the photographer. [zdh]

two

"what?" squealed emma. she ran towards me and squeezed me tightly. "you never said!"

i smiled. "sorry, em. i found out last week, and i wanted to tell you about this just now, but i kept getting interrupted."

emma rolled her eyes, smiling. "still!"

zach cleared his throat. "so, guys, this is leah gray. she's my childhood best friend and next-door neighbour, as i said just now. we drifted slightly when she moved to pittsburgh, and just met each other again after two years when she moved back to dallas. we happened to be on a break from tour at the time."

he took a breath before continuing, "after i found out that she was a professional photographer now, and since zack isn't joining us anymore after this show, i invited her to join us, and she accepted." he smiled at me. "did i miss anything out?"

i smirked. "yeah. you missed the part where you banged on my door early in the morning, and yelled at me to get out of bed. all of this to ask me if i could come on tour with you guys."

zach's pink cheeks turned even redder. "yeah, well..."

daniel laughed. "i love her already. can we keep her?" he said.

i smiled at daniel. "well, you're kind of stuck with me since i'm joining you guys on tour, right?"

daniel smiled back. "true."

"anyway!" zach said. "leah, emma, meet the boys. i know that you both probably know all of them already-" emma and i nodded "-but they don't know you guys yet. so i've just introduced leah, and emma, you wanna introduce yourself?"

emma blushed furiously at being addressed by zach like a friend. she managed to talk normally, though.

"hey, guys, i'm emma forrester, and i also live in dallas. i'm seventeen as of last week, and i became friends with leah when she moved to pittsburgh, as we were in the same art class. we were actually from the same highschool, but we've never talked to each other in school as we didn't have the same classes. ever since pittsburgh, we became best friends, and leah's really friendly with my brother and my parents. then when leah told me she was going to move back to dallas, my parents moved back too." she finished, smiling at me.

"aw, your friendship is so strong," commented jonah, smiling.

jack nodded. "i mean, i can't see myself moving to a different state for these guys," he joked, as all of us laughed.

just then, a guy who i recognised as daniel's brother tyler, walked out of a room. "guys, you gotta go on in ten. be fast," he said, tilting his head towards us.

he was about to disappear back into the room when he stopped and looked at me. "are you leah gray?" he asked me.

"yep," i responded.

he smiled at me. "hey. it's nice to finally meet the photographer that zach's been talking about! i'm tyler, daniel's brother and the manager of these guys," he said.

i smiled back at him. "i'm leah, as you already know, and i'm excited to join you guys on tour."

he nodded. "and we're all excited to have you! you'll meet eben later. but right now, could you and..." he looked at emma, silently asking her for her name. "emma," she said.

tyler nodded. "since you'll be joining us on tour, you could take pictures with them later after the show, right? cause the boys need to be on about now, eben's almost done," he said to me.

i nodded. when the boys turned around to look at the stage, we glanced at each other and jumped up and down silently, raising our hands in mock celebration.

when the boys turned back to face us, corbyn smiled and said, "well, we have to go soon, so you two should probably find your seats."

zach nodded. "i hope you'll have a great time. we'll see you later," he said, making eye contact with me and smiling.

daniel stepped forward and hugged me, then emma. "after the concert, just head backstage. if security tries to stop you, just say you're meeting us," he instructed.

emma and i nodded and waved at them. "we'll see you later!" we said, before heading off to find our seats before the boys got on. we had missed eben's part, but it was okay.

**

the whole concert was extremely enjoyable, myself and emma singing along to each song at the top of our voices. i made contact with all of the boys, especially zach.

i couldn't wait for the tour. this was only the first stop, and it was only the beginning. there were many tour stops to go, and i was going to be at each one.

if this isn't living the dream, what is?

**

after the show, we met the boys backstage. zach was the first one to see both of us. with a big smile on his face, he ran towards us, hugging me tightly. i let out a squeal. "stop it, you're too sweaty! get off!" i yelled. zach only smirked.

"aw, you guys are too cute," said corbyn, laughing. jack snorted. "yeah, date already." i at once pulled away from zach, and both of us yelled at the same time, "we're just friends, guys!"

"they even speak the same," commented daniel, a small smile on his face. i rolled my eyes. "he's just my best friend, daniel."

"oh, but you know what most people do, right?" said eben, suddenly appearing from behind a curtain. he smirked and said, "they date their best friends."

zach punched eben in the arm. "shut up, and let's get to the afterparty."

**

late at night, after everyone had left the venue, we stood in the parking lot outside the tour bus. 'we' meant daniel, zach, corbyn, jonah, jack, eben, tyler, zack, emma and myself.

"i'm gonna miss you so much," smiled emma, hugging me tightly. "i love you, best friend."

i felt my eyes tear up slightly as i hugged emma back equally tightly. "i love you too, em. i won't forget about you, okay? i'll see you when i get back."

she nodded, stepping away. tears in her eyes, she turned to hug all the boys. she was about to walk towards her car when i stopped her. "we didn't take a picture with all of us together, did we?" i said, smiling slightly.

the boys laughed, and zack took his last photos for the boys, before emma and i shared one last hug. then she stepped into her car and drove away.

✎

a/n ok this is off to a bad start, promise it'll get better