Fly Away (OLD VERSION)

Chapter 33 - Attempt

GUYS!!! LOOK AT THE BEAUTIFUL COVERS!!!

Thank you Amber for making them for me!  I absolutely love them! You guys should check out her profile :) I included her tag in the dedication thingy (idk how it works, hopefully it showed up)

The one in the banner thingy above is one of them, the one I used as my actual cover is my favorite one!!

I'M SO HAPPY AHH!! I have a cool cover now!! :D

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!!!Warning!!! The flashback contains scenes involving abuse and suicide. If that may be a possible trigger, please skip it. 

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Wait, WHAT?

Zack Anderson, Mophead, just confessed his love to you?

My jaw dropped all the way to my toes. 

Zack chuckled softly, before using his finger to gently close my mouth.

"You're going to get flies in there, Sunshine," he joked, brushing back a strand of hair that fell in front of my face.

I averted my gaze. "Zack... I..."

"I know, Raven. It's okay. You're probably not ready to say it back, and that's perfectly okay. Take your time, I'm not going anywhere," he reassured, stroking my hair as he held me close to his chest. 

I looked up at him, meeting his eyes, his beautiful green eyes that I'll never, ever get sick of looking at. 

He took a deep breath before continuing. "You wanted to know why I care and won't leave you. Well, now you do. It's because I love you."

A smile formed on my face as he said the word again, the word that I believed nobody besides my mom would ever have for me.

But as my insecurities and anxiety hit, I let my gaze drop to the floor again. "I don't deserve it," I whispered, my voice breaking. "I'm not worthy of... of love. Of the type of... love... you have for me."

"Bullshit," he growled softly. "You deserve it, if anything, I'm the one that's not good enough for you. You're so sweet, caring, and thoughtful. I'm lucky that you've let me be this close to you."

Blushing, I gave him a small smile. 

Zack squeezed my hand, snapping me out of my lovestruck daze.

I sighed. "Once you hear my story, you might think differently of me."

"I doubt it, Sunshine. I mean what I say when I tell you I love you. You don't just tell someone you love them, and then leave. That's not how real love works," he reassured.

With newfound confidence, mostly due to the countless times Zack reassured me that he wouldn't leave, I finally felt ready to tell him what happened. I had never let someone in like this, not even my mom knew everything. Yet I was ready to give it all to Zack, to dump the dark storm that used to brew in my mind. 

I took a few breaths to calm my racing heart. 

"You know how I came here at the start of the second semester?" I started out, my voice shaking. 

"Yeah?"

"I had just came back... from the hospital," I said, my voice shaking. 

Zack led us over to a spot in the sand, closer to the calming waves of the ocean. We sat with our legs criss-crossed, facing each other. He held both of my hands in his, softly stroking his thumbs against my shaking hands.