The Ballerina and the Rocker

Quinn

“You smell like airplane,” Audrey said as she engulfed Quinn in a hug.

“Thanks, weirdo,” Quinn said with a laugh.

It was good to be home. After all the scheduling issues with classes and her internship, Quinn finally figured things out and only had to add an extra semester onto her time at Juilliard. So with that worrying out of the way, she was able to focus on something else, namely her brother’s wedding and, hopefully, finding a way to fix her friendship with Zacky.

She really missed him.

Zacky

“Ta-da!” Gena turned Zacky’s chair around so he saw his newly purple-haired reflection in the mirror. “What do you think?” she asked.

“It’s fucking awesome,” He said, scrutinizing his new ‘do.

“Better than a box?”

“Ha, yeah. Better than a box.” Gena smiled and walked over to the cash register at the front of the salon. Zacky got up and followed her, taking his wallet out of his back pocket as he did so. “How much do I owe you?”

Gena punched in some numbers. “50 bucks.”

“I thought you were going to give me a discount because I was pitiful!” She laughed.

“That is with the discount.” Zacky smirked and began to pull out a twenty when Gena spoke again. “I can take off another 10,” she said, “if you buy me a drink later.”

He pulled two twenty dollar bills out of his wallet and placed them on the counter in front of Gena. “Yeah,” he said with a smile, “that I can do.”

Quinn

“To the bride to be!” Stephanie’s sister, and maid of honour, Jessica said as she raised a shot glass up in the air. Quinn, Audrey, Stephanie, and the other women at Stephanie’s bachelorette party followed suit before taking their shots.

Forever the lightweight, it only took two shots and a drink and a half until Quinn felt the alcohol going to her head.

“I think I’m gonna go home soon,” Quinn said to her sister as another round of shots was proposed.

“Already?!” Audrey exclaimed, reaching for a drink.

“You know I don’t hold my liquor well.”

“Boo! Come on, one more drink.”

Quinn chuckled. “Ok, drunkie. Just one.”

But that one drink turned into two… and then another round of shots… and a final drink for the road. At which time the entire group saw fit to leave and make their way to another bar. As they walked down the street Quinn found walking in a straight line a struggle.

“HEY!” Quinn heard Audrey shout. Audrey grabbed Quinn’s arm and stopped her from walking. Quinn looked to where her sister was shouting and saw two boys across the street. Her blurring vision focused on them and she realized it was Brian and Zacky coming out of Johnny’s Bar.

Definitely not wanting to see Zacky right now, especially while drunk, Quinn pulled away from her sister and began walking towards their group but instead lost her footing and stumbled into a bush.

Maybe if I just stay here no one will notice me, she thought as she lay in the bush and closed her eyes. A moment later she felt two hands grab hers and pull her up slowly.

“Well isn’t this familiar,” she heard Brian say, reminiscing of Halloween a few years back. Quinn giggled and opened her eyes. “Come on, I’ll take you home.”

Zacky

He didn’t expect to see Quinn so suddenly like that. As Brian walked her home Zacky decided to take the long way back.

Quinn

“There ya go,” Brian said as he removed his arm from around Quinn and let her flop down onto her bed. Quinn’s stomach felt queasy from all the drinks she’d had.

“Thanks for walking me home,” she said while closing her eyes and curling up into a ball. She heard brian laugh before he sat down beside her and began rubbing her back soothingly.

“You gonna be ok?” he asked. Quinn grunted in reply. “Do you want some water?”

“No, thanks.” She slowly sat up and looked at Brian before continuing. “You were with Zacky, right?” Brian nodded. “He’s really taking this no contact with me seriously.”

“Well, he may not have much of a choice next week.” Shooting a puzzled look at Brian he explained. “We’re going to your brother’s wedding.” A small smile played on her lips.

“Really?”

“Really,” Brian smiled back. Quinn fell back on her pillows and closed her eyes.

Not being able to see or talk to Zacky had been harder than Quinn had imagined, but it was what Zacky wanted… now time was up. She was tired of avoiding him, and of him avoiding her. She was sick of looking out her window to see if Zacky was around before she left the house. The awkwardness between them was going to end, and Quinn was going to make sure their relationship was mended.

