A/n: sO I FINALLY WATCHED JURASSIC PARK AND IT WAS AMAING AAAAAAK!! Okay enjoy lol

Zach and I sat there, not talking. His hand held mine and I lay my head on his shoulder. Visions of dinosaurs and watching people get eaten alive flashed before my eyes. Seeming to notice my distress, Zach's hand tightened around mine, comforting me.

We'd met when we'd been getting on the same ride. My mom and I had gotten in a fight the night before so we split up for the day, as we both needed space. I was frustrated and alone as I got in line and Gray, Zach's little brother, noticed me.

The facts Gray was sharing were things I knew. I smiled as he rattled them off. Then I stepped in, joining him. We bounced off nerdy facts and figures, sounding dorky and annoying Zach but having fun. When the ride came up, I stepped back, and Gray and I were both really bummed.

The older boy sighed as Grey got into the ride glumly. "Do you, uh, want to come with us?" Zach asked reluctantly.

Both Gray and I light up and I nodded. "Sure." So I slipped in the back and had been stuck with the duo since the beginning.

At first Zach had ignored me, keeping me around to keep Gray entertained. But when I almost got killed, something changed between us. Zach looked at me differently, as if seeing me in a different light.  Not an annoying dorky girl to keep his brother away from him, but a person. Who was alone. Who was scared. Who needed comfort and had fears just like he did.
In that second that I was barely hanging on from a full mental melt down, he'd embraced me. "I won't let you die."

Completely shocked, I'd leaned back, our eyes locking. "I thought I was annoying."

He offered a small smile. "You're not that bad," he whispered, moving a piece of lose hair behind my ear. We'd leaned in. Then he seemed to realize something and he leaned back. "Sorry."

A half-scoffing chuckle escaped me and I shook my head, pushing the embarrassment and mortification and the entire happening as a whole into a dark corner of my mind where I couldn't see it. "No. It's okay. Do you - Of course. You have a girlfriend, yeah?" He pursed his lips. That was all the answer I needed.

When Zach's mom found them and everyone embraced, I was left sitting alone. Then my mom found me. As the happy family reunited, my mom and I stood there. "I thought you died," she told me.

My shoulders popped up in a brief shrug. "I almost did," I told her.

She looked over my shoulder at Zach. "Who are your friends?"

My chest tightened. Friends. "They helped me survive." She went to move to them, as if to thank them, but I caught her arm. There was pain in my voice as I spoke. This was it. This is when we separated and never saw each other ever again. Everything between us was not only pointless but to be forgotten. "Let's just... Go, okay?"

She looked at me, her eyes seeming to see into my mind, seeing all that I'd gone through and seen and felt. For once she didn't insist or demande or push or prod. She was merciful and simply gave in and let it be. "Okay. Let's go." Then she put her arm around my shoulders and we began walking away.

"Y/N!" I stopped, turning around. Zach stood by his family, his eyes pained as he watched me walk away. He broke free, running to me. He seemed lost for words, not sure how to keep me here, with him, but wanting to. Then he saw my mom. "Are you her mother?"

My mom smiled tightly. "Yes," she said, offering a small smile. "You kept her alive?"

Zach laughed stiffly. "She did most of that by herself," he conceded. "She's pretty epic." He smiled at me and I blushed, looking at my feet.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, my mom shook her head. "Well, you put in effort. I'm sure of it. Thank you for any contribution."

As her hand dropped away, Zach nodded. "Don't mention it. It was my pleasure to keep her alive. I would have been devastated if anything happened to her..." I looked up, surprised, searching his eyes for some sign. But they were trained on my mom, giving away nothing.

I looked away, sighing. "We have to go."

He shuffled, cutting us off from leaving again with movement. "Do you really?" Zach asked, seeming to be stalling. "Oh. Well, look at the time."

My eyes watched him, unsure on how to feel about his actions. "Yeah. We should be getting home." My heart was breaking and I was confused and frustrated and angry. I didn't know exactly why. Because he was being faithful to his girlfriend? What a selfish, stupid thing to be angry about! Maybe I was angry because, in his mind, he WASN'T being faithful. He was thinking of me but he wasn't leaving her, hurting all three of us in the process?

