The Love of My Life

”So I’m going to go stay with her for a few days,” Zacky said to Matt and Val as he finished explaining why it was that he wasn’t jumping on the bus and going back to Huntington with the rest of the band.

”I’m so happy for you!” Val beamed.

”Dude, are you sure about this?” Matt said skeptically. Val looked at him before jabbing him in the side with her elbow. ”What? I don’t think it’s a great idea when he barely knows her,” he said to her.

Val smiled at Zacky as she grabbed her fiance’s arm and dragged him away.

”Fine, you can think that, but Matt, please don’t ruin this for him. It’s a good thing that he’s getting over Gena.”

”I don’t ag-”

”Shh!” She put her hand over his mouth. ”Babe, you don’t have to agree, but you don’t have to butt in either. You know that he cares what you think, all the guys do. Now, we’re going to go over there and you’re going to tell him that you will see him in a couple of days. If not… well, then you’re going to be enjoying the company of your right hand for a while.” She folded her arms over her chest as she gave him her sternest look. Having been with Matt for what seemed like all her life, she was well aware of the one thing that would make him realize that she was serious.

”But…” Matt couldn’t believe that she was serious. He didn’t see why it would matter to her whether or not he told Zacky what he thought about this. But he knew by the look on her face that she was serious with her no sex threat. The last time that happened was when he had strongly opposed the idea of Brian and Michelle getting together. He shuddered as he thought of that awful week. He definitely didn’t want to go through that again. And Brian and Michelle were still together, so maybe he was wrong this time too.

”Fine,” he muttered.

”Good.” She gave him a quick kiss. ”I knew you’d come to your senses.” As they walked back to Zacky, Val let out a breath of relief. The last time she had refused him sex had been horrible. It had taken willpower she wasn’t even aware that she had to stay away from him and she felt very certain that having been able to do it once had been a miracle. One more time? No way.

”Hey Zacky, if this is something you really want to do, then go for it. Who knows, maybe we’ll look back at this moment at your wedding in a couple of years,” Matt said.

Zacky had never told him, but he had always cared a great deal about Matt’s opinion. Ever since the band started, he had taken on kind of a leader role and Zacky had always looked up to him. It meant a lot that Matt agreed with this. ”Whoa dude, I think it’s a little early to start talking marriage,” he laughed.

”Who’s getting married?” Mia asked as she joined the group. There had been no way that she was going to risk seeing Nikki and Brian in the act, so she had taken the safer route and called her instead. Nikki was more than fine with Mia leaving with Zacky because she wasn’t planning on leaving Brian’s side anytime tonight.

”Apparently you and I will be getting married in a few years,” Zacky told her.

”Really?” She laughed. ”Thanks for including me in the decision making. So my future husband, should we get going?”

”Yeah, I’m just going to get a couple of things from the bus real quick,” he said.

”Go on then, we’ll keep her company,” Val said and Zacky nodded, quickly heading toward the bus.

”Excuse me,” Matt said as his cell phone rang and he walked away taking the call.

Val guided Mia to a bench where they sat down next to each other. ”Looks like things are going pretty well,” Val said as she playfully nudged her new friend.

Mia smiled. ”Yeah, he’s sweet. Don’t get the wrong idea or anything, there’s nothing going on.”

”Yet,” Val added.

”Right, yet. And maybe never. We’re just going to hang out for a few days and get to know each other better, that’s all.”

Val rolled her eyes. ”Oh, come on! Do you seriously think that the two of you, who are obviously attracted to each other by the way, are going to be together without… you know, being together? ’Cause if you do, I think you’re severely underestimating Zacky’s charm.”

”You really think so?” Mia laughed again. ”No, we talked about it already and we’re going to do this slow as snails. Neither of us wants to jump into anything and definitely not this early. I just met him yesterday!”

Val was unconvinced. ”If you say so. But I think you’re going to change your tune at night when you’re lying in your bed by yourself and he’s on the couch or whatever and you start thinking about those green eyes and pouty lips, knowing that all you have to do is say his name and he’ll be there in a second to keep you company…”

”Val, stop giving me ideas!” She pictured Val’s scenario in her head. Maybe inviting Zacky to stay with her was a bad idea. Or a very good one…

”Just telling you the truth,” Val replied. ”On a more serious note though, I’m really glad that the two of you are getting along. I like knew as soon as I saw you, that you two would be good together.”

”There’s no way you did that,” Mia said.

”I did, I swear! I had the exact same feeling about my sister and Brian and they’re still going strong after three years or something like that.”

