I Don't Belong Here

"Make a left here," Zacky instructed, pointing at the sign that read, "BEACH BLVD."

I turned the wheel smoothly, and parked on the sidewalk parallel to Gena's house, according to Zack.

"You wanna go in by yourself and talk to her? Or do you want me to go in so you can get your shit without an interrogation?" I asked, looking at him from the driver's seat.

"Would you…uh, go with me?" he chuckled nervously.

I laughed, "Pussy."

I saw him roll his eyes, and we got out of the car, each with a rather large brown box.

Ding-dong!

"Zacky? What are – oh, who is this?" I saw a gorgeous girl with a die-for figure, platinum hair, and dramatic eyes that held a look of scrutiny, directed towards me, of course.

"She's my girlfriend," Zacky answered quickly. I stiffened, not daring to look at him. My eyes grew wide and I looked at Gena.

"Oh, really?" she looked me over, and I cursed myself for wearing flats; my short ass figure was nothing compared to her tall and curvy frame that any sane and straight man would kill for.

I just nodded, unable to say anything. "Well, what did you need?" Gena asked. I could hear a smidge of jealousy in her voice.

"Everything that I own in this house into these – " he made a clumsy gesture towards the two boxes currently sitting in our hands, " – boxes."

"Oh, alright. I haven't moved anything of yours since you moved out – " I coughed, holding back a scoff, earning a slight glare from the ex-girlfriend; " – so you can go get whatever's yours."

--

"Oh, finally, the last room," I groaned. We filled up the two boxes, and even filled up two other trash bags with his clothes. The super-flex kind, too!

"Yeah, the only things in here are in the restroom, which would be my cologne and hygienic shit. Oh, and my boxers in those drawers. Would you get those?" Zacky asked, walking into the master bedroom's bathroom, to collect his necessities.

I gaped at his retreating back, "You motherfucker! No!"

--

"And you can stay in here," I showed Zacky his room in my condo. "It's pretty big for a condo."

"Yeah," I murmured. "It is. Hey, whaddya say after I help you settle in, we go out for dinner, huh?"

"Ooh, sure. Where at?"

"Let's go to Olive Gardens. I haven't been there in a while."

Zacky nodded, "Sure. Wanna invite the guys?"

"It doesn't matter; invite who you want," I said, trying my hardest to not sound snippy.

Zacky practically whipped out his Sidekick and starting texting away.

I walked out to the living room and grabbed the bags full of clothes, plopping them down onto the full - sized bed in Zack's room.

"Alright, they're all coming today at 7. Want me to make reservations?"

"It's a Saturday; make them pronto, Zack!" I called from his room. He shouted back an "okay."

--

Zacky and I drove in the same car; all of us planned to meet in the parking lot at 6:45.

Once he parked in the closest space possible, I saw the guys already getting out of their car.

"Oh, hey, look, there's Zack and Sonny!"

I turned around, and saw Brian and the guys coming up to me. "You know, you look really familiar," he said, once he was within hearing distance.

My breathing quickened, and everyone looked at me, including Zacky, who had a look of anxiousness plastered on his face.

"You're right…Have we met you on tour anywhere before? Maybe like…one of our Mom's friend's daughters?" Matt pried.

"Um, no, I – I don't think so," I stammered. They all kind of squinted at me, trying to jog their memory.

They all just shrugged, and started walking together up towards the restaurant. Zack looked back at me, and I grinned at him in relief. He smiled and struck up conversation with the rest of the guys.

I stood in the back of the group and consulted a topic. "Hey, Johnny," I whispered, pulling his arm back.

"Oh, uh, hi," he smiled politely. "Okay, I – "

Everyone turned to look at me, pondering what I was going to say next. "Hey, I don't listen in on your conversations. Don't listen to mine."

They turned back, snickering, and I pulled Johnny back just in case, and started talking.

"Okay, Johnny, what I'm about to tell you might be a lot to take in, but long story short, I used to date Brian in high school, but then I got…well, really unattractive, and he dumped me."

"All 'cause you weren't the best-looking girl at the moment?" he looked puzzled.

"You're sweet," I smiled kindly, "And yeah, 'cause I was an ugly motherfucker. But he doesn't know its me, and because of our breakup, I haven't talked to my best friends in six years, but I'd rather him not know."

"Oh, I understand," he nodded, opening the door for me. I thanked him, and he asked, "So, what does this have to do with me?"

"Well, Jimmy and Matt never did anything to jeopardize my life, so I want them to know, and – "

"What about Zack?"

