And with each mile

[teamzaylor]

CHAPTER 2: FREE SPIRIT

Rating: NC-17
Genre: Zaylor / Hancest
Pairing: Zac & Taylor
Credits & many Thanks to: Honor @beyondthethorns
About the story: Zac & Taylor's relationship broke up when they got caught kissing by the press and their career were over in a split of a second. To continue a normal life and to take a break from his brother, Taylor starts to study at a College in London but the long distance between them can't stop their feelings for each other.



Thank you very much for reading! :-) Your comments are always welcome!

Chapter 2:

Our conversation was halted by a presence in my doorway. Quinn. Quinn was one of my better friends that I’d met in London. She was two years older than me, although most of the students were. I was the only freshmen spending my first semester at college abroad. It was pretty unheard of and I was surprised the University of Tulsa let me do it.

“Hey,” I turned to Quinn and offered her a smile.

She glanced at Zac questioningly. I think she recognized him immediately, even though his back was to her. She’d recognized me the moment I met her. ‘You’re the MmmBop singer,’ she’d said.

“Who’s this?” she asked.

Zachary whipped around with one of my essays in his hand and looked her over. If I knew my brother as well as I think I do, I knew he was feeling territorial. He is one of the most insecure people you’ll ever meet, although he acts like a cocky jackass to people he doesn’t know. I know it made him uneasy to see the girl standing in my doorway.

“The question is, who are you?” he raised an eyebrow at her.

“Tay’s friend… Quinn,” she replied, glancing at me. “Is this your brother?”

Yeah, she recognized him. Most people did, even more than they recognized me. He still had the long blond hair and Rock star look to him.

“Hi?” he said in an irritated voice. “I’m standing right here. You can introduce yourself to me, you know, instead of talking about me like I’m not standing here at all.”

I blushed a little at Zac’s usual irritated frankness. He’s not exactly good with first impressions, because I don’t think he exactly cares. Ever since the media had a field day with our relationship, his motto seemed to be ‘fuck the world before they fuck you first’. He was a bit cynical, to put it lightly.

Quinn looked him over and stepped back a bit, so she was halfway out of the door. She was intimidated by him, like most people were. If only most people knew how he did hide his own insecurity.

“I’m Quinn,” she said quietly. “You must be Zachary.”

He rolled his eyes and set my paper down on my dresser where he found it.

“And my like the color blue and rollerblading in my free time. Right. Pleasure to meet you.”

I’m not sure if she knew what he was referring to, but I guess he didn’t like the fact that she had mentioned his name before he had a chance to introduce herself- making it obvious that she recognized him to be Zac Hanson. He didn’t like the way she spoke like she already knew all about him. I guess that’s why he cited false facts from the books written about him when he was eleven.

Quinn turned back to me. “I was just coming over to ask if you want to get some coffee tonight and talk about our project,” she said, referencing the project that was due at the end the week in our Western Civilization class.

I glanced at Zac. I didn’t want to. I wanted to spend the rest of the night with him, but he just shrugged. If he wasn’t going to act overly possessive, neither was I.

“That’s fine,” I told her.

“Come down to my room at nine?” she asked.

“Sure.”

She nodded and then glanced back at Zac. “Good meeting you…”

“Yeah, it was a blast,” he said and then laid down on my bed.

She gave me a look, but I only returned a shrug. I was used to my brother’s sarcastic anger towards the world. I used to spend a lot of time explaining his behavior to everyone who was turned off by it, but eventually I just decided if he wanted to make more enemies than friends, then that was fine with me.

When she left he glanced over at me.

“Wasn’t that pleasant,” he smiled and then reached his arms out to me. “C’mere.”

It was strange. The last time I saw him everything had been so unaffectionate- so cold and detached. After a month of bonding through phone calls and nonchalantly expressing our love for each other through ‘I miss you’s and ‘I’m going crazy without you’s, something felt different between us. The feeling was reminiscent of the days we were together.

I walked over to the bed and stood at the side of it nervously. Zachary has a tendency to jump into things, if that wasn’t obvious enough by his spontaneous flight to England. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to sit down.

“Sit down next to me…” he whined and slid over so I could have room.

I tentatively sat down. Okay. So far so good. He’s just laying there looking at me- not even touching me. Maybe he wasn’t going to be impulsive like he usually was. The thought had barely passed through my mind when I felt his hand slide onto my thigh. Oh god. Too high up. Mind fogging. That black shirt was too fucking hot, I thought as I looked down at him.

“So you’re really glad I’m here?” he smiled as if his hand wasn’t dangerously close to my inner-thigh.

“Yeah,” I smiled, trying not to sound as tense as I felt. “I’m really glad. It’s still hard to believe.”

“Good,” he said. He hadn’t stopped smiling. He seemed genuinely happy. It felt amazing to know that just being with me could cause him to smile so much.

Oh fuck. Hand closer to my dick. It was driving me fucking nuts, but no one wants to act lame in front of their young brother. Yes, Zachary was the love of my fucking life. But he was still my younger brother, my younger brother I wanted to impress. I tried not to flinch, but I could feel myself getting more turned on by the moment and wanting to avoid an awkward situation, stood up. His hand fell against the bed and he started to chuckle.

“What?” I asked, although I knew what was amusing him.

“You’re funny,” he shrugged, still smiling. God, he didn’t realize how gorgeous he was when he smiled. “Sit back down, c’mon. I’m not gonna attack you and rip your clothes off.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. Somehow I didn’t believe him. Just a moment ago he was sliding his hand up my thigh.

