Inside These Arms Of Yours

Chapter 15

The car ride consisted mainly of me trying to convince Zacky to tell me where we were going but he was being too damn stubborn.

"Oh come on. Why won't you tell me?" I whined. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to get it out of him though.

"Because it's a surprise. That’s why. Now hush we're almost there." He grinned over at me. I let a smile cross my lips as well.

As I looked out the window I noticed the street we were driving on was right beside the beach. There were people still enjoying the nice weather, playing out in the water, or walking along the busy streets of Huntington Beach.

Zacky parked his car in between two others on the side of the road and turned to me.

"I thought tonight we would go to this awesome Bar & Grill that's on the water and then take a walk on the beach. You seem like the 'walk on the beach' sort of girl so I thought this would be nice." We got out of the car and he walked around to my side and helped me out. We both grinned as he laced his fingers with mine and we walked down the sidewalk to the restaurant. I noticed his hands were rough from guitar of course but at the same time they felt comforting. Our hands just seemed to fit together perfectly.

"This is really sweet of you Zacky. To be honest, no guy has ever done as much for me as you have before." I could feel myself blushing as I looked down hoping he wouldn't see the slight pink tinge on my face.

"Well you're fucking worth it. I knew when I first met you that you were someone that would become very special to me and I was right. Shit, if I hadn’t met you I'd probably still be moping around and the guys would kick my ass for it." He laughed.

I looked up and saw that we were in front of The Wavehouse which I was assuming was the bar & grill. Zacky opened the door for me and I entered with him on my tail.

"Hello. Welcome to The Wavehouse. What can I do for the lovely couple tonight?" The host sure was a chipper one tonight.

"Yeah I have a reservation for Baker." Zacky replied.

The host looked down at his list before turning back to face us. "Ahh alright if you'll follow me."

"You made reservations?" I asked from beside Zack. It seemed kind of odd to have to make reservations at this place.

"Yeah. The guys and I come here sometimes and we know the owners. We tend to always run into fans here though and although it’s nice to meet them, sometimes we just want to have some time to ourselves. So we make reservations and then we get into the VIP area where no one bothers us. If you just walk in then chances are you're going to have to wait an hour for a table, or just sit at the bar. And the idea of doing either one of those didn’t thrill me tonight."

The host brought us to our table and shortly after our waiter came over. Zack and I both ordered a beer and we placed our food orders as well.

"So tell me what it’s like working in the studio so I have an idea of what I got myself into." A grin appeared on my face as I saw his green eyes light up with excitement, almost as if he had forgotten I was going to be working with them.

"Weeeeell, lets just say you're in for it." He sat back and laughed. "It's fun actually. We tend to fuck around a lot though. I'd have to say the toughest part is staying sober though. I mean we've all been trying to cut back on how much we drink but it's probably the easiest to get smashed in the studio."

"Why is that?" It seemed like the studio would keep them all busy if you ask me.

"Well, it's such long hours and there's really nothing to do when you yourself aren’t working on a part or something. We kinda have this tendency to go grab a few cases and get somewhat drunk when we get bored. But since we're self producing this record we really have to focus. So we'll probably save the drinking for the days we have off."

"Hmm alright. Anything else I should be aware of?"

"Umm well, every morning Matt has to make a Jamba Juice and Starbucks run. We've gotta have either a smoothie or a coffee. So that's kind of become our morning routine. I will admit though, you give Rev caffeine and you never know what'll happen. He's a fucking handful. But other than that, there's really nothing else I can warn you about. It'll all just play out somehow. I can guarantee you it won’t be boring that’s for sure." He said while he took another sip of his beer that had just been brought to us.

We talked for a few more minutes about the studio and some of the things that happened while they recorded City of Evil a few years ago.

"Man it was so fucking funny. Jimmy always tends to fall asleep on the couches. And when Matt was recording the vocals for Beast and the Harlot Rev let out this huuuge ass snore that echoed into the other room where Matt was. We ended up saving that audio to let him hear what the "final recording" sounded like and he freaked out. It was all a joke of course but he didn't know that."

