𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐭 || 𝐙𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐧 [𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝]

23- Ruining A Friendship

Hayden, 18 years, 8 months, & 30 days old

Just tell him how you feel.

I took a deep breath then walked into the venue. After talking to Jack and Livy then sitting on my tour bus for fifteen minutes, I decided I was going to talk to Zach.

I started walking backstage when I heard yelling and cheering coming from the green room. Jonah and Daniel were in a serious ping pong duel with the rest of the stage crew watching. Corbyn and Jack were by the table cheering them on. And there was Zach, sitting in the corner of the room, slumped down on the red fur-coated sofa.

Jack spotted me leaning against the door frame from the other side of the ping pong table with concern in his eyes. He backed away from the game and approached me.

"I don't know what you did to Zach but he's being too closed up to have any fun. If it wasn't for soundcheck, he would have been sitting in that chair looking depressed for hours straight."

"Thanks for making me feel better," I smiled sarcastically. "I'm going to talk to him, tell him how I feel. Alone. I just don't know how to get him out of this room."

"I'll try to get him to be depressed on a couch in another room," Jack whispered then walked past the fun ping pong game and straight to Zach. I slyly slipped out of the room into the hallway.

I went to the bathroom to prep myself on telling my best friend that I wasn't interested in being in love with him. This is where I get anxiety and Zach usually tells me I'll be fine but this time it's completely different. For one, Jack gave me the pep talk instead of Zach, which felt really weird. But he's right. I need to tell Zach how I really feel. Or not.

"He's in the room down the hall," Jack said when I went back into the "game room" and Zach wasn't in sight. I nodded and continued down the hallway.

I spotted Zach in a room at the very end of the hallway. I took a short breather from the doorway. He didn't see me but I could see the heartbreak on his face. It crushed me to see him like this. I've seen Zach mad before over Reese and Ryan taking his things and I've seen him sad because his mom wouldn't let him do what he wanted but I've never seen him heartbroken.

I slowly stepped into the room. My movement caught Zach's eye. He was sitting on a different couch, his knees bent so his feet were on the cushions, his back against the armrests, and his head tucked into his chest.

"I'm guessing by the way you've been avoiding me in your tour bus for the past two days that you don't like me back," Zach scoffed.

I sat down next to him on the other side of the couch. "Zach, I do like you. I like you but as--"

"Save it," he sighed and waved his hand for me to stop. "I don't need you to rub it in that you don't love me."

I leaned over and rested my hand on his knee. "I do love you," I argued. I do love you, as a friend is what I wanted to say. But his eyes looked so sad, I couldn't bare to see him like this any longer. After two seconds of thought and an impulsive move, I leaned on top of Zach and kissed him on the lips, for real this time.

"I do love you," I breathed.

:::

a/n: this chapter is named after my second book (that I deleted, oops) and what this book was originally going to be named (named after my second book). i hope i brought the friendship ruining to justice :)