You're Just A Diamond In The Rough.

I heard a knock on my door, I rolled over slightly, contemplating just ignoring it but the knocking continued.

“Go away.” I shouted, really not wanting to deal with anyone right now.

“Charlotte you really need to let me in, this is pretty urgent.” I heard Leana reply, I looked at the door confused, could this just be a trap to get me out my room? I decided to trust Leana, if she said something’s urgent, it usually is. I half fell out of bed and unlocked the door, dodging out the way and she flung it open, narrowly missing my head before she slammed it closed again.

“Leana! What the hell?” I exclaimed.

“Charlotte you were wrong, he wasn’t saying he loved Cindy, he was saying he loved YOU.” I looked at her as if she’d grown an extra head.

“Don’t be silly Leana.” I muttered bitterly, looking down at Zacks shirt which was still in my hands.

“No, I promise, I just spoke to Matt and Jimmy, you heard them wrong, he was saying it about you. I told you, I told you from the start he felt the same.” A smile was growing on her face now, my heart was pounding. I knew she wasn’t lying, she’d never looked so certain of something in her life. I had to speak to him, I needed to hear himsay it was true. I left the room without replying to Leana, walked straight past the others and out of the suite. I quickened my pace to almost a run as I neared Zackys room, not even sure what I was thinking anymore. I reached his room but stopped suddenly, seeing his suite door was already open.

“Zack?” I called, worriedly stepping inside of his suite. The room was empty. I continued inside until I reached his bedroom, knocking on the closed door and calling his name. I was met with silence. I timidly opened his door, doing a quick scan of the room I saw he definitely wasn’t inside. He must’ve gone out and just forgotten to close the door. I was about to leave when I saw something that made my stomach drop. His wardrobe and drawers that he’d previously had his clothes in were open and empty, everything was gone. I ran around the rest of the suite not finding one trace of Zack.

I can barely even remember the run back to my suite but within seconds I was fumbling with my room key and stumbling back into the room.

“Zacks gone!” I exclaimed to everyone inside.

“I was with him only 15 minutes ago, he’s probably just gone for some air.” Brian concluded, I shook my head.

“You don’t understand, everything’s gone, all his stuff, his whole suite is empty, he’s gone!” I half shouted, trying to get my point across.

“But, why would he do that? He had finally calmed down a bit when I left.” Brian stuttered, worry now etched clearly on his face as Matt and Jimmy left the room to check Zacks suite out themselves. I ran a hand down my face as I slumped onto the couch next to Leana.

“I don’t know.” I sighed before looking hopefully up at Brian. “He didn’t say anything?” He seemed to be racking his brain whilst shaking his head slowly.

“No, he got a text a couple of minutes before I left which seemed to bother him a bit but he told me he was okay.” I snapped my head up as I processed Brians words, I pulled my phone out of my pocket opening up my sent messages. I read over the words I sent and groaned.

“That was me, I text him. He’s going to have took it completely the wrong way.” I whispered. I read the text out to them, grimacing once I’d finished.

“It sounds like I heard him say he loved me and slept with him even though I didn’t feel the same.” I whimpered, “I didn’t mean that, I wrote that when I thought he was talking about Cindy. Oh god, what have I done.” Matt and Jimmy entered the room, confirming my suspicions.

“We’ve both tried ringing him, no answer.” Jimmy muttered. “I actually can’t believe he’s done this, is he completely out the fuck up this tour for us?”

Matt was frantically ringing Johnny and the rest of Idiotic Idols, hoping someone had seen or heard from him but they were all as clueless as we were. Everyone was frantic now, trying to get hold of him but no one was getting anywhere.

“He can’t have gone far.” Johnny, who had now joined us in our suite piped in. “Maybe if we all split up we could find him?”

That seemed like the only choice we had right now so we split up. Some people were going to the airports and train stations in hope of seeing him if he was trying to leave the country. The rest of us were basically told to walk aimlessly around Paris and hopefully run into him. I pulled on my Converse; I was the last to leave so I hurriedly left the hotel and entered onto the streets of Paris for the second time today. Instead of wandering round and getting lost, I decided to go the same route I went this morning. I stuck my earphones in and kept a close eye out for the tattooed guitarist. My phone was buzzing constantly with texts from everyone updating me on what they had and hadn’t found. One text that worried me was from Matt, he’d found Zacks phone on the steps outside the hotel, I sighed. This seemed like a pointless mission, Paris is massive, he could be anywhere.

I’d been walking for about half an hour, I’d reached a park that I’d stopped to admire this morning and decided to stop here again. I needed to clear my mind. I found an empty bench by a small lake and slumped in it heavily pulling on my sunglasses and pulling up my hood as I did. I felt the familiar sting of tears coming and I furiously blinked them away. This was a mess and it was all my fault. I glanced up to look at the ducks in the water, watching as a small boy threw bread for them before running back to his parents who picked him up and continued their walk through the park. That’s when I saw him. The little boys parents had been blocking my view of another bench to the side of the lake. On it was a hunched over Zack, hood up and head in his hands, the large suitcase by his feet and backpack by his side confirmed it was him. I should’ve ran over but I was frozen with nerves. Pulling out my phone I sent a group text to everyone.

