Some Kind of Magic

“So, when is this party?” Alicia's high-pitched overly joyed voice tore through the phone and stung Vanessa, making her cringe. The storm in her head was creating a headache like she had never encountered before, and every day since Zach had left her on the sidewalk in front of her house, in her lowest moment possible, it has been present in her head and behind her eyes.

Shaking her head and placing her left hand on the top of her head, Vanessa let out a deep breath and looked around at the fully furnished house. Peering out of the window, she smiled a little and walked over to the huge window overlooking the Hudson river and Manhattan skyline. “I don't want to party, Alicia”, the girl sighed dropping her body to the floor and laying against the cold hardwood floor. “My job, I have so much work to do, calls to make, charts and designing and-”

A loud growl came through the phone silencing Vanessa's words. After the growl a giggle ripped through Vanessa's head and she pulled the phone from her head. “I have to call you back, Vanessa”, Mouth open to speak, the brunette sighed as the small sound of the phone going dead on the other line sounded lightly in her ear. Then only person that she could talk to was too busy fucking her boyfriend too even lend her an ear.

“Why do I fucking bother?” Vanessa screamed at herself, stopping the urge to punch herself in the face, or better, throw her body from the window. “Why?” She screamed on the top of her lungs, then took her cell phone and quickly raised her hand, ready to throw it. Just as she was about to, the screen lit up causing her to quickly bring it to her eyes. It could have been business.

It wasn't.

“Vanessa Cooke, who is -”her normal greeting was cut short.

“I want to, I need to talk to you, Vanessa”, Matt whispered through the phone. “I miss you, I miss you so much. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have... You deserve so much better than me, Vanessa!”

“I know! Why do you think I left you, Matt.”

“Can we speak in person, can you come over?” his voice was broken, like he had been crying. With a deep breath, Vanessa ran a hand through her hair and felt her defense start to weaken. Swallowing hard, she shook her head although he couldn't see it.

“No.”

“Vanessa, give me a chance, huh? Just come over for a little and-”, he stopped and let out a small sob. The defense grew weaker. “Vanessa, I miss you so much, just come talk with me please. You're alone, I'm alone, I need you. I've been, I can't live without you” Heart fluttering from his words, the brunette sighed heavily and stood up on her feet, glancing at the darkening sky.

“I'll be over in a half hour”, she muttered and ended the call before the boy on the other end had a chance to say something else. How he managed to do this to her, was a miracle. If there was one thing Vanessa couldn't stand was cheaters. He had done that to her, and on top of that he had hit her, and yet she was crawling back to him.

Squeezing her eyes shut tightly, Vanessa put a hand over her now sick stomach and dragged her body down the hall to her bedroom, strewn with clothes that she had yet to wash and put away. It had been so hectic the last few days with unpacking, doing her job for hours on end, and getting furniture delivered, she had barely had time to do her laundry.

Pulling a sweatshirt that had the devils logo on it, and a pair of jeans, she slipped into her moccasins and quickly walked out of her house, making sure she had her cell phone and keys. Locking the door behind her, the brunette shuffled her feet against the walkway until she reached the driveway. Next to the car, she pressed the 'Unlock' button, got in the car, shut the door, and then slammed her forehead onto the wheel.

What am I doing to myself? I have everything, I have my new job, I have my single life, and yet I am going to talk with the boy that killed my life in New York? I was going back to the reason I came back to this hell hole? Why? Why am I so weak and stupid? Tears threatening to leave the brunettes eyes, she inhaled deeply and jammed her key into the ignition, blinking hard once more, she turned the key and waited until the car hummed to life. Once the radio came to life and her mix CD of Phoenix and Vampire Weekend came on, she molded into her car seat and quickly pulled out of her driveway with one thought on her mind.

How did I become so weak?

- - - - - - - - -

“Zach”, Travis barked taking a throw pillow next to him and throwing it as hard as he could into the face of the brunette he was yelling at, “You're so stupid, have I ever told you that? You walk away from her, and no you just come over and mope around my house? I mean, if you need to be so miserable, go home and do it by yourself, don't try to put your mood on us”, Travis huffed as he stood up and took a passing Alicia into his arms and attacked her neck. As the blonde girl squirmed in his arms and giggled, the brunette watching clenched his fists and quickly picked himself from the sofa and made his way out of the house.

