The Ballerina and the Rocker

Zacky

Even though they had only been playing small shows to virtually no one, they were playing them non-stop and back to back. It was exhausting, but it was definitely progress.

But there wasn’t any progress with Quinn.

Zacky had tried to get a hold of her before she left for her grandparents’ house in Virginia but was unsuccessful. He also didn’t have her grandparents’ number, so his only hopes of talking to her would be for her to call him. If he happened to be home… if she happened to call at all…

“All set, guys?” Matt asked. The band had a gig in San Diego with another local band Atreyu and they had just finished packing up the van. The guys nodded in response.

“Hey guys,” Val piped up from behind the group. “I’m going to stop back at my place and get my mom’s car to pick up Michelle, so don’t wait up - we’ll just meet you there.”

She gave Matt a quick kiss before they all piled into the van, save for Zacky. As Val began walking away towards her house, he bolted over to her side. “Sorry, Zacky,” she said before he could get a word out. “I haven’t heard a thing from her.” His heart sunk.

“Oh… ok,” was his sullen response.

After he had divulged his relationship worries to Val, he had hoped she would have been in touch with Quinn since he had been doing a pretty spotty job. But apparently he wasn’t the only one having communication issues with the East coast girl.

Val leaned over and placed a friendly kiss on his cheek before continuing on. He tried not to think anything of it. He knew how busy she must be with her dancing at Juilliard, just as he and the rest of the guys were busy promoting and playing. He knew that meant they weren’t going to be talking to each other every day. He knew, but it still hurt all the same.

Quinn

“I don’t know why I feel so nervous,” Quinn said as she, Val, and Michelle drove down the highway, following signs to San Diego. “I didn’t even feel this nauseous when I had my Juilliard audition!”

“Calm down, Quinn,” Val said with a smirk from behind the wheel. “He’ll be so happy to see you.”

“You think?”

“I know. He practically pounced on me to know if I had talked to you lately or not. The surprise is set!”

“I think it’s so sweet that you came out here,” Michelle said, leaning forward from the back seat. “I haven’t seen a couple so cute since this one here,” she pointed at her twin, who smiled.

“What about you, Michelle?” Quinn asked, flattered for the interest but wanting to take the attention off her for a bit. “Got a guy in your life?”

Michelle snorted, “No. I was dating this guy Brad for a bit, but he turned out to be a total jerk.” She leaned back in her seat and held her arms out. “Single and ready to mingle!”

An hour and a half later they made it to San Diego. Val pulled her mother’s blue Honda into the parking lot of the theater where Avenged was playing. She handed a ticket to both her sister and Quinn before the three headed inside.

The venue was packed wall to wall with kids in black t-shirts, some of them even wore the deathbat. The fact that Avenged Sevenfold was making an impact on people, even if it was just a tiny group, was enough to make Quinn proud. She couldn’t believe this was actually happening, and she couldn’t have been more thrilled.

“Do you guys want a drink?” Val asked the other two girls over the noise.

Michelle shook her head. “I’ll just have a water,” Quinn replied. She and Michelle sat at a small, round table near the back as Val made her way to the bar. Even though Quinn had been at one of the band’s earliest shows, she still felt out of place. She wore her favorite gray and white plaid button down draped over a plain black tank, accompanied by a pair of distressed jean shorts and her black Doc Martins. So maybe she didn’t look that out of place, but she still felt as though she would stick out to those whose “scene” it was. But then again, it wouldn’t matter what other people thought of her as long as Zacky was happy to see her.

A few short minutes later, Val returned with Quinn’s water and a PBR for herself, which Quinn assumed she got with her fake ID.

“They’re opening for Atreyu,” Val reminded Quinn. “So we’ll be able to see them after.” She nodded in understanding, grateful for having such wonderful girlfriends by her side.

Then suddenly, breaking through the excited and drunken noise of the crowd, was a powerful guitar cord and drum cymbal. The noise was so piercing it almost made Quinn choke on the water she was in the process of swallowing.

Then she saw him.

Zacky was up on stage shredding it on the guitar. Donned in all black with his dark hair sweeping down across his face, he played in such fluidity with Brian, Matt, Jimmy, and their newest member Justin. It certainly was a sight to see.

She watched with great enthusiasm as the boys played and sang and screamed their songs one after another; fans -- they had fans -- screamed and sang along with them as they formed mosh pits and struggled to stay on their feet.

She recognized each and every song of theirs - from the ones she had heard when they were demos to the newer ones on the CD - and added screams to the crowd when Val jumped on stage for her bit. It was an absolute blast.

It seemed like their set flew by in the blink of an eye. When they had finished, the band, along with the help of their other friends Matt and Jason Berry, began striking the stage as the crowd continued to make noise and head to the bar for another round of drinks. It took about 15 minutes for Avenged to clear the stage before the next band, which Quinn assumed was Atreyu, began setting up their own equipment.

She heard Michelle say something, but Quinn was too distracted by picking nervously at her cuticles.

“What?” she asked.

