✔︎ Simple Beginnings || Zach Herron

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Right as mom said that I heard the laughter and chatter of what seemed like teenage boys. I spin around only to find a group of four guys huddled around something, unsure to what it was I sat back down disappointed. As soon as my butt hit the chair, Isla got up sprinting towards the group of boys. Since I didn't know who those people were, I had to chase Isla to bring her back over here because I'm a protective sister. As soon as I caught up to Isla she was already in this tall boys arms, he had very blue eyes and looked oddly familiar. Not being able to place my finger on where exactly I've seen him before I decide just to brush it off.

"Paige?" The blue-eyed boy asks me, surprised of the boy knowing my name I was honestly speechless. All of a sudden I felt four different people hugging me all at once. I had never been so confused in my life, but I decided to let it happen. Then it hits me. These boys must be Jack's bandmates! I've never really seen them before because I don't have any social media of my own so paired with my horrible memory when it comes to faces, I've probably seen these guys before, but I just don't remember.

Suddenly I remember the most important person of all, Jack. "Where's Jack?" I ask the boys when all of a sudden they make a sort of hallway leading to the now distracted Jack Avery. He was just looking down at his phone completely unaware of what had just happened with Isla and my giant group hug. Knowing Jack, he probably wouldn't look up from his phone even if there was a fire alarm going off, so I get the genius to a fake cough decently loud. And his head shoots up at me. A smile quickly appears on his face while I'm completely stuck in here. His arms are around me faster than I could think and suddenly I was hugging back. This was the feeling that I've missed so much, being safe in Jack's arms, away from all problems. "I've missed you so much, Jack." My face still in his chest making my words sound muffled. "Me too Paige, me too."

After what seemed like half an hour of hugging we separate to see the boys and my family patiently waiting for us. We finally get the last of the boys' bags and head over to our minivan. The car could only fit seven of us so two of us would have to sit in the trunk. Being the smallest girl here, I generously chose to sit in the back. And the smallest boy from Jack's band, Zach I think, also joined me in the trunk.

It felt awkward in the beginning mostly because I've never really gotten to know Zach. Yes, he's been my brother's friend for almost a year now, but I can't blame myself because of my antisocial personality. Here I am in the back of a car with him, so let's try and start a conversation. "Uh, hi," I say faster than I wanted it to come out. Oh no. He's going to think I'm scared of him or something. Oh god, what if he thinks I'm- "hi." He replies. Right in the middle of my mental freak out, I just stare at him. Not once in the past thirty minutes of basically knowing him did I ever take the time to notice his face. He has stunning brown eyes; not dark but more of a chocolate color. His hair is very precisely shaped like he takes thirty minutes just to get it ready but none the less it's very adorable. And his cheeks are abnormally pink, not in a wrong way, but more as something that makes him unique. After checking out his facial features, I became aware that I have been staring at this boy for two minutes or so. I quickly look away and feel slightly embarrassed. No idea why but I just was. Luckily Zach didn't say anything about it, but from the corner of my eye, I could see him slightly smirking. I brushed it off while I heard the click of the trunk opening up.