Scorpion's New EQ

Chapter 33

The last thing I expected to see when I woke up the next morning was Zach's bare chest, and that's what I happened to be using as a pillow.

As I got past that fact, I noticed that his arms were still secured around me, holding me close to him. I looked up to his face and noticed that he was still in an obvious deep sleep. His normal smirk was replaced by a peaceful look of indignation during sleep and I couldn't bring myself to wake him up. So, I stayed there, closing my eyes and relaxing against him as I listened to his gentle breathing.

The day before seemed like a blur to me. We had done so much and yet, we got only fifty miles from where we had been. LA seemed like it was in a different county rather than state.

I knew almost instantly when Zach was awake. His breathing changed into a shallower, quieter, and a more controlled exchange of breaths. He must have believed that I was still asleep because he slid out from under me carefully. I opened my eyes just enough to see him throw on a shirt and shoes and grab the room key.

I sat up in bed the moment the door clicked in place behind Zach. The first thing that I did, which was completely different than what I usually did, was check my facial features. What greeted me in the mirror was a exhausted looking face, and not in the sleep deprived way. My eyes were a light shade of red and my irises were glossy. My usually neat brown hair, which had been in a ponytail, looked like an animal had been living it. I looked paler than usual, and I wasn't the tannest person ever. I was also still wearing the exact same clothes from the day before.

Once I had managed to change into a denim shirt and black leggings, I decided to tackle the rest of my disaster. I fishtail braided my hair down my left shoulder and made do with my face after I splashed cold water on it.

Another inspection in the mirror gave me the results that I hadn't exactly been aiming for, but would work until we got to LA.

Zach got back to the hotel room nearly an hour later. Within that time I had managed to eat a piece of toast and half an apple from the free breakfast. The rest of the food looked poisonous, or way past it's expiration date.

When he stepped into the room I noticed that his face redden just a touch, but I did my best to ignore it, in fear that I would find myself looking the same.

Zach cleared his throat before he said, "Okay, so the car will be brought here in thirty minutes. So let's get packed up so we can leave asap."

The first thing I made note of was how he said asap as a whole rather then say each individual letter. The second thing, was how eager he was to leave the hotel. Maybe he just wanted to get me out of his life that bad.

I nodded in agreement, I had already tried calling the team again that morning after I realize that Zach had left his phone behind, but there was no answer. At this point I was worried that something had gone wrong.

200 sticky notes in the trash later, and Zach and I were in the car and headed towards LA once again.

Zach was speaking even less than he had been the morning before. A two hour car ride and a bored genius weren't, admittedly, the most ideal travelling conditions.

"For the seventh time, would you quit doing that?" Zach snapped at me, his eyes trailing from the road for only a second before he turned his attention back.

"For starters, that was only the fifth time you have told me to stop," I stated as I withdrew my hand from the window controls. I felt fidgety and I was trying to calm my nerves in a healthy way, "And secondly, I am at least putting up with your shitty music taste."

This caused Zach to look at me incredulously, "Come on, everyone loves jazz music!"

Zach then began to reach for the volume, but before he could crank the music, I grabbed his wrist and muttered, "Or you could not."