The Love of My Life

As the girls were watching the guys sound check, Mia was fully aware that Val’s eyes were on her the whole time, just as they had been during the drive to the venue. She was waiting for Val to say something about it, to say why she was looking at her like that, but Val didn’t seem to be headed in that direction. Finally, Mia couldn’t take it any longer.

”Okay seriously, Val! Why are you looking at me like that?”

”Like what?” She feigned ignorance.

”Like… like you’re looking at me right now. Like you have been looking at me since we met up with you guys in the lobby. Just tell me what’s going on!” Her hands flew out in frustration and she quickly hoped that none of the guys would notice.

Val looked at her with even more intensity in her eyes. ”Why don’t you tell me?”

Mia was confused, very confused. ”What?”

”Why don’t you tell me exactly what happened from the moment that you called me to get Zacky out of your room, to when you two finally emerged downstairs?” Val folded her arms over her chest as she spoke.

”Hey girls, everything okay down there?” Matt said from the stage as the whole band looked at the two women who were emerged in what didn’t seem like the friendliest conversation they had ever had.

Mia looked up at the guys and met Zacky’s eyes. He seemed worried and she felt horrible for doing something that might be considered arguing, right in front of him.

”Yeah, babe!” Val yelled. ”We’re just having a very important discussion. You go on, you sound great!” She smiled at Matt and then looked at Mia again.

In turn, Mia stared at her, completely bewildered by all of this. Val’ posture was telling her that she might be mad, yet there was something in her face that looked like it was holding back a smile and not a scowl.

”Oh, come on!” Val finally yelled when she hadn’t gotten a reply. ”You two totally slept together!”

Mia looked at her in shock. ”What?! No, we didn’t!”

Val looked unconvinced as she raised her eyebrows and gave her a very pointed look.

”No, we really didn’t,” Mia said again. ”I don’t know why you would even think that but Zacky and I have most definitely not slept together in any other way than sleeping next to each other.”

”Then why did it take you so long to come downstairs? And why did your hair look all messy when you finally did? And why have the two of you seemed so touchy-feely after that? We both know you weren’t like that before. Hell, earlier today you weren’t even sure of his feelings for you.” Val had lowered her arms but not she was looking at Mia triumphantly, like she wanted to say ’Aha, try explaining this!’.

Mia started laughing and she relaxed right away when she knew that Val wasn’t mad at her over something she hadn’t even known that she had done.

”Well?” Val said.

”Okay, first off and I’m telling you this for the third and final time, I haven’t slept with Zacky. The reason it took us so long to get downstairs is that we were… making out. The reason my hair was messy is that we were, once again, making out. And the reason we’ve been so touchy-feely since that is that, you guessed it, we were making out.”

Val looked surprised. And thrilled. ”You were what? You were making out? Like high school, backseat, hands in the hair and under the shirts, kind of making out?”

Mia nodded as she smiled widely and Val squealed in excitement.

”That is so exciting! Tell me everything and tell me right now!” Val linked her arm with Mia’s and they started walking toward the backstage area, knowing that the guys would most likely be done any minute now.

”Well, we had kind of been talking about the surprise lingerie, which of course he doesn’t know is lingerie, and things definitely got a little flirty. Then I changed-”

”In front of him?” Val interrupted her.

”No, no.” She shook her head and then added, ”Although…”

Val’s eyes widened as she waited for Mia to continue that thought. ”Although?”

”I guess in a way I did. I changed in the bathroom but I may have left the door open on purpose, hoping that he would try to catch a glimpse, and he may have done just that.”

Val laughed. ”Go Zacky.”

Mia smiled too. ”Yeah. When I was done I was wearing this,” she looked down at her VU shirt, ”and he said something about loving to see his name on me and I said something about loving to have it on me. Then all of a sudden he was standing right by me and it was one of those moments where it just happens, you know. You kiss because it’s the only choice you have.”

”You were standing up? And it was all hot and heavy with his hands in your hair and your arms around him and something that’s like one of those scenes from some movie that’s basically porn without being actual porn?” Val spoke quickly and by the look on her face, it was obvious that she was thinking about some particular movie. It made Mia laugh.

