The Love of My Life

When they finally arrived at their destination, after what had started as a fun adventure and turned into the world’s longest car ride, the tension between them was unbelievable.

Mia started to wish that she had never asked him to come in the first place and Zacky started to wish that he had never said yes to this.

”Well, this is where I live,” she said as they walked through the front door of her studio apartment.

She suddenly felt embarrassed about her home. He was a big-time rock star, so she was sure that he lived in some huge mansion by the beach and he probably wanted to laugh out loud at her small apartment. She had always liked it though. It was the perfect size for people who lived by themselves. Granted, she chose to fit in a desk where she did all of her designing instead of a dining room table but since it was usually just her anyway, she always ate on the couch in front of the TV. It worked for her. And if it wasn’t good enough for him, then he could go home to his expensive house where he would be all alone.

Zacky looked around. It was different, very different to his own home, but he liked it. He had always thought that there was something… charming about a place like this, where everything was thrown into one room. It looked organized with a hint of messy, just the way he liked things to be. He didn’t fail to notice that even though he was going to sleep on the couch, they would still be sleeping in the same room.

”I like it. I really like it,” he said.

”You do?” When the words came out of her mouth she could hear the surprise in her own voice.

”Yeah, definitely. I can totally see you living here.” He noticed the desk in the corner and walked over to it. There were papers and pens in different colors lying everywhere. He looked up at her. ”This is where you draw designs and stuff?”

She walked up next to him. ”Yeah. This is where I come up with the designs, where I draw them, where I make them.”

His eyes widened. ”You make them here? With wha-, oh.”

As she knew right away what he was going to ask, she opened up the cabinet revealing all her material before he even had time to finish his question.

”You really do love it, don’t you?” he asked.

”More than anything else,” she said with a smile. The tension seemed to have disappeared and she was thankful. Now he was back to the same Zacky she had invited to stay with her.

She yawned. ”I’m so tired.” She turned to look at the clock hanging on the wall. ”Well, that’s not weird considering that it’s two in the morning already.”

”Time flies when you’re having fun,” he said.

She laughed. ”That must be it. Hey, are you hungry? Do you want something to eat before we go to bed?” She realized how that might have sounded so before he said anything in response to it, she added, ”By going to bed, I mean that I’m going to bed in my actual bed while you’re going to bed on the couch.”

Zacky smirked. ”I know that. I’m well aware of our sleeping arrangement.”

”Yeah, of course you do.” She waited for him to answer her. "Well?"

”Well what?” he smiled at her.

”Did you want something to eat or not?” she asked again.

”Right, I got so wrapped up in all that bed talk,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows as he spoke.

”Shut up,” she laughed. ”Just answer the question.”

”But how am I supposed to answer the question when you told me to shut up?”

She stared at him. What was he, like five years old? ”Zacky!” she said as she gave him a playful slap on the arm. ”I’m giving you five seconds and then the offer is off the table.”

”Alright, alright. No, I don’t want anything. You’re not supposed to eat right before you go to sleep.”

She took a step closer to him as she put her hand on his chest. She leaned in and whispered in his ear, ”Who said anything about sleep?”

Zacky gulped. That was an unexpected twist. They hadn’t even kissed and now she was talking like that, whispering all seductively in his ear. He didn’t know what to do, what to say, how to act.

”Zacky,” she said in a sing-song voice.

”Yeah?” His voice came out in a shaky whisper.

”Sucker…” she whispered before she took a step back from him and laughed. She knew it was a little mean, but she couldn’t help herself. She also couldn’t help that a part of her wished that he would have acted on her suggestion.

Zacky stood dumbfounded. His blood had started flowing in another direction, so right now, he was having a bit of a problem comprehending the current situation.

Mia was still laughing. ”I’m sorry, I really am, but the look on your face right now is priceless. Like a hundred times better than the ones on Brian and Nikki’s for sure.”

He tried to shrug it off, act like it hadn’t had an effect on him at all. ”Yeah yeah, good joke. You do know that payback is a bitch, right?”

"Whatever you say." She started things off the couch. Somehow, she couldn't imagine that sleeping on her pens and papers would be very comfortable for him. "So you're sure you don't want anything to eat? I'm not really hungry either. I mean, I would have eaten if you wanted to, but cooking for one is a complete waste of time. Besides, it's in the middle of the night so it's not like I'm going to know that I'm hungry when I'm sleeping. Not that I'm really hungry anyway."

While she rambled on about food and eating, Zacky stood quietly and watched her. Then he got an idea.

"Hey, Mia," he said, causing her to stop and look at him.

He raised an eyebrow as he slowly looked her up and down, licking his lips. His eyes then went from her, to her bed and then back to her.

