The Love of My Life

They had been at the club for about an hour and Mia was miserable. All she could think about was her fight with Zacky and how she wished that she had stayed there and tried to work things out instead of just leaving the way she did. She also wished that he would have tried to come after her or call her but he hadn’t. Maybe he was too upset with her, but if he had just listened to her and allowed her to explain, maybe he would have understood why she didn’t tell him about meeting Gena and why she didn’t tell Gena that they were together. How could he not understand that it was an awkward situation for her? She was new here and they had just gone through the whole drama with Brian and Michelle, she just wanted things to be simple again.

”Hey, Mia, are you even listening?” Val waved her hand in front of her face.

”What? Oh, sorry, I was just… thinking.” Mia looked down at her drink.

Val gave her a concerned look and decided that something needed to be done. She stood up. ”We’re going to the bathroom, we’ll be right back,” she said to the other girls as she pulled Mia up and with her.

They walked through the packed dance floor while Mia tried to protest but it was no use, Val couldn’t hear her over the music.

As soon as they reached the ladies’ room, where the volume was a lot more talk friendly, Val asked, ”Are you okay?”

Mia sighed as she shook her head. ”No, I’m really not.”

”What’s wrong?”

”Zacky and I… we had a fight. Well, kind of. He wouldn’t really listen to me so I don’t think we ever got to the actual fighting part, but he’s definitely mad at me.”

”Oh, no. This is my fault. This is so my fault. You hadn’t told him about meeting Gena, had you?” Mia shook her head in response. ”And I opened my big mouth and told Matt and of course he opened his even bigger mouth and told Zacky about it,” Val continued. ”I’m sorry, I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

Mia smiled at her. ”It’s not your fault, Val. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s obviously mine for not telling him right away. Now he thinks that I’m probably keeping all kinds of things from him.”

”But that’s not fair!” Val protested.

”I know, but he wouldn’t even listen to me. He just said that he didn’t want to hear it and that he needed time to think. He’s probably going to break up with me.”

She looked so sad that Val felt like she needed to give her a hug. ”Don’t be silly. The only reason he’s so upset is because he cares so much about you. The last thing he wants is to end things. He’s crazy about you and you know that.”
Mia hugged her back. ”I know, but I also know that he’s crazy mad at me right now. And I really didn’t mean to hurt him. I don’t know what I was thinking, I mean, of course he was going to find out somehow. I should have just told him.”

”And that’s what you’re going to tell him tomorrow when he’s calmed down a little. It’s going to be fine, I know it will.”

They pulled away from each other. ”Thanks. You’re a really good friend.”

”I know,” Val replied with a wink that made both girls laugh. ”On a more serious note, you are totally welcome to stay at our place tonight if you want.”

”Thanks, I think I’ll go to Zacky’s though. I’d rather fix this as soon as I wake up tomorrow morning.”

”Sounds like a good idea. So, how are you feeling otherwise? Is it weird being here with you know who?” Val asked.

”It’s okay. I mean, Gena seems really nice.”

”And Michelle?”

”I’m trying here, Val, but don’t push it.”

”Got it,” she said with a laugh. ”Well then, are we ready to go out there and try to actually enjoy ourselves?”

Before Mia had time to respond, the door opened and Gena walked in.

”Hey guys. Mia, could I talk to you for a minute?” she asked.

Mia and Val gave each other a look and then Mia shrugged. ”Sure, why not.”

”Okay, I guess I’ll see you out there,” Val said as she gave her two friends another look and then exited the room.

”This is a little weird, right?” Gena said and Mia nodded, making both girls laugh uncomfortably. ”I just wanted to say that I completely understand why you didn’t tell me that you’re together with Zacky, but I want you to know that I’m fine with it and I’m happy that he’s happy. He’s a really great guy.”

Mia nodded again. ”Yeah, he is.”

”And you seem like a really nice person so I hope we can be friends.”

”Yeah, I’d like that. You seem really nice too.”

Gena smiled at her. ”Zacky has good taste in women.”

”I guess he does,” Mia laughed, feeling more at ease.

”Okay, so we should get back out there. Thanks for talking to me.”

”No problem,” Mia smiled.

As they reached the door, Gena stopped. ”You’ll treat him right, won’t you?”

Mia got a perplexed look on her face. ”Um, yeah… Of course I will.”

Gena nodded. ”Good, he deserves the best.” With that, she walked out.

That was a little weird, Mia thought, as she followed Gena back to the others.

