"Zach, can I ask you a question?" I asked.

The sun was already up. We'd walked for a few hours last night, taken a break for a bit, and then were up and ready to go again.

"Go ahead." He said. He sounded so upbeat all the time, I wondered if he ever got tired.

"Why are you the one who's with me right now?"

"What you don't like being stuck with me?" He smirked.

"Zach, I'm serious."

He glanced over at me to make sure I was, even though my voice made it pretty obvious I was. "We thought that the Circle wouldn't really think that you'd run away with a student from Blackthorne because this issue doesn't really involve them. If you'd run away with someone else they would know who to find and probably where. With me, I'm spontaneous, they'll have no idea where the hell we're going next." He draped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. "Besides, I will keep you safe, Gallagher Girl, I won't let anyone hurt you."

I smiled and looked up at him. "Thank you. It really means a lot to me that you're risking everything for me."

My eye saw something in the distance and I gasped. "Oh my God. Zach!" I gave out a happy laugh. "I see something! It's a building!"

He squinted and his eyes widened. "You're right! We did make it!"

The two of us started running towards the building, which turned out to be a gas station.

I realized how awful we must look and straightened my hair as well as I could with my fingers. Our clothes were sweaty and dirty as well as our hair. We hadn't bothered to waste our time with those petty little things like combing or changing. Besides, I don't think I was very willing at the time to undress in front of Zach.

We entered the station and Zach leaned in to me. "Do not attract too much attention to yourself."

"Like that's possible. We look like a train ran over us."

"Just try."

We walked over to the front counter where there was a girl around 20 sitting and reading a magazine. She looked up at us when we came over and her eyes bugged out. "Wow, rough night?"

"Nah, just hiking." Zach said smoothly. "Would you happen to have a bathroom?"

"Uh, yeah. We do. It's for customers only though. Just buy a candy or something and I can let you use it." She had a nice personality. Very friendly and welcoming, not like those futureless people that have a piss-off attitude.

"You want anything?" Zach asked me.

I shook my head. "Not really." But then my stomach grumbled. Loud. I blushed from embarrassment.

"You sure about that, sweetie?" The girl asked. I noticed she had a slight Southern accent like Liz. Her hair was black but obviously dyed because you noticed it had a slight violet shade in the lighting. Her eyes were very pale blue and her name tag said her name was Lindsay.

I laughed. "I'll have a salad or something."

She smiled at me and walked over to where the food was. "Any specific type?"

"Caesar. Please." I added.

"Got it. And you?" She asked Zach.

"A hot dog would be great, thanks." He said, pulling out a wallet. I was guessing all the money he had was from Blackthorne.

We paid and then the girl said. "Hold up a sec. There's another bathroom right over there, its got a disabled sign on it. It's got a shower. No offense, but you guys really look like you could use one."

We thanked her and went around to the bathroom. It wasn't so awful. There weren't any noticeable bugs crawling around anywhere and the tiles were clean, not grimy.

"You go first." He said. We both saw flashing blue and red lights and I pulled him in with me.

"Shit. Police." He cursed, locking the door.

My foot jiggled up and down anxiously. "What do we do?"

He glanced over at me as though remembering I was there. "You take your shower. I agree with Lindsay, we do look like crap."

I laughed. "Thanks a lot. That does wonders to a relationship, you know."

He smirked. "I won't watch. Promise."

That's when I remember he was in there with me. "Uhhh… Hmmm… Okay, this is a bit awkward… Can't you go first?"

He gave me a look then rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine."

The shower was in a corner, with no curtain. Just one of those showers that had a head in the wall and a drain stuck in the middle of the floor. It wasn't even separate from the rest of the bathroom! So when I was brushing my teeth and struggling with my hair I had to be careful not to look into the mirror in front of me and at Zach. I had to say, he took a while. For a spy. I said this aloud and he snorted. "Yeah? We'll see how long you take."

I of course had no comeback except for. "Hurry up." The next thing I know I felt him spray water at my back. I gave out a yelp and turned to give him a death glare. I momentarily forgot that I wasn't supposed to look but was saved since he had already pulled on his shorts.

"Zach!" I came up to him to snatch the showerhead away.

He laughed at me and held it out of my reach. "What? You said you wanted to shower, so here you go."

I kept struggling as he kept the water coming at me. Then I gave up and looked at him. "There, happy? Go ahead, get me all wet."

He frowned at me. "I would but you just took all the fun out of it."

I sighed.

"Hey, is something bothering you?" He asked, actually concerned. He put the showerhead away but kept the water going.

"No, nothing's bothering me. It's just I've got a little headache. Don't worry, it'll pass." I reassured him.

"Where does it hurt?"

I took his hand and guided it to where it hurt. "There and also in my temples." His worried look still wouldn't go away. "Zach, I'll be fine. I promise." I headed for the shower. "Turn around. I'm gonna wash now."

But then I felt his arms go around my waist and his lips press to my neck. I giggled. "Zach, I have to shower. Besides, Lindsay can come in any second."

"Then why aren't you showering?" He taunted.

I laughed. "Because you aren't letting me."

"Yeah? And how is that?"

"Well, first of all, you have to let go of me."

He pretended to ponder over this for a second. "No can do. I can help you shower if you wanted me to." He suggested.

"And how would that be?"

"Well, from what I know, showering involves having no clothes on, so there's that for starters." He was already unbuttoning by shirt and it slid off to the wet floor with a smack. My undershirt came next. My dark bra showed through the flimsy, white, wet fabric.

Zach trailed kisses down my neck, dipping dangerously low at times. His hands roamed my body, exploring my dips and curves. He pressed me against the wall and the water from the shower spilled over us. We kissed with such a passion as though we couldn't get enough of eachother no matter how close we were. The slightest space between us had to be gotten rid of. I gripped him hard needing him closer, yet still it wasn't close enough. Now the only things between us were my jeans and bra and his shorts. Slowly, my jeans came off and I stepped out of them, not tearing my lips away from his. My fingers hooked into his shorts and-

A knock tore us apart and we heard Lindsay say. "Hey, you guys ok in there?"

I ran my hands through my hair. God, why did she have to come right then?

Zach cleared his throat. "Yeah, we're good."

"You guys have been in there a while, you sure nothing's wrong?"

"Nah, just Cam here takes forever in the shower." Zach smirked at me but then both our expressions froze. He had just made the biggest mistake possible. He hadn't called me Aurora or whatever name I was going by now. He'd called me Cam.

I quickly dried myself and shoved on my clothes, same as Zach. This took us around a minute and when we came out Zach called out Lindsay's name. No answer came. Carefully and quietly we slinked into the building and heard her talking to someone on the phone. All we heard was, "-she's here." But those words were enough.

Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in a while! Especially for TDN. I'm ALMOST done sorting through whats gonna come next so hold your horses!

I hope you enjoy the chap. I already know whats gonna come next so it wont take me TOO long to update =)

Oh! I watched Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and I LOVED it! I have to say, Logan Lerman in the film is a PERFECT fit for Zach's appearance

Same with Alexandra Doddario (i think thats how u spell it) as Cammie. So if you havent watched it, WATCH IT! i was also iffy about it.

I hope those of you who read my Romeo and Juliet story liked it. i havent gotten any bad reviews for it yet so thats a good sign =)

Ivoryyy