Stealer of Hearts

I found myself unable to sleep that night. I just laid there, tossing and turning in the darkness. I probably got just about an hour or two of sleep in before I decided to get up and watch the sun come to life from the window in the lounging area. At the moment, touring really isn't the "place to be".

I sat around, messing with my bass and just about anything to make time pass by before the busses stopped for a break - they have to stop for breakfast at one point. Time seemed to have taken forever to pass by before our driver shouted, telling us that it was about ten minutes before we would be stopping.

I ran a quick checklist over in my head about what I wanted to say - or what I was even going to do. What was I even supposed to tell Zacky? Though I've said that things between us have calmed down, lately, it was more quiet than calm. I haven't really spoken to him in real conversations for a few days now; I have yet to even touch him in a week or more.

"What are you gonna do today?" A female voice disrupted the silence that was once filled with the low trembles of my bass. I reluctantly looked up, looking back down once I acknowledged her presence. I slightly glared at the neck of my bass from behind my hair as I tuned it.

"I don't know," I mumbled, playing a few notes; I tried my best to ignore and will her away.

"Then why are you up so early? You don't usually get up early for anything," she stated. I tried my best not to tighten the strings too tight before they snatched on me. I can just hear the smirk in her voice.

"Maybe I couldn't sleep and it's about time I give up."

"I know you better than that Tabs." She sighed and I tightened my jaw, becoming more irritated with each and every word that came out of her mouth - I know that she knows it too. "There's something that needs to be done - that's why you're up early and can't sleep," she said in almost a taunting voice.

"I just need to talk to someone." I looked up at her, rolling my eyes.

"I think that's a wise choice." She nodded and walked away. I stared after her, suspicious as to why she would say that. She knew something that I don't, and it obviously wasn't going to be such a terrific outcome.

I strained my body to stay upright as I felt the bus pull to a stop. Looking out the window, I saw that we had pulled up outside a Denny's parking lot. Immediately, I heard noises and shuffles coming from the back before Ayden and Nickie ran out in jeans and a plain coloured shirt. I laughed at the messy hair and excited facial expressions as they jumped out of the bus and towards the breakfast diner.

I got up from my place on the floor and gathered myself together, taking deep breaths in and out. Straightening out my hoodie, I walked out of the bus quickly before Jackie came out, and made my way over to Avenged Sevenfold's bus - but not before passing by Billy on the way. He flashed me a quick smile and continued walking on with Paul towards the diner.

Avenged's tour bus door opened and Jimmy jumped out with Matt after him. I greeted them, giving them both a hug before leaving them and going back towards their bus. I was about to step on when Brian appeared in the doorway. I stepped back out, letting him out with a smile before I saw Zacky trailing behind him, an upset look playing on his face.

I pulled him aside by the arm when he had stepped off, catching him off by surprise. "I need to talk to you," I told him through gritted teeth when he sneered at me with a glare. I glared back at him when he turned around with force, stomping back on the bus after making Johnny get out quickly.

I closed the door quietly after us, not wanting to attract attention to us. The bus was quiet and empty, besides from the scuffling footsteps. He rummaged through a stack of papers noisily, obviously angry about something.

"What the hell is your problem?" I asked him, crossing my arms across my chest and watching his back. "I just want a nice, calm talk."

"What's my problem?" he asked, looking at me out of the corner of his eyes before yanking a paper out from under the stack. "This is." He shoved a newspaper at me - a tabloid - before pushing past and leaning up against the kitchen food counter. He crossed his arms and looked at me expectantly, crossing his legs in front of each other. "Look inside."

I gave him a questioning look and looked at the gray rumor-starting piece of paper in my arms, neatly getting rid of the creases that made it hard to read. I opened it up, frowning at the picture that was found inside on the bottom half of the second page. It was dark yet in colour, but it was slightly blurry = obviously taken on a cell phone.

I couldn't help but get a feeling that the person who took this, was someone that wasn't a part of the paparazzi crew.

"Would you mind explaining that to me?" he asked me. The tone of his voice had cooled down slightly, but the anger inside of him was still evident.

"Okay, this doesn't look good." I took a breath in, obviously not expecting what happened last night to appear in paper. I thought Billy and I were alone. I didn't expect this whole situation to be turned around against me.

"You think?"

"Can you stop it with the attitude?"

"Can you tell me when this happened?" He 'retorted' back at me, raising his voice just slightly.

"Last night --"

"Why would you do this to me? I just knew what you told me about the last tabloid was too good to be true." He shook his head, referring back to when I had first met Billy.

"What I told you back then was true - and why are you on my case when I could be on yours?" I raised my voice back at him and his face fell before he went back to frowning. He opened his mouth to say something before I interrupted him. "Don't think that I don't know about what's going on between you and my band mate, Jackie."

His face fell when I sent him a cold, hard glare. "That was only one time --"

"So you admit it," I interrupted him calmly, "But it wasn't only one time. I know that it was more than that." I felt the tears gather in the back of my eyes. "I notice the looks she gives you and the way you guys talk - even the light in your eyes when you speak of her."

"But that's just the same thing as all the looks Billy send you and your little smiling, happy, 'infatuation' with him behind my back Tab." He stood up straight, sighing.

"I've never done anything with him behind your back until last night." I tried to reason with him. "Why should you be more upset than me? At least I've stayed loyal to you longer than you have to me." My voice quivered as the newspaper crumbled underneath my grasp.

Things fell silent with neither one of us knowing what to say next. Zacky appeared to be calm on the outside, but I knew all was nothing but chaos inside of him. We stared at each other, emotionless for a while before I looked away and inhaled a breath of air.

"The only reason why I stayed quiet and didn't talk to you for the past few days was because... I was waiting for someone to come forward and tell me," I told him quietly, watching as his pale blue eyes finally showed some emotions. "I obviously didn't want to find out for myself that my boyfriend's doing things with my best friend - I wanted things to work out between us."

He seemed to be in thought as I waited, knowing that he wanted to say something. "If I didn't do those things, would you have been the first one to cheat on me?" he asked hesitantly and I shook my head.

"I'm not one to cheat." I softly laughed, bitterly.

He sighed. "I think it's time I told you the truth." I nodded. "The picture in the paper-" he paused. "It was taken by Jackie."

My eyes slightly grew wide. "Why?" I whispered.

"Because," he took in a breath. "Jackie and I have tried - for the past few weeks - to get some evidence of your feelings for him. So last night, she saw him go outside after you and since it was dark outside, she followed you guys and listened in on your conversation. Then, she took the photo and sent it in to the nearby paper last night." He looked down. "I didn't think it was true until I got the paper this morning."

Suddenly, things clicked in my head and I let out a bitter chuckle, feeling the tears begin to slowly overfill my eye sockets. "Why do you have to believe in almost everything she says - why do you have to fall for her tricks so easily? You just had to listen to her demented thoughts."

"What do you mean?" he asked, sounding offended.

"This was all part of her plans," I told him, resisting the urge to call him an idiot. "She was waiting for an opportunity for something - or someone - to come along so that she can use them to get between us. I knew that she had feelings for you all along; she just wanted to break us up so that she can have you. Well, guess what - now she can." I stormed past him, letting one stray tear fall.

"Wait - what is this supposed to mean?" he called after me.

I whipped around. "If it's you that she wanted after all, than that's what she'll get," I stated simply, before turning back around.

"No - Tabitha, no --" he pleaded but I held my hand up, fumbling with the door handle.

"No," I replied sternly, ending the conversation and throwing the door open, storming back to Tuesday Morning's bus.