the zach attack

BRUNETTE:

    zach smiles & looks over at gray, who was     reading a display about some giant thing that     lived underwater. he nods as he turns back.       "nice to meet you juliette, I think we could        both go for some ice cream right about        now. lead the way."    he doesn't miss gray roll his eyes, but    for the moment at least he doesn't say    anything embarrassing. 

BABYSITTER:

          "this is so lame."  he adjusts his sweater back over his shoulder,   it having gotten askew at her manhandling. the  nerve of some people.     he watches his brother for a moment, still     mesmerized by the dinosaurs, it was sort     of dorky, but at least gray was having fun.    "so what are you then?" he turns back to    the woman who'd just looked up from her    phone. "a glorified assistant?"

HERO?:

      zach manages to keep a hold of his temper & his next string        of words, as the man finally takes the ten bucks & the picture.             he fishes a pen out of his pocket & hands it over,             biting down on his tongue to physically stop words            from slipping out & ruining this    (a deep breath)      “it’s for my little brother gray, with an ‘a’.”  zach doesn’t miss the expression     upon sight of the photo & he smirks. “hey man, you’re the one that wore it.”

BONE DUDE:

    "jaded? I don't really like labels."             zach arches an eyebrow, was this             old man trying to START something?    "you're that bone guy my brother won't     stop talking about, aren't you?"

GAMER:

     "I mean, i'm only surprised 'cause it's not like...you know,       the vibe you give off. you give off more of a no fun zone       sort of a vibe."

                    he leans back against the couch & grins.       "remember that time I spilled grape soda on you?"

BABYSITTER JR:

        zach's eyes follow to where the little girl gestures         & he rolls his eyes with a chuckle. so aunt claire         couldn't be bothered to pick them up, cool.                           "I am indeed zach, nice to meet you,"                            he holds out his hand for her to shake                            & glances around for gray.               "who's the lady with the sign?"

NEUROTIC:

      "It wasn't even a mess? I cleaned it right before you got here."                   which had included shoving most things under the bed &                 in the closet, but most of the surfaces had been cleared,                 and the sheets on the bed were clean. what more could                 she have asked of him? now everything in his room had                 been relocated.             zach rolls his eyes & flops down onto his old             chair, spinning once before looking back at her.                    "why didn't you move in with owen again?"

HURT GIRL:

       "okay," his voice is low & he moves a little closer        still unsure if there was anything he could do to        help. "can I get you, like uh, some water or, um        maybe a snack." he has no idea what he's doing,        but snacks always made gray happy when he got        upset. 

MOM 2.0:

       "I mean, I like burgers & the basement just got remodeled.         I could do a lot worse?" he knows he's just being a smart         ass, but with a family full of smart & motivated people, he         was sort of the black sheep. mom & claire with their ‘type         A’ personalities, dad with his 'bootstrap' work ethic, & the            genius little brother? in the grand scheme of life for zach         mitchell, homework felt pretty damn pointless.                    "& I've always been a whiny brat, you would know                    that if you'd seen me more than twice in ten years."

BABYSITTER:

        zach sighs & rolls his eyes, "what is she afraid something         is gonna eat us? what are you going to do, beat it with a         high heel?"    this was the worst vacation he'd ever been on, at least    when he went places with his parents they were fighting    too often to notice him slip away. he just liked doing his    own thing & dinosaurs were lame anyway.          "if you don't want to babysit, then don't.           we won't tell aunt claire. promise."

DINO WRANGLER:

         zach holds back a chuckle at the site of this girl          trying to alpha the baby dino & getting nowhere.          not that he'd be doing any better, but he was on          the other side of the fence for a reason.        "looks like the big guy is giving you a hard time."                  he smirks and leans his arms against                  the railing, a teasing light in his eyes.              "you should show him  who's boss."

BRUNETTE:

               he ducks his head again when she laughs,                ignoring the voice in his head teasing that                he was way out of his league.       every journey begins with just a single step right?       at least that is what his history teacher had said.       when he looks back up, resolved to go introduce       himself, he's shocked to find her in front of him.               his eyebrow quirks up at her statement & he bites the               inside of his cheek to keep from saying anything too               quickly that would be super lame.              "uh, just thought you were busy?  hi, um, i’m zach."

USED TO BE COOL:

          the two years separating zach from this magic adult age            made him skeptical that her ditching out on them was just           'some adult thing' that he couldn't possibly understand.      "later, like after bedtime later? or in the morning later?       or like you'll realize we've been gone for two days when       you finally get un-busy later? whatever."