Noodle Boy | Jachary | Book One

Four

Zach

I have to say, I hate thunderstorms. They freaked me out.

So that is why I was sitting on the couch with the TV playing loudly to drown out the sound of thunder. Every so often, lights will flash indicating lightning.

The blankets wrapped around me served well for warmth, but not protection. I have a feeling that I will be up all night.

Another loud rumble of thunder came and I jumped, throwing the blankets over my head in a sad attempt to hide.

As the thunder died down, I heard footsteps which scared me ten times more. I heard it come closed to the couch and then stop.

"Hey?" A soft voice said. I quickly pulled the blanket off of my head and looked over to Jack.

"Hi." I spoke quietly, looking down at the blankets. "What are you doing down here?"

"I should be asking you the same thing." Jack answers.

"Uh, well-" I was cut off by the rumbling of thunder and I jumped, per usual. I wrapped the blankets around me more securely as Jack laughed.

"So you are scared of thunder." He smiles at me.

"...Yeah. Why are you down here?" I ask.

"I couldn't sleep. It was too loud. Don't ask me how the others are still sleeping." Jack walks around to the front of the couch and plops down. I offer him part of the blankets and he takes it.

"Thanks." He mumbles, his eyes traveling up to the TV. Another loud rumble goes and I jump and yelp.

Jack laughs as I slowly scoot closer to him, and as I am close enough I rest my head on his shoulder.

After he doesn't move my head, I get more comfortable. I smiled and my eyes started falling closed. And, for the first time in a while, I fell asleep with the thunder rumbling.

—

When I woke up, the familiar warmness of a person was gone. I sat up and looked around to see where he went.

As I get up, I heard a crash in the kitchen. I got up and walked over to see Corbyn and three pans on the ground.

"Corbyn?" I say laughing. He just looks at me and rolls his eyes.

"I am trying to cook, don't hate on me." He says standing up and then reaching down again to grab the pans. I just laugh.

"You? Cooking? That's funny." I say walking out if the kitchen. I see Daniel bounding down the steps.

"Where's Jack?" He asks.

"I'm not so sure myself. Where's Jonah?" I ask.

"He's going to go take a shower." He said. I nodded and sighed, walking over to the couch.

As I sat down, I could hear a paper crumple so I stood up and grabbed the paper under me. I was about to crumple it into a ball and throw it until I noticed the words on it.

"Hey Zach. I went out to set up a date I am having later. I wont be home until six, after the date. See you and have a nice day." As I read it, unknown pains hit my heart but I shrugged it off. He must care about that girl; they have been on about seven dates this month.

"Zach! We are bored so we are going to go to Logan's! You want to come?" Corbyn yelled from the kitchen. I guess he gave up on cooking.

"Yeah, as long as we stop to eat on the way!"

"Okay! Go get ready!" He yelled. I smiled and ran up the stairs into Corbyn, Jonah, and my room. I slipped on some checkered slip-on vans with black ripped skinny jeans and a white shirt with mid-length sleeves. I looked into the bathroom mirror and smiled.

If we are going to Logan's, we possibly could tell him. He doesn't know yet, and I don't want to tell him though the video I will post sometime soon. I just hope that sometime soon will be a while.

I know Logan, and it probably wont bother him much, but it still feels scary. I'm scared he wont see me the same.

"Zach!" Daniel yells up the steps. I grab my sunglasses and bound out of the room and down the steps, towards the front door where I meet Daniel.

"Ready?" He asks, yet he knows I am. I nod and we hop into the car.

We quickly decide on In-and-Out. As we walk into the store, I see a pink male shirt at a shop across the street.

"I'll be right back." I say, waving to them as I start walking to the edge of the road. Once it is safe to cross, I run over to the other side and walk into the store.

The store had a faint smell of strawberries and vanilla, which I thought was pleasant. One side was filled with male shirts and the other filled with womens.

I walked over to the wall of shirts, looking them up and down until I saw the shirt I saw in the window. It was a faint pink long sleeve shirt, with a single pocket on the front. It was nice looking, and I knew I would wear it more than once, so I found my size and grabbed it. As my eyes wandered the wall, I noticed all the other shirts that caught my eye.

After it all, I had about ten shirts in my hands. I slowly walked over to the check out, counting how much it would cost manually.

"Hello?" A voice sounds from across the desk. I look up to see a boy about the same age as me, smiling and holding his hand out. "I need the shirts before you can take them."

"Oh, sorry." I say blushing and setting them on the counter. He chuckles.

"This is a nice one." He said pointing to the pink one. "I just love the color. It is simple yet full of meaning." He says, looking at me sideways. I grin.

"Yeah, I guess," I look over the counter at his name tag. "Eli." He smiles.

"That's my name. What's yours?" He asks.

"Zach." I say smiling. He smiles back.

He had finished with the last shirt, and I smiled to him. "I have friends waiting for me to eat. I'll see you later? I can see myself coming back to this store."

"Okay, bye!" He waves as I walk out and I smile and wave back.

I cross the street when I can and decide to keep the bag with me and I walk into In-and-Out.

I spot the boys in the corner of the fast food place and I walk over with a big smile on my face.

"And here comes Zach with five hundred more shirts..." Jonah says laughing. I roll my eyes and sit next to Daniel.

The boys know my order by heart, so they got it when I was shopping. I set my bag next to the booth seat and grab a fry, laughing at what the boys say as I take a bite.

———
Thank you for the support and I love you all!! I may be going to see Why Don't We in concert too! I'm super excited. Anyways, look forward to what Logan says in the next chapter about Zach.

Word Count: 1236