Changing You ✦ The Sequel

Chapter 15 {R}

~ ☾~

It was past ten p.m. when Zach and I went up to his room.

We had wrapped up our games night and he had just put Reese to bed, who had barely managed to stay awake during the last round of Charades. Ryan was still downstairs, gaming on his laptop, which left us with a little alone time.

I was surprised to find his room different from last time. That was because of the twin sized bed that took up the former space of his old, single bed.

He caught my look of surprise. "Oh, yeah, I took my dad's bed 'cause my aunt is bringing her own," he explained.

I watched him sit down on the rim. His eyes followed me as I walked over to his nightstand, curiosity guiding me towards the box that was placed on top of it. "What's that?"

He shrugged. "Just some stuff I found underneath my bed when I was taking it apart."

Maybe it could be considered as prying into his private stuff, but as long as he didn't stop me, I couldn't stop myself from taking a look.

Among the stuff in the box I found several CDs, songbooks with sheet music for the guitar, bottles of cologne and a scarlet red binder. The latter caught my interest.

"I knew you'd find that," Zach chuckled when I turned around to him with the binder in my hands. "It's a photo album."

Excitement flashed across my face. "Can I take a look?"

"Uh." His answer came a heartbeat too late, a split second of hesitation. "Yeah, sure," he said.

I scanned over his face to make sure if he meant it. A smile appeared on his features. "Come here," he urged, his arms snaking around my waist and pulling me onto his lap.

His hair tickled my skin as he leaned his chin on my shoulder, peering over my frame to watch me flick through the pages. Pages filled with hundreds of pictures. Of Zach's very first birthday, his first bike ride, his first time holding a guitar, his first school photo and so, so much more.

"Oh my God, you were adorable," I gushed out, my face beaming with a bright smile. I didn't have to look at him to know he was rolling his eyes.

I pressed a hand to my mouth to stuff the high pitched "aw" that was escaping my lips. I was looking at a picture of three-year-old Zach holding his baby brother in his arms.

The moment he'd officially become an older brother had been caught on camera. I recognised the sense of pride burning in his smile as he looked down at Ryan. Over all those years, that had never changed.

"There's nothing cute about that, he was shitting his pants right in my arms." I felt him grin and knew he was joking.

There were pictures of him and baby Reese too and I felt my heart melt right then and there.

Shuffling through the pictures, letting my eyes take in the details, reading the small captions that were written beside them — and left me wondering if maybe it was his mom's handwriting — I watched him grow up over the years.

His lips touched my skin every now and then, casually pecking my cheek, my jaw, my shoulder, before looking at the pictures again. At some point he stopped, though, and it wasn't difficult to guess why.