She didn’t know where to focus as he seemed to be undressing her with his eyes. ”I-I… Um…” She swallowed loudly.

”Damn girl, if being sexy was a crime, you’d be guilty as charged.”

That’s when she realized that he was joking, just like she had earlier, and she burst out in laughter. She knew because there was no way anyone could be serious with a line like that. It was beyond bad. She was laughing so hard that she had to sit down.

Zacky laughed too as he joined her on the couch. ”How did I do?”

”With that line? A+. How did you even come up with that?”

”Honestly, I heard Jimmy say it to a girl at a bar a couple of years ago and I’ve been looking for the right time ever since.”

”No, he didn’t! Was he serious with it? Did she laugh in his face?”

”Actually, she ended up going home with him.”

”No way! No, no girl could fall for that. I refuse to believe it.”

”It’s true. You can ask Leana when you meet her.”

”What? They are still together after that awful beginning?” This story just kept on shocking her more and more.

”Oh yeah. Jimmy and Leana are like… two peas in a pod. I don’t think I’ve ever met two people quite like them. It makes sense that they are together because I can’t imagine any sane person taking either of them on. They are crazy. They are entertaining as hell, but they are definitely a little crazy,” he said with a smile.

”Sounds like fun people to be around.” She smiled too. ”Do you guys have anything but awesome relationships?”

When his smile faded a little, she internally smacked herself. ”I’m sorry, Zacky, I didn’t think. I didn’t mean it like that at all.”

He shook his head. ”Don’t worry about it. And to answer your question, you’ve probably seen that Matt and Val are amazing. They are pretty much everything a person could ever ask for in a relationship. The same goes for Jimmy and Leana. Johnny has a cool girlfriend, her name is Lacey. She’s really quiet before you get to know her, but when you do, she’s one of the sweetest girls you could meet. She always has a smile on her face and it’s so obvious that she loves Johnny for who he is, not because he’s in a band, you know.”

”That sounds really sweet.” She felt a little pang in her heart as she thought of all the people who had someone while she was all alone. She had never had much of a problem with it but some days it truly hit her, she was lonely.

”It is. Then we have Brian and Michelle and well…” Zacky sighed.

”Not such a great relationship?” she added.

”He’s with your best friend right now, so what do you think? To be honest with you, I never really could picture the two of them together. Michelle is a nice girl and she’s been around forever since she’s Val’s sister, but I don’t know, there’s something about her that just doesn’t feel right. She always seems so jealous and maybe I’m just comparing her too much to Val who’s always been so great with the fans, but Michelle doesn’t seem to enjoy meeting them and she definitely doesn’t enjoy Brian meeting them. Especially not if they happen to be girls.”

”Wow. That seems pretty bad,” Mia said, wondering who this person was to think that Brian shouldn’t meet and spend time with his fans, the people who got him to where he was now.

”At times, it is. Then again, who can blame her when we know that Brian cheats sometimes? It usually only happens when the two of them have gotten into a fight and it’s been a while since it last happened, before they got engaged, but as was evidenced tonight, he obviously hasn’t given it up completely like we all thought.”

”I kind of feel sorry for her, but at the same time, I don’t. I mean, if you stay with someone after finding out that they have cheated and not just once, don’t you think that you’re partially to blame for being in that situation?”

Zacky nodded. ”Yeah. I don’t see that relationship lasting very long, but it’s going to be awkward as hell for everyone when it ends.”

”I could see that. Since she’s Val’s sister, she’s probably never going to disappear out of his life completely,” she replied.

”Exactly. But whatever, it’s his business and it’s not my place to judge.” He shrugged. ”We should probably get to bed. And before you say anything, by bed I mean that you’re going to bed in your bed while I’m going to bed on your couch.” He smirked as he copied the words she had said earlier.

She did a very dry fake laugh. ”Oh, aren’t you just hilarious.” His grin grew wider as he nodded. She rolled her eyes and said, ”If you want to go get ready first, I’ll make up your bed, also known as the couch, for you.”

He stood up. ”Thanks,” he said with a smile. He got some stuff out of his bag and walked to the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

She got up too and went to pull out some extra blankets and pillows from the closet. As she got his bed ready for him, she thought about their conversation. His eyes had shone when he talked about Matt and Jimmy’s relationships. It was obviously the kind he wanted for himself. Mia could understand that. Who wouldn’t want what sounded like the perfect relationship? She hadn’t failed to notice that he had brought up all the guys’ relationships, except for his own. She wondered why that was, but she hadn’t wanted to pry. Well, she wanted to, but she felt like she shouldn’t. If he wanted to tell her, he would. And if he didn’t, then he obviously gave her no choice but to ask. She pondered over what Zacky had said about Brian’s relationship. If she was honest, she thought it sounded like a nightmare. Like the kind of thing you’d want to get out of, but because of circumstances, you stay and you are miserable. It didn’t make sense to her why someone would put up with that, but as long as it wasn’t her relationship, it was none of her business. She did wonder how it would affect Nikki. She had always been the type to ’love them and leave them’, but that was bound to change at some point. Mia desperately hoped that Brian wouldn’t be the one to cause that change. She decided to send Nikki a text, just to see how things were going.

