The Love of My Life

Mia woke up the next morning, feeling a little unsure as to whether or not last night had actually taken place. She picked up her phone to see if she really had received a text message from the one and only Zacky Vengeance the night before. Instead, she found that she had gotten a new one.

“I heard you‘re coming to the next show and I‘m not the only one who‘s excited. ;) Give me a call when you‘re here and I‘ll come meet with you with passes.”

It was from Val. That meant last night hadn’t been just a dream. Mia pulled up the blanket over her head as she went over the previous night in her mind. To start with, the show had been great. Not only because she got to see it from the side of the stage but because they were truly a fantastic live band. And then, then they had met the band. It was almost unbelievable. She had spent time with Zacky. Talking to him, laughing with him, hanging out with him. She might have even started to like him a little. She picked up her phone again to look at the message she had received last night. To think that the guitarist from a popular band had sent her a text. It wasn’t the kind of thing that happened in her life.

She felt a little bad for having thought that they would be all into the groupie scene. Now it seemed so unlikely, not only because Nikki had told her that they all had girlfriends that frequently came out with them on tour, but because they seemed to be genuinely good guys. After having been let down a number of times in her life, she had started expecting very little of people and they usually lived up to that. To be proven wrong the way she had last night was a rare occurrence and it only made her like them so much more.

She couldn’t help but smile as she thought of seeing Zacky again. They had really gotten along well, way beyond anything she ever could have imagined. He was so incredibly sweet. And cute. No one could deny that the man was cute. Mia was definitely interested even though she knew that it was foolish. It was so foolish because she didn’t even know him, yet something in her was telling her that he was a good guy. Something in her and also, that was what Val had said about him. That he was one of the good guys. If she had known the guys for as long as Nikki claimed, she should know.

Mia hadn’t really dated anyone in a long time. She had gone out on dates of course, but nothing that had exceeded past a first date. It had taken her a long time to get over her first and last serious relationship. She had been so in love with that guy and she had been certain that he felt the same way about her. But he hadn’t. He couldn’t have because people don’t cheat on someone they love. He had really broken her heart.

In a way she was thankful for it. As much as it had hurt, it had taught her a lot about the way guys work. More importantly, it was then that her and Nikki had truly bonded. Nikki had a great carefree attitude when it came to the opposite sex. No one left her because she made sure to leave first. Mia disapproved of the way she would get with anyone, not giving a damn if they were in a relationship or not, but she knew that was Nikki’s way of protecting herself from getting hurt. It was probably a good thing that she seemed to adore Val because Matt was exactly the type of guy she would try to get with. Although if the two of them had been together forever, Matt probably wasn’t the type to cheat anyway. However, someone else in the band had better watch out.

Mia knew that while Nikki was the most interested in talking to Jimmy, she would definitely be the most interested in hooking up with Brian. She had been told that Brian was together with Val’s twin. Mia thought that seemed awfully complicated. What if they were to break up? Wouldn’t that cause tension between Matt and Val? She imagined that avoiding any possible weirdness would be a good reason to try to make the relationship last as long as possible. One thing was for certain, she wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Nikki made a move on Brian tonight. The one thing that was uncertain, was how he would react if it happened…

Mia wondered what would happen if she made a move on Zacky. Not that she would do that, it was way too soon in her opinion, but she couldn’t help but entertain the idea. All of a sudden, a thought struck her. Was he even single? Nikki had said that the guys all had girlfriends. But that couldn’t be. No, it couldn’t. There was no way Val would have been so supportive of the idea of her and Zacky if he already had a girlfriend. That would be too strange. Besides, Nikki would have mentioned it during the car ride home. Then again, Nikki wouldn’t care either way, so maybe not.

That was when Mia decided that it was time to get out of bed because she had a little research to do. Google could tell a person anything so it would definitely be able to tell her whether or not Zacky Vengeance, the gorgeous guitarist from Avenged Sevenfold, had a girlfriend.

