In My Dreams It's Me And You

(Nat's POV)

"So... thank you," Zack said as he and I sat at our table in the little diner. We had arrived a while ago and were in the middle of having breakfast when he spoke up.

I looked up at him and gave him a puzzled look. "What for?" I asked curiously, taking a sip of my cappuccino.

"For not screaming at me this morning when you answered the door, and for not having done so thus far," he said with a small laugh.

"Well, I realize I've been a bit of a bitch lately, so I decided not to completely go off at you again," I answered. I picked a piece off my muffin and popped it into my mouth before looking up at Zack. "Besides, I really think we shoud talk about... you know."

Zack nodded his head and placed his hands on the table in front of him. He twirled his thumbs for a moment and then his eyes met mine. " I really am sorry," he said in a whisper. "I never meant to hurt you, Nat. That was never my intention."

I took a deep breath and let it out, exhaling heavily. "I was so angry at you, Zack," I began. "You had hurt me so badly, and I didn't want to listen to a word you had to say. I didn't think I could trust anything you said, and because of that, I just chose to ignore you and not talk to you. I've had time to think about what happened, though, and I can see that you mean it when you say you didn't mean to hurt me. I just... I want to know why. Was it something I did? Was something wrong with our relationship?"

"No, Natalie," Zack answered. "It wasn't like that at all. You hadn't done anything wrong, and nothing was wrong with our relationship. This was my fault completely, and I don't want you blaming yourself."

I ran my hand through my hair and looked at him. "Then what happened? Why did you cheat on me?" Zack averted his eyes from my own and I sighed. "Please look at me, Zack," I pleaded. "We need to talk about this."

Zack raised his head to look at me and I could see the shame in his eyes. "I... I did it because I was afraid. I was feeling insecure, so I acted on impulse. It was stupid of me, but that's what I did," he explained. That wasn't good enough for me, and I asked him to elaborate. "I've been cheated on before, Nat, and it's killed me each time. I don't know why, but each relationship I'm in, I get cheated on. I've come to the conclusion that I'm not good enough; I must be doing something wrong that makes them unhappy, and then they go cheat on me."

"How does this relate to us, Zack?" I asked. "I was perfectly happy with you; you were doing everything right. I would never have cheated on you."

"I was afraid you would, though," he replied. Zack sat up a little straighter in his seat and although his eyes were still ashamed, he held my gaze. "So instead of me getting hurt, I decided I'd hurt you first. See, the way I saw it was, if I hurt you, you couldn't hurt me. It made perfect sense in my head."

I shook my head and willed the tears not to fall. A lot of good it did me, though. "You could have talked to me, Zack," I said quietly, wiping my eyes as the tears leaked over. Thank god I hadn't put any makeup on before we'd left. "If you felt that way, you should have told me."

"I couldn't, Natalie," he responded. "You wouldn't have understood."

"You don't know that. How could you know that, Zack?" I questioned. "You didn't even think to talk to me, did you?" Zack shook his head and I looked down at the table, biting my lip as the tears continued to well in my eyes. "You know, just because you've been hurt in the past doesn't give you the right to hurt me," I said. "It wasn't fair."

Zack suddenly reached across the table and took my hand in his. "I know that," he answered urgently. "I knew right after I had cheated on you that I was wrong. I regret that every morning I wake up and all day long until I go to bed, and then I have nightmares about it. Cheating on you, hurting you... it was the worst mistake of my life. I know it's a lot to ask, but Natalie... I want you to forgive me. Please."

I looked at our hands - Zack's calloused and rough hand holding my soft, small one - and closed my eyes afterwards. Zack wanted me to forgive him, and I wanted to. I wanted to so badly, but I just didn't know if I could. He had broken my trust, and I didn't know if he deserved the chance to regain it.

"I've missed my friend," I whispered, looking up to see Zack's eyes watering. "He was such a great guy, and I had so much fun hanging out with him."

"I know he's missed you, too," he replied. "He knows he's fucked up, but he'd really like the chance to be your friend again. He promises not to ruin it again."

With one last look into Zack's eyes, I squeezed his hand and gave him a small smile. "In that case, I forgive you," I murmured. "I want us to be friends like we were, Zack. Please, don't betray my trust again. I couldn't do this a second time."

"I promise I won't. You don't have to worry about that," he replied with a smile, making me smile in return. "So what do you say we head back to the hotel? I'm pretty sure the meeting is over by now, and I have the sneaking suspicion that Valary is going to want to talk to you."

I laughed and got up from my seat, as did Zack. "You're probably right. I'll most likely be interrogated until she gets all the details she wants, and then some," I replied.

Zack walked us over to the door and then held it open for me. "Off we go then," he said with a smile. It hadn't hit me until then, but I had really missed that smile.

Just one more thing to make you consider giving him another chance.

Whoa, where the fuck did that come from? We had literally just made amends, and there was no way I was going to start thinking about giving him another chance. Besides that, he cheated on me. He doesn't deserve one.

Come on, don't be so cold-hearted. Zack is a really sweet, genuine guy when you look past the mistake he made. And you have to admit, he is still amazingly good-looking, despite what he did.

