Counting Stars

•12•

When I awoke the next morning morning the sun leaked through the curtains of my bedroom. I wish I could pull a switch and the sun wouldn't blind me so much. I'm not a morning person.

I found myself in my bed. not on the couch, where I had fallen asleep last night.

I feel the bed shift lightly and I turn to see zach. still asleep. he looks so vulnerable when he sleeps, I want so badly to awe out loud, but manage to hold it in.

I glance at my clock and my eyes nearly bulge out of there sockets.

It's fucking 1PM!.

with that I turn to wake zach up, we can't sleep the whole day away, it's Wednesday not saturday.

I shake zachs shoulder, whilst rubbing my eyes to adjust my vision clearly, zach sturs but doesent wake up.

"Zach" I whisper, shaking his shoulder again. this time his body shifts

"what" he mumbles, voice groggy.

"Get up" I say, shaking his shoulder again. he groans and rolls over to face me.

"savanna" he says

"Yes" I ask

"What time is it?" he is now rubbing his eyes, hoisting himself up to lean on the bed frame.

"1:00" I smile, he nearly shoots out of bed

"1:00 pm!" he nearly shouts

"yep" I reply.

"Iv never slept that long" he states, mostly to himself I think.

"We should get up, we've already slept half the day" I point out. zach pouts but drags himself out of bed with a grumble of 'fine'.

I giggle at his pouting and he glares at me.

"So what are you doing today?" he asks, plopping down on the couch where we had fell asleep the previous night. ____

"I have no plans, Wednesday is just relax and do nothing day for me" I state, taking a seat next to him.

He pulls me onto his lap and rests his arms around my waist. I don't reject.

"We should get out, it's suppose to be nice today" he suggests

I rememberer the last time we 'got out' it ended up in a tense awkward silence. I don't want that to happen again.

"I don't no...." I start. zachs shoulders tense as he realizes what I'm talking about, I shouldn't have brought it up in the first place and just agreed.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine" zach assures me.

I sigh but agree "I guess we could go somewhere.... the park mabye?" I suggest.

"We could have a picnic" he suggests

I immidealy stand to my feet "ya! we could stop by the store and get tons of good food! I know how to make these great sandwhichs," I ramble, causing zach to smile and chuckle

"Some one likes picnics" he snickers

I shrug "I'm not ashamed" I state teasingly. zachs laughs and I join in. this day is going to be great.

• • •

Later that day we stopped by a local Walmart and picked up some food and supplies, that have consisted of, mini subs, crackers, cheese, and apples, also some pop.

"How about here?" zach suggests a place under a huge willow tree, as a river cascades across. "perfect" I beam.

Zachs face lights up with achievement as he sets the blanket down, placing the food on top.

We both take a seat and I pull out a coke, it pops open with a 'sks' and I take a sip. zach pulls out a mini sub and begins on that.

It's silent for a few minutes as we eat, I once again have no idea what to talk about. I'm not going to bring up the weather then he will definitely know what's up.

"So where are you visiting from?" zach asks, breaking the becoming of awkward silence.

"I flew in from new york" I say. New York is amazing, I may have lived there all my life, but the big cities and skyscrapers never got old in my eyes.

"City?" he asks

I nod.

"I moved here from Miami when I was 13" he says

I know I stalked your file when you first arrived here.

"Flordia" I say, mostly to myself "why did you move?" I dig

Zach searches my eyes before inhaling and saying "my dad was wanted in Florida so he dragged me and my mom here, he didn't want to risk being caught" he says hushed, eyes averting to his hands.

I simply nod, not wanting to say the wrong thing at the wrong time in the wrong place. that would all occur if I opened my big mouth.

"Soooo what did you do when you got to maine?" I ask stretching out the 'o'.

Zach pauses for a moment, probably battling if he can trust me. "I don't really want to talk about it yet" he states softly, eyes beginning to water.

Nice going savanna you ruined a perfectly good mood! I just love prying so much I never realized it could hurt people to talk about it.

I place my hand on top of zachs and he looks up to meet my gaze. "we don't have to talk about it" I say. relive washes over his features and I smile.

The rest of lunch is spent eating and making small talk, mostly about how I grew up, my family, school, friends. sense the mention of his family before zach has once again hid behind those walls he has built up.

"We should get going, it's suppose to rain" I say, packing up all the garbage and left over food.

"Ya" he agrees.

The ride back to the home is utterly silent. when I can't take it anymore I say "I had a good time today"

"Me to" zach response "no one ever took the time to do things like that with me, I was either to worthless or they were beating me" a shiver runs over his body.

I grab his hand from across the council and soothingly rub his knuckles. his shoulders instanly slump as he smiles at me.

I'm happy zach feels comfortable around me. I'm so very grateful he came to this home at the same time I came to visit, I always knew id find a lover, but I though it would be some fairy tale guy with all the money. but no, I found someone much better than that. I found someone who is broken. someone who has had a terrible past. someone who flinches when they make contact with anyone. zachs so much more than the fairy tale guys, he has so much more passion and I'm more than thrilled that I was sent to help him. only me. not some therapist, me.

I feel zachs gaze burning into me as we pull into the home.

"Thank you" he suddenly says, grabbing my full attention

"For what?" I ask, confused.

"Not giving up on me yet" he whispers

I feel my heart swell and tears threaten my eyes.

"I never will" I whisper, just then my eyes go wide at the sigh behind zach.

2 police cars are pulled into the parking lot, zach must have noticed my wide eyes because he turns around and his eyes also go wide. i see his shoulders tense and he starts shaking.

What in the hell could they possibly want?