He wanted what his best friend had. He wanted the girl, he wanted the perfect relationship, but no. He was cursed with falling for Vanessa. Pinching the bridge of his nose at the thought, he shut his eyes and sighed heavily as the girls face burnt the back of his eyelids. The pure rejection and sadness drenching her facial features as Zach pulled away from her, screaming at her that she was crazy, that he never wanted to deal with her again, because he was tired of being loved one minute, and hated the other.

Looking back on that, analyzing everything that Vanessa had ever done with him, everything she had ever told him, he understood why she was the way she was. Although Vanessa was some commercializing genius with the brain to get A's in college and was brilliant at executing a tough outer shell for her clients and bosses, she was one of the weakest girls on the face of the Earth. She has no family that cares about her in the slightest way, her best friend is too busy fucking her boyfriend to care about her, and every man that she had ever trusted ended up leaving her all alone. She was used to being alone, safe being alone, and that’s why she kept pushing him away. She does love Zach Parise, so much that she wants him to be happy, she wants his happiness to come before hers.

Groaning loudly, the Brunette looked up at the window that used to hold Vanessa's room where she would sit on her floor, hair in a bun, and paint amazing paintings that could be hung in a gallery. Shaking his head, he dug into his jean pocket and quickly grabbed his cell phone and scrolled through his contact list until he found Vanessa's number.

On the ten minute walk back to his house, he kept the screen with her cell number ready to dial lit. It's been almost a week since he left her. She hasn't been around at all, no one has seen her during games or practices, it's like she had fallen straight off the face of the Earth. The only way the guys knew she was still alive was when they heard the organization CEO’s and presidents talking about how amazing she way.

When Zach reached his front porch, he sighed heavily and pressed end. The will to call her had left him, stolen by the freezing cold air whipping at his exposed skin. Why would Vanessa ever want to speak to him again, even look at him? He was one of the men that let her down, he was one of the men that left her.

So, she was a little mixed up, but eventually she'll come around. As the brunette walked into his empty home and laid down on his couch, he shut his eyes and let out an aggravated scream. He didn't want her to eventually come around with anyone but him. But he ruined that about a week ago. Now she was going to move on with her life, get a boyfriend, and where would Zach be?

Lying on his couch, staring at the ceiling, thinking of what could have happened if he stayed with her.

“No”, he thought aloud, “I'm going out tonight. I do not care about Vanessa. I am going to date a model, just like I should be doing. She was right, we would have never worked out”, he whispered to himself in a stern fierce tone, trying to drill these words as facts into his head.

“I'm Zachary-fucking-Parise, I can get whoever I want”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The loud screech of tires filled the silent street in the early hours of the morning. The few streetlights that lined the street had been burning for a few hours. The light they gave off illuminated the blue car quickly parking in the driveway of a huge home, vacant of any people. After a few minutes, the drivers door opened and the brunette girl driving stumbled to her feet. As she leaned against the car, holding her face which was still gushing blood, her cell phone started to ring in her pocket.

“Fucking...” her words were blocked by the blood filling up her mouth. Spitting the liquid onto the floor, she started to couch, more blood dribbling down her chin. Inhaling a deep breath, unable to breathe from her bleeding nose, she took her cell phone and threw it into the street and then quickly turned away from her car, and bowing her head, keeping her hand under it catching any dripping blood, she made her way into the house and quickly went to the bathroom.

Her bloody nose was stopping as was the blood gushing out of her bottom lip busted cleanly open. The gash on her forehead was surrounded in dry blood. Streaks of dried blood covered her arms and hands, as well as a few places on her face. The neat bun her hair was in was now messy, like it had been pulled many different ways, and the logo on her sweatshirt was a tad more red than usual.

Placing ice on her nose, and pressure on her lip, the worn out brunette collapsed onto her toilet cover and shut her eyes, leaning her head into the wall next to her. The previous hours ran behind her eyelids in a blur, making her stomach sick. She should have known what would happen if she went back to him, she knew, she had to know, but she did it anyway. Not because she loved Matt, but for the small chance that maybe she was wrong. Maybe Matt realized what he had done, they would get back together, and her life would go back to normal.

Now she knew that those were far-fetched dreams never coming true.

Eyes fluttering shut, her hand slipped from her lip, hitting against her knee letting the towel filled with blood fall to the floor. The simple action of holding the towel and applying pressure to her lip had drained all of her energy. After spending hours screaming on the top of her lungs, dodging punches and fighting against his rough hands trying to hold her against him or against the wall, she was amazed she even made it home.