I looked over at Zack as we walked down the street back towards our hotel. He was smiling - something I hadn't seen him do in a very long time - and he looked.... well, he looked happy.

And very hot.

Shut the fuck up, already! Zack may be very attractive, but I don't feel that way about him anymore.

Yeah, who cares that he has the most attractive green eyes you've ever seen? And we definitely don't notice the way his snake bites look against his lips when the light hits them, or when he talks. Yep. We don't care about any of that.

Why should I care about any of those things? I have Brian now. Zack's a great guy and I'm glad we're trying to be friends again, but I don't love him. Not like I love Brian.

...

Mhmm, that's what I thought.

"So, what do you think?" Zack asked, making me shake my head in a daze.

"Huh? Sorry, I didn't hear a word you just said. What now?" I asked, a little embarassed as Zack shook his head and laughed lightly at me.

"I was talking about how we're almost done with the tour, and I asked you what you thought about that," he explained, holding the door to the hotel open for me as we walked in.

With everything that had been happening lately, I had totally forgotten that the tour was almost over. I pressed the button on the elevator for our floor and turned to Zack while we waited. "I'm kinda sad, I guess," I replied. "Despite what happened, this was still an amazing experience for me and it saddens me to know that it's almost over."

Zack smiled as we stepped into the elevator. "Well, who knows? Maybe we'll keep you on as a permanent guest singer," he said conspiratorially.

After that we were silent, and it got a bit awkward. This was the first time since our breakup that Zack and I had been alone in a confined space like this, and I don't think either of us really knew how to handle it. In an effort to make things less weird, I asked him about the meeting the others had this morning. "What do you mean, it's a secret?" I asked.

"Top secret information, doll," Zack replied. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

"Well in that case, I'm going to make you tell me. I know you'd never kill me, so just tell me," I responded and Zack shook his head. I pouted and he laughed at me.

"You're right in that I'd never kill you, but I'm still not telling you," he said, holding his ground. I gave him puppy dog eyes and he screwed his eyes shut and looked away from me. "Come on Nat, don't give me the look," he moaned. "It's pretty much impossible for anyone to deny you anything when you do that."

I grabbed onto Zack's wrists and turned him to look at me. "That's the point," I laughed. As soon as I looked into his eyes, though, I stopped. The tiny room was dead silent and my heart started beating faster; I knew it wasn't my imagination and that Zack's face was getting closer to mine. I also knew that I wasn't pulling away. I couldn't, though. It was as though I was frozen in place, and as badly as I wanted to move my face away from his, I couldn't. I was saved when the doors opened and I jerked my head to the side. "Brian," I breathed, stepping away from Zack to walk towards him.

Brian looked down at me, an unreadable expression on his face, and then up at Zack. "We've got the rest of the day off until soundcheck at 5:00," he said and then walked away.

After he had left, Zack came to stand behind me. "I wonder what his problem is?" he asked, and I shrugged my shoulders.

"He's probably just in a bad mood," I replied. It wasn't untrue, either. I knew he had seen Zack and I in the elevator, and I knew that he was in a very bad mood. "I'm gonna go talk to him and find out what's bothering him. I'll talk to you later, Z."

Zack said goodbye and went to his room, leaving me to walk to Brian's. When he answered the door, his face didn't look any different than it had when the elevator opened. "What do you want?" he asked, and I pushed past him into the room.

"Something is obviously wrong, and you're going to tell me what it is," I said and sat down on the bed. Brian glared coldly at me and walked into the adjoining bathroom. I watched him walk away from me and jumped up to follow him. "Brian, what's wrong?" I asked as I leaned agains the side of the door, watching him spike his hair up in the mirror.

"I see that you and Zack have made up," he stated, not looking at me as he continued to stare into the mirror.

I narrowed my eyes at him and asked, "What about it?"

Brian turned to look at me, and I could see anger in his eyes. "Nothing. I just think it was strange how close you two were in that elevator, when it was me who was in your bed all last night and it was me who was in your shower this morning. Don't you think that's strange, Natalie?" he asked.

Scoffing, I turned and walked away from him. "I can't believe you're even saying this," I said, standing in the middle of the room. "You know I would never do anything like that to you."

"Well that's not what it fucking looked like," Brian responded, slamming something down on the bathroom counter.

I put my hands on my hips and stared at him as he moved around in the bathroom. "Are you calling me a fucking liar?" I asked incredulously. Brian didn't say anything in response, and I knew that was a 'yes'. "How fucking dare you suggest that I would cheat on you, when you're the one who was hooking up with innumerable amounts of girls before we got together?!"

Brian turned to look at me, and I could see he was just as angry as he was before, if not more so. "I've already explained and apologized for that. You can't use it against me; it's not the same thing," he growled.

"Whatever, Brian," I scoffed. "You're just pissed off because you know you're wrong. I would never cheat on you, and you know it. You're just looking for a reason to say that I fucked up so you can go find some other girl to fuck."

Before I knew what was happening, Brian had stormed out of the bathroom and grabbed my arms, pinning me against the nearest wall. "That's not fucking true," he said lowly.

"How should I know?" I asked, staring him straight in the eyes.

