Home Run

Charlie’s POV

“Oh, you must be Charlie. It’s so nice to meet you.” A woman said, pulling me into a hug.

I was a little freaked out, so I just patted her back a couple of times. She pulled away, and I realized that the woman was Val Sanders, Matt’s wife.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” I said, smiling.

“You must be Keegan; it’s nice to meet you too.” Val said, pulling him into a hug.

He hugged her back, and when they pulled away, she led us into her house to get to the backyard where everyone was. We got to the backyard, and everyone was talking. All the couples were sitting next to each other, showing some type of affection. When I looked over at Zacky and Stacie, it was a different story. His girlfriend wasn’t sitting in his lap, rather on a chair next to him, and they weren’t even talking to each other. They both had pissed off facial expressions and not even looking at each other. Zacky was the only one talking to the rest of the guys and their wives/girlfriends, and Stacie just sat there, filing her nails.

“Look who showed up.”

Everyone stopped talking and turned to the sound of Val’s voice.

“Hi Charlie and Keegan!” The guys shouted.

Keegan and I said hi back to them, and I added a little wave in there.

“Let me introduce you to the girls.” Val said, walking towards the girls while Keegan hung out with the guys.

As we were walking, I observed the girls. I know Michelle is Val’s twin sister, so if she’s anything like Val, then I’m going to like her. Leana looked like a burst of energy in that small body of hers. I can see why her and Jimmy are together and married. Lacey looked like a shy person, but that’s okay because I’m a little shy as well, so we should get along. The only girl without a man was Gena. I knew that she use to be Zacky’s girlfriend from what I read on the Internet, but that’s all I know about her. I’m just going to have to get to know her better, and hopefully, we get along. And last, but not least, Stacie. Just by looking at her, I knew I wasn’t going to like her. She was pouting like all those prep girls do, and she was a fake ass bitch all the way from the top of her head, down to her toes. She also looked like she stayed in the tanning bed a little bit longer than necessary. All I can say is that if you live in California, you don’t need a tanning bed.

“Girls, this is Charlie. Charlie, these are the girls, Michelle, Leana, Lacey, Gena, and Stacie.”

I could here in Val’s voice that she didn’t want to say Stacie’s name.

“Who invited this bitch?” Stacie sneered.

“The guys did.” Gena said with attitude.

“She’s not part of our group, she needs to leave.” Stacie said, going back to filing her nails.

She files her nails too much. There isn’t going to be any nail left.

“If the guys like her, we like her.” Michelle said, sticking up for me, like Gena.

“Well, I don’t like her.” Stacie said.

“I don’t like you either.” I said, stepping into the conversation.

“Well then.”

She got up off the chair and went over to where the guys were. I watched her as she got on Zacky’s lap and started talking to him. I could tell she was talking about me because she kept looking over at me. Dumb bitch, you don’t look at the person you’re talking about. It gives away that you’re talking about them. Everyone’s has known this since like the fifth grade.

Zacky just shrugged at what she said and went back to talking with the guys. Stacie, obviously, not happy with what Zacky said faced forward and leaned back on his chest and just ignore everyone.

“I cannot stand her.” Val said, bringing me back to the group.

“I know. Sometimes, I just want to beat the fucking shit out of her.” Michelle replied.

I guess they’re right when they said twins are more alike than regular siblings.

“When did he meet her?” I asked.

“I was about a year ago at Johnny’s bar, go figure.” Gena started. “Zacky went to the bar, and she just so happened to be sitting on one of the bar stools. After he said the drink orders, they started talking. He brought her over to our table and introduced all of us, and they left early. I think you catch my drift.”

“Zacky thinks she is the best thing that has ever happened to him. She clearly isn’t. She is so not his type. I think he was really desperate and just picked the first girl that got his attention.” Leana said.

“Are you girls ready to eat over there?” Matt shouted from the grill.

We all gave him some sort of a yes answer and moved over to the picnic tables that were set up. I sat down on one, in the middle, and waited for people to sit with me. A couple seconds later, someone sat next to me, and it was Zacky.

“So, you having fun?” He asked me.

“Yeah, besides the fact that your girlfriend doesn’t like me.” I told him.

“Just ignore her. Almost everyone here does it.” He said.

“Where is she now?” I asked, looking around the backyard, not seeing her anywhere.

“She had to go to the bathroom. There she is right now.”

I looked towards the backdoor and saw Stacie walking down the porch steps. She started looking around the yard for Zacky, and when her eyes landed on him and saw him and me sitting together, she took off running the rest of the way.

“Zachary, why the hell are you sitting next to her?” She screamed at him.

“She was sitting her by herself. It would be rude of me if I didn’t sit next to her.” He replied.

“She deserves to sit by herself. It’s not like you were the one that invited her.”

There was silence between the three of us after she said that statement. I looked over at Zacky, and he had his head down like he really didn’t want to tell her that he actually was the one that invited me. She shouldn’t care who invited me to this party. It’s none of her damn business.

“I was the one that invited her.” Zacky whispered.

“What the fuck, Zacky. Why would you do that?” She screamed again.

“Because she’s my friend…” He said, obviously.

“Well, you can’t be friends with her.” He told him.

“I can be friends with who I want to.” Zacky said, standing up from the table.

Stacie pulled on his arm to get away from the table, and didn’t answer him. As she was pulling him, he turned around and looked at me with a sorry look in his eyes. I gave him a sad smile and looked down at the table.

