lost » zach mitchell ON HOLD

eight

"What?" Gray whispered back, his brows furrowed in confusion.

Zach's eyes widened in delight when he realised what Natalie meant. Quickly, he grabbed Natalie by the hand and pressed his other hand against his brother's back, steering them away. "Go. Run. Go!"

The three of them ran as fast as their legs would carry them, their feet pounding against the ground. Natalie felt her forehead become clammy with sweat as the blistering sun beat down on them. With a tug on her hand, Zach pulled Natalie towards one of the few shaded areas of the park, Gray close behind them.

Natalie almost dropped to the ground in exhaustion, her chest burning for air. Zach leaned against the building they stopped by, his panting almost unnoticeable compared to Natalie's. "You know, for a volleyball player, you'd think you could run for five minutes without dying," Zach teased Natalie, who had taken to lying down on the cool concrete of the ground.

Natalie peeked through her lashes to glare at Zach, "Volleyball's less running, more jumping,"

Zach hummed to himself, raising his head to face the sun, "Believe me, you don't have to tell me,"

Natalie's face crinkled in disgust as she lifted herself to her elbows, "Fucking pervert," she grumbled to herself.

Gray looked between Natalie's revolted look and Zach's pleased, almost dazed smile. "I don't get it," he admitted in confusion.

Zach laughed at his brother as he offered a hand towards Natalie to help her up, who begrudgingly took it. "You will when you're older,"

"No! No," Natalie quickly shook her head, pulling Gray towards her and almost cradling his head to her chest, "Gray is going to stay innocent and pure forever. No way am I letting him have the same dirty mind as you,"

"Oh, come on, Nat," Zach snickered. Gray looked uncomfortable in the weird hug Natalie was giving him, but too nice to push her away, "You're just as bad as I am,"

Before Natalie could retort, Gray spoke up, "I'm not sure about this. Zara's supposed to look after us," he chewed on his lip nervously as Natalie released him from her arms.

"Nope, I am," Natalie shook her head at the younger boy. "You're mom paid me to make sure you guys don't die or whatever, not Zara. She isn't even supposed to be here, Claire is." Gray still looked around nervously. "Listen, bud, if they do get angry with us... which they won't, but if they do, we'll just say we got lost in the crowd or something,"

"But that's lying,"

Natalie couldn't help the warm smile that spread across her lips, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. So pure. "Lying's okay sometimes... just let me do the talking, yeah?"

Before Gray could reply, a static voice sounded overhead. "The next T-Rex feeding will begin in 10 minutes."

"T-Rex!" Gray exclaimed, "Come on, guys! We have to go! Come on!" Gray began to bounce on his feet before sprinting towards the gates that displayed 'Tyrannosaurus Rex Kingdom'.

"Yeah, come on, Nat. We have to go!" Zach mocked, bouncing on his feet lightly.

Natalie shook her head, trying to hide the small smile that began to spread on her lips, "You're terrible," she scolded playfully, wrapping her arm around his hoodie-clad one and began pulling him after Gray.

"Parents be aware, this show may be disturbing for smaller children." A pre-recorded voice advised the crowd as Natalie, Zach and Gray pushed their way through the thick crowd to find their seats. Natalie made a note for herself to thank Claire for the VIP passes, otherwise, they would have been waiting in line for over an hour.

As soon as Zach flopped down on one of the hard, plastic chairs, Gray had bounded towards the glass dividers, pressing eagerly against it like the other kids, desperate to see the dinosaur. Natalie sat beside the eldest Mitchell, blowing out a puff of air to move her curls from her face.

She couldn't even say a word before the chiming of Zach's ringtone sang from his phone. Zach stared down at the device with hesitation. "You didn't ring your mom when we landed?" Natalie's guess was correct as Zach nodded his head. "Ooo, you're in trouble." she sang with a smirk.

"Shut up, Nat," Natalie giggled as Zach answered his phone, keeping his earphones in so he could hear his mother over the loud murmur of the crowd.

"Hey, Mom," Zach answered.

Before he could react, Natalie had already pinched one of his earphones and stuffed it into her ear. "Hi, Mrs Mitchell,"

"Hi, Natty," Mrs Mitchell greeted cheerfully before addressing her son in a sterner tone, "Zach, you were supposed to call me when you landed."

"Sorry, Mrs Mitchell, that was my fault," Natalie quickly interrupted, a lie quickly forming on her lips, "My phone ran out so Zach leant me his so I could take some pictures,"

The two teens were tense as they waited for Mrs Mitchell's reply. What was only a second, felt like an eternity passed before Mrs Mitchell's reply came through the earphones. "Oh, well, that's alright then. Just, Nat, you make sure he calls me every day, okay? I don't want to be worrying about them,"

"No problem, Mrs Mitchell," Natalie grinned in achievement, shooting Zach a wink as he mouthed a 'thank you' to her.

"Are you having fun?" Mrs Mitchell asked,  her stern tone gone.

"Yeah, I guess." Zach shrugged.

"We're having a great time, Mrs Mitchell." Natalie beamed at the phone, "We're about to see the T-Rex. Thank God Claire gave us passes, otherwise, we would've had to wait in line for ages."

"Wait," Mrs Mitchell stooped Natalie, "Claire's not with you?"

Natalie's eyes shot up to Zach, unsure what she's supposed to say. Finally, she managed to open her mouth wide enough to let out a strangled, "Urrmmm..."