The next day Nathan and I spent the whole day together since we had to catch up on those two years I've been gone. And now we're on our way back to the apartment.

We made jokes all the way up. Once the doors opened, we all made our way to the apartment. Nathan opened the door and walked in. It was dark, and it kind of freaked me out.

"Happy Birthday!" Everyone screamed as we walked in. I jumped. The lights came on and I saw the rest of the band plus their girlfriends. "Oh my god!" I exclaimed as I read the sign above Jonah's head. "Who planned this?" I asked. "Thank your boyfriend!" Corbyn exclaims. I twirl around and I see Zach against the wall. I let out a loud squeal as I saw him. I hadn't seen him all day, he didn't stay over last night so I didn't get to wake up next to him. Let me tell you, he was looking good today!

"Oh my god thank you!" I exclaimed as I ran over to him. "Happy birthday, love." He greets as he hugs me. "Thank you, Thank you!" I repeat as we sway. We pull away. He kissed me softly. "Now that was adorable! But we have presents!" Christina shouts. I laugh and pull away. He holds my hand as we walk to the living room. I sit down in between his legs and they hand me and Nathan presents. I bought most of Nathan's gifts since they didn't know him that well, but the rest of them still treated him the same as me. Zach rested his head on my shoulder as he watched us open the presents.

Towards the last present, Zach got up and left the room. I frowned as I opened the last one. Suddenly I heard a ringing, which I found odd. "Babe?" I heard Zach ask. I turned around and saw him with a small puppy in his arms. I squealed and jumped up. It looked like a tea cup puppy. "Is this mine?" I asked as I neared. Zach smiled and nodded. I squealed and stood beside Zach. "I love her!" I exclaimed as Zach handed her to me. "I may be afraid of dogs, but she's cute!" Taaliya exclaimed as I sat back down on the ground. I set her down and she ran around the circle of friends. Zach sat down behind me on the couch.

"I'm naming her, Luna. It's cute to me." I announced. I nod to my self as I lean my head on his legs. He leans up and plays with my hair. "Moms calling?" Nathan says as he looks at his phone. "Is it FaceTime?" I ask. "Yeah." He responds. I nod.

"I'm 18 now. She can't make me go back home. I need to face my fears, ya know?" I reply. He nods and answers it. The rest of our friends leave the room to give us privacy, except Zach. I give Zach a wearily smile as I hear my mom's voice. He strokes my cheek to calm me down. "Nathan! Happy Birthday!" She exclaims. "Thanks," he responded. He scoots closer to where I'm sitting. "Hey mom." I say as I pop my head into frame. Her eyes go wide. "Nathan! I thought you said you were going with friends?" She responded as she stared at me. I guess I changed a lot since I was back home. Well, I didn't have this lip ring, or a small tattoo on my shoulder, which is visible because of this tank top I'm wearing. "Yeah, it's me. No need to freak out or anything." I say as I lean back into Zach. I hear her groan. "So, you ran away to Los Angeles?" She asks as Nathan flips the camera to me. I look back down from Zach and see her face. Ugh I haven't seen that in a while. "Yep. Couldn't deal with you anymore." I call out. Her eyes grow wide.

She rolls them soon after, but they land on the god above me. "And you are?" She rudely asks. "Angel's boyfriend, Zach." He spits. "I've seen you on TV, aren't you in a band?" She asks. He nods. I smile up at him, which he returns. "Just saying, I bet Angel's using you for your money." She spits. My eyes tear up. "Excuse me?" He asks. "Oh well, she's dated a lot of guys so she might just break your heart like she did with the others." She points out. "I dated one guy before Zach. One! So that makes me a hoe? Yeah, this is exactly why I left." I mumble as I wipe my tears. "Oh come on Angel, we all know you pull that crying act to draw attention to your self." She spits. "Are you kidding me right now? Don't try and pull that act. Angel's told me everything about you. Like how you used to beat her? Yeah I know about that. I suggest, you stay out of Angel's life." Zach spits. Luna runs up to me and pushes my hand away from my tear stained face. Nathan gasps as he listens to whatever Zach's saying now, I kind of zoned out after he called her out on abusing me.

Zach cradles me in his arms and stands up. "We'll be in her room. I'll see you later Nathan." He mutters as he walks us to my room, Luna following close behind. Once she walks through the door, Zach slams it closed. He sets me down in front of him. More tears run down my face.

"I spent most of my life being made fun of my weight by her! My own mom! You know how hard that is? Of course you don't, your mom actually loves you!" I cry as I pace. My brown hair spills over my sobbing frame as I pace nervously around my room. "I'm so jealous that you actually have a caring mom! I never got to experience that. God you're so lucky." I cry harder. I turn around and see Zach standing there, listening to me. "I spent my whole childhood in my brother's shadow, but he was the one to make sure I was fed, to make sure I felt good, made sure I was good mental wise, but my own mom wasn't! That's just messed up." I shout as I pulled my hair into a messy high ponytail.

"I'm so sick of her trying to ruin my life! My life was so amazing because of you, so thank you for that. But those 10 minutes of her judging every little part of me, broke me again! And I was finally put together! Her saying I'm a failure my whole childhood stuck with me until last year, and now it's back! I don't know if I can get rid of it!" I exclaim as I wipe my tears away. "I finally got it out of my head that I was ugly, I was actually proud of my self, but then she came back in and all those memories of her saying I was useless and ugly came back. It hurts Zach!" I cried. I twirled around and was met with Zach's chest.

