to the side is Max Schneider and Tyler Ward singing "How to Save Life", the way Max sings is basically the way Nico sings.

ps. thank you to @-Osorrow- for the cute cover to the side

-

"Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play. Now I need a place to hide away," the Beatles. 

Zoey Willow Hunter

        AROUND this time of August a year ago, I was loudly singing the Beatles and Elvis Presley songs with Walters in his car, on the way to the airport. Since the car ride lasted two hours, we would stuff a bag with candy and chips. Our snacks consisted of that. By the time we would arrive at the airport, our sugar rush would fade away and we would sleep the full plane ride.

Today, I was in a newly-licensed English, obnoxious and needy boy’s car. For the second time this summer, we were heading to the airport.

 “Pass me a bottle of water,” commanded Nico.

“Why would I?”

“Because if not I will die of dehydration and this car will crash. You’ll either die or suffer from trauma for the rest of your life. Pass me the fucking bottle for Christ’s sake, Hunter.”

I grabbed a water bottle from the back seat and gulped the rest of it down in seconds. Nico’s grip on the steering wheel stiffened and his hair swayed slightly with the movement of his head.

“That was the last good, cold bottle of water,” he said with obviously suppressed anger.

“It was? Oh my,” I replied in a Southern accent, “I am so terribly not sorry, Mr. Forrest. But I would lie if I said that I wouldn’t want to see you dehydrate and well…die.”

“Well, Miss Hunter, you might as well go fuck yourself.”

He says “yourself”, like “yoself”.

“Why ever so rude, Mr. Forrest? That is not a way to speak to a lady.”

He snorted, “Since when have you ever been a lady, Miss Hunter?”

“Might I say, I became a woman the day my underpants got tainted with a red river in sixth grade,” I curtsied in my seat.

Nico grimaced, “Have you ever heard of ‘too much information’?”

I laughed and patted his shoulder, “Aw, Forrest. What a cutie, being scared of hearing girls talk about the way our uterus basically kills itself by bleeding out once a month out of the agony of knowing there was no baby implanted there and the way our capital V bleeds.”

“Hunter?”

“Yeah?” I said, feeling my face redden with restrained laughter.

“Please, shut up.”

“Only because you said please.”

Nineteen minutes later, I remembered having a flash drive filled with the Beatles’ songs. Putting it in, I turned whatever Arctic Monkeys’ song that was playing off and played my music.

“Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.” 

I smiled and started to sing along, endless flashbacks with Walters crossing my mind. Nico stared at me, dumbstruck and turned it off.

Groaning, I turned it back on.

“Please? Pretty please?”

“No.”

“But who doesn’t like the Beatles and Elvis? They are amazing.”

“I like Elvis, but Beatles aren’t really my cup of tea.”

I gasped, “It’s the Beatles, not just Beatles. You have ear problems.”

“Can we not do this? I don’t feel like fighting with you.”

“But I like fighting with you,” I blurted out.

He eyed me weirdly, “Why?”

“It shows who you are and stuff.”

“What do you mean?”

“I guess it is fun. Fighting with you, it makes me get who you are. You’re Nico Forrest and I don’t know your middle name yet. You hate the world but you have a soft side. You look good when you smile and you smell really good. You have eyes that remind me of a forest, which is ironic, really, because of your name,” I paused, “You like cake and hugs. You have insomnia because of your mom’s death. Your relationship with your dad isn’t the best, but I’d say you two love each other. You like it when people care about you and—”

“Zoey?” He said and the way he said my name created a squirmy feeling in the bottom of my stomach.

“Yeah?”

I was blabbing again and I knew it.

“Please, shut up. When you start talking you can never stop. It’s quite horrible. And a pain in the arse.”

I let out a small chuckle, “Sorry.”

“Your description of me is pretty accurate, but you’re missing a lot of things.”

“Wait, I know! Your type of music is Arctic Monkeys and the 1975 and All Time Low and bands like that.”

