First You Fall

Val’s P.O.V.

“So who’s going to be the one to talk to Toni?”

I glanced around the table, waiting for someone to answer Johnny’s question. It was late at night and the guys and I were sitting in a booth at a bar. Matt had his arm around me and Jimmy sat on my other side. Johnny and Brian sat across from us. It had been two days since Toni and Zacky had their fight about moving in together. All it took was a day for us to realize that if we didn’t do anything we’d have an even bigger problem on our hands. Zacky snapping at Johnny had only been the beginning. Zacky’s already low patience had dropped to zero. Things that he might have let slide on a regular day were earning people beat downs now. Zacky seemed in need of a punching bag and he had no problem using the people that gave him even the slightest trouble. It was obvious that he wasn’t open to advice from any of us either. Johnny even tried sending Toni roses and pretending they were from Zack just to see if she’d come back and calm Zacky down. By the second night it was obvious we needed to try something else, so Johnny gathered us all here at the bar.

“Well who’s going to talk to her?” Johnny repeated his question.

“That depends.” I said, leaning back in Matt’s arm. “Who can convince her that she’s wrong? Who actually thinks she’s wrong?”

As far as I was concerned, Toni was in the right here and despite the fact that none of them would admit it to Zacky I thought all the guys agreed with me. Apparently all but one did.

“She’s wrong.” Brian said plain and simple.

“How do you figure?” I asked, leaning forward again.

“You’re all on Toni’s side because it seems like it makes sense to you. Why shouldn’t she want to move in with Zacky, right?”

I nodded and waited for him to continue.

“The girl ran away when one bullet was fired. Imagine how she’d react to all the other shit that goes down over there. Zacky’s more into this girl than he’s ever been with anyone else. You gotta give him credit for wanting to keep her away from this lifestyle.”

“Keep her away?” I asked, raising my voice slightly. “It’s his life! It’s who he is! He can’t turn it on and off when he wants to. If he wants Toni in his life at all than he damn well better accept that this is the life she’ll be entering.”

“He better accept it?” Brian said, now raising his voice too. “He’s still fucking waiting on her to accept it! It’s like she pretends it’s not even there. How can you expect Zacky to let her live in a place full of shit she doesn’t even acknowledge?!”

“If he ever gave her the fucking chance then maybe she would! She’s been doing a damn good job handling all of this so far.”

“Dealing with it the way she is right now and dealing with it if she actually lived there are to very fucking different things. If she moves in with Zacky she’ll be taking on more shit than she can handle or even understands.”

“Calm the fuck down.” Johnny said, waving his arms between the two of us.

“I don’t give a shit who’s right or wrong.” Jimmy spoke up. “It’s their fucking battle to fight. All I want is for the two of them to get in a room together and sort this shit out before Zacky starts up some real shit.”

“Now that we’re back on the fucking point here. Who’s going to talk to Toni?”

Toni’s P.O.V.

“No, Val.”

“You can at least-”

“No, Val.” I cut her off and plopped down on my couch.

It had been two days since I last spoke to Zacky and this morning I had the pleasure of waking up to Val banging on my door. Skipping the whole ‘good morning’ part, Val got right to the point. She wanted me to talk to Zacky. I had expected the guys to come by and try to persuade me but I thought that Val would at least be on my side with this one. How would she feel if Matt rejected an invitation to live together? Probably like total shit.

I turned to look at Val as she sat down next to me on my tiny couch.

“He’s being an ass, Val. Besides I don’t want to be his little plaything anymore.” I said, remembering Bailey’s words.

“Being an ass? Zacky is losing his mind over you.” Val said, waving her arms around.

I just sat and stared at her. Nothing she was saying would erase the things Bailey had said.

“Okay look at it this way.” Val started again when I didn’t respond. “You’ll be saving everyone a ton of trouble.”

“Please don’t.” I sighed, knowing she was going to try to guilt trip me despite the fact that it was not my fault.

“Remember when you ran away? Well Zacky practically turned into a monster. Shouting at everyone, threatening people, it was all very insane.” Val said. “He’s getting that way again, moody and demanding. Truth is the guys and I aren’t sure how much more we can take. Or how much more Zacky can take. He’s been on edge for the past two days and it’s putting everyone else on edge.”

“That doesn’t mean I should just go back to him and pretend like it didn’t happen.” I practically shouted, and waved my arms around for extra effect. “Nothing’s even been fixed yet.”

“Look around you.” Val said gesturing the piles of roses littering my floor. “Clearly he’s trying to fix things.”

“No he’s trying to buy me. I doubt he even ordered the roses himself.”

The look on Val’s face confirmed that suspicion and I sighed again, running my hand down my face.

“Well at least talk to him.”

“And give him the chance to try to charm me back? I’d rather not.” I frowned.

“Well he can’t ‘fix things’ unless you talk to him can he?”

Damn it, she has a good point.

“Wait here.” I said, accepting my defeat. I got off the couch and went to my room to change.

“Finally!” I heard Val shout as I walked down the hall.

Ten minutes later I sat in the passenger seat of Val’s car as she sped towards Zacky’s house. Looking out the window, I tried to prepare myself for what was bound to be an eventful afternoon.

“Am I wrong?” I asked Val, turning in my seat to face her.

“What do you mean?”

“With this entire thing. Am I wrong for wanting to move in with him?”

“Well no not really.” Val said shooting me a quick glance. “I mean, it makes sense why you want it but unless you talk to Zack, you won’t be able to see it from his point of view. Or change his mind. Just when you talk to him, try to be patient. Hear him out.”

“He’d better have something good to say.” I said, turning back to the window.

“What made you change your mind anyway?” Val asked.

“About what? Talking to Zacky? A blond bombshell banging on my door this morning might have had something to do with it.” I replied and Val gave a short laugh.

“I meant about moving in with Zacky. When I was talking to you earlier that night about it, you were so against asking him and then suddenly you two are fighting about it.”

“I just…changed my mind.” I said, opting not to tell her about my run in with Bailey.

“Just like that, huh?” Val shot me a suspicious glance as she pulled into Zacky’s driveway.

“Let’s just get this over with, yeah?”

“Try to contain your excitement.” Val smiled, walking past me.

“Fuck you.” I said, catching up to her.

“I could say so much. But I’ll save the punch lines for later.”

“Looking forward to ‘em.” I shot back, as she opened the front door.

“Remember, be patient.” Val said as we walked down the hall to Zacky’s office.

Val opened door and the first thing I noticed was the guy bent over on the floor with blood running down his face and hands.

“You out.” Val said pointing to the guy. “You two, talk.” She said, pushing me into the room.

Seconds later, the guy on the floor had scrambled out and Zacky leaned on his desk, wiping his hands.

We stared at each for a moment before I thought to myself ‘fuck patience’ and lashed out at him.