zach attack

at the mention of the girl, zach peered around the room, but didn’t seem to catch her. he shrugged, his attention going back to his friend. “i know, i know––i’ve been… busy, i guess? school stuff. moving. all that fun shit.” there was absolutely nothing busy about zach’s life since he had last been in the mysterybusters office. but, hopefully, isaiah wasn’t about to peak into his personal life too far. “i should have been texting you, dude. i’m sorry.” zach was struck with memories of his last conversation with isaiah’s other friend, their plucky coworker elijah, and he couldn’t help but feel guilty for the argument they had. he wondered if any of that news had made it to isaiah. “i’m boring, though, fuck what i’ve been up to––what’s new? how is blair doing? you guys get up to anything fun lately?”

there were only a few people that zach was close enough with to keep in contact after he announced his leave of absence ( whether or not it was permanent, he honestly had no idea ). the rest of the mysterybusters had become little foreign friends of friends, almost. he didn’t feel close to a lot of them, but the distance he felt between them all now was greater than ever before. it oddly bothered him, yet comforted him. on one hand, he didn’t have to constantly worry about their perception of him, and that released a tremendous amount of pressure. on the other hand, zach missed the company. the unexpected nights with kimi were a sweet reconnection, but that’s all they were––nights, with the few hours in the morning, before his apartment was empty again. the most frustrating part of it all was that zach didn’t necessarily want dozens of people packed into one house for a party, or loud rave crowds and clutters of people in backyards… he learned, after maybe too many attempts, that they weren’t real company, either. so when kimi went down the list of updates, he listened, smiling ( for the most part ) with actual intent to remember the information. his mind wandered to his last conversation with elijah at just the mention of his name. it took him a moment to come back to present time. “yeah, but that’s nothing new.” zach was quiet, his hand on his drink but not moving it anywhere. “i want brutal kimi for a second,” he finally met her eyes, communicating how certain he was, “are they happy i’m gone?”

while he watched kimi order, the best that zach could do was hide his wide grin behind his glass of iced tea. he nearly choked on his first sip when he heard the sweet tone come from kimi’s mouth––it must have given her a toothache to put on such a front. once the waitress had collected their menus and turned away, zach wasn’t so silent about his smile. "does it physically hurt you to do that? because it kind of looks like it.” for the new time they’d been spending together, not a lot of talking went down between them. both were to blame, zach considered. kimi didn’t like starting conversations and zach wasn’t good at keeping them alive. but having a half-assed topic bounce back and forth between them was better than awkwardly sitting in silence. zach put his phone face down on the table, his attention going, mostly, to kimi. “what have you guys been up to in the office?” she spoke about work briefly earlier, and zach thought that, maybe, it meant she was actually willing to discuss what was going on. plus, the more time he spent away from them, the more his interest grew.

with minimal effort, zach hid his face behind his open menu, attempting to avoid looking kimi directly in the eyes. he was quiet for a moment, but let the menu lower as he leaned in, elbows resting on the very edge of the table. “i’ll go down without a fight, but only if it’s a metal straw.” seconds after speaking, a few giggles followed, but zach still hadn’t looked up at kimi. his eyes were glued to the menu for a minute, his brain only registering every other item that was listed. “fuck––english breakfast or that bacon sandwich meal… i know i said eggs and bakey, but sandwich with bakey… can you really go wrong with that?” with a big sigh, zach leaned back in his chair, folding the menu up on the table. “you wanna pick for me and be even?” 