Mia smiled, not knowing what she was supposed to say to that. The fact that her best friend was most likely getting it on with Brian in this very moment, meant that the relationship between him and Val’s sister was nowhere near strong.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to say much because Matt returned. He sat down on a bench opposite them and looked anything but happy.

”What’s wrong?” Val asked.

”Nothing is wrong, but apparently it’s just you, me, Jimmy and Johnny that are going back to Huntington tonight.”

”What? What about Brian?”

Matt looked at his fiancée. There was nothing he hated more than lying to her and he could count the times he had on one hand. But he didn’t want to put Brian in a shitty position either, even though that was exactly where he deserved to be for cheating on Michelle again. Matt had really thought that all of that was over because it had been so long since it last happened, but he had been wrong. The reason Brian had just called was to say that he had run into an old friend who had been at the show tonight and he was going to stay here for a few nights and spend some time with him. Matt knew it was bullshit. Brian didn’t have any old friends that the rest of the guys didn’t know. That only meant one thing, that Brian was with some girl.

”Matt?” Val asked again.

Fuck, he didn’t want to lie to her but he couldn’t tell her the truth.Luckily, he came up with a way around it. ”He said that he ran into someone he knew so he was going to hang out with him for a day or two.” It wasn’t a lie, because that was exactly what Brian had said.

”Oh, okay. But what about Michelle? I know she’s been waiting to see him.”

Matt shrugged. ”I would assume that he’s talked to her already and that she’s fine with it.”

Right then, Val’s phone rang. She looked at it and said, ”Huh, it’s her calling me right now. I’ll be right back.” She headed in the same direction Matt had just come from.

Mia and Matt sat in silence, sharing awkward smiles and glances every few seconds.

”Where’s Nikki at? She isn’t going home with you?”

”Uh, she’s… she’s with a friend she met here so no, she’s not going home with us,” Mia tried, but as she heard the insecurity in her own voice, she knew that her lie failed miserably. And if that wasn’t enough, Matt’s raised eyebrow was.

”She’s the girl Brian’s with, isn’t she?” Matt said, his voice hard.

Mia nodded as she looked down at the ground. She didn’t get why since she wasn’t the one doing anything wrong, but all of a sudden she felt ashamed.

”Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck him and his cheating fucking ways,” Matt muttered.

”I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

Matt gave her a surprised look. ”Why? You’re not the one who’s fucking some random girl while your girlfriend is home waiting for you.”

”That’s true.” He had a point there, however, so did she. ”But if I hadn’t started talking to Zacky last night then maybe we wouldn’t have been here again tonight and then, this wouldn’t be happening right now.”

”Trust me, Mia, Brian knows right away when he wants someone and if Zacky hadn’t asked you to come here tonight, Brian would have. It’s not your fault. Not at all.” Matt gave her a little smile. He couldn’t help but start to feel that Val could have been right. Mia actually seemed like a really sweet girl and maybe she would be good for Zacky.

”Are you going to tell Val?” she asked.

He shook his head. ”I’m not going to lie if she asks me, but I’m not going to go out of my way to tell her either. She’ll feel like she has to tell Michelle and no good will come out of that. However, will I beat some fucking sense into Brian the next time I see him? Most definitely.”

Mia smiled at that comment.

”Zacky’s sure taking a long time getting his things,” she said after a while.

”Yeah. He’s probably staring at his clothes, wondering which VU-design is most likely to impress you,” Matt laughed.

”That should go pretty quickly because I’m impressed with all of them. At least all the ones I’ve seen. The skull with the cap and one eyeball is really cool. And the one with half of Marilyn Monroe is awesome. I could never even think of an idea anywhere near that.

”You’re a designer?” He asked.

”Yeah. Well, not really. I mean, I design and make clothes for myself and stuff. I would pretty much call it my one true passion, but I don’t work for an actual company or anything like that. But I love it. I really, really love it. You probably feel the same way about music.”

This conversation was really making her rise in Matt’s eyes and hearing about her creative side and love for design made it easy for him to see why Zacky was so interested in her. Not that Matt thought that she was ugly or anything, she definitely wasn’t. She had brown eyes and long, wavy brown hair but he didn’t look at her and think super model. She was very unlike Gena in that sense. Although since things hadn’t worked out between her and Zacky, that was probably a good thing.

”And the man in question arrives! Took you long enough,” Matt said when Zacky finally made his way over to them.

”I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I figured that since you and Val, although she seems to have disappeared, were keeping Mia company, it wouldn’t hurt if I took a couple of minutes to pack up the rest of my stuff instead of having everything spread out all over the bus.” He looked at Mia. ”I’m sorry.”

