Kristen Pov
"Please," Alice whined. "It will be fun. Trust me."
I shake my head. "Those are never good words."
"Ugh, come on. Please. I'll buy you something to eat." Alice nudges me on the arm.
"You already owe me plenty," I roll my eyes. It was true. Never once she paid me back. "Why do you want me to go so badly? To be your third wheel? To be more of an outdoor kind of person?" I shoot out theories until something hit me. "Oh my gosh, you want me to handle a break up for you. Do not worry, I'm on it. Let me pack my bags."
I get off the couch before Alice calls me back. "Wait, Kristen."
"Hm?" I hum, reaching the stairs.
"Never-mind," She says, licking her lips. "Just don't forget to pack your walking shoes."
The shrug of my shoulders says it all. "Got it. Wait-do I have any of those?"
"Just borrow one of mine."
-
It is now the day we would reach the campgrounds. Shivers run down my spine just from my surroundings. I swear a bug climbed into my shirt. "When is he getting here?" I ask.
"Soon, in the meantime, you can help me out by setting up a tent.
"Uh, I'm okay. Thanks," I reply back.
"Oh, I wasn't asking."
My face left a blank expression. In the end, she manages to force me into helping somehow. Not exactly sure what I did, but I did it. At some point, later on, Daniel appears from the distance. Finally, it is show time. "So should I do it gently or target him directly?"
"I'm not breaking up with him," she laughs lightly.
Those words healed yet broke my soul. "Are you kidding me?" To make matters worse, Daniel had friends along. "Oh, boy," I mumble under my breathe.
"Hey," Jack says, engulfing me into a tight hug like we haven't seen each other in forever. The rest goes the same with the others. It did feel nice that we are all together again. "So what's the first thing on the list?"
"Set up your living room?" I suggest.
He furrows his brows. "Nah, I'll make Jonah do that. The river looks great for some river rafting."
"We don't have a raft," I point out the obvious. "You bought one, didn't you?"
"Technically Daniel bought it. I just want to hit the water. Anyone up for some river rafting?" Jack shouts at his last phrase. A majority of the hands go up consisting of Jonah, Corbyn, Daniel, and Alice. That just left me and Zach behind. "We'll be back in about an hour, or not. I don't know to be honest."
Once their footsteps weren't audible anymore, things got quiet and awkward fast. The sounds of my foot tapping didn't solve our situation much. "Uh-so I got your message," I start.
"Oh, yeah, about that. I'm really sorry. I'm not even sure how that happened. Must've been an error on my phone or one of the guys logged in. Something similar to that I assume. I apologize if it threw you off."
My heart stopped. I bite hard on my lower lip that parts of it begin to bleed. "No worries," It was painful to say. "Why didn't you text me back afterward?" I sound so needy.
"Daniel decided to be a smart ass and flip my cell phone in the air. Spoiler alert, it didn't end well. So I had it fixed recently," Zach tells me.
"So it didn't work at all?" I ask.
He shakes his head no. "Why?"
"No reason. Just curious. So let's catch up. How is it going?" I attempt to change the subject.
His eyes trailed down to the bottom of his shoe. "Nothing much, just mostly spending time in the studio. You know, the usual," He chuckles, kicking away a small pebble.
"Didn't you just get off tour? Don't you guys have at least a month break before going through the whole process all over again?" I question. "I mean, One Direction is on quite a long one."
"I mean, we are on one right now. And if this doesn't count, it's not like we are at the studio twenty-four seven. Plus, once we got the fourth song recorded we all made plans on visiting our families for about two to three weeks," Zach claims.
"Okay, so it's not entirely arduous. Thanks for clarifying," I say.
Another chuckle escapes out his mouth. "What about you? What's going on?"
"Same old same old. Work is actually decent. Social life, well I've been third wheeling for a while that it came to a point where it is now mutual." It isn't the full description of my daily life but it's enough to cover up three weeks of loss communication.
