Inside These Arms Of Yours

If there was one thing I hated it was days like today. The smallest thing could easily set me off and make me out of it for the rest of the day. Stupid hormones. I smiled as I retrieved my drink from the counter and took a seat at a table next to the window. Starbucks always had the homey feeling for me. It had become my place to relax and de-stress. Glancing out the window I saw a mom with a little girl walking down the sidewalk. I couldn’t help but smile at how happy they looked. It made me miss my siblings. I loved being around kids and someday I hoped to have my own. I looked back down to my drink and closed my eyes. When I opened them I nearly fell out of my chair at the sight of a hand now resting on my table, a hand that wasn't mine. The person was obviously standing behind me and had reached around to prop themselves us. As I slowly turned my head I stared up into Zacky's eyes.

"Mind if I join you?" Great, now I was going to feel guilty about leaving. I nodded my head nonetheless.

"Yeah sure." He took a seat on the bench across from mine. Talk about embarrassing. He took my drink that I was still staring at from my hands and set it down before taking my hands in his.

"Hey, are you alright?" He questioned in what I took to be a worried voice. I looked up to find him staring at me. I gave a weak smile and nodded my head again.

"Yeah, I'm just having an off day I guess."

"But that's not all is it?" He sighed before continuing. "I see that look in your eyes."

Glancing up I closed my eyes allowing one tear to fall.

"It's just been stressful I guess. Everything going on. It's like it's all catching up to me now, the move, the work, the incident last week. I just feel like it's all been so much." Another tear fell and Zacky got up from his chair before coming around to sit next to me in the booth. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and let me lean my head in the crook of his neck.

The tears just kept on falling as he whispered soothing words in my ear.

"Just let it out. It's ok babe. We'll get through this. Shhh its's ok."

I felt so hopeless, yet at the same time, Zacky made me feel alright. He was my strength through all this. And it felt so right. Zacky was my other half, he always made everything alright and no guy had ever been able to do that for me before. He was right, we would get through this.

I gave a final sob as Zack rubbed my back with one of his arms. This helped to calm me down enough so I could look at him. I glanced at his shirt to find it now had a lovely wet spot on it from my shed tears.

I sniffed one last time before looking up to meet his gaze. "I'm sorry."

"There is absolutely nothing for you to be sorry for. You've been through a lot lately. I'm surprised you didn't break down sooner to be honest." I gave a weak smile before grabbing my coffee and taking a sip before setting it back down and settling back into Zack's arms.

"And this would be the very reason we got those tickets." I could hear a smirk in his voice.

"Ugh don't you dare bring that up." I muttered. Their little game is what set this all off and I didn’t want to have to deal with it again.

"You mean you don’t want to know what they are for?" I could hear the amusement in his voice.

"You know damn well I want to know. I just don’t want to play your little game anymore."

"Which is why I'm going to tell you." I glanced up to see his eyes were dancing with excitement. I guess I must have looked skeptical because he smiled even more. Zack leaned down and rested his head on top of mine.

"We my dear, are going on a several-day getaway."

"A several-day getaway? To where?"

"Anaheim for an Angels game Wednesday and then to Disneyland Thursday."

"Anaheim? That's not far Zack. It's like twenty minutes from home." I could tell Zack's smile had faltered. But mine grew. He just couldn’t see it. I was ecstatic to go to Disney and an Angels game.

"Well, I mean, it's not far, but it'll still be fun." And now he was getting defensive. I turned my head slightly so he could see my grin.

"Oh aren't you a sneaky one." He replied as I giggled before turning to face him and leaning in to give him a kiss.

"Ewwww." We broke apart to see too middle school aged guys glaring at us. Their glare soon turned into shock as the stared at Zacky.

"Yeah? What's the problem punks?" Zacky raised an eyebrow at their expressions.

"Oh um, nothing Mr. Vengeance. You go right back to you girlfriend. Sorry we bothered you sir." And with that their faces turned bright red and they hurried right back out the door they had just walked through.

I just stared in shock at the door. Did that really just happen? They stopped just because it was Zacky Vengeance? Damn.

"Well that was awkward." Zacky mirrored my confused expression.

"Yeah it was. Well I guess we should get back so I can apologize to the guys."

"Oh trust me, they understand. But yeah we probably should get back. Oh by the way, my parents invited us over for dinner tomorrow night. Would you be up for that? I don’t want to add any stress or anything."

"Really? You mean I finally get to meet this infamous mother of yours that I've only talked on the phone with a million times?" I teased him as we stood up from the table hand in hand. I was actually really anxious to meet Zack's parents. His mom Sarah called the house often so I've had the chance to talk to her a lot, and I already know I love her to death. She's simply amazing. As for his dad Mike, we've never talked but from what Zack's told me, he's anxious to meet me too.

"Yes you finally get to meet her. So you're game for it then?" I could see that spark in his eyes. Zack adored his parents. It wasn't always that way but as he grew up, he grew closer like most kids do eventually. The only sad thing would be that I wouldn’t get to meet his younger brother Matt. He was off at college. But Zack swore one of these day's I'd get to meet him.

"Of course I'm game. So tell me more about this trip. Oh shit! How did you even get here?" The thought had never even crossed my mind. Since I had his car, whose car did he snag?

"The guys went to grab lunch. I figured you'd be here so I had them drop me off." He looked proud of the fact he had me figured out by now. And I had to hand it to him, he was good at learning my ways and habits so quickly.

"Oh alright. So more details about the trip then?" I unlocked the car and was about to hop in the driver's seat but Zack's hand stopped me.

"Allow me, I don’t think you're still quite in the right mind to drive. You look like you're still calming down." Damn he was good. It was like he could read me like a book.

I sighed before handing over the keys and walking around to the passenger's side and climbing in.

"Well we leave on Wednesday morning. Everyone's going. The guys and all the girls. We have room reservations in the Marriott in downtown Anaheim, which is extremely nice by the way. We've got reservations for Wednesday night through Sunday night. We're not all staying together as a group the entire time though, we kinda all have our own plans, but we're going to the game and Disneyland together. And before you ask, our plans are a surprise so don't bother asking." I game him a slight glare as I sipped my drink. "But yeah, it should be fun. We thought everyone's needed a break lately and figured this would be nice." Well at least I knew these guys were smart and thoughtful.

"Yeah, it sounds great Zacky." We pulled up into the parking structure of the studio and Zack climbed out before coming around to my side and helping me out. He closed the door but before I could start walking he had me backed up against the car.

I stood there staring in his eyes as he grinned at me.

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" He asked in a voice just above a whisper as he leaned his forehead against mine.

"I don’t know but I'm asking myself the exact same question." Zacky's lips found mine once more. It was like his lips were novacaine to my brain. It just stopped working on its own, and I loved every second of it.