✔︎ Simple Beginnings || Zach Herron

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I turned the corner to see... Him, the person I wanted to avoid this entire trip but even worse, he was with her. Zach looked distracted with Daniel and Jack, so I quickly hid behind the corner and texted Jack.

P: do not tell him that I am here.

J: ok

My hands were shaking; I was a nervous wreck. Footsteps were coming closer to me, and I just froze.

"Hey! I'm Aspen!" the girl chirped, she looked flawless. Hair was perfect, lovely and tan. And around the same height as me. She smiled at me as I looked at her in awe.

"hey, i-i'm Paige. n-nice to meet y-you" I mumbled. She smiled at me as I stood awkwardly in front of her. " I'm just going to go to my room now." she waved me away as I rushed up the stairs.

"Hey babe," it was Zach's voice, I ran faster and made it around the corner. When it felt like he made it to Aspen. "who were you talking to?" the rest of their conversation was muffled because I had closed Daniel's door and hoping they didn't come up here. Zach is downstairs right at this moment, I could right now talk to him, but I won't. My thoughts were telling me to do it because why not but I think my heart would've exploded if I had done so.

Footsteps were coming up the stairs; I panicked, I ran over to Daniel's closet and shut the door. I peeked through the crack in the door and watched someone's feet walk along Daniel's room. They began to get closer and closer to me. I froze again as the door opened slowly; I looked up and saw the soft face of Daniel looking down at me holding me in a laugh,

"I guess there are monsters in closets."

"are you calling me ugly?"

"what! No, no. Sorry ugh, I'm not good at talking to girls."

We smiled at each other Daniel let out his hand to help me stand up. We stood there side in hand for a few seconds looking into our eyes, how have I just noticed Daniel's naturally stunning blue eyes? After I saw I was still holding onto his hand, I jerked it away causing Daniel also to move away from me.

"nice sweater." Daniel tried to break the ice.

"Oh, um thanks."

Daniel waved bye as he left me standing in his room completely confused.

Zach's Pov

"Hey, babe, who were you just talking to?" I asked aspen before turning the corner to see her watch someone go upstairs.

"Oh, she kinda mumbled, so I didn't get her name," Aspen replied, maybe one of the boys would know. I walked over to the boys who were all in their quiet conversations.

"Hey, Dani, who else is staying here?" I asked, he seemed hesitant answering the question.

"Oh, I cant remember, let me go talk to them," Daniel said as he rushed up the stairs. Weird. I walked back to the rest of the guys who was again, murmuring. I grabbed Aspen's hand and led her to the couch and sat beside her; I put my arm around this beautiful girl I could call my girlfriend and smoothly started kissing her. The small kisses turned into a heated makeout session, while we were taking a break to breathe I noticed everyone left us alone in the living room.

"You okay babe?" aspen asked me,

"Yeah, I'm fine just going to go look for the boys, and I'll be back."

Paige's Pov

After Daniel went downstairs, he soon after came back with the rest of the boys, except Zach obviously. Daniel and Jack sat beside me on the mattress while the other two sat on the floor in front of us. We mostly talked about how we should keep Zach away while I was visiting, but in the end, I knew it was impossible, and at one point he was going to find out, I was going to need to talk to him.

There was a sudden knock at the door, Corbyn got up to see who it was and sure enough, Zach walked in wholly stunned. I didn't make eye contact yet I knew he was staring at me, I honestly couldn't bear looking at him.

"Paige?" he asked, I didn't respond and only stood up and walked past him towards the bathroom. I locked the door behind me and sat in the shower quietly sobbing. There was a knock at the door a few minutes after I saw him.

"page, it's me. Zach is talking Aspen home right now; you're safe." Jack's soothing voice came through the door, and I unlocked it. He looked solemn and understanding. But I did miss Zach; he probably noticed because I was still wearing his hoodie. "You can take some time to think right now, but once Zach gets home, I recommend talking to him." I sighed and nodded. Walked back to the mattress and flopped onto the bed.