"That's good to hear. Not so much about the dearing couple." Zach says, putting up air quotes on dearing couple. "I know it is none of my business but how are things with your Mom?" That's the thing I have been trying to avoiding. It is like he can read right through me.
I didn't want to reply but the answer came spilling right out of me. "Good actually. We had a talk about everything and it cleared up some stuff for the most part."
That actually felt good to say a loud to someone who I can trust. Even if that person isn't at the stage that I am currently at.
I helped Zach set up how stuff and we ended up talking for what felt like hours. The others came just on time for else to finish the campfire. I didn't take long since we had most of the materials in front of us.
"What took you all so long?" Zach asks.
"Setting up the raft kind of took up a quarter of our time and taking it down." Jonah explains thoroughly. "You even made our tents and set up the fire? How long were we gone for?"
"Long but I had company to kill time," Zach speaks, making eye contact with mine. I felt my cheeks flushed in embarrassment. He kindly delivers one of his special smiles.
Jonah and Corbyn takes out the food from a bag of theirs. In it contained some raw food and of course the original, s'mores. "I brought Oreos and Pringles just in case we mess up big time," Daniel says.
"Smart thinking," Alice giggles, resting her head on his shoulder. It's hard to believe over a month ago, Daniel was that nervous wreck that was too scared to take a chance. Look how things turned out after all.
Once the main ritual of dinner was over, which surprisingly took way longer than I thought it would, the sky was already dark. The stars are scattered all around the forest.
It feels so different compared to the sky in the city lights. Here, it's just there. Clear and visible for any human eye. Many hours were spent just gazing up at the stars in aw. Out of nowhere, a shooting star appears.
"Why do I feel like we're in a Disney movie?" Jack says suddenly causing us to burst out into laughter. "It does though. Anyways, I guess it's time to make a wish then?"
Everyone agrees firmly. I shut my eyes and wish for the most extravagant yet realistic thing possible. As everyone eyes open, Alice announces that she's going to bed.
"Night," she yawns, hopping into our tent.
"Same goes for me. That was a long drive," Jonah says. I'm not exactly sure how they're separating for the tents but I think Jonah locked whoever he's sharing with out. If that's even possible.
Eventually, Daniel, Jack, and Corbyn gets up and zip up their tent for bed.
Once again, it was just me and Zach. He remains to stare up into the sky but this time it felt like something was on his mind.
"Something on your mind?" I ask gently.
He shakes away his thoughts. "Just thinking."
"Well, this is definitely a great place for that. Do you mind if I ask what were you thinking about before?" I say.
Zach shrugs his shoulders. "It was what I wished on the shooting star."
"Which was?"
"Nothing, it's kind of embarrassing," Zach says sheepishly, hiding his face behind his hands. I carefully remove them and watch as our eyes meet naturally. "Alright, I wish on taking back what I said to you before."
"About what?" I ask to clarify.
"The whole texting confusion. I was being completely honest about not being the one who sent that message but I would be lying if I said that wasn't how I felt," He says. "I know I claimed those eight letters as a lie but believe me, I wish you have heard me say them a thousand time.
My eyes start to form droplets of tears. Nothing has ever has ever caused me to be this emotional so far. "Zach-I-"
"I know, it's stupid and I bet you already moved on with your life. Sorry to bother you."
"Remember that time when you first pulled me up on stage or when you first played me that song on your guitar." He nods his head slowly, unclear of why I'm bringing it up. "Out of all the people in my life, you were the one I've experienced my first with the most. I am so grateful for that. And what I want the most right now is more firsts with us."
Neither of us spoke at this moment. Now was the time to reflect on what we want. I knew since the beginning of our friendship this was the type of relationship I wanted to keep forever. No matter what status we are at.
"Just kiss her already," Someone shouts from one of the tents. Sounds like Jack's voice and seems like something he would do.
As requested, he fragilely presses his lips on mine. I missed the way this felt and how he tasted. Sometimes I start to wonder if what ended was the best option. But for I what know now, I would not dare to make the same mistake twice.