We Were Both Young

I stood statue still the moment Zacky turned around with Johnny. When he did, he froze up like a popsicle.
He looked the same as he did 4 years ago. Except now he had full sleeved tattoos, and a few piercings. His hair was longer, and hung stylishly into his face. It was black, and dyed purple on top. And dont quote me, but it looked like he was wearing eyeliner. He wore black rocker clothes like the rest of the guys too.

"Kale..." he said, as if not believing I was standing right in front of him.

When he spoke, my heart fluttered. The sound of his voice produced a lump in my throat, making it feel like I had been crying hysterically.
I just smiled. My brain couldn't yet register my mouth to speak the words I wanted to. But finally I mustered up enough momentum to let out a squeaky "hello."

Zacky just looked at me with a blank expression, which made me even more nervous. Was he happy to see me? Or just as nervous as I was?

"Well hug her dude!" Brian encouraged.

Zacky came forward slowly, awkwardly.
I advanced as well, with my arms outstretched. When he saw this, he became more eager and enveloped me in his arms. I wrapped my arms around his waist and buried my face in his chest. He squeezed tighter, and I could smell his Cologne. He smelled the same as he did back in high school, which brought back more memories.
The thought of them brought tears to the surface of my eyes, threatening to fall. I desperately held them back, and we pulled away. Nobody else would have noticed, but Zacky wasn't fooled my my glossy blue eyes. His own green ones looked at me longingly, begging for answers.

"You look beautiful." He said softly.

I just smiled, glad that I finally found him after all these years.

"So what do we do now?" Matt asked, trying to break the awkwardness of our reunion.

I turned to them.

"Well Danielle and I were dancing and trying to get drunk." I said.

"Wouldn't be the first time either."
Jimmy teased.

The 6 of us, plus our old friend Val, had spent many endless nights stealing beer and getting drunk at our spot by the railroad tracks back in the day. We were so reckless back then. But I'd bet none of the guys had changed.

"Well lets go in and get wasted then." Johnny said, with a hint of excitement.
Johnny was always the first one to get drunk.

Everyone agreed, but I stopped them.

"I'm not done with my cigarette yet." I announced before everyone headed for the club.

They all hurried and pulled out one last smoke before I finished mine. Zacky didn't, he just asked to hit mine. The silence between us wasn't awkward as it was a minute ago. Now it was just casual, like we had never been separated at all. Except he didn't hold my hand or offer me his jacket. (he wasn't even wearing one.)
I looked over at Danielle, the only one not smoking.

"Danielle, this is the infamous Zacky." I smiled, wrapping an arm around his waist.

"Hi Danielle. Although its 'the famous' Zacky now. " zacky said.

She replied with a hey, and they shook hands.

"So, I really love you're new song unholy confessions. Im almost tempted to buy the CD." I said, making conversation.

"Why would you buy it? We have the first copy in the van. You can have that." Brian offered.

After we all finished smoking, we headed back into the club.
The guys went to the bar for a pitcher, and Danielle and I headed back to the dance floor.

After a couple songs, we left the floor and joined the guys at a large round booth in the VIP section of the club. I guess it was nice have rockstar friends.
We sat down, Danielle between Brian and Jimmy, and me between Zacky and Brian. Johnny sat in the middle of the Booth between Brian and Jimmy.

"So what do you do now Kale?" Johnny asked me after chugging half his beer.

"Well I'm going to school to be a patient care technician. " I said.

Matt offered to pour me a glass of beer, but I declined and sipped my water instead. If something happened with zacky tonight, I wanted to be conscious.
And its a good thing, because something did.

After spending a while talking and catching up, we all went out to the dance floor.
Zacky and I danced to every song, swaying and grinding our bodies together. And when I observed around me, I even saw Danielle dancing with Jimmy.

Then, a slow song came on, and immediately Zacky wrapped his hands around my waist. I wrapped mine around his neck, and we moved slowly with the rhythm of the music.
I laid my head on his shoulder and let him lead the dance. It felt good just being in his arms. It almost felt like senior prom again, except we weren't drunk.

We swayed back and forth for what seemed like forever, and I could see the guys watching out of the corner of my eye. I saw Brian smile, and slap high fives with Johnny.
I looked up into Zacky's emerald green eyes, and he looked into mine. We shared a mutual moment of joy, and I could sense him getting closer.
His eyes darted back and forth from my eyes to my mouth, and I knew he wanted to steal a kiss.
I felt myself grow nervous. I hadn't kissed Zacky- or anyone for that matter, in God knows how long. But I let him lean in and closed me eyes, hoping for the best.
Zacky's lips pressed softly against mine, and I could feel the chill of his lip rings on them. His hand cupped my right cheek gently, making me go weak in the knees. I hooked my fingers around his belt loops and pulled him closer so our bodies were touching.
When he wrapped his other arm around my waist and kissed me with more force, I knew I was trembling with pleasure.

I dared to peek, and saw that danielle and the guys had stopped dancing to watch Zacky kiss me.
When he finally pulled away, I was out of breath like I'd been running a Marathon.
He just smiled, and wrapped me in a hug.

"I missed you Kale." He whispered softly into my ear.

I looked up at him with a smile.

"I missed you too Zacky."