In a half awake fog, the brunette let her eyes dart around the bathroom as a loud thud rang through the room. Sitting up a little, she drowsily swiveled her head, trying to find the culprit for the loud thud. As it sounded again, she turned toward the hallway and opened her eyes a little more. Fright running through her body, she slowly picked her aching, bruised body off of the seat and dragged it down the hall. Reaching the living room, her eyes moved slowly over to the window. When she noticed he smooth silver car sitting in front of her house, she stared at it, puzzled.

She had never seen that car before. Travis and Alicia had SUV's. Zach had a sleek black sports car, and Matt had a large off white Escalade. No one she knew had a sleek silver car.

The pounding sounded through the house again. Curiosity filling her half asleep head, the brunette made her way to the door. Once there, she took a deep breath and opened it, looking up at the man standing before her with lazy, uninterested, tired eyes.

“Vanessa!” Warm hands cupped her face. The warmth quickly ran through her body, sending a tingling sensation through every inch of her skin. “Vanessa look up at me”, as the boys voice started to set of bells, Vanessa took a deep breath and looked up. When she came into contact with the comforitng eyes of Travis, her whole body relaxed. Letting out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding, her head tilted forward and she fell into Travis' chest.

The boy wrapped his arms around her and quickly pulled her into the house, up the small flight of stairs, and into the living room. Small body pressed against the couch, Vanessa's eyes cracked open, only to see Travis standing over her, a look of extreme worry smothering his features.

“I'm fine”, she slurred realizing her best friends boy friend was going to worry himself into a stroke. “I'm absolutely fine”, she slurred again and then shut her eyes and felt her body start to shut down, sending her off into sleep mode. As the girl finally fell into a much needed sleep, the boy that was sitting right next to her on the floor, pulled his blackberry out of his pocket and quickly dialed his girlfriends number.

After a few rings, her somewhat annoyed voice answered the phone. “Hey baby, I went to check up on Vanessa, she-”

“When are you coming home?” Travis straightened his back and tilted his head to the side, furrowing his eyebrows. “You didn't have to leave me, you know. Vanessa's a big girl, just because she didn't answer her phone doesn't mean she's in trouble.”

“Aleesh”, The boy said in a stern voice, amazed how insensitive the girl on the other end of the phone was to the situation and the well-being of her best friend. “It took Vanessa five minutes just to answer the door, and when she did, she basically passed out in my arms, she-”

“Can take care of herself, Trav.” The blonde stated these words as a fact

“Someone at least has to check on her”, he whispered in defense.

“It's Zach's job to take care of her like that, not yours, now come home.”

“Zach and her don't even talk anymore!” The boy said, amazed.

“Well, that's her problem!” After those words, Travis fell silent. For years Alicia has always spoke about how much she and Vanessa loved each other, how they were sisters. While Vanessa lived with them, Alicia was thrilled, and now all of the sudden she wanted nothing to do with her? How could such a emotional change occur in the course of a week?

Clearing his throat, Travis glanced over at the brunette sleeping on the couch, then turned away from her. Narrowing his eyes, he crossed one arm over his chest. “Vanessa's your best friend, Alicia, how could you just not give a fuck about her anymore?”

“Don't pull this shit, Travis.”

“Well then tell my why the fuck you don't care about her anymore!”

“Ugh, Travis, I don't want you to care about her, I want you to care about me, and only me. If Vanessa has no one, then that's her own problem, you're mine, and I don't feel comfortable with you hanging around my friends without me.” The words falling from the other end of the phone sent Travis into a state of paralysis. Alicia and him had been goiong out for almost three years, and now all of the sudden she thinks he would cheat on her with her best friend, none the less.

Inhaling to say something, Alicia let out a loud sigh. Blinking slowly, Travis pictured exactly how Alicia was standing, hip sticking out, hand rested on it, eyes rolled looking at the ceiling, and her lips in a tight frown. As he thought of her, he found the thought and sight repulsive and annoying. He absolutely hated when she made that face because she looked like one of the girls he swore he would never get involved with. The snobby, over-priced, needy, clingy, bitches.

Alicia wasn't one.

“I'll see you tomorrow morning, I want to make sure she's alright”

“Whatever Travis!” Alicia screamed and quickly ended the call.

Minutes ticked by after Travis had taken his phone and set it down gently on the floor next to him. Thoughts swarmed his head, some of them sticking to his brain to be analyzed, some floating back into the depths of his mind, most likely to the back burner just in case they were needed later on.

