you were so excited when you walked into zach's apartment building. you had school all week and you haven't been able to see him, or even talk to him much. but now it's spring break and you were planning on spending almost everyday with him.
you knocked on the door of zach's family's apartment and waited patiently. soon, reese opened the door and smiled widely.
"hey y/n." she opened the door and let you in. ryan had been standing right behind her. you quickly hugged them both before looking around for zach.
"he's been in his room for the past couple of days," ryan said, noticing you looking around.
"is he sick?" you asked, suddenly worried.
"no, i don't know what's wrong."
"i'll find out," you told him. you walked back to zach's room, quietly knocking on his door. there was no answer, so you just walked in.
"zach?" you asked quietly. you saw a zach sized lump underneath the covers in his bed. you smiled sympathetically, closing the door and sitting on his bed. you put your hand on him, gently rubbing his back.
"mom, i told you i didn't want to talk," his tired, raspy voice said from under the blankets.
"it's not your mom." you softly chuckled. he pulled his head out of the covers and looked back towards you, a small smile forming on his lips.
"hi baby," he whispered.
"can you let me under the blankets?" you asked gently. he nodded and pushed the blankets back. you took off your shoes and crawled next to him, facing him and putting your hand in his hair.
he pulled the blankets back over you two. you looked at his face and felt your heart breaking. his nose was red and his eyes were puffy from crying so much. he look exhausted.
"baby, what's wrong?" you asked, playing with his hair.
"n-nothing." his voice cracked.
"please don't lie to me zach."
"it's nothing, im just tired," he said, shaking his head. you sighed and leaned forward, pecking his lips.
you heard his phone buzz multiple times and his eyes started to water. you turned over and grabbed his phone. he tried to grab it from you, but you held it away and turned it on. his screen was full of hate comments and messages. you put his phone back on the table and turned back to him.
"zach i love you. people love you. don't look at the hate baby."
"i deserve it y/n," he whispered.
"no you don't zach."
"yes i do. i've made thousands of mistakes in the past and i deserve every single hate comment that someone writes."
"zach, listen to me. all of that is in the past."
"but people still comment about it. im stupid because i dropped out of high school. im a cheater because according to jorden i chested on her. im an asshole because i broke up with chloe. im racist because i accidentally said the n word. and somehow im the worst person in the world because im dating someone who i love. im tired of overlooking it all, i deserve all the hate."
"are you even listening to yourself zach? you dropped out of high school to follow your dreams. you did it to make thousands of people happy, your fans should respect and appreciate that. what happened with chloe wasn't your fault, it was the best for both of you. jorden is gonna say whatever she can to get attention, you know that more than anyone. you said that word, but if you were racist things would be a whole lot different at meet and greets. you love everyone zach. you love everyone so much, sometimes i get jealous. and jealousy is all that it is. girls just want you all to themselves because you're so amazing, and they just hate on us because of it. it's not your fault zach. and no one deserves hate for anything. so please stop torturing yourself. your family is worried about you, and im worried about you. you should've called me and told me while i was away, i could've helped you."
you were glad you kept your tone calm, knowing how upset you get whenever zach is sad. you looked at zach and saw him just staring at you.
"what?" you asked.
"i love you," was all he said. you blushed and couldn't help but smile.
"do you feel better now?" you asked.
"a little bit."
"none of that hate matters, okay? and im positive that you still have true fans that love you and are defending you against all this hate."
"yeah i know, it's just harder to focus on them when there's a lot more hate. but it's easier to focus on you." you smiled.
you leaned in and pressed your lips against his. zach's hand in your waist pulled you in closer against him. he softly moaned into the kiss as your tongues slipped over each other's.
there was a knock on the door that made you pull away. it opened and reese jumped on the bed.
"are you happy now zach?" she asked sweetly.
"yeah, im feeling better reese," he told her. she smiled.
"can we cuddle?" she asked. zach looked at you and you just shrugged.
"come here," he said. reese smiled and climbed between you two. zach kissed her head then leaned across to peck your lips.
"we should watch a movie," reese said. you chuckled and grabbed the remote from zach's table, handing it to reese.
you looked across at zach as reese looked for a movie. his face still looked droopy and sad from crying earlier, but his eyes looked happier. you smile without realizing it.
"what?" zach mouthed.
"i love you," you mouthed.
"i love you more."
*****