"Wow sounds like you guys had some interesting moments last time. I bet this time will be no different."

"Ha! This time is going to be ten times more interesting because you're going to be along. I'm sure Val will hang out with us too and man, everytime we have a chick in the studio something crazy happens. Last time we drug Val to a strip club after we were done one day and she had no idea what was going on until we got inside. She said she would never go again unless there was another girl present." When he said this he got this evil smirk on his face.

"Ohhh no. I don’t have any desire to go to a strip club!"

"Well babe, I have a feeling you're going to end up at one with us sooner or later." I sighed and accepted the well known fact that this would probably happen eventually.

Our food was brought a few minutes later. It didn’t take us too long to eat and when we were done Zacky insisted on paying. We headed out onto the deck that was located in back of the restaurant and from there we made our way down onto the sand. The sun was in the process of setting and it turned everything a lovely shade of orange. Zacky reached his arm around my shoulders and I in turn wrapped my arm around his waist and hooked my fingers into one of his belt loops.

We walked a ways down the beach for a few minutes before we stopped up on top of a small sand hill before it started to descend a short ways where the water was crashing up onto the shore. Zacky stood behind me and wrapped both of his muscular arms around my slender waist. He rested his chin on my shoulder as we gazed out toward the setting sun.

"It looks so beautiful from out here. There's nothing in the way of the view." I smiled.

"I know something that's even more beautiful." He murmured in my ear. It may have sounded cliché but the way he said it made me want to melt right then and there.

I spun around so I was now facing him and wrapped my arms around the back of his neck while he pulled me close to his body. Although it was slightly chilly since the sun was going down, the heat from his body against mine was enough to set me on fire.

"Oh really?" I asked as a small smile adorned my lips.

"Mhmm. And she just so happens to be in my arms right this very second." The green of his eyes held me captive. I couldn’t bear to look away. He raised one of his calloused hands up to caress my cheek while the other was still around my waist and held me close to him. His eyes looked so sincere and his hand against my cheek just felt so comforting. I felt butterflies suddenly swirl up in my stomach from somewhere. The distance between us was closing and I knew what was coming. My eyes fluttered shut as his lips met mine for the first time. His snakebites were just as cool against my lips as they had been against my neck the other day but they soon warmed up and felt great. My hands slid up from around his neck and tangled into his black hair as he pulled my face closer to him so he could deepen the kiss. His tongue gently grazed my lower lip asking for permission before I opened up and his tongue met mine. I was in total bliss kissing Zacky. He made me feel so comfortable and safe, no nervousness, no awkwardness, no nothing, it just felt perfect.

We slowly pulled away but he left his lips lingering very close to mine. He leaned in again and gave me a short but sweet kiss on the lips once more as he grasped my hands in his own and held them between us as we stared into eachother's eyes.

"Katie I know we've only known eachother for less than a week, but I can't help but feel that there's something between us. I've never felt like this with any other girl before. You just leave me stunned and amazed all the damn time. It's weird because one minute I'll be acting cocky and then I see you and I feel like I can just be myself. You really are so fucking special to me and before I say anything else, I want you to know this isn't just some random rebound relationship. You are amazing and I was wondering if you might be willing to put up with me and my shitty antics no longer as a friend but as my girlfriend?" I saw the hopefulness in his eyes and I just knew he was being genuine. Truth was, what he said about me was exactly how I felt about him. No guy had ever made me feel like this, even after months of dating and here we were just shy of knowing eachother for a week.

My mouth turned up into a smile before I nodded my head.

"I would love to be your girlfriend Zacky." He pulled me into a short but passionate kiss that made me knees go weak. When we pulled away I turned to see that the sun had just about gone down all of the way.

I smiled and we turned to walk the short way down the beach back to the car so we could return home after our evening together. The whole way Zacky was gently rubbing his thumb in circle patterns on my hand. We both hardly said a word the whole way back but we were both in such good spirits nothing really needed to be said. You know how sometimes you just get so happy you're at a loss for words? Well that was currently us.