She Will Be Loved

After a few moments we slowly separated. It was then what we had done hit me full force. I quickly scooted back, since our kiss had made me sit directly next to him, and blushed bright red. “I – I’m sorry.”

“I’m not,” Zacky said nonchalantly. I turned my head away from him, my whole body tense. “What’s wrong?”

“This isn’t right,” I replied sternly.

“Why?”

“I’m only seventeen, you’re twenty-two.”

“I’m twenty-one.”

“It doesn’t matter! I’m underage. We’re not allowed to have a relationship,” I exclaimed, turning to glare at him. His lips caught mine in another kiss and I had to force myself to separate us again.

“I don’t care.”

“I do! I don’t want you to go to jail damnit!”

“I’m not going to go to jail,” Zacky said confidentially.

“You’re right.” He smiled like he had won. “Because we’re not doing anything from this point on.”

Zacky’s face fell in record speed. “Wh – what?”

“You heard me. This is stopping now. It never happened, in fact.” With that I stood, walking back towards the house. I successfully made it inside and still failed to hear Zacky follow me. I shut the door and leaned against it breathing deeply. I could not believe I just did that. I was usually a total pansy on telling people no. Maybe this is a sign of finally growing a pair?

“Kota?” I looked up, surprised, to see Jimmy staring at me funny. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I lied, picking myself off the door. He stared at me for a moment longer before slowly nodding.

“Well Val wants your help cleaning up the kitchen. We kind of messed it up trying to get sodas.” I sighed, not wanting to imagine the mess they must have made trying to do such a simple task.

“Get out of here before I kill you.” Jimmy grinned and saluted me before running into the living room. I walked over to the kitchen hesitantly and sighed when I saw the aftermath of the four men in the other room. Soda was all over the floor, glasses were shattered on the ground, and others were lying all over the counters. Val walked out of the pantry with a mop and sighed when she saw me.

“I will never have a clue on how they managed this, much less in two minutes of me being gone, but I’m kind of afraid to know.”

“I don’t blame you,” I remarked as I took the bucket she held out to me. I began to fill it with hot water as she grabbed the broom to sweep up the broken glasses. I stopped the hot water and poured in some of the floor cleaner that was under the sink. I turned around to see Val brush her hair back with her hand, her eyes showing how tired she truly was. “Val, go chill with the guys.”

“What? No, I’m fine.” I scoffed making her glare playfully. “Tryin’ to say something missy?”

“Yeah. You’re getting too old for this.” Val let out a fake gasp, a hand over her chest. “Now go sit down before you break a hip."

“I’m offended!” Val exclaimed. Then she grinned widely. “But I’ll take your advice. Thanks Kota.”

“No problem.” As she walked out of the room I finished sweeping up the glasses, tossing it in the trash bag. I would take that out after this. I pulled out my phone, deciding to text Jay so he had my cell and didn’t freak out in case I accidentally called him or something. I sent a quick ‘hey, this is Kota’ and slid the phone back into my back pocket.

I started my assault on the yellowish liquid known as Mountain Dew. After a minute or so my phone went off with the sound of Pantera’s “Walk”, a song I actually knew. I pulled it out to see the words ‘one new text message’ flash on the small outer screen. I flipped it open and hit the button that said ‘read’.

‘Hey. Seems like you got a phone now.’

‘Yep. Friends didn’t want it happening again.’ Once I put it away again I finished my mopping. I ended up cleaning the whole floor since I didn’t know the last time it was done. As I poured the dirty water down the sink I cringed. It was a disgusting brown color. I could only assume dust had collected whenever the group was on tour. I was kind of glad I cleaned it all. The phone went off again and I pulled it back out.

‘Smart bunch.’

‘I wish.’ I placed the phone on the counter next to the sink as I collected the glasses on the counters. They had gotten Mountain Dew all over them so I decided to clean them with the Dawn on the chrome part surrounding the sink. As I filled the water with warm water I dropped the glasses in. My phone began to vibrate and ring, almost causing it to fall into the water too. I quickly snatched it up and sighed in relief.

‘What’s that suppose to mean?’

‘All the guys are kind of special. Only Val is smart.’ I placed it a safe distance away and pushed up my sleeves. I took each glass and cleaned it with the sponge and Dawn, placing it in the dry sink when I was done. In the middle of it all my phone went off again, but I just allowed it to ring, humming along to the song.

“Who’s texting you?” I jumped a little, almost dropping the glass I was cleaning off. I looked over my shoulder to see Brian walking into the room.

“My friend Jay,” I replied simply, going back to cleaning the dishes. “Can you do me a favor and dry them?”

“Sure my English lovely,” Brian replied dramatically, grabbing a rag from under the sink.

“What’s with everyone and these strange nicknames?” I scoffed.

“Who else called you something?”

“Val. Something along the lines of ‘redheaded fury’. I can’t remember anymore,” I replied with my nose scrunched up in distaste. Brian laughed which caused me to scowl at him. “What’s so funny Gates?”

“Nothing. Can you just not remember my real last name?” Brian mused as he put up the dry glass he was just working on. I blushed, studying my busy hands.

“Shuddup.” Brian laughed which caused me to lightly kick his shin. His mouth fell open in fake shock.

“You did not just kick me!” I splashed some soapy water at him and grinned widely.

“I also did not just splash you.” He turned on the water before grabbing the cord that came out of the sink to spray. He pulled the trigger, soaking me. I gasped at my now wet ‘infinity’ hoodie. I took the nozzle from his hand and sprayed him back. Soon he was splashing me and I was spraying him down.

“What the hell are you guys doing?!” We both jumped causing both of us to fall to the slippery floor. I fell on top of Brian, laughing loudly. We both ended up holding our sides from laughing as we laid in our pile. Someone cleared their throat which caused both of us to look up. Matt and Val stood over us, hands on their hips.

“He/She started it!” Brian and I both shouted our correct variation, pointing at the other. Matt sighed, slapping a palm to his face.

“I don’t care. Both of you to your rooms.” Brian and I’s mouths fell open in shock.

“You’re kidding, right?” Brian stuttered.

“Do I look like I’m kidding?” Matt asked mockingly, a dangerous glare on his face. We both swallowed hard, shaking our heads. He pointed a finger towards with hall, still glaring at us. Brian and I pushed ourselves to our feet, me grabbing my phone on the way, and stomped out of the kitchen.

“I hope you realize you started this,” Brian muttered as we walked up the stairs.

“Did not! It was you!” I scowled. “You made fun of me.”

“And you kicked me!”

“You didn’t have to be mean to me!”

“And you didn’t have to kick me!”

“Shut up or I’m going to kick both of your asses!” Matt shouted from downstairs. We both let out a sound of surprise before running into our appropriate rooms with a slam of the doors. I curled up on my chair, staring out the window to see the ocean. I felt kind of silly being ‘grounded’ to my room by Matt, but I can kind of understand from his position. I would feel more ridiculous if I was Brian. I snickered to myself, pulling my phone from my pocket. Just as I was about to text Brian my phone flashed up with a new message.

‘Sounds like a winning bunch.’

‘You could say that.’

I placed my phone on the armrest, not really wanting to text anymore. I climbed to my feet and walked over to my closet to trade my wet shirt for a gray v-neck. I laid across my bed and turned on the radio on my clock. I turned it to the channel Zacky always listened to, to hear a rock song with strong bass start playing. I crossed my arms under my head to stare at the dots on the ceiling.

I hope this ‘punishment’ is over soon.