rather than get out immediately, zach waited in the car with kimi, rolling his eyes and debating giving her the satisfaction of winning or not. “i like it. none of my friends have been playing any new, good stuff. it’s all the same shit that came out last year. i need good recs.” it was his long-winded way of admitting defeat. “eggs and bakey time, baby, let’s get it.” he didn’t give the girl much time to dwell on his answer before he popped open his door and readily waited for her to do the same. when the two were synced up, they made their way towards the waitress on the patio of the cafe. they were seated just out front, next to a fence that separated the sidewalk from the restaurant. before he could even look at the menu, the waitress was asking for their drinks. “ah, one iced tea, for me, and…” kimi’s eyes were trained on the menu, “one coffee, and can we get a little bit of creamer with it?” as soon as the waitress walked off, zach jumped to his defense, knowing that kimi had a few choice words picked out to tell him off for ordering for her. “before you go all social justice warrior on me, just remember how many damn times i got you and everyone else starbucks. you like a little cream and sugar, verena likes black iced, eli gets, like, five percent coffee, ninety percent sugar and five percent milk. if there is one thing i got down, it’s drink orders.”

when kimi wanted to, she could always make zach genuinely laugh. of course, jokes weren’t her specialty––most of the things that came out of her mouth in the daylight hours were digs. nighttime normally provided more interesting comments. when the intro of blackbear’s song came on, zach couldn’t help but burst out in a quick laugh. after the first couple f-bombs dropped, he nodded. “yeah, alright. message received,” he laughed, voice just barely above the level of the music. it wasn’t what he was expecting, certainly, but when he looked over at kimi during the middle of the chorus, it made sense. “is it your playlist?” he asked, glancing at the audio player screen on the center console. “put it in my likes. or whatever you do to save shit in spotify.” while zach was perfectly capable of using his phone while driving, he could see the little cafe coming up on the corner, and was waiting to make the turn into the lot. 

with only a hint of bitterness, zach quickly replied. “yeah, well, i didn’t either.” when zach was close enough to unlock the car, he went through about three different choices in his head about if he should open kimi’s door or not. was it the right thing? sure. was it situationally the right thing to do, with the girl he was hooking up with? possibly. should he even bother reaching past her when she was already so close to the car, and awkwardly have to inch around? definitely not. he was only stood there behind her for a few seconds to debate it, before moving past and around to the drivers side. while his apartment was a small, growing mess, his car was kept as clean as possible. the backseat only held a chance of gym clothes, and in the front sat an empty energy drink in the cup holder. once seated, zach synced his phone up to the bluetooth, and passed it over to kimi, spotify already open for her to scroll through. the last time they drove together, she dragged his music library through the mud. “you dj this time. it’s, like, six minutes away, prove you’ve got better taste than i do.” with a roar of the engine, zach was circling the parking lot towards the exit.

"yeah, thats what i though. cool.” once she had left the bathroom, zach jumped on the chance to quickly brush his teeth, listening to kimi from the other room. one spit later and he was stepping out to join her. “i thought you didn’t like talking about work,” zach teased, but there wasn’t much energy put into it. she told him before that she didn’t feel like chitchatting about their coworkers ( ex-coworkers, to him, technically ) with him, and it had made everything more comfortable for zach. even though he hadn’t been into the office in months, or spoken to anyone besides the occasional texts to isaiah and ashley, zach still felt stressed just thinking the mysterybusters. he enjoyed them, throughly, and would return in a heartbeat, if things were different. he wasn’t happy with how he left, nor was he happy with how he worked when he was still there. and admitting that wasn’t something he was going to willingly do, for the time being. zach opened up the door and held it for kimi, letting their conversation hang in the air for a bit longer. "bryce just came back, right? i’m not trying to steal his homecoming thunder. he’s a homie, i’m letting him have the moment.”

“keys,” he simply replied, getting up from the floor with a grunt. when zach saw that kimi was already nearly ready to walk out the door, he put the thought of his keys to the side, and followed her example. he pulled a sweatshirt from his closet and sat on his bed to put on socks and shoes, the simplest of attire to go out to eat in. when he reached for the second shoe, a familiar jingle rang out from inside it. “what the fuck..” he muttered to himself nearly laughing. “never mind, i got them!” he called out to kimi, happily shoving the shoe on and toying with the key ring around his finger. a few moments later, and zach was stepping just behind kimi, leaning against the bathroom door, watching the girl mess with her hair. “you can shower when we get back, if you want.” as soon as he offered, zach was reminded of the typical way kimi liked to operate, and backtracked. “or i could drop you off at your place. whatever works.” 

