Status: new chapter june 8

The Ballerina and the Rocker

Chapter 23

Quinn

A postcard of Times Square sat on the desk. Quinn stared at for a good minute before taking a pen and finally writing something down to her father:

Hi Dad. I miss you! Thanksgiving was weird without you. Did they have turkey for you all over there? I’m sure it wasn’t as good as grandma’s. Actually, I think she’s sending you some leftovers, so hopefully those make it to you. School’s fine. Lots of dancing, obviously. But keeping busy is good. Anyway, I love you and hope you’re staying safe over there. xo Quinn

Quinn scanned over her words and, when she decided they were sufficient, placed a stamp in the corner. She put the postcard to the side, picked up another one, which had a picture of Lincoln Center, and began to write again:

I love you. xo Quinn

Once stamped and addressed to Zacky, Quinn bundled up and brought the postcards downstairs and outside to the mailbox on the street corner. She was about to head back to her dorm when she noticed her classmate Crystal waving over to her.

“Hey,” Quinn said as she walked over.

“Are you busy right now?” Crystal asked.

“Not really, why?”

“I want a shopping buddy.”

While she wasn’t necessarily in the shopping mood, Quinn agreed to accompany the other dancer. They hopped on the D train and got off at Manhattan Mall where Crystal walked away with three shopping bags and Quinn a pack of gum. The girls continued to walk up 8th Avenue until they came to the Virgin Records Megastore, which Crystal insisted they go into so she could finally buy the latest CD of some Spanish singer Quinn had never heard of.

While her friend ventured into the land of Pop and R&B, Quinn decided to walk down the Rock aisle. She recognised some albums which Zacky had introduced her to and decided to buy Master of Puppets, which was on sale, so she could give it a proper second listen.

“Ok, ready to go?” Crystal asked, CD in hand. Quinn nodded when curiosity struck her.

“Hold on,” she said as she began walking to the other end of the aisle. Crystal followed behind and the two girls stopped at the “A” section where Quinn found a copy of a little purple CD. She picked it up and smiled. Even though she already had two copies of the album, it was something else to actually see it being sold in a store.

“Avenged Sevenfold,” Crystal read off the CD in Quinn’s hand. “I’ve never heard of them.”

“It’s my boyfriend’s band,” Quinn replied with a smile before putting the CD back in its place.

“Shut up,” the other girl said in disbelief.

Quinn laughed and nodded towards the registers, suggesting they go make their purchases. Once they had, the girls decided enough shopping had been done and began the trek back to school.

“So,” Crystal continued, “how come I’ve never heard you mention your boyfriend before?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I guess I kind of keep to myself with stuff like that.”

“If I had a boyfriend who was in a band with a CD I’d tell everyone about it.”

Quinn smiled politely. Sure she could have told people at school, but why would it matter? None of them knew Zacky, and she certainly wasn’t close enough with anyone there who would have cared. Crystal was her closest friend at Juilliard, but even so Quinn still felt reserved.

“He lives in California?” Crystal asked when Quinn failed to respond to the previous comment.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Has he come out here at all? I’d like to meet him.”

“Um. No… no, he hasn’t.”

It was funny, she hadn’t even thought about that until now. Both she and Zacky agreed to staying in a long distance relationship, but so far it had been Quinn that was making all the effort to see each other. In the time the two had been at this long distance thing, it was Quinn who always went to Zacky. She had spur of the moment flown out to see him and tell him that she loved him, but he had yet to visit her in New York.

But of course he was busy with band stuff, there was no faulting him with that. But Quinn was busy, too. But then again she also had scheduled breaks which made visiting a little easier. But he could technically take a break whenever he needed to; it wasn’t like he wasn’t playing a show every single day.

Just because Zacky hadn’t hopped on a plane to New York didn’t mean he loved her any less… right?

Zacky

For all the progress the band seemed to have been making, there were certainly dry spells where they would just sit around. Not that Zacky didn’t mind just hanging out, but it just felt like they should be doing… something.

“Birthday drinks!” Jimmy shouted, a bottle of vodka in one hand and a case of beers in the other, as he walked into Zacky’s room.

Drinking was a good “something” right now.

“The last birthday where you have to sneak alcohol,” Brian added as he followed Jimmy. Matt and Val walked in after and took a seat at the foot of Zacky’s bed.

“Thanks guys,” Zacky said with a smile.

As the group began cracking open the bottles of booze, the phone rang. Usually he would just let one of his parents answer the phone, but since they were both at work Zacky excused himself from his friends and went into the hall.

“Hello,” he answered the phone.

“Happy Birthday!” he heard Quinn shout, loudly that he had to pull the phone away from his ear.

Zacky laughed. No matter how shrieky she was, it was always great to hear her voice. “Thanks, Quinn.”

“Doing anything special for the big two-oh?”

“Nah, just hanging with the guys. Oh, and thanks for the postcard by the way.”

“You’re welcome.” He could tell she was smiling.

“So when do you head back out here?” There was a pause on the other end after he had asked the question. It wasn’t very comforting.

“Um, actually, I have to talk to you about that.”

Zacky felt his heart speed up from nerves, not expecting a phone call like this at all. Wanting a bit more privacy, he took the phone and headed downstairs away from his friends.

“Oh-kay…” he said, slowly and confused.

“Well, see…” she hesitated. “It’s been a really hard time for my family lately, so obviously they want to spend as much time together as possible… but they’re all out here.”

He could tell she was struggling with how to tell him she wouldn’t be coming out to California at all, so he decided to help her out by saying what she couldn’t.