Nico smiled and ohmyGod he looked so freaking cute.

He asked me about the songs on the flash drive and I named them all by heart. He started to skip several songs before settling on one of my favorites.

Elvis Presley’s voice boomed in the car, making goose bumps appear on my arms, “Wise men say: only fools rush in. But I can’t help falling in love with you.”

I swayed along to the song, mouthing to the words. The temptation to start singing along was making every molecule in my body shake in excitement, but I controlled myself for the sake of Nico.

He rolled his eyes, “Sing along, Zorro. I know you want to.”

“If I can’t help falling in love with you,” I sang, smiling. “Like a river flows surely to the sea, darling so it goes…Some things are meant to be.” I wasn’t trying to sing well, this was Nico, for God’s sake; he could endure my horrible voice.

Something happened at that particular moment that made my mouth drop. A voice joined along to the song and it molded perfectly to Elvis’s voice.

Nico was singing.

I had heard him sing once before at the campfire. Then, I was too concentrated on what Oliver wanted to tell me and his voice faded out. Holy crackers, the boy could sing! His voice was raspy and sweet to my ears. It was a mix of Sam Smith’s and Harry Styles’ I stopped singing and just stared at him as he finished the song with Elvis. The veins in his neck and his Adam’s apple appeared more evidently. When the song was over, I clapped. The back of his neck got a bit red.

“Since when can you sing?” I asked as Ingrid Michaelson’s version of it filled the car. It was softer to my ears, but Nico didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as Elvis’s original version, he skipped it. Let It Be now played.

“Since Mum forced me to take guitar lessons in Year 1 and I sang along.”

I reached over to ruffle his hair but his hand quickly wrapped itself around my wrist.

“Don’t,” he said, lowering my hand.

“One thing I forgot about you is that you’re bipolar,” I said feeling my cheeks warm up in annoyance. He always did this; he ruined moments by being the Nico who annoyed the shit out of me.

“I’m not bipolar,” he defended heatedly.

I crossed my arms, “Yes, you are. Your mood switches like this,” I snapped my fingers together, “You can be nice, one second, and the other you’re being an asswipe.”

“Shut up, will you?”

“See! Two seconds ago we were enjoying music and now you’re telling me to shut up!”

He didn’t answer and I huffed. John Lennon’s voice soothed my ears and I found the fatigue of waking up at 5 a.m. to get to the airport catching up to me, fast.

Trying to find a comfortable position was difficult, especially in a car. Nico said: “Is there a rat up your arse or something?”

“Goodnight,” I answered instead upon finding the switch that made the car chair lean back. I put my hand beneath my head and shifted my body to the left. Not even caring that the car was moving and that I could feel every vibration, I fell asleep.

-

Zac Efron was proposing to me. He was on one knee, shirtless. His hair was falling in his eyes, we were on the beach. There was a crowd of people surrounding us,  all smiling widely.

“Zoey Willow Hunter, I love you more than anything in the world. Can I change your last name to mine?” He said, his blue eyes standing out, like in the movies.

Just as I was about to say “yes” and passionately make out with him, a voice seeped in my dreams.

“Bloody fucking hell, why do I always end up in these situations?”

Oh no.

Zac Efron was getting fuzzy and when I reached out to him, he was go-through. Reality came back to me and I felt two arms under my knees and my abdomen.

Opening my eyes just a little, I saw Nico’s infuriated face. The arm holding my knees was carrying my bag. I knew that if I looked behind me, his bag would be supported on his other arm.

Just when I was about to go back to sleep and try to dream about Zac again, Nico noticed that I was half-awake. He grumbled something and not-so gently put me on the floor. He gave me my bag and started to walk to the waiting room. My guess was that he had done all the passport necessities and we were now waiting for the plane to open up for us and let us in.

“You slept three hours,” he said, sitting down.