She sat down in the living room with her laptop. She typed in ”Zacky Vengeance girlfriend” and hit search. Her face fell as she saw the results. The name Gena kept on popping up in each one. She did another search, trading the word girlfriend for Gena, and hit pictures. Up came several ones of Zacky and a gorgeous blonde. Mia ran her right hand through her dark brown hair, feeling very ugly in comparison. She was an idiot to think that Zacky could be interested in her when he had someone like that waiting for him at home.

She didn’t feel like going to the show anymore. Why had he even bothered asking her to come? She looked at her phone as she read the message he had sent her one more time. What if she had completely misinterpreted everything? He had written that he liked talking to her so maybe that was all he wanted. Still, she didn’t feel like going tonight.

She sent Val a message.

”Hey, I don’t think we’re coming tonight. It was fun meeting you though.”

She got a reply right away.

”Why? I know Zacky will be disappointed.”

Mia wondered if she should tell Val the truth or make up some excuse. Although if she never saw them again, it wouldn’t really matter if she found out why.

”I thought Zacky was really sweet but he’s got a girlfriend. I don’t want to get involved with that.”

She suspected that she wouldn’t be getting a reply after that. She was wrong. The sender of the next text came as a big surprise as it wasn’t Val. The next message came from Zacky.

”I’m very single, Mia. I wouldn’t be hitting on you if I wasn’t. See you tonight.”

Mia wanted to die of embarrassment when she read his message. Now he knew that she cared if he was single, which meant that now he also knew that she was interested in him in that way. And he wrote that he was hitting on her! That meant that he was interested in her too. She had known that the possibility existed but actually hearing it from him made her nervous. What if he would be expecting something from her? He was famous so he was probably used to getting whatever he wanted from girls and she would definitely not be giving him anything tonight.

And what about this Gena? She did another Google search, this time for ”Zacky Gena break up”. According to fans online, he had supposedly told a fan after a show that he was single and he wished Gena nothing but the best. It was sweet. Mia just wished she would have done that particular search before texting Val and thereby saving herself from any major embarrassment that was bound to take place that night, but there wasn’t much she could do about that now.

That night… That night she would be seeing Zacky again. She knew that she was getting too involved. She never let this happen with other guys but somehow he had broken through her barrier and now, she was already emotionally invested in the possibility of having something with him. It scared her. How could it not? As soon as you started having feelings for someone, you instantly made your life more complicated. She groaned as she hid her face in a pillow. Did she just admit to herself that there was a possibility that she was beginning to have some sort of feelings toward him? That was bad; bad and very complicated.

She lifted up her head again and faced the computer. This time she did a search for no one but Zacky. She smiled as she looked at all the cute pictures that came up of him. Even though her life felt a lot more complicated now than it had twenty-four hours ago, she couldn’t deny that meeting Zacky had definitely made her life a lot more exciting too.

***

Eight hours later, a very nervous Mia, along with a much less nervous Nikki, met Val outside the venue.

”Hey girls, how are you?” Val greeted them.

Nikki gave Val a quick hug before she ran up to the big bouncer guy, showed of her newly acquired backstage pass and headed inside the concert venue, knowing just where to go to find the guys.

”Is she always this excited?” Val asked with a laugh.

”Pretty much,” Mia smiled.

”How are you doing, honey? You’re looking a little nervous,” she said as she hung the pass around Mia’s neck and gave her a hug.

”That might be because I’m feeling a little nervous.”

Val smiled knowingly. ”Could that possibly have something to do with a certain boy you’ll be seeing soon?”

”That might be it, especially since I got a certain text from that certain boy…”

”Yeah, sorry about that,” Val said with an apologetic smile. ”Don’t worry though, I’m sure it will be fine. And if it’s any comfort at all, that certain boy we’re both referring to has been looking pretty nervous himself for the past hour.” Val patted her shoulder before she started heading toward the door.

When she noticed that she was walking alone, Val turned around. ”Are you coming?”