”Something like that. We started standing up, ended sitting down. Honestly Val, it was probably the hottest thing I’ve ever experienced. I wanted to sleep with him right then and there, which is insane because it’s way too soon.”

Val shrugged. ”Sure, to some maybe. And others would think that it was way too soon for you to ask him to stay with you. That didn’t stop you, did it?”`

”Well, no…”

”Exactly. Do you think it’s way too soon to sleep with him?”

”I do,” she said and then she really thought about it. She thought about the way he looked at her, the way he acted toward her, the way he touched her, the way he talked to her, the way he listened to her, the way he made her laugh… ”And I don’t,” she added. Because while a part of her said that it was way too soon, another part of her felt that if something’s right, it’s right. And she felt like Zacky was right.

”No, I don’t,” she then said.

”There you go,” Val smiled. ”You need to stop worrying so much about everything. If it’s right for you, then it’s right for you. Screw what anyone else thinks.”

”You make it sound so easy,” Mia said with a sigh.

”That’s because it is. Things are only as difficult as you make them.”

Mia laughed. ”Alright then, miss fortune cookie.”

”Oh, shut up!” Val laughed too.

”Hey, are you telling my girl to shut up?” Zacky said, entering the backstage area.

”So what if I am? What are you going to do about it, Baker?” Val said with a cocky grin on her face.

”What I’m going to do about it? I’m going to show you what I’m going to do about it,” Zacky replied, advancing toward Val who was looking at him unimpressed.

”Uh, guys…” Mia tried, but neither paid any attention to her. Instead they continued taunting each other as they got closer and closer.

”What the- Zacky, step away,” Matt said as he saw his fiancée and his best friend about to attack each other.

”But- why- no!” Zacky protested.

Val laughed mockingly, ”Looks like you’re backing off, little man. That means I won.”

”Val, come here,” Matt told her, the same authority in his voice as he had just had with Zacky who was now grinning widely.

”Ha! Looks like no one’s the winner in this one, blondie,” Zacky told her as she glared at him.

”But Matt…!” Val whined.

He sighed. ”Fine, let’s find a room and you can wrestle with me instead, how about that?”

Val brightened instantly. ”Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s go!” she said as she grabbed his hand and dragged him away.

Once they were out of sight, Mia and Zacky were alone. ”So, care to explain that?” she said.

”We were about to wrestle,” Zacky said like it should have been obvious.

”Wrestle? You two? You and Val? You wrestle? Together? You were going to wrestle that tiny little woman?” Mia asked skeptically.

Zacky laughed. ”Val will, without question, punch you in the face if you call her tiny. She may look small but that girl packs some heat in her punches. Hell, she probably wins half of our wrestling matches.”

”Really? Does that mean that you’re admitting that you get beaten in wrestling by… a girl?” She tried her hardest not to laugh at the very offended look on his face.

”Hey! That’s not fair. She’s a girl! It’s not like I can use my full strength on her, I don’t want to hurt he-”

Mia shut him up by clasping her hand over his mouth. ”Shh. I’m just kidding. I think it’s sweet that you let her win. Granted, I think it’s a little strange that your game of choice is wrestling, but it’s still sweet.” He tried to speak but she didn’t move her hand. ”And I think it’s adorable that you want to defend yourself.” He tried speaking again, louder this time. ”And I also think it’s kind of,” she lowered her voice, ”hot”.

She removed her hand and he looked at her, a little stunned by this revelation. He wasn’t sure when this change in her came about but he didn’t mind it. Not that she had been that shy to begin with. She had seemed forward enough that first night they talked. And she had invited him home with her the second time they met. Not to mention that she was currently on a different continent with him and his band. The more he thought of it, the less he understood why he for some reason thought of her as being shy. Pretty much all signs were pointing in the opposite direction. She may have moments of shyness, but so did he. He just happened to be better at hiding them than she was. At least better than she had been so far.

”Zacky?” she said, ”did you even hear what I just said?” She looked at him, feeling a little perplexed as to why he hadn’t said anything back after she had just told him that she thought he was hot. Or that his behavior was hot. Which basically made him hot. So yeah, she had told him that he was hot. And he just stood there, seemingly not reacting to it at all.