“So you’re spending your whole break over there,” he reluctantly concluded.

“...Yeah.” She sounded sad. “I’m so sorry. And it’s not just family stuff -- I’ve got a lot of practicing to do, this semester has just been so off and I really need the extra time.”

“No, I totally understand.” Which he did, he just didn’t like it.

“Maybe you could come out here for a while?”

The thought had definitely crossed his mind, multiple times actually, but there was never a good time. He couldn’t just up and leave when they were still trying to get Avenged up off the ground.

“I’d love to, believe me,” he began, “but the timing’s not right, with the band, you know?”

Quinn

“Oh, yeah, I know,” she responded half-heartedly. “No worries.”

She was hoping Zacky held her and the band as equal priorities, but it certainly seemed like she was being put on the back burner.

“Look, maybe we’ll get on a tour - like maybe Warped Tour or something,” Zacky continued. “That’d get us on the road all over and we could meet you in New York.”

So the only way her boyfriend was going to visit her was if the band was touring in her direction.

“Yeah,” she said, holding back tears. “That would be really awesome.”

Zacky

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked, noticing a lackluster in her voice.

“Yeah, yeah,” Quinn responded. “I.. I just miss you, is all.

“I love you, you know?”

“I know. I love you too.”

After a few more “miss you”s and a last “goodbye,” Zacky hung up the phone and headed back upstairs where he was sure to find some tipsy friends.

“Hey, toss me a beer,” he said to no one in particular when he entered his room. Matt tossed Zacky a can who immediately opened it and began chugging.

He definitely needed a few more.

Quinn

With a mug of hot chocolate in her hands, Quinn curled up on the couch in her grandparents’ living room and watched the heavy snow fall. She always loved going to their house in Connecticut, it was incredibly beautiful and peaceful.

“Hey, mind if I sit here with you?” Stephanie asked, her hands holding her own mug of hot chocolate.

“Oh, absolutely,” Quinn said as she moved her feet aside to make room on the couch for her future sister-in-law. “So,” she said once Stephanie had sat down. “How’s the wedding planning coming along?”

“Well, it’s not, really,” the long haired brunette confessed.

“What? How come?”

“Well, we’re having trouble picking a date,” she explained. “It’s a little difficult to decide right now with Mason’s baseball schedule, plus I want to wait until I’m finished with grad school.” A thoughtful pause followed before she spoke again. “And then with your dad being deployed… we just want to make sure that he’s back for it.”

Quinn smiled. “Those are all very good reasons. I was afraid you were going to break it off or something.”

“Oh, god no!” Stephanie giggled. “I definitely want to marry him.”

“That’s good.”

“It probably just won’t happen as quickly as we initially thought.”

“And that’s good too.”

The two girls smiled at each other before taking a sip of their drinks.

“Hey, can I ask you a question?” Quinn asked.

“Sure, shoot.”

Quinn placed her mug on the coffee table so all her focus was on Stephanie.

“With you being in school and Mason being on the road for games, how do you deal with that?”

If anyone could help Quinn and relate to her in any way, it was Stephanie.

“Well, it’s not easy,” Stephanie replied truthfully. “Sometimes it really sucks. But we’ve been together since college, and I’ve got my school stuff to focus on. I guess the big thing is that I know he’s always coming back home to me, so that makes the separation a bit more bearable.”

Quinn nodded as she took in everything Stephanie was saying. She seemed to notice Quinn’s pensiveness and continued.

“Are things okay with you and Zacky?” she asked, hitting the nail on the head.

“Yes, I think?” Quinn said. “Actually, I don’t know…”

“What’s up, girlie.”

She sighed before going into detail about how she felt the long distance relationship with Zacky was becoming a bit more one-sided, and that despite being one hundred percent supportive of the band there’s still that selfish part that wants to be put first.

“You’re being a human person with feelings,” Stephanie said once Quinn had finished spewing off her concerns. “Don’t feel guilty about that.”

“What are you feeling guilty about?” Audrey asked as she walked into the living room, overhearing the conversation.

“Boy troubles,” Stephanie explained. “Look, Quinn - you’ve just got to talk to him.”

“Oh my god,” Audrey sighed.

“What?” Quinn shot back.

“That’s the same advice I give you all the time. You should be able to remember that by now.”

“Audrey, it’s not that easy this time,” Quinn tried to reason. Audrey shrugged her shoulders and bit into the cookie she had carried in with her. Her sister’s nonchalantness really got on her nerves that Quinn couldn’t hold back.

“Dammit, Audrey!” Quinn exclaimed, making both of the other girls jump in their seats. “I know it’s hard to believe, but sometimes your profound advice just doesn’t work, okay?”

She felt her face warming up; her cheeks must have been flushed.

“Because you know what?” she continued, hotly. “I did try talking to him, but I didn’t do too well, did I?”

She was about to add something else about the conversation, but instead broke down crying. Quinn placed her face in her hands and felt Stephanie’s hand begin to rub her back soothingly.

“Q,” Audrey said, coming over to her sister’s side and placing a hand reassuringly on her knee. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, I’m being ridiculous,” Quinn said, embarrassed and wiping away her tears. “I guess I could try talking to him a little better.”

It didn’t seem fair that all this weight was falling on her shoulders, and if she snapped like that at her sister she was afraid of what was going to happen if she tried talking again with Zacky.
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Finally, another chapter! Thanks for sticking around, even with the slow-ish updates.
Please comment :) They make my day.

xo