the photographer. [zdh]

four

i woke up to the sound of a camera.

rubbing my eyes, i glanced towards the sound and saw four guys standing there.

after a few seconds, i realised it was daniel, corbyn, jonah and jack. daniel had his phone out, and corbyn was hitting him.

"what?" i said, before jonah shushed me and pointed towards the bunks. "leah's in the bunks sleeping, zachary! and we want to tell you..."

oh. no wonder she wasn't on the couch. "what's daniel doing?" i asked, interrupting them. "who took the picture?"

corbyn grinned. "you looked super ugly, so we had to take a pic and maybe post it on the band account."

i yelped and jumped out of my seat, attacking daniel and trying to take his phone away to delete the picture. after two minutes of fighting as silently as we could for daniel's phone, myself against the other four boys -- leah was still sleeping, after all -- i admitted defeat and sat back down on the couch.

crossing my arms, i looked up at them. "seriously, guys? and what did you want to say?" i asked, as i took my phone out with the intention of looking through social media.

they grinned at me. "we ship you two."

**

it was only late at night when i realised that i didn't mind when the boys shipped me with leah. could i be falling for my best friend?

no.

i can't.

i knew that once i fell for my best friend, there was no way i could go back to being best friends with her again.

and our friendship was gold. i couldn't afford to lose it.

**

"good morning," i said, walking into the back lounge. i had woke up thirty minutes ago and just finished getting ready. i was wearing a plain t-shirt and joggers, and my hair was tied up in a neat ponytail, nothing fancy. honestly, i couldn't be bothered.

i was only gonna see the boys after all. and although haven't known each other for a long time, i already felt comfortable with them.

walking to the front of the bus, i saw all the boys gathered there, looking at their phones.

"morning, guys."

zach was the first one to look up when i said that. "hey, lels" he said smiling, and moved over on the couch to make space for me. i sat down between zach and corbyn.

jack smirked. "hey, leah, how come zach has a nickname for you? something you're not telling us?"

zach groaned, and i threw a pillow that was lying conveniently nearby at jack. "we're best friends, jack! best friends!" zach yelled.

"sure you are," corbyn snorted. "never heard a less convincing lie in my life."

i was about to retaliate when tyler knocked on the door. "hey, leah. sorry, but i need to check on your camera," he said, as he slid the door open.

i at once nodded and followed tyler out towards the front of the bus, where i grabbed my camera from my bunk and handed it to tyler.

**

when leah left, all the boys turned to me with a smirk. "admit it already," jonah said. "we know you like her. it's too obvious."

the rest nodded in agreement. "say it, zach," daniel said.

there was a long pause.

i let out a sigh. "okay, i do, alright? but she definitely doesn't like me back."

"how are you so sure?" questioned corbyn.

"like, she probably has, i don't know, a boyfriend back in dallas," i responded.

the boys exchanged glances before turning back to me. "zach, you know that after the tour, she's coming to stay with us in california, right?"

daniel nodded. "so unless she's okay with having a long distance relationship with a guy who's an hour's flight away, she doesn't have a boyfriend."

jonah looked at daniel. "i don't know about you, but she doesn't strike me as the kind of girl who's okay with having long-distance relationships. christina is the exception."

but i didn't listen to anything the boys said. my mind was struggling to register the first piece of information.

leah was going to stay with us after the tour?

what?

✎

a/n didn't really like this chapter but okay it was necessary