BACHELOR [ JACHARY ]

-chapter twenty-five

JACK PULLED on his suit jacket, adjusting his tie to make sure it looked perfect. he felt queasy; his stomach was flipping and twisting so much that he felt the need to sit down and take a few deep breaths.

a small black velvet box sat open on the dresser beside him, displaying a simple but gorgeous engagement ring. a small gold band with an oval cut diamond showcased in the centre. the diamond was the perfect size, not too showy or flashy, but big enough that jack felt like it would suffice.

the curly haired boy smiled at the thought of the ring on zach's finger. he knew it would look absolutely perfect there.

❦

zach felt like he was going to hurl. as he sat down in the makeup chair, cole began touching him up and chatting to him, but zach couldn't listen.

he was so unbelievably nervous. today could be either the beginning of his and jack's love story, or the end of it.

it terrified him that he had no control over the situation. he had done everything in his power to convince jack to choose him, and now their fate was in the hands of the older boy.

"zach!" cole snapped him out of his daze.

"s-sorry, what did you say?" the brunet asked.

"you're shaking, honey," the man frowned. "take some deep breaths, it's all going to be okay."

"i don't know, cole," zach sighed, "i have a bad feeling about today."

cole shook his head, fixing zach's hair as he spoke, "there's no way he's not going to choose you. nobody compares to you in his eyes. he's absolutely infatuated with you."

zach shrugged. "i hope you're right," he closed his eyes and set a hand on his stomach.

please be right.

❦

jack's hands shook slightly as he was led down a dirt road. emma and zach were standing on two separate wooden platforms, about a one minute walk away from each other. they couldn't see each other from where they stood, so they wouldn't know if jack was proposing to the other person first, or rejecting them.

zach came into view, and jack smiled at the sight of his brunet in a neat suit.

the small box in his pocket seemed to want to burn a hole straight through the material, and the curly haired boy was extremely eager to pull it out.

he stepped on to the platform, and the two boys stared at each other for a moment.

"hi," zach giggled.