Aren't You Tired Of Being Weak?

Zacky smiled as I moved my finger to the next page. It was filled with various pictures of us at his parents house, some of the pictures holding his parents and even some with his brother, Jesse, in them as well.

"Remember this one?" I questioned. He nodded at me so I continued, "I was so nervous about having to go have dinner with your parents. I always felt kind of awkward," I laughed

Even after being together for two years and out of high school, going to have dinner with Zacky's parents made me sweat. I had never been good when it came to the boyfriend's parents. I was so nervous that I hadn't even picked out what to wear until Zacky picked me up. Of course, taking one look at him in his nice white shirt and black pants made me freak out even more.

The second Zacky looked at me, he chuckled slightly, "Come on Babe, you'll be fine, but we've got to hurry."

He made me sit on my bed, told me to relax, and ran into my closet, confused as to why I was so nervous and ran back out with a black pencil skirt and a plain teal, v-neck shirt to wear along with a pair of black pumps.

"If you put on eye liner and mascara, but leave out the eye shadow, you'll look adorable," he told me. But of course, Zacky wouldn't be Zacky if he didn't add a cheesy line in there, "Even though you already look adorable."

After that, he gave me a quick kiss and left me to do my hair and makeup quite quickly. Taking his tips, I didn't put any eye shadow on, and applied black liner and mascara. I left my hair down and straight, the natural orange color contrasting- in a good way- against the teal of my shirt. Pulling half of my long hair over my shoulder and tucking both sides behind my ear, I tried to gracefully make my way down the stairs in my pumps.

I took one look at Zacky and smiled, forgetting I was walking down the stairs. I started to tumble forward, a small screech emitting from my lips.
Zacky jumped up to keep me from falling down the stairs the whole way and breaking something.

"Relax Missy," he smiled. "You'll be fine. My parents already love what I've told them about you, so don't worry."

"What have you told them?" I asked, starting to fidget on our way out to car. "What should I say when we get there? SHIT! I forgot! I was going to get your parents something, but-"

Zacky shut me up by placing his lips atop mine. After he had managed to steal my breath, he quietly told me, "Seriously, stop worrying."

The whole way to his parents house, he had one hand on the wheel and one holding my hand, his thumb caressing the top of my hand. He'd throw me a smile every now and again, taking his attention of the road for a second or two.

After about thirty minutes, we arrived in the driveway of a very nice house. The outside had brick surrounding the bottom front of it, an off white color coating the rest of the house. An off white door held a small, beveled window. Towards the middle of the house, a portion of the front bent outwards, holding a huge window and, presumably, a window seat inside.

"Zacky, it's gorgeous," I gushed, feeling like an old woman saying it.

"I know, thanks," he replied. "But we should probably head inside, yeah?"

"Well, we don't have to. I mean, I've seen your house, I know where you grew up…" I trailed off.

"Missy, honestly, it wont be that bad, I promise," he smiled at me. Before I had the chance to protest, he jumped out of his car and ran to my side, opening my door. He held his hand out for me, "Come on babe."

I grabbed a hold of his hand and let him help me out of the car. Following him up the rest of the driveway and up to the door. He knocked once, then opened the door just to let his parents know that we had arrived.

"Mom, Dad, we're home," he called out as we walked into the kitchen.

The wonderful smell of garlic and the aroma of spices from spaghetti sauce filled my nose as we entered the room. I saw a younger looking version of Zacky sitting at the kitchen table, mixing hamburger, garlic, and various seasons into meatballs while, I assumed, Zacky's father was making garlic bread to throw into the oven and his mother was at the stove, stirring tomato sauce and throwing garlic into it, as well as many different herbs.

At the sound of Zacky's voice, his dad jumped up, his mom walked over to the two of us, and his brother paid barely any mind, just twisting slightly in his seat to give us half of a wave.

"Zachary!" his mother exclaimed. "I've missed you!"

"Missed you too, Mom," he smiled as he embraced his mother. "I've been busy on tour, otherwise I would've come home a little sooner."

"We know," his father piped in after his mom let him go. His dad soon hugged Zacky, as well. "How have you been, Zach?"

"Been good," he smiled, releasing his dad. "What's up, Jesse?"

"Nothin, bro. You?" was the younger child's response.

"You're a strange child," Zacky laughed as he walked over to his brother, practically forgetting about me.

I was happy, though. The longer it took him to say hello to his family, meant the longer it was until I was introduced.

"Oh yeah! How dumb can I be?!" Zacky laughed, walking towards me. "Mom, Dad, Jesse, this is my girlfriend, Missy. Missy, this is my mom, Lillian, and my dad, Anthony. Oh, and that's my brother, Jesse."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Baker, Mrs. Baker," I smiled, holding my hand out.

Mrs. Baker looked at me and started walking towards me, hugging me as soon as she got in arms reach, "It's Lillian, dear. It's so nice to meet you, as well. I've heard so many good things about you."

"Zach tells me so many good things about you, as well."

"You told us she was pretty, but not this pretty, Zach," his dad spoke. "And you can call me Anthony, Missy."

I couldn't help but blush madly as his dad said this. "Nice to meet you, Anthony." I turned to Zach's little brother, "Nice to meet you, Jesse," I smiled as I sent him a wave.

"Yeah, same here," he spoke, his back to us, a hand raised in the air as acknowledgment.

Zacky slapped him upside the head, "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Yeah, I'm just waiting for Aaron to call me back," and as if on cue, the phone rang.

