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

part 22 // plot twist

The game ended. Finally.
My back was hurting and all I wanted to do was going home and laying on the couch for the rest of the day.
And for a strange reason I also felt like eating cupcakes.
All seven of us left the building as soon as we payed. At first they didn't want to let me pay for myself, all in all it was still my birthday. But at last I could convince them that paying for my own 2 glasses of orange juice wasn't really that big of a deal, even on my birthday.
"Is it okay if stay at Simons place tonight?" Liv asked while we were walking towards the car.
For almost the whole evening, she and Simon didn't let go of each others hand a single time. I could imagine what would happen this night if they'd stay at his place.
I nodded. "Sure.. I don't see why not. But make sure you use protection." I said and motioned to my own baby belly.
She giggled. "Don't worry we won't forget it."
We arrived at the car but before I even had the chance to get in Sarah called my name.
"I need you to take some pictures.. You are without a doubt the only acceptable photographer of us all."
Liv acted shocked and placed one of her hands on her heart. "Ouch."
Sarah chuckled. "Oh shut up Liv. You know it's true. And just so you know, you are the worst of all seven of us. Really, I don't know how you do it but you always manage to capture the most terrible moments of the whole damn shoot."
"But still, despite that, we love you." I laughed and took Sarah's phone.
Liv eventually started laughing as well. "Of course you love me.. I'm amazing." She did a hairflip and got with Simon into the car.
"Sure sure." I giggled and followed Sarah to wherever she wanted to take a picture.
Like a real model she did a few poses in front of the camera and I tried my best to capture all of them.
Until suddenly she stopped and looked at me with a serious look in her eyes. "Audrey.. are you mad at me?"
I let down the camera to face her. "Not at all.. Why would you think that?"
She shrugged and looked at the floor. "You know.. Like during camp. I haven't been all that nice to you. And when you saw me and Zach at the restaurant.. well.. I'm sure that gives you reasons enough to hate me."
"What do you mean you were not nice to me during camp?" I asked still confused. I ignored the rest because I really didn't feel like talking about that moment in the restaurant.
"I might have been causing some trouble between you and Zach..."
I frowned my eyebrows. "Why?"
But then I remembered. Midnight skinny dipping, the bowling game, making the two of us sharing a canoe and then, right before we had to leave and go back home, she stood up and told everyone that it's always been just a game... Which leaded to the truth: That it's always been just a game for him.
Has she been manipulating this?
"Why?" I asked again, this time with widened eyes.
"I don't know.." She shrugged. She still had her face down towards the ground and started fidgeting with her hands. "I- I guess I was jealous.."
Of me? She was jealous of me?
"Why on earth?"
Again she shrugged. "Plenty of reasons. You're pretty and funny and easy to talk to... And you had Zach. Near the end of the week I could see him falling for you like a rock that's thrown into the water. You brought something up in him that I could never do myself. You made him show the real, cheesy, sensible and vulnerable him. And I was jealous of that. I was jealous of the fact that the love between the two of you, even though It was an act, was much more real than any of the relationships Zach and I ever had."
I stood there. Speechless. Listening to what she had to say. All my life I've been jealous of Sarah and now I found out, just like that, that she has been jealous of me as well?
"B-but you had Collin." I stuttered.
She smiled a bit. " Yes I did... And I also did love him a lot. That was the main reason why my jealousy confused me so much."
She raised her head again to look up at me. "I'm really sorry. While we were back together I realised how stupid I've acted. It didn't feel right to be with him anymore for both of us. And as soon as we saw you there, at the restaurant and he told me how hurt you were, we broke up. I just saw how much he wasn't over you yet."
Tears were appearing in her eyes.
"You're kidding right?" A tear fell down on my cheek as well. Sarah shook her head.
"And what about the bet he made with Collin? 50 dollars?" I aggressively wiped my tears away with the back of my hand. I didn't want to believe it.

"He loves you Audrey.."

"But I don't know if I can trust him anymore." I cried.
Sarah pulled me into a tight hug and let me cry out on her shoulder. "I'm really sorry."
I hugged tightly back.
After a while we pulled back and wiped away our tears.
"I am so sorry." Sarah said again. "It's all my fault."
I quickly shook my headd. "No don't say that.. It's not true. Well.. partly it is but it's his own fault too."
Sarah took a tissue and rubbed the rest of her tears away. Then she took her phone and watched her face through the camera. "You had made a bad start.. Give him a second chance. He's a keeper."
I shrugged and turned my head away. I didn't know if I could. He put me through so much.
Sarah took a little attempt to fix her now ruined makeup but after not long she gave up and chuckled. "Now would you look at us.. crying over a boy."
I forced a little smile. Not that I've been doing different for the past 8 months or whatever. "We probably should go back to the others."
"Whoa whoa whoa.. not so fast. We need some pictures of you as well."
I gave her an uncomfortable face.
"Oh come on Audrey... You need to capture that beautiful pregnant body of yours before it is too late."
I smiled a bit. "Alright then.."
"Yay!" She jumped up a little which made me giggle and then she started making pictures of me with her phone.
When we were finished, she pulled me back into a firm hug.
"My car is standing somewhere here so you can better tell the rest that I am gone already."
I hugged back. "Okay."
She promised me to send me the pictures as soon as she got home and then we pulled away and waved goodbye.

On my own I went back to the place where Liv had parked the car but as soon as I got there, I noticed it was gone.
I looked around for some more to see if I maybe just remembered the location wrong but soon I realised that it was really gone.
Liv must have took it and started the drive all the way to Simons place in San Francisco.
Honestly this was something I could expect for my best friend to do, as messy as she was. But her boyfriend? He was her opposite. Clean and steady. He would have remembered me.
Turns out love really makes blind.. and dumb.
What do I do now? All my stuff was in that car. Even my phone.
I was about to have a panic attack when I heard a calming voice behind me. I turned around and saw Zach standing there, next to his car.
"Do you need a ride?"
I sighed in relief. At this point I didn't even care who got me there.. I just wanted to go home. Even if that meant a car drive with Zach.
I nodded. "Thank God that you're not gone yet."
I got in on the passengers seat and watched Zach getting in as well. He awkwardly cleaned his throat.
"So.. where do I need to drive you?"
"home." I said while I put my hands in my pockets, searching for my house keys but then I realised that I put them in my bag. And my bag was in Livs car... I turned red.
"Oh actually.. never mind. I can't go home. The door is locked and Liv has the keys."
Zach just nodded and started the car.
"Where are we going?" I asked a bit worried while he was driving off the parking lot.
"Well you can't go home and I can't really bring you anywhere else, so I suppose that you'll have to stay at my place."
He glanced over at me and I quickly turned my head away towards the window to not have to look in his eyes. "I guess so.."
What mess did I get myself into this time?