”Huh? Sorry,” he said.

”Yeah… Okay…” She gave him a confused look as she turned around and started to walk away. She had no idea what it was that had just happened here.

”Mia,” he said as he grabbed her arm and spun her around so that she was once again facing him.

”What is it?” she asked, a hurt look on her face.

”I forgot to tell you something,” he said, lowering his voice with each word.

”Okay?” She waited for him to say whatever it was he had forgotten to say so that she could leave already, instead of standing here and making a complete fool of herself. ”Well?” she spoke again.

He put his hands on her waist. ”I forgot to say that I think that you’re sweet… and adorable… and hot.”

She smiled, a blush creeping onto her face as she looked down at the floor and then back at him again. ”Yeah?”

”Yeah,” he nodded.

”Good to know,” she whispered as their lips met again in what was to be their second passionate kiss that day.

***

It was day five of their England trip and so far, Mia was definitely happy with how it had turned out. During the day, the guys did interviews while she and Val shopped and did the usual touristy stuff like visited Madame Tussaud’s and walked around Hyde Park. And of course, she couldn’t forget the shopping. Somehow they had managed to do lots and lots of shopping. Zacky had kept on insisting that she use his credit card and she had kept on feeling incredibly bad about it. Finally she and Val had worked it out so that she bought the cheap stuff with Zacky’s card and Val borrowed her the money for the more expensive things. It wasn’t Mia’s ideal solution but since she was unemployed, it simply had to work for now. She would kill herself if she missed out on all the amazing London shopping just because she happened to be broke the one time she visited.

Mia was laying on the bed in her and Zacky’s hotel room, waiting for him to come back from whatever radio interview they were doing at the moment.

The two of them still hadn’t done anything beyond a whole lot of kissing and a little touching. They had stayed completely in her comfort zone and he had told her over and over again that they were going to take things in her pace. Whatever she was comfortable with, he was comfortable with too and it was very important to him that she didn’t feel even the least bit pressured into anything. She thought it was incredibly sweet of him, yet that didn’t come as much of a surprise because she had learned that Val had been right when they had first talked about him. Zacky truly was one of the sweetest guys she had ever met. He was one of those guys who would rather catch a spider and take it outside, than just kill it. It was a side of him that Mia found to be incredibly endearing. Actually, she found all of him to be incredibly endearing.

She still felt like it was too soon, but she couldn’t deny it any longer. She was unquestioningly and without a doubt, falling in love with him. The part that scared her was that she didn’t want to deny it. She wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell him and have him tell her the same thing. The only thing that kept her from saying anything was the fear that he wouldn’t be saying it back. She may be feeling it already, but it didn’t mean that he was feeling it too. So she kept quiet and kept it inside, knowing that one day that feeling would have grown so big that she wouldn’t be able to keep it to herself any longer. Hopefully, when that happened, he would find himself in the same boat and then, all of Mia’s dreams about finding the love of her life would come true.

She gave the clock another glance, realizing that he might be back any second but he might just as well be another hour. She wished she could remember how many interviews they were doing in a row tonight. She knew that they were doing quite a few, but she had no idea if the number was three or ten. She was bored. She couldn’t go hang with Val either because she wasn’t feeling well so she had been sleeping most of the day. She might be awake now, but Mia didn’t want to get sick too. She could call her, but she didn’t want to wake her in case she was still sleeping.

She got off the bed and went to her bag where she started digging for her sketch book. It was on the bottom, of course. It made sense though, it was the one thing she hadn’t gotten out of her bag yet. She simply hadn’t had any time to draw. She couldn’t remember the last time that had happened. Maybe never. Going several days without designing hadn’t existed in her world before this week with Zacky. As soon as she put the pen to the paper, it started moving. She didn’t even have to think about it, it just came to her naturally. The problem during this week hadn’t been that she didn’t have any ideas, all the fashion she had encountered made sure that her head was full of nothing but ideas. The problem had been that she hadn’t had any time to get the ideas down on paper. However, this was perfect as she had nothing but time to kill and doing something creative was exactly what she needed.

