i just noticed that whenever i write PE it cuts out the symbol i use. pls ignore it i had no idea LMAO. parts of this chapter are heavily influence by 'Black Lace' by tce13. i believe is their username, i literally read this story at least twice a week, so check it out! anyways in this chapter zach says more words in one sentence than we've ever read
Chapter 26
The sun shone through the curtains as morning arrived. Everyone was still piled on the couch, but positions were shifted. Blankets had fallen off the couches, and shoes were scattered everywhere. The was a grimy layer of sand over everything, including hair. Finally, the sun shone in just the right spot to hit Grant fully in the face, effectively waking him up. He groaned, and rubbed his eyes. Checking his watch he saw that it was nearing 10 am, the perfect time to wake everyone up for breakfast.
Sitting up on the couch, he shook Bex awake, ignoring her complaints and attempted slaps. From there, he was able to shake everybody else awake, even Cammie, who was known for her deep sleeps. "Are you guys ready to make some breakfast?" Grant asked, clapping his hands together as he stood in front of the seven grumpy, half-asleep teenagers.
"THAT'S what you woke us all up for?" Macey asked, contempt in her voice. Grant had the forethought to look slightly afraid.
"I mean yeah. I thought it would be fun to make food all together!" he said, gaining back some of his swagger. Macey just shook her head in disbelief.
"You know what, fine. But you better make the best breakfast I've had in a while," she said, standing up from the blanket. "I'm going to change into other clothes, and then I'll be down. Girls, you coming with?" she asked, motioning to Liz, Bex, and Cammie. They all nodded, and headed upstairs. "Be down in five!" Macey shouted down the stairs. "Start without us!" she added, and then a door slamming shut was heard.
A grumbling went through all of the boys, before they slowly walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge, looking through the items they had bought yesterday. There were enough eggs and milk to make pancakes, so that was what they did. While the girls changed upstairs, the work was split so that someone was cooking, someone was cutting fruit, another was setting the large dining room table, and the final task was to fry up some of the bacon. Protein, of course.
The girls walked down, changed into shorts and tanks to head out for the day. Cammie saw that Zach had been in charge of cooking the pancakes, (Grant couldn't flick his wrist just right, so he resorted to frying the bacon instead.), and he had somehow found a 'Kiss the Cook' apron from inside the house. It was tied haphazardly, with most of his concentration going to flipping the pancakes at the right time. Remembering that she had brought her tote bag into the kitchen last night, Cammie quietly grabbed her camera, and took a picture of Zach in his apron. Laughing to herself, she put the camera in her pocket.
"This looks so good guys, I can't believe you actually put it together," Bex said, her stomach rumbling. She sat down, looking at the table setting and the fruit that was freshly cut into bowls. While everyone else began to sit down, Cammie walked over to Zach, who was flipping the last two pancakes in the pan.
"Where did you find this?" she asked, laughing as she held up the apron still tied around him.
"I was looking through a closet and I came across a box of extra kitchen supplies, and this was lying right on top. What was I supposed to do? Not grab it?" he asked, moving to get a plate from the cupboard next to him to place the pancakes on.
"No, I'm so glad you grabbed it," she laughed. "Smile!" Cammie said, as she pulled the camera from her pocket. Zach struck a pose, making a kissy face at the camera. Cammie laughed, clicking the shutter. "Grant, stop trying to eat all the bacon before it's on the table and come take a picture!" she called out to Grant. He quickly looked up from where he was hovered over the bacon tray.
"Camster, I would appreciate it if you would not expose me like that. I'm a growing boy, okay?" Grant said, walking over to take the picture.
Cammie rolled her eyes. "Whatever helps you sleep at night," she said, showing him how to adjust the lighting settings. Grant fixed the lighting so that it didn't glare, and counted down from three. On three, Cammie went up on her tiptoes, and gave Zach a peck on the cheek. His initial smile grew, the corners of his mouth curving higher, and Grant caught the perfect moment.
"Stop macking on my sister so much," Grant said, a gross look on his face as he handed the Cammie's camera back to her.
