The Love of My Life

”So, uh, I was waiting a little to ask this because I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the answer in case it was bad, but how did everything go last night?” Val asked as they walked into the second clothing store of the day.

Mia glanced at her. ”It went fine. Why wouldn’t it?”

”Just, you know, you seemed kind of tense in the elevator and I figured that maybe something happened or you had a fight on the plane or something?”

Mia shook her head. ”Nothing like that. I was a little upset over something with Nikki, it didn’t have anything to do with Zacky. He and I are good. Actually…” She didn’t finish the thought, instead she started looking through the racks of clothing.

”Actually what?” Val asked excitedly. Mia smiled at her and continued looking. ”Mia! Actually what? Remember that I’m the one who got the two of you together. So tell me, tell me, tell me!”

Mia laughed. ”Fine, fine. Calm down. And by the way, Zacky and I aren’t together. However,” she paused which caused Val to glare at her, ”we may have kissed once this morning.”

Val squealed, making the other customers look at her. ”That is so exciting!” she said in a loud whisper. ”Tell me everything!”

”Could we go sit down somewhere and have that talk? I feel like that would be a little more private than standing here and talking among clothes.”

”Sure. Do you want anything from here?” Val asked as she picked out a dress for herself.

Mia shook her head in response. There wasn’t anything she wanted and even if there had been, she didn’t have the money to waste on clothes.

”Alright!” Val went to pay for her dress and then they left.

Ten minutes later they were sitting in a small coffee house and Val was anxious to hear all the details.

”Yesterday, when we got to the room, we were so exhausted and we just fell asleep right away, clothes on and everything,” Mia began the story.

”Sounds uncomfortable,” Val chimed in.

”It was. I woke up in the middle of the night and I had to take off my jeans because they were so awful to sleep in, but I didn’t want to turn on the light and wake up Zacky just to look for something else to sleep in, so I decided to sleep in my t-shirt.”

Val raised her eyebrows as she took a sip of her coffee.

Mia continued, ”I guess Zacky must have had the same idea because this morning when he got up, he was only in his boxers, but that’s beside the point.”

”How can that be beside the point?” Val asked.

”Because I realized that after we kissed. Now do you want to hear the story or not?”

Val pretended to zip her lips, lock them and throw away the key. Mia laughed at her. ”Thank you. When I woke up this morning, or day I guess I should say, Zacky was lying right next to me and he just looked so cute. And I wanted to kiss him. Then he opened his eyes and like pulled me really close and then we just were like that for a while and well, then we kissed.”

”Just like that? He kissed you?”

”Actually… I kissed him.”

”Mia!” Val exclaimed. ”Good for you! And I’m sure it was good for him too,” she added with a wink.

Mia laughed. ”I hope so!”

”What happened then?” Val asked excitedly.

”Then Jimmy showed up and told us that they had to leave,” she sighed.

”Aaw, bummer,” Val said.

”Yeah, but this is a work trip after all and I’m just along for the ride so it’s not like I have any right to complain. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to complain. I’m totally excited for him and everything but… I can’t help but wish that I could be with him instead,” Mia shrugged at the final sentence, giving Val a half-hearted smile. It was the truth. She didn’t want to complain and there was nothing for her to complain about. She missed Zacky, that’s all. But she was grateful for having been given the opportunity to come with them because she would miss him a hell of a lot more if she was home while he was here.

Val looked at her, a certain gleam in her eye. ”Can I say something really honest to you right now and have you promise that you won’t freak out at me because of what I’m going to say?”

”Of course… You sure know how to get a person worried though.”

”From the way you talk about him, I think you’re falling in love with him. And before you get the chance to protest and say that it’s way too soon to talk about that, I’m going to add that if you aren’t falling for him already, you will be soon. I can’t remember the last time I saw someone talk like this about someone they liked.”

Val got quiet for a while, thinking about it before she spoke again. ”Wait, yes, I can! It was Leana when she talked about Jimmy and let me tell you that the two of them are the most perfect couple I know. I really think Zacky and you are following in their foot steps.” Val looked at her warily, wondering what her reaction would be.

