Home Run

Charlie’s POV

I was frozen in my spot for a couple of seconds. I thought I would never see him again, and here he was, standing right outside my workplace. I mean, I know this mall is for the public, but why would the Zacky Vengeance come to this mall. This is a regular people mall; I have never seen a famous person just walking around this place for fun. Something is not right.

I decided to stop being stupid and show my face. He knows I’m in here because he hasn’t entered the place, and he should know that I can see him standing at the entrance because people just don’t stand out there for fun.

I closed the magazine that I was reading and turned towards the direction Zacky was standing. I looked right at him and stared at him until he looked at me. He looked over at me, and I gave him a little smile. He returned it. I saw him take a deep breath before he walked into the store. I was shocked when he started walking over to the counter where I was standing. I was expecting him to just browse around the store.

“Hey, long time no see.” Zacky said when he got to the counter.

“I know. It has been a while.” I replied.

“So, what have to you been up to?” He asked, leaning up against the counter.

“Oh, just working and being at home, you know. What about you?” I asked back.

“Just working on some band stuff, but today, I’m free, so I’m here with my girlfriend.”

Here we go with that fucking girlfriend again. It’s really starting to piss me off. I know I always say that I don’t want to be with me, but come on, if there was a guy as hot at Zacky, and he had a girlfriend, you would be acting just like me. Don’t deny it.

“Well, that’s nice of you, bringing her to the mall.” I told him.

“Yeah, it’s not as great as it sounds.” He said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“All she wants to do is spend money, and I don’t have a problem with that, but sometimes it gets too much.”

“Is it your money she’s spending?”

I could help but ask that. Two words, word vomit.

“Well, some of it is, and some of it isn’t. She spent over 200 dollars on clothes, and expected me to pay for all of it. She works, so it’s not like she doesn’t have money. Right now she’s in Bath and Body Works, and I’m surprised that she didn’t ask me for some money because she can go overboard in that store.”

I have never heard a guy talk about his girlfriend like Zacky was. I don’t know if it was because he was famous, but all the guys that I have talked to love to pay for and buy things for their girlfriends. They say it’s a sign of love. I would expect Zacky to let his girlfriend use his money. He is famous, so he shouldn’t be afraid of the amount of money something is. I guess all guys aren’t the same.

“Oh, well, sorry to hear that.” I told him, saying the only thing I could think of.

“Haha thanks.” He laughed.

“So what are you doing in this store?” I asked him.

“Well, I know this is kind of stupid, but I like that see how many of our CDs are on the shelf.” He said, blushing and looking down.

“Oh, that’s cool. I’m guessing you know where they are.” I said.

“Yeah, I come in here all the time. Why haven’t I seen you before?” He asked while walking over to the section where Avenged Sevenfold was located.

“I just started working here about three months ago. My brother told me that he thought I needed a job because he was the only one working at the time, and his money just wasn’t enough for us to live off of.” I told him.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Was this the only job you applied to?" He asked, walking back over to the counter.

“Well, I wanted to find a job where music was involved or baseball, since that’s my favorite sport. I applied at Guitar Center, but since I didn’t know how to play any instruments and stuff like that, they wouldn’t hire me. They wouldn’t even let me work the cash register. I applied at the stadium we were at for the Angels’ game, but they never called me back, so this is the best place I could get on short notice.” I said.

“Well, that’s fucking stupid that Guitar Center didn’t hire you. You don’t have to know all that stuff about music and guitars and stuff. They can always ask someone else for help.”

“That’s what I was thinking when they told me that. You won’t see me in there anymore.”

Zacky laughed, and his phone started ringing. He pulled it from his pocket and rolled his eyes.

“It’s Stacie; she says she’s ready to leave.” He said as he replied to the text message.

I’m guessing Stacie is his girlfriend. That name just made her sound like bad news.

“Well, it was nice talking to you. Nice seeing you again.” I told him.

“Um…”

Zacky started talking and then stopped. I looked at him, and it looked like he was arguing with himself. I guess he decided it was a good idea to say it because he started talking again.

“I was wondering if I could have your number. You seem like a cool person and would get along great with the rest of the guys and their girlfriends.”

I couldn’t believe he asked me that. I was thinking, just like the last time, that this would be just a one time thing, and he wouldn’t want to see me again.

“Um, sure, I guess.”

He pulled out his cell phone again and handed it to me. I put in my information and handed it back to him. I gave my cell phone to him, and he did the same.

“Thanks. I have to go now, can’t keep her waiting. See ya.” Zacky said.

“Bye.” I replied, and he walked out of the store.

It got lonely since he was gone. It was nice to talk to him. I thought that he was going to be totally different than he was. I was expecting him to not talk to me ever again. I thought that he was going to be an asshole like all those other famous people, but I was so wrong.