Mia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was it.

She looked at Val. ”Yeah, I am.”

Then she too headed inside the venue, knowing exactly where to go to find the band and that certain boy who just happened to be their guitarist.

As she walked into their dressing room, she found Nikki already in conversation with Jimmy. However, she wasn’t the least bit surprised to see the looks shared between her and Brian. Something was definitely going to go down between those two, which would be interesting since he had a girlfriend. Although Mia had to remind herself that he might be single now, just like Zacky was.

Speaking of Zacky… Where was he?

Matt noticed how Mia was looking around the room, undoubtedly searching for someone. ”Hey Mia,” he said as he walked up to her.

”Hi Matt,” she smiled. ”How are you?”

”I’m good. Just real pumped to get done with this show and then have four days to spend with my girl.”

”I can imagine, it must be so nice to have some time off, even though it’s just a couple of days.” Her eyes kept searching the room. Where was he?

”If you’re looking for Zacky, he will be here soon. He’s doing some press thing for VU right now.”

She looked at him. ”Oh, I wasn’t…” she started saying but stopped herself as she heard how ridiculous it sounded. It was probably obvious to everyone in the room just who she was trying to find.

Matt chuckled. ”Yeah, you were, but don’t worry, I won’t mention it to anyone” He leaned closer to her. ”Just like I won’t mention to anyone that Zacky has been in an incredibly good mood today. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him smile this much.” He winked at her as he pulled back and walked off to the bathroom.

Seeing the way Zacky had been acting since the night before, made Matt think that maybe Val had been right after all. Maybe Mia would be good for him and help him out of the slightly depressed state he had been in since the break-up with Gena. Although part of him thought that it was a bit too soon to find someone new, he knew that he wasn’t the best man to make that judgment. Having been with the same girl for most of his life and knowing that he could never love anyone the way he loved her, made all break-ups seem a bit strange to Matt. He couldn’t understand how people seemed to stop loving someone all of a sudden, because not loving Val wasn’t even an option in his mind. But the fact that Zacky and Gena had broken up, was obviously proof that their relationship was nothing like the one he himself had. So maybe it wasn’t too soon for Zacky to meet someone else. Maybe it was just the right time for him to meet someone who could become something more, someone who could become ”his Val”.

Mia wasn’t sure what to do; if she should sit down by herself or if she should start talking to someone. How long would this press thing take Zacky? And where was Val? Standing alone with nothing to occupy her beside her thoughts did nothing to help her get rid of the nervousness that instead seemed to be increasing by the second. She felt her palms begin to sweat. This was bad. This was really bad. Why was no one talking to her? Nikki was still busy talking to Jimmy and sort of flirting with Brian. Johnny seemed to be asleep and who knew where the hell everyone else was. Could no one see that she was freaking out right now?!

Mia knew that she had to get out. She had to get out and get some fresh air so that she could calm down a little. Now. She ran out of the dressing room and ran straight into someone.

”Hey, you’re here!” a cheerful voice said.

She didn’t have time to think about that now so she mumbled an apology and continued on her way. Once she was outside, she took a deep breath and finally felt like she was able to breathe.

Left standing in the hallway was a very confused Zacky. He had tried to rush through his interview so that he could see Mia and now when he was finally done, she just ran past him? He had been waiting for this moment the whole day and that was not the way it was supposed to happen. Did she not want to be here anymore? Had she got tired of waiting? Did she regret coming? He didn’t understand why she had run off from him. He decided to go after her because standing around here and waiting wouldn’t get him any answers as to what it was that had just happened.

He didn’t have to go far to find her. She was standing right outside. He walked up next to her but she didn’t even seem to notice him. She had her eyes closed as she took, what seemed to be, deep breaths. Her mouth was moving, like she was talking to herself.

”Mia?” Zacky said hesitantly after he had stood there for at least two minutes and she still hadn’t noticed him beside her.