Zacky grabbed the phone as Jesse quickly washed his hands off before he could take the phone.

As soon as his hands were clean, Jesse snatched the phone from Zacky.

"Nothin, just chillin. My brother came home for the night," there was a pause, "No you can't come over! He brought his girlfriend over to meet Mom and Dad. You've met him plenty of times. Get over it." Another pause followed, "Yeah, fine, come pick me up…"

Zacky leaned next to me and whispered in my hear, "Hear that? Jesse's got a date with his boyfriend."

I laughed slightly, and apparently Jesse heard, too, because he kicked his older brother's shin on the way out of the kitchen, causing Zacky to temporarily grab his leg in pain.

Zacky picked up where Jesse left off, putting together the meatballs.

"What can I do to help?" I asked, standing behind his chair.

"Nothing, dear," Lillian told me. "I think we've go everything under control. Zacky, why don't you give her a tour of the house? Your dad and I can handle things.

"Okay, thanks mom," he smiled at her, slipping past me to wash his hands after dealing with the raw meat. He quickly gave his mom a hug and kiss on the cheek.

Turning around, he grabbed a hold of my hand, dragging me back out of the kitchen. "See, not bad, huh?"

"No, not really. Your parents are cute," I smiled. "Plus, did I ever tell you that I'm in love with homemade spaghetti?"

"Mm, I don't think you mentioned that, no," Zacky told me as he dragged me upstairs.

"Well, I am," I told him. "And where are we going?"

"Oh, that," he smirked. "You'll just have to see."

"Zachary Baker! What do you have up your sleeve?!"

"I do believe it's called an arm," he winked after he said that. "But you have to wait right here. I'll be right back."

He walked through a door and quickly closed it behind him before I got the chance to see what it was. I got a quick smell of slightly stale cologne as the door hit the frame. Hearing Zacky shuffle behind the door, things sounding as if they were shifting places made me think that he was possibly cleaning up whatever the room was.

"Okay, so, I couldn't clean it that well," Zacky admitted, just his head sticking out of the door way, "But this is my old room."

When he opened the door, I wasn't expecting what I saw.
To be fully honest, I wasn't sure what I was expecting. Maybe something like dark colored walls, posters and concert tickets everywhere, clothes engulfing the floor, and some kind of plain bed spread…
What I got, though, wasn't too much different, but definitely wasn't what I was picturing.

His room had some plain white walls with two or three posters on every wall, his- most likely- first guitar propped up in the corner on a guitar stand, and his bed was made sloppily as if it had just been done (that's a good possibility). Sure, he had a few clothes on the floor, but you could still see the hard wood flooring beneath the fabric. His bedspread was black with a white pillow sitting on top of it, a wooden dresser beside it all. There was a dark dresser against the wall across from his bed, a window adjacent to that.

"So, what do you think?" he asked me, his hands resting on my hips and chin on my shoulder.

Realizing where I was, I noticed I was in the middle of the room, Zacky behind me, and I was just staring; taking everything in.

"I think," I told him with a small smile, turning around to face him, "that it reminds me of you."

"Well," he paused and gave my jaw a kiss, "it should, considering it used to be my room."

"Really?" I asked sarcastically, "I never would've guessed."

"Oh, you are so going to get-" Zacky was cut short by his mother.

"ZACKY! MISSY! TIME FOR DINNER!"

"That idle threat that you just attempted was sad, babe. You wouldn't hurt a fly, Zach Baker. It just wouldn't happen," I told him, patting his cheek.

"Really?" Zacky asked. "Let's test that theory. I'll give you a three second head start. One…Two."

And it finally hit me.Get your ass moving, woman! So I took off down the stairs in search of the kitchen, while above me I clearly heard "THREE" and then the fast pace of Zach, trying to catch up with me.

Not exactly remembering where the kitchen was, was proving to be a problem because Zacky had caught up to me, throwing his arms around my waist, and starting an attack on my sides.

The door to the left of us swung open, and there appeared Mrs. Baker, "Oh, there you guys are! I was just coming to get you. Come on."

"Be right there, mom," Zach told her with a smile. She gave him a smile and a nod and disappeared through the kitchen door.

"You're so in for it later," Zach promised before he pressed a kiss to my temple in a mock sweet gesture.

"I still can't believe that you waited so long to meet my parents," Zacky laughed.

"I'm not good with parents- never have been," I admitted."

"You do know that they loved you back then just as much as they do now, right?" Zach asked me with a loving smile.

I really had no answer for that. What does one say to that? I just smiled to myself, happy that his family liked me.

"Well, I hope they love me, because they're not getting rid of me; there's no way I'm letting you go, mister," I teased.

"And I wouldn't have it any other way," he smirked. "But now I think we should definitely try to get some sleep. Johnny and Izzie are on their way over tomorrow…"

"Oh God," I muttered, fearing tomorrow slightly.

"Oh, it won't be that bad!" Zacky spoke, trying to convince us both, I'm sure.

"Zach, the last time Johnny and Izzie were here, I had to wash the sheets in the guest room," I told him. "Twice."

"Then we lock all the bedrooms," he chuckled. "But come on, let's go."

And then, before I even had a chance to stand and put the photo album away, he had thrown me over his shoulder, much like he used to do when we were younger, and started heading for the stairs.

"You know something?" I asked him while staring at his butt.

"What's that, babe?" He asked sweetly as he dropped me on the bed.

"I couldn't be happier if I tried."