One of the thoughts that stuck out the most, was 'How could Alicia be like this?' Travis tried harder than anyone to find someone he could get along with in a relationship. Lying and cheating was something he had experienced, and when he found Alicia, he expected the same. But no, she was different. She was fun and loyal and seemed to love him for him. But now, she was exactly like all of the other girls that broke his heart or made him want to commit a homicide. She had went from the sweet, people-loving, bright smiled, bubbly, lovable girl, to another blonde, clingy, bitch.

But how?

For about two hours Travis sat against the couch, staring out of the huge window over looking to the skyline thinking about Alicia and him. How he always had to call her on road trips, how she always wanted to go to games and get in the locker room after games, how she needed to know where and when he was going places an with who. When it was with guys on the team who had the bad womanizing reputations, a fight would ensue later on. Alicia would say it was just because she missed him and hates when he goes out, but now he understood.

He understood loud and clear.

Alicia was just like the rest.

“Travis?” The brunette whispered in a scratchy scaring the boy in which she was speaking to. As he slowly turned around, trying to cover up the fact she had frightened her, he looked into her bright blue eyes, and for the first time realized how beautiful they were. “When... Why are you here? Is Alicia here too?” Her eyes glued to his, making his mouth dry and mind blank. Whatever he was going to say was washed away by those huge pools of blue.

Shaking his head, Travis swallowed hard and then quickly moved away from the couch. “I came.. I came over to make sure you were alright. Alicia tried calling and you didn't answer, I wanted to see, she's home. I-” Travis's words quickly started to fall onto each other, making his speech a jumble. Cheeks turning red, the brunette girl laughed and sat up on the couch, adjusting the tee shirt she had on and the sweats falling from her hips.

Sweatpants pulled a little too far down, and shirt rolled up a little, Vanessa's hip bone was exposed, and before she could cover it up, Travis' eyes quickly landed on it, taking it in. Letting his eyes slowly wind up her body, over her small waist and chest area, he reached her face. With one look into those perfect, clear blue eyes, he felt his heart race and body warm.

“You alright?”

“Alicia and I got into a fight”, her blurted out, keeping his eyes glued onto Vanessa's.

Vanessa frowned at the thought of the cutest couple fighting with each other, Although Alicia did annoy her at times, she always loved how perfect they were for each other, how nice they looked and how nice they treated each other. “What happened? You guys are like, perfect for each other.”

“I don't think I love her”, Vanessa's blue eyes widened to the size of hokey pucks in her head. The small black dot in the middle of her oceans of blue became the size of a pen point as she just stared at the boy on the floor like he had just informed her Santa was real, or Matt did in fact want her back, back.

Mouth slightly parted to speak, Vanessa shook her head and stood up from the couch, After a wave of dizziness, she bit down on her lip and watched as the boy on the floor quickly ran his eyes over her body, then stood up and moved toward her until there was maybe a half foot in between them. “You just need some rest, Travis. It's all the stress from the games, for sure, you-”

Vanessa's words were cut off quickly by the force of Travis's lips pressed against hers. Shock running through her body, she applied the smallest amount of pressure back. But as soon as it registered in her mind what was going on, she jerked her whole body back until she was lying back against the couch, eyes wide, face drained of any possible color.

“Go home, Travis”

“No”, he breathed heavily, bright eyes wide, lips parted inhaling deeply, deep breath after deep breath. “I can't go home to her, I.. I think I hate her”

“Travis” the brunette screamed, blinking hard trying to wake herself from this dream. Unfortunately, this was not a dream, everything that was being said, all of the raw emotions were completely real. “You love Alicia, go home to her. Just-”

Shaking his head, Travis walked up to Vanessa and placed his hands on her face. Rubbing his thumbs over her soft cheeks, he smiled a little as he felt the small body shiver from his touch. As he looked deep into those blue eyes that twisted his insides and made him a tad bit uncomfortable, he took a deep breath and leaned in a little closer. “You are kind of really beautiful, Zach if a fucking fool for letting something like you go.” He stated smoothly, and brushed his lips against hers.

Body shaking, Vanessa let her eyes flutter shut. The warm breath hitting her lips was driving her crazy, and as she kept her eyes shut, she imagined opening them up to Zach's warm brown eyes. But instead she knew she was going to look up to see Travis, her best friends boyfriend and Zach's best friend.

What was she doing?