She opened her eyes, obviously surprised to see him. ”Zacky! Hi!” She took a step forward and hugged him.

”Hey…” To say that he was confused was putting it lightly. In there she was running away from him and out here she was hugging him?

”Are you okay?” he asked as they pulled apart.

”Oh my god, I ran into you!” She clasped her hand over her mouth as she realized that she hadn’t just run into anybody, she had run into him of all people. She felt so dumb. He had to think that she was crazy after that. She started to explain, ”I’m sorry. I just… sometimes I-I freak myself out a little and that’s what I just did in there. Sorry about that.”

Zacky could see the embarrassment on her face and he felt an almost desperate need to ensure her that it was okay. He took hold of her hand. ”Hey, don’t worry about it,” he said with a smile. ”Do you want to talk or something?”

”Sure,” she answered.

As they headed back inside, Mia looked at their hands that were still holding onto each other. He was so sweet. She was surprised when he didn’t come to a stop outside their dressing room. Instead he continued on into another room. A room that was empty.

He closed the door behind them. ”I thought it would be better if we talked in private.” He motioned for her to sit down on the couch. She did. Their hands were still joined together.

”So, what was it that got you all freaked out?” he asked.

”It’s silly really, you probably don’t-”

He tightened his fingers around hers for a quick second, confirming that he was there for her. ”Just tell me.”

”Uh, this is so embarrassing…Well, um, I got a little nervous about seeing someone.”

He smiled at this. ”I see. Is there a reason this someone makes you nervous?”

She looked at him and when she saw the smile on his face, she smiled too. He just had a way about him that made her feel so comfortable being in his presence. ”There shouldn’t be, but yes. I’ve just met him, yesterday actually, and already I can’t stop thinking about him.”

”Really?”

”Really. And to make matters worse, or better depending on how you look at it, I got this interesting text from him this morning but now I’m not really sure where we stand because I made a complete fool of myself in front of him when I saw him today.”

”Sounds complicated. Do you want my advice?”

”Go for it,” she laughed.

”I’m pretty sure that you didn’t make a fool of yourself in front of him and even if you had, I don’t think he would have cared. I also don’t think you need to feel uncertain about him, because I’m getting the feeling that he’s just as into you, as you seem to be into him.”

”You do, huh? That’s reassuring to hear.”

”Good. Now, do you want to hear the most important part?” he asked.

She nodded and he motioned for her to come closer. When she did, he leaned forward a little and whispered in her ear, ”You’re not the only one in this room who’s been nervous today.”

She swallowed at his words. ”I’m not?” she said, speaking as low as he had.

”No, you’re not,” he replied. ”I-”

There was a loud bang on the door. ”Yo, Zacky! We need to get ready!”

”Brian,” Zacky said apologetically as he pulled back from her. ”Guess I’d better get out there.”

”Alright,” she said as she stood up. When she realized that she was the only one standing, she looked down at him, still sitting on the couch. ”Come on then.”

”Pull me up,” he said.

She laughed. ”Are you serious?” When he didn’t make a move, she reached out her other hand to him and he took it. She then pulled him to his feet but because he was heavier than she was, she almost ended up falling backwards. He quickly put his arms on her sides, keeping her standing upright.

”Oops,” she said as she giggled.

Then her eyes met his again and silence seemed to overtake the room. All of a sudden it felt very heavy in there, like there was a lot of tension in the air. Mia was certain that this was it. He was going to kiss her now. She would have expected this to be a moment where she freaked out, but she felt oddly calm. The way one might feel about something that is… right.

”Vengeance! Now!” a voice yelled outside the door.

Mia and Zacky both sighed. ”You should go,” she whispered.

”Yeah. I’ll see you after the show?” he said as a question, like he needed to have it confirmed.

She nodded. ”Yeah, I’ll definitely see you after the show.”

He let go of her as he walked to the door and opened it. Before he walked out he turned to her. ”I don’t know what, but there’s something about you, Mia,” he said with a smile.

Then he was gone.