DOTING : 13 Reasons Why / Zach Dempsey ON HOLD

ｅｉｇｈｔ

I woke up that morning enwrapped in Zach's arms. Looking over at his clock on the nightstand, I realized it was time to get ready for school. I struggled but surprisingly managed to get up and out of bed.
"No," I heard Zach groan. "Come back."
"Sorry babe, you have to drive me home so I can get some fresh clothes for school." Once again, he let out a groan before getting up and shuffling to his closet. His hair was a wave of messiness over his face.
"Your hair looks gorgeous." I teased while laughing. He poked his head out of the closet and gave me a small glare.
"Oh shut it." I laughed again before throwing on my shirt from the night before.
"Hey, i'll be downstairs okay?"
"Alright." He walked out really quick and gave me a small kiss.
I grabbed all my stuff from yesterday and headed downstairs, only to be greeted by Zach's mom and sister.
"Hey Kinsley!" His sister waved at me; I loved seeing her around because she was one of the sweetest people I knew.
"Hey, how's school been?" He rolled her eyes and made a fake gagging noise.
"I feel ya there." My attention was taken away when Zach's mom began talking.
"So Kinsely, how was your little sleepover?" She asked in a stern tone with a small smirk. I froze and was unsure of what to say.
"Uh...we...um." Thankfully Zach walked downstairs and interrupted.
"Hey mom, i'm driving Kinsley to her house and then to school. He kissed her cheek but her eyes stayed on me; he walked over to his sister and kissed the top of her head.
"It was nice seeing you guys!" I called out before following Zach outside to his car. Once we got in and started driving an idea popped into my head.
"Hey we should do something tonight," He turned to face me slightly interested in my idea.
"We should go ice skating. Lately everything has been so stressful and intense, it would be good to have a night where we can just have fun." He smiled and reached his hand over intertwining it with mine.
"I think that's a perfect idea. Just remember I suck at ice skating." I laughed, remembering the last time we went together. His phone buzzed and a text popped up on his screen.
"Can you read it, please?"
"Sure." I took his phone and read the message.
"It's from Justin. 'Meet me in the gym before class. The others will be there too. Tell Kinsley." I read aloud to him.
"What do you think they want to talk about?" He questioned.
"Probably something about Clay." We didn't pay that much attention. Once we got to my house I ran in and quickly changed and got ready. After about 20 minutes, we left my house and made our way to school. We pulled into the parking lot and maneuvered around all the people walking across. Once out of his car, we walked hand in hand to the gym where we found everyone sitting on the bleachers.
"He's out of his fucking mind." Justin said angrily. Zach took a seat next to him with me following. Alex and Courtney were stranding in front of us.
"We played by Hannah's rules," Courtney spoke. "It's not fair if the tapes get out there because Clay went postal."
"He's not going to go public." Zach spoke up.
"It's feels like he might." Jessica hissed.
"He hadn't told anyone about them yet," I took a breath before continuing. "So we can't say what he will or will not do yet."
"He's just sad, okay? Let him be.." Alex was cut off when let out a groan and clutched onto his stomach.
"Are you getting your stomach things again, Alex? Come sit down a minute." Jessica said in a worried voice, which obviously annoyed Justin.
"What stomach things?" Alex ignored his question and continued on.
"He loved her, and she died. Okay? He's going crazy. Just give him a second."
"He's not sad, okay?" Courtney obviously couldn't think about anyone but herself. "He's getting revenge."
"Okay it's not like we don't deserve it." Alex shot back before grabbing his stomach again in pain.
"Alex, come sit down." Jessica demanded and this time he listened.
The gym doors opened and Marcus walked through.
"Dude you're late."
"I talked to Tony, he says he'll take care of it."
"What does that even mean exactly?" Courtney was now frazzled at the thought.
"Tony's a dick." Justin yelled but Zach fired back.
"He's not a dick."
"He's a dick, he's a prick, and he's a cock."
"Okay those are all the same things." Zach said, annoyed with his friends idiotic comment.
"No, they're nuances of meaning."
"Right, yeah." Zach said wearily.
"Look Tony's not going to do shit! We have to take care of this. End this little bastard once and for all."
"Justin, shut the fuck up. You're an even bigger idiot than I thought if you think getting rid of Clay will fix things." He glared at me until Jessica started talking.
"She's right..." She said, siding with me for a change. "That's insane."
"I don't know." He paused. "What if we make it look like a suicide." I threw my head in my hands completely disgusted by his idea; this also gained some comments from the rest of them.
"How tragic is that! I mean two star crossed lovers or some shit like that!"
"Grow up, Justin." Zach was done with his ideas, just like me. It went silent for a moment for Justin spoke up.
"Are you really telling me to grow up, little mamas boy?" Justin mocked but Zach looked him straight in the eyes.
"Yeah. I am." He said in a very serious tone as I rested my hand on top of his. Alex once again let out a groan and Jessica rubbed his shoulder tenderly.
"Dude go see a fucking doctor."