All I could think of is how he must have been really strong to carry me and our bags effortlessly. My mind was still woozy from the sleep. Crust had formed in my eyes and I touched my cheek, hoping I hadn’t drooled.

Nico’s loud groan and rubbing his arm was my confirmation.

“You drooled! The hell, Hunter?”

“I’m sorry if I can’t control the overflow of my saliva and it getting out of my mouth instead of going in my throat!” I exclaimed, heading towards the bathroom.

If any horror movie needed inspiration to scare the poop out of kids, they just had to look at me right now. The bun that my hair was in was nonexistent now, my hair was standing in weird angles. There was crust in the corners of my eyes, dried drool was on my cheek and all color had disappeared from my face.

Honestly, if Julia was here, she would have screamed and run away. I took out my phone and made a grimace while taking a picture of myself.

I sent it to Skye, saying: if u need to scare Julia out of bed. ps. i’m at the airport, tell mom to not worry bout me.

Washing my face, I tried to clean the stench of saliva with water. I freed my hair from the bizarre grip it was held in and put it in a high pony tail. I found 25 cents in my pocket and got a packet of mints.

My phone buzzed.

Skyeee: you scared ME! hope hot piece of bootay didn’t see you like that or you will not be getting some this weekend. Mom isn’t worried, she’s sleeping like a baby. xo

I replied: stfu, i don’t want any.

Skyeee: right. and I am harry potter’s long lost sister. Have a nice flight and keep your hormones where they should be. Don’t do anything I would do. love u, not. X

I returned to find Nico on his phone, scrolling through his instagram feed, probably. I sat beside him and took a packet of Cheetos out of my bag. Nico stared hungrily at the chips and back at his phone.

He stuffed his hand in the bag and took out five or six, much to my disbelief. I gasped and slapped his hand to make him let go of them. Nico finished the chips in seconds, smiling triumphantly.

“Off is the direction in which you should fu—” Cheetos were in my mouth by now and I chewed instinctively, glaring at Nico.

A lady sat down in front of us and stared at us cryptically. She tapped her cane on the ground. The noise was slightly annoying, but I ignored it. She leaned over her suitcase and gave us a look.

“Eloping isn’t the answer,” she said in a surprisingly deep voice.

I looked at Nico, whose mouth had dropped a little. He recovered quickly and for some reason, put an arm around my shoulder.

“Why is that, with all due respect?” He answered in a perfectly composed voice.

I knew that he wanted to laugh.

I also now knew that he liked to pretend that we were a couple.

The lady tugged her bangs into the scarf surrounding her head and puffed. “You are too young. You shouldn’t get married without your parents’ permission. I bet you both think you’re each other’s soul mates, but that is a bunch of shit. Get back to your parents and if you want to get married, do it publicly.”

“You speak like we are doing a sin and we are being horrible, but there isn’t anything bad about eloping. We’re just getting married without the whole fuss.”

She scoffed, “Then why are you running away to do it?” She glanced at me sharply and looked at my stomach. She asked: “Are you pregnant?”

I snuck a look to Nico and decided that if we had already started lying, why not stop now?

“Yes. But my parents are supportive of it,” I said. “I love him,” I put a hand on Nico’s chest in a way that I hoped had appeared even remotely romantic.

“And I love her as well,” he answered, staring right in my eyes.

Hey, um, feelings/hormones/feels/whatever this is called? Yeah, this isn’t the time to melt in a puddle. Just because a very attractive boy is pretending to be in love with you doesn’t mean you can start jumping up and down in joy.

“Ugh, you disgust me. Consummating at such a young age should be forbidden," she said. I had the urge of making a horrible face right at her. To make this whole thing seem more realistic, I took the hand that dangled right over my shoulder and intertwined it with mine. Nico seemed composed, but he flinched.

"How could I resist as you say, consummating, with her?" said Nico, "I mean, have you seen her?"

Our flight started to call its passengers and we stood up, separating. The woman was on her feet as well, grimacing at us with no shame. She pointed at us accusingly.

