Lips of a Liar

Zacky walked back to his house, his hands in his pockets and his eyes straight forward. He looked around his neighborhood, it was quieter than usual. He dropped his hands to his sides, and took some air into his lungs. It took him some time to arrive at his house, with his slow pace, he might as well let an old lady drive him to his house, it might of gone a lot faster. He unlocked the door and stepped inside, shutting the door and dropping his backpack on the floor. He walked to his room and took his favorite Rancid CD, placing it in his stereo and blasting the music to full volume. No one was home, not Zina or his mother and Jimmy was somewhere. He laid down on his bed and closed his eyes, mouthing the lyrics to 'Injury'. He jumped when he heard a loud crash from downstairs. Slowly he got up and walked towards the door, opening it. He stepped outside and walked down the stairs towards the kitchen where he saw a broken glass and what seemed to be Pepsi spilled on the floor. He peeked inside the kitchen and then sighed when he saw his brother start to pick up the pieces to the broken glass.

"Matt?" Zacky said walking towards him.

Startled by the sudden appearance of his older brother, Matt looked up at him and cursed. "Damn Zacky, didn't they teach you not to sneak up on people?"

Zacky looked at his younger brother and frowned. "Where have you been?"

Matt shrugged and threw the broken glass in the trash. "Places."

Zacky eyed his brother and walked towards the supply closet, taking the mop out and starting to clean the mess his brother had made. He heard Matt apologize for the broken glass and spilled soft drink. Though Zacky didn't care about the broken glass and spilled drink. He was just glad his brother was back, from wherever he had gone. But he was curious. His brother never left without saying where he was heading or without their mother's permission.

"I ask again, where you've been." Zacky repeated his previous question.

Matt scoffed. "Just because you're my older brother, doesn't mean I have to tell you."

"Actually you do. Now say it." Zacky pushed.

"Fine, at one of our uncles' house."

"Which one?"

"None of your goddamn business."

Zacky dropped the subject and sighed. He wasn't gonna get much information from him, he was
just as stubborn as he was. They were of course family, and stubbornness ran in their blood. Zacky turned away from Matt and looked at his hands, then turned back around to look at him.

"Glad you're back bro." He said and went to hug Matt.

"Glad I'm back, I missed you and mom." Matt replied hugging his older brother.

"Zina's back."

"Nice, since when?"

"Lost track of the time. I have no clue." Zacky chuckled.

Zacky gave Matt a can of Pepsi, grabbing himself one and then both of them walked back to Zacky's room, where they sat and caught up with things. He looked at his brother when he started looking around his room like it was his first time seeing it. In that case it was. Matt looked at the many bands posters, CDs, horror movies, and books. Then stopped when he saw a flyer that said "MPA" and his brother's name on the paper.

"You have a band?" He asked. Zacky turned to look at the flyer and nodded, having a smile on his
face. "What does MPA stand for?"

Zacky chuckled. "Mad Porno Action."

The two laughed and Zacky stood up. "You still have my stuff?" Zacky nodded. "Great 'cause I'm moving in with you bro. I assume Zina is taking my old room."

"Well, I kind off already have someone else moving into this room." Zacky said looking at his hands.

"So what? We'll make ourselves fit." Matt replied. "And who's moving in your room?"

"Jimmy."



He looked around for his algebra book inside his backpack. Matt had offered to get some pizza for the two to eat. Zacky agreed and decided while he waited he should do his homework. Jimmy
was bound to get home sooner or later, and he knew Jimmy would ask him to go to the pier with him for a bit and drink some beer. The problem was, he was getting behind with his studies, and now he couldn't find his book. He sighed in frustration and slammed his hand down on his backpack mouthing a cuss word. He looked around his room and then his eyes landed on the phone when it began to shine and the ringtone began playing. Jimmy had let him borrow one of his old phones just until he could buy his own. He took the phone in his hands and looked at the number. Unknown. He bit his lip and pressed the answer button.

"Hello," he said. He heard a sigh from the other side and then frowned.

