The Wrong One

“I’m going to get us something to eat,” Sian said as she grabbed her bag and headed for the door.

Zacky was lying on the bed with his laptop in front of him. He’d been working on a few things for the band, and she knew he wanted to continue working.

“Alright, that’s fine,” he said without looking up.

She looked back at him before pulling the door closed. She walked down the hallway and pushed the button for the elevator. They hadn’t talked much since she’d confessed to him about her father, but she was okay with it. He hadn’t acted different toward her; he’d just confessed he didn’t know what to say now.

Zacky rubbed his eyes and glanced at the door. He felt his stomach growl and was glad Sian had gone to get them some food. He sat up from his lying position and stretched a bit. He was tired of looking over the chords the guys had sent him, as that’s all he’d been doing for the past four hours. He didn’t have anything planned for Sian today, and frankly he knew she didn’t feel like doing anything. He glanced around the room to find something to take his mind off the music.

Something about Sian’s suitcase caught his eye and he squinted to figure out what it was. He recognized Samantha’s journal sticking out from the corner and he got off the bed. He pulled it from the suitcase and flipped it open to the first page. It was dated the first of the year, and talked about the party they had attended for New Year’s Eve.

He flipped through pages to get to the date when she left for Europe. Reading over it, he found Samantha had been hiding things from him. She hadn’t really meant to say yes to him, but she felt compelled to. Angrily, he flipped through more pages, reading over them.

By the time he got to the last entry, he was extremely pissed off. Sian had kept Liam from him, whoever the hell he was. Angrily he threw the journal away from him just as the door opened and Sian walked in, her arm full of food and drinks.

“Sorry, they messed up the order and then… Zacky, what’s wrong?”

“When the fuck did you plan on telling me about Liam?”

“What?” Sian asked, setting the food and drinks down on the table.

“Liam? The guy that Samantha ran off with? Yeah, when the fuck were you going to tell me about him!?”

“Zacky, calm down, it’s not about—”

“No, Sian, I am not going to calm down. I flew to fucking Europe to find my fiancée and now I find out she’s run off with some guy she met on a plane and the girl I’ve been traveling with has known the entire fucking time and hasn’t told me!”

“I didn’t want to hurt you, Zacky!” Sian cried, feeling tears spring to her eyes.

“Well not telling me fucking hurt me worse, Sian. I can’t believe you would do this to me,” he screamed, standing up.

“Zacky, I’m sorry! I thought maybe if we found Samantha before you found out, she would be able to explain it to you. You really helped me through a lot of things before we came here, and I couldn’t do that to you.”

“Yeah, well you fucked that up, didn’t you?” he spat at her and turned away. “God, I can’t believe I did all that shit for you and you fucking lied to me. How could you keep something like that from me!? What else have you lied about Sian? Did you even get that scar from that guy? Or was that complete bullshit, too?!”

“Zacky, no, of course not..”

“I can’t believe I fell in love with you. I wish I had never fucking told you that,” he said and moved out onto the balcony.

Sian had never felt so low in her life. She could almost feel her heart breaking into two. She stared at Zacky as he lit a cigarette and stared out over the landscape. She saw him punch the concrete wall beside him as she cried harder. She sat down on the bed.

She remained there for another ten minutes until he came back inside. He didn’t speak to her, just grabbed his jacket and his wallet and headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” she asked, brokenly.

“Out,” he replied simply, and slammed the door on his way out.

_________________________________________________

He walked around for what felt like forever before finally coming up on a bar. He opened the doors, ignored the raucous noise and sat down at the bar, immediately ordering a shot. He downed it and ordered another before someone sat down beside him. He glanced to his right and saw the hair before turning back to his drink.

“Leave me the fuck alone, Sian.”

“If I was Sian, I would,” the voice replied through a smile.

He looked again and realized Samantha was sitting beside him. She looked the same, yet different. Upon closer inspection, he realized the differences between the two twins. It was then that he came to the conclusion, he wasn’t angry at her for being with someone else, he was just angry because Sian hadn’t had the decency to tell him the truth.

“How are you?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

“I’ve spent the last almost two months searching for you,” he said and downed his shot, signaling for another one.

“I know you have.”

“You know?!” he asked, turning to her.

“I’ve been there with you two the whole time.”

“Who the fuck is Liam?” he asked, not wasting any more time.

Samantha sighed, ordered a drink, and faced him again. “I met Liam on the plane over here. I’d met him before, I just didn’t know it at the time. He and I hit it off immediately. He was going to Italy to meet up with some of his friends before backpacking around the rest of Europe. I’ve been leaving Sian hints as to where we were going next.”

“Yeah, she found your fucking journal,” he said into the beer that was placed in front of him.

“What’s wrong?”

“She fucking lied to me. She didn’t tell me about Liam at all.”

“Would you have wanted to know immediately?”

“That’s not the point,” Zacky said.

“Yes, it is, Zack. If you got all the way to Italy, would you have wanted to know your fiancée had run off with some other guy?”

“Yes, I would have. We thought something had fucking happened to you, Sam! We had the police involved and everything! Those two girls you came with acted like nothing was wrong!”

“That’s because nothing was wrong, Zack. Delia, Erica and Bryce all knew I’d gone with Liam. They knew I was fine.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Zacky asked.

“No, Zacky, I’m not kidding. They knew I was fine. That’s why I had them call you. You just jumped to the wrong conclusion and made them get the police involved.”

“So why didn’t you show yourself to explain what was going on?”

