a little death (zach abels)

chapter two - "really?"

"you okay?" zach asked, a small smile on his face.

his arms were still wrapped around me. he was staring into my eyes. damn, do you know how it feels to be staring at someone who means the world to you? because right then and there, i finally found out.

zach raised his eyebrows, waiting for a response.

fuck, stop thinking too much.

"um yeah, i'm fine, thanks..." i managed to get a few words out of my mouth.

his eyes glanced towards my waist, and he quickly pulled his arms away. did he feel uncomfortable? "uh, here," he said, slowly making his way toward my phone, "let me get this for you." he grabbed my phone and dusted it off, then climbed back up and handed it to me. "thank you so much," i smiled, praying that i wasn't blushing too hard. "is it broken?" zach asked, clearly trying to keep a conversation going. "i wouldn't know, it's kinda dead..." i answered, realizing that samantha and i would be unable to find a way home unless i got my phone to be 'alive' again. "kinda?" he laughed, staring at my lifeless phone. he stood there, seeming to think for a while, before speaking again.

"if you'd like, you can come back to the bus and borrow my phone?"

my heart dropped. if it was light out, he'd definitely see how red my face was. was he just trying to be nice? or did he really not mind having my company? "it's fine, really... i don't wanna bother. there's like, 50 girls waiting for you out there, haha. i'm sure i can borrow one of their phones," i smiled, trying not to sound like i'm rejecting him. "no, seriously... it's no bother. we won't be leaving for a while, anyways. come on," he said, leading me back to the tour bus.

when we made it back, i saw samantha still resting on the tour bus. she turned her head over in my direction, and began walking towards me. "hey, did you get a signal...?" she stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed zach standing next to me, her jaw dropped shortly afterwards. "hi there," he smiled, sounding so adorable. "zach..." sam really couldn't get any words out. surprisingly, zach pulled her in for a hug. he didn't hug me.... 

"here, come in before any fans find us," zach said, opening the door to the bus and letting himself in. samantha and i stood there for a second, trying to comprehend what was going on, before following him into the bus.

--

we entered the bus to see jeremy, mikey, and brandon hanging out on the little couch the bus had. sammy and i stood there awkwardly while zach introduced us to the boys. jesse walked in from the back just then.

"hey, nikki! nice to see ya again," he said with a little laugh. "zach was going on and on about the little staring game you had going on during the show -"

"jesse, stop."

"- and he kept talking about how beautiful he thinks you are."

"shut the hell up, man," zach said with a cute frustrated tone. i turned to see his face flushed with pink, and couldn't help but blush myself. he grabbed his phone from the table and headed towards the bus door. "come on nikki, we'll talk out here," he said, hopping out of the bus. "damn," jeremy laughed. "he's a little mad, ain't he?" i stepped out of the bus. "maybe she can calm him down out there," i heard jesse from behind.

--

"you alright?" i asked, walking up to zach. he had his back turned, and he was doing something on his phone. he shrugged his shoulders. "i'm alright," he turned around, "he kinda pushed it a little."

"i thought it was cute," i assured him. how the hell did i just say that?

"really?"

"yeah."