Burn It Down

"Emma," he whispered hoarsely, scooting up in the bed as much as he could around the restraints.

"Zack?" I said his name quietly, moving to his side.

"I bet I look great," he told me, trying his best to muster a small smile.

"Oh, the best," I said, doing my best to smile back. "What happened?" I asked, and he shrugged a little.

"Strike two," he said simply, his eyes doing their best not to meet mine.

"Zack..." I trailed off, hoping he'd say something else.

"I got in a fight. The other guys here don't like me very much. I'm not sure why. I don't know if it's because they know who I am, or don't like the band, or whatever. But they're always saying awful shit to me when no one is watching. Usually I can just ignore it, but the other day one of them crossed a line and I snapped," he said, sounding ashamed.

"What did he say?" I asked, not sure if I should be.

"It doesn't matter. It wasn't true," he said, his eyes looking at anything but me again. Something about the way he said it made me drop it. "How did you find my room?" he asked after a minute and I smiled at him.

"It's a secret."

"Stella?"

"Stella," I confirmed, sitting on the bed beside him.

"Thank you for finding me. I missed you," he said, smiling at me genuinely.

"I missed you too," I told him, taking a chance and kissing the top of his head. He chuckled lightly and his eyes sparkled.

"Top of the head? C'mon," he said sarcastically, puckering his lips dramatically.

I leaned down and kissed him for real, pressing my lips onto his and automatically feeling more intensity from it than I'd ever felt before. If his room had been any warmer, there may have been actual sparks.

"Better?" I whispered, my face still hovering over his.

"Not entirely. It'd be better if I could move my arms and legs," he joked, wiggling in a silly way. "But yeah, better," he whispered, smiling up at me.

"I've got to go. Stella's going to kill both of us if I don't get back soon," I told him, and he nodded slightly.

"Okay. I'll be out of these-," he paused to wiggle against his restraints again, "tomorrow. I'll see you in group?" he questioned, looking at me with an expression I couldn't quite read.

"See you in group," I confirmed, leaning down to kiss him quickly again. He made a noise in the back of his throat that made me want to stay with him forever, but suddenly Stella's face popped up in my head and I knew I couldn't. With a final look at him, I turned and left the room, really wishing I didn't have to.

I walked all the way back to the women's wing and was greeted by a faux-scowl from Stella.

"You're lucky you're back, darlin'. I was about to send a search party," she said quietly, smiling at me warmly. "How's our boy?" she asked, and I smiled back.

"He'll live. We both will," I told her, and she smiled at me again.

I walked back down the hall to my room happily, not totally able to believe I'd found this kind of happiness in this particular place. I knew we hadn't even known each other that long and we both still had so many things we needed to work through, but for some reason knowing he was there and knowing he was okay made everything feel just a little bit better. Something about him was just so reassuring to me. Ever since the moment he'd told me he noticed me, I couldn't get him out of my head. I knew it was probably just my slightly screwed up brain, but I really was starting to have ridiculously strong feelings for him. I wasn't totally sure where he stood, but I had a feeling it was in a similar place and it made me so much more optimistic about the whole situation.