"Hey, Hey. Listen to me. You are not a failure. I see you as a beautiful girl, Hell, even the whole band does. You're an amazing person and I don't know how she could even see a flaw in you! You shouldn't be treated like this!" He says, his voice strong. "And you are not ugly! Never say that again," he says as he pulls me against him. "You're beautiful! Please never listen to her, you're way better than anything she described you as. Please never listen to anything she says, it's all lies." He says as he wraps his arms around my waist. He pulls away soon after. "Promise me?" He asks. I look down at our intertwined fingers. "I promise." I say as.

"I love you." He gently says. My head came up after he said this. Zach has never said this is to me. "I love you too." I smile. He giddily smiles and kisses me. "Now come on, let's get you cleaned up." He says as he leads me to my bathroom.

After picking me up and setting me on the counter, he grabs my make up remover wipes and starts taking off my makeup. He stands between my legs and works very carefully, almost as if he's afraid he's going to hurt me. "Zach, I'm not glass." I mutter as he swipes my cheek bones. "I know that, I'm just being careful." He replies. "How about, we hang out in here tonight and watch Netflix all night!" He exclaims as Luna strolls into the bathroom. Her small paws barely making noise as they hit the ground. "I'm down for that." I respond as my door opens. "I heard crying, what did that bitch do?" Taaliya shouts. Zach playfully rolls his eyes. "I'm okay now." I reply. Zach throws the last wipe away and helps me down. "Who do I need to fight?" She asks. "Preferably my mom." I reply. She looks at me. I look at Zach, and he takes the cue to leave. Taaliya sits down next to me on the bed. I tell her the whole story, on how she abused me, on how she made fun of my weight, everything.

•••

After Taaliya leaves about 30 minutes later, Zach joins me in my room. "I'm convinced my mom likes you more than me." He laughs as he lays face down into my pillows. "I love your whole family." I reply as I lay my head on his bare back. He turned around so he was facing me. His brown eyes stared into my bright blue eyes.

I lifted my head on his chest and he wrapped his arm around my waist. He laid his other hand on my jawline and gently played with my ear.

•••

Cold. It was freezing cold when I woke up. Hearing a small snore beside me, I looked over. Luna was in Zach's usual spot. Rubbing my eyes, I look up at my clock. 2 A.M. After pulling my self up, I slid out of my room. The living room has voices in it, with lights. So I'm guessing some ones in there watching TV. I picked Luna up from where she was beside my feet and followed the voices. Seeing a figure sprawled out on the couch, I realized Nathan was passed out on the ground. I set Luna down and grabbed a blanket on top of Nathan and turned to the other person on the couch. Zach's mouth was slightly parted, and he still didn't have a shirt on. "Babe?" Zach asked as I went to grab him a blanket. "I thought you were asleep?" I asked as I went back to him. "I was, but I just woke up." He replied. He opened his arms and motioned me to join him on the couch. I gladly accepted and laid down in front of him. He wrapped his arm around my waist from behind and nuzzled his head into the crook of my neck. "You're so warm." I say as I turn off the TV with the remote. "You're freezing cold babe." He laughs. "I know." I reply as Luna climbs into the spot right above my head and lays down. Soon after, I quickly fall back asleep.

•••

We wake up around 8:00 am, so we decided to hang out in my room. I was currently going through Netflix to find a good Halloween movie. "You know, I just realized this." I pause as I scroll through the animated movies. "Hm?" Zach says as he lays his head on my shoulder from behind and wraps his arms around my waist. "We haven't made it official on Instagram yet!" I say as I lean against him. Clicking on Coraline, I get comfortable. "We could right now if you wanted to." He smiles. I look up at him. "But fair warning, they might send hate messages, love. But don't listen to them, they're just jealous of our relationship." He laughs as he kissed the exposed skin on my shoulder. "Let's go it!" I giggle. I pause the movie and grab my phone and looked for a photo of me and Zach. I eventually found a photo Daniel took as he barged into my room to bother us.

\/\/\/

Liked by: imzachherron, taaliyalovey, jackaverymusic, and 41,482 others.

Angelbaby: I love the way you make me so happy, and the ways you show you care. I love the way you say, ''I love you'', and the way you are always there.
📍@imzachherron 📸: @seaveydaniel

Load 23,478 more comments.

Taaliyalovey: SHIPPPPPP #zangelisrealhoes

isabellababes: honestly caption goals

jonahmarais: #jaaliyaisreal
Angelbaby: @jonahmarais THIS ISN'T ABOUT YOU SMH. BUT SHIP😤

imzachherron: ❤️❤️

limelight_fandom: ew.

noellefashion: AYE IVE BEEN SHIPPING THIS FOR AGES!!!

Corbynbesson: 👀👀
/\/\/

Liked by: jonahmarais, angelbaby, haileystone, and 38,329 more liked.
imzachherron: If you ever asked me the number of times you have crossed my mind, I would say only once. You know why? You came and never left.
📍: @angelbaby

Load 23,573 more comments.

angelbaby: I love you😭❤️
Imzachherron: I love you more.

jackaverymusic: I JUST FREAKING REALIZED DANIEL'S THE ONLY SINGLE ONE IN THE GROUP SKSKS
seaveydaniel: ugh, don't remind me hoe:(

taaliyalovey: CUTIESSSS❤️❤️