Not Thinkin' Bout You

Chapter 7

PREVIOUSLY: "I might call Zach," she suggested, and her mum nodded before leaving the room, clearly thinking she'd just solved the mystery of why she was being weird. There was no way Ellody was going to correct her.

Before she could call Zach, her phone started ringing, and it was Tatum.

"Hey girl, just checking in," Tatum sang out as Ellody put her on speaker so she could finish her nails.

"Hi Tate! I am currently giving myself a manicure and enjoying life. How are you?" Ellody replied in the happiest tones she'd ever used.

"I'm pretty good, just wondering if you're still on school holidays or what?" Tatum asked. Ellody explained that she was beginning the last week of holidays before she went back to school, and they talked more about when they should catch up next and what they should do. Halfway through trying to remember when 5 Seconds of Summer were doing their tour and if they should try to find tickets, Tatum gasped and had to leave because she forgot to pick up her friend from work fifteen minutes ago. They said rushed goodbyes and she promised to call later before hanging up. Ellody giggled and shook her head, wondering how she could possibly forget about a human being. Just like Jessie. Why does nobody seem to care about other people?

Ellody put her phone down and blew on her fingertips, questioning her decision to do this because now everything was going to be a hundred times harder than usual for the next ten minutes. In her boredom, she logged onto Tumblr and had a good laugh at someone who was being roasted for not knowing who Doctor Strange was - long story short, they were being pummeled by the rest of Tumblr.

Oh my GOD I forgot about ZACH.

"Ell? Is everything OK?" Zach asked the second he answered.

"Yeah, just checking in. How's everything going?" she said as calmly as she could, taking a deep breath as she reminded herself that he wasn't even expecting her to call, so it didn't matter that she forgot to in the last ten minutes.

"Oh, I'm cool. Just posting random selfies on my Insta story and chilling with everyone in me and Jack's hotel room. Are you sure you're fine? You sound rushed," he suggested, and Ellody immediately calmed down, because in seven words, he knew how she was feeling. She spoke hardly a word to him and he knew she needed to talk.

"Jack and I," she corrected him before continuing. "I'm OK, just spoke to Tatum about school holidays and painted my nails," she told him, yawning despite it being just after seven at night. A voice on the other side asked, did she say Tatum? She guessed it was Jonah, and her stomach tied itself into knots at the thought of him listening to her and Zach's conversation.

"You sound tired too. Are you sure you're alright? Hold on, let me just..." he trailed off, and the sound of footsteps came out of the phone speaker before a door was closed. "OK, now we're alone. What happened?" he asked. Ellody bit her lip, unsure of what to tell him.

"I was sitting at dinner, and mum asked me if I was OK, and Sienna started picking on me about worrying all the time, and-"

"Hold up, Sienna was picking on you? I know she's bossy but I didn't think she would, like, actually be dumb about that." There was silence while Zach seemed to consider what she said before Ellody continued.

"Well, she just said that I worried a lot, and that it was immature," Ellody muttered, and Zach sighed.

"You know she doesn't mean that. She just said it because she could. We both know she has no filter, Ell," Zach decided, and Ellody took a deep breath. He was right - she really didn't have a filter. At all.

"OK, yeah. Thank you. I should probably let you go. How about I call you..." she stopped to think, and he butted in.

"No, I'll call you. The next time we talk is when I call you, OK? That way, we can talk properly, and I won't have to leave all of a sudden because I'm in the middle of something. Unless you're, like, dying. Then call me. OK?" he suggested, and Ellody felt like her heart had just been tugged and filled at the same time. He basically just said he doesn't want me to keep calling him. But he did say that he'd call me when he wants. So he still cares.

"Alright. Have fun with whatever you're doing in there," Ellody smiled, deciding that she'd have a bath, and use Sienna's pretty crystals that made the whole room smell like lavender, just to get back at her.

"OK, goodnight. Have a bath, you'll feel better," Zach replied, and Ellody tried not to laugh at how well he knew her.

"I was just thinking the same thing. Goodnight," she said, and he hung up. Ellody hugged her phone to her chest, and she couldn't stop smiling. Even if he didn't feel the same, she could pretend he did.