An hour and a half later, she was still sketching her designs. They were only rough sketches as she wanted to get as many of her ideas down as she possibly could, before they disappeared from her brain. She could always make them more detailed later when she had more time for it.

Time had gone by so quickly that she was actually surprised when the door opened and Zacky walked in, closely followed by Brian.

”Hey beautiful,” Zacky said as he bent down and gave her a quick kiss.

”Hey yourself,” she said to him with a smile. She looked up at his friend. ”Hi, Brian.”

”Hey, Mia,” he smiled back at her.

”How did it go?” she asked them as she put down her pen and sat up on the bed.

”Good. Same old, same old, you know. Same questions, same answers,” Zacky answered.

”Well, expect for that one directed to you that was a bit unusual,” Brian said, grinning as he looked at his friend who was glaring at him.

”What was it?” Mia asked, completely oblivious to the harsh looks between the two friends.

”Go on, tell her,” Brian chuckled.

”Asshole…” Zacky muttered, before he looked at Mia. ”Uh, during this one interview, fans got to call in and ask questions and this one girl called with a question for me.”

”And…?”

”She asked if I was single,” he said slowly, trying to read her reactions while he spoke.

”And?” she said again.

”I said that I was seeing someone who was very special to me.”

”Aaw, Zacky, that’s so sweet,” she said. ”But why wouldn’t you want to tell me that?”

”Because that’s not all he said,” Brian chimed in.

”Dude, either shut the fuck up or leave already!” Zacky said through gritted teeth while Brian just laughed, enjoying the uncomfortable scene that was playing out in front of him.

”What else?” Mia asked. When she didn’t get a reply, she continued, ”Zacky, just tell me what it is.”

”IsaidthatI’dlikehertobemygirlfriend,” he said quickly, the words coming out in a jumble.

”I’m sorry, I didn’t get that,” she said, feeling so bad that he was trying to tell her something that was obviously important to him and she didn’t even hear what it was.

Brian however, wasn’t feeling the least bit bad as he laughed even harder.

Zacky took a breath and tried again. ”I said that I’d like for her to be my girlfriend.” He looked at her nervously, hoping that he would get the right response.

”You did? You do?” she said. She wasn’t sure what exactly it was that she had been expecting him to say but it definitely hadn’t been this.

He nodded as he sat down next to her on the bed. ”I do.” He waited for her to respond to the question that he had asked in a roundabout way. ”Well, do you?”

”Zacky! Of course! I mean… yes! Yes!”

He laughed at her very excited response. It was more like something he would expect if he were to ask her to marry him. Which he hadn’t. Although he might, someday, ask her that. But things weren’t anywhere near that serious yet. However, he could definitely see himself marrying her. There would be no point in being with her if he didn’t see a future with her, but he did. He definitely saw a future there. A future with her and marriage and kids. One day…

He hugged her and she tightly hugged him back. The she kissed him and he kissed her back.

They were soon distracted by what sounded like gagging noises and they both looked at Brian, who was pretending to make himself throw up.

”What the fuck are you doing?” Zacky asked, looking at him like he was out of his mind.

”Are you two always this cute? How can you even stand being around yourselves?” Brian said as he glared at them before he angrily walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him. He had had enough of people being so damn adorable all the time. Why couldn’t someone, even one person would be enough, be miserable so that he didn’t have to feel so alone in his own misery? Why did all of his friends have to be so disgustingly happy all the fucking time?

Mia was stunned by Brian’s behavior. ”What was that about?” she asked Zacky.

Zacky rolled his eyes. ”Probably another fight with Michelle.”

”Oh.” She remembered what had happened the last time they fought. The time when Brian ended up sleeping with Nikki. Nikki… They still hadn’t talked since their fight the day Mia left and while she felt bad, she also felt like it wasn’t her fault so she shouldn’t have to be the one to reach out first. She decided to ignore all thoughts of the best friend she was currently in a fight with and concentrate on a more immediate problem. ”Shouldn’t you go talk to him?”

”He’ll come back if he wants to talk. Although he’s a lot more likely to go down to the bar than he is to come here and talk about whatever problems they are having at the moment.”

