The Love of My Life

Three days later Mia was back in her apartment and packing all the things she was taking with her. The last few days had been hectic to say the least. All of a sudden she had had to organize a move. Zacky had offered to help, saying that he would gladly pay for her apartment if she wanted to keep it for a while, but she couldn’t let him do that. He was already letting her stay at his place, there was no way he was going to be paying for her to keep a ’just in case apartment’ in another town too.

She sat down on the floor as she looked around in the empty room that was her studio apartment. Most of her stuff was already gone, she had arranged to have it put in storage. The things that were left were all packed in two very big suitcases, it was everything she was taking with her to Huntington. She was a little surprised at how little she felt like she needed to keep. It was basically only her clothes and the things she needed for designing. Actually, most of the stuff she used for designing probably wouldn’t be needed either, but she felt the most comfortable using her own things so she had decided to bring them along anyway.

Mia was anxious, not about the move, but about what was going to take place before that, meeting Nikki. Mia called her earlier, asking if she could come over because they needed to talk. She had said that she would and so, now Mia was waiting for her. She didn’t want them to fight, especially not now that she was moving and they wouldn’t be able to see each other whenever they felt like it. Nikki was her best friend, had been her best friend for years. Their friendship wasn’t going to end like this.

She looked up as there was a knock on the door and not long after, it opened and Nikki walked in.

”Hey, Mi- Oh my god, did you get robbed?!” Nikki said horrified as she looked around the apartment that was completely empty. Almost completely empty. She didn’t miss the two suitcases standing next to a wall. ”What’s going on?” she asked.

”Hi,” Mia said nervously from the floor.

”Hi, what’s going on?” Nikki asked again.

”Uh, I’m… moving.”

”You’re moving?! I haven’t talked to you for a week and now you’re moving?” Nikki sat down opposite her on the floor. ”Where? What? How? Why? Where?!”

”Promise you won’t freak out at me,” Mia said and Nikki nodded. She continued, ”I’m moving to Huntington be-”

”WHAT?!” Nikki yelled out. ”Huntington? As in Huntington Beach? As in Huntington Beach where Avenged Sevenfold lives?”

Mia nodded and before Nikki had the chance to say anything else, she said, ”Just listen to me first and judge later. You know that I’ve been with the guys for the past week and it was great. Zacky and I are… well, we’re like officially a couple and I’m really happy with him. Val and I have become really good friends and I get along with the rest of the band.”

”That’s all fun and good, but it doesn’t explain why you’re moving there.”

”Relax, I’m getting to it. One night when the guys were doing radio interviews, I was just drawing a couple of ideas I had in my head and then they walked in and, to make a long story short, Brian saw some of my stuff and he liked it and then he offered me a job with his clothing company.”

Nikki gaped. ”House of Syn? You’re going to work for House of Syn? Holy shit!”

Mia nodded. ”Yeah. Apparently Michelle had just fired a designer and she and Brian got into a big fight about it and I was the perfect solution.”

Nikki’s eyes darkened. ”Have you met her?”

”Who? Michelle?” Mia asked and Nikki nodded. ”No, not yet. I’m actually a little worried about it. Supposedly she fired people left and right whenever they disagreed with her and while Brian promised that that wouldn’t happen with me… I’m still worried though. I can totally picture her hating me from the moment we meet.”

Nikki grimaced. ”Yeah, me too actually. Just based on what Brian told me, she seems like quite the bitch.”

”That’s not helping!” Mia said, worry showing on her face.

”Don’t worry, I’m sure your new boyfriend will protect you,” Nikki laughed, making Mia smile.

”Yeah… My new boyfriend, can you believe it?” she squealed as she hid her face in her hands.

”Have you done it yet?”

Mia looked up, remembering that this was the very subject that caused their fight. She shook her head. ”We’ve kissed and stuff, but we haven’t done... that.” She waited for Nikki’s reaction.

”That’s probably good, it means that he really likes you,” Nikki smiled at her best friend who was very surprise by this response.

”It is? It does?”

Nikki nodded. ”Yeah. I’m sorry about how I was before you left. I shouldn’t let my experience with guys ruin everything for you just because I might be a little bitter about it. Zacky is a good guy and I’m really happy for you. And I’m sorry. I hate fighting with you.”

