She Will Be Loved

“And that’s when I called Brian.” I had just finished telling my extravagating tale of how I was placed in jail. Of course I left out the parts about Zacky slapping me and our conversation on the beach, and he didn’t make the corrections either. We had all sat in spots similar to when we watched the movie, but Frank and Zacky had switched spots yet again. Everyone, minus Zack, had demanded to know what I had done to be put in jail.

“Aw. Dad ruined the surprise!” Brian moaned, throwing his hands over his head. This suddenly movement caused Pinkly to whine and snap at Brian. He quickly petted his white Maltese and cooed to her.

“Somehow I think her getting out of jail is a bit more important than surprising her to meet your family,” Gerard mocked. I smiled and nodded. I love when someone agrees with me on someone else’s stupidity.

“Still sucks,” Brian muttered as he stared at his dog who had settled again. Bob suddenly looked at his watch and sighed.

“Guys, it’s almost time.” The rest of their band, I had finally been told that, stood to their feet grumbling as they headed into the hallway.

“What’s going on?” I asked the rest of the group who was acting like nothing was going on.

“The guys have to go home to Jersey.”

“Wha - what?” My eyes were wide with sadness. I had only known them a few days, but they were practically family to me. “But it’s only been, like, three days!”

“Since we’ve been here. They’ve been here for a week and a half. They had some business stuff to do when we were finishing tour,” Matt explained. I pouted, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Don’t worry Kotybear, we’ll keep in contact,” Frank vowed, suddenly jumping over the couch to tackle me into a hug. I let out a small ‘eep’ as we both crashed to the floor when the weight became too much for the couch to hold on the edge.

“How is that suppose to work when I don’t have a cell?” I asked, ignoring the fact that Frank was laying on top of me.

“Oh, don’t worry about that.” I looked up at Brian with confusion all over my face. He dug into his pocket, with some difficulty from Pinkly, and pulled out a flip phone. “Tada!”

“What’s that?” Everyone in the room slapped their palms to their faces. I tilted my head to the side. “What?”

“It’s your new cell phone,” Matt said slowly.

“It looks like a toy.”

“It’s a top of the line Motorola Razor.”

“Still looks like a toy.”

“Oh my God, do you want it or not?!” Jimmy suddenly exclaimed.

“Okay, okay. Sorry. Uhm, Frank?”

“Yeah buddy?”

“Can you get off of me?”

“Oh, right.” He stood to his feet and then offered me his hand. Once we had pulled me to my feet I took the blue phone from Brian’s hand. I flipped it open to see a picture of the ten goofballs, plus Val, as my background picture.

“How long did it take to do that?” I asked, showing the picture to Brian.

“You don’t want to know,” Brian said sternly. I shrugged, pressing the down arrow to scroll through my contacts. Everyone who was in the room was programmed plus a person named ‘Papa Gates’. When I asked who he was Brian chuckled. “My dad.”

“Oh.” I pulled out Jay’s card, entering in the number. It took me a little, but I finally found out how to add the contact to my list. I smiled, quite proud. It was then I noticed everyone had left the room save for Bella. I tilted my head to the side with a look of confusion. Bella stood, turned around, and walked towards the front door. “Hey! Wait for me!”

I ran after her only to get outside and run into someone. Whoever it was I sent tumbling to the ground with me from the force of my speed. I groaned, rolling off the person and onto the grass. I looked over to see Zacky lying next to me. “There has to be a better way of getting my attention.”

“Sorry. I was trying to figure out where everyone went and Bella left me.”

“You followed a dog for directions?” The look Zacky was giving me let me know he thought I was mental. I scowled at him, pushing myself to my knees and then stood. I was suddenly taken into a tight hug and spun around.

“Can we just take her with and keep her?” Frank pouted to Gerard who was leaning against the rental where everyone else was huddled.

“Frank, we went over this the first day. You can’t keep teens as dolls or pets,” Gerard sighed.

Frank paused for a moment. “..a maid?”

“I am not cleaning up after you or bringing you stuff,” I interjected. This caused Frank to sigh and let go of me.

“Well what help are you?” I let my mouth fall open in disbelief. Did I just get cause useless in less words? I was brought into a hug by a lanky figure who was chuckling at me.

“Ignore him. He’s just angry you can’t come back with us.” I smiled at the sound of Mikey’s voice. I hugged him back before going to hug Ray, Bob, and Gerard. After Frank unsuccessfully tried shoving me into the trunk, the group of five left as we waved them off.

“I vote we all get some pizza!” Jimmy shouted. I shook my head as everyone agreed. They’ve been gone ten seconds and everyone was ready to get back to normal. Everyone went inside, except for Zacky and I. I rubbed my arms awkwardly as the silence continued between us.

“Well I’m going to head inside,” I said slowly, beginning to back up towards the house.

“Wait Kota.” I paused, my eyes trailing over to meet his. He sighed, sitting down on the curb. I sat next to him, keeping a small gap between the two of us. He ran his hands through his hair before turning to look at me. “I’m sorry for earlier.”

“No, it’s fine,” I replied. I let my eyes study the asphalt instead of meeting his eyes again. They held so much pain that it hurt me a little.

“No it’s not. I only did it because I needed to you snap out whatever you were in. That - that fit or whatever it was. You’re crazy for thinking you’re a whore. I don’t know what fucked up shit happened in your past, but it’s beating you down. You are so much more than you believe you are Dakota, I know it.” My eyes pooled with tears and I sniffled, trying to hold back tears.

“Thank-you Zacky.” I was taken into a hug against a chest. I clung to his shirt, letting my silent tears out onto his shirt. Soon I calmed enough to pull myself back. I stared up at Zacky’s green orbs. A random song lyric I had heard on the radio once buzzed in my head.

Had the brightest green I'd ever seen, I've never seen these eyes before.

Suddenly we seemed to have magnets in us. We were slowly leaning forward and our lips met in a soft kiss, his lips rings sending chills down my spine.

And it felt right.