✔︎ KING OF MY HEART, Zach Mitchell ²

ONE, It For Him.

CHAPTER ONE. It For Him.

   THE BEAT of Tatum's black inked pen tapped against the temple of her head, her tongue twisted in her mouth, pressing against the cheek as she stared blanky towards the television screen overpowering her small laptop. Her legs were displayed out, sitting comfortably on her wooden rusted coffee table. Her living room was bright with light, all natural. The small apartment she called home was scattered in clutter, not have been cleaned in days.

Time at home had hexed her. She felt as though she was barely outside anymore, which killed her, knowing she used to call the outdoors more of a sanctuary than her own.

The house smelled of scented candles and sizzling food. The popping of a pan through the kitchen was difficult to catch in such an early morning. Tatum had barely slept, making her eyes droopy and filled with water. Her limbs felt bruised, even though she had stayed laid in a comfortable bed for hours.

The laptop that sat buzzing on her lap was heated from exhaustion, having been running for hours. While the home was silent throughout the night, Tatum was typing quietly away on her keys — investigating the current state of the world she lived in.

Three years. It had been a total of long three years since she had last stepped a single foot onto Isla Nublar, it had started to feel like it was all a fever dream. Tatum had tried moving on, expecting the fact that she'd never see her dinosaurs again. But she was able to sleep at night knowing they were safe out of confinement, living the lives they were meant to live. Though now, that relief had vanished.

Tatum knew that island like the back of her hand. She knew of its dangers, but never expected anything to actually happen. Tatum laughed at how naïve she was. Oh, how wrong she was.

"Any updates?" She heard from the corner of her room, coming from the doorway of the kitchen. Her head cocked towards the voice slowly, her eyes flinching at the sudden catch of light.

"Not any that are good." She mutters in disappointment, shaking her head as her body falls out of its slouched position into the cushions of the sofa, sinking in. "This sucks." Her hand runs down her face, feeling absolutely drained after the past few days. "I'm watching every one of those animals slowly wait for their death while I'm sitting here in my nice apartment drinking freaking mimosas in the morning." Tatum gulped down her last little sip of the alcoholic beverage, tossing her head back to find leverage on the couch. "I feel so helpless."

The silence worried her in a way, her body tensing for no apparent reason. Needing to pry on why the room had suddenly quieted itself, her eyes fluttered down, staring in need for a decent answer or some sort of advice. "You're not helpless, Tate." Was all the voice could say.

"Yes, I am." She shook her head. "Seriously, babe. I'm literally sitting on my ass waiting for their death to be shown on television." Her hand flew towards the digital screen. "It's so sad that I spent so much time on adapting those animals to humans and civilization just for them all to die in the hands of the people that are supposed to protect them!" Her hands clench into her hair, creating a fist.

"Don't pull out your hair." He laughs, gently taking ahold of her hand to rest it onto the sofa. "If makes you feel better, Claire called."

"Really?" Tate perks up at this, some ease being put to her. "When?"

"When you were showering." He explains, pulling out of phone to show the evidence. "She's coming by. Says she needs to talk to you about something." He shrugs whilst tossing his phone towards Tatum. Her reflects caught it quickly, staring at the message that was left for Tate specifically. Her lips couldn't help but lift upwards, glancing between the screen and him.

"I seriously love your aunt, Zach." She hands him back his phone, coming to her feet to enter into the kitchen. "She's the only person from the island that's actually been trying to save the dinosaurs — unlike all the other jackasses who are tweeting about how the Ornithopods are in their thoughts and prayers." She speaks in a sarcastic tone, pouring her plain black coffee into her Jurassic World merchandise cup. "I feel bad I wasn't helping out sooner. It was just so hard going from my own free house, doing what I love, to having to live in the actual world where everything is hundreds of dollars, and my rent is $3000 a month for this piece of crap." Her foot kicked the crooked cabinet door, making a creaking noise as its hangers shouted for repair.

"Well, that's why you have me." Zach smiles charmingly, his body leant against the wooden doorway making his body look broad.

"Yeah," Her feet slid across the polished planked floor, her hand coming to his chest once being toe-to-toe with him. "That's the only reason I have you." Her feet leapt up, giving her a height advantage compared to how she averagely was. Her lips puckered, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips in less than five seconds, before rushing off towards the living room, throwing herself back onto their messy decorated couch that was covered in multiple flashy colors of snuggly blankets, but not before carefully resting her mug onto a dinosaur coaster.

"Okay, first off — that was rude." He points to her with his pointer finger. "But also, Claire isn't going to be pissed at you for bailing. You had every right. You were 19 and practically homeless — you didn't have time to join her organization that was just starting up. It's not like you totally dropped her. I mean, you did see her Thanksgiving."

"Whatever, Zach." Her eyes roll. "It still feels like I abandoned her and them. I'm just hoping this has something to do with my dinosaurs and not a yearly home visit." She murmurs, snuggling into the fabric planted onto their couch. When the room had gone quiet, she decided to turn back up towards Zach, but was suddenly surprised by the force of his body completely falling onto her own. She groaned in pain, rolling onto her back into a more comfortable position. Zach laughed into her stomach, the vibrations circulating through her. "You're such a dick." She was tempted to knee him where it hurts but refrained from doing so, knowing how angry he gets when she does exactly that.

"And you love me for it." He mutters into her grey sweatshirt, catching her off guard in a way her body froze — tensing from those words. Tate was never much of a vocal lover. She found it awkward, in a way. The word love meant a lot to her, as she'd be forcing all of her intrusive thoughts about love down her throat just to crock out those three little words. Zach and she had been together for three years — basically ever since they had gotten off the island, making them inseparable. They were friends for two weeks, then couldn't seem to keep their hands off each other. Tate once hated how vulnerable she felt with Zach, but learned to cope with it and realize that was just the way it was meant to be — especially if she wanted this relationship to last. Which, she did. She knew that the factor of her not really being able to say that she loved him would come into play one day and potentially be explosive and detrimental, but she chose to let time do its thing.

Tatum loved him, yes. But it was just difficult for her to say it. Actions speak louder than words, right?

A sudden knock came from the door, making Tatum to yank Zach off of her, while also making sure she wasn't in anyway causing him pain even with her fast movements. His body flopped onto the sofa, leaving him to himself as he watched his girlfriend jog to the door like a child on Halloween waiting for candy. His lips twisted into a widening smile, so enthralled be her every move even when she wasn't facing him.

Tatum was it for him.

authors note

HI YALL MERRY CHRISTMAS SURPRISE AHHH THEYRE SO CUTE

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not rlly