"Stop macking on my sister so much," Zach mimicked, making fun of him. Grant just crossed his arms, and stared.
"Dude, remember I can tell her no more dating you," Grant said, cocking an eyebrow as he walked to sit by Bex. Zach just copied his facial expression, making fun of his words still.
"You wouldn't listen to him, right Cam?" Zach asked, moving his finished pancakes onto the plate. Cammie just smiled, and sat down. "That means no, right?" he asked again.
"Whatever you think Zach," Cammie said, grabbing a pancake from the stack and helping herself to some fruit. He just untied his apron, shaking his head with a sigh.
As everyone sat down to eat, the sun filtered through the kitchen windows, allowing for a beautiful morning. It was going to be a colder day, the only off one in their whole vacation. In lieu of their small change in plans, Macey had taken the liberty of scheduling a small shopping trip alongside a movie day. No matter how many times Cammie, Bex, or Liz said that they had already gone shopping enough, Macey just counter-argued until she won the argument.
Thankfully they had grabbed most of what they initially needed, and only needed to grab a few more things that Macey deemed necessary. Within ten minutes, breakfast was eaten, the leftovers stored and dishes being washed. As they were loading them into the dishwasher, the house phone went off throughout the house.
"I GOT IT!" Cammie yelled, trying to beat Bex to the phone. She managed to get there first by a hair, sticking her tongue out at Bex, who merely flipped her off.
"Hey sweetie, I just wanted to let you know that Mr. Solomon and I will be headed to the house tomorrow around lunch. Do you guys have any plans before then that we should know about so that we don't assume you're all missing?" Cammie's mom asked, to which Cammie looked questioningly.
"Let me ask the girls really quick, today we were just going to go shopping and then watch a movie or something in the house, but tomorrow we'll most likely be out on the beach," she replied, as Macey and Liz nodded confirmation for the plans.
"Okay, sounds good. Don't do anything I wouldn't do, and watch your six," her mom said, "I love you, be safe," she added.
"I love you too Mom, see you soon," Cammie replied, and hung up the phone.
"My mom is coming tomorrow with Mr. Solomon, so I just told her we would most likely be at the beach or surfing when they land from Blackthorne," Cammie told the group, and each person nodded. Turning to Macey, she asked, "When did you want to head out to shop? It's almost 11 am now," she said, looking at her watch.
"We can go now, just change into something comfortable if you don't want to change when we get home," Macey said. "I'll head upstairs right now and grab my clothes so we can be done. Meet in living room in ten?" she asked, looking around for confirmation from the others. Everyone nodded, and headed upstairs to their rooms. Cammie headed into her and Macey's room, grabbing a pair of cutoffs she bought yesterday and putting a tank top on.
"I think I'll change when we get back Mace, cause it still looks hot outside," she said, grabbing her gold chain to put on her neck. Adding on a couple rings, the outfit was complete. She reached to grab a claw clip from their shared dresser, and then slipped on some converse that Macey had put by the door.
"Mace, I'm borrowing your white converse," Cammie said, tying the double knot securely.
"No worries, just make sure to put them where they were when you get back," Macey said, finishing up her own change of clothes. They walked out of the room together, Macey carrying her tote bag with their credit cards and all other essentials, and Cammie had her camera and a water bottle. Everyone else had gathered at the base of the stairs, and were waiting to head out to the cars.
"Why are you all just standing around? We have places to be," Macey said, snapping her fingers to get everyone moving.
"Ok McHenry, let me snap to it just for you," Zach said, rolling his eyes.
"Finally, you get some sense in you Zachary," Macey said, pushing him out the door and into the garage.
Boarding the cars, Cammie was driving this time instead of Zach, as all the girls had taken over the Jeep and were already cranking the windows down. Bex was sitting in the passenger seat, and was trying to find a good radio station to put on. As soon as she did, the music was blasting as Cammie backed out from the garage.