“Just ignore the bitch. Food’s ready.” Matt said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

I got up from the picnic table and walked with Matt over to the grill to get my food. I grabbed a cheeseburger, some French fries, potato salad, and a drink before returning from my seat. My brother sat on one side of me while Val sat on the other side. Zacky was sitting across from me, giving me these looks, but I didn’t look up at him because I didn’t want to cause any more trouble.

We were all talking to each other and getting to know one another. I could tell that I was really going to get along with the guys and all the girls, expect Stacie of course. I think I’m going to get along with Gena the best. She has dated Zacky in the past, so she must know how I feel about the situation he was in. She didn’t even like him dating her, and I know for a fact that she’s not jealous of Stacie, so something’s wrong with the relationship.

When we got done eating, we all got around the pool. All the guys were in the pool while the girls and I just sat around the edge with out feet in the water. The guys were all dunking and splashing each other. While splashing, some of the water would get on us. We would all laugh, except for Stacie. She would complain that she was getting wet and to stop. Brian splashed her just for the fun of it, and we all thought she was going to chew his head off. It was a funny sight.

“I think we all should play a game of chicken.” Jimmy said, jumping up and down in the water.

We all agreed, except for Keegan and Stacie.

“If I play, I have to get wet, and I don’t want to. I’ll mess up my hair.” Stacie complained.

“I suck at chicken, so I’ll just watch.” My brother said.

“I guess that means that all the couples will be partners, obviously, and Charlie and Zack will be partners.” Matt said.

“Zacky is not going to be partners with that girl.” Stacie complained again.

“That’s the only way he can play.” Brian said.

“Well, then he’s not playing.” She said.

“Stacie, you can’t tell me what I can and can’t do. I want to play, and you’re not going to stop me.” Zacky told her.

“But, I’m your girlfriend.” She whined.

“That still doesn’t give you a right. It’s a free country.”

That shut her up fast.

We were deciding who was going to go first, and the first people that were up were Val, Michelle, Matt, and Brian. Now, since these two men were probably the strongest ones here, they would be able to hold their woman up for a long time.

“Ready, set, go!” My brother yelled out.

Val and Michelle started pushing each other. I could tell in Michelle eyes that she wanted to beat her sister. I could see Matt and Brian holding onto their legs with all their might. I would say about five minutes later, Val was in the water, and Michelle was cheering on Brian’s shoulders.

“Matthew, you were supposed to hold me tight. We discussed this before everyone came over because we knew we were going to play this.” Val said after coming up from under the water.

“I was holding on tight.” Matt defended himself.

“No you weren’t. I could feel the pressure on my legs, and it wasn’t your tightest hold.”

“Well, I’m sorry.”

The next four people were Jimmy, Leana, Johnny, and Lacey. You all can probably guess who won that round. If you guessed Jimmy and Leana, you would be correct. Jimmy’s tallness just couldn’t be overlooked, and that couple took down the shorter one.

“Now, whose Zack and Charlie suppose to go up against?” Johnny asked.

We all turned to Keegan because he was like the ref for this game.

“I guess Matt and Val because they were the first couple to win.” My brother said.

Matt and Val got situated again, and Zacky and I just stood there, not knowing what do to.

“How do you want to get on my shoulders?” Zacky asked me.

“What would be the easiest for you?” I asked back.

“I would have to say to go underwater and have you put your legs over my shoulders.” He said.

“Okay.”

Zacky took a breath and went underwater. I could feel him swim under my legs and grab them. I lifted them up, and Zacky came back to the surface with me on his shoulders.

“Why didn’t I think of that?” Matt asked, while looking over at us.

“Because you’re a retard.” Zacky laughed.

Matt glared at him, and Keegan told us that it was time to start. Matt and Zacky started walking towards each other, waiting for Keegan to say go. I could feel Zacky holding my legs really tight, and it felt really good. Keegan yelled out go, and I started pushing Val as hard as I could to get her to go in the water. I guess Matt learned his lesson from before because Val was hardly moving, and it was a little bit difficult to push her.

I finally gave Val one strong push, and she fell in the water with a big splash. I cheered while Val was coming back up to the surface. Zacky tapped my leg in saying good job. I smiled really big and tapped his head. I could hear Zacky chuckling underneath me.

“Okay, since Zack and Charlie won that one, they have to play Jimmy and Leana, and who ever wins this one, wins the game.”

Jimmy lifted Leana onto his shoulders, and we were ready to go. I could tell, right away, that this wasn’t going to be easy. Jimmy is so tall, that I could barely reach Leana hands.

My brother yelled go for the last time, and I was just going to try my best and hope I win because it would be awesome if Zacky and I won. We just pushed and pushed each other, but the both of us weren’t falling over. Zacky tapped my leg, telling me to try harder. If I tried any harder, I would hurt the girl.

I could tell that Leana was getting tired of all the pushing, so she wasn’t working as hard. About a minute later, I pushed Leana, and she fell off of Jimmy’s shoulders. I just won chicken. With Zacky. It was an amazing feeling.

Zacky let go of my legs and flipped me backwards into the water. I came back up and hugged Zacky. He hugged me back, and I just wanted to be in his arms forever and not ever leave them.

When someone asks me what my greatest moment was, I can say that I won chicken and was in the arms of Zacky Vengeance.