The rest of the night was fun. She really liked Lacey and she already pretty much loved Val. She was still a little unsure about Michelle, although she had been nothing but nice the whole evening. Mia just didn’t fully trust her yet, but she didn’t think anyone could blame her for that. Gena had been a lot of fun too, but Mia felt a little weird about her last comment in the bathroom. Why would she think that she wouldn’t treat Zacky right? Maybe she was just reading too much into it. It was probably just a throwaway comment that Gena didn’t mean anything by.

Like she had told Val that she would, at the end of the night, she went back to Zacky’s place. It was almost 3:30 a.m. when she got there and the house was dark, except for one lamp in the hallway. She wondered if he had left it on for her…

When she got upstairs, she found herself faced with a choice. She could either go to the guest room, the room where she hadn’t slept a single night so far, or she could go into Zacky’s room, the room where she had slept every night so far. She knew that she wanted to do the latter, but she didn’t feel right about it. He was, after all, angry with her when she left so chances were fairly high that he was still angry. If so, she doubted that he would appreciate her coming into his bed in the middle night.

She quietly opened the door to his bedroom, just enough so that she could peek inside. Although she desperately wanted to lie down next to him as she watched his sleeping form, she decided against it. She quietly closed the door again and went to her room where she would lie awake for over an hour before finally managing to fall asleep.

When Zacky woke up the next morning, he was surprised to find himself sleeping alone. Then he remembered what a jerk he had been the night before and all of a sudden, it didn’t seem that surprising. He rolled over so that he was lying on his back. He had been a complete asshole to her the whole day, so of course she hadn’t wanted to sleep next to him when she got home. If she actually came here that is.

He had texted Val during the night to see if Mia was okay and she had said yes, but that didn’t mean that she had wanted to come here when the night was over. Val had after all said that she would offer Mia to stay at her and Matt’s place. He hoped that she hadn’t taken Val up on that offer, but he couldn’t blame her if she had.

He reached over and grabbed his phone, hoping to find a missed call or a text from Mia. There was neither.

He sat up and sighed, wondering how he could fix this. A good start would probably be getting up and checking if she was even here. So that’s what he did. He got out of bed, made a quick beeline for the bathroom and then walked to her door. That was a strange thought for him, thinking of the guest room as her room. Sure, this was were she kept all of her stuff but she had spent her time in his room, in their room. As he carefully opened the door, he prayed that she was there.

He got a small smile on his face when he saw her. As quietly as possible, he walked over to the bed and lay down beside her. He pushed back some hair that had fallen in front of her face. When he did that, she scrunched up her face and he couldn’t help but chuckle at how cute she looked.

She opened her eyes.

”Oh, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Zacky apologized as he stroked her cheek.

”It’s okay,” she replied quietly. She was a little confused as to why he was here. Not that she didn’t want him to be, but considering how they had ended things last night, she hadn’t been expecting to wake up next to him. Especially not when she hadn’t gone to sleep next to him.

”I fucked up, Mia.”

”You did?” she asked unsurely.

He nodded. ”I really did. I overreacted, I know that. I was just hurt that you didn’t tell me. Actually, not so much that you didn’t tell me that you saw Gena, but that you didn’t tell her that we’re together. This probably makes me sound like a complete loser but I thought that maybe you were ashamed or embarrassed over being with me.”

She quickly sat up and she looked down at him in disbelief. ”Are you kidding me?”

He didn’t say anything, he just kind of shrugged.

”Zacky, seriously. I would never, never ever, be anything but proud of being with you. You are amazing and I’m so happy that I know you. I like you so much, don’t you know that?”

Once again, he just kind of shrugged, but this time she could see a hint of a smile on his lips.

She lay down right next to him. ”I like you a lot. A lot, a lot.”

”I like you a lot too. A lot, a lot,” he repeated, making her laugh and his smile fully broke through.

”So next time, can we just talk things through instead of getting mad or hurt or jumping to stupid conclusions? And that includes me too, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you and I’m sorry if I hurt you. That wasn’t my intention, not at all.”

He put his arms around her, hugging her. ”I know. I know you didn’t mean to and I know I should have just talked to you.”

She smiled at him. ”So we’re good?”

”Yeah, we’re good. Hey, we just made it through our first fight!”

”I guess we did. We should celebrate!”

He laughed at her. ”Really? By doing what?”

She could think of a couple things. Unfortunately, so could her stomach, apparently having decided that now would be a great time to get something to eat.

”Breakfast?” she suggested.

He chuckled again. ”Sounds good.”

They got out of bed and for a quick second, Mia stopped and just looked at him. At least that was the idea, but the quick look turned into more of a not so quick look.

”What?” He smiled at her, one hand trying to undo the mess that was his hair.