Within no time, they were off to the pier to grab more things from the countless boutiques that littered the walkways. Pulling into a parking spot, everyone's hair was a mess from the Jeep top being down. Quickly palming it down, Cammie rolled up all the windows and grabbed her things from where she'd put them on the console.
They jumped down from the seats, Bex helping Liz down from the back. The boys had just pulled up alongside them, and were getting out as well. Once all the wallets and various other items were grabbed, the group walked off into the boardwalk. Within a few seconds, Macey had turned into a store, a cute little boutique called 86 Above. It sold various surf items, but mostly a variety of surf, lounge, and beach clothes. Setting off, everyone headed to their own little section.
Cammie was looking through even more pairs of shorts, finding a few good dark and light wash ones. As she checked through the sundress rack, she could just imagine Macey throwing her looks as she picked out some of the more modest ones. Macey was a big fan of 'If you have it, flaunt it'. Her style of showing off mostly centered from rebelling from the Senator, and she made it work.
Grabbing both a white, green, and red sundress, Cammie headed over to the swimsuits, knowing that she had to get at least one more. As she felt the different fabrics, there was a terrycloth material one that stuck out. It was a light pink color, with glittering sparkles in the shapes of stars. Placing in on her wrist with the other items, Cammie headed to her last section, jewelry. There she found a couple gold rings, a few bracelets, and some beaded necklaces. She also picked up a new pair of sunnies, to wear with her swimsuits.
Bex met her at the cash register, nodding her head as she looked at the outfits Cammie had picked out.
"I might just borrow that red dress from you Cam," Bex said, feeling the fabric of the soft red dress. Cammie smiled.
"You're always welcome to it," she said, and grabbed the card from Macey, who had met them at the register with her massive pile. In two more minutes, Liz had showed up, carting along a sullen four boys. Even they had managed to find clothes, but already wanted to go home from all the shopping. The overwhelmed cashier rung up their purchase, Macey paying with Mr. Soloman's card he had left them from the cabin.
"Alright guys, go head and grab those bags and just put them in the Mustang, we want to save room in the Jeep for more," Macey said, directing the boys to grab the bags. Cammie tossed Grant the keys, and walked out the door with Macey, Bex, and Liz.
"We'll see you guys in a few," Cammie said, giving Zach a peck on the cheek as they split ways to go to more shops.
For the next two hours, the girls grabbed more and more summery clothes than what was thought to be possible, and the back of the Mustang was near overflowing.
"It's three pm now, did you guys want to head back and start our movie night?" Bex asked, checking her watch.
"Sounds good to me," Grant replied, throwing his arm around Bex as the eight walked back to the cars.
"Great, we'll put this stuff away and then meet you guys down in the living room. Make sure to pick some good movies, and snacks!" Bex exclaimed, opening her car door to hop in shotgun. Once everyone was buckled, Cammie backed out of the space, driving home. They arrived before the boys, and began unloading the excess bags from the back to go up to their rooms. Once the boys had pulled in, they were helpful enough to drop everything into the two rooms, and then walked downstairs to set up the living room.
"Okay Liz, grab what's yours and start putting things away. You do the same Bex, and let's try to meet back out here in ten minutes," Macey ordered, grabbing her own bags and motioning for Cammie to do the same.
Using the one trip technique, Cammie grabbed all her bags and waddled into their shared room. She unloaded her shorts, shirts, and swimsuits into her three drawers, hanging up the dresses she got on one side of the closet alongside Macey's. Once she finished, she changed into sweatpants and a tank top, helping Macey unpack the rest of her bags from the trip. Once they were finished, they checked to see if Bex and Liz were done. Thankfully, they were finishing up their last drawers, and were ready to go downstairs in a minute.
The smell of popcorn was drifting up, making everyone hungry. As the girls walked downstairs, they were greeted with a site of the living room piled with cushions, making it seem like all couch. The coffee table in the middle was covered in snacks, ranging from popcorn to veggie chips. There were also blankets scattered at various points on the couch, and the curtains were pulled so that the TV was bright. Up and ready to play was Pirates of the Caribbean, which the boys argued was the perfect pirate movie, as it was a mix of both ghost and horror. Definitely not because Grant was terrified of The Conjuring. Unable to argue, the girls just sat down and got ready to watch.
