I Saw You Run Away

Zacky lay in his bed the night before they were due to leave for tour. He knew he should sleep. He knew he was going to be tired the next day if he didn’t fall asleep soon. The butterflies that were having a mosh pit in his stomach made sleeping a very difficult task though. He turned over onto his side, trying desperately to get comfortable, but he knew it was in vain. As much as he didn’t want to admit it though, he knew why he was so nervous.

The last tour they had been on with Bullet had been the first, and all of the guys in his band had become quite close to the men in the other band. Matt T, Padge, Jay, and Moose were all very good friends of theirs now, but that didn’t stop Zacky’s stomach from doing summersaults at the thought of seeing them again, or more particularly, one of them.

Moose. Zacky had tried to deny it, even to himself, ever since he found out they would be touring with Bullet again, but now, with not even twenty four hours left before the would leave for tour, he couldn’t deny it to himself anymore. Moose was the reason he was so nervous, and he knew it. He sighed again for what felt like the hundredth time and got out of bed. He made his way into the living room and flopped down onto his couch. He wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight and he knew it. With nothing to entertain himself but his thoughts, Zacky let him mind wander.

Of course, the first thing his mind wandered to was Moose. Admitting that he might, just maybe have a tiny crush on the other man wasn’t the problem. He’d had crushes on men before so that wasn’t really a big problem for him. (He’d even had a small crush on Jimmy for a brief amount of time, but thankfully he got over that quickly.) No admitting it wouldn’t be a problem, it was just the fact that if he did admit that he might have a crush on the other man, that could make this tour much more complicated than it needed to be. Touring was complicated enough without having to try to hide the fact that he liked someone from his band mates. Hiding it wouldn’t be an option. He’d spent way too much time with Johnny, Jimmy Matt, and Brian to ever be able to hide anything from them and he knew it.

Zacky sighed again. Picking his cigarettes up off the coffee table in front of him, lighting it and quickly taking a long drag. He hoped the nicotine would calm his frazzled nerves, but sadly it didn’t. Honestly he wasn’t even sure why he was freaking out so much over this. Maybe this was just his mind playing tricks on him? How would he know if he had a crush on Moose if he hadn’t seen the man in months? Groaning out loud in annoyance with his own mind, Zacky stubbed out the cigarette in the ash tray that lay on the table and got up. He made his way back into his bedroom. He looked at the clock on the table beside his bed and saw it was already 2:00 am. Rolling his eyes, he fell face first onto his bed, and closed his eyes. He was determined to at least get a little bit of sleep before they left in the morning, or he would die trying.

Miles down the road from Zacky’s house, Matt sat in his living room, his own my flooded with thoughts about this upcoming tour. Unlike Zacky, Matt wasn’t freaking out in the least bit about it, yet his still couldn’t sleep for some reason. He wrote his insomnia off due to the fact that he was just excited to be getting out of his house for a little while. His air conditioner had broken the day before, and even though it was almost three in the morning, the heat from the sun during the day had yet to escape the walls of Matt’s house, leaving him stuck in the heat.

Matt knew he should probably be doing something more productive with his time other than sitting on his couch chain smoking (which is exactly what he’d been doing for the past three hours.) He could be actually trying to get some rest for the next day, or even packing up the rest of his shit that he planned on taking with him, but instead he decided to continue to sit there, puffing away on his cigarette, and staring blankly at the television set. The channel was set to some generic comedy station that Matt wasn’t even paying attention to, yet his eyes were focused on the screen. Finally pulling his eyes away from the T.V. he turned to the clock on the wall. It read 3:15 am. He blinked a couple of times, wondering where the time had went. It hadn’t seemed like he’d been sitting there that long, yet, no matter how many times he blinked the numbers stayed the same.

Matt stood up, knowing he wasn’t going to be getting any sleep tonight, and walked into his kitchen. Picking up his cell phone from the counter where it lay charging, he decided to call Zacky and annoy him. At least that would be more entertaining than smoking what few cigarettes he had left.

Zacky groaned in annoyance as the shrill sound of his cell phone resounded through his room. He still hadn’t been asleep, and now someone was calling him at three in the morning. What the fuck?

He got up from his bed, and snatched his phone off the desk, and answered it without looking at the caller ID. He had a feeling he knew who it was.

“Yes Matt?”

“Watcha doing?” Matt asked.

“I was attempting to sleep, but doesn’t look like that going to happen now. Did you need something, or did you just feel like calling to annoy me?” Zacky replied, walking into his living
room and snatching up his cigarettes again, lighting one.

“A bit of both actually.” Matt replied thoughtfully.

“Well what did you need?” Zacky asked.

“Help packing. And a pack of cigarettes.” Matt said, and it took a moment for Zacky to reply.

“Let me get this straight, you called me at three in the morning to get me to come over to your house and help you pack, and you want me to buy you cigarettes?” Zacky asked skeptically. Was his friend insane?

“Yep.” Matt replied,

“Are you insane?” Zacky asked then, taking a quick drag from his cigarette.

“Nope, just lazy and almost out of cigarettes.” Matt said and Zacky could tell he was grinning.

“You know if you were anyone else in the world, I’d be ready to kill you right now?” Zacky replied.

“I know. But I’m me, and I’m your best friend. And the vocalist for your band. Therefore, murdering me isn’t an option.” Matt replied.

“Whatever. I’ll be there in fifteen.” Zacky spoke.

“Don’t forget the cigarettes.” Matt said. Zacky rolled his eyes, even though he knew his friend couldn’t see him, and hung out without even bothering to reply.

Zacky slipped on a pair of shoes, not even bothering to change out of his pajamas. He would just get the guys to stop by the house in the morning so he could get his stuff.

Zacky got in his car and drove down to the small store down the road that was open 24/7 and grabbed Matt’s smokes, thinking to himself the whole time about how he would like the also buy an axe and brutally murder his friend with it. But he knew that killing the vocalist of their band could definitely put a damper on this tour. And jail wasn’t really high on his list of places to go either.

He made it to Matt’s house in record time, not even bothering to knock before he opened the door and walked in. He saw Matt sitting at his kitchen table, and apparently he hadn’t noticed Zacky’s presence yet. Zacky look down at the pack of cigarettes in his hand, and then looked at Matt. He looked back and forth between the two for a moment, an idea forming in his head. He pulled his arm back, aiming for the middle of Matt’s back, and threw the cigarettes at him. They hit him exactly where Zacky had been aiming, and Matt leaped up from where he was sitting, a yelp of pain escaping him. Zacky was doubled over in laughter by the time Matt realized what had happened. He looked at the pack of cigarettes that now lay on the floor and then looked up at Zacky.

“What the hell was that for?” He asked.

“That was for calling me at three in the morning to bring you cigarettes.” Zacky said, still laughing.

“You’re an asshole.” Matt grumbled, picking the cigarettes up and opening the pack, quickly lighting one.

“Whatever you say.” Zacky laughed.

They fell into a small silence and Matt took a moment to look his friend over. Something was bothering him, he could tell.

“What’s on your mind?” Matt asked.

“N-nothing.” Zacky replied a little too quickly, but the first thing that popped into his mind when he’d heard Matt’s question was Moose.

“Uh huh. Sure.” Matt said, not convinced at all.

Zacky sighed. He knew he wouldn’t be able to keep this to himself for very long.