The Cheap Bouquet

All of the strings were cut. All of Anna's ties to San Diego, her family, Vic, Mike, Jaime, Tony were all severed as she and Zak traveled across the world, doing whatever they pleased. This included parties, festivals, parades, drugs, and, their most popular pastime, concerts.

Everyone had thought Annabella would've left with Emmeline. Of coarse, Annabella expected them to look for her. That's why she took Zak, knowing how depressed he was, and needed some time to himself. She texted Zak all day, arranging private plans of when they would leave, and were they would go.

On the small, rectangular table between the two beds in the hotel room they were staying in this particular night, Anna's phone sang Fuck Everything by Suicide Silence loudly. It was their reminder that they needed to check out at eleven AM.

Zak groaned, and grabbed her cell phone as she wasn't moving. She simply covered her head with the pillows.

"Get dressed, I'll go check out," Zak said, yawning as he stood up. He stretched his limbs, and gently threw her cell phone on the bed next to her. He trudged outside, and into the office.

Anna pushed her cell phone onto the floor, and reluctantly got up. She moved around the room silently, collecting her belongings, and putting them into the pink beach bag. The vibrant color of the cloth it was made of matched the color of the ringlets in her hair. Each hot pink curl wound perfectly around one another.

She checked off the familiar mental list of hers and Zak's belongings.

Cell phone's
iPod's
Wallet's
Credit card's
Clothes
Toothbrush's

She was convinced that she had gotten everything, and made her way to the back of the room. There, hung above a marble sink the length of the entire wall, was a large mirror. Anna stared at her own reflection for a moment.

Her hair was messy, and her makeup was still intact from the night before. The bracelets on her wrist were still there. Two Blink 182 bracelets, one Nine Inch Nails bracelet, and an Of Mice & Men bracelet on her left wrist. Suicide Silence, Avenged Sevenfold, Marilyn Manson, Paramore, and Flyleaf on the right. A large, sequined star pendant lay flat on her chest. Her shoulder blades stuck out, and her legs were longer than the average twenty year old female's. The tight, black skinny jeans made her look even more lanky. The fitting, blue tank top she was wearing made most of her tattoos visible against her olive skin. They covered her entire body, her legs, stomach, chest, back, arms, and feet were covered in ink.

"Are you alright?" Zak's voice jerked her from her analysis. She hadn't even noticed him approach her.

"Oh! Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit out of it for a second," she said, grabbing the bag at her feet, and her cell phone from the floor. She quickly pulled her fingers thoroughly her soft ringlets, and walked outside. The sun felt good on her pale skin. She walked over to the passengers side of her jet black Lamborghini. Zak got into the drivers side, and Anna placed the bag in the back, craning her body around her seat.

"Damn, you've got such a nice ass," Zak said, laughing. He shook his head, and started the car.

"Oh, really?" Anna smirked evilly, as she ran her fingers over her side, watching Zak as he admired her body. She giggled, and sat back in her seat. "You're boner is too obvious, you wanna' wait a second to leave and fuck that girl at the front desk?" She teased.

"No, I want to fuck you, idiot," he said, staring at her pleadingly. He leaned over the car, and kissed her passionately, tugging at the lip ring in the center of her bottom lip, knowing exactly how much it turned her on.

She kissed him back roughly, but hesitantly pulled away. "Zak, I can't," she mumbled. She felt extremely bad. She had never denied Zak in her entire life. He had never denied her. They were like friends with benefits, but they both knew each other's weak spots.

"Why not?" Zak whined, frowning. Although, he already knew the answer. The lip ring move always worked. There was only person who could ever turn her away from Zak. He sighed. "You thought about him, didn't you," he muttered.

Anna nodded once, and sighed. "No, you know what? Fuck me. Right now." She demanded, palming him through his jeans. She grabbed his hand, and moved it to the waistband of her jeans.

"No, KiKi, not when you're still hurting over him." Zak used her high school nick name. It has originally started off as 'kitten' but Zak modified it as a way of letting everyone know that she belonged to him.

"I'm not, he's just always in my head. Like a pest," she murmured, forcing a look of disgust to cross her face. In truth, all she wanted was to see him again.

"I'm not stupid," Zak stated, revving the engine, and pulling out of the parking lot.

"But I'm horny," Anna whined, throwing her head back in anguish.

Zak laughed, but continued driving. He was heading to the concert they had planned on going to the day before. It was a tour consisting of Of Mice & Men, and that was the only reason that they had decided to go. It was one of the few bands you could mosh to, that was easy to get tickets to, especially when Anna was only twenty. Fake IDs had become the key to her survival.

It wasn't long before Anna's breathing evened out, and her head was leaned against the window.



Zak watched Anna as she cleaned her bleeding lip. She had gotten punched in the pit, but she refused to leave. She had had the best time of her entire life that night. And, the cherry on top, she was in the crowd of her absolute favorite band. It was beyond amazing.

Although, Zak knew just how much she was hurting. Well, actually, he hadn't known. But he was pretty sure he could guess her reason for getting drunk and listening to music so loud that she couldn't even hear herself think. Zak hated seeing her so depressed. Even though she tried to hide it, she couldn't from Zak. Not after they had been so close for so long.

Once she was finished, she sprawled out on the hotel bed and stretched. "Can we fuck now?" Her voice was serious, yet almost pleading. She had felt rejected by Zak this morning, and that was something that she couldn't stand. Rejection was her greatest fear.

Zak sighed. "Only if we talk about him first," He continued talking as she shook her head vigorously, "Anna, you need to talk about this! It's not doing any good to forget. You're not going to. He's gone, and you need to realize that! Don't you think he would've come looking for you if you were that important to him? Besides, you only knew him for a few months."

Even though she knew everything Zak said was complete truth, Annabella would not accept it. She couldn't. Ever. "No, I don't care about him anymore. He's gone, so why care?"

"Because you're about to cry! You're lying, you care more about him than about yourself! Or anyone for that matter! You can't even say his name when you're conscious!"

Anna knew that she had talked in her sleep before, but she had no idea that it was about Tony. It made sense, though, because every night she would wake up crying. Every night she had a reoccurring nightmare. It was always based around the image of Tony's and Katie's lips attached. It never went away. No matter how drunk she got. Or high, or how tired she was. Like the depression, it suffocated her.

"See," Zak's voice was much more gentle now, because she was finally letting the truth sink in, "you care. You can't get him out of your head. Anna, you still love him."

Tears spilled down her cheeks, as Zak pulled her against his chest. Although the comforting tactic was meant for good, it was not what Anna wanted. She wanted Tony to comfort her. Not Zak. Not alcohol. Not music. Tony. Her entire world revolved around him. And he didn't even care the slightest bit about her.

After a few minutes of silence, Anna had finally calmed down. And, once she had cried enough, her sobs stopped and she pulled out her phone. She and Zak spent the rest of the night deciding were they would go tomorrow. They had finally decided on going to the local concert for the "The Street Youth Rising Tour" because it was the closest.

That night, everything else was the same. Anna still woke up at 6 AM, crying. She still saw Katie and Tony kissing in front of her. She still felt just as depressed as she was last night. Nothing new.