Second Chance

By the end of August, we were back in the United States.

The guys were happy to be going home for the ten days that they were allowed to. Ten days in California, and then it was off to West Virginia for the next leg of their tour. Despite having enjoyed running back and forth across Europe, I found that I was as pleased as the guys were to be back in the sunshine state, back in the familiarity of Zacky's mansion-like house. It wasn't home to me exactly, but it was the closest that I had these days.

Zacky was a lot better off this time around than he had been the last time we were here; we managed to get out of the house a little more, and I was even able to meet the girlfriends of the other guys when everybody met around at Matt's place one day for lunch. Much to my own surprise, the whole ordeal had made me far more nervous than I had expected it to. Even going out and mingling with fans - knowing that some of them hated me - was a whole lot easier than walking into Matt's kitchen and seeing the four women there.

I chalked it up to the fact that these womens' opinions mattered to the guys more than anybody else in the world. What would happen if they didn't like me?

Matt's wife, ever the observant hostess I would soon know her as, was the first to notice my presence in her kitchen. Zacky gave me a small nudge toward her, his way of telling me that I didn't have to freak out. I held my breath as I watched her reaction turn from one of surprise to one of realisation, and then...delight.

"Well, it's about time!"

I let out an involuntary squeal as she pulled me into an unexpected hug. I was overwhelmed by the smell of her apple scented shampoo, though it wasn't exactly a bad thing. I was just beginning to feel like I was never going to escape her clutches when she let me go, stepping back to look me over - leaving me feeling awkward once again as I could do nothing but stand there and let her assess me.

"So this is the infamous Abbey."

I turned to the speaker as she spoke. She was sat on Brian's lap, and he had his arms around her. His girlfriend, then. Michelle, he had told me her name was. And she was Matt's girlfriend's sister, which made the woman who had hugged me Val. I put their names to their faces and hoped to hell that I wouldn't forget them.

"Hi," I said at last. "It's...nice to meet you."

"I'm only sorry it took so long," Val replied. "We've heard a lot about you. I'm Valery, by the way."

"I know," I assured her. "I've heard a lot about all of you, too."

"All good things, I hope." She gave Matt a look at this, and he held his hands up in mock surrender. "I trust they've been treating you well?"

"Of course."

"You're making out like we're bad guys," Jimmy complained.

"Maybe you are," his girlfriend - Leanna, I thought her name was - replied, though there was no hiding the grin on her face.

Johnny's girlfriend, Lacey, was a little less intimidating than the others. She didn't jump out and hug me, or look me up and down as if to assess whether or not I was good enough to be around her and the rest of the group. She simply gave a little wave and a reassuring smile. I felt myself relax. Just a little.

I found myself growing more comfortable around them as the day went on; they were easy to get along with, and appeared to have accepted me easily enough. I had been worried that there may be a repeat of the Brian and Jimmy episode, with them worrying that I was some ditsy girl come to sneak into Zacky's life. But after having spent the afternoon with them, I knew that they trusted their boyfriends.

And their boyfriends had come to trust me.

It was a strange thing to realise. I had known them for just shy of four months - it didn't seem like long enough for a firm basis of trust to have formed between us. Despite this, I found that I would easily trust any one of them with my life, as I practically had been since we'd been together.

Perhaps it was drawn from the fact that it was almost like several years had been packed into the past few months - I'd gone from knowing nothing but Sydney city all my life to having lost my best friend, gained a new friend, been accused of being a number of nasty things, travelled half of the world, met more people than I ever knew I would. It was all still too much to easily get my head around, but I was doing my best. I still woke up every day wondering if it was a dream - but here I was in California again, still with the guys.

I knew it wouldn't last, but I was going to enjoy it while it did.

It turned out that Val was not only a great hostess, but also an amazing cook. I couldn't name half of the things that she set out on her table, but every one of them tasted divine. Apparently it was a well-known fact, and the guys were all jealous of Matt for being able to keep it all to himself.

Not that they'd ever admit it to their own girlfriends, of course.

I sat by the side of Matt's pool out back, basking in the cool night breeze while the adults drank and swam and laughed. I loved watching them away from all the stress that touring caused them. I loved seeing Zacky so happy and carefree, unguarded. Being himself. I found myself cursing the people who had taken that away from him, for any amount of time. Here was a man who'd worked hard to achieve his dreams. He deserved to be able to live out his life in piece, without having to worry. Maybe now he would get that chance.

It would only be a matter of time now, I was sure. We'd come to a point where Zacky was capable of acting as he should have been - where I didn't need to stay within his sight at all times, where he wasn't checking up on me every three seconds. While the thought of going home - back to the familiar sights and sounds of Sydney - was somewhat reassuring, I couldn't help being sad at the thought of leaving the guys behind.

But I wouldn't be. Not really. Of that, I was sure. They'd go on touring and I'd be back at home, but we'd keep in touch. I'd see them again someday.

It wasn't the end. It was only the beginning.