Mia looked down at her cup before she met Val’s eyes again. ”I think you may be right. And I know that it’s crazy because I met him like a week ago, but we have spent most of that week together and… I don’t know how to explain it but there’s some kind of spark there and I’ve never felt that with anyone before.”

Then she sighed. ”The only thing that scares me is that he probably doesn’t feel the same way. I know that he took me here and we’re spending all this time together, but it may not mean anything other than that he wants to get to know me. So I don’t want to get my hopes up too much… You know what I mean?”

The smile of Val’s face might be the biggest one Mia had ever seen. ”I’m going to tell you something but you can absolutely not tell Zacky that I told you this, okay?” Mia nodded and Val continued, ”You know that he and Gena were together for a long time and it’s not that I didn’t like her, because I did. She was sweet and nice and funny, but I never really liked her with Zacky. It was like they didn’t make each other completely happy. They were happy but not the way a couple should, not the way Matt makes me happy. Then they broke up and he was really down about it and I started thinking that maybe I had been wrong. But then something happened…”

”What?” Mia asked curiously.

Val smiled. ”He met you. That night, after the show when he texted you, I sat with him while he waited for a reply and if you had seen the way his eyes lit up, it was so obvious that he already felt something for you and I think it freaked him out a little too because you had just met that same night! And if I had any doubts before, they were completely gone when he told Matt and me that he was going to stay with you for a few days. The look on his face, it was like he had just won the lottery or something. You make him smile in a way Gena never did.”

Mia blushed at Val’s words. ”Thank you. It really means a lot that you’re being this nice to me, even though I’m a random girl who came in from nowhere.”

”Well, then I should thank you too. It really means a lot to me that you’re being this good to Zacky because he deserves to be happy. And as for me, I’m glad I got to know you, Mia.”

”Me too,” she smiled.

”So, now that sappy hour is over, where do you want to go next?” Val asked.

Mia decided that now was as good a time as any to admit that she couldn’t afford this. ”Honestly, I’ll go just wherever you go because I don’t really have the money to buy anything except stuff at that really cheap store. I think it’s called Primark or something like that.”

Val smiled at her. ”Sweetie, Zacky knows that you don’t have a job. Do you really think that he would leave you hanging like that?” She opened up her purse and then her wallet, taking out a credit card.

Mia saw Zacky’s name on it. ”Oh no, I’m not going to-”

”Yes, you are,” Val interrupted her. ”He made me promise to make sure that you don’t come back to the hotel before you have at least five things that he’s paid for you.”

Mia shook her head. ”I don’t feel right doing that.”

”Mia, I’m going to let you in on a little secret,” Val said, motioning for her to come closer. ”When a guy not only offers to buy you something, but insists on it, you should do what he says.”

”I don’t want him to think that this is only about money for me.”

”Come on, if either he or I had even the slightest suspicion that that might be the reason for why you are with him, we wouldn’t be sitting here having this conversation.”

Mia hesitated. ”Alright. But I’m telling you that they are going to be the cheapest five things I can find.”

”How about one expensive thing and four cheap ones?”

Mia rolled her eyes and laughed. ”Fine.”

***

”Hey, how was the shopping spree?” Zacky asked as Mia stepped into their hotel room. He took the bags she was carrying, not only to be a gentleman but also to make sure that she really had bought something like he had instructed Val.

”It was good,” she told him. ”It’s exhausting going in and out of stores but it was fun spending time with Val.”

He looked at her and smiled. ”She really likes you, you know.”

”That’s good, because the feeling is definitely mutual.”

”Are you going to show me what you bought?” he asked as she was digging around in her purse.

”Yeah, in a second… Ah, here it is!” She finally found the credit card and gave it back to its rightful owner. ”Thank you, Zacky, really thank you. But you didn’t need to pay for me, you know that, right?”