"Yeah I've seen a dozen doctors, dude."
Suddenly everyone was silent, and no one made a noise until Zach spoke once again.
"One thing. If one thing had gone differently somewhere along the line, maybe none of this would had happened." I felt my heart break a little bit inside. I didn't know what is felt like to be on those tapes, but I know Zach was hurting and his friends definitely were not helping. One by one we all left. Starting with Zach and I and then Courtney, followed by Marcus and Justin; leaving Jessica and Alex in the gym. I could hear Alex and Justin fighting for a moment but me and Zach continued onto heading to first period. I stopped him before going inside the classroom.
"Hey, I don't know what your feeling right now but I can try to help the best I can." He smiled and kissed my forehead.
"You have been helping me far more than you know." And with that we continued into first period and began school.
----------------------------------------------I rushed out of class at the end of the day to meet Zach by his car. He was waiting for me leaning on driver side door and once he saw me approach, a grin spread across his face.
"You ready?" He said happily.
"Yes, very much so." I reached up kissing him before getting into the passenger seat. It was a long drive to the ice skating rink, but we didn't mind. Once we were both in the car about to head out he stopped.
"Wait. It takes almost 2 hours to get there. But we're getting food before...so that'll be 5:00?"
"Yes?" I laughed, I already knew what he was confused about.
"It closes at 5:00?" I sat back and patted his arm.
"Don't worry about it." I smiled and he shook his head and just laughed.
A majority of the car ride consisted of bad singing and stupid games-but mostly bad singing.
"IM IN LOVE WITH THE SHAPE OF YOU!" Zach started screaming to Ed Sheeran on the radio, only before rolling down the windows and sticking his head out. I just sat back laughing my ass off.
"Wow, you've got some real talent there buddy." I joked.
"Better than you." He sassed back.
We continued to sing through the trip as awful as humanly possible. After we got food we headed to the rink. When we parked, we saw everyone walking out of the building to go home. The lights in the building were off and cars began pulling out and leaving.
"If we get arrested, you're to blame." I rolled my eyes.
"Okay sounds fair." We got out of his car and walked to the back side of the building and I knocked on the door. My friend Fiona opened the door.
"Hey come in." We walked into a dark, cold room before she flipped the lights on and relieved an empty rink.
"Woah." Was all that came out of his mouth.
"Hey thanks again Fiona, it means a lot."
"No problem, i'll be here all night cleaning up the other rinks. Let me know before you leave." She walked out of the rink into the other rooms. Once we got our ice skates on we started for the ice. Before we attempted to get on, loud music suddenly started playing over the speakers.
"THANKS FIONA!" I screamed smiling. I stepped out onto the ice and quickly found my balance, where Zach was struggling to stand.
"You look like a baby giraffe just born." I laughed. I skated over grabbing his hands leading him around the rink.
"You know, for someone who plays a sport you think this would be a lot easier." He said smiling. After a while, he started getting the hang of things. As the music played we skated around the rink again and again, just laughing and talking. I don't think I had seen Zach that happen in such a long time, we would just laugh and laugh without stopping. After a moment, he skated over to me and held my hands.
"Thank you, for the idea. This night has been more than amazing." He leaned down and kissed me before unlatching his hands from mine and moving them to hold my face. I pulled back for a moment.
"I'm glad you're happy. It makes me happy when you're happy, and that's all I need."

For hours we just laughed and skated, letting go of all negativity and drama. But sadly the skating had to come to an end. Once we told Fiona we were heading out, we returned our skates and left through the back door. Once we started walking to his car I let out a yawn and rubbed my eye.
"You can fall asleep in the back if you want."
"No no no. You'll be bored for 2 hours." He chuckled,
"I think i'll be okay." Once we got to his car I opened the back seat and took my jacket off, using it as a pillow. After only a minute or so of the car moving I felt my eyes grow heavy and shut.
----------------------------------------------I suddenly felt my body being lifted up and carried out of what I soon remembered was Zach's car. I slightly opened my eyes to Zach carrying me to my backyard.
"What time is it?" I mumbled.
"Late, that's why we're going through the back." I didn't object, I just closed my eyes again. After walking through the backyard, I felt him unlock my door and we quietly stepped into room. He placed me down on the bed and softly placed the covers on top of me.
"Thanks, babe." I said quietly, close to falling asleep once again.
"Don't worry about it." He laid his hand on my head lightly before running his hand softly through my hair, making me smile. He leaned down and kissed my forehead.
"Goodnight, Kinsley." All I could do was give a small mumble before I heard my doors close, causing me to fall right back asleep.

A/N- you guys loved the tyler gif so I added another lol