”Hey babe. Zacky and I are getting ready for bed, separate ones if you’re wondering, and I was just thinking about you. How are things? You okay?”

She put her phone on her bed. She wasn’t expecting to get a reply anytime soon. Certainly not if Nikki and Brian had really gotten a hotel room together and that was where she was right now. Checking her phone would probably be the last thing on her mind if that was the case.

As Zacky walked out of the bedroom, Mia had a hard time trying not to stare at him. He was only wearing sweatpants and her eyes seemed to be drawn to his tattoos.

”All yours,” he said.

”What?” She must have heard him wrong because there was no way he had just said that he was all hers.

”The bathroom. I’m done, so it’s all yours now.” He smiled.

”Right, thanks.” She stood up. ”Okay, see you in a bit.” She headed in and closed the door behind her.

Once she was done, she had her hair in a ponytail, no make-up on and she was wearing a much too big t-shirt and some shorts that were comfortable to sleep in. She felt a little nervous again as she walked out of the bathroom. Being around a strange guy wearing almost nothing wasn’t an everyday occurrence for her. To her relief, he was already lying down, his body hidden underneath a blanket.

She smiled as she turned of all the lamps and got into bed, pulling up her blanket so that it covered everything but her face. She wondered if now would be a good time to ask him about that thing and then she figured that there was only one way to find out. ”Hey, Zacky?”

”Yeah?” He turned so that he was looking at her. She could see him because the couch was right by a window that shed some light on him.

”What was it that you were about to say earlier, when we were in the car talking about cheating?”

He was quiet for a few seconds. ”It’s really not a big deal.”

”Then just humor me and tell me anyway.”

”Alright. Uh, I was going to say that this thing between you and me, if it, you know, goes anywhere, I promise you that I will never do anything like that to you. I would never do that to anyone.”

She sat up in bed and smiled, even though she wasn’t sure he could see her. ”You don’t have to tell me that, Zacky. If I thought that you were anything like my douchebag of an ex-boyfriend, you wouldn’t be here right now. Besides, Val pretty much told me that you’re one of the nicest guys she knows.”

”That’s good to know.” He smiled at her. ”It’s just, I’ve been cheated on too, so I know how much it hurts.”

”Gena?” she asked.

”No. No, it’s something that happened years ago.”

”Oh. Can I ask you something else, since we’re kind of on the subject already?”

”Go ahead,” he replied.

”Why did you and Gena break up? And you know it’s totally fine if you want to tell me that I have no right to even ask.”

”It’s okay. There was no dramatic break up or anything like that. We grew apart, that’s all. We were together for years, I still love her and she’s an awesome person, but she’s not the one for me.”

”How can you know that for sure though? If you say you still love her…”

”I don’t know how to explain it really, but it’s something we both felt. It’s like… you know when you have that certain spark with someone?”

Mia knew, she definitely knew. That spark was what she felt when she was with him.

He continued, ”We didn’t have that. We used to have something, but whatever it was, it’s long gone. That’s how we both knew that it was over. It’s still sad and going through it sucks, but she and I weren’t meant to be. It’s that simple.”

”Do you think you’ll find that spark with someone?” she asked, anxious to hear what he would answer to that.

He looked at her, his green eyes sparkling in the moonlight. ”I’m feeling very confident.”

Her smile tripled in size as she laid down again. ”Good night, Zacky.”

”Good night,” he replied.

Then they were silent as they both tried to fall asleep after what had been a very long day and what felt like an ever longer night.

Just as Mia was about to finally drift off, she got a text message. She looked up to see if Zacky was moving, but he was completely still, probably asleep already.

”More than okay. ;) Don’t worry. But if that gorgeous boy is in your apartment and you aren’t sharing a bed with him, you are obviously crazy. Do something to change that. TTYL!”

Mia smiled as she put her phone away, not bothering to write a reply. Nikki had known her long enough to know that there was no way in hell that she would be sleeping with Zacky the second time she met him. Then her mind drifted and she started thinking about his eyes, his lips, his smile, his laughter, his voice and she decided that while she would never consider sleeping with him the second time she met him, wasn’t there some rule saying that it was completely acceptable by the third one? She let out a quiet giggle as she entertained the thought of her and Zacky together.

Then she fell asleep and into a dream about the boy lying on her couch. The same boy who was dreaming about the girl lying in her bed, a few feet away from him...