True Love

Mr. Baker.

That little punk had the audacity to call him Mr. Baker.

"Sir..." Zack was pulled from his stewing thoughts just in time for the acne-riddled teenage boy taking tickets to wave his hand over his face

This kid was seriously picking the wrong day to fuck with Zack Baker.
But alas, he didn't have the time.
His daughter was making a dart for a theater, the young boy taught at her side.
He darted for the concession stand, not giving the young blonde time to take his order.

"Yeah I'll take a large popcorn, a bag of Skittles and--" Zack's eyes scanned the glass case and all of its sugary sweet treats, "tell me--" Zack grumbled, leaning on the counter. The line behind him growing longer with every passing moment, "do you have any hard candy? Like maybe Jawbreakers or some stale Sour Patch Kids?" He asked, one eyebrow arched high only to receive a look of concern from the young girl.

"We have Jolly Ranchers?" Zack's lips pulled into a smile.

"Perfect. I'll take two bags." She rolled her eyes before retrieving the bags and checking him out.

"That'll be $43.50."

Zack leafed through his wallet, pulling out two twenties and a five, pushing them across the counter, mumbling a quick 'keep the change'. She passed him the large bucket of popcorn as he started stuffing the pockets of his tight jeans with the bags of hard candy.

He thought about grabbing napkins, but that could cost him a few more valuable seconds- nah, he'd just wipe his hands on his pants.

He made his way to theater 12, almost taking a grandmother and her young grandson out in the process. He walked down the dark hall, the trivia playing on the screen illuminating the dark room. He stood at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes scanning until they fell on a pair of teenagers that were too close for comfort.

Zack practically ran up the stairs, he began to slide down the row, sitting down.

"Hey Kenz," Zack looked to his clearly mortified daughter who was shielding her eyes as she sunk down into her seat, she was quietly (but adamantly) grumbling 'just please go away! You are soooooooo beyond embarrassing!'

Zack glanced over, smiling wide- so much so he was almost taunting her.

He shoved the bucket of popcorn towards her, making some of the popped kernels rain over the sides and into her lap, only managing to make her angrier.

"Popcorn?" he asked, being sure to chew as loudly as he could manage. He only received a hiss and a hard elbow to the ribs.

"Just please dad! Go sit a few rows up or something! You are totally mortifying!"

"God you act like I'm some kind of problem or-"

"Just go! Please! I'm begging you!"

Zack let out an irritated grunt before shuffling out of the row, he climbed another six or seven rows, walking in until he was just behind them, he pulled a piece of popcorn from the bucket tossing it, he watched it fall before mumbling to himself. "not enough arch."

He inched out of the aisle, climbing another few rows until he knew he had it.
He climbed in, situating himself in the seat, leaning from side to side he dug the boxes of candy from his pockets.

He tore open the first box of Jolly Ranchers, he pulled out the first candy, twisting at each end of the wrapper until the candy unrolled and fell into his hand. He continued this until the lights finally dimmed and the previews began to play.

Zack craned his neck, making sure no one was looking.

And without a second thought (or even a first, really) he arched his arm- much like he would have had he been on the baseball diamond fifteen years ago, and he threw his first hard candy.

Just like clockwork, he heard a low 'ow!' and watched as Kenzie's date ran his hand through his scraggly black hair before picking out a hard candy.

Zack celebrated quietly in his seat before silently cursing himself.

He couldn't believe he had only thought to buy two boxes of Jolly Ranchers...



Emma giggled as the woman pulled her feet into the bubbling tub.
She had incredibly ticklish feet and until now, hadn't agreed to a pedicure.
But Mia wanted to keep Emma busy while Kenzie was out on her date, it was a first for both girls- and truthfully, Mia was a bit worried as to how Emma would handle it.

"So," Mia cooed, sinking a little deeper into the leather chair, "are you excited for school to start?" Emma just shrugged, swishing her feet back and forth in the water.

"I mean...I guess. It's going to be wired without my friends."

Mia knew that. They were just kids, and the thrived in New York- truth be told she had made the move back to Huntington for her own selfish reasons.

Okay, maybe selfish wasn't quite the right word.

But everything had weighed heavily on Mia for all those years. She knew she had to make it right, she had no idea what she'd be coming back to, and protecting the girls had been priority number one from the very beginning- but she didn't feel like New York was protecting them anymore. The only thing New York was protecting them from- was the truth.