This phrase came to my mind after thinking all that: Don’t judge a book by its cover.

Zacky’s POV

I walked out of FYE feeling a whole lot better. I wasn’t really excited to come to the mall today, but since I got to talk to Charlie, that thought washed away. She was so easy to talk to; I felt like I could talk to her about anything, things that I couldn’t tell the guys or Stacie, and she’s my girlfriend. Something’s wrong there.

I walked over to Bath and Body Works and saw Stacie sitting on a bench in front of the store. When she saw me walking up to her, she stood up and grabbed all her back before walking the rest of the distance.

She had so many bags from both places that it wasn’t even fucking funny. Just by looking at the amount of bags, my guess is that there are probably about twenty. Now, I shouldn’t be shocked, but I just couldn’t help it.

“Hey Babe, can you help me carry some of these bags?” She asked, handing the Bath and Body Works bags to me.

“Let me take the J.C. Penney ones. Those are probably a lot heavier.” I said.

Hey, I don’t want people to think I’m gay. That would just be awful.

She handed me the other bags, and we walked to the exit of the mall. When we got to the car, we put all the bags into the trunk and exited the parking lot. I got onto the highway before Stacie started talking to me.

“Why didn’t you get anything?” She asked me, changing the radio station.

“Didn’t find anything I wanted.” I told her, switching lanes to pass this old lady.

“You didn’t find anything at that music store?”

“Nope.” I said, just paying attention to the road.

I didn’t feel like talking to her. I wish I was talking to Charlie. Stacie’s voice can sometimes get so annoying that sometimes I wish I could tell her to shut the fuck up. Now, with Charlie, I could listen to her talk all day. There was just something about her voice that was calming, and Stacie just doesn’t have that type of voice.

I pulled into her driveway and waited for her to get out.

“I thought we were going back to your place, spending the night together.” Stacie said, pouting.

“I have plans with the guys later.” I lied.

What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.

“Oh, alright. Can you help with my bags?” She asked.

I nodded, and we both got out of the car. I grabbed half of the bags while she grabbed the other half, and we walked to her front door. She unlocked the door and headed into her living room, where we dropped the bags.

“Thank you for coming to the mall with me today. I know you didn’t want to, but I’m glad you did.” Stacie said, putting her arms around my waist.

“No problem. I knew you wanted to go for a while now.” I told her, putting my arms around her shoulders.

“Well, I don’t want to keep you from your boys. I’ll talk to you later.” She said, kissing me.

“Alright, talk to you later.” I said, kissing her back.

“I love you.”

“Love you too.” I replied, walking out of her front door.

I got back into the car and just sat there. I don’t know why I keep thinking about Charlie so much. When Stacie told me she loved me, it didn’t feel right when I was saying it back, and that’s never happened to me before.

Right now, I needed some advice. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and opened a new text message. I typed in Brian’s number and wrote:

Come to my place, it’s important.

I sent the message, pulled out of Stacie’s driveway, and headed back to my place. When my house came into view, I saw Brian’s car in the driveway, and him sitting on the front steps.

“What’s so important?” Brian asked when I walked up to him.

“Let’s talk about it in the house.”

I unlocked the door and went straight to the kitchen to get two beers. I know that I’m going to need one. I walked back into the living room, and Brian was sitting on the couch, waiting for me.

“So, what’s up?” He asked after taking a sip of his beer.

“I saw Charlie today.” I said.

“Where at?”

“FYE. She works there.”

“Did you talk to her?”

“I wasn’t planning on it, but I thought that I needed to.”

“So, what did you guys talk about?”

“How our lives have been, stuff like that.”

I got silent. I was afraid of Brian’s next question because I know it’s going to come sooner or later.

“Did you like talking to her?”

I told you.

“Yeah, it was better than talking to Stacie. Charlie makes the conversations interesting, and it made me feel like I could tell her anything, and I can’t do that with Stacie. I know that if I tell her something, she would make a big deal out of it, and I don’t want that.”

“I’m going to guess and say you want my advice on this situation.”

“Yeah, that would be great.”

“I think you should just follow your heart, man. I know that if you do that, it’ll make you sound like a pussy, but just listen to your heart. If you’re not happy with this relationship, you don’t have to stay in it; you’re not breaking the law or anything.”

I get what Brian’s saying. I just feel like if I broke up with Stacie, our relationship would have been for nothing. I have been with her for a little over a year, it’s not like I have been with her for a little over a month. We have history together, and I don’t know if I could just erase everything that has happened between us.

“Thanks Brian. I appreciate what you’re saying. I have a lot to thinking to do.”

“Just do what you think is right.”