Mia leaned forward and hugged her best friend. ”I do too. I’m sorry. I completely overreacted and I understand what you meant, it’s just that… I was so happy and it wasn’t what I wanted to hear right before we left.”

”I know and I should have kept my stupid opinions to myself.”

”Don’t worry about it, we’re fine now and that’s all that matters.”

”Yeah, you’re right,” Nikki smiled. ”So, where will you be staying?”

Mia smiled shyly. ”Well, Zacky offered to let me stay with him…”

”You’re moving in with him?!”

”No. God, no. I’m just staying with him for a while until I can find somewhere else to live,” she quickly explained.

”Oh. Although that makes sense because, and I’m not judging right now, but it would be way too soon for you to live together.”

”We kind of will be though. Even if it’s just for a little while, we’ll still be living together.”

”Yeah, but you know what I mean, it’s not like you’re officially moving in or anything.”

Mia could see this escalating into another fight which used to be rare for them but apparently, they seemed to be close to a fight no matter what the subject was these days. Or when the subject involved Zacky… She wondered if maybe Nikki, who was the bigger Avenged fan out of the two of them, was a bit jealous that she wasn’t the one who was currently with one of the guys. Mia didn’t think her best friend would be that petty, but jealousy is a strong emotion and sometimes it’s hard to control.

”Want to drive me to the airport?” she asked, wanting to change the subject.

”Of course! When do you need to be there?” Nikki asked.

”In an hour or so.”

”Alright. What do you want to do until then?”

”Get something to eat maybe?”

”Deal!” Nikki said with a smile as they got up and left to get some food.

***

”I hope you don’t mind, but I kind of promised the guys that we would get over to Brian’s tonight for a barbecue,” Zacky said to Mia as they were in the car on their way to what would be her home for the foreseeable future.

”I don’t mind at all. Who will be there?” She would have preferred to just have quiet night in with Zacky, but she didn’t not want to hang out with anyone either so she didn’t really mind.

”The band of course, I think everyone’s bringing their girlfriends. The Berrys might be there too and probably Dan.”

”Well, I already know them so that’s not a big deal at all. So I guess that means that Michelle will be there too then?”

Zacky nodded. ”Are you nervous about meeting her?”

”A little maybe. Not so much about meeting her but… I’m going to be working for her so it would probably be for the best if she didn’t hate me.”

”She’s not going to hate you. How could anyone hate you? You’re too cute for that.” He touched her nose, making her scrunch up her face. ”See? You’re adorable.”

She laughed. ”Thanks, but I doubt she’ll care if I’m adorable or not.”

He shrugged. ”Who cares what she thinks anyway? Brian hired you and he’s not going to fire you so it will be fine. Everything will be fine.”

Mia wished she could be as confident as he was but she had a feeling that things weren’t going to be quite that easy for her at her new job. She wasn’t very good when it came to dealing with people in the first place and considering that she had only heard bad things about Michelle… she definitely saw trouble in her future.

For the rest of the drive Mia looked out the window, trying to take her mind off things by doing nothing but focusing on the gorgeous scenery that they were passing by.

”And we’re home,” Zacky said as he stopped in front of a house.

”You live in this mansion?” Mia exclaimed as she stepped out of the car.

Zacky laughed. ”It’s hardly a mansion.”

Mia gave him a pointed look. ”Compared to my apartment that’s barely an apartment, this is a freaking mansion! Do you have like ten rooms and twelve baths, a butler, a housekeeper and a cook?”

Zacky laughed even harder. ”Definitely not. I have five rooms, four baths, no butler, no cook, but I do have a housekeeper.”

Mia shook her head. ”You know Mr. Baker, you live in a completely different world than I do.”

”Not anymore. This is your home too now,” Zacky said as he got her suitcases from the car and proceeded to walk up to the front door and walked into the house. An amazed Mia followed.

”This is gorgeous, Zacky! Oh my god, I can’t believe someone actually lives like this!”

”Well, you better learn to believe it, Mia. This isn’t just my life anymore. You live here so it’s your life too,” he said with a smile as he watched the look on her face. She truly seemed surprised by this and he found it to be very endearing. Not that he did, but if he had needed any reassurance of it, this definitely showed that she did not just want him for his money.

