The Love of My Life

Mia and Nikki spent what must have been close to two hours with the guys. They were all surprisingly nice. No huge rock star egos, like one might expect. Not even any talk of dirty groupies, like Mia had expected. Not that she minded having been wrong. She quite enjoyed talking to Zacky. They spent most of the time talking about designing and different ideas they both had. She had been amazed when he told her that he was the one who came up with all the designs for his clothing company. He even said that he would gladly hire her if the need for another designer came up. She didn’t put much faith in that statement, feeling fairly confident that this was nothing but a one time thing, but nonetheless it was nice to hear.

Then the moment came when it was time for the band to leave. They were all saying goodbye to each other when Zacky pulled Mia aside.

“You might think this is a crazy idea, but I think you should come with us to the hotel so that we can talk more.”

He was right, she did think it was a crazy idea. “What? No, I can‘t do that.”

“Of course you can!” he said.

“No Zacky, really… I can‘t.”

“Alright, alright. Come to our next show then?”

“Maybe.” He pushed out his bottom lip, making it look like he was pouting and she felt like she couldn’t deny him anything. “I‘ll think about it, okay?”

“Fair enough.” He gave her a hug before he walked off to the bus. “See you tomorrow!” He yelled right before he disappeared out of sight.

Mia shook her head as she laughed quietly to herself. All of a sudden Val was hugging her. “You should come tomorrow,” she whispered.

“I don‘t know, Val.”

She pulled away from the hug. “Look, I think Zacky could really like you if you gave him the chance. I’ve known him forever and he’s one of the good guys. And even if you don‘t like him that way, but I think you do, you could come for my sake. Think about it.”

“I will, I promise.”

They exchanged numbers and then Val too walked toward the bus. Before she got on, she turned around. “See you tomorrow!” she yelled.

This time Mia laughed out loud. She could definitely see why Val fit in so well with the guys. She looked to her left to see Nikki saying goodbye to Jimmy. Those two seemed to have bonded. As she waited for her friend to finish talking to the drummer, Brian walked up to her and gave her a hug. It was a little unexpected seeing as how they had barely talked but Mia chose to look at it as a nice gesture.

“I‘m expecting to see you at the show tomorrow,” he said before he walked off.

“That‘s what I keep hearing,” Mia called out after him and he chuckled as he waved without looking back. Nikki soon joined her and they stood in the parking lot, watching as the bus drove off.

“That was…” Nikki started.

“I know.”

“We hung out with…”

“I know.”

“I talked to…”

“I know.”

“Zacky was hitting on you.”

“I kn- wait, what?”

Nikki turned around and headed for their car. “Zacky. He was totally coming on to you.”

“He was not! We were just talking,” Mia protested.

“Yeah right, talking during the whole time we were with them!”

“And? So were you and Jimmy.”

Nikki looked at her skeptically. “That is nowhere near the same thing. One, Jimmy is with Leana. Two, I talked to all the guys. Except for Zacky that is, because you were totally hogging him.”

“I don‘t know what you‘re talking about,” Mia said as she spotted the car and started walking faster.

“Sure, sure.”

“Shut up.”

They got in the car without another word.

As they drove out of the parking lot, Mia’s cell phone beeped, signaling that she had a new text message. Nikki gave her a knowing look, like she knew who it was from. Mia scoffed at her as she looked at her phone. It was a number she didn’t recognize but a name she did.

“Hey. I really liked talking to you and I hope I‘ll see you tomorrow. I’ll leave your names at the venue, just in case. ;) Have a good night. Zacky”

“Well?” Nikki asked.

“What?” Mia replied nonchalantly.

“What did he say?”

“Who?”

Nikki rolled her eyes. “You know who. Zacky!”

“What makes you think that was from him?”

“You mean besides that stupid smile you have on your face right now?”

“Shut up.” Mia pressed her lips together, trying to remove the smile from her lips. She couldn’t. She was happy that she had started talking to Zacky. He was really nice and sweet and cute and… She sighed loudly. She had no business getting interested in a musician. Definitely not a musician who was famous and out on tour. It would lead to nothing but heartbreak. Yet a little voice in her head told her to screw it. She was twenty-two years old. If there was ever a time to take risks and do something as foolish as getting involved with a rock star, now would be it.

“So? What did he say?” Nikki asked again. Mia showed her the message and Nikki squealed. “Oh my god! He totally likes you!”

“You think?”

“Mia, that boy was looking at you like… like something he wanted to eat!” Mia gave her a look. It was a look that said something along the lines of ‘what the hell are you going on about?’ and they both burst out in laughter. “No but seriously. He‘s obviously at least a little bit interested, he wouldn‘t be texting you already if he wasn‘t.”

“Maybe he thought I was nice and he wants a friend.”

“Sure… A friend he wants to fuck maybe,” she mumbled.

“What was that?” Mia asked her.

“Nothing. Are you gonna text him back?”

“I don‘t know.” She looked at her phone as she pondered whether or not she should reply. “What should I say?”

“Um, how about ‘See you tomorrow’ with a little winking smiley?” Nikki winked as she said this.

“When exactly was it that I agreed to seeing him tomorrow?” Mia asked her, trying hard to keep from smiling.

