spirit hearts

Chapter 7: Zak

Zak stood next to Nick in the small elevator. He listened to Nick's breathing. Zak was left behind to keep Nick company while Aaron, Jay and Billy went out to the store to buy presents and stuff for Nick's party tonight. The elevator doors opened.  They stepped out into the hall. Walking to their room. Zak pulled out the key, opening the door to their room. The AC blew cold air on them. Zak exhaled, "Finally," he said " Air" Nick laughed. He sat down on the couch, "Want to watch family guy or something?" Nick asked, grabbing the remote. Zak sat down next to him, "Yeah" he answered. "Hold up" Zak got up and went into the kitchen. He opened the cabinet, taking out a bag of ships, he then opened the fridge, taking out two cokes. He walked back to the couch and handed a can to Nick. Zak opened the bag of chips, holding the bag out to Nick. Nick took out a chip. He put it in his mouth while scrolling through episode of Family Guy. He settled on one and put the remote down. He opened his coke, taking a short sip. Zak put his feet up on the coffee table. He watched the TV. Nick chuckled a bit. But other than that, they were quiet. Zak's phone vibrated, He took it out and saw it was a text from Billy asking Zak about food. Zak texted back, "IDK" he typed, "Chips, beer?" Zak looked at Nick. "What do you want for food tonight?" He asked, Nick shrugged "We can just get takeout from the Chinese place" he said. Zak nodded, he typed into his phone "Chinese takeout" he hit send and put the phone back into his pocket. "Nick?" Zak asked, Nick looked up "What?" he said back, " What do you want for your birthday?" Nick thought, "I don't know" he smiled "I already have you guys, I have food and clothes. There isn't much else that I could want" Zak smiled, Nick was always like this when it came to gifts. He never wanted anything over the top. He felt that what he had was enough. Zak nodded. Zak inhaled deeply, breathing in Nick's scent. Zak loved his smell. Zak looked at Nick. They looked into each other's eyes. They gazed at each other, the world seemed to stop, waiting for them to do something. Nick blushed and turned back to the TV. Zak watched the show. They stayed like this for a while. Zak kept stealing looks at Nick. He couldn't seem to look away. Zak stood up, "I'm gonna go shower" he said. "Okay" Nick answered. Zak turned on the hot water. He stepped in, letting the water splash his skin. He leaned against the cold, plastic wall of the shower. He closed his eyes. Memories of Nick flashed through his mind. He smiled at the most recent one. Nick and Zak had gone to the beach. The sand had been really hot under their bare feet. Zak had picked Nick up, running towards the water. Nick had been laughing. Zak loved Nick's laugh. Running into the crashing waves, Nick had held on to Zak. Zak remembered the feeling of Nick's arms around his neck. Zak had thrown Nick into the water, Splashing a couple of old ladies who glared at him for getting their hair wet. Nick had grabbed Nick around the waist, pulling them both down. In that moment, with Nick's arms around his waist, Zak had felt calm. He felt so peaceful and safe. Then the moment was over. Nick and Zak had gone back to their chairs, "I'm going for a swim, you want to come?" He had asked, Nick shook his head and laid back. Zak heard a knock on the door, he was snapped out of the memory. "Zak?" Nick called. Zak shut the water off, he stepped out, wrapping a towel tightly around his waist. He opened the door, Nick was standing there. Nick stared at Zak, his eyes darting to every uncovered part of his body. "Yeah" Zak asked, "You good?" Nick looked up at him, his face red. " Uh..Yeah, hi...Um Billy and the guys are back...So...Uh," He faltered. Zak smiled, "Okay, cool" He stepped out onto the soft carpet. He walked into the bedroom, shutting the door to get changed. He looked at his watch, it was five pm.  Zak reached for his phone. He texted Aaron, "Go get the Take out" He typed and hit send. Aaron texted back "You ready for tonight??" Zak smiled he was. "Yeah" he texted. Zak dug through his suitcase. He pulled out a black dress shirt and some jeans. He texted Juniper, "It's Zak, " he texted her the address and the room number. Zak opened the door and stepped out to see Nick sitting on the couch, "All yours" Zak said, Nick got up, walking into the room. Zak slipped out the door to go to Aaron's room across the hall. He knocked and Billy opened the door. "Hey" he said, Zak stepped in. He looked around. There was a table set up with bowls of chips, cans of coke and Chinese takeout boxes. There were two bags with "Nick" written on them in the living room. There was a football game on and rock music playing. Zak looked Jay, "Wow" he said, Jay smiled. There was a knock at the door. Jay opened it, Juniper was standing in the doorway. She was wearing a long green dress. Her black hair had blue streaks in it. She walked over to Zak, her dress flowing with every step. Aaron and Billy stared at her. Jay rolled his eyes at them and went back to decorating. She went up to Zak, giving him a hug. She smelled like vanilla. She pulled away from him, looking around. "Holy shit" She said, "Wow, this is amazing" she looked at the hand written card on the table, "They're so pretty" she said. There was another knock, Billy went to the door to let in Nick. Nick stood in the doorway, tall and handsome. Zak conveniently forgot Juniper and stared at the tall, handsome man. Falling for him more deeply with every breath he took.