Zacky

He hadn’t been this nervous in a long time. While he had certainly seen Quinn since she’d been back, and there had been an awkward wave here and there (they were neighbors, after all), Zacky hadn’t actually taken the time to talk to her. He was almost too scared to.

As Val drove them all to Quinn’s brother’s wedding reception in L.A., he kept bouncing his leg nervously as he sat in the back.

“Is it too late to turn back and leave me at home?” he said.

“Um, a little,” Matt said from the front seat, “since we’re here already.” Zacky nervously bounced his leg more and more as the car pulled in to the Radisson’s parking lot.

Val and Michelle walked in first as Matt and Jimmy followed behind (Johnny was left back home since he was the only one of the group who wasn’t really an acquaintance of Mason yet).

“Dude, come on,” Brian said when Zacky failed to walk in immediately. He took a deep breath and followed his friends in.

The ballroom had a wooden dance floor on one end, with a DJ set up with his equipment, and about twenty or so round tables on the other end, each with a vase of light pink roses. Zacky looked around timidly before joining his friends at table 17. Some ten minutes passed by when Val stood up from the table and rushed over to someone. Zacky turned around and saw she had rushed over to hug Quinn.

She was beautiful. She wore a knee-length, strapless olive green dress with her hair half pulled back, and the half left down hanging just past her bare shoulders. Her eyes were bluer than he had remembered, and her lips matched the rose on the table. He took it back - she wasn’t beautiful, she was stunning.

Quinn

From her table up front, she couldn’t help but keep glancing over at Zacky throughout dinner (it also helped that his purple hair made it easier to pick him out in the crowd). She wanted nothing more than to walk over and talk to him; she had so much to say and yet had no idea what to say to him.

“Go say something,” Brian said, noticing Quinn sneak a glance at Zacky at the table. Quinn and Brian sat at the bar as the night progressed with dancing and conversation, and she had yet to summon up the courage to talk to Zacky.

“I just wish he’d come to me first,” she said, pulling her eyes away from Zacky and looking at Brian.

“You’ve got to make him jealous then,” Brian suggested before taking a drink of his beer.

“And how do you suggest I do that?” she asked, smugly. Brian took a quick glance around the room then moved in closer to her.

“I need to make someone jealous, too,” he said, his voice slightly quieter than before. Quinn’s eyes widened as she realized what Brian was suggesting.

“No,” she giggled, “that’d be too weird.” Brian shrugged his shoulders before taking another drink. “Who do you need to make jealous, anyway?” Brian nodded over Quinn’s shoulder. She turned around to see Michelle flirting with one of the bartenders. Quinn turned back to Brian with shock. “Shut up,” she whispered.

“There’s been a lot of flirting,” Brian explained. “But I need to take it to the next level.” Brian glanced over at the tables. “He’s looking over here right now.”

Quinn emitted a sigh and smirked at her friend. “Why the hell not.” Brian smiled and leaned forward slowly before pressing his lips on hers. As soon as he did she tried to stifle her laughter.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, still giggling, when Brian pulled away.

“I’m just trying to help you out, Q.” His eyes looked over her shoulders at Michelle, at which point Quinn glanced slyly over at Zacky and saw he was still looking at her and Brian. That’s it, she thought, time to make him jealous. Without saying anything, she placed her hand on Brian’s leg. His gaze shifted from Michelle to Quinn and he instinctively placed his hand on her cheek as he brought their lips together once more, only this time Quinn didn’t laugh. Instead, she kissed him back forcefully and placed her other hand on his shoulder.

It was weird kissing Brian. It was definitely, absolutely weird.

Zacky

Why the hell was she kissing Brian? And why the hell was Brian kissing her?!

Quinn

“Well?” Brian said when he pulled away. Quinn looked up at him and tried her very best not to start giggling.

“Um, a seven.”

“Seven?”

“Fine, an eight.”

“An eight? Man, I’m losing my charm.”

Quinn let her laughter flow. “I swear, it’s only because the kiss was weird.”

“Oh, now I’m a weird kisser?”

She playfully slapped his arm. “You know what I mean.”

“Hey you two,” Michelle said, appearing beside them. “Brian, want to go dance?”

