I Don't Belong Here

I couldn't speak.

"I - I - how'd you - " I mumbled into Zacky's red plaid shirt. I wrapped my arms around his torso tightly and held on for dear life.

"I missed you so much," I heard him say, his chin resting on my left shoulder. I started tearing up, and tried my hardest to keep the tears from erupting by blinking rapidly.

"I - I did, too. So much," I choked out.

We let go, and he held me at arm's length. "Aw," he said softly, "you're crying."

I chuckled, and the tears fell, cascading over my cheekbones.
"Yeah, I guess so," I wiped the salty tears away from my eyes, and pulled Zacky's arm towards the couch.

"How've you been doing?"

"Have you seen where I've been working?" I chuckled, pausing, "It's going good. And how are you and your girlfriend?

"Wha - how did you know I had a girlfriend?"

"I went to the VMA's and saw you guys there, and what do you mean, had?" I said, looking up at him.

Zacky looked down awkwardly, and said, "Ah...we broke up. We were on tour, and she said that she needed space. Turns out she'd been fucking some drummer from another band and didn't want to keep 'leading me on.'"

I looked at him, "Is she fucking crazy? Who could turn this babe down?" I placed my hand on his, laughing.

"Same old Addie," he smiled. "Come on, let's get some coffee."

He stood up and started walking towards the counter, and I got my wallet out, pushing past him.

"I'm paying," I said seriously.

"Addie...," he warned. "Babe, you're my guest. I'll pay."

"But I invited myself."

"Hi, what would you like?"

I turned around to face the cashier, and said, "Can I have a Caffè Freddo, please?"

She nodded, and I looked behind me, pulling Zacky's hand, "What do you want, Zackeroo?"

"Oh, my God," the cashier said quietly, covering her mouth, "You're - you're...Zacky Vengeance!"

I smiled, chuckling at how this must be so normal for him. The cashier looked at our intertwined hands, "Oh...So, Gena dumped you and you got together with someone already?"

She looked at me like I wasn't...worthy enough of him, and I dropped my jaw in anger. Zacky rubbed his thumb over my hand, and leaned over the counter, making the cashier onconsciously lean towards him.

"Wanna come over by my house later?" I heard him whispering, not dropping my hand. She looked over at me, and slightly smirked, "Sure."

"Oh, and can I have an iced cappucino?" he winked, pulling out his wallet, ergo letting go of my hand.

She smiled, and looked over at me, practically sizing me up from behind the counter. She's smart, I'll give her that.

He paid, and she gave him back her change, handing him a napkin, telling him, "Write down your address. Or actually, give me your number. I'll call you later." She smiled flirtatiously and handed him a pen.

Zacky grabbed my Freddo and gave it to me, sipping his own iced cappucino, and wrote down something.

He folded the napkin up, and handed it to the cashier, winking at her. She smiled coyly once more.

We left the store after that (I couldn't bear being in the coffee shop any longer), and told him, "You do realize she could give away your number, right?"

"Duh. That's why I wrote '1-800-REJECTED' on it," he smirked, taking hold of my hand once more.

I practically choked, "Seriously?"

He slipped his hand out of my own and wrapped it around my shoulder, making me lean towards him. "Well, yeah. No one talks to you like that, even if you're not my girlfriend."

I smiled, looking at my cup, reddening slightly, "Thanks, Zack."

"Where do you wanna go now?" I asked him, "We have...20 minutes before we have to leave to the records building."

"Let's just cruise around and catch up. I haven't seen you in like, what? Seven years?"

"Actually," I said, getting in the 2009 Mercedes Benz SL, it's only been six; I saw you around campus senior year, too."

"Listen to what you're saying. 'Only six? Jesus Christ, Ads, that's a fucking long time."

"I know, I know," I sighed, pulling out of the parking space. "It is a really long time. What have you been doing since then?"

"Well, during senior year, me and guys put together a band, and we went through like, three bassists before ending up with a former bassist's little brother who went to Marina. That was the guy that you didn't recognize when you met the band."

"When did you recognize me?" I suddenly asked.

"When we were talking in the conference room. You said 'dude' and 'bro' a lot. And I mean, Sonny? Come on, Ads, you can do better than that."

"Zack. Anyone could say 'dude' and 'bro' a lot," I rolled my eyes, skeptical of his answer.

"Alright, alright. It was the Misfits skull on your thumb. When you wrote down some stuff, I saw it."

"How did you know I had a Misfits tattoo in the first place? We didn't talk like at all senior year, which was when I got it," I looked over at him.

I asked you to sign my yearbook, remember? I asked you about your tattoo and we talked for like 10 minutes..." he trailed off, obviously sounding a little embarassed that he was the only one to remember that one moment in time.

"Oh," I laughed. "I forgot. But I'm glad we got to talk again."

"Where do you live now?" Zacky asked.

"I moved back to Huntington Beach after college, and - "

"What do you mean, 'moved back'? Where'd you go?"

"Oh, I didn't move far. My family decided to move to Westminster when I began college, 'cause they wanted to be near my grandparents and shit. Besides, it gave me a smaller chance of running into Brian."
He nodded, and continued asking, "What college did you go to?"

"I went to the Musician's Institute and majored in 'Audio Engineering' and the 'Music Business'."

"No way," Zacky suddenly said. I was a little startled, and said, "What? What?"

"Brian went there for a year or two," he said, slowly. "Didn't you see him on campus at least once?"

"No...But then again, I took a lot of morning classes. Knowing Brian..."

"Yeah...," Zacky mumbled. I was now on the 5 up to Los Angeles, speeding to the Warner Bros. Records building.

"Wait another second," he asked, sounding a little confused. I laughed, "What is it, sweetie?"

"Did you just use a pet name? No, that's not it. Sorry; you never used to use little names like that when we were in high school. Anyways, if you live in HB, how do you go to work everyday? Do you drive all the way up here every single fuckin' day?"

"Of course not! I'm renting an apartment here, and I own a condo down in Huntington. I live in HB on the weekends and Fridays, when I have my days off. What about you? Still live in Huntington?"

"Yeah, I love it there. Ah, here we are," Zack said, just as I parked into one of the empty spaces in the parking lot.

"Are you gonna tell the rest of the guys that it's...y'know...me?" I asked awkwardly, throwing away our empty cups into the nearby trash can.

Zacky held the heavy glass door for me, and asked, "Do you want me to?"

"I'd...really rather not," I said, looking down, a bit ashamed. I guess he sensed this, so as a way to comfort me, he wound his arm around my waist and pulled me in closer.

"That's fine, babe," he smiled down at me, "it's - "

"I - I mean, I think it's fine if Matt and Jimmy know, but I really and obviously don't want Brian to know, and Johnny doesn't know me. I'd rather start off with a clean slate with him."

"Ads, I get it," Zacky laughed, "It's alright." I sighed contently, walked into the elevator, and pressed "2".

Brian's POV.

I laughed, hearing Johnny talk about another funny incident when he was younger at Gallagher's Pub.

I saw Zacky and record producer; what's her name...Sonny, with the rockin' body and nice curves... heading into the elevator. They didn't see me, and I faintly heard them talking, with his hand wrapped around her waist. She was leaning into him and I heard laughter.

I got a little angry. I had already told Zacky I had dibs on her. Now, he's off and making some moves on Sonny?

I rolled my eyes slightly and gave a disgrunted sigh. But then, I got confused.

Why the fuck would Zacky call our record producer Ads?