"you mean you’re not gonna be a sugar momma today?” zach held a face of feigned disappointment for a few seconds before cracking a smile and sending kimi a half-serious wink. he leaned off the counter and started to turn out of the kitchen. “yeah, i’m paying. 2schae sound good?” as he asked, zach began looking through the pillows and blankets that covered his couch, fishing between the cracks for where he last remembered having his keys. his memory from the previous night wasn’t too cloudy, and he knew he was smart enough to take his keys with him out of the uber kimi and him took home. it was somewhere between their time on the couch and in his room where the keys left his pocket. “grab whatever if you want to borrow a shirt or something,” zach offered, his hand now blindly searching under the coffee table for the cold metal collection. 

“don’t expect to find much in there.” it was nearing ten in the morning when zach woke up to the sounds of rummaging from the kitchen. his new apartment was all his, but on the smaller side, with walls too thin for kimi to move around without being heard. he had rolled himself out of the messy bed and threw on a clean pair of jeans, deciding that half-decent was good enough for the time being. he hadn’t been grocery shopping in a while, and even if he had, zach was never great at buying sustainable products for cooking. so when he saw kimi searching for something to make, he laughed a little. “seriously, it’s probably not worth it. there’s fruit loops, maybe.” he walked in closer to her, leaning against the counter at the mouth of the kitchen. “you wanna go get something to eat?”

it was one of the last summer parties that zach’s social circle was throwing. he’d been frequenting them more ever since he started his unemployment a few months prior. and, even given his reputation and love for parties, zach was beginning to feel burnt out. the beer in his hand was only his second, he was already looking up the prices on ubers back to his apartment, and it was only half past eleven. it felt like the end of his night. until he saw isaiah, of course. his friend ( best friend, maybe ) had come through the back gate in the little backyard, and was passing through the group of people surrounding a pong table. zach met him just as he was entering the house. “hey, man!” his voice was a mixture of excitement and surprise, and without thinking about it, zach reached forward and embraced the other boy in a friendly hug. he couldn’t even remember the last time they had spoke, let alone seen each other in person. “is ash here, too?” the thought of seeing his favorite little blonde girl made his eyes nearly light up. 

a simple “hey” was all that zach passed isaiah’s way when he came through the door. as his friend joined him on the couch, zach closed out of the various tabs on his laptop, and laid it to sit on the floor, shut. zach mirrored isaiah, looking through his phone as his friend did the same. they hadn’t spoken to each other ( without ashley or another friend in the room ) for nearly two weeks. “i, ah…” he had avoided telling isaiah about his fight with elijah and his unofficial resignation from the team, but zach thought they might not get another moment alone to actually talk about the important things. he sucked in a sharp breath, and, without looking away from his phone, continued. “a couple days ago, i got in a fight with eli.”

upon entering the apartment, zach promptly threw his backpack and keys on the couch, and partially stomped his way into his room. little words escaped his mouth in huffs, curses and angered nonsense alike. he rummaged through everything in his closet until he found the little canister of weed he hadn’t touched since he bought it a few weeks prior. luckily, he had kept a half-burnt blunt mixed in with the unrolled scraps, and immediately popped it into his mouth. the journey then became a quest for finding a lighter, and when zach determined that there was absolutely no trace of one in his room, he walked back into the kitchen, pulling open drawers until he found the emergency box of matches he and isaiah kept unopened. he was certain his roommate was in class, but as he took a match and struck it against the edge of the box, he heard isaiah’s door opening up. isaiah was one of the last people he wanted to talk to, and recount the argument zach just had with eli. but there was no relief when he laid eyes on the tired blonde, ashley. zach brought the match to the end of the blunt before the flame could burn out, and sighed, loud enough for her to hear. “i forgot you were here,” he breathed out with a puff of smoke, coughing only twice before his throat felt clear. “sorry. for waking you up.”