Fall in Deep

28 - finally

I closed my eyes tightly and gripped onto the armrest as tight as I could.

"Ok?" Ethan asked, knowing I was bad with flying.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I breathed as we lifted above the clouds. It had been a few days since the incident but I had eaten well since then and was finally allowed to go to LA to see Z.

This flight wasn't good, but it was better than the one before since I had Ethan. Only Z could fully calm me down but Ethan made me feel better.

When we finally landed, I practically ran off the plane and was incredibly impatient on the drive there. Z told us to go to the hotel we were staying at before which had survived the second earthquake.

We eventually pulled up at the hotel and I darted out the car. I went to her room and knocked on the door. She opened the door almost immediately and I pulled her into a hug.

Tears stained her face and she melted into my hug.

"I missed you so much," I said into her shoulder.

"I missed you more," she replied.

"Not possible," I smiled and eventually pulled away when my brother cleared his throat. Inside the room, Daya's family were sad and down but put on smiles when my brother and I came in.

We hugged all of them and apologised for their loss. Me and Ethan were pretty jet lagged and it was late in the evening so we all went into our rooms to sleep. I of course slept with Z, who fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow and Ethan went back home.

I turned over in the bed but couldn't get comfy. I couldn't sleep either so I decided to go to the kitchen and grab a glass of water.

When I entered the kitchen, I found Z's mum sitting at the table, eating a cookie, her eyes puffy and red.

"Hey," I whispered and her mum looked up at me.

"Hi," she replied, "couldn't sleep either?" She asked and I nodded, sitting next to her with my water.

"Thank you, by the way, for everything," she said quietly.

"For what?"

"Well for starters thanks for being there for my baby girl. She has been a lot happier since she met you." She explained and I nodded slowly.

"And second?" I inquired.

"For getting us rooms at this hotel. If you hadn't we would probably still be sleeping on the hospital floor, and, well, after the second earthquake destroyed the hospital, sleeping with the fishes. I don't think we'd be alive if it weren't for you,"

I nodded and smiled at her before bowing my head as tears fell from my eyes. She rubbed my arm and hugged me.

"I'm really sorry,"

"It's not your fault, plus I heard about the eating thing, do you want to tell me why?" She asked and pulled away.

"Well, the second earthquake happened and I wasn't allowed to come back to LA because last time I left Italy without telling anyone and got drunk that night,"

"Before you continue I know it was Zendaya that got drunk that night,"

"Huh? How do you know?"

"Daya told me," she explained and I nodded, "it's really nice what you did, saying it was you,"

"It was nothing, really it just meant that of my film didn't do well, neither would I. But so I couldn't come back, and Z wasn't responding to my calls or my texts. I guess I didn't really think she was alive, so I was kind of ready to die myself, I just gave up," my voice wobbled and re-emerges and I looked down at the table.

Her mum nodded understandably.

"She really loves you,"

"And I love her too," I said and a floorboard creaked behind me. I turned around to see Z standing in the doorway, her face pale and she was shaking with the cold. She walked up to me and wrapped her arms around me.

Her mum went back to her room as I buried myself in Z's warm body.

"How much did you hear?" I asked, curious.

"I know why you stopped eating," she said and I sighed as she sat in the chair her mum was sitting in.

"Was it really because of me?"

"No, it was me, I got in my own head and stressed myself out, I was just worried about you."

"I'm really sorry I didn't text you, or call,"

"It's fine, I get it. I don't know what I'd do if one of my parents died and they kicked me out,"

"I love you so much,"

"I love you so much too," I replied and smiled at her. She kissed me gently and I cupped her face in my hands.

Oop-
That was a lot to process
803 words.