The Wrong One

“Do you want to thank me now or later?”

Sian looked up at Lexi who was drinking coffee with her back leaned against the counter. She was wearing a pair of too-small pajama shorts, a tank top, and her robe was open in the front. Her hair was half piled on her head and she had an eyeliner smudge under one eye.

“You’ve got shit…” she placed a finger to her eye to show her where. “Right here on your eye.”

Lexi whirled around and inspected her face in the toaster before turning back to Sian. “Are you going to thank me or not?”

“For what?”

“Didn’t you and Zacky…. You know?”

Sian just looked at her as she chewed her cereal. “Thank you, Lexi, for somehow weaseling your way into getting the guys to play at the bar last night. I really appreciate it a lot.”

“You’re welcome,” Lexi said, smiling smugly. “You still didn’t say if you guys did anything.”

Sian just looked at her and rolled her eyes as she stood up to place her bowl of cereal in the sink. She raised her hand in a wave as she walked back to her room where Zacky was still sleeping. He was lying on his back, right arm across his face and left arm spread out where she had been sleeping on it. He was only wearing a pair of boxer shorts and she smiled at him, looking over his tattoos. She almost gave into the urge to crawl back into bed with him, but she didn’t, opting to take a shower. She knew that McKenzie and Lexi would be in soon to make her go to the beach.

When she pulled the curtain back to step out of the shower, she saw Zacky sitting on the counter, smiling at her. She didn’t even pause as she smiled back and made sure her towel was securely wrapped around her.

“Good morning,” she said to him as she started to walk past.

He reached out and grabbed her arm pulling her back to stand in between his legs. She leaned into him as he pulled her face down and kissed her thoroughly.

“Now it’s a good morning,” he said when he finally pulled away.

She chuckled, kissed his lips again, and moved to the bedroom where she found her bathing suit. She pulled on the bottoms and put the neck strap of the top over her head. She adjusted the triangles over her breasts and moved back to the bathroom where she fully dropped the towel and turned her back to him. He took the hint and his hands pulled at the side strings to loop them around each other. He let the strings drop and ran his hands up and down her back before leaning in to kiss her shoulder. His hands moved from her back to her side as he traced her scar with his fingers. He leaned down and kissed her scar before sitting back up. She leaned back into him and he rested his chin on her shoulder.

“Do you forgive me for being an asshole?” he asked.

“Only if you forgive me for not telling you about Liam.”

“After I talked to Samantha, I understood why you didn’t do it. Honestly, if I hadn’t been so mad, I would’ve told you I would’ve done the same thing. I just can’t believe I would say those things about your scar,” he said as he ran his hand over her right side.

“You were mad, Zacky. I know why you said it. I would’ve used something against you, too. I promise you, it’s okay.”

“You really forgive me?”

“I wouldn’t have let you sleep next to me if I didn’t forgive you,” Sian said, turning around to face him. “I wouldn’t have told you I love you if I didn’t forgive you.”

He placed his hands on either side of her and ran his thumb over her tattoo. “Okay, I just wanted to make sure.”

“Come on, we’re going to be late.”

“Late for what?” Zacky asked as he watched her walk back into the bedroom.

She threw her hair into a ponytail, pulled on a pair of shorts, and grabbed a towel. Zacky grabbed his swim trunks, disappeared into the bathroom and reappeared minutes later. Sian placed her sunglasses on her head and went to walk out of the door until Zacky stopped her.

“Is that my shirt?”

“Is there a problem?” she asked, turning around and pushing her sunglasses to the bridge of her nose.

Zacky gulped. “Nope.”

He watched her walk out of the bedroom and shook his head. He wasn’t sure who this new Sian was, be he was glad he found her.

____________________________________________________

“I’ve never felt more relaxed in my whole life,” Lexi said as she stretched out on the folding chair.

The three girls were all lying on chairs in the sand while the guys had run off somewhere. They’d been sunbathing for almost four hours, and they hadn’t seen the guys since the first twenty minutes they’d gotten to the beach. Frankly, they didn’t care.

“It feels amazing,” McKenzie said in agreement.

Sian just silently watched the waves crash over the beach. Every once in a while, a kid would come out of nowhere and splash around for a bit before moving on with their parents. She watched as planes and boats and clouds passed, but all the while her mind was on Zacky.
They’d pretty much gotten past the entire Samantha thing, but it was still a bit difficult for her to see him as single, or anything other than Samantha’s fiancée. Sure, she’d had feelings for him when they were in Europe, but now that they’re back to real life and the United States, she wasn’t sure what was going to happen. She knew that he had his band to focus on and they were going to start touring soon to promote their new album. He was gone for months at a time and had girls throwing themselves at him at all times. Honestly, she wasn’t sure how Samantha had done it.

She thought about what it would be like to go on tour with him. It would almost be as if they were back in Europe, but with a concert every night. She imagined quitting her internship at the JPL, and thought about how lovely that would be. Instead of sitting at a desk reading over shit she never wanted to see again in her life, she’d be seeing New York, Houston, Atlanta, and Vegas. Hell, she could even help out with something that they needed her to.

Just as she closed her eyes to take a nap, she felt something slam into her stomach and drench her. She screeched and opened her eyes. Both Lexi and McKenzie were staring at her, hands covering their mouths, waiting for her to get pissed off.

Over their shoulders, she saw Jimmy, Johnny, and Zacky laughing hysterically. She stood up, shook the water off of her body, and removed her sunglasses from her face. From the look on her face, the laughter died from the three boys’ and they watched and waited for her to get mad.

“Oh, hell,” Lexi said, ready to break up whatever was about to happen.

“Zacky, I’m going to kill you!”

“Here it comes,” McKenzie said, and she stood up as well.

They were all shocked as she just smiled and took off running after Zacky. He realized it a bit too late that she wasn’t going to be mad and that she was chasing him, because she almost caught him by the time he took off running. He smiled as he turned to see her gaining on him.
He made a mistake and stopped to turn, and she took the opportunity to jump on his back. They almost fell over into the waves, but Zacky was able to catch himself.

Lexi and McKenzie looked at each other before looking back at the couple splashing in the water.

“Did you see that coming?”

“Hell, no, I didn’t. When did Sian start acting like this?” McKenzie said, looking down the beach.

“What are you guys talking about?” Johnny asked. “Sian’s been this fun this whole time.”

“Sian’s always so serious and she’s like the mom of our group,” Lexi said.

“Well she didn’t seem like a mom when she was getting wasted that night,” Johnny said, elbowing Jimmy.

“Wait, she got wasted?” Lexi asked, confused.

“Hell yeah, ended up puking in the bathroom of the bar. Zacky carried her out.”

McKenzie and Lexi shared another look before looking down at the couple again. Sian was doubled over in laughter and Zacky was sitting on the sand while a wave crashed over him. Sian leaned over him and kissed him before he pulled her down into the ocean with him.

“If he can make Sian act like that, I think I’m in love,” Lexi said.

“Hey now,” Jimmy said, in mock jealousy.

She just looked at him and shimmied her hips as she put her sunglasses back on.