Skinny Love: A Zachary Abels Love Story

Chapter 5

The next two and a half weeks went by in a blur. We had made our way around most of the United States and done every tourist-y thing imaginable. Gone to Texas and taken weird pictures next to the ranch animals? Done. Gone to Kansas and reinacted the Wizard of Oz? Of course. Gone to Utah and wondered what people do there? Uh huh. Gone to Arizona and pretended to be gamblers? Yes but never again. Gone to Louisiana and pretended to be in a Disney mardi gra and sang jazz? Mhm. Gone to Florida and pretended to be Flo Rida? Yup. Gone to every mall, tourist attraction, cool landmark and theme park on the way? You Bet'cha. We had taken more pictures than could be counted. We were on our way through Georgia when Nikki spoke up.

"Bryan, stop at the next mall." He acknowledged her with an alright but kept his eyes on the road.

"That sounded exceptionally girly," Louis remarked from the other side of Zach.

"Shut up, Lewis," Nikki stuck her tongue out at him.

"It's Louis," Katie corrected, not getting the point. you could feel everyone in the van roll their eyes.

"So Jeremy," I said, dragging out his name.

"Yeah?" He answered, looking up from something he was showing Dylan and Harry on his phone. Probably a cat gif if I knew him well enough.

"Guess what?" I asked. He narrowed his eyes in thought.

"The president of the united states is in the car behind us." He guessed.

"No," I answered, watching Harry turn around in his seat to check. He turned back around to see me frown at him.

"Then I don't know." Jeremy said.

"Your birthday's in four days." Mostly everyone in the van's face showed that they had forgotten until that point. except Jesse, Bryan, Mikey and Zach's. Jeremy smiled awkwardly. "Where do you wanna go?" I asked him.

"Surprise me," I looked at him in annoyance, made a face and turned back around in my seat. I gave him the finger for effect. Then I laughed at myself, imagining his face, and Niall began laughing next to me at my actions. We both started laughing, while Zach smirked, and Louis gave us a concerned glance.

"I worry about you two," Louis remarked.

"Dont we all?" Katie muttered, causing me to turn in my seat. I was ready to give this girl the sassing of a lifetime when the van suddenly jerked to a stop, making me fall back into my seat, and Bryan yelled.

"We're here!" Instead, I was intensely laughed at. We all got out of the van and walked toward the huge georgian mall.

"Hey Quinn," Liam said, walking up on my left.

"Hi, Liam!" i said, smiling brightly up at his tall face. He's almost a foot taller than me.

"Wanna go to-"

"She can't! Us girls are going to meet the rest of you later, we have shopping to do," Nikki cut Liam off midsentence.

"You can come if you want," I offered, knowing he might think it was going to be boring. He surprised me with his answer.

"Sure, why not?"

"Alright then, let's go," I smiled, following the girls.

"So what are you getting for Jeremy for his birthday?" I asked Liam, trying to find a good store to get my own present for Jer. The girls had already gotten theirs, and were chatting around us. I wanted my present to be unique.

"I told him once i'd transform him into the stereotypical rapper, so i'll probably get him something along those lines," He responded, grinning.

"Inside joke, huh?" I replied. He chuckled.

"Yeah. You want to help?" He asked, his smile mischeviously doubling in size.

"Hell yes!" I agreed, fist bumping him. First, we hit Lids to get his rapper hat, Then we got him some chains, the dopest graphic tee we could find (in black and white of course), a studded leather jacket, and a new pair of Raybans.

"Jeremy is so lucky to have us as friends," I joked, making Liam laugh. He stuck his hands in his pockets as we kept walking.

"Hey, there's the guys."

"What are you getting Zach?" I asked him. Zach's birthday is the day after Jeremy's.

"I don't actually know yet," Liam rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"What are you getting me?" I slipped in, hoping he wouldn't notice and would answer. I should probably mention that my birthday is five days after Zach's, on July 8th. Liam smiled, amused at my attempt.

"Nice try, slick," He laughed.

"It was worth a try," i said, wishing he had fallen for it. "Last but not least, what are you getting Bryan?" Bryan's birthday is July 11th. It's a little weird how all our birthdays are so close together, but it is the way of life. And Josh Divine's birthday is the day after mine, so. It's too bad he couldn't come, but also it'd be hella crowded in that van.

"I'm getting him a watch," Liam said quietly, as we were approaching the rest of the gang. I gave him a 'really, Liam?' look. "Hey, he's expressed an extreme desire for it," Liam said defensively.

"Okay," i said, amused. "Whatever you say, Payne."

"Hey, Quinn," Zach called as we joined the group. I looked up at him as he squeezed between Niall and Mikey to get to me. "Wanna go to Topman? I mean, Topshop too." My eyes widened ten inches in delight.

"There's a Topshop in this mall?" I asked in surprise. He nodded, smiling. "Lead the way!" before we went off, i turned to politely end the conversation i had had before instead of rudely walking off. "See you later, Liam." He tried to smile, but it ended up looking pained and disappointed for reasons out of the grasp of my knowledge. Liam always looks somewhat sad around me. I mean, other than when I'm being my utterly hilarious self. I'll walk into a room, He'll look completely happy, until he sees me. And i really want to know why that is. The others all know, too, I'm sure of it. I can see it in their faces. I'm going to get it out of one of them, and that's a promise.

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Ok A/N I'm really sorry to bother u but ok NEW ZACH FANFIC tht im writing! It's called Alaska's Ocean and the teaser is up if u wanna read it. It's p good if i do say so myself. But yeah. Comment on it if i should write. Also, sor sor for the long wait.