Zach was already lying down, on the prime spot against the L of the couch. Cammie came over, lying down on top of him. Zach just wrapped his arms around her, squeezing tight.
"You ready to watch some amazing pirates Gallagher Girl?" he asked, undoing her hair from the claw clip she had placed it in earlier so he could run his hands through it.
"I think so, I've never seen it before so I'm excited," Cammie replied, taking the clip from him to put in her pocket. She laid her head on his chest, and motioned for him to start the movie as everyone else was in similar positions.
"All ready?" Zach asked, looking around the room. They all just stared at him. "Tough crowd today I see," Zach laughed to himself. Cammie just groaned. Taking this as his cue, Zach pressed play on the remote, and grabbed a blanket as the opening theme played loudly throughout the house. He settled down into the couch more, taking Cammie with him. Gently, he pulled the blanket over them and carefully pulled her hair out from under it. As he watched the start of the movie, he began to run his hands through her hair, gently twisting it and curling it. As the movie kept playing, he would stop or slow as a good part came on.
Nearly at the end of the movie, as Will and Elizabeth found themselves in love, Zach poked Cammie, who had been content to just lay there and feel Zach fiddle with hair.
"What?" she whispered, turning her head to look at him.
"That's gonna be you and me," he whispered back, giving Cammie a kiss on her forehead. She blushed, also noticing a red tint on Zach's face.
"So you would rescue me from pirates and lift a curse for me?" Cammie grinned. Zach rolled his eyes.
"Is that even a question? Of course I would," Zach said cockily.
"Yeah I bet you would," Cammie said, brushing his cheek with her thumb before settling back down. "You're my b word Zachary," Cammie laughed, feeling him laugh under her. All she got in response was another kiss on the temple.
The movie slowly ended, and nearly half of the whole group was asleep. Zach and Cammie got up, along with Grant and Bex as they had wanted to watch the whole thing. Heading to the kitchen, Cammie opened up the fridge, looking for something to make for dinner. They had ground beef and various vegetables with shredded cheese, alongside random pasta noodles.
"How do we feel about nachos?" Cammie asked, reaching into the pantry for some foil containers. "We can make our own little dishes and just save whatever is left for the ones who are passed out," she added, grabbing all the ingredients from the fridge.
"Sounds good to me," Bex said. "I'll cut the vegetables and Grant will shred more cheese because I don't think this bag is enough for everyone."
"Okay great, I'll fry the ground beef and Zach, you can start folding little foil containers so that they can hold all our food, and then can you also add some chips into each one?" she asked, opening the package and getting out a frying pan. She heard a confirming grunt, and then got spices from the cupboard that were left by the owners.
Mixing the spices and beef together, she then transferred them to the pan, and let it brown until all the pink was gone. In that short ten minutes, all of the other tasks were finished, the prepared food sitting in smaller bowls waiting to be distributed. Zach had laid the chips in the foil bowls carefully, so Cammie was able to just scoop four spoonfuls of the seasoned beef onto the chips. Placing the pan back on the stove, she placed it on a different burner so that the beef didn't continue to heat.
Everyone made their food in silence, the smell of the spices mingling with the cilantro and making stomachs grumble. Once the bowls were all assembled, they headed back into the living room, turning on the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Macey, Preston, Jonas, and Liz had woken up to the starting theme, and noticing the nachos in the other fours' hands began to yell about how they didn't get any.
"It's all still in the kitchen guys, no need to yell. Just grab one of the foil bowls and you'll be good," Cammie said, holding her hands up in surrender. The hungry four rushed past her and into the kitchen.
Once back, the movie was resumed. The sunset light streamed through the curtains in the living room, prompting someone to get up and close them. Fifteen minutes later, the combination of hot food, darkness, and background noise had put almost everyone asleep. Of course, Cammie had managed to get way to into the movie, getting extremely engrossed in Jack's bargains with Jones. Zach shook her out of her focusing.
