STUCK WITH YOU || Zach Herron

10 ||

      "i'm not sure what's wrong"

~⚡️~

                                                                                                                               ~⚡️~

    november 1, 2020
los angeles, ca

  3:42 am

zach, layla, jonah, jack, corbyn, eben, and daniel had gone back to zach's house to be with layla for a bit and talk her through what was going on. zach was sitting on the couch with layla in his arms, comforting her. jonah sat on the other side of her, holding her hand as it rested on her thigh. layla had her head leaned on zach's shoulder and he had his head leaned on hers. the small group fell asleep on the couches and chairs in zach's living room peacefully.

-

about two hours later, zach woke up to see that layla wasn't with him anymore. he quietly got up and went upstairs to check her room. she wasn't in there either. he went into his room to change his clothes and he saw layla curled up, cuddling the comforter on his bed, wearing his hoodie and some of his sweatpants. he smiled and grabbed another one of his hoodies and some sweatpants. he quietly, quickly changed and walked over to the side of the bed. he gently climbed on to the bed next to layla and gently rubbed her shoulder.

layla turned around, still sleeping, and wrapped her arms around zach. he smiled and wrapped his arms around her. she buried her face in the crook of his neck, deeply inhaled then exhaled before normalizing her breathing, and relaxed her body.

zach gently kissed her head and closed his eyes.

little did zach know, layla was partly awake. she felt safe in his arms. she felt as though nothing could hurt her. she was happy.

-

layla sat on the couch, across from zach, jonah, jack, corbyn, daniel, and eben.

"what did he do to you?" eben asked, concern in his voice.

"he was drunk. he had never done anything like that before," she replied, shakily.
ever since her's and ethan's relationship ended, she felt as though there was a hole in her heart that needed to be filled. she had moments where she was happy being single and she felt alright, but she also had moments where all she wanted was for someone to hold her, to kiss her, comfort her. she had zach, but she truly only thought of him as a friend.

"then why did you sound so hurt when you were with me?" jack asked, worriedly.

"i was already uncomfortable as it was. someone offered to get me a shot of tequila or something..." she trailed off.

"layla," zach said, causing layla's focus to be on him.
"you can talk to us, you know that, right?" he asked.

layla looked down and sighed. "i do know that. i don't know what i'm feeling right now..." she stood up and started towards the back door, "i'm just...gonna go grab some air real quick," she said, keeping her body faced towards the back door.

-

"zach she's been out there for ten minutes or so," jonah started.

"well, i don't know what to say to her!" zach snapped back, causing jonah to jump, startled.
"i'm sorry. i'm just...stressed out. when she gets like this, it hurts me. we're older now, her needs have changed. i'm not sure what i can do to help her," he sighed.

jonah place his hand on zach's shoulder, "hey man, it's okay. i understand. but right now, what she needs is you. you are the person she will listen to. you should go talk to her," he said, comfortingly.

zach looked over at jonah and smiled weakly, "thanks, man."
zach stood up and walked over to the door. her placed his hand on the knob and turned back and looked at the rest of the guys.

"you got this," corbyn smiled.

zach smiled in response and gently turned the knob and walked outside.
"layla?" he quietly asked.

layla was sitting on the bench by the pool, dragging her toes across the surface of the water. she turned to look at zach, "hi z-bear," she smiled weakly.

zach walked over to the bench, sat down next to layla, and gently grabbed her hand and stroked the to of it with his thumb.
"talk to me," he quietly said.

layla looked into his eyes. his eyes were a soft, chocolate brown. she could tell that he was worried and he truly cared about what was going on.
she sighed and looked down at the water.
"i... i'm not sure what's wrong," she said, her voice shaking.

zach examined the girls face, worriedly.
"hey," he began, calmly. "everything's gonna be okay. please don't ever feel as though you can't talk to me. i'm always here for you, no mater what," he assured her as he wrapped his arm around her.

layla looked into zach's eyes.
"god why do his eyes suddenly look so...intriguing?" she thought to herself.

she smiled at his words, "thanks, z-bear."

-

layla lied in her bed in the guest bed room and stared up at the ceiling.

what the hell is going on with me?

it's like i'm sad but i'm not...

and zach...

he won't get out of my damn head.

what the hell

do i love him?

no. no, i can't.

he's just a friend to me.

i would never think of him as anything more than a friend.

layla let a tear run down her cheek and she soon fell asleep, peacefully.

~⚡️~