Not Strong Enough

There were two different ways this could go.

That's the first thing I thought when I rolled over and spotted Zacky in boxers towel drying his hair. Either he would remember what he had said to me before passing out, or he wouldn't. There were other possibilities, yes, but these two were the biggest. A flunk or pass kind of deal.

"Z?" I mumbled, my voice scratchy from sleep.

He never said anything, just looked over at me with a perfectly raised eyebrow.

"How are you feeling this morning?" he shrugged turning back away.

"Not that bad, there's been worse. Come on, we're late," was all he said as he tossed the damp towel at my head before going over to his suitcase and pulled out clothes for the day.

"Late for what? I thought we had the day off today?"

I let the towel fall to the floor as I slowly climbed out of the still warm bed. Had I been looking at our schedule wrong? Or because of my cold shoulder yesterday were we redoing the interview?

"Hell if I know, Jimmy just told me for us to be ready to go be ten and that was about five minutes ago," he explained.

"Shit," I mumbled as I grabbed a change of clothes and rushed to the bathroom.

Jimmy wasn't one for patience when he told you what time to be ready. There had been plenty of past experiences that didn't end up pretty. Especially when it means the giant of a man throws you over his shoulder to toss you into a freezing pool.

"What are you doing?" Zacky called from the other side of the door.

"Uh getting a shower real quick. Why, we're already late right?"

"Okay then don't take forever. I'm going to go ahead and meet them downstairs. Alright?"

Sighing I gave a simple reply before staring at my face in the mirror. Well he wasn't ignoring me, but he wasn't exactly there either. He'd always waited, he used to at least. Hell sometimes he would even ask to join me, which of course I would say no to. Then he would spend the next ten minutes pouting until I finally gave in. He knew I always said no because I enjoyed those pouty lips so much. Now if I wanted him to join it would be me that did the begging and he never said yes.

3rd POV***

The door clicked behind Zacky as he peered down the right side of the hall before looking to the left spotting his tall friend walking towards him.

"You two are late!" he shouted causing Zacky to jump at the sudden loudness.

"Dude, chill alright? We woke up late and he's in the shower, I was just on my way down," he explained as he met Jimmy half way down the hall.

"He's in the shower?" curiosity heavy in his voice.

"Uh yeah... why?" he questioned.

"We need to talk then, come on," he stated before spinning on his feet and lead the shorter man to the stairwell at the far end of the hall.

"Talk about what exactly?"

Jimmy never answered as he opened up the door and stepped in holding it open for Zacky. For a moment the two stood there. Zacky curious as to what the drummer needed to talk about. Jimmy leaned back against the wall staring at the floor. In attempt to pull his thoughts quickly together before the other grew fed up and went to leave.

"Jimmy? Man I'm waiting," Zacky urged.

"Fine then, what the hell is going on dude?" the question caught Zacky off guard and he gave a pitiful laugh with a forced smile.

"What do you mean?" a hardened stare was the reply and suddenly Zacky realized just how serious this was going to get.

"Brian's been talking to you then?"

Jimmy shook his head, "no, we've been trying to talk to him. Look I told him I would give him the chance to take care of things, but I know that's not going to happen. If none of us came up to him I'm pretty sure he would have tried to continue pretending that everything's fine. Nothing is fine with this dude, so what the hell are you doing?"

"You don't understand okay? So just drop it," Zacky defended as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Cut that crap alright? You're driving him into the ground. Can't you see that he's falling apart? Seriously what the hell went wrong? A couple of years ago you two were so fucking tight, and now you're cheating on him! He knows it and for some crazy reason he just won't leave you."

"I mean it Jimmy. I don't expect you to understand so just drop it. Its our business, not yours," Zacky growled.

"He's my best fucking friend Baker! He might be able to let you walk all over him and treat him like shit, but I won't put up with it anymore. If I don't know what's going on then you better fucking tell me. Because you're not leaving until I know why you're being such a fuck up," Jimmy yelled, his face tinging red as his breathing became heavy.

Zacky stared at the taller man in shock. It wasn't often that the other lost his cool, especially like that. When he thought about it, he couldn't recall the last time he had seen Jimmy so angry. If anything it just proved to himself that he truly had screwed up.

"I'm waiting, Baker."

Looking away he drew the right piercing between his teeth, "I haven't.... I'm fucked up in the head okay? He doesn't deserve it, I know that. I can't though Jimmy, I just can't. I wished that I could, and I wished that I wasn't... but I'm so fucked up right now."

Jimmy looked down on the shorter man in confusion. Obviously he was messed up in the head. But what did he mean by wishing that he couldn't?

"So you think that's a good excuse for cheating on him? You can't just wish it all away and then turn around and sleep with some skank."

"I haven't slept with anyone Jimmy. Not once since we've been together have I slept with another person," Zacky claimed with a deep sigh.

"So now you're going to deny it after he's caught you countless times?"

"I told you, you wouldn't understand. Don't you get it? This is what I'm talking about! Its fucked up, I get that. This entire situation is some crappy soap show!"

Jimmy only scoffed, "so you're saying this entire time you've only wanted him to think you've been cheating on him? How screwed in the head do you have to be Baker? Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"

Zacky said nothing, just stared at the other man with glossy eyes. Jimmy stared back and suddenly it all came together and it took everything he had not to strangle him right then and there.

"You better fix it, you hear me? Just because you're screwed up doesn't mean you can screw with him. I don't give a shit anymore if you have or haven't cheated on him. But the mind games stop now. If you don't tell him what's going on, then I will. Do you understand? He loves you Zacky, and I don't know if its damn insecurities that has you doing this but if you truly love him, you'll stop. If it doesn't stop then I'll do whatever it takes to separate the both of you," Jimmy threatened before yanking the door open and slamming it behind him leaving Zacky alone in the stairwell.