one love, two mouths ▿ abels

Chapter 6 - Tire Swings

One Love, Two Mouths   -A Zachary Abels Story

Chapter 6 – Tire Swings

‘&’

Zach and Kendall had ended up at a park. Kendall was laying on her front, swinging on the tire swing and Zach sat on one of the many swings, digging his heels into the dirt.

The silence wasn’t awkward; it was, for lack of a better word, comforting.

It was late in the afternoon and Kendall was proud that she had spent a good majority of her day with him and they hadn’t fought. Unless you count the argument they had about which syrup was better while they were eating their breakfast. She figured that she shouldn’t push the relationship onto him, and maybe they should just be friends and if it escalates, then she was going to let it.

“You know what?” Zach spoke up, his gaze on the horizon of scattered trees.

“What?”

“I like this; Being with you at an empty playground with no plans, and nothing on my mind. I feel so…content.”

The words that erupted from his mouth made her heart accelerate and swoon. This was the Zach she loved. This was the Zach she wanted everyone to know. Not the ‘I don’t care about you, all I care about is music’ asshole Zach.

“I like it too,” Kendall agreed after a moment of hesitation. “It’s so peaceful, feeling as though I don’t have to do anything in my life besides spend my time at a children’s playground.”

Zach laughed.

“Listen, I’m so sorry about how we ended-“

“Shh,” Kendall silenced him. “Don’t ruin it.”

Zach looked down at the woodchips beneath his feet and kicked at them. He had been meaning to apologize ever since the second he left her. He wanted to go back to the way they were, but he could tell she wanted to take things slow, and that’s the last thing he wanted to do.

But if it’s what she wants, it’s what she’ll get.

The silence was broken by Kendall’s phone ringing. She tugged it out of the pocket of her North Face jacket and her thumb pressed the screen before she put the phone to her ear.

“Hello?

Zach stared at her as he heard the muffled voice from the other line. The only person he could think of that would be calling her would be Jensen, but the voice sounded deeper and more masculine.

“No, I’m fine, and yeah he’s here.” She replied into the phone as she picked at the nail polish on her fingers. “No he’s not, Jesse.”

Zach hadn’t talked to his band mates since he arrived at Kendall’s house that one night with Jesse and disappeared almost as fast as he showed up.

Kendall hung up and looked over at Zach and gave him a weak smile. “You should probably talk to your mates, yeah?”

She didn’t want him to leave, she wanted to spend eternity with him at this stupid playground, but she could see children in the distance and she had a feeling they would be heading for the playground soon.

Friends first, Kendall reminded herself. Friends first.

Zach groaned as he hopped off the swing and helped her out of the tire swing. “I guess.”

The ride back to her house was silent, filled with the soft hum of the CD playing in Zach’s car. She couldn’t figure it out which it was, for the volume was too low, but whoever was singing sounded wonderful.

He pulled into her driveway and he looked at her from across the center console. Absentmindedly their faces inched closer to each other until they were mere centimeters away. Zach moved to kiss her, but Kendall turned her head and he got her cheek instead.

“Thanks for the ride. I had fun today,” Kendall said as she hopped out of the vehicle and power walked for the door. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to kiss him, she wanted to kiss him like hell, but she had to take things slow. She felt like a bitch for rejecting him like that, but if she had let him kiss her, he would’ve ended up following into the house, and probably the bedroom.

Kendall entered the house and closed the door behind her, leaning up against it. She heard Zach’s engine purr to life as he left the drive way. Her heart ached, but she tried to convince herself she would see him again.

What if you don’t? What if he disappears again? Could you handle that?

Sometimes her subconscious was a bitch.

‘&’

Kendall spent the rest of the night in the bath, soaking her stressed body in the bubbles and engulfing herself in the soft music coming from her phone. She needed this. The bath salts, the bubbles, the soothing sounds, it was like heaven.

It would be even better if Zach was in here with you, his arms wrapped around your torso, his long, calloused fingers trailing up your thigh until eventually they reached their destination. And you would tilt your head back and bury your face in his neck as he did so. He would leave kisses all over your wet body and-

She put her head under the water to stop her mind from running further. She craved him again, hell, she always craved him. She did want him in this tub with him, but resisting her thoughts was almost as hard as resisting Zach himself. She instead tried to focus on the music coming from the speakers instead of her lustful thoughts.

 She left me alone and without,

Skin I could study about,

Tiles get colder to touch,

Wood splinters, metal will rust,

But baby, oh baby, she had all my trust,

And I guess it was never enough.

She really regretted having her best friends on her iPod, but their music was just so good, and it put her in a state of complete tranquility. She loved Jesse’s raspy voice and how he could manage to hit whatever high or low note he wanted. She missed Jesse, and Mikey, and Jeremy, and Bryan. She felt like she was severed from them when her and Zach’s loved turned into turmoil. She figured their company was much needed, and she decided that she could call them up and see if they wanted to meet up somewhere. She missed her best friends.

Kendall never thought it was weird that she never really had any close female friends, but they came with too much drama, so she decided all she needed was Jensen and her one friend, Abigale. She hadn’t talked to Abigale since July, and it was close to the end of November.

Kendall also decided she would call her and see how she was doing also. Having your only female friend be your older sister was kind of sad.

Kendall leaned her head back on the edge of the tub and let the jets massage her body as she pushed all thoughts of Zach to the back of her mind and focused on the sound of the bubbles covering her body and her best friend’s voice echoing through the bathroom.

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