“Oh, come on! You know you want to. I know you want to. And I sure as hell know that I want to!”

Mia sat in silence for a while as she thought it over. Really, what was the harm? If she went and something happened, then something happened. If she went and nothing happened, then nothing happened. It wasn’t a bigger deal than she made it and so she decided not to make it into a big deal at all.

“Alright.”

“Alright?!” Nikki replied excitedly.

“We‘re going.”

“Two nights in a row with Avenged! Life is so freaking exciting!“ She turned up the music, the song currently playing was “Brompton Cocktail” and she started singing along loudly.

Mia tuned out both the music and her friend. She had to write some kind of reply to Zacky and everything she came up with sounded either lame or really lame. Where was the line between too cold and too friendly? She groaned as she hid her face in her hands. If she had this much trouble with a simple text message, how would she possibly hold an actual conversation with him?

She knew that she was over thinking it. She had spent about two hours talking to him and been completely fine, yet now she was stressing over it. It wasn’t a big deal. She told herself that repeatedly in her mind. ‘It’s not a big deal, it’s not a big deal, it’s not a big deal.’ But if it wasn’t a big deal, then why did I feel like it was? She told herself to stop, take a breath and just write the first thing that came to mind. So she did.

“I really liked talking to you too. I‘m looking forward to tomorrow. :) Mia”

She sent it before she had time to give it another thought. And then she instantly regretted it. Was it too much? Was it too little? What if he thought that she wasn’t interested? But what if he thought that she was interested? Was she? Wasn’t she? Why were things so complicated?!

***

Zacky sat on the bus, staring at his phone. At least a good five minutes had passed since he texted her and he hadn’t gotten a reply yet. He couldn’t help but worry that maybe she hadn’t had a good time with him and maybe he had just made a complete fool of himself because there was no way she wanted to see him again.

In most ways, he was a pretty confident guy but he had always been a little self-conscious when it came to girls. When he and Gena got together, he had really thought that she was it for him, that they were going to be together forever. Then they had slowly grown apart, that spark they had felt had gone out. One day she had told him that she couldn’t do this anymore, that as much as she loved him, she couldn’t be with him when her heart wasn’t fully in it. Zacky was heartbroken in a way, but in another way, he wasn’t. He had realized that it was time for them to come to an end so he wasn’t surprised, but he didn’t know how he was ever going to find someone like her again. She had been his first love, what he thought was his true love. He looked at a couple like Matt and Val, and all he wanted was what they had. He had had it with Gena for a while and now he was alone. Again.

When he talked to Mia and he felt that spark with her, the same one he used to share with Gena, his hopes had instantly gone up. Maybe it wasn’t over for him because maybe Gena hadn’t been his Val. Maybe it was Mia. He knew it was a little ridiculous considering that they had just met and they had only spent close to two hours together. But he couldn’t deny that spark… People always say that when you meet the right person, you will know it in your gut and Zacky had a feeling that this was it.

However, he would feel a lot better about it if she actually replied to his text message.

He picked up his phone again and gave it another look. Still nothing.

“Zacky, she‘ll write you back, I promise.” Val sat down opposite him.

“You don’t know that,” he sighed. He had probably imagined the spark. Why would someone like her be interested in someone like him anyway?

“I do. I saw how you looked at her and I saw how she looked at you. And I can see that you‘re doubting yourself right now and I‘m telling you to stop. She‘s probably sitting in the car on her way home, doing the exact same thing.” She gave him an encouraging smile.

“Yeah. Or maybe she’s sitting in the car, laughing about the stupid guy who made a complete fool of himself.”

“Stop it. She will write you back.”

Before he had time to say anything back, his cell phone beeped. He read the text message and smiled.

“What did she say?” Val asked.

“That she liked talking to me and that she‘s looking forward to tomorrow.” Zacky’s smile grew even wider as he read the message out loud.

“See, I told you.”

He stood up. “Yeah, thanks Val.” He gave her a hug before he walked off to his bunk.

Val sat there, a smile on her face as she looked out the window. She knew that she had had a good feeling about Mia for a reason. She hadn’t seen Zacky smile like this since… well, since before his break-up with Gena. He was one of the sweetest guys she knew and she hated seeing him so down. Mia would be good for him, she just knew it.

“This is the second time in one night that I find you smiling all by yourself.” Matt sat down in the seat next to her.

“I love you, you know that?” She leaned her head against his shoulder and he put his arm around her.

“I do and I love you too.” He kissed her on the top of her head.

“I think that Zacky could have something good with Mia.”

“The chick from tonight?” Matt asked.

“Yeah. He smiled like he hasn’t smiled in a while. It can’t be easy being the only single guy out on the road. Even though I‘m the only one out here with you, he still knows that there‘s no one waiting for him back home.”

“I guess. But don‘t you think you‘re jumping the gun a little? They met tonight.”

She shrugged. “Sometimes you just know. The way I did with you.” She smiled up at him.

“You were like ten,” he said with a laugh.

“Yeah, and I still knew that you were the guy I was going to marry one day.” She turned so that she was facing him.

There was nothing he could say to that. Not when a kiss said so much more.