a little death (zach abels)

chapter five - i told you so

zach had left my house just a few minutes after, saying he needed to get his house ready for the party. "i better see you there," he smirked as he snuck down the side of my balcony - my parents still unaware of his overnight stay. "for sure, abels," i called back as he walked down my driveway. i then had watched him drive off, wishing he didn't have to leave.

it was now around 6 pm, and i had just a few hours to get ready for the party. i also had to wait for samantha to get here, for she was my ride.

i shut my eyes lightly, still processing the events that had happened a few hours before, along with those from last night. there were so many moments where i was certain zach was going to kiss me, but he didn't.

i wouldn't blame him, i mean, it's only been two days. but that's for him. i feel like i've known him forever...

suddenly, my door was almost kicked down as my older brother entered my room. "dude, what the hell?!" i yelled, sitting up on my bed in fear. "sorry, didn't mean to scare ya," he said, sitting next to me on my bed. "ugh, jason. what do you want?" i asked him, wanting him to get out of my room. i still needed quiet alone time to close my eyes and picture zach still next to me.

"nothing," he had a smirk on his face. i rolled my eyes. now what? "so who was your friend that stayed the night?" he asked, standing up and walking around my room. "um, smantha. you've known her for years," i answered. "why would you be asking that?"

jason shrugged his shoulders and fiddled with some things i had on my desk. he picked up my concert ticket from yesterday. "pretty interesting concert, wasn't it?" he asked, staring at me. shit, what does he know? "yeah, it was amazing," i exclaimed, almost sounding too excited. ew, nikki. don't become a fangirl now. "have you ever seen them live?" i asked, trying to throw the interrogation on him.

"yeah, but not as up close and personal as you have," jason smirked and let out a giggle, placing my ticket back on my desk. "what do you mean?" he didn't answer me, instead he walked closer to my bed. "ohh, you didn't have front row seats. i see," i said, acting dumb.

"if 'front row seats' means zach abels spending the night, then i definitely didn't have any."

--

jason sat next to me again. my heart was racing.

"how do you know? what do you know? how about mom and dad, do they know?" i asked some of the questions racing through my mind. jason chuckled. "calm down, little sis. i woke up pretty early this morning, and thought i'd come in to make sure you girls were okay. or to see if you needed any blankets. you know, the mom stuff," he laughed. "and you saw zach?" i asked.

"yup, i saw zach."

i then began to explain every little detail from the night before - very honestly, too. if there's one person i trust, it had to be jason. we never had hate in between us. we call it a hate-love relationship, but we both know it's more on the love side.

"i knew about the bus, too," jason nodded after i finished my story. "what? how?" i asked. no fans had seen us... well, they hadn't seen sam and me at least.

"apparently, the neighbourhood is now famous enough to have paparazzi on their asses," jason said.

no fucking way.

jason unlocked his phone and showed me some hurtful tweets, and then moved on to at least two articles online - headlines including "zach abels has a new girlfriend?" and "booty calls to the tour bus". the first article had the true story, zach lending me his phone and allowing me to go into the bus, along with photos of us together. the second article had a totally untrue explanation, and only photos of me entering and exiting the bus.