the photographer. [zdh]

eleven

i still couldn't get out of jail. my trial was up soon, and i knew i would be convicted. too much evidence against me.

i wanted to break jail, or at least get someone to harm her.

i snapped my fingers as i thought of the right man for the job.

since connor was arrested too, that left only one guy.

jay.

**

leah laughed at a joke daniel told, and a wave of jealousy washed over me. i racked my brains, determined to tell her an even funnier joke. in the end, i decided on a lame pun.

"hey, leah! are you a photographer? cause you captured my attention."

she blushed furiously but managed to laugh it off. "pathetic, herron. pathetic!"

i smirked as i put my arm around her, earning a suggestive look from corbyn and a smirk from jack. she didn't notice.

although we drifted when she moved away from dallas a few years back, we had reconnected and now moved past the point of cautious boundaries. hands touching, arms around each other and hugging weren't out of the ordinary.

i was happy, but it was slow progress. i wanted us to be something more, fast.

but i couldn't rush it. i had to wait.

**

looking at zach and leah made me smile. my otp.

but i couldn't help but feel something different when i was around leah.

i mean, i definitely wasn't crushing on leah. jonah, corbyn, jack and i talked about this before, without zach or leah's knowledge. i had said, very clearly, that i didn't like leah in that way.

but now i wasn't sure that we were just friends.

did i like her?

**

"quick stop, guys," called tyler from the front of the bus. "thirty minutes. get your coffee, buy a souvenir, whatever. as long as you're back here in thirty minutes."

i nodded as i grabbed my jacket and got up from the couch. turning towards leah, i wanted to ask her where she was heading for this stop.

"what guys?" i heard her mumble under her breath. "i'm a girl."

i held back a laugh as she also grabbed a faded hoodie from the table. "oh no, this one's torn," i heard her say to nobody in particular. i at once jumped into action.

"wanna borrow one of mine?" i asked her, already reaching for the one in my bunk.

she looked at me, a mixture of surprise and something else on her face. "really? is it all sweaty and stinky? oh, goodness, is it filled with itching powder?"

i laughed as i chucked the hoodie at her. it was a black one with a tiny red heart embroidered on the front. "it's brand new, silly. dad gave it to me two days ago, and i only wore it for seven hours."

"seven?" she scrunched up her nose but still pulled the hoodie over her plain black shirt anyway. "oh, this smells like you."

i smiled.

"where to next?" i asked her.

"i dunno. jonah's getting us coffee, so there isn't anywhere left to go."

"wanna take a walk, then? just you and me," i blurted.

oops. the last part wasn't supposed to come out. stupid, stupid move, zach.

but she smiled. "sure."

damn, she looks so cute when she does that. but i snapped out of my trance before she noticed that i wasn't paying attention to something she said about coffee.

**

"this is beautiful," leah whispered as she looked around, taking in the scenery.

"just like you" was the first response that came into my mind, but i stopped myself at the last moment and said, "wanna take some pictures?"

she laughed. "yeah, sure."

as she handed me her phone and i tried to get a good angle, i couldn't help but notice that the picture in her clear phone case was one of both of us.

looking closely at the picture, i realised i remembered that day.

leah had just returned from pittsburgh the previous day, and i returned from los angeles two days ago. we went to the marshall creek ranch, just the two of us.

in the picture, i was holding a ridiculously large cowboy hat and trying to force it on leah's head, while she was laughing and trying to fight me off. someone had took the picture at the right time.

that day was the closest i ever went to telling her i liked her. wait, no. loved her.

**

as we walked back to the bus fifteen minutes later, i made up my mind.

pulling a stuffed toy elephant (i had bought at one of the shops in dallas, i had never noticed this shop in all my years of living there) out of my hoodie pocket, i grabbed her hand to stop her from walking forward.

"za- what?" she said, looking curiously at me. i smiled and placed the elephant in her palm.

it took her five whole seconds to realise what was going on, and then she squealed.

"is that an elephant?" she yelled, laughing as she took my hand and spinned me around in a circle. "thank you, thank you, thank you, z!"

i smiled.

✎

a/n this chapter was quite t3rrib13