”Hm… Can I ask you something?” she asked him.

”You just did,” he smiled, ”but sure, ask me something else.”

”If they fight all the time and if it makes him miserable and it makes him cheat, why are they even together in the first place? Wouldn’t both of them be happier if they just… broke up?”

”Yeah, honestly I think we all have had that thought. Maybe even the two of them.”

”Then why don’t they? Why don’t they just get it over with?”

”You would probably have to ask him but, in my opinion, I think it’s easier for them to be together, even though they aren’t happy all the time. Val and Matt are going to get married, that’s one of those things that’s like written in stone. It’s going to happen. Michelle will obviously be a part of the wedding and so will Brian. That’s how the rest of their lives are going to be. It’s not like a normal break-up where they can just stay away and not have to see each other again. They will always have to see each other, always. It’s inevitable. So breaking up probably seems like more trouble than it’s worth since they’ll have to be around each other and be miserable anyway. At least they get some good out of it as long as they are together.

She looked at him in disbelief. ”Do you hear how crazy that sounds? Okay, they will have to see each other every now and then, but you guys tour and record and so it’s not like they will have to see each other every week. Seeing each other once a month even, feels like it should be better than this.”

Zacky shrugged. ”Sure, maybe. There’s also the business to think about.”

”What business?” she asked. She knew that Val did some vocals and stuff for the guys, but as far as she knew, Michelle didn’t have any part of that.

”House of Syn, his clothing company. Or her clothing company. Their clothing company? I’m not sure how the ownership thing works exactly, but she’s basically in charge of his clothing company.”

”I didn’t even know about that. How come I didn’t know?”

Zacky grinned. ”Because my stuff is so much better?”

She pretended to laugh. ”Very funny. Does she design? Is she any good?”

”You tell me. You’ve seen the stuff, Brian wears it all the time.”

She thought hard about it. Yeah, she realized, she had seen him in a lot of shirts that said ’House of Syn’ and the designs were pretty good. ”You’re right. I think they’re pretty nice.”

”Alright then, there you go. Another reason why they are together.”

”But he could always- Whatever. I haven’t even met Michelle so their relationship isn’t my problem. But I still don’t think it would hurt if you tried to talk to him,” she tried again, hoping that this time Zacky might listen. It wouldn’t be good if Brian got drunk and met some girl he wanted to hook up with. What if Val caught him with someone else?

”But what if I’d rather be with you?” Zacky said, a little pout on his lips.

”Aaw,” she got closer to him and kissed him. Just then, there was a knock on their door.

Zacky got up with a sigh and opened the door. Standing there was Brian.

”I really hope the two of you weren’t still going at it.” As he walked in he looked at Mia who had a happy smile on her face. ”You were, weren’t you? This is ridiculous!” he exclaimed as his arms flew out in annoyance. ”I can’t be in my own fucking room because Jimmy is talking to Leana and Johnny is talking to Lacey and they are both being so fucking happy that I can’t stand it. And I definitely can’t go hang out with Matt because he needs to be all sweet and gentle because he’s taking care of Val so he can’t be disturbed. So I come here and while you have been the one I can count on when I feel like shit, now that’s gone too!”

”You know what, dude, no one’s forcing you to be here so either be polite and deal with the fact that we all can’t be miserable just because you choose to be or… well, there’s the door,” Zacky said, starting to get very annoyed by his friend’s attitude.

”Zacky…” Mia said, giving him a very pointed look. He looked at her and nodded, before he looked at Brian and tried to put a smile on his face.

”If you want to talk about it, we can talk about it. If you want to rant, I’ll listen. If you want to talk about something else, we can talk about something else. But you can’t fault us for being happy, not when you’re the one who’s choosing to be angry.” Zacky spoke calmly, hoping that it would make Brian more relaxed as well as please Mia. He looked at her and she gave him a small smile, letting him know that he had done the right thing.

Brian pulled out a chair and sat down. ”I know, I’m sorry. It’s just so… god! It’s so frustrating! She’s so frustrating! Nothing I do ever makes her happy. It doesn’t matter what I say ’cause it’s always the wrong thing. I don’t even know why she’s with me anymore!”