“Yeah, sure,” he said. He quickly finished off his beer and whispered to Quinn, “looks like it worked for you, too,” before heading off to the dance floor with Michelle.

Sure enough, Zacky was walking over to her.

Zacky

“Hey,” he said to Quinn once he made it to her side.

“Hi,” she said, smiling up at him.

“So,” he began, hesitantly. “I didn’t realize you and Brian were, uh, together.” It seemed ridiculous when he said it out loud. “I mean, not that it matters. You can do whatever you want, you know? I’m just surprised that he didn’t say anything to me, I mean -”

“Zacky,” she said, interrupting his rambling.

“Yeah?”

“Brian and I aren’t together.” Those words took a weight off his heart.

“Oh, really? That’s good - I mean, good to know! Not that I needed to know or anything…” He really needed to shut up.

Quinn

She made a mental note to thank Brian later.

“Do… do you want to go dance?” Zacky asked her. She smiled and nodded before following him out to the dance floor.

Zacky

“See the stone set in your eyes, See the thorn twist in your side, I’ll wait for you…”

They stood amidst several other couples like they were awkward teenagers at a school dance. Zacky held his arms out and Quinn smiled at him as she walked into them, her arms resting gently around his neck as his wrapped around her waist. She leaned her head on his shoulder and he sighed contently before resting his cheek against the top of her head.

Now that he had her in his arms he never wanted to let her go again.

Quinn

Being with Zacky again, dancing with him, was harder than she thought it would be. She thought about how much she still loved him… which only hurt her when she thought about how she would be leaving him again.

“And you give, and you give, and you give yourself away…”

She lifted her head up from Zacky’s shoulders and looked into his beautiful, green eyes and felt her cheeks grow warm.

“Quinn…” he began to say. The song ended and new one began to finish off the night. Quinn pulled away and smiled at him.

“Thanks for the dance,” she said before walking off the dance floor to the table where Audrey and Jimmy were sitting.

“Hey sis,” Audrey said. “Since things are winding down here we’re thinking of going on a little bar crawl, you in?”

“No, I think I’m just going to go up to our hotel room,” Quinn replied. She was feeling a bit overwhelmed with her reunion with Zacky.

“What’s going on?” Zacky said from behind Quinn.

“We’re going out for some drinks but Quinny here is being a party pooper,” Audrey teased.

“I’m just tired, is all,” Quinn shot back, glaring at her sister. “I’ll see you guys later.” As the guests were leaving the reception, Quinn made her rounds to say “goodbye” to friends and family before heading up to her hotel room.

As she was waiting for the elevator, she heard Zacky call, “Quinn, wait!” She turned and saw him running over to her. “I wanted to walk you to your room.”

Goodness, he was too cute.

“Really?” she smiled. He smiled back and nodded. “Thanks.”

The two rode the elevator up the five floors in silence. They walked side by side until they got to her door where she promptly opened it with a key card.

“Um,” she began, turning toward Zacky and holding the door open. “Do… do you want to come in and watch tv or something?” He smiled.

“I should probably go find out what bar the guys are going to,” he said.

“Ok.” She’d be lying if she said she wasn't disappointed. “I’ll see you back at home, then?”

He nodded. “Yeah, definitely.”

Zacky

“Thanks for coming to the wedding,” she said.

“Yeah, it was fun.” They stood silently staring at each other for a moment before he spoke up again. “Um, good night.”

“Night.” She closed the door and instead of leaving right away Zacky instead leaned against the door frame and closed his eyes.

Quinn

She looked through the door’s peephole and saw Zacky leaning against the door.

“Fuck it,” she whispered to herself. She was about to make things far more complicated, but at this particular moment she didn’t care about that. She just cared about Zacky and right now.

Without another thought, she opened up the door and startled Zacky who lost his balance and almost fell.

He looked at her, his eyes wide with shock as well as excitement. She smiled at him, earning a warm smile back in return.

“Hey,” he said, leaning his forehead against hers.

“Hey,” she said in a breathless whisper. She brought her hands up and wrapped them around his neck bringing him in close to her as their lips collided while his arms worked their way around her waist. As she melted into his kiss, she pulled Zacky into the room and let the door close behind him.