“You’re both lying,” she declared.

“We’re not,” said Nico, holding my hand.

She raised an eyebrow. “If you’re together, then kiss her.”

Oh. My. God.

Not again.

I had been having enough difficulty dealing with the kiss we had a week ago to handle another one. My feelings had not recovered yet but I had been keeping them at bay. Nico smirked and I really wanted to slap him.

“We don’t have anything to prove to you,” I said, turning away from me.

Nico grabbed my waist and pulled me close to him. My heart was beating way too loudly now.

Calm the fuck down, you got 95% in Drama class at school.

He leaned his head and the space between our faces got smaller and smaller by the second. Just when I thought his lips would touch mine, he kissed the corner of my mouth softly.

See, heart? He didn’t kiss me. Just the freaking corner of my mouth.

Did I want him to kiss me?

To the old woman, it probably seemed like he had kissed me. She rolled her eyes and walked away. Nico let go of my hand and patted my stomach mockingly.

“Gosh, oh, gosh, I do hope the baby is a girl!”

“Shut up!” I said while feeling completely flustered.

We went in the gate, Nico quick on my heel. I didn’t talk to him until we found our seats. I sat beside the window without even giving him a chance to argue about it. He sat down and lifted his knees to push on the seat against him.

“Hunter, do you want music?” He said, offering one of his earphones.

“No, thanks,” I replied dryly.

He sighed, “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong with what?” I said, putting my phone to Airplane mode.

“Speak, Hunter. What’s wrong?”

I refrained from answering.

“Wait a second,” he said, shifting in his seat, “Is this about the almost kiss?”

“Whaaaat? No. You must be losing it.”

He laughed, “Did you actually want me to kiss you?”

I tried not to blush, I really did.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Of course not,” he said, smiling widely. “Babe, this kissing thing that happened last weekend won’t happen again anytime soon.”

Babe.

“Don’t call me babe.”

At that moment, the plane started to move. My stomach dropped, like when I was going on a rollercoaster. Nico’s face turned yellow-ish and he looked like he wanted to puke. He glanced over at the window when we started flying.

“You have aviophobia!” I cried out, as he started to regain color in his face.

He frowned, “I do not.”

“Aw, poor baby. You’re scared of flying. It’s okay, really.”

Nico sighed loudly and took deep breaths. “Don’t do this.”

“Do what?” I said as innocently as possible.

He shook his head and turned up the music on his phone. The flight wouldn’t be nearly as long as it always was, the distance between Ontario and NYC was about an hour by plane.

After a few minutes, Nico’s head was drooping. He was emitting soft snores while music still played on his phone. He grimaced in his sleep and set his head on my shoulder.

I stiffened.

What was I supposed to do? Push him away?

That would have been rude and mean to him, because he had no other person to lean his head on besides the overweight man reading a newspaper beside him. I knew that Nico would kill me if he woke up on a stranger’s shoulder.

I just took one of his earphones out and put it in my ear.

Oh, how harmless he was when he slept. Not that almost kissing me was harm in any way. I just thought the fact that he didn’t actually kiss me was stupid, because he basically lied to the noisy lady. Then again, we both lied to her. He just shouldn’t have played with my feelings like that.

Woah, I didn’t like where my thoughts were going.

I leaned my head on Nico’s and cleared my head as Alex Turner’s voice took over my thoughts.

-

i have smth very important to discuss with you guys, well alot of stuff

1. someone asked if mailboy was over??? just because i don't update on wednesdays anymore doesn't mean that it's over? PLUS I did tell you guys I would update on weekends

2. "WHEN ARE U UPDATING!!??!11" Please, please read the A/N because I TOLD you guys I would update on weekends. If the weekend isn't over, then don't ask me when I'm updating. It just gets me all: arghhh. IF I miss an update, it'll be because of school. It;s a priority for me.

3. I'll dedicate the next chapter to whomever guesses nico's middle name right :)