IMAGINES ▹ ROSS BUTLER

↳ stay away

( STAY AWAY )

by zacharydempsey

Zach and I were watching TV when he suddenly said he was hungry. I pout at him and sigh as a response as I got up from the sofa and make my way to the kitchen to quickly cook something up. Zach was feeling a bit hungover after yesterday and he loved being treated like a baby whenever he was sick. I took out 2 bowls of instant ramen to satisfy his hunger.

I held onto the sleeves of my sweater while leaning on the kitchen counter as I waited for the water to boil. The incident from Jessica's party last night replayed in my mind once again. Zach would flip if he knew and I didn't want to ruin Zach and Monty's friendship. Besides, Monty was just drunk, I think to myself, he was just intoxicated and didn't know what he was doing. But it still wasn't an excuse, I continue to think. The incident scared me, Monty, scared me.

A couple of minutes later and the water was done boiling. I quickly wipe my cheeks dry with the sleeves of my sweater and continued to get the noodles ready. After doing so, I went back to the living room with a bowl of ramen in each hand.

"Thank you baby." Zach says as I hand him over his bowl of ramen and he pouts while looking up at me.

"Let's eat!" I answer as I pinch the bridge of his nose.

A few minutes and 2 bowls of ice cream later, we finally finish eating. Zach lets out a burp and I smile faintly at him as he did.

"I'll wash the dishes." He suddenly proposes.

"You can't, you feel sick." I answer as I take the dirty ice cream bowls away from his hands.

"I'm sick but I'm not terminally ill; I can wash a couple of bowls, babe." He argues as he takes the bowls back again.

"Zachary Shan Yung Dempsey." I say sternly and he automatically stops and hands me the dirty dishes with a sad look on his face.

"Alright fine. I'm just gonna watch you while you do the dishes then. You know, I need to supervise. I need to make sure that you're washing the dishes correctly." He replies as he winks at me.

"Oh shut up, Zach." I snap at him and we both laugh. I then move to the kitchen with him and get started with washing the dishes.

"Jessica's party yesterday was wild." He suddenly says and I was caught off guard all I could do was let out a nervous laugh and a slight nod.

"I had too much to drink. I can't even remember how I got home." He continues.

"Jeff drived us home babe." I reply softly and he laughs.

"Oh, I have to text him a thank you later then." he replies as he wraps his arm around my shoulder and proceeded to give my forehead a kiss. I felt so safe whenever he was around, something I wasn't able to feel with the incident yesterday. I exhale softly as I continued washing the bowls.

"Wait. What's that?" Zach suddenly exclaims and I look at him.

"What's what?" I ask.

"That! What's that!? Where did you get those marks?!" He asks me as he moves over to my right and points at my wrist and my arm. I didn't even notice that I involuntarily pulled my sleeves upwards because I was going to wash the dishes. I almost forgot that I had the bruises on my arm. My heart had started racing against my chest as I thought of a valid excuse.

"I fell." I say timidly as I avoid his gaze.

"No. Don't lie to me. Those are hand marks; they're not bruises you get by falling. I'm not stupid." He replies as he turns the faucet off.