Fighting A One Sided War

"C'mon sleepy head, wake up. We're here." I heard as Destiny shook me awake.

I mumbled something groggily and blinked my eyes awake. "Where are we?" I asked sleepily as I yawned and stretched my neck, stiff from being pressed against the cold window. "What time is it?"

"It's about seven in the morning and we are at Sierra's house." Destiny said as I heard her seat belt click.

I shot up straight, hurting my neck in the process. "What did you just say?" I asked; all traces of sleepiness gone from my voice.

"Yeah Zack, we're here. Are you ready for this?" Destiny asked softly.

I swallowed hard and looked out of the car window up at the apartment building that was sitting next to the car. I looked forward and saw her car sitting there. It was covered in snow but you could still see her signature license plate that read A7X4LYF. I smiled hard to keep tears from rising up in my eyes. "Yeah...I'm ready for this." I choked out.

Destiny opened up her door and jumped out, walking down the driveway to the second door, the odd metal one. I slowly climbed out of the car; the bitter wind stung my warm face and bare hands as I rubbed sleep out of my eyes. The fresh white snow hurt my eyes as I followed Destiny's foot prints up to her door.

The door opened noiselessly and creaked shut. Closing with a loud metallic bang that echoed off the dull blue walls of the hall way. Destiny ran up the stairs, giggling as she rang the door bell. I slowly climbed the stairs, I was standing behind Destiny, and I was nearly falling over from the rush of emotions that were filling me. All of that mixed with just waking up was making my heart beat oddly...Or that could just be my nerves.

"Are you sure she's even up...?" I asked hoping I would be right.

"Damn. She does like sleep doesn't she?" Destiny asked as she ruffled through her small bag that she refused to call a purse and pulled out her phone. She hit a series of buttons and then held the phone in her hand, tapping her foot. I could hear her ring tone coming from a short distance on the other side of the door. It was Journey's Don't Stop Believing. I smiled softly remembering the very day she downloaded that ring tone and set it for Destiny. As I was starting to relax Journey came to an abrupt stop and a voice came from the other end of Destiny's cellular device.

"Hey lover," I heard her mumble, half asleep.

"Hey sleepy head! Wake up wake up!" Destiny practically shouted into the phone.

I could perfectly picture her face. She'd still have her eyes closed, blanket pulled over her head with the phone set on the side of her face, set at an angle so she could slightly muffle the way too early sounds of Destiny's excitement. Before I knew it I heard footsteps approaching the door.

My heart was jumping at an irregular pace. I felt like my heart was going to jump right out of my chest…which really didn’t seem like a bad idea at the moment. I was attempting to hide behind Destiny when the door slowly opened up to show the most amazing girl ever and just as my heart began to melt at seeing her for the first time in over two years, it quickly turned into a series of squeals and ‘happy birthday’s!’. As well as Destiny nearly squeezing all the air out of…Sierra…when she hugged her.

I tried to remain nonchalant as I leaned against the outside of the door frame, which I failed to do. I felt my body tense up, waiting for her to notice me in any way possible; a glance, fuck, even a glare. I just wanted her to acknowledge my presence. I watched them hug for a few seconds, she looked as beautiful as she did the day I first laid eyes on her. It didn’t matter that she had no makeup on, that her hair was a disarray of yesterday’s hairstyle and that she was in batman boxer shorts and a black over sized t-shirt, it just didn’t matter. She would always be beautiful to me.

After they were done squealing and hugging I made a small noise, just loud enough to seem to be a natural clearing of one’s throat, but not one quiet enough to go unnoticed when you don’t know the source.

“Oh..Sorry. Sierra…surprise.” Destiny said stepping aside to reveal me. There was definitely a question mark on the end of her sentence. I saw her cringe as she waited for Sierra’s reaction.

Sierra’s eyes went wide, you could almost hear all the air leave her lungs. I imagine her heart was doing the same thing mine was, skipping. It was shock and excitement. That’s how it was for me anyway…

“Hey.” I whispered; and then I immediately kicked myself hard in the ass. ‘Hey?!’ I scolded myself in my head. You haven’t seen this girl in over two years, and the last time you saw her it was your guys’ 3 year anniversary, one year of being engaged. You were in a hotel room with a plate of coke, a bottle of jack and you were butt ass naked with three groupies.

“Zack. Hey.” She tensed up and though her tone was soft, it was full of the same hurt I heard two plus years ago…when I called her after sobering up.

“Um..Yeah, let’s all go inside.” Destiny said, grabbing Sierra’s arm before she got violent.

I slowly followed the two of them inside and to the living room that I knew so well. It hadn’t changed much surprisingly. Then again, Sierra never was much for redecorating and Destiny was a bit too busy to focus on that for her. I almost instinctively took my usual seat next to Sierra on the small faded black love seat. But as Destiny took my spot, I sat across from them in a slightly broken computer chair that Sierra had yet to replace.

“So, let’s try and not make this into an awkward birthday, shall we?” Destiny asked after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.

“Why is he here?” Sierra growled, glaring sharply at me and turning to Destiny.

“Hey, chill. So not my idea to have him show up. But I figured it might be a nice surprise.”

“Well you were wrong. I thought I made it perfectly clear how I felt about Zachary.” Sierra spat, refusing to look directly at me.

“You might have fooled yourself and some of your lame-o friends. But you’re so not fooling me on this one dear. You’re head over heels for this boy and you have been since you’re first date with him.” Destiny’s tone was stern. She was really serious about convincing Sierra of how she supposedly felt. “And you Zachary; are head over heels for this girl and have been since you’re first day spent with her at the beach for your birthday.”

I chewed on the back of one of my lip rings and glanced at Sierra, knowing that what Destiny had said was true. Sierra still refused to meet my eyes and continued to glare coldly at Destiny.

“That still doesn’t explain what the fuck he’s doing here, wifey.” Sierra said trying to keep an even tone.

“His car-“ Destiny began to explain my story for me but I cut her off.

“I wanted to come here for your twenty fourth birthday, I wanted to see you. I missed you Sierra. Every single day since that day in the hotel-“ I saw her cringe when I mentioned that “-has been hell for me. I’ve missed you to the point of being physically sick. It got to the point where I didn’t want to live without telling you how goddamn fucking truly sorry I was, for ever causing you any amount of pain. So I looked at the calendar and saw that it was two days before your birthday, and I grabbed my shit and I left. I had no fucking clue how to get here by car, or if you would even still be here. But I had to try. My car broke down and Destiny found me. She helped me the rest of the way, Now I’m here and you’re not getting rid of me until I either get your forgiveness or you wish me dead.”

“Well then…That’s a touching story Zachary,” Sierra looked directly at me as she spoke and filled her tone with as much venom and sarcasm as she could before she got up and left the room, leaving me and Destiny sitting there.