𝐒𝐄𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐎𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 ; zach herron

F O U R

God, she hated the mall.

She just wanted to go in, get the things she needed, and get out. But she could never do that because of the never ending lines that the stores seemed to have.

She just wanted to buy some new socks without having to wait two hours to pay for them. Was that too much to ask?

She was fourth in line seven years later and she was honestly ready to punch the woman who was at the counter. If you don't have the receipt you can't return it lady! How hard was that to comprehend? Apparently it was rocket science because the woman didn't seem to grasp the concept.

She was just about ready to explode when she felt an arm around her shoulder.

Who the fuck-

She turned and of course, there was Zach with a shit-eating grin spread across his face.

"Hey there Bestie," he greeted. "Fancy seeing you here."

"You know, I'm starting to get the slightest suspicion that you're stalking me."

"Me? Stalking? Now what would ever give you that crazy idea?"

She raised an eyebrow.

He laughed. "I'm just messing with you, Sabrina. I saw you through the store window and thought I'd say hello. I promise I'm not stalking you."

"Isn't that something a stalker would say?"

"Touché, Carpenter. I guess you're just going to have to trust me."

She wasn't sure what it was. If it was his confident personality, his carefree smile, or his warm eyes, but she knew in her gut that she did trust him. As insane as it was, he was able to wiggle his way into her life and got her to trust him wholeheartedly. It was a little unnerving actually.

He looked down at her hands and smirked. "Nice socks."

Her cheeks burned. "They were in sale."

"Hey, I'm not judging," he said, raising his hands in surrender. "To be honest I always wear purple socks with yellow flowers on them. They're even more in fashion than white socks with little pink bows."

"Shut up!" She punched his arm as he laughed. She'd be a liar if she didn't say she wasn't smiling the whole time.

She realized she was next in line and quickly paid for her things as Zach waited patiently beside her. What she didn't understand was why the clerk was staring at her warily. Was there something on her face?

"So what are you doing after this?" Zach asked.

"Just heading home."

"Do you want to hang out?"

She bit her lip as she thought it over. She wanted to get some studying done, but this would be their first time actually doing something together. And to be honest, she wanted to spend more time with him.

"Okay. You can come over to my house if you want. My mom doesn't come home till nine so she wouldn't mind-"

"Um, excuse me Miss?" the clerk interrupted while handing Sabrina a bag filled with her purchased items.

"Yes?"

"Are you feeling alright?"

She frowned at him and put her hand on her forehead. She didn't feel a fever or anything. Did she look sick or something? Maybe she's been studying too hard and it's starting to affect her appearance.

"Um, yes I'm fine," she replied. "Why do you ask?"

The clerk's eyes widen as he stammered, "Oh, no reason. Sorry to have bothered you."

Sabrina furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. That was weird. What was stranger was when she turned to leave, all the other customers in line seemed pretty uncomfortable and were giving her wary looks.

She just decided to ignore it and walked out of the store with Zach still by her side.

"So you're inviting me over?" he asked excitedly, moving up and down from the balls of his feet.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"Awesome," he grinned. He looked like a little kid on Christmas. "I can't wait. Can we go there now?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure. But don't you need to buy something? Why'd you come to the mall anyways?"

He shrugged. "No reason. I was just bored. Now come on, I want to see your house."