Harder Than You Know

Sorry, forgot to tell you guys, her name is pronounced AH-ree-ah. Okay? Continue (:

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Aria woke up the next morning to see that Zacky was already up, and was putting on a clean shirt. He noticed that she was awake and smiled. "Morning, Ari. Did you sleep well?"

Memories from the previous night suddenly overwhelmed her, and, as much as she didn't want to, she started to cry. Zacky frowned, knowing why she was upset, and walked over to sit down next to her.

"I'm so sorry about last night, darling." he whispered, wrapping his arms around her. "I wanted to wait a bit longer but there's somewhere we need to go tonight, and it's a mandatory thing. Ari, it's dangerous out there. I don't want to risk losing you. Please understand."

She didn't respond, causing Zacky to sigh. Deciding she wasn't ready to meet the others just yet, he told her he would let her eat in bed for today, but that she would have to meet at least the girls later.

"They're really nice." he said to her as she slowly ate. "There's one named Lacey, and she was from an auction, just like you."

This might have perked Ari's interest under normal, well somewhat normal, circumstances, but at the moment, she didn't feel like doing anything. As soon as she finished eating, Zacky handed her another set of clothing and went outside to put the dishes away.

After Ari washed up and changed, she sat back down on the bed, clueless as to what to do. Zacky was still downstairs and there wasn't much to do in the room. There were some books and a TV, but she didn't feel like doing either of those things.

"Zacky, you up? I wanna meet Aria!"

Ari looked up to see a woman with blonde hair peeking in the door. When she saw Ari, she smiled and said, "Oh, hi! There you are! I'm Val!"

"He-hello.." Ari said softly.

"Mind if I come in?"

"Um.. Not at all.."

Val walked in, leaving the door open.

"Zacky shouldn't shut you in here like this. Wanna come downstairs? Meet the others? Actually, only Zacky and my fiancée Matt, who I know you've already met, are awake. The others will wake up in a few hours.. And it'll take them several more minutes to actually get the fuck up, so you'll have some time to get to know us before meeting a bunch of other people."

"Yeah.. I'd like to do that."

"Well, good."

The two of them went downstairs to the living room and saw Zacky and Matt there, as Val said. Zacky opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Val. "Shame on you Zachary." she said. "You should at least offer to bring her outside for some fresh air, you know. How would you feel if you were trapped in a room by some weirdo and didn't know what to do?! My god, she doesn't even know her away around the house!"

"I'm not a weirdo--"

"That's not my point."

"I thought--"

"No excuses now. Just apologize for being an inconsiderate jerk."

"...I'm sorry, Ari." he mumbled.

"For?"

He stared at Val for a few seconds before sighing. "For being an inconsiderate jerk."

Seeing someone like Zacky being scolded by someone like Val was quite comical and made Aria smile and lighten her mood a bit. "It's okay." she said to him.

"That's much better." Val said, taking a seat next to Matt who chuckled and shook his head. "That's my girl."

Zacky also smiled and patted the spot next to him. "Take a seat, Ari."

Aria did as she was told and relaxed a bit. She liked Val. And seeing as Val was with Matt, she was pretty sure he was a nice person, too. Zacky had been nothing but kind to her the whole time, and he did say that he had.. done what he did last night for her own safety.. So she couldn't really hold anything against him. It would be better, she thought to herself, to just let it go and try to make new friends. It may be a bit hard, yes, but she was sensible. There was no use in being upset about something that was done for your own good. That would be selfish and unreasonable.

"So, Ari, why don't you tell us about yourself?" Val said. "Like.. What did you like doing before you were brought here?"

"Well.. I like to dance.." Aria answered softly, with a light blush.

That explains her body and the way she walks. And moves. Zacky thought to himself, remembering last night.. Even though he knew it wasn't very pleasant for Ari.

"Dance? What kind of dance?" Val asked.

"Well.. anything, really. The waltz, ballet, even some hip hop, modern dancing.. I just like to dance."

Val clasped her hands together. "You should love tonight then! Even though there will be some creepy people, you can dance the night away with Zacky! And Zacky's pretty good at slow dancing, so you'll have no problem at all."

"If you say so.."

They talked for a bit more until everyone else woke up. One by one, Aria became acquainted with Jimmy and Leanna, Johnny and Lacey, and Brian and Michelle.

She liked them all for the most part. Matt and Brian were pretty intimidating, but she knew they were nice. Johnny and Jimmy were both very lovable and very fun to be around with.

Leanna and Michelle made Ari laugh with how.. Giggly they seemed to get together. They first fussed over how nicely Michelle's clothes fitted Ari and then went on about her hair.. and her body.. and how cute she looked with Zacky.. Normally this would have embarrassed her, but the two of them were just too funny.

Lacey was more level headed and seemed to be comforting and caring, like an older sister. Ari felt at ease with her.

So it was all good. She liked everyone and everyone liked her. The only thing she needed to worry about now were the 'dangerous' people outside of the house. But how hard could it be to avoid them?