Zacky looked at Mia. He didn’t know what to say. They had had this talk so many times already and Brian never listened anyway. Mia looked back at him before she looked at Brian.

”Hey, Brian.” He looked at her, surprised that she was the one to speak.

”Yeah?” he said.

”This may not be my place and feel free to tell me if that’s how you feel, but… you wonder why she’s still with you, right?” He nodded in response and she continued, ”But I wonder why you’re still with her?”

He was even more surprised by this. He liked Mia well enough, but he had never really, really talked to her. He had kind of figured that she didn’t care for him much after he slept with Nikki, so he was definitely taken back by this.

”I-I…” He scratched his neck as he tried to come up with the right answer. ”Uh, I’m not sure…”

She gave him a look of sympathy. ”I don’t know much about relationships, but I do know that if you can’t think of even one reason for why you’re with someone, you probably shouldn’t be with that person.” She hesitated before she asked her next question. ”Do you love her?”

”I do. I’m just not sure if I love her that way, you know, or if I love her the way I love Val. Like a friend, a good friend, but… just a friend.”

”Then you really should try to figure that out. Once you know the answer to that, you’ll know what to do. Because if you’re not in love with her, you need to break up with her. And if you are, then maybe it’ll end up being worth all the hard times.” She gave him what she hoped was an encouraging smile.

Zacky took a few steps toward Brian and patted him on the back. ”Yeah dude, what she said.”

Brian laughed at this. ”Looks like you’ve found yourself a pretty good girl here, Z.”

Zacky looked at Mia. ”Yeah, looks that way, doesn’t it?” He smiled at her and she smiled back at him.

Brian stood up. ”I should probably get out of your way and leave you to continue… whatever it was you were doing before I barged in here and started whining like a little crybaby.”

”No, stay,” Mia said and he looked at her, unconvinced. ”Really, you should stay. We don’t mind. Right?” She looked at Zacky, wanting him to agree with her.

”Right, we don’t mind. Stay,” he said.

Brian looked at them for a moment before he sat down again. ”Alright. So, what were you doing before Zacky and I first walked in?” he asked Mia with a smile.

She picked up her sketch book of the bed. ”Doing a little sketching on some new designs.”

”You design? Clothes or…?” He was as surprised by this news as she had been about his clothing company.

She nodded and Zacky said, ”Yeah, you didn’t know? She makes a lot of her own clothes so you’ve probably seen her wear her stuff.”

Brian looked impressed. ”Wow, I had no idea. Can I see what you were doing?”

”Sure.” She smiled as she opened up the book and showed a few of her ideas to him and Zacky.

”Mia, those are fantastic! Where do you come up with all of this?” Zacky said as he sat down on the bed and took the book from her hands and started flipping through it.

Mia shrugged. ”I just see people and I get inspired, I guess.”

Brian stood up and came closer to the bed, looking more closely at the sketches as Zacky continued going through them.

”He’s right, these are really good. Hey, do you have any of your stuff with you?” Brian asked her.

”Uh, yeah. Why?” she said, a little surprised by this.

”Can I see them?” he asked, his eyes still glued to her book.

”Sure…” she said skeptically as she got up and off the bed and looked for some of the clothes she had made herself. She ended up choosing one dress, one skirt and two shirts. ”Here we go,” she said and he looked up right away.

She held the clothes up in front of her as she showed them to him and Zacky. Neither said anything while she did this and once she was done, she put the items of clothing away and looked at the guys, waiting for one of them to say something.

”I wish you could work for me,” Zacky said.

”I want you to work for me,” Brian said at the same time.

They looked at each other. ”What?” they both said, again at the same time.

”I said I wish she could work for me,” Zacky repeated.

”And I said that I want her to work for me,” Brian said.

They kept on looking at each other, both seemingly confused by what the other was saying. Then it was time for Mia to be the confused one.

”You do what?” she asked, looking at Brian.

”I want you to work for me,” he said very seriously. She kept on looking at him in disbelief. ”I’m serious, Mia. I really want you to work for House of Syn.”