"Zack." Brian's voice came through the phone. He groaned and pulled the phone away from his ear.

He ended the call and looked at the phone next to him. Grabbing his folder, he took his English paper. He took a pencil from his messy backpack and began to write his paper. The phone started to ring again. He looked at the phone and ignored the call. Startled, he looked as Matt came inside the room with a pizza box and a piece in his mouth.

"Pizza's here!" Matt tried to say, though with the pizza in his mouth, it was quite hard to understand what he was saying. He put the box down next to Zacky and then sat down on the bed.

"Took you long," Zacky smiled towards his brother.

"Long walk, man." The phone began to ring again and Zacky growled. "Wow."

Matt took the phone in his hands and answered.

"Hello." Matt said. "Zacky? You want to talk to Zacky? Wait who's this?" Matt looked at Zack.

"I'm not here." Zacky said going back to his paper.

"Hey man, sorry Zack's not here. Yeah alright." Zacky turned and looked at Matt.

He grabbed the phone from his brother and blocked Brian's number. Then tossed the phone next to his pillow and went back to writing. Minutes later, the pizza was half gone, five cans of Pepsi and Coke were scattered around the room, when Jimmy walked in and stopped mid-tracks when he saw Zack's brother watching TV.

"Hey Zack. Dude..." Jimmy said walking towards Zacky.

"Oh hey Jim. I introduce you to my brother Matt. Matt this is Jimmy." Zack introduced the two.

"So you're the Matt Zacky always complains about." Jimmy smirked.

"What?" Matt looked at the tall kid.

"I'm kidding," Jimmy laughed. "I've heard nothing but good things about you. Great to finally meet
you."

Zack watched as his best friend and brother shook hands and began to talk. He turned back to writing his paper and blocked the laughing voices from his head. He grabbed another piece of paper and continue to write. Zack stopped for a while and shook his hand, already it was getting numb and his fingers were getting red from writing nonstop. Sighing, he put his papers together and stapled them together, putting them back into his folder. He stood up and stretched, looking at Jimmy and Matt.

"What are you smiling about Jimmy?"

"Man, you won't believe how kicking Brian's ass went." Jimmy laughed.

Zacky frowned. In someway he felt guilty for letting his best friends beat up Brian. But he damn
well deserved it. "How'd it go."

Jimmy started to tell every single detail from their ass kicking day. From how Brian whimpered to
how he admitted to his actions and to how sorry he felt. And when Zacky heard that he sighed.
But it was for a good cause. Or maybe that was what he was trying to get himself to think. Deep
inside it felt bad. His head said no, but his gut said 'dick deserved it, let him have it.'

"Wait is that the guy who called?" Matt asked looking between his brother and Jimmy. Zacky nodded. "Why? What did he do?"

"Well-" Jimmy started and then cut off.

"I'll tell you more about it later. I gotta go get something." Zacky said walking outside the room and then stopping. "Hey Jimmy, there's another mattress in the basement. Go get it and put it inside my room. Matt will be living with us."

He walked down the stairs and went down to the kitchen. Rummaging the fridge he took three sodas and closed the door. He looked at the phone as it began to ring. Tilting his head to the side, he walked towards it and put the sodas down. He lifted the phone and put it to his ear. There was some silence on the other side, until someone said hello and asked if someone was there.

"Um yeah, who's this?" Zacky asked leaning on the wall.

"Dude!" the other person said. "I've been trying to reach you! You and I have to talk."

Zacky sighed. "Brian, we have nothing to talk about. Good-"

"Oh so your just going to let it go?"

"Let go of what?"

"Jimmy, Matt and Johnny kicked my fucking ass and you're not going to do anything about it?"
Brian said through the phone, shocked. "We're fucking friends!"

"No, we're not friends. And yeah, I think I'll let it go. You deserved it." Zacky said and hung up.

He huffed and stared at the phone when it began ringing again. Zack wasn't going to answer again. Let him feel the guilt. He was going to make Brian regret what he did. It was payback time.