RUN ➳ ZACH MITCHELL

six

Saying that the Jeep Zach was currently working on was a piece of shit would be an insult to shit. The metal had rusted badly, and it had took Rory at least 15 minutes to clear tree branches and vines from the overgrown vehicle. The worst part was it was in desperate need of a new car battery, meaning that after Zach had fixed the oil, they would have to look for one.

Zach's fingers slipped, touching the metal coil wires. He winced, as the red and blue electric transfers shocked him, shaking his hand out trying in vain to ease the stinging. The Jeep was definitely taking longer to recover then he had originally hoped for.

"Aw; does little Zachy have a boo-boo?" Rory teased, her voice dripping in sarcasm. She moved a blonde curl from her face and grinned. "Do you want me to kiss it better?"

Zach's heart raced at the thought of Rory kissing him. True, he had just gotten out of a relationship before he'd left for this trip, but something about the girl in front of him always made him feel as though he wasn't quite sane.

Putting on his classic smirk, he winked. "Please do, princess."

Rory let out a coy smile raising his hand to her mouth. She parted her lips wide and licked his palm.

She doubled over in laughter at the brunette's look of abhorrent. Giggling behind them, Gray turned away pretending to not have seen their intimate moment.

"Rory." Zach groaned.

"You didn't actually think I would kiss you, right?" Rory chortled, but then clammed up suddenly. "I'm sorry, Zach. I saw the opportunity and I just had to take it." Then she mumbled as if it was an after thought. "I hope I don't get your STD."

"Hey!" whined Zach, shoving the girl.

"Just get back to work," Rory said merrily, handing him a wrench. Rolling his eyes, Zach turned back to the inside of the car. Faintly he heard Rory tell Gray to scavenge for more tools, leaving the 2 older teenagers alone.

"So why exactly do you live here?" Zach wondered softly, after a few minutes of silence had gone by.

Aurora froze. She briskly racked through her mind trying to find a reason to not tell this boy about her past. When she didn't actually find a plausible purpose not to, Rory practically sighed in relief. Although she felt slightly awkward about spilling her guts, she wanted to share this with Zach. She wanted it off her chest. Rory twisted her fingers together nervously.

"Well; I live here because the only person who could take me is here," Rory said daintily.

"Take you?" Zach stops working to look over at her. His chocolate locks stuck to his forehead in the warm air. Rory's eyes were cast downwards, and she was breathing in the musky air heavily.

She shrugged slightly. "Yeah. I mean my parents are buried 6 feet under back in Ohio, so Owen toke me in. He was my mom's best friend in high school and my godfather." She said it causally as if they were talking about what had happened on last night's episode of Criminal Minds.

Zach stared sorrowfully at her. Rory licked her lips and her eyes burned. "But today. . . having come so close to dying, you know instead of having someone close to you die; it just scared me. Real bad."

Zach nodded, understanding completely. He had seen her ragged shirt, and that dinosaur must have been less than two inches away for it to be able to do that damage. He carefully wrapped his arms around the 5'4" girl as a tear escaped from her hazel eyes. "I'm sorry," she weeped out continually. She hated the fact that Zach was seeing her cry. That she now looked weak to him.

But Zach didn't think she was weak. In fact, he felt closer to her than ever. Her wall had crumbled slightly for him. She trusted him enough to confront him with her fears and feelings.

Zach squeezed her tighter, not bothered by the salty water soaking completely through his dark, fitted tee. Placing a tender kiss on the crown of her head, he murmured, "I've got you, Rory."

Rory sniffed and nodded, pulling away. Her slender hands wiped her stray tears, and she turned from him. "Okay, what else do we need for the car?"

Zach stared at her in hurt. He had just made her open up, and already she was closed off again. He just wanted to be there for her.

// so close, yet so far away . . . god zory just get together already!!
[early update bc i'm going on a camping trip and can't update till sunday :/]