Turning A Page

Zacky looked up into the sky, muttering something I couldn't quite catch. He reached down into his pocket, pulling out his phone.

"Hey man... We're at the beach... Ok, we'll be there soon," was the side of the conversation I heard. "That was Johnny. The guys are all back at his place."

"I guess we better go then," I started walking back towards the car. I was still slightly shocked that Zacky had been going to kiss me, not sure if I was grateful for the interruption or not. Yes, I was having a great time with Zacky. He was really laid back, funny and definitely good looking, but I had only just had my heart broken. I knew I had never really loved Steve because I wasn't that broken up about it, and hadn't even thought of him since i'd arrived here, but was I ready to let another guy into my life?

When I reached the car, I turned around to find Zacky still halfway down the beach, dragging his feet slowly through the sand and looking like he was deep in thought while muttering to himself. Once he got to the car I noticed he avoided my gaze, quietly slipping into his seat and starting the engine, waiting patiently for me to join him.

"So this isn't awkward at all, is it," I broke the silence, looking at Zacky out of the corner of my eye. He still wouldn't look at me but I heard him huff, slightly shaking his head. I turned in my seat to face him, getting annoyed at the continued lack of conversation. "Are you always such a flirt, or am I just lucky?"

Finally, I had his attention! He glanced at me quickly, before his gaze returned to the road. The small smile that had appeared at my question still remained as he answered a simple, "Yes."

"I hope you know that you're frustrating," I joked, happy that we seemed to have gotten over the discomfort, as we pulled into Johnny's driveway.

"Here's Johnny!" I screamed as I jumped onto Johnny's back after sneaking into the house. The guys had all been standing around in the kitchen, talking. Johnny jumped in surprise, almost falling over, while the rest of the guys cracked up laughing. "Miss me?" I asked, giving him a kiss on the neck, before jumping off his back.

Johnny turned around to smile at me. "Always," he grinned. "How come you're all wet?" Yes, Johnny was a bit clueless sometimes.

"Stevie just turns me on," I winked before laughing at the look of disgust that crossed Johnny's face. "Nah, he just decided it would be fun to dump me in the water. Anyway, I'm going to go change into something dry."

Walking back out towards the stairs I passed Zacky. "I put everything in your room for ya Princess."

"Princess?" I was a bit surprised by that. Usually when people called me that they thought I was being a spoiled brat. Zacky seemed to mean it kindly though, so I let it pass, giving him a small kiss on the cheek in thanks. "You're a great chauffeur, we should do this again. Oh yea, Johnny might be a bit mad at you," I smirked before running up the stairs.

***+++***

"What are we up to tonight boys?" I asked when I came back down and found them all lounging out on the patio.

"Well, we thought we'd go out and celebrate getting the album finished," Matt responded.

"If you're not up for it we can just have a quiet night by ourselves." Aww, Johnny was such a sweet boy. He always looked out for me.

I considered my options, looking around the gathered men, trying to sense what they thought I should do. All but one of them seemed to want me to join them in having a good night. The one who wasn't so keen, surprisingly, was Johnny. It was probably just because we hadn't really had any time to ourselves yet.

"Partying sounds good to me. We can spend tomorrow together ok?" I decided. That way I got the best of both worlds. It'd been a long time since I'd had a really good night out - Steve had never liked me drinking much. And then I could endure the hangover while hanging out with my best boy. Definitely sounded like a good plan to me!