcastic antics, "How long do you have?" She pulled me in for a hug as we both laughed. Everything felt so normal.
"I stepped on some glass, but it's not too bad," I told her, getting back to real life. She kissed my forehead and told me to get cleaned up.
"Okay. Hello, Zach," my mother nodded to Zach, who was still supporting me. She looked like she was about to say something, but, being the incredibly calm and composed woman she was, controlled herself.
"I'm gonna go clean my mortal wound, but I'll probably be back for dinner," I told her.
"Oh, before I forget, the Annual MoMA Gala is the day after tomorrow." I had completely forgotten about that. It was the first big event I would go to that year. I promised I would go, but I was ready to bail out at any given moment. So many people that I knew were going to be there, including Gabe. My only reason for going was because I had promised my parents, plus Zoe was going to be there. I had to go to prove that I was having the best summer ever.
"Okay," I said hesitantly. Zach looked like he was about to say something, but I silently  directed him towards my room before he could. Going up the stairs, I had a difficult time hopping, even with Zach to help me.
Zach turned away once he left me at my door. "Hey, Zach," I stopped him just before he went out of earshot, "Um, thanks for today." I smiled towards the floor. I felt my cheeks get heated.
"Yeah, any time."

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I edited this while sitting in the part of Central Park where this takes place, so I'm pretty happy about that.
I have gifted you with a picture of Dylan O'brien because why tf not (ps. He doesn't specifically play the guy)
Congrats if read this. Also thanks.