Hooked on Him - Zach Herron

Chapter 14

Chapter 14: ⁣
Chloe's POV: Tonight's the night. I finally built up the courage to sign up to perform at an open mic night at a coffee house, and Zach has absolutely no idea. He knows that I'm taking him out tonight, but that's it. I want to surprise him. I wrote him a song. I strum idly at my guitar as I sit on my bed and practice nervously, my mind wandering to Zach.  ⁣
Lately he's been acting distant and moody, forcing himself to smile when I know that something is wrong. His eyes aren't as bright and he seems exhausted. Something's off. The dynamic isn't right anymore. And I miss him. But as always I pretend that everything is fine when I know that it really isn't, for both of our sakes. He hasn't confided in me, hasn't bothered to let me into his life like that anymore. I wonder what changed. ⁣
His sudden mood swing is affecting how I act too. I don't smile as much. There's no reason to, not with the way I'm being treated. I'm trying to remain happy, but it's becoming harder and harder as Zach grows more distant. ⁣
I pull out my phone and check my messages. Oh, look at that, he still hasn't responded. I frown and type out a quick message. ⁣
"zach we still on for tonight? just confirming :))" I toss my phone across the bed and lose myself in my music, my fingers growing blistered and raw from the sharp guitar strings. This pain hurts less than odd treatment I've been receiving from Zach. His messages are short, and sometimes he won't even respond. We've hung out a few times, but I feel him growing distant. Tonight needs to be perfect. ⁣
After a while, I check my phone and see that Zach read my message and couldn't be bothered to respond. How rude. My cheeks grow hot and I type out another message. ⁣
"left on read I see..." Again, he reads it right away and doesn't respond. My heart twists. ⁣
"zach?" Triple texting. At this point I don't even care, desperate for his approval. I sound clingy, but this is really strange behavior for Zach. He went from calling me his princess to just straight up not replying. Even though we were never dating. Even though he's not mine. It hurts. He reads the message. Tears form in my eyes and I swipe them away angrily. I thought we had something different. That's it. Something's wrong, and I need to figure out what the hell it is. ⁣
I pack up my guitar quickly and shove it into my trunk, driving over to the boys' house. Jack opens the door as I pound loudly, and his eyes flicker over me, taking in my cute outfit and curled hair for the performance. His face changes when he sees how upset I look. ⁣
"Hey Chloe-" I step inside quickly and head straight for the staircase, determined to find Zach, but Jack steps in front of me. "What's wrong?" He seems genuinely concerned by my rash demeanor because I'm usually cool-headed and collected. ⁣
"It's Zach," I say frustratedly, and he frowns deeply and shakes his head. "He's ignoring me." ⁣
"Chloe- look-" I shove past him and head up the stairs but he grabs my arm. I whirl around. "What?" I say accusingly. My mind races. ⁣
"He's not really feeling his best-" I wrench my arm out of his grasp and run up the stairs. No duh. Something's wrong. ⁣
"He can tell me that HIMSELF," I call out at the top of the staircase. I make my way to the end of the hallway and see Zach's door sealed shut. My breathe catches in my throat. His door is never shut, always open and inviting. I take a minute to collect myself and then knock quietly, pushing the door open. Zach's sitting on his bed, anxiously scrolling through Instagram in the dark room. He jumps a little when I walk in, whimpering quietly, and then remains glued to his phone. ⁣
"What?" He mutters sullenly and it feels like I've been slapped. He's never talked to me like this before, always been happy to see me. Even the past few times, it's been strained but still there. ⁣
I cross my arms and stand by his bed. "We had a date tonight." ⁣
"We're not dating," he mumbles. My words exactly. Used against me. My heart crumbles, my plans for tonight defeated. ⁣
"Something's wrong with you Zach. You're not like this." My voice remains strong. ⁣
"I don't know what you're talking about," he says stubbornly, refusing to look at me in the eyes. ⁣
"You're not acting like yourself." ⁣
"Just go." He waves his hand and dismisses me. ⁣
"No." I stay where I am and his eyes meet mine. I glare fiercely at him and see how dull they look.⁣
"I said go," he says firmly. ⁣
"And I said no! I'm not leaving you in this state. I lov-" I catch myself. "I care about you a lot." ⁣
"You love me?" Oops. My bad. He seems defeated. "How can you love this? Nobody else does." He gestures at himself. ⁣
I'm confused. He's got lots of adoring fans, limelights who love him. Where are these thoughts coming from? "Leave," he says, his voice rising. ⁣
I try to take his hand and he pulls it away, leaving me hurt. "Get out!" he says loudly, and my eyes flicker down to his phone screen. It's open to his post about the Talk music video. The comments. He's been scrolling through them. It all makes sense now. This is why he's been acting weird. His eyes follow mine and he snatches his phone away, hiding the screen. My heart hurts for him. ⁣
"Oh Zach-" my eyes soften because I finally understand, finally knows what's wrong. ⁣
And then his eyes harden. "Get the hell out Chloe!" he yells. I stagger back. He's never yelled at me before, never raised a finger against me. He looks absolutely furious that I saw what I did. ⁣
"Fine," I say evenly, calmly, rage bubbling beneath the surface. His face changes and he looks almost wounded, abandoned, but he's hurt me too badly for me to care. I whirl around and simply leave, broken down to tears. Jack tries to stop and comfort me once I'm downstairs, but I glare at him and he backs off immediately. ⁣
I slam the door of my car and start full out sobbing. So much for my coffee house debut and night with Zach. I try to wipe away the tears and drive, still upset, to Maya's house. My feet pound up the steps and I ring the doorbell. The door swings open. ⁣
"Hey- oh, baby what's wrong?" she says as I launch myself into my best friend's arms, a sniffing and sobbing mess, barely able to comprehend the fact that Corbyn is standing next to her. I cry onto her shoulder and she leads me to the couch, sitting me down. ⁣
"Explain everything. Now."