"Wanna come look outside with me Gallagher Girl?" he asked, already standing up from the couch. He held his hand out to her, and as soon as Cammie stood up to grab it he led the way out to the patio.
It had managed to turn extremely dark in a matter of minutes, the only sounds being the crash of the waves on the shore and occasional crickets. The stars were shining extremely bright, as there was next to no light pollution.
"What are we out here for?" Cammie asked, rubbing her arms to stay warm. It cooled down extremely fast in the few hours since the sun disappeared.
"I wanted to show you the stars. Obviously," Zach said, reaching over to help rub her shoulders.
"Well, in that case, can we head back inside, it's too cold for this right now," Cammie said, making a move to go inside. Zach stopped her, tightening his grip on her shoulders.
"Wait I brought you out here for a reason," he said, running a hand through his hair.
"Well, whenever you're ready then," Cammie said, turning back to face him.
"It's been four months since I met you Cam, and honestly my life has changed so much. Without you I don't think I would even be as happy as I am right now, I would still be getting in fights and making the wrong decisions. You got me to open up about things I haven't even told some of my closest friends. I couldn't find a way to actually like find a gift for you until now when we walked into that boutique yesterday morning and I found this. I just wanted to give it to you as a reminder that I'm trying my best to always be with you and make you feel better. If you don't like it you can tell me and I can find another Cam you just have to tell me," Zach said, finishing his speech quickly and taking a box out from his sweatshirt pocket. He opened it, and inside was a gold Figaro chain necklace with a tiny 'Z' charm hanging at the base.
"Zach you have no idea how much this means to me, I feel the exact same way. And you know for a fact I would love anything you gave me even if it was something you picked up from the road," Cammie said, trying not to cry. She gave him a hug, her arms wrapping around his neck and tangling her hands in his hair. In return, he had his arms around her waist, his hands holding tight. As Cammie let go, she pressed a kiss to his cheek.
"Put it on for me?" she asked, turning so that her back was to him and lifting up her hair. Zach took the necklace out of the box, unclipping the chain carefully do it didn't break. He reached around, clasping the chains together and settling it against her neck. Rotating the chain, he made sure that the 'Z' hung in front.
"Just to let you know Cam, I would wear a necklace with your initial too," Zach said, smiling wide.
"I'll make sure to keep that in mind," Cammie laughed, leading him back inside to the warmth of the house. Everyone had moved upstairs to their rooms, the remnants of dinner cleared up and thrown into the trash. In the living room, the pillows were thrown haphazardly around the couches. Zach and Cammie headed upstairs, walking down the hallway.
Cammie went into her room, with Zach making a detour across the hall to change into his sleep clothes. She walked into her room, changing into a pair of sleep shorts and an old long sleeve shirt from Zach's closet. He didn't know that she had it, but that was a problem for later. Getting into bed, Cammie saw that Macey and Preston were already fast asleep on the bed opposite theirs. Cammie reached to her bedside table, grabbing her camera and getting out from the covers.
Standing over the two sleeping, Cammie snapped a quick picture, jumping into bed right after. Giggling to herself, she was setting it back on the nightstand when Zach walked into the room, shutting the door quietly. He motioned for Cammie to move over, getting under the covers right after.
"What are you laughing about?" Zach whispered, pulling the covers over the two and cuddling in close to Cammie.
"Macey and Preston are veryyyyyy close," Cammie said, close to laughing again. She could hear his eye roll.
"We're close, what's the difference?" Zach asked, moving his head so that he could place it in the crook of her neck.
"Well obviously, but we are dating, and they aren't yet so it makes a difference there," Cammie said matter-of-factly. Zach just shook his head.
"Whatever you say. Goodnight Gallagher Girl," Zach mumbled, nestling his head in closer and closing his eyes.
"Goodnight Blackthorne Boy," Cammie whispered back, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes.
Within minutes, they both had fallen asleep.