"Oh, he already knows. He found out when we first went out for coffee. But what I want you to do is after we order, tell him you forgot something in the car and make him go. It doesn't matter what you say, just get him in the car for as long as you can."

"Alright! I get to help bring friends back together!" he beamed with joy.

"You know, I think I'm going to like you, Johnny boy," I smiled, giving him a hug, "Thanks."

"No problem," he replied, giving me a tight squeeze around the waist.

"Oh, and by the way?" I told him, "My real name is Addison; I usually go by Addie or something, but to keep my cover, it's been Sonny. So, whenever you're not around Brian, call me Addie, okay?"

--

"And I'll just have the Strawberry-Limoncello Martini, please," I smiled at the young waitress, who quickly scribbled it down onto her light green notebook pad.

"Alrighty, we'll be back with your food soon," she smiled, walking swiftly back to her station. I looked at Johnny, who gave a quick nod.

"Hey, Brian, can I talk to you outside?" Johnny asked. "Why not in here?"

"Do you have the car keys?"

"Well, yeah, but – "

"I need to get something from the car anyways, and I need to talk to you, come on."

Brian was dragged away from the table with Johnny, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay, Matt, Jimmy, I have something really important to tell you."

How the hell do you say that you used to be best friends with these people? Fuck.

"Yeah? What's up?" Matt looked at me.

"…Do you know why…I looked familiar to you?" I asked.

"No…," Jimmy said slowly, "That's why we asked you."

"Okay, well, I have to tell you something."

"Shoot," Matt urged. I started fidgeting around, my heartbeat quickening, hands shaking.

"Okay, well, in high school, Brian had a girlfriend, right?"

They all nodded; "And one of them was Addie."

"How'd you know about her?" Jimmy looked at me. "Just listen," I pressed.

"And then they broke up, and that affected your relationship, right?"

"Yeah, but did he tell you about her or something? We haven't seen her in seven years. Is he contact with her now?" Matt asked.

"Yeah. He is," I whispered. "Actually, you all are."

"No, we're not," said Jimmy, "We haven't seen her since high school."

"You're looking at her now."

They both froze as Zacky and I anticipated their reactions.

"No way," Jimmy said, obviously doubtful. "Besides, your name is – "

"Sonny. A nickname for Addison," I said, pulling out the business card I dreaded to give them on our first meeting. It had my full name, something that came in handy at this moment.

"Ads? Is it really you?" Matt whispered, looking straight at me. I nodded, smiling weakly.

"I still don't believe it," Jimmy said quietly, a voice filled with awe. "You're really Addie?"

"Yes!" I groaned; when will they get it?

"Addie," Matt said, standing up, "Come here."

I looked at Zack, who shrugged, and stood up, walking two steps over to Matt, "What?"

Immediately, I was engulfed in a hug, "My God. I – I don't even know what to say."

"I missed you, Matt," I murmured into his chest. He let go, and his eyes smoldered at he looked at me, "I did, too!"

"You guys…I still can't believe it's her," Jimmy said, looking at me strangely.

"What do you want me to do to prove that it's actually me, Jimbo?" I asked.

"Well, I can't believe it's you, it's just…so…Wow," he said, awestruck.

I started listing off the few and random facts I remembered about Jimmy from our high school days.

"It really IS you!" Jimmy jumped out of his seat, over Matt, and hugged me tightly.

I laughed, "Yeah."

"Wait a second…Zack, why aren't you all giddy and shit?" Matt asked, turning to look at him.

I waved it off, "He found out on the first day when we were out getting coffee."

"Did you tell Brian yet?" Matt asked. I shook my head, "He called me Sonny on the way here. Doesn't that tell you anything?"

"Oh. Do you not want him to know or anything?" Jimmy asked. I nodded, "I don't want it to be awkward between us, especially if we have to work together and spend a lot of time in the studio."

"Are you planning to ever let him know, though?" Matt's forehead creased the slightest bit.

"Maybe. I'll probably do something bad, then karma will probably bite me in the ass and he'll find out," I said, throwing out a crazy scenario.

They all laughed lightly, and Johnny came back. I saw Brian trailing not too far behind, and hurriedly whispered to the guys, "And don't call me Addie or Ads in front of him, okay?"

They all nodded, looking at Brian a little sympathetically.

"What'd I miss?" he asked, plopping down on the cushiony seat.

"Nothing, nothing," I said nonchalantly, playing with the forks on my napkin. "You didn't miss anything."

The looks the guys all gave me made me want to burst out in laughter.