Then I realized I was angry at myself. For falling for a boy with a girlfriend. A boy who obviously didn't respect my feelings or his own or his girlfriends. Hugging and cuddling up to me. Holding my hand and exchanging long, lasting looks and then turning around and putting a distance between us that didn't make sense. Turns out I had quite a bit to be angry about. Of all things, he didn't have the right to keep my here and stall and try to get to know my mom. He. Had. A. Girlfriend.

Even if he didn't, he was one of those guys. I doubted it was even ME he liked. I was nearby and cute and we had gone through trauma together. For those reasons or something else he was drawn to me. Simple as that. Remembering the way he'd looked at the other girls in line, I knew I'd never compare to them. I wasn't as pretty. I bet his girlfriend was even more pretty than those girls were, too. Even greater. I'd most definitely never compare to that.

My jaw tightened. "Mom?" I asked, looking over at her. "Should we go?"

She looked between me and Zach, her expression part knowing, part sorry, and part interested. As if picturing us together and liking it but also suspecting there was something going on that she'd miss. After a second's pause, he nodded. "Okay, sweetie. If you want to."

To confirm, I nodded.  "Goodbye, Zach," I mumbled. Then I went to turn.

"Are you leaving?" A small voice asked. I turned back once again to see Gray moving to stand next to Zach, looking after me like a kicked puppy.

Now this would be the hard part. Leaving Gray. I smiled sadly, ruffling his hair. "Don't worry, kid. You'll find another geeky friend," I joked.

The small kid looked up at me, exposed and innocent hope on his face. "But I thought you and Zach were going to-"

My eyes went wide. "Gray," I cut him off, my heart racing.

Glaring at his feet, he seemed irritated. "I would like to actually get along with his one of his girlfriends for once," Gray grumbled. "Have her like me and be cool. Be part of the family. Actually be awesome."

I didn't dare look at Zach. Sighing, I thought a second. "Hey, do you have a phone? Or an email?" I asked.

He shrugged. "An email."

"Well, I'll get you my email..." I looked at my mom and she reached in her purse she still seemed to have with her, pulling out a piece of paper and a pen. I smiled at the comical scene. Unlike me, she was clean and unaffected really by the incident where I was caked in dirt and had scrapes all over my arms and a big cut on my cheek.

Taking the pen and paper, I wrote down my email and handed it to Gray. He took it somberly. "Will I see you again?" He asked quietly.

My smile tightened. "Probably not in person... But hey. Who knows, right?" I nudged him. "Hey, don't be too down. Keep your chin up, Gray. Email me."

As we went to part ways yet again, I was stopped. Yet again. "Hey, I have a question," Zach spoke up suddenly. I looked over at him. He seemed to think for a second.

In his pause, his aunt walked up. "You guys hitting the road?" She asked.

Looking at her, irritated she'd interrupted but still knowing I should say goodbye to her too, I smiled. "Yeah."

She sighed. "Well, I'm glad you made it out with us," she said, pulling me into a hug. I sighed, relieved, hugging her back. "Keep going, kid. You've got promise. You were up there with Owen, you were. Being epic and connecting with the dinosaurs so easily because you were so like Owen and you smelled like him. That was genius, adapting to his scent. You're going go places."

We separated and I smiled. "Thanks." Owen came up then, extending his hand. I took it. He said nothing, but his eyes held a message for me and I got it. He was proud of me. And he was glad I was okay. He'd miss me too. And I'd probably never see him again. It was unlikely. Very unlikely. "Okay," I sighed, wiping my eyes. "We should go."

Just then Zach gave in to whatever he was debating about. Me really leaving sent him into a panic. He grabbed my wrist and I turned as he pulled me to him, pressing his lips to mine. Whoops and hollers sounded from everyone else and I melted into him. I leaned back. "I thought you said-"

He was quiet as he spoke and everyone around us were cracking jokes and nudging each other, moving away to give us some privacy. "I called her. Told her what happened. Said I didn't think we would work out because I'd reassessed my life."

One of my eyebrows arched. "You dumped her over the phone?" I asked.

Zach shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "I couldn't exactly wait until we got home," he reasoned.