After everyone else ate breakfast, they talked for a little while before it was time to get ready. Before Aria knew it, she was dragged up a room, sat down on a chair, and had Val doing her hair, Leanna doing her makeup, and saw Michelle and Lacey looking over at dresses and shoes.

There was a lot of commotion in the room. The girls were also doing their own makeup and each other's hair. They laughed and talked and made jokes throughout the whole time. Aria was quiet for most of it.. But enjoyed herself. Although she wasn't a big part of the talking, she didn't really feel out of place. It was nice.

"And we are finished!"

Ari looked in the mirror and smiled. The strapless red dress went a few inches above her knees and was black around the waist area. Her makeup and hair were done to perfection and she did a little twirl, much to the amusement of the others.

"Ready to go down?" Val asked, getting a nod in return.

Back downstairs, Zacky and Brian, who had finished getting ready first, turned their attention to the descending girls. Zacky did a double take at Aria, and blinked.

Holy fucking--

"Like what you see, Zack?" Michelle snickered, wrapping her arms around Brian's torso, who was also smirking at his reaction.

Zacky snapped out of it to send a glare in their direction and quickly turned back to Ari.

"You look beautiful." he whispered to her, causing her to smile shyly.

All of them left the house and stepped into a limousine. Ari stared at her surroundings in wonder. She did not have a chance to look at the outside of the house since she was asleep when she first got here, but anyway, it was huge! She never imagined that she would have to call a place like this home.

And then there was the limo she was in. How many cars did they own? She had only seen two so far: the current limo and the car that she came here in. Did each of them have their own car?

"Wait till you see the ballroom we're going to." Zacky whispered to her, taking her by surprise and making her jump. He laughed and then apologized for startling her.

A short while later, the limo came to a halt and everyone got out of it. Ari's eyes widened at the building and at some of the people who were also arriving. The building seemed to more and more grand the closer they got to it.

What the hell is this?

"Now, Ari." Zacky said to her, voice low, snapping her out of her daze. "You are to stay by my side the whole night and never go anywhere alone. Not even the bathroom, understand? It's not safe for you."

Aria gulped and nodded, now becoming slightly fearful of the situation. She kind of wanted to go back home now.

"Just stay with me, and you can enjoy yourself. Let's just try and relax."

Brian snorted. "How can she relax when you've basically told her that anyone here could be a potential threat?"

"Yeah, Zacky." Jimmy snickered. "Lighten up, will you? You have eight other people protecting her."

Zacky rolled his eyes. "There's no harm in being careful, you know."

"Whatever."

"Shut up."

Zacky rolled his eyes, taking Ari's hand and led her inside. Everyone else was acting as if they've been to this place thousands of times before-- well they probably have now that she thought about it.

Ari looked around and saw some people dancing and wished Zacky would let her dance for at least a little bit. He noticed her watching the other people and said to her, "We'll dance later, I promise, for as long as you want. But we need to do some other things first. Just wait a bit, okay?"

"Alright," she replied, smiling.

She was led to another pair of doors. There was a sign that said "Sevenfold" and she assumed that that was what they called themselves. They entered a spacious room that had one table and some very nice looking couches surrounding it. There were enough seats for exactly ten people.

"This is where we come when we get a bit exhausted." Zacky explained. "No one else is allowed in here and we just drop off our coats and bags here before going back outside."

As the group left the room, they each went off in different directions to meet and greet with other people.

"Parties are usually for business chats." Zacky told her as they ascended a flight of stairs. "There's someone I need to talk with and after that, we'll dance."

Soon enough, the two approached a man around Zacky's height who, to Ari at least, had an.. evil vibe around him. He seemed like the complete opposite of Zacky, with dirty blond hair and dull brown eyes.

"Ryan." Zacky greeted with a nod.

"Zachary," he replied. "Who is this young lady?"

"Her name is Aria, and that's all you need to know about her. You know what I came here to talk about."

"I'd like to have some fun before we get to business." Ryan said with a smirk. He turned to Ari. "May I share a dance with you?"

"No, you may not." Zacky answered for her through gritted teeth.

"That's not your choice now, is it? Now, Miss Aria, I'd love to have a dance with you."

Ari had a bad feeling about the whole thing and really, really did not want to dance with this guy. She politely said, "Um.. I'm kind of tired at the moment.. I'm sorry."

"Tired? You just got here."

"She said no, Stevens. Leave her alone."

Zacky spotted Matt and Val and motioned for them to come over.

"What's up?" he said.

"Please take Ari back to our room." Zacky said to the two of them.

Val took a glance at Ryan and nodded. "Sure thing, Zacky. Let's go Ari."

Ari jumped when she heard Ryan let out a low growl as they walked away but felt safe knowing that both Matt and Val were with her. When they reentered their room, she said, "You two can go back outside. I'll just wait for Zacky."

"Mattie, you go. I'll stay with Aria."

"You don't have to--"

"Quiet, Aria."

Matt laughed and said, "I think Val wants to talk to you about something. I'll leave you two alone now. See you later."

Val turned to Ari with a mischievous look in her eyes when Matt left. She grinned and said, "So.. I think Zacky's already got the hots for you, you know? So what do you think of him?"

Oh boy.