I'll Be Here Waiting

Three weeks had now passed since the day Danni returned to the Huntington Beach, California, the place she loved more than anything. Zacky still refused to speak to her, he barely even spoke to any of them. In fact, he was rarely even seen.

When he wasn't barricaded in his own room blasting music, he was gone, nowhere to be seen or heard. He would leave during the afternoon most days & not return until odd hours of the evening, that is if he even returned at all. Sometimes he wouldn't be back until the following morning, only to sleep the entire day away & repeat the entire process all over again.

Danni didn't ask any questions though, Zacky clearly didn't want her to be in any part of his life anymore. But the more he wasn't around, the more Danni seemed to forget he was even there to begin with.

It was now the end of July, the sun sitting high in the steaming California sky. Danni was sitting in her room, surfing through the net on her little black laptop as she waited impatiently for Brian to be done with his damn shower already. Zacky was God knows where, with God knows who.

She wondered if he would even bother to show up at Matt's tonight. You see it was Matt's birthday & Val was throwing a little party for him at their house. Val had been ecstatic upon seeing Danni for the first time after her return, & Danni was very much enjoying life now. Aside from Mr. Baker's childish attitude, everything seemed to be going better than they had for her before hand, & she couldn't complain a bit about that.

Doors closing & footsteps could be heard outside of her room in the hallway. Figuring it was just Brian finally departing from the bathroom, she stood to go greet him.

"Hey Bri, ready to g-"

But it wasn't Brian standing outside of her door, which caused her to cut herself off in mid sentence.

"Oh.....sorry." She said meekly, to the unrecognizable woman standing next to Zack.

She was a petite girl, only a few inches taller than Danni, making her about 5'3. Her hair was medium length, light brown curls & her eyes as clear blue as the ocean right outside the house.

The hallway was turned into an air of uncomfortable silence, which was something Danni hated almost more than her own self. None of the three knew what to say or even do. Danni was looking between the two in front of her, trying to find some form of truth. Zacky had his eyes to the floor, occasionally glancing up at Danni. He was mentally wishing to disappear from this very moment. The girl just stood there, puzzled by the uneasiness of the situation.

"Hi, I'm Taylor." The girl final spoke, breaking the tension that was so rapidly increasing. She had an all too friendly smile upon her face as she extended her right hand.

Danni returned the gesture slowly. "Danni." was all she said. Now Danni wasn't the type of person to quickly judge someone, but just by the looks of this Taylor girl with her fake smile & just by being with Zack, she didn't like her.

The air about the room was once again becoming dense & discomforting as the awkward tension began to build again.

"I'm gonna go find Syn." Danni mumbled quickly, almost to herself, as she shuffled away down the stairs.

Zacky finally released the air that was building inside of his lungs.

"What was all that about, babe?" Taylor asked, giving Zack a very questioning glare.

"It was nothing, come on." Zack said quickly covering himself as he began to walk toward his bedroom.

Taylor nodded it off, knowing full well that this little incident wasn't just nothing. She didn't know Danni either, but she did know she sure as Hell didn't want to know her, or have her anywhere near Zacky.

Out on the deck Danni was furiously yelling at Brian.

"Why didn't you tell me!?" She pleaded in a manic rage.

She was screaming & throwing her arms about so frantically that Brian could barely get a single word in. Jimmy, who had been watching the whole display take place from a safe distance decided it was time for him to step in before things got completely out of control. He came up behind Danni, setting his half empty bottle of beer onto the table before gently grabbing her flailing arms & lightly pushing her into one of the chairs.

"Sit down, shut up & let t he man speak."

Danni sighed dramatically like a Junior High child crossing her arms about her chest. She knew there was no way in fighting off Jimmy, he was bigger than her, alot bigger.

"Look, I knew Zacky had been seeing some girl for the past week or so, but I didn't think it was that serious. He does this kind of thing all the time." Brian finally spoke as he stood in front of her, but Danni was confused.

"Whatta you mean mean, ' This kind of thing'?"

Brian sighed, giving Jimmy a quick glance, before desending it would be better to sit down for this one.

"Zacky all does this. He'll go out to the bar & find whichever groupie hooker he can. He'll spend a few days with them & by the end of the weekend they're gone & he's off to find another."

Danni was trying to process all that she was hearing. Something wasn't right, that didn't sound at all like the Zacky she had once known for so long.

"You still could've told me, Syn!"

"I didn't think much of it, Dan. They usually only last a few days at most. He's been doing this kind of thing since you left."

Since she left, that hit her pretty hard, like a ten ton brick to the forehead.

"So you're saying this is all my fault!?" She screamed, once again rising from her chair.

"Danni, I never said that!"

"Save it Syn! You didn't have to say anything."

And with that, she was gone once again, walking up the street in the direction of PCH. She wasn't leaving for good, she wouldn't make that mistake twice. She just couldn't handle being around them for the time being. Her happy feeling was gone now, it might as well have been drifting about in the ocean.

How could one person you had once known & loved so much change so drastically just like that? She needed to find a place to cool off. She couldn't be around them until she did, until she could find a way to hide the pain like she had so many times before. And that meant only one place, a place in which she really didn't want to go. But in the essence of time & under the present situation it was the only thing that seemed like the rightful thing to do.