Meet Me on Thames Street • All Time Low

Chapter Nine

                                                            *Holly*
I woke up in Zack’s bed. My head was on his chest and his arms were encircled around my waist. I felt safe with him. It just felt normal, almost like we’d known each other for ages. I was covered in sweat and automatically knew my fever from the night before had broken.

Zack started to stir beneath me and I figured I was soon going to be forced to be rid of my comfortable position. But much to my surprise, instead of pushing me off to the side, the sleepy boy tightened his arms around me and pulled me closer to him. I let my hands rest on the upper part of his chest and my head was in the perfect position for me to hear his heart beating.

“Feeling better?” Zack asked in his raspy morning voice.

“Much,” I nodded. I was a lot warmer that I had been the night before, and I wasn’t even remotely ready to escape the body heat and blankets.

Just as I was beginning to really enjoy the moment, I heard yelling. A whole lot of it, at that.

“Jack? What the fuck are you doing on the floor? With Marianne?!” It was Alex, and he seemed furious.

“I fucked up okay!” Jack screamed right back.

“You didn’t.” Alex’s tone just dared for the truth to be revealed.

“I did, and you’re pissed now and I’m a fuck up and I know it. Save it, Alexander.” Jack’s voice was full of venom.

“Jack, wait!” Marianne yelled and I immediately knew there was something bad happening.

Me, being the dutiful best friend I was, decided to make sure Marianne was okay. I groaned a bit and stretched my arms over my head before rolling out of the bed and landing on my feet. I walked to the door where Alex was standing, his hands shaking.

“I’ll take it from here,” I said lowly, patting Alex’s back. He nodded and walked away, and Zack followed.

I pulled Marianne back into the boys’ room, thankful that Rian was at Starbucks again. That man was a coffee addict in my opinion.

“What happened?” I demanded.

“I don’t even know... Jack took me to a club last night and we danced and he got drunk. I brought him back here as safely as I could, but he was too pissed to make it past the door. I decided to let him sleep out there, but he asked me to stay with him. He was drunk, Holly. Everyone was asleep and I was worried. What was I supposed to do?” she started crying.

She was never that good with these sort of things, and despite our distance I was always there to help her.

“You did the right thing, I think.” I admitted. “But why did he say he fucked up? What did he do?”

“I don’t even know! He said that last night too, but passed out before I could ask him about it. I’m really scared. I know I shouldn’t be since I’ve only known the guy for two days, but I just feel this connection to him. Does that even make any sense? It’s not even a crush or anything... I just feel like I need to be with him, to take care of him.” Marianne fell back onto Alex’s bed and put her hands on her face and groaned loudly.

“I think it’s something like fate,” I answered. “Sometimes people are brought together because they need each other. But whatever you do, don’t ignore it. We all met here for a reason.”
“I guess you’re right. I’m just confused and I’m afraid this might to lead to more. That’s stupid, right? After all the time that I imagined meeting Jack and falling for him, I’m scared now that there’s a possibility of it actually happening.” She said before covering her face with Alex’s pillow.

“No, I feel you. I’m in the same boat right now,” I admit shyly.

“You and Zack?! I knew there were just friendly smiles between you two! He’s practically been attached to your him ever since he met you!” Marianne shrieked.

“Girl, please! I don’t know anything about him really,” I defended. “I’m just saying, like you, I see that it could potentially happen. I mean, if someone like him could ever like someone like me.”
“He’d be an idiot not to. Just promise me we’ll have that fancy dinner we always planned on at the end of the trip with Zack and Jack?” We were both grinning at this point.

“I promise. And can we also promise to keep each other in the loop? I get that we both want to spend as much time with the guys before the trip ends, but we haven’t had any girl time.” I missed my best friend, really. I mean we had gone all the way to London just to meet and we weren’t even hanging out! Laaaaaame.
“I promise! How about we go shopping with the girls on Friday?” Marianne offered, extending her hand.
“You’ve got yourself a deal.” I smile and shake her hand.

Right as we retracted our hands, Alex and Jack came back in the room. Alex looked frustrated, and Jack looked like he’d been crying.

“Jack!” Marianne jumped up and hugged him. “Are you okay?”
“I will be, I promise.” He answered, smiling down at her.

“What happened?” She asked softly, her voice nearly cracking. I could tell she really did care about him.

“I guess I have so explaining to do. Do you want to go somewhere more... private?” Jack asked politely, glancing around the room.
Marianne nodded and followed him out the door.

“Well, I guess it’s just the two of us,” Alex smirked.

Carly burst through the door and screeched about needing Alex for some fashion advice. HA. GAYYYY.
“Sorry,” he apologized before following Carly through the door joining our rooms.

“And then there was one,” I muttered before snuggling back into Zack’s bed.