A smile ghosted my lips. "Fair enough." There was a pause as my heart sunk again and I looked at my mom, who got my message and headed over. "What happens now?"

"Well!" My mom said, catching everyone's attention. "I'd been trying to tell you. We're moving. I want to get out of our old town. But I wasn't quite sure yet. I was going to plan it with you. Pick somewhere and just... move there. You were always complaining that I needed to be more spontaneous." She shrugged, smiling. "I was going to have you randomly place your finger on a map, but hey, take the chances life gives you, yeah?"

I gaped at her. "You're not serious?"

She grinned. "I'm completely serious. You seemed to have made some very important friends. You can see Gray and his aunt and Owen any time you want. And Zach, of course... If we moved to their town."

Looking at Zach, I was speechless. "Something's finally started going right," he whispered. Nodding, I didn't really say anything. I just hugged him. He hugged back, burying his face in my neck.

We did see a lot of each other after that. I moved only a few blocks away from him. I introduced my mom to the whole family and we told her about all our adventures, almost giving her a heart attack half the time. We shared stories, cracked jokes, tried not to relive horrors in too much detail, and all together became... Well, a family.

We all got something from it. Gray got a best friend and a girlfriend for his brother that he got along with and had fun with. One who played with him and acted like part of the family. Owen got a protege that he taught everything he knew about the dinosaurs. Zach, of course, got a girlfriend from it. I got him in return. And my mom got her daughter back. We'd gone on this whole vacation to bond after a lot of trouble starting after my dad left us spontaneously. Between everything that had happened, me realizing my dad was just a dick and moving on with my life was the least significant.

The park didn't close, but it became a reserve for the rest of the living dinosaurs instead of a park for tourists. They lived there in peace with only the occasional human to see it be wild in its natural habitat. I got a job working with Owen. When I hatched my first egg, I got to name it and bond with it and grow it by myself. It was a big thing that everyone celebrated.

Owen and Claire became stronger and she let loose a little, becoming the "cool aunt". They got married after a few years and Claire finally started thinking about having kids, even though she kind of adopted me as her "daughter" the same way Owen had.

And Zach? Well, Zach and I... We were solid.  We were each other's best friends, as well as girlfriend and boyfriend. We ended up going to the same school and when Zach's ex approached me, and we started arguing, Zach intervened, solidifying that he was choosing me in the end. "I chose her! I chose her when I broke up with you! I fell for her when we survived that day. I'm sorry. I didn't want to string you along and push her away and lose her when I knew that if I really loved you, I wouldn't have fallen for her in the first place," Zach explained to her with a hard expression.

The girl couldn't form words and I stood quiet and awkward. "So you love her then?"

Zach's hands went into the air and then dropped back down again. "We're teenagers. We can't really love yet."He looked at me for a second and then changed the line of speaking, something setting in his eyes as a realization crossed his mind. "But yeah. I love her as much as I can." He turned back to her and I pushed the sweet moment to be addressed later. "Grow up and move on. I hate to sound harsh, but picking fights with her and arguing and throwing fits isn't going to get me back. I'm spoken for now. By someone else. I'm sorry."

She glared at me. "I hope you guys end horribly."

I stepped forward, my face gentle, empathizing with this girl who I'd taken everything from. She must have been a bitch to Gray and Zach wasn't happy with her a long time before they ended, but she still had a heart and she was still a person."I hope you find someone better for you than Zach was. Because he's perfect for me, okay? I hope you find a Zach to your Y/n because that relationship will be the best thing you will ever experience, okay? I wish the best on you because you deserve it." I grabbed Zach's hand, dragging him away and leaving her gaping after us.

As we exited the room, I spun around, grabbing his neck and bringing him down so I could kiss him. "I love you too."

He smiled. "So you caught onto that?"

"As best I could," I joked.

He blushed. "I just meant-"

"No. I agree, that's how I've always seen it. I'm glad you see it the same way."

He smiled. "So I'm the best thing ever, huh?"

I rolled my eyes,  jr my grin gave me away. "Shut up and kiss me."

He smiled brightly, leaning closer again as he mumbled, "Yes ma'am."