She walked through the hall, in to the living room, looked around it and continued to the huge doors that opened to the back where she walked out to the pool. She could actually see the beach from here. It was close enough for her to walk to in less than two minutes. She turned around and looked at him. ”Wow, wow, wow. I’m officially impressed.”

He put down her suitcases and joined her outside. ”Good. I never want to stop impressing you.” Then he put his arms around her and whispered, ”You are constantly amazing me and I want you to feel the same way.”

She smiled at him as she put her arms around his neck. ”I do, I really do. I’m so grateful that I met you, you have no idea.”

He leaned his forehead against hers. ”Actually, I think I have pretty good idea.”

For the next ten minutes, they just stood there, completely content with looking at each other and being in the other one’s arms.

Then it was for time for them to start getting ready for the barbecue at Brian’s house. Zacky told Mia that she could pick whatever room or rooms she wanted and she chose the one that was opposite his. Maybe it was a little silly but she couldn’t help but want to be as near him as she possibly could. He helped her get her things into the room and then left to take a shower. She took one too and when she was done, it was time for the hard part, deciding what clothes to wear. She didn’t know if she should wear something she had made herself or if that would make her look like she was… a little full of herself. It definitely wasn’t the impression she wanted anyone to have. At the same time, she was about to start working for a clothing company and she would meet one of her bosses for the first time tonight so wearing something she had made might be a good idea. She stared at the clothes in her suitcases and in a moment of frustration, she picked one of them up and threw all of her clothes onto the bed.

She started going through them. ”No, no, no, no, maybe… no, no, no, hm… no, no, no! Aaah!” She laid down on the clothes pile on the bed and decided that she had absolutely nothing she could wear for this barbecue and so she couldn’t go because she would only end up being a major disappointment to Zacky.

She looked up as there was a knock on her door.

”Come in,” she called out, resting on her elbows to bring her upper body up a little.

”Are you okay? I heard you yelling,” Zacky said as he first peeked in and then opened the door wider and came in fully.

”I’m fine,” she sighed. ”I can’t go tonight because I have nothing to wear, but other than that, I’m terrific.”

Zacky looked at the insane amount of clothes that were all over the room. ”You have nothing to wear?” he asked in disbelief.

”No, nothing. It’s all ugly and I know Michelle will hate everything.”

”Mia…” he said as he sat down next to her on the bed. ”Michelle will not hate it, no one will. And Michelle will not hate you, if that’s what you’re really worried about.”

She glanced over at him as he too lay down. ”How do you know?” she asked.

”Because I know her and I know you and… I know, okay? She’ll like you, just like everyone else I know that has met you and liked you.”

”Yeah, I’m not convinced,” she said as she turned over so that she was facing him.

He sighed. ”Come here.” He reached out his arms and pulled her into his embrace. ”There’s no reason for you to worry,” he said as he stroked her hair. ”Val pretty much loves you, why do you think Michelle would be any different?”

Mia shrugged. ”I don’t know why I’m so nervous. It’s just… I can’t think of one nice thing anyone has said about her. Not even you have had anything nice to say.”

”That’s not true.” He looked at her and she nodded. ”Oh… Well, she’s hilarious when she’s drunk, that’s one good thing, and she’s always been cool to me. I don’t think she and Brian fit very well together, but that doesn’t make her a bad person. I promise to stay by your side if you want me to and I won’t leave you alone with her unless you tell me that it’s okay. Okay?”

”Okay… I’m sorry I’m being such a baby about this,” she said as she sat up.

”Don’t worry about it. I get that you’re nervous. I don’t think there’s any reason for it, but I get it.” He got up and reached out his hands to her, she took hold of them, and then he pulled her up.

”So, what can you wear from this pile here?” he asked.

She looked at the clothes for a while and then picked up a simple black skirt and a purple top. ”How about this?”

”Perfect!” He looked at the top for a few seconds. ”Is that something you’ve made?” he asked.

She nodded. ”Do you like it?” she asked unsurely.

”Yeah! And yes, I’m sure Michelle will like it too. You get ready and I’ll be waiting for you downstairs.”

”Alright. Hey Zacky,” she said when he was at the door.

”Yeah?”

”Thanks,” she said with a smile.

”For what?” he asked.

”For being you.”

He smiled back at her and then he walked out, leaving her to get dressed and ready for her much dreaded first meeting with Michelle.