All for You

The ruckus of another Aria and Jack fight echoed through the tour bus. Even though I had my iPod blasting, and a skater’s magazine to keep me occupied, I couldn’t keep myself focused with all the racket. I rolled my eyes and fiercely opened the curtain covering my bunk to find and almost-empty bus. Everyone but Zack was gone – most likely from the fighting, they couldn’t handle it any more than I could.

I went into the bathroom and put my hair in a bun, knowing that I was going to spend the rest of the day in the bus. If I left, my idiot self would somehow find a way to run into Zack and cause more awkwardness. The last time that happened it didn’t go so well, not at all. It just ended in tears and miscommunicated feelings. After it was all done he bought me dinner, but it was awkward silence the whole time. I really don’t blame him though; I would’ve been silent too.

A knock came to the bathroom door and I froze up, knowing it had to be Zack with the continuous racket sounding from the back longue. I sighed and yelled a response to him. “I’m in here!”

“I know,” he said before pausing a minute. “Do you want to do something? I’m tired of being stuck in here.”

“Like what?” I questioned, genuinely curious why in hell’s name he would want to go out with
me after the façade that happened just a few days prior. “There’s nothing to do here, all the rest of the guys are at restaurants or bars.”

“There’s a beach, didn’t you bring your bathing suit?” he suggested, his voice excited.

“Yeah, but - ” I tried to say before I was interrupted by his booming voice.

“Great, get it on under your clothes and we’ll head over there,” he replied, not asking what I wanted once.

“I really don’t want to, I’d rather stay here all day to be honest, relax for once,” I responded
truthfully, really wanting to take a nap all of a sudden.

“I don’t care, come on, we’re going. Get yourself out of that damn bunk for once, Andy,” he demanded as gently as he could of me. “Now, go get your bathing suit. I know you don’t want to hear them bickering anymore.”

Another booming scream came from Aria and I cringed, not knowing what to do to help and not really wanting to. I shrugged and fixed my make up before going out of the bathroom to get my bathing suit, to find an already-changed Zack. “Hurry your ass up, girl, I want to get going.”

“Oh, pushy,” I raised my eyebrows at him. “You need to calm that down, kid.”

He smiled as we walked out the door together, our change of clothes and towel in hand. “I’ll race you, Gaskarth,” Zack said as he began running.

“Not fair, Merrick! You got a head start!” I said as I started running too, catching up to him in no time. My years of practice from running from the cops sure did pay off in some
circumstances.

Once the hot sand touched my feet and stopped, panting in and out harshly. Zack was still running, already looking for a spot on the beach for us. Even though I was a good runner, no one beat Zack. No one worked more on their muscles than that boy. Even since April his
muscles have gotten a lot bigger.

I trudged through the sand until reaching Zack; where his towel was laid out already and sunscreen was being applied to his body. I laid mine out next to his before stretching and grabbing the bottle of sunscreen from his hand.

“Can you get my back, please?” he asked casually.

My voice hitched in my throat as I mumbled a yes. I squirted the lotion into my hand, rubbing it together before taking a look at his muscular back. I rubbed it in slowly, wanting to savor the moments I could of feeling him – touching him, since I knew that they were so few.

He thanked me by doing the same for me and then heading towards the water. “Meet me in the water soon!”

I took a deep breath and put my hair into its’ usual ratty bun. The last time Zack and I were alone I cried to him about how much I liked him; and now he’s acting as if it never happened. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I shook my head and just walked towards the water; ready for whatever the day wanted to bring to me.

We were in the water for about two hours before getting tired and going back on the sand, laughing our asses off from the amount of jokes we could tell together. My giggly, bubbly personality only came out around Zack, and I wasn’t quite sure if I liked that or not yet.

Just as I was about to sit down on the towel and finally relax, something started touching my
feet. I screamed and jumped into Zack involuntary, the shock of it all scaring me enough to rid my mind of sense. He chuckled and patted my back, holding me close to his body. “It’s just a seagull, Andy, look.”

I took my face away from his chest to look down at the white bird simply eating a few crumbs of bread the previous inhibitors of the spot left lying around. I laughed and went away from Zack. “Oh, sorry. I’m an idiot.”

“Nah, not really, I would’ve gotten scared too,” he winked as he bent down beside the bird and handed it a piece of bread. It instantly took it graciously and waddled off to another spot of food. “You ready to go back to the bus? I bet Alex got take-out or something, and I’m sure
Jack and Aria have to be done by now.”

“Okay,” I agreed as I dried myself off and put my shirt back over my swimsuit. “Let’s get to it,
kid.”

We started making our way through the hot sand, unfamiliar faces giving us smiles on the way. I nudged Zack and continued going, starting the race this time. He soon passed me up with a wide smile on his face, just like the one placed on mine.