She shook her head. ”It’s nothing, it’s just… you’re so cute.” She walked over to him and dragged her fingers through his hair, fixing it. ”There, all better,” she said.

He gave her a quick kiss. ”Thanks.”

Once again, she found herself being completely lost in him. This time, it was in his eyes.

”You’re staring at me again,” he pointed out.

”Oh.” She looked away, feeling a little embarrassed, and then she met his gaze again. ”You have really amazing eyes, you know that?”

”I might have heard that once or twice,” he said and winked at her.

She put her arms around him, giving him a really tight hug as she leaned her head on his shoulder. ”I never want to sleep without you next to me again,” she whispered.

”Aaw, babe,” he hugged her just as tight, ”I don’t want that either…”

”But?” She knew there was something more coming.

”But I’m leaving in eight days.”

She pulled away from him. ”What? Why didn’t you tell me?”

”Don’t worry, it’s just for ten days.”

”Ten days? Might as well be forever…” she mumbled.

”Hey, ten days is ten days.” He put his hand under her chin, making her look at him. ”I didn’t want to tell you until I knew whether or not you could come,” he could see a glimmer of hope in her eyes and he felt awful, ”and it sucks, but you can’t.”

”Oh.” She looked sad again.

”No one’s bringing their girl with them, that’s why.”

As much as she hated the thought of being away from him, she knew that she would just have to learn to deal with it. Music was not only his job but it was pretty much the love of his life. Touring was part of that. She couldn’t expect to be able to come along every single time the band had to go somewhere, nor could she feel sorry for herself when it happened.

She smiled, not wanting him to start feeling bad about having to leave. ”It’s okay. And you’re right, it’s only ten days.”

He smiled too, relieved that she had taken it well after all. ”Yeah, it’s nothing. I’ll be back before you know it.”

”Yeah. But wait, what about Brian?”

”I called him last night. We had a very manly talk where I apologized, he apologized, we cried and then we talked about whether Carrie should be with Big or Aidan.”

She gave him a light punch in the arm. ”Very funny.” He laughed and he was so adorable that she had to laugh too. ”But seriously, you worked things out?”

Zacky nodded. ”Yeah, we both admitted that we were being assholes and it’s cool.”

”I’m glad. You should be friends.”

”Yeah, so about breakfast?”

”I almost forgot! Let’s go.”

While they were getting the food ready, Zacky said, ”By the way, Brian asked about you.”

”He did?”

”Mhm,” he nodded, ”he wondered if you had thought any more about House of Syn?”

”Oh… Um yeah, I don’t think I want to do it. Michelle asked about it last night too and it just doesn’t feel right. I feel like I would be getting too involved in everything, if that makes sense.”

”It does.”

”But I am going to get a job, I promise,” she quickly added. ”I don’t want you to think that I’m expecting to be some kind of freeloader forever.”

He rolled his eyes at her. ”Do you think that that’s what I think?”

”No, not right now, but I don’t want you to ever be thinking that in the future either.”

He put his arms around her waist. ”Never. Mia, I would never think about you that way.”

She looked at him skeptically. ”Maybe not. But I would feel that way if I don’t eventually get a job and actually pay for things myself.”

”I get that,” he said as they sat down to eat. ”Hey, we’re going to start a sale on VU in a week so there will be a lot more to do for about two weeks after that. You could help out there if you want? It’ll just be packing orders and stuff like that, but it’s something.”

”Seriously? I’d love it. Thanks!” It was perfect, especially since Zacky would be gone for most of those two weeks. Actually having something to do would be great.

”No problem,” he said with a smile. ”Speaking of Michelle, how did things go last night?”

”It was good. Honestly, it was a lot better than I’d imagined. There was no awkwardness with Michelle at all.”

”That’s good.” He looked down at his plate and said, ”What about with Gena?”

He was trying to say it like it didn’t really matter, but Mia knew just by looking at him that he was trying a bit too hard. It obviously did matter. ”It was good. We talked and… yeah, it was good. She seems really nice,” she said while she tried to see what kind of effect that answer had on him.

He nodded. ”She is.” He looked up at her. ”I’m just happy that you two got along. She’s still good friends with everyone so I wouldn’t want it to be weird for you if she happens to show up at parties or some shows here and there.”

He seemed really sincere and maybe he was. Mia felt like maybe she was looking for trouble where there was none. It could just be that Zacky and Gena genuinely cared about each other and that was why she had made that comment about treating him right and that Zacky was honestly just wondering for Mia’s sake. Yeah, she was probably just worrying over nothing. Zacky was a good guy, everyone kept on telling her that and it was all she had known him to be. There was no reason for her to worry.

”So, what are we doing today?” she asked with a smile.