Brian's eyes seemingly got darker and he answered, "Because I would never do that to you. You know I don't want anyone but you."

Continuing to hold his gaze, I replied, "If that's true for you, why don't you believe me when I say it to you?"

"Because I saw you two! He was about to kiss you!" Brian shouted, his hands moving from my arms to my hips and slamming them against the wall.

"And that's exactly what you saw!" I screamed back, Brian breathing heavily in front of me. "He was going to kiss me, but I wasn't going to kiss him back! God, you fucking idiot, if you wouldn't have just assumed the worst, you would have saw that!"

Brian's grip on my hips got tighter yet again and he moved his face closer to mine. "You're right: if I would have looked closer at the situation, I would have seen that. But all I saw at that moment was you two about to kiss, and it infuriated me," he whispered and then pushed his lips against mine.

My hands instantly went to his hair and my fingers tangled themselves in his locks, pulling and tugging as he pressed his body against me. I felt his hands slide down to my ass and squeeze tightly before lifting me up and forcing my legs around his waist. As Brian walked us towards his bathroom, I pulled away and lifted his shirt over his head.

"You're such a jackass," I murmured hurriedly as he set me on the counter and started undressing me.

Brian threw my top off and tugged my shorts down my legs. "I know that," he replied, standing up so I could undo his zipper, "but sometimes I can't help myself. I get so jealous."

Unclipping my bra and throwing it to the floor, I grabbed on to Brian's arms and pulled him to me. "No need to feel that way, babe," I said against his lips. "I'm all yours, and you know that."

"I do know that, and I'm going to show you how much that means to me," he whispered as he kneeled down in front of me.

Brian parted my legs and his hot breath on my thighs made me shudder. He reached up and grabbed my panties, pulling them down with his teeth once he could reach them. Before I could yell at him to do something, Brian slid three fingers into me and made me throw my head back in pleasure. I moaned as he started to go faster and nearly screamed when he removed his fingers and replaced them with his tongue. His thumb rubbed my clit as his tongue worked me, and my feet went on top of his shoulders while my hands pulled at his hair and forced him closer to me.

"Fuck baby, I'm so close," I groaned, resulting in Brian working faster. His tongue swirled in and out of me as his thumb continued to apply pressure and rub my clit. I screamed as I came, Brian continuing to eat me out.

When he stood up, Brian kissed me. "You taste so good," he mumbled when he pulled away.

"Get into the shower," I managed to say as I started to regain my breath. Brian did as I said and got the water ready, pulling me in with him once it was warm enough. We stood together underneath the shower head, the water sliding between our bodies as we kissed. When I could feel that he was sufficiently turned on, I backed Brian against a wall and got down on my knees.

"Oh Jesus Christ," he moaned as I took the tip of his hard length into my mouth. I wrapped one hand around the base of him and used the other to massage his balls, making Brian put both hands on the back of my head.

I slowly inched my way down his length, my tongue swirling around him as I did so. When I had all of him in my mouth, I came back up and started bobbing my head up and down. I ran my tongue along the underside of his dick and flicked his head when I reached the top, making Brian jerk.

"Come on Nat, I'm so close," he said with desperation in his voice, using one of his hands to guide me and the other pulled lightly on my hair. I could feel Brian start to throb inside my mouth and knew it would only be a little bit longer before he came. Increasing my speed, I shifted my eyes up to meet his and moaned when I saw the look of ecstacy on his face. That moan sent vibrations down the length of his dick and was what sent him over the edge, howling my name. I swallowed everything and licked my lips before standing up and standing before him. "That was amazing," he panted, pulling my body against his.

I bit my lip as I felt him start to grow against my thigh and looked up at Brian. "I want you," I whispered, standing on tip toe and sliding my hand between our bodies. I guided his cock to the very edge of my opening and pushed my hips against his, resulting in him sliding into me. Brian obviously got the message and wrapped his arm around my waist as he shut the water off and opened the shower curtain. Neither of us bothered with a towel; we just headed straight for the bedroom. I laid down at the head of the bed and Brian crawled on top of me, wasting no time in picking up where we left off.

"You feel so good baby," he moaned as he rocked his hips against mine. I cried out in pleasure as he hit my core and he laced our hands together above my head. Opening my lust-clouded eyes, I looked up to see Brian looking down at me with a mixture of emotions in his eyes. There was anger, frustration, lust, and passion. But what made me happiest to see was love.

"I love you," I whispered with a stuttering breath.

Brian smiled and leaned down to kiss me as I started to come closer to orgasm. "I love you too," he breathed, letting my hands go so I could wrap my arms around his neck. "I'm sorry for freaking out at you earlier. I know I was wrong."

My breathing started to get heavier and the familiar tingling sensation started building up in my lower stomach. "It's okay, Bri. I understand," I replied, my words turning into a moan as I came around him. My whole body was still shuddering with the force of my own orgasm when Brian came, spilling into me.

When we were both done, Brian was lying down beside me and pulled me on top of his chest. "Am I forgiven?" he asked.

I leaned in and Brian gave me a sweet kiss. "Yes, you are," I smiled.

If only I had known how much drama was to come.