"Um-" Emma mumbled, his hands laying in her lap- her thumbs twiddling nervously. She was completely focused at the water bubbling around her feet.

"What's wrong?" Mia asked, brows furrowing. Emma let out a deep breath before looking over at Mia, eyes wide with guilt.

"I've been talking to daddy, erm-" she fumbled, "Chance. So has Kenzie..."

Judging by the look on Emma's face, she expected Mia to be upset.

Extremely upset.

Like the kind of upset, she was when the girls decided to dye their hair with Kool-Aid, knowing it went against their school dress code- and Mia had to pay out close to $300 to get it fixed before they could return to class.

Mia smiled before reaching over, taking Emma's right hand in her left. "Sweetheart-" Mia started, her eyes burning as she fought the tears. "I'm not angry. Chance was your dad for such a long time, it's really unfair for any of us- be it me, or Zack or anyone else, to assume that you can cut him out completely." Emma bit at her lip, rolling it between her teeth before looking up at Mia.

"you did..."

That.
That cut through Mia like a knife.

Mia swallowed hard before making the decision- Emma was old enough to know the truth.

"Your dad, Chance- he did a lot of things that I'm not proud of. Things that I know he's not proud of. Some of those things- I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive him for." Emma let out a deep breath.

"He said the same thing..." Emma mumbled, so low Mia almost didn't hear her. "What-" she faltered, still trying to decide whether or not she wanted to know what he did. "what did he do?"

Mia shook her head- "I'm not sure you're old enough for that talk..."

Mia hated to use that reasoning. She had always hated when she had been given that responsibility as a child, it ranked right up there with 'because I said so-' and 'because I'm the mother'.

Emma laid her head back into the leather headrest. "Mom..." she mumbled, biting at her lip. Her eyes were glassy, her bottom lip protruding only slightly farther than her top- and in that moment had she known any better- she would have sworn it was Zack staring back at her.

Because that look, it was all Zack.

Mia let out a deep breath.

"When I found out I was pregnant, your grandmother sent me away to New York. She didn't want your dad to find out about you. After I met Chance, everything got easier. He filled that empty space, he was a great boyfriend and a great dad. I was happy- for a while. But eventually I missed Zack, and I knew what we had done was wrong. So I had these big plans to come back to Huntington, if for nothing else than to tell Zack about everything. I left you girls with grandpa, I came here for a weekend but, when I showed up- I was too late. Zack was gone, he had been signed-"

Emma just nodded, still listening as if her life depended on it.

"What I didn't know, was your grandmother and Chance had schemed this plan. They knew I had plans to leave, so they paid this label to sign the band." Emma was silent. "I know that's a lot to swallow..."

Emma just shook her head. "you loved him all this time, huh?" Emma finally asked, turning to face her mother.

Mia wasn't sure how to answer that question so instead, she took the easy way out.

"I'll love him, because he's your dad." Emma just shook her head.

"No mom, you two are in love. You can tell by the way you look at each other. Besides, you always say true love never ends." she went quiet, "You should tell dad..."

"I told your dad I loved him." Mia mumbled, hoping Emma would drop the subject.

"No mom, tell him you're in love with him."



Mia shoved the pass back in her purse, finally laying eyes on someone she knew. He smiled, opening his arms wide to pull her in for a hug. "How was your spa day?" Brian perked, his smile side.

"It was good, have you seen Emma? I walked through the gates and she disappeared..." Brian pointed out just past the buses.

"She's off with Kenz, Arin, and Johnny." Mia's brows furrowed.

"Kenz is back already?" Brian let out a snort before finally nodding.

"You kidding?" he laughed, "They've been back like an hour. The kid tried to put the moves on Kenzie and Zack lost his shit in the middle of the movie. He made them get up and leave. She's, not speaking to him until he apologizes for being a giant knob," Mia's eyebrows rose, "her words, not mine."

Mia let out a deep breath, "Where is he?" she glanced around, he wasn't anywhere near.

"Tour bus knocking back a whiskey double. He needs to calm his nerves before we go on stage."

Mia shook her head, holding back a laugh before rolling onto her toes pressing a soft kiss to Brian's cheek. Her sandals padded against the burnt grass, making it crunch beneath her. She climbed the stairs of the bus, stopping as she came to the top.

