as long as you care

v. BEFORE THE SUNSET

chapter five,

before the sunset.

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[unedited] 5.

once frozen 2 had ended, me and zak decided that we were tired and desperately lacking some shut-eye. walking out of the theatre with a newfound mindset, zak was starstruck, "darling, that movie.. was amazing."

"was it?" i asked with a smile, "i think your fake laughing was more entertaining."

"no, actually. it was. olaf was my favorite." zak said with a smile, "i think we are relatives, or something. we have the same humor, same motive, honestly i think we look the same too. and do you know what we both like?" he asked me, backing up a little bit.

"what do you both like?"

"warm hugs!" he exclaimed, running into my body and wrapping his arms around me. i shook my head with a laugh, hugging him back.

he was moving fast, as if he had a time limit.

he unraveled himself, crossing his arms and pouting his lips. i scrunched my eyebrows, "huh?" and he began to fake cry. "wha-"

"you didn't appreciate my relation to the movie!" he yelled, rubbing his eyes dramatically, "text to media, darryl, text to media!"

"okay! okay! sorry! i appreciate your connection with olaf!" i exclaimed, confused but also amused at zak's actions. "lower your voice, people are starting to look!"

he fake cried louder, running down the side walk. "oh my god," i whispered under my breath, jogging to catch up with him. "zak!"

"say you're sorry! and you better mean it this time!" zak cried, turning around and pursing his lips. "i'm sorry!" i replied, and he pulled me into another hug, "it's okay, cutie!"

"that's all it took?" i asked astonishingly. zak nodded, "pretty much."

"those people probably think we're crazy." i said, my expression brightening, "but crazy equals genius, right?"

"right!" zak brought his hand up, fist bumping me. he added a little twist to the ending, making a "woosh" sound with his lips. i smiled at his beauty.

radiating positivity and absolute adrenaline, zak grabbed my hand, linked our fingers, and starting running. "zak, what?" i huffed, struggling to keep up.

"c'mon! our street is close to here and it's starting to get dark!" zak hollered, laughing loudly, "i'm as fast as the wind!"

"i'm —" i breathed, trying to catch some air, "i'm not built for this!"

"no one really is!" he replied, and fine, so be it.

the wind blew all the worrisome thoughts away. i no longer held suspicion for zak, but aspiration. he didn't care for my number, he cared for me.

and with every heavy breath i heaved, i was reminded that the only thing holding me together was the hand holding mine. i would've blown away without it.

"how are you holding up back there, gumdrop?" zak asked, slowing down his fast pace to a jog. i coughed, "can we walk now?"

"whatever you want." he claimed, abruptly stopping. he didn't disconnect our hands, but i did. he was moving too fast for me, and maybe i was just being dramatic (or skeptical). he seemed to be saddened by this.

"darryllll..." he dragged, walking slowly. i rolled my eyes playfully, "yes?"

"my hand is heavy, can you hold it?"

"oh—" i started, but was cut off by the ring of my phone. "excuse me." i told zak, reaching into my pocket. the screen brightened, and that's when i saw it.

'clay.' i held in my gasp, quickly answering the call and replying, "hello? clay?"

"hi." he replied brokenly, the static of the phone corrupting his emotions, "i'm sorry i didn't answer your calls."

"it's okay," i replied nonchalantly, knowing that it was the opposite, "you needed some time for yourself, and i respect that."

i trailed behind zak, asking, "but why were you so upset?"

"y'know that number ten boy?" clay brought to the surface, and i made sure that zak wasn't listening when i replied, "yeah?"

"i don't trust him. or his friends." he spat, and i could decipher from his tone that he wasn't joking around, "i think they're planning something."

"planning? what?" i don't bring up how i thought the same only a few minutes ago.

"that's what i need to figure out." clay whispered, "but isn't it a little weird how on the first day of school, zak leaves his group of friends at lunch and goes to ask you out? remember the girl you talked about? the one that keeps on taking zak away from you? what about that?"

"i wouldn't call it asking me out.." i replied childishly, because, really, who was i trying to fool? clay snorted, "then what would you call it?"

i stood quiet. "exactly. i just don't want you to get hurt."

zak was silently skipping ahead of me, humming a song under his breath. i could recognize it as one of the songs from the frozen two soundtrack.

"where are you?" clay asked, taking notice of my small loss of breath and the humming. i couldn't lie to him, "just got back from the movies."

"with?"

"why do you need to know?" i wondered, "you don't need to know everything about my whereabouts."

"you're with zak." clay came to the conclusion, "you're on the date, right?"

"yes." i admitted, "and i actually had a very nice time, for your information."

"okay." clay breathed, "fine. maybe you know him better than i do, but he's pretty sus."

"whatever, clay. you don't need to worry." i responded, "i can take care of myself."

"but, you've always hated firsts. that was your first real date."

he was right. this was a first, but, it didn't feel like one. it genuinely felt nice and made me feel good inside. i didn't have to stress about judgement, because the only judgmental eyes that laid on me for too long were the ones reflected in the mirror.

there was nothing to reply with, so i quickly said a, "i gotta go now. bye." and hung up. my chest was heavy and filled with different emotions all at once. zak concluded his song and walked backwards, standing beside me, "who was that?"

"my friend clay."

"is he in your grade?" zak innocently asked, and i nodded, "yeah."

"that's cool, cutie. look where we are!" he exclaimed, pointing at the street sign. "home!"

"and before sunset, too." i said with a smile, "i guess your running paid off."

"i only do what's best, beautiful." zak replied, his voice cracking at his last word. he had just called me beautiful. not handsome, but beautiful.

"thank you." i responded in a small voice, feeling my entire body turn hot. his damn nicknames.

technically we were breaking the rules. he was breaking the rules with his compliments.

but god, breaking the rules never felt so good.

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