He put one arm around her and kissed her on the top of her head. ”It wasn’t about what I needed to do, it was about what I wanted to do. And you’re welcome. Now, show me what you got.”

She gave him a look of skepticism. ”You really want to see?”

”I have a clothing company so yeah, definitely.” He sat down on one side of the bags and she sat down on the other.

She had bags from three different stores. Two of them held pretty cheap stuff and one didn’t, but that was the one he wouldn’t be getting a preview of.

She started off with a necklace and matching earrings.

”Skulls, how surprising,” Zacky said with a smile.

”Yeah, yeah, I know. But since they are purple, they are going to be an awesome match with that dress you saw a sketch of,” she explained. He nodded, remembering that great creation with the glowing skulls.

The next bag held a dark denim skirt and a top that was black and gold. She held them up together, showing that she thought of them as being one outfit.

”I realized that I didn’t really have any clothes with me that were good for parties and Val said that it was pretty much a necessity when hanging out with you guys.”

”That’s true,” he smiled. ”So what’s left?” He nodded toward the bag right beside her.

”Oh, you mean this one?” she asked with a smile as she held up the bag.

”Yeah. Show me.”

She pretended to be thinking it over. ”I’m sorry, I can’t,” she said then.

”What? Why?” he asked.

”Because the items in this bag could be a surprise one day. Maybe.” She gave him a coy smile and added, ”If you deserve it.” She got off the bed, bag still in hand and went into the bathroom.

”Are you serious?” he called out after her, wondering where the hell this woman came from and what it was that had happened to the girl who was apologizing for kissing him that morning.

As she closed the door behind her, she looked at herself in the mirror. She couldn’t believe that she had just said that to him. It was one of those things that could only be interpreted one way. There was no denying what the occasion would be when he might be able to see what she had in the very secretive bag.

She picked up the black lingerie with green patterns and held it up in front of herself in the mirror. Val had said that it was perfect and so had the sales lady. She had been a little uncertain about the color but then Val had said that it would match Zacky’s eyes and the choice had been made. This didn’t mean that she was planning on sleeping with Zacky, because she wasn’t, at least not yet, but it did mean that she had entertained the thought of sleeping with him and she wanted to have something special just in case.

”Mia,” Zacky called from outside the door. She quickly hid the bag under the counter and opened up the door a little, letting her head peak out.

”What’s up?” she asked with a smile.

”Do you want to get something to eat now or do you want to wait until we get to the venue?” As he spoke, he tried to peek into the bathroom, hoping he would see what was in the mystery bag.

”That depends, when are we leaving?”

”Forty-five minutes or so,” he answered.

”Alright. I’m not really hungry so waiting is fine by me,” she smiled as she shut the door a little.

”Yeah, me too. So, what do you want to do until then?” he asked.

”Um, I need to fix something in here so how about if you go see what the guys are doing?” she told him.

He gave her a suspicious look and then he started backing away from the bathroom door, never breaking eye contact with her. ”You know, I’m actually a little tired so I think I’m just going to lie right here and wait until you’re done with whatever it is you’re doing in there.” He kept on looking at her as he reached the bed and lay down on it.

She narrowed her eyes, wanting to tell him to leave but then she figured that he was playing a game with her. He wanted her to tell him to leave and she wasn’t going to do that. ”Alright. See you soon then.” She smiled at him when she closed the door.

Then she stopped smiling. Damn it! He was literally going to wait until she came outside and then he would snatch the bag from her hands and look. Not that it was a really big deal or anything, but if he saw it he would most likely assume that she wanted to sleep with him now and she didn’t because it was way too soon. Besides, if and when it happened, she wanted to surprise him and wear that. If he had already seen it, it would take out all the fun of even putting on expensive lingerie.

She stood there for a while, wondering how she was going to get Zacky away from the room for just a few minutes. By some stroke of luck, she got a text message at that moment. The message itself was nothing important but it made her think of a plan. She called Val.

”Hey!” Val answered.

