Playing Games // a Zach Herron fanfic // Finished ✨

Chapter 7

In the middle of the night, the door of our bungelow opened with a squeak. I was deeply asleep and so was Liv.
On tiptoes, someone sneaked in over the creaking planks on the floor.
I turned around in my sleep, not knowing what happened around.
Then I felt a tap on my shoulder, I opened my eyes to look straight into Sarah's face.
I wanted to scream but she covered my mouth with her hand.
"What the hell Sarah!" I said when I pulled it off.
She put her finger over her lips. "Shht you are waking everyone up."
I could hear Liv snort only a few feet away from my bed.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, a lot quieter now.
"You didn't think we forgot about our bet did you?" She smirked.
That bet. Ofcourse I didn't forget about that bet. It had to be on my mind yesterday all day. I wondered if Sarah had forgot about it. Or maybe it never happened and I had made the whole thing up in my mind. I was even considering if I should ask Sarah or Collin about it but I decided to not do that because if they indeed forget about it, I didn't want to remind them about it. I'd rather just leave it and not have to go night-swimming.
But now she was here, in front of her with a bag over her shoulder.
I laid back in my bed, trying to act innocent.
"What bet?"
Sarah rolled her eyes and jumped quietly from my bed.
"You know what I am talking about."
I sighed and pulled my legs over the edge of my bed. "Do I really have to do this?"
In the light from a lantern, that was slightly shining trough the window, I could see her nod. "If me and Collin would have lost, we would've done it too."
"But you and Collin are in a relationship!"
Sarah shrugged. "A bet is a bet."
"Sarah?.." I turned my head and saw Liv sitting up in her bed. She rubbed her eyes. "What are you doing here?"
Sarah looked at her like she was stupid and it was very obvious what she was doing in our room in the middle of the night, like it was the most normal thing ever and not against the rules. "I'm taking Audrey for a swim."
I could see the smile appearing on Liv's face. Ofcourse. Liv is just as adventurous as Sarah... maybe even more.
"Cool can I join?"
Sarah nodded again. "Sure. We can call the boys too. Then we just go with the whole group."
Liv jumped out of her bed and starts packing her bathingsuit and towel.
We sneaked outside where the boys were waiting for us.

With only 1 hour of sleep, we started to walk to the lake. It was completely dark in the forest and all we had was the light of our phones. Sarah carried a bag with everyone's swimsuit.
Except for mine and Zach's.
Zach was a waterfall of words, the way he walked next to Collin and Simon. He acted cool but I knew he was pretty nervous as well.

The water of the lake was a wonderfully quiet and calm mirror, reflecting the moonlight and the stars. In every other situation, I would have just like the rest, kicked off my shoes to cover my toes with the cool sand and took my time to stare at the beautiful view.
Sarah looked at me and smiled.
"I will make sure Liv goes change in the wood and Collin is taking the boys away so you and Zach have the whole lake for yourselves."
I sighed. Why did I ever agree with this.
"And how long do you expect me to stay in the water with him?"
"As long as you want." Sarah winked and I rolled my eyes. No way that Zach and I would ever... ew. I won't even want to think about it.
Sarah yelled at Liv, who already ran straight to the water, to come. She whispered something in her ear and Liv looked at me with a shocked expression on her face. She then looked at Zach and her eyes went back to mine. I nodded, knowing she wanted to know if it was true. Her questioning face changed into a smirk and I knew she thought the same as Sarah did. Why were my friends like this.
She and Sarah left to change and eventually Collin, Simon and Josh did too.

Only me and Zach left. Alone.

"Turn around." I said. He was standing a few feet away from me. Close enough to make me uncomfortable.
In silence he did as I told him and turned around. His face towards the ground.
It was so quiet, I could hear him breath.
As soon as I made sure he couldn't see me, I started slowly taking off my clothes. My eyes were straight focused on the back of his head. I would kill him if he would turn around, I kept repeating in my head.
When I was completely naked, I still stood there. Behind him.
"Are you done yet?" He softly said. If it wasn't that quiet I probably wouldn't be able to hear him.
"Yeah.."
He wanted to turn around but I was faster.
"No! Don't look. Stay like this while I am going into the water."
I could see him nod. I slowly stepped towards the water, backwards to keep an eye on him.
When I was shoulder-high covered in water, I yelled at him that he could turn around. Now it was my turn to look away.
The thought of what happened behind me made my heartbeat raise.
I was naked. He was getting naked.
I was running my hands through the cold water and looking at the reflection of the stars.

Suddenly I felt the water moving from an action that wasn't mine. I wanted to turn around but held back.
What if he wasn't fully covered yet. The water became calm again. I had no idea what to do.
I decided to count to 10 and turn around. There he stood, his chest above water.
The moonlight flattered over his muscles.
He was so hands-
I cut off that thought immediately. No. I couldn't think this way.
Zach stared at me too even though there wasn't anything more to see than my shoulders. I hoped.
I looked down and indeed there was nothing to see.
Then why was he staring at me this way?

"So.. what now." He looked me in the eyes.
I nervously giggled and shrugged. "Swimming? As we have to."
He let himself now completely sink into the water until he was on the same height as me. I playfully splashed water to him but the look in his eyes didn't change.
Without me realising it, he came closer within every second.
He was only inches away and I could feel his warm breath on my skin and his eyes staring into my soul.

The next thing I knew was the feeling of his lips on mine. his sweet, soft lips. His hands on my shoulders, slipping down to my waist. His tongue..

I opened my eyes and pushed him back. What on earth was I doing?! Kissing Zach?!
I knew what he wanted. But I didn't want it.
Zach backed off too. The look in his face got replaced by visible confusion.
I turned around and ran out of the water.
"I'm done with these fucking games!"
It was too late when I realised that I still didn't wear any clothes.
I turned around and saw Zach looking back, checking my body up and down.
"STOP LOOKING." I yelled over my shoulder. His cheeks turned completely red and he turned his head away in embarrassment.
As fast as possible I covered my body with my clothes and ran all the way back through the forest.

This never happened.
This was a bad dream.
I was so confused.