“I’m restraining myself,” he winked.

He was so much more clever and witty since the last time we’d been together. It was sexy, to be honest. His confident, grown up sarcasm turned me on in a way he never had when we were young. Sure, I’d been really attracted to him then and loved him just as much, but I found myself wanting to tear his clothes off when I was him laying there with a sexy smirk on his face.

“Tay…” he whined, giving me a pathetic, pleading look. He patted the spot next to him. “Lay down. Let’s talk like we talk on the phone. I’ll tell you about my flight.”

So I did. I did because he’d flown across the Atlantic Ocean to be with me. I did because if I had to, I’d fly across the Pacific for him. I’d always loved my brother, even the years we had to be apart, but lately I’d been falling in love with him all over again- head over fucking heels in love with him. He nonchalantly wrapped an arm around my shoulders as he recounted the talkative dutch guy on the flight next to him. Zac insisted the guy was gay. Zachary assumes everyone is gay. Zac said that the guy wanted to fuck him, and he would have if they weren’t in an airplane full of people. Zac also always says that everyone wants to fuck him. Although, like I said, I think he just says that type of thing to hide his insecurities.

It was strange how natural it was for us to lay there and talk. It felt 2000 all over again, well, before everything went to hell. It felt amazing, but eventually I had to kick him out and get ready to meet Quinn for coffee.

“You’re kicking me out for a girl?” Zac frowned. Zachary always claimed to be bisexual, but I was pretty sure he had very little interest in girls. He never spoke fondly of them.

“I’m kicking you out for a project,” stuffing my cell phone in my pocket. “Why don’t you go find a hotel room or something?”

He glanced around my dorm room. “You don’t think I could sleep here?”

I wasn’t ready for Zac to sleep in my room just yet, so I was thankful that my study abroad program had strict rules about who can stay in the dorms and who can’t.

“I wish you could,” I lied. “But we’re not allowed to have visitors stay with us.”

He sulked for a moment before reaching his arms out to me. “Well, at least give me a consolation hug.”

He didn’t have to ask twice. I gave him a tight, suffocating consolation hug.

“I really am glad you’re here, Zac,” I muttered into his shoulder.

“I’m really glad I’m here too…” he said after a moment. “And… I think we should talk soon. I mean… really talk. Like, tomorrow. About us.”

I was hoping he wouldn’t bring that up. I wasn’t ready to talk about us. I didn’t know what to think of us… was there an us? There hadn’t been in years. Did I want an us to exist? Did he?

“Zac…” I said, releasing him from my grip and stepping back to look at him. He looked nervous about what I was going to say. “We can talk, but I don’t know… how I feel.”

He looked down at the floor for a second, frowning and studying his shoes. I hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings. I really hadn’t. I just… I didn’t want to rush into anything. I didn’t want say something I didn’t mean.

“I understand,” he finally said, looking up and giving me a tight smile. “Hey, I’ll call you first thing when I wake up, okay? Tell you where I ended up and stuff. If you’re in class I’ll leave a message.”

I nodded. I was a little worried about where he was going to sleep. Knowing my brother, I wouldn’t be surprised if he got distracted by a bar or something on his way to find a hotel and never ended up in a bed at all that night. He was the type to willingly sleep on the streets if he felt like it.

“Zachary,” I said as he turned to walk out. “Call me if you can’t find a vacant room somewhere… or something. Okay?”

He smiled. “Okay.”

He turned to walk away again, but I had an after thought. “And Zac?”

“Mmm?” he peeked back into my dorm room.

“Call me anyways… to say goodnight.”

This time, his smile was bigger- more genuine. “I will.”

Comments

[elizabeth-ald.livejournal.com]

Idk why I'm nervous for these two. Between Zac's impulsive temper and Taylor's flip-flopping feelings.. I just hope everything works out

[malfunkshon.livejournal.com]

Oh screw the dorm's rules!!! Let him stay!!!
Have these guys ever been to a UK hall of residence? They are like brothels... O_O

[zacgirl1.livejournal.com]

I wish Zac could have stayed with Taylor in the room dorm and that Tay would stop fighting his feelings towards his little brother.
Oh man I'm so hooked up with this story already. Can't wait for next chapter!

[iwontbeafool.livejournal.com]

I'm liking this one so much so far. Zac is such a tease! Haha, and him being a jerk fits him, too. I think Zac is pretty sure of what he really wants, I just hope for Tay to be true to himself. I'm a bit worried for Zac though, I wonder where he will go afterwards. Can't wait to know the rest.....! <3 <3 <3

[eleflowerpot.livejournal.com]

Why can't he stay in your dorm Tay? My bloke stayed over every week I was at uni! Anyways, this is so good, although i'm hoping that Tay sorts his feelings out so he doesn't end up hurting Zac's feelings.

[teamzaylor.livejournal.com]

thank you very much for your many comments!! ♥♥ I'm happy you like the story so far!!
I don't know how the dorm rules really are but I can very well imagine that they are like bothels what malfunkshon has said before.
I'm curious what you guys will say about the following chapters. I try to update one chapter each day.
Just updated Chapter 3! :-)

[jennifer-may.livejournal.com]

Oh C'mon Tay let him stay!! Your brother flew over the ocean just to bring you a coffee!! I bet it was just bad excuse!