”Hi,” Mia whispered.

”Why are we whispering?” Val whispered back.

”I’m locked in the bathroom with my mystery bag and Zacky is determined to find out why so he’s waiting outside. Make one of the guys come get him so that I can get out of here and hide the stuff,” she explained.

”Consider it done,” Val hung up the phone but before she did, she could hear her laughing. Mia was glad someone found this situation amusing. Then again, she probably would too if she wasn’t the person basically being kept captive in a bathroom.

It didn’t take long before Mia heard a knock on the door to their room and Zacky talking to someone. It sounded like Jimmy and then the door closed. Mia peeked out and when she saw that the coast was clear, she quickly got out, put the stuff in the bottom of her suitcase and hid the empty bag. Now Zacky could look all the wanted and if he happened to find the black little bag, he would get his hopes up for a few seconds and then find that it was empty. It was evil but genius.

Then Zacky came back, Jimmy following him and trying to convince him that he really had seen a big rat in his room.

”Oh, look who finally decided to join the outside world,” Zacky said when he saw Mia sitting on the bed.

”What do you mean? Mia, have you been away? Did aliens take you? Have you been in hiding?” Jimmy fired the questions at her in an unbelievable speed and she just laughed.

”No, no and yes,” she replied as she started looking for another shirt to wear to the show.

Jimmy looked confused, trying to remember what question was the last one. ”You were in hiding?!” he yelled. She nodded, a very serious look on her face.

”What? Why? When? Where?” Jimmy wanted answers and he wanted them know.

”Yeah, I had to hide in the bathroom just now because I had a surprise for Zacky and he was trying to ruin it for me.”

”Zacky! That’s mean of you,” he complained. ”Poor Mia.” He petted her hair.

She smiled at him. ”It’s all better now though because Zacky’s not getting his surprise until he learns to behave.” As she said this, her eyes were focused on the man in question. A mischievous glint sparkled in them, making it impossible for him not to get intrigued by all of it.

”Oh, can you tell me what it is?” Jimmy grinned and Mia nodded her head. The very tall man bent down a little and she whispered in his ear. When she was done, he gave her a look and nodded. ”Very good, Mia, very good.”

”Thanks, Jimmy,” she said.

”You know, Zacky, you should try this whole behaving thing. It could really be worth it,” Jimmy said to him. ”I’m going to go get ready, see you two soon,” he said as he walked out, leaving Mia and Zacky alone.

Mia was holding a new, clean shirt in her hand and she went into the bathroom to change. Feeling incredibly brave, she decided not to close the door. After her talk with Val earlier that day, she felt a lot more sure about not only her own feelings, but also Zacky’s feelings toward her. And now, if he wanted to see her change, all he had to do was lean a little to the left. She was facing the other way, not wanting to know whether or not he did look. She was equally hoping for both options. Well, maybe a little more for the side that wanted him to look.

When she reemerged, Zacky looked at her approvingly. He should since she was wearing one of the VU shirts that had been left for her and Nikki that night they first met the guys.

”You look fuckin’ amazing in that. Like it was made for you or something,” he said as he took a few steps in her direction.

”Yeah? You should give the designer my compliments,” she said with a smile.

He took another couple of steps in her direction and that’s when she knew. Not sleeping with him wasn’t even an option anymore. It may not happen today or tomorrow, but it was going to happen. There was too much between them for it not to happen.

All of a sudden, he was standing right in front of her. Then his hands were on her waist and he was even closer. He leaned in to whisper in her ear, ”I love seeing you wearing my name.”

”Good, I love wearing it,” she whispered back.

They pulled apart a little and looked at each other. For a few seconds, his green eyes looked deep into her brown ones and when she smiled, he knew that this was it. His lips crashed onto hers, releasing every ounce of pent up sexual frustration he had been feeling since his break-up and she reciprocated it all, giving back just as much as she was getting. There was heat, there was passion and there was magic in that kiss.

What had started out as a simple spark between them, had now become a full-blown fire.