Some Say This Can't Be Real.

-Lisa's POV-

I woke up expecting Zack to still be sound asleep, but instead, I saw an empty spot. His voice faintly traveled through the hallway and into the bedroom, so I got up and tip-toed out. He was sitting in the living room on the phone, and I listened to him talk without walking into the room.

“Look, it was a one-time thing. I don't wanna do it again, so please stop bothering me about it.” There was a pause as I assumed the other person was talking back. “I didn't get to sleep until four-thirty this morning. I'm exhausted and just want to sleep. Better yet, I just wanna go sleep in my bed next to my girlfriend.” There was another pause as I tried to comprehend what I was hearing. “Just don't call me anymore about that kind of shit please? Bye.”

I turned and did a tip-toe sprint back to the room and jumped into bed, pretending to be just waking up as he walked in. “Where'd you go?” I asked sleepily.

“Phone call from my assistant manager asking me if I could come for another shipment this afternoon,” he said as he climbed back into his spot.

“Are you?” I asked as I scooted closer to him.

His arms snaked around my body, holding me close to him. “Hell no. I know I've kind of been neglecting them lately, but I'm exhausted after last night, and just wanna relax with you today.”

I smiled. “That sounds like a plan.” I leaned and touched my lips to his quickly. “Except I'm not that tired anymore, seeing as I slept all night.”

I laid with him until he fell back to sleep, then carefully climbed out of bed. I closed the bedroom door behind me as I headed for the living room and turned on the TV. After fixing a quick breakfast for myself, I sat and watched some of the morning news before flipping channels. There wasn't anything on that suited my tastes, so I turned it off, sighing. I didn't want to be inside all day, and I knew that Zack was going to be sleeping for at least a few more hours.

After calling around to see what any of my friends were up to, I decided to drop in on my brother, still trying to catch him and Lacey to prove that they were dating. Some call it annoying, but I call it being a little sister. I tip toed into the bedroom to change clothes real quick and turned to look at my sleeping boyfriend. He was out like a light, and with a grin, I leaned to give him a quick peck on his forehead before leaving the bedroom in silence again. In the kitchen I scribbled a quick note to tell him I was out and to just call me if he wanted me to come home.

Johnny didn't answer the phone when I called, but I figured he'd probably be asleep, and I could pull an awesome little sister move on him and wake him, or discover him and Lacey cuddling. I was determined to bust them. When I pulled into the apartment complex, his car wasn't around, but I decided to go up anyways. As I figured, he wasn't home, so I went back downstairs to the storage garage and decided to play some drums for a little while. It always felt weird sitting behind Jimmy's set, but in general, sitting behind a set felt so natural to me. I could always lose track of everything as I played, and this day was no different. Zoned out for the longest time, I finally opened my eyes and jumped when I saw the shadowed outline of a figure standing behind me. I turned around to see Brian standing there.

“Jesus fucking hell, Brian, you scared the shit out of me.”

“That seems to be a common occurrence when you play drums, or just have music playing when you're alone in general,” he said as he pulled up one of the folding lawn chairs to sit in.

“Yeah...so what are you doing here?”

“Johnny's not home, but I walked by and heard the music so I dropped in here. Surprisingly enough, you're just the person I wanted to see. I have something to talk to you about.”

I turned on the stool to look at him attentively. “What is it?”

“Don't take this the wrong way, but umm...There's been someone I've seen around town a few times and I think you should know, just in case.”

“Who?” I asked as I felt my stomach drop.

“Zack's ex-girlfriend, Gena. I've seen her around. I know they had a thing going when you were gone, and broke it off on good terms, but I thought you should know. I wouldn't doubt that she'd try to get in touch with Zacky again, but I saw her attached at the hip of some guy, so I'm assuming she has a new man.”

“Okay, I guess.” I paused as I went into thought for a moment. “Hey, you had a clothing line didn't you?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you ever get random overnight shipments of high-demand stuff?”

“Sometimes, why?”

“Zack had to go to his office last night for one I guess. I don't know, it just seemed weird to me. I offered to go with to keep him company, but he did shoot it down pretty quickly.”

“Well, you did have two of your friends here and seemed to be going non-stop with them. He just wanted you to sleep didn't he?”

“Yeah.”

