the photographer. [zdh]

ten

a week later, zach and i were finally discharged, and the tour continued. the dates were postponed due to his injury, but now it was back to normal, full speed ahead.

the show at the verizon theatre in grand prairie had just ended, and we were back on the bus, on the way to our next stop.

no, it wasn't the next city.

half an hour later, we arrived outside zach's house. once out of the bus, the first thing my eyes landed on was not his home, but mine.

it still looked the same. large three-story designer house. both the outside of the house and the wall surrounding it was painted white, and my garden was well-watered. the trees had grown to a good height, and provided maximum shade to the garden.

a tap on my shoulder brought me back to attention. i turned around to see zach behind me.

"hey," he whispered. "if you want to go in to mine first, i promise you, we'll spend time in yours later. all of us."

i hesitated. he put his hand on my shoulder.

"i understand why you would want to go in yours first, but reese and ryan are really excited to see you. do you mind?"

letting out a sigh, i shook my head.

"thank you, lels."

i stepped into zach's home, with him by my side.

**

two hours and about thirty hugs from reese later, the boys and i finally got away from the welcoming herron family. we walked out the door and headed to my house. i flashed my thumbprint in front of the scanner and it beeped, granting me entry.

"wow" was the first thing jack said when he saw the interior. it was literally a designer mansion, according to jonah. it didn't look that great to me, but oh well.

"sit down," i told them, gesturing to the sofa as zach and i headed to the kitchen to get them drinks.

as soon as we were out of earshot of the boys, he stepped closer to me.

"are you okay?"

i took a deep breath and forced a fake smile onto my face, nodding.

"i can see right through that fake smile, gray."

sighing, i made eye contact with zach and saw that he was dead serious.

"being so close to the forrester family after that thing...it really doesn't feel right. or safe."

"lels," he whispered in my ear, "you know i'll always protect you."

**

we ended up watching mean girls. it was hilarious, and we laughed at most of the scenes.

"janis ian is my spirit animal," jack declared as soon as we arrived at the scene when janis told damian and cady that 'regina george was an evil dictator' and they devised a plan to overthrow her.

corbyn shook his head vehemently. "i think you're more damian than janis."

"why?" jack asked. corbyn smirked.

"you're wearing a pink shirt now, jack. please."

jack rolled his eyes. "i'm not plastic."

throughout the movie, although leah was laughing and seemed to be enjoying herself, i could sense that she was scared. scared that at any moment, the forresters would come knocking at her door. nothing was stopping them, after all.

i had already told my parents about everything, and they promised to not tell the forresters that we were back in town.

i wrapped my arm around leah and she smiled at me.

"i'm always gonna be here for you. always."

**

"it's been a long time since we've seen you, leah," said josh, zach's father. he smiled at me. "you're getting almost as bad as these guys."

i smiled. "i promise i'll come back after tour."

myta, zach's mother, nodded. "i'm sure reese and ryan would love it. after all, reese has been complaining that ryan's boring. and vice versa."

ryan's eyes widened. "i'm boring?!" he exclaimed. "reese, you are not invited to play fortnite with me ever again!"

reese stuck out her tongue at her brother. "i didn't like it anyway. what's so fun about it?"

ryan opened his mouth, prepared to defend the game, but myta shushed them. "time to eat."

turning my attention to the food on the table, i realised that myta had prepared my favourite food.

"thank you!" i said to her as i picked a taco up and stuffed it into my mouth. myta's tacos were the best.

"mom, why do we have peas?" zach questioned, pulling a face. "gross."

corbyn smirked. "peas be quiet and eat, zachary."

jack snorted and took a picture of the peas as zach rolled his eyes. "lame pun, corbyn. can you peas do better?"

jonah and daniel opened their mouths at the same time, about to make a pea-related pun, but two peas thrown in their direction made them stop short. one hit jonah in the forehead and one nearly entered daniel's half-open mouth.

ryan was laughing hysterically as he threw another pea at jonah. "peas are good weapons," he said.

"oh, no, ryan, you're not throwing peas at me and getting away with it!" laughed daniel.

and soon, we had a full-fledged pea-throwing war. myta and josh tried to stop us, but in the end, they gave up.

"i wish we were living in plants vs zombies and that i owned a peashooter. i would win this war easily," corbyn sighed.

"luckily we're having this outdoors instead of in the house," jonah commented as he dodged a pea thrown by jack.

reese nodded, giggling as she threw a handful of peas that she picked up from the ground at me. "mom would kill us."

"hey!" i sputtered as i tried to catch some of the peas. "reese, why?"

she smiled. "i never said i was teaming up with you."

zach laughed. "smart, reese. very smart."

**

two days later, we left dallas, after promising reese and myta that zach and i would be back soon.

next stop: orlando, florida.

✎

a/n yooo it's hannah! filler chapter cause i didn't know what to write in this one! juicy stuff a few chapters later :)