”Do you even need another designer?” Zacky asked.

”Actually, I do. That was the whole reason for my fight with Michelle, that she fired another person and I think we’re at the point where it’s getting ridiculous that she hires them and then fires them the second they disagree with her,” he explained.

”And that’s the kind of environment you want my girlfriend to work in?” Zacky asked, his skepticism more than obvious to those in the room.

”Well, no. This would be different since I’m the one doing the hiring. She wouldn’t be able to fire her just because she felt like it.” He looked from Zacky to Mia. ”She wouldn’t be able to do that, I promise.”

”Okay…” She wasn’t completely sure that he was being serious. This all felt like a bit too much. He had, after all, only seen a few of her designs and she didn’t think that was enough to base his decision on. She knew that she was pretty good, but he didn’t know that. She didn’t want this to be something he did just because he wanted to piss off his girlfriend.

”Well, do you want to?” he said. ”If the rest of your stuff is anywhere near this good, you’d be doing me a favor. Not to mention that it could really help ease up on the tension that this is causing between me and Michelle. And of course, you’d have to move to Huntington, but that would be good for the two of you because that way you’d be closer to Zacky.”

”He’s got a good point there,” Zacky said.

Mia was… surprised by all of this. She could use a job and this way she would actually get to do something she loved. And she would get to be near Zacky which was a major thing to put in the pro column. Along with Zacky came the rest of the band and Val, which was another plus. Of course, it also meant leaving Nikki behind but San Francisco was only a couple of hours away so it’s not like they wouldn’t be able to see each other. If they even made up that is… She would have to give up her apartment and she loved that place, and there would be the hassle of having to find a new place to live. But she would get to see Zacky often. She couldn’t think of anything negative that outweighed the positive factor that had.

She looked at Zacky and smiled before she then looked at Brian. ”I think I… yes. Yes, I want to,” she said with a big smile.

Brian got up and hugged her right away. ”Awesome. This is going to be really great, I can just feel it.”

”I hope so,” she said. She then looked at Zacky again who was still sitting on the bed, looking at her.

”I’m going to go call Michelle, tell her that I’ve just gotten us a new designer. You two can go ahead and be as cutesy and adorable as you want to be. Welcome to House of Syn, Mia,” he said as he pulled out his phone and left the hotel room.

”Thanks,” she called out after him. ”So…” she said to Zacky after the door had closed behind Brian.

”So, you’re moving to Huntington?” he said with a smile on his face.

”Looks that way,” she smiled back at him.

”You’re going to need to find a place to live.”

”I know.”

”I guess, since you invited me to stay with you and all, that it’s only fair if I invite you to stay with me too.”

She shook her head. ”No Zacky, you don’t have to do that just because I-”

He interrupted her. ”I don’t have to, I want to. I want you to stay with me. I don’t mean move in forever or anything like that, but you’re my girlfriend so it’s only right that you stay with me until you find a place of your own. And you can have as many of the guest rooms as you want, this isn’t some stupid ploy to get you into my bed.”

She sat down next do him on the bed. ”Of course it isn’t. Don’t you think I know that? I’ve been sharing this very bed with you for several nights now and you haven’t ’tried’ anything. I know you’re a good guy, you don’t need to reassure me of that.”

”Is that a ’yes, you’ll stay with me’?” he asked hopefully.

”Yes, it’s definitely a ’yes, I’ll stay with you’. And thank you,” she said before she kissed him.

When they were lying in bed that night, she was having a hard time falling asleep as her mind kept going over her new job and her new boss and her new boyfriend.

”Zacky, are you awake?” she whispered.

He turned around so that he was facing her. ”What is it?”

”Do you think Michelle will like me? If she’s fired everyone else, why would I be any different? How can Brian guarantee that she won’t fire me just like she’s fired them? And how-”

”Shh…” He reached for her and pulled her closer to him.

”There’s just so much on my mind.”

”I know and we can deal with all of it tomorrow, but for now, let’s just sleep, okay?”

”Okay,” she said and settled herself in his arms.

It didn’t take long for her to be comfortable and soon, she too had fallen asleep.