“Sometimes you'll get bad gut feelings in a relationship. I'm not saying to just brush all of them off and ignore them, but don't jump to conclusions really fast. Zack seems to really love you, so I doubt he'd try to hurt you like that. He's better than that. Better than what I did to you.”

In my mind, I obviously believed what he had just said, but I couldn't be mean enough to say it to his face, especially since we had fixed our pasts. “Don't say that. Shit happens, and we fixed it, so let's not talk about that anymore. You have someone now don't you? I've heard you've been getting close to Val's sister.”

Brian blushed just a little bit. “Nothing is official yet. I'm still getting over some stuff before getting into a relationship. It's been a while.”

I nodded to show my understanding. “Well, I hope it works out. You got plans in the next hour? I'm hungry, Zacky's still asleep, so maybe we can grab some lunch?”

Brian nodded with a smile and we left after locking up the garage. It wasn't anything special, we just stopped for a quick lunch. I knew that with my luck, as soon as we went to a real sit-down place, Zack would be trying to find me. It was almost like clockwork too, but I had finished eating before he sent me a text message. I told him I'd be on my way in a few minutes, and then walked out with Brian.

“Just remember what I told you,” he said as he gave me a quick hug.

I nodded before turning and going to my car. I wasn't going to confront Zack about it right now. For all I knew, I was totally wrong and worrying about nothing. A small part of me was telling me that Brian was just trying to be up to no good again, to split up Zack and myself so he could try and get with me again. For now I just wanted to push it out of my mind, but if things began to happen to raise my suspicions, I knew I'd have to confront my boyfriend sooner or later.

I pulled into the apartment complex and was quick to head upstairs and into the apartment. The shower was running, so I just turned on the TV again and laid on the couch to wait for him. Ten minutes later, he emerged from the hallway, wearing only a towel around his waist. I knew I was blushing a bit when I saw him, but I didn't care. “Did you sleep okay?” I asked.

“Pretty well. It was a little lonely without you there,” he said as he sat down next to me.

“Well, I was alone without you, and I offered to go with you,” I retorted as I leaned to give him a kiss, resting on his lap just a bit.

“I know, babe. I just didn't want you to get bored.”

“Me? Bored? With you around? Please. We could've fooled around. That might have made the delivery come quicker.” I said with a laugh.

Zack laughed. “Probably. That would be my luck. Well if it does happen again, you can come with.” He paused a moment. “I'm gonna go get some clothes on. How about we go to the beach?”

I nodded. The beach did sound like a great idea, especially since I don't like being stuck indoors on nice days, and today was a picture perfect beach day. I went to the room to change as well, and soon we were off to the beach. We didn't do much sitting or swimming, but rather we just walked around on the boardwalk and the pier. I grinned to myself when we walked past the spot where we had a small argument before I kissed him for the first time. I didn't mention it to him, just grabbed his hand as we continued to walk.

Almost two hours went by when Zack mentioned that he was hungry. We stopped at a small outdoor cafe, sitting on the balcony to eat. There wasn't much conversation between us, as I spent the time thinking about how lucky I was to have him. I thought about it a lot, but tonight seemed different. Maybe it had to do with what Brian had told me earlier. At the exact moment that Brian's words repeated themselves in my mind, I saw a couple on the boardwalk, walking bast the cafe. I thought nothing of it for a second, until the girl gave me a snotty look before clinging to the man's arm as they walked away.

“Wow, what a bitch,” I muttered, thinking it wasn't audible enough for Zack to hear.

“Hm?”

“That couple that just walked by, the girl gave me a dirty look. Probably some jealous fan or something,” I said jokingly.

“Oh, probably.” He let out an awkward laugh.

We shrugged the moment off and continued eating before going to the pier again to watch the sunset. I leaned on the wooden railing while he stood behind me with his arms around my waist, chin resting on my left shoulder. We watched the sunset in silence, listening to the ocean waves hitting the beach. It was a relaxing moment, and when the sun was down, I felt his breath on the flesh behind my ear. “I love you, babe,” he whispered.

“I love you too,” I whispered back before we turned and began walking back to his car.

Back at the apartment, I took a shower while Zack changed and went right into bed. I joined him when I was finished showering, and we just laid in bed together watching TV. I knew he wasn't tired, since he'd slept most of the day, but it didn't take long until I was out cold, sound asleep.