‘I’ve found him, everyone go back to the hotel x’

Removing my hood and sunglasses and standing shakily to my feet, I took a deep breath. I needed to do this. I tried not to think about it and just let my legs do the work as I got closer and closer to him. I half expected him to look up but his head remained in his hands. I sat next to him silently, he didn’t even realise I was there. I slowly moved my hand and rested it on his shoulder; he jumped at the unexpected touch his wide eyes meeting mine.

“Charlotte.” He stuttered, “What are you doing here?” I laughed nervously,

“Well you’ve kinda had everyone in a panic, everyone’s out looking for you.” He bowed his head slightly, obviously ashamed of how he’d acted.

“Look,” I started. He gestured for me to shush before sitting up straight and turning slightly so he was facing me.

“I know.” He said quietly. “It’s okay, you don’t have to explain, your text said it all, you just want to be friends and that’s fine” He rambled, he attempted a smile but his eyes held confusion and sadness that made my heart melt.

“No, Zack, you don’t understand, I sent that text because I thought what I heard last night was you saying you were in love with Cindy not..” I broke off, not wanting to finish the sentence, still slightly worried Leana was wrong. I saw the confusion in his eyes start to melt away. “I left this morning because I thought you regretted last night, because of Cindy, not because I regretted it, because.. I really don’t regret it Zack.” My voice reducing to a whisper by the end, my cheeks burning slightly as the truth finally came out. His eyes widened slightly, a ghost of a smile present on his beautiful lips.

“You don’t?” He asked warily, I shook my head and he smiled one of the most genuine smiles I’d ever seen.

“Good, because I don’t regret it either, not one bit.” I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face from his words; I looked away knowing I was blushing furiously.

“I told you we would always end up being dramatic.” I sighed before laughing along with him.

“Damn right.” He replied, flashing me a grin that made my stomach erupt with those familiar butterflies.

“I was really worried about you, you know.” I whispered, bowing my head slightly. He moved his hand to mine, interlocking our fingers gently.

“I need to tell you something Charlotte.” He started, I could see the uncertainty in his eyes, he wasn’t sure whether he should say what he was about to say or not. “I.. um, I never liked Cindy.” I looked at him confused; he swallowed hard, his grip on my hand tightening slightly as if he thought I would run. “I met her at the bar we first went to in Greece, I saw you with another guy, I was jealous, very jealous.. So I drank, a hell of a lot and she was just there, I don’t even remember what happened next I just know I woke up with her the next morning. Apparently I’d asked her to be my girlfriend when I was still wasted so I was kind of stuck. I wasn’t planning on anyone finding out about her but you came in and.. you know the rest. I should’ve told you the truth but I guess a little part of me wanted you to be jealous and when you weren’t.. I was just stupid, things snowballed and I just.. I’m sorry.” I blinked as I took in his confession. So his whole relationship with Cindy was to make me jealous? I guess I should be angry, but I was so thankful that it clouded and anger I would’ve had.

“I might have a bit of a confession to make too.” I laughed to myself. “I was never happy for you and Cindy, infact, I really fucking hated her. I just didn’t want you to know how I really felt about you, so I hid it, pretended I was happy when I wasn’t”

“Why do we have to make things so confusing for ourselves?” He laughed. I felt my phone vibrating again and pulled it out of my pocket, a lot of texts and miss calls from everyone. I turned to Zack, ignoring the butterflies that filled my stomach as my eyes met his beautiful green ones.

“I think we should get you back. Everyone’s worried sick.” I smiled, standing up and dusting myself off. I quickly text Matt where we were and to send a car and then picked up Zacks bag despite his protests on how he could carry them himself. He grabbed his suitcase and we walked over to the street to keep a look out for the car. He put down his suitcase and I balanced his bag carefully on top of it.

“I’m glad it was you who found me.” He blushed. I giggled slightly looking down to hide my own blush. He reached over, gently lifting my head so I was looking at him. He was so close now I could feel his breath on my lips, I wanted to kiss him so much, I craved him but he wasn’t making a move, instead he smiled gently.

“I’m in love with you Charlotte.” He whispered, sending shivers down my spine. It took me a few minutes to realise what he said. I was definitely blushing now but he wouldn’t let me look away. His eyes were searching mine just as mine were searching his. Emotions I’d never seen in his eyes were surfacing; they were bouncing with happiness and what I could only hope was love. I smiled lightly, this is what it felt like, I’d never felt this before but just looking into his eyes, I knew I was right.

“I’m in love with you too, Zack.” I replied, a smile spreading across my face at finally saying the words out loud. His smile grew too, his left hand reached up and rested on my face as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

“You don’t know how happy I am to hear that.” He breathed before closing the gap between us bringing us into yet another breathtaking kiss, if it wasn’t for his arm around my waist my legs would’ve buckled beneath me. We broke apart, he rested his forehead against mine looking me in the eyes again, almost to make sure I wasn’t going to change my mind before placing another soft kiss on my lips and smiling gently. It was then that the car arrived and we stepped away from each other, he grabbed his stuff and bundled it into the car before grabbing my hand lightly to pull me towards it.

The whole car ride back he kept throwing me secret smiles that made me blush, especially when he put his arm around me, pulling me close to his side and placing a tender kiss on my temple. I rested my head on his chest and sighed in content. I really couldn’t be happier or luckier to be the girl Zack loves. This morning I woke up thinking I’d ruined everything and now, I’d admitted my feelings to the guy I loved.

The guy I loved.

Trust me to fall in love in Paris.