“I wanted to a couple of times, but I saw the way you and Sian interacted with each other and I didn’t want to interfere.”

“Interfere with what?” Zacky asked, looking at her.

“Fate.”

“What the fuck are you talking about Samantha?”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but the first night you guys were at the hotel in Italy, you had a suite that only had one bed in it, right?”

“Right.”

“After that, did you get a hotel with two separate beds?”

Zacky thought for a minute. “No, we didn’t.”

“When she was in trouble, you showed up, didn’t you?”

“I couldn’t exactly let her get raped, could I?”

“No, but at the same time, you couldn’t take your eyes off of her at the club, just like any of the other times during your trip.”

“Are you saying you were there the whole time?”

“Yes, Zacky. I realized after I met Liam that I couldn’t marry you. You’ve got your own adventure, and I need mine. I want to be able to share adventures with someone. You’re a musician and you go on tour all the time. Yes, I know I can go with you, but it’s not the same. You’re sharing that experience with the rest of the guys, not me. I can never have that feeling of what it’s like to be on stage. I can experience what it’s like to backpack around Europe. I watched you and Sian that first night you guys went out and I saw it.”

“You saw what exactly?”

“I saw that you two were meant to be together. You want someone who’s going to be there for you all the time, and that you’re going to be able to be yourself around. Sian’s always wanted to feel like there’s someone there for her. Those two times you’ve saved her, she’s felt that, I know she has. You can give her more than you can give me, Zacky. She can give you everything you’ve ever wanted in a girl.”

“She lied to me, Samantha,” he said simply, turning back to his drink, taking in all that she said.

“Sure, she lied to you about that, but she did it out of consideration for you. Did you ask who the guy was in the alley that attacked her?”

“Yeah, I did. She told me he was some guy that your mom married that attacked her.”
“Is that all she told you?”

“She told me a bit more.”

“James was a guy that my mom married when Sian and I were two and Kyle was one. He supported us, and treated us like we were our own and then he hurt his back. When he couldn’t work anymore, mom doubled up on her shifts at work and was never home. Sian took care of both Kyle and I. She was home by herself when he attacked her. He tied her down, Zacky, and stuck the blade in her. He duct taped her mouth while he drug the blade up her body and back down. He left her like that for over an hour, and continued to drink more. He was about to rape her when mom walked in and found them. Sian almost lost her life that night. I was out with friends and I was walking home when I saw the ambulances. I didn’t go in, but I saw Sian and mom go into the back. She was only twelve and she had to suffer that.”

“Yeah, she pretty much told me all that,” Zacky said.

“That’s the point, Zacky. She told you. She’s never told Kyle or me about that. She hasn’t told her best friends, McKenzie or Lexi. She doesn’t talk about it at all. She’s kept it inside of her for twelve years. The only reason I know is because I asked mom one day when Sian was gone. Sian had to have her gallbladder removed because he’d ruptured it. He almost stabbed through her lung; that’s why she doesn’t smoke now. If she does, it could open that hole up and her lung could collapse.”

“Wow,” Zacky said, leaning back in his chair. “I can’t believe she told me.”

“You know that while she’s been with you, Sian has lived more than she ever has in her life? Zacky, that’s why she told you; not only does she trust you, but she’s in love with you, she just doesn’t know it yet.”

“So you did all of this for…her?”

“No, I did it for the both of you. I knew you two would be perfect for each other and I wanted you guys to figure it out for yourselves before I confronted you. I love you, Zacky, but not in the way you want me to.”

With the last of her words, she set the ring he’d bought for her down on the counter. She finished off her beer, set money on the counter and stood up.

“Before you lose her forever, go get her. Once you’ve broken her, she’s broken forever, Zacky. She loves more intensely than I do. She doesn’t forgive as easy; her hard life has driven her to that. She deserves happiness and love just like you do.”

Zacky sat there for another few minutes after Samantha had disappeared before he made up his mind. He slammed a bill down on the counter before running out of the bar and back to their hotel. He flew up the stairs and down the hall, skidding to a halt in front of their door. He jammed the key into the slot and when the light turned green, he pushed the door open.

“Sian, I’m –”

He stopped when he realized the room was empty. He looked in the bathroom and on the balcony before he realized he was gone. He turned and immediately rushed to the door where he stopped. He took several steps back and looked at the counter where her suitcase had been, but it was gone now. He started his search all over again and realized not only was she gone, but she was leaving.

He was out of the door and out of the hotel in a flash. He hailed a taxi and shouted for him to head to the airport as quickly as possible.

Rushing through the sliding doors, he looked around for signs that said the U.S. on them. Once he found one, he rushed in the direction of the terminal. He skidded to a halt for security, and once he was through, he took off in a run again. He finally caught sight of her as she was handing a ticket to the lady at the gate to the plane.

He screamed her name, but she didn’t turn around. She just kept walking until he couldn’t see her anymore. A security guard came up to him, and explained that if he didn’t have a ticket, he couldn’t go any further. He tried shouting her name again, but he knew it was no use.
Sian was gone.

___________________________________________________

Sian didn’t cry the entire way home. She didn’t cry as the captain announced their descent to L.A.X., and she didn’t cry as she waited for her baggage. She remained quiet as she drove her car to her apartment near her college. Still, she didn’t cry. She unlocked the door to her apartment and both McKenzie and Lexi jumped in their seats and at the sight of her, they jumped up and rushed to her.

It was when they both had their arms around her and they were smiling that Sian finally broke down and cried. They both asked what was wrong, and all Sian could manage out, were a few small words.

“I fell in love with him.”