Zack was standing hunched over.
One hand braced on the table, the other grasping at a bar glass- a minute amount of the amber liquid rimming the glass. His eyes were narrowed as he watched out the window.

He didn't acknowledge Mia's presence as she sat her purse on the couch before walking over, running a soft hand over his back. "You wanna talk about it?

"No." he almost didn't even give her time to finish. Mia chuckled before grasping at his shoulders as she began to roughly massage his tensed muscles, making him groan. "Is there anything I can do to make it better?" Zack narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah— make me swear I will never have sex. Ever again, EVER." he grumped before stomping over to the bar, filling his glass again.

"Why?" he glared at her, "What?" she huffed, her arms crossing over her chest.

"Because, the last time we had sex we got that..." he groaned pointing out the window at the giggling girls who were being chased by Johnny and Arin. "and my blood pressure can't handle any more of them." Mia let out a laugh.

"Now you know how our parents felt all those years..." Zack let out a groan before running his hands through his once perfectly gelled and sculpted hair.

"I just hope to hell they're not into the same shit we were." he huffed, taking a swig. "Seriously. If I ever catch either of them having sex in the bed of their boyfriend’s truck, please know I'd like to be buried in a black casket- also, don't let my mother bury me in a fucking suit."

Mia chuckled, "There are moments when it doesn't quite seem like it- but the good far outweighs the bad. I still want my own hockey team." Zack craned his head, his eyes narrowed, one eyebrow high with curiosity.

"Why didn't you ever have any more?" Mia just shrugged.

"I guess it's because I always knew Chance was a good dad. But I always knew that if he ever had any of his own- he wouldn't treat them the same. And I couldn't let that happen to Em and Kenz." Zack's face fell, "What?" Mia asked, her brows furrowing. Zack let out a nervous laugh, scratching at the back of his neck.

"I guess I was hoping you'd say because he wasn't me."

Mia let out a soft chuckle, pressing a soft kiss to his cotton covered shoulder before finally resting her forehead on his shoulder. "I'd be lying if I told you it never crossed my mind." Zack smiled before pressing a soft kiss to Mia's forehead.

"So-" Zack mumbled, pulling Mia form her thoughts. He looked at his hands before wiping them on his jeans. "God, just thinking about this makes my palms sweat-" he grumbled before shoving his hands deep in his jean pockets. "I've been thinking, since you're official single now-" his lips pulled into a smile the second the word 'single' rolled off his tongue, "at least, 'm going to pretend you are- that we should go out. On a real date, not like that pathetic shit in high school." Mia let out a laugh.

"You mean we aren't going to go to a party and end up making out in some poor stranger’s closet?" Zack let out a laugh.

"I can't promise we won't end up making out in a closet-" he mumbled through a cheeky smile, his emerald eyes finally meeting Mia's.

"I would love that..." his smile went even wider.

"Closet included?" he asked, his eyes hopeful.

"Closet included." she mumbled.

The bus fell silent as Zack stepped closer, his hands grasping tightly at Mia's hips pulling her impossibly close- she smiled, he smelled like cologne and whiskey. Something only he could pull off.

He reached down, his lips hovering over hers. "So-" Mia mumbled softly, his finger tracing u his jaw, "there's something I should tell you."

"Oh yeah?" Zack asked, wrapping his arms around her letting his hands rest at the curve of her back. "Good or bad?" he asked, his lips ghosting over hers, his hot breath making it harder for her to breathe.

"Excellent-" she mumbled, making him smile his lips finally connecting with hers, but suddenly someone cleared their throat.

They pulled apart only to find Arin standing in front of them like a kid in a candy store. His mouth was open wide- and still, yet he was managing a smile, "I just have shit timing, don't I?" Arin mumbled, his smile wide- his eyebrows high with that 'I know what was about to happen' look.

"The worst." Mia and Zack huffed in an almost perfect unison.

"Well- we go on in fifteen so..." he trailed off. Mia smiled as Zack turned to her, his eyes apologetic.

"It's okay..." Mia mumbled rolling onto her toes, pressing a quick kiss to his waiting lips. "I'll tell you later." he just nodded.

"Get the girls, you'll watch from the side of the stage, right?" Mia just smiled.

"Promise."