“I said you should go see him now,” Michelle repeated. “Because I know you don’t want to wait until after the show.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to take him away from anything…”

“Oh my god, just go,” she laughed. “I’m pretty sure he and Brian just went out for a smoke. Come on.”

Without waiting for any kind of response from Quinn, Michelle grabbed her hand and pulled her along through the crowd until they reached the side door exit. Michelle opened it and practically threw Quinn outside. She was right - Brian and Zacky were enjoying a smoke break against the wall.

“Haner, inside,” Michelle barked at Brian. The two boys immediately snapped their heads in the direction of the two girls.

“What the fuck - Quinn!” Brian exclaimed, his runny eyeliner eyes popping at the unexpected sight of her.

She smiled and waved meekly. “Hey Brian.” Then she looked at Zacky, who wore the same baffled expression as Brian, and her demeanor became more somber. “Hi, Zack.”

“Did I stutter?” Michelle continued to Brian. “Inside!”

“Yes ma’am,” Brian responded with a salute. As he made his way to the side door, he said to Quinn, but loud enough for Michelle to hear, “looks like Matty scored the good one.”

Quinn laughed quietly as Michelle smacked the back of Brian’s head before following him back into the theater, leaving Zacky and Quinn outside alone in the breezy San Diego night.

Zacky

She was smiling at him. That was a good sign.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he asked, excitement washing over his body as he stepped towards her.

“I talked my parents into letting me spend some of my break out here,” she explained. “Val helped me plan it - are you surprised?”

He was about to reply with an exuberant “fuck yeah I’m surprised,” but opted to go with something much more appropriate instead. He took her face in his hands and kissed her so hard she almost lost her balance. She giggled and Zacky felt her lips curl up into a smile against his.

“I take that as a ‘yes’,” she said when he broke away.

“I’m so happy to see you.”

“Me too.” Quinn took both of his hands in hers and squeezed them tightly. “Um… is there a place where we can sit down and talk?”

Uh-oh. A knot quickly formed in his stomach.

Quinn

There wasn’t a bench anywhere, so Zacky suggested they just go sit in the van. So they slid into the middle seat, just in front of Jimmy’s drumset packed away in the trunk, and she quickly took his left hand in both of hers. She nervously began futzing with his calloused hand, as if she were moulding it from play-dough.

“Um, so,” she began timidly. “I know things have been kind of weird between us lately…”

Zacky

Dammit, she was going to break up with him. He could feel it.

Quinn

“...And it doesn’t help that we’re both constantly ridiculously busy, and with the constant missed phone calls, and… well, I’ve just spent so much time over-thinking and trying to figure out why things seemed weird and awkward when they were fine before. And it was driving me crazy. But then, finally, it hit me -”

Zacky

This was it.

Quinn

“-and I knew I just had to do this in person, not over the phone…”

Zacky

He was ready to fight back.

Quinn

“I love you.”

Zacky

“Look Quinn -- wait, what?”

Quinn smiled. “I love you, Zacky,” she repeated.

Not a break-up. So not a break-up. Infinitely better than a break-up.

A boyish grin donned his face. “Yeah?”

She giggled. “Yeah.”

His free hand played with the hair of her ponytail that had draped over her shoulder. She pursed her lips at him.

“What?”

“You love me, just admit it,” she teased, using his own words against him.

He stopped twirling her dirty blonde hair around his finger and looked into her beautiful blue eyes.

“I love you, Quinn Marie Hartford.”

Quinn

Not that she was a prude by any means, she just always thought to keep sex in a bed. She never thought she’d have sex in a car. In a full parking lot.

Her plaid shirt was just big enough to cover her bare torso as a makeshift blanket. Zacky held his arms around her while she sat against him. Quinn crossed her arms on top of Zacky’s and rested the back of her head on his shoulder. She smiled as she felt him kiss the top of her head.

“You think they’ll be done soon?” she asked of the concert.

“Who cares,” Zacky said, holding her tighter to him. “I still can’t believe you came out here.”

“Like I said, it really didn’t seem right to say it over the phone.”

“Yeah, but you flew across the country; it’s not like you just drove across town.”

“I’d go anywhere for you.”

She shifted her head at an angle so she was looking up at Zacky who then leaned down to meet his lips with hers. He tasted like perfection.

Then there was a startling knock at the car window that made the two of them jump and look. Jimmy was standing outside looking in at the two of them, paper towels in his hand.

“You two have to clean up before we leave,” he said. Both she and Zacky started to laugh from embarrassment, but thankful it was only Jimmy.

Skillfully keeping her legs close together, Quinn reached her foot forward and unlocked the door. Jimmy opened it and tossed the paper towels on top of them.

“Have a little class, people,” he said in a huff and smirked before closing the door again and walking away.

“Goddamnit, Jim,” Zacky snorted.

“Oddly significantly less awkward than when my sister intercepted our phone call,” Quinn added, amused.

Zacky

Her flight back East left the next day at 4 p.m. out of LAX, so Quinn didn’t really have a lot of time after San Diego. But that was ok.

She loved him, and he was looking forward to their next phone call.