”Don’t worry, we should probably get going though,” she said with a smile. ”But I’d like to say goodbye to Val first. If I can actually find her that is.” She glanced around, not seeing the blonde woman anywhere.

”If Michelle was upset, chances are that they will be on the phone for hours. How about if I promise to make her get in touch with you when I find her?” Matt told her.

Mia sighed. ”Alright, I guess that will have to do. You have to promise that you’ll tell her that I wanted to say goodbye in person.”

”Scout’s honor,” he said with a wide grin. Zacky and Mia both laughed.

Then it was time for the boys to say goodbye and they hugged. Mia giggled at the sight as it was one of those ’oh, we’re so manly’ type of hugs where they pat each other on the back. When they finally managed to tear themselves away, she and Matt looked at each other for a couple of seconds, neither knowing if they too were supposed to hug or just wave or something.

”What the hell, come here,” Matt said and hugged her.

They then said goodbye and Mia and Zacky started walking to her car, leaving Matt to go find Jimmy and Johnny who he hadn’t seen in a while which was never a very good thing as it usually meant that they were off somewhere getting wasted. And he was the one who would have to take care of them…

”What was up with Val and Michelle?” Zacky asked once they were in the car and on the road.

”Brian called Matt to say that he had met an old friend-”

”An old friend? That’s the worst lie ever, we all have the same friends!” Zacky exclaimed.

”I don't know, but that's what Matt told me and Val, that Brian told him that he had met an old friend that he was going to spend some time with and then Val got a call from Michelle so she went off to talk to her.”

Zacky let out a low whistle. ”Brian must have called Michelle. I bet she was pissed.”

”Probably. Matt definitely was and then when he found out that it was Nikki…”

”He knows that it was her? Did you tell him that?”

”No…” She was quiet for a few seconds before she admitted, ”Yeah, I did, sort of. But I so didn’t mean to. He asked about her and I tried to pull some lame lie but it was so obvious that I was lying and he knew right away. He said that he wouldn’t tell Val though.”

That surprised Zacky. ”What? Matt said that he was going to lie to Val?”

”Not exactly. He said that he wouldn’t say anything unless she asked him straight out.”

Zacky chuckled. ”He always says that but it never works. He is going to act guilty and she’ll totally know that he is hiding something. Then he’ll tell her and she’ll feel like it’s her sisterly duty to tell Michelle. I really hope Brian thinks it’s worth it.”

”Do you think the two of them will break up if she finds out?”

He was quiet for a while, thinking it over. ”No. Michelle hasn’t broken up with him before so I doubt she’ll do it now.”

”See, that’s so weird to me. Why would you stay with someone who cheats on you? I could never do that. What’s the point of being in a relationship if you can’t trust the other person?”

”I know, I don’t get it either,” he said. ”And it’s not just about the trust, it’s about respect too. If someone cheats on you, they obviously don’t have any respect for you or your relationship.”

”Yes! That’s exactly how I feel.”

They looked at each other and smiled.

”So, have you ever been cheated on?” he asked.

”Yeah… He was the only guy I’ve ever been in love with. And the only guy I’ve ever been in a real relationship with.”

”Sorry, that sucks.”

”It does. It kind of made me shy away from guys a bit, but at some point I have to realize that not all guys are jerks just because he was. I can’t judge them all because of one bad seed, you know.” She gave him a half-hearted smile.

”Can I just… can I say something to that?” Zacky asked. He knew that it was probably too soon to even bring up the subject and possibility of a something like this, but he felt like he had to say something after that revelation.

”Sure, go ahead,” she answered. The tone of his voice made her a little worried.

”It’s… I… Uh, I wanted to… Oh, never mind,” he sighed, having decided that it was definitely too soon to bring something like that up. They had just met and if he turned the conversation all heavy this early on, maybe things would be ending much sooner than he liked.

She looked at him. ”Zacky, just say it. Whatever it is it can’t be that bad.” She gave him an encouraging smile.

She thought that he looked like he was contemplating telling her whatever it is that was on his mind. When he spoke again, she expected to find out what it was. To her surprise, she didn't.

”No, it’s not that important anyway. Forget it.”

”Alright, if you’re sure about it…” she said hesitantly.

The car became very quiet with neither speaking, even though they were both uncomfortable with the silence.

Mia didn’t really understand what it was that had happened, but she sure hoped that it would change soon. Otherwise these upcoming four days were going to turn out to be very, very long.