The Ballerina and the Rocker

Zacky

When he woke up in the morning to find himself alone in the bed he quickly surveyed the hotel room looking for Quinn, fearful she had left. He was about to get out of bed and go find out when the door opened and in she walked, carrying a muffin in both hands. He smiled a silly, love struck smile at her as she approached the bed.

“Hey,” she said, smiling back. Once she placed the muffins on the bedside table, Zacky reached up and pulled her down onto the bed with him. He kissed her as she giggled and felt her arms wrap around his neck.

It was perfect. She was perfect.

“Listen,” she said once their lips pulled away. “I’ve got to go meet my sister, but maybe we could talk later?”

“Yeah, I’d like that,” he said. “I’ll at Matt’s all afternoon so just come on over when you’re done.”

“Ok, sounds good.” She smiled up at him and Zacky couldn’t think of anything else to do but to kiss her again.

Quinn

She couldn’t stop smiling.

“What are you so happy about?” Audrey said, noticing her sister’s smile, as she drove down the PCH.

“Nothing,” Quinn replied, still smiling.

“...Did you hook up with Zacky?” Quinn didn’t answer but instead looked out the window. “You did, didn’t you!”

“Maybe.”

“Oh come on, don’t pull that BS with me little sis!” Quinn laughed. “Are you two going to get back together?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I’ve missed him so much. And I’ve thought a lot about it, and, I don’t know, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if we tried again, would it?”

“I don’t think so. You just have to really be committed to the long distance thing.”

Right, that was that little factor.

Audrey parked the car and the two girls got out and walked into the salon.

“Hi,” Audrey said to the front desk. “I’ve got an appointment for Audrey Hartford.” As her sister was taken over to get her hair coloured, Quinn took a seat in the waiting area and picked up the Cosmo magazine.

Maybe they would have an article about long distance relationships? She could definitely use some survival tips.

“Quinn!” Audrey shouted from her salon chair once her hair was finished about an hour later. Quinn placed her magazine down and walked over to her sister whose once dirty blonde hair was now a rich chocolate colour. “What do you think?”

“I love it!” Quinn said. “It seriously looks great on you.”

“She can pull it off really well,” Audrey’s blonde hairdresser said. “I’ll go grab you that shampoo and conditioner I was telling you about.”

When the hairdresser walked away, Quinn looked into the mirror and smiled along with her sister. She was about to give another compliment when something in the corner of her eye caught her attention.

“Quinn, what is it?” Audrey asked. Quinn looked in the bottom corner of the mirror and saw a photobooth picture of the blonde hairdresser and a boy with black and purple hair... She felt her heart drop into her stomach. Audrey then noticed the picture, too. “Quinn…”

“Ok, here you go,” the hairdresser said, returning with hair products. “And you get five-dollars off these when you get a colouring done.”

“Cool, thanks,” Audrey said, getting out of the chair and grabbing the items. “Quinn, let’s go.” While Audrey rushed to the front desk to pay and get out of there, Quinn continued standing and staring at the picture.

The first frame was the blonde and Zacky smiling. The second they were both cross-eyed and sticking out their tongues. The third had them faux-pouting, and the final had her smiling while he kissed her cheek.

She had the urge to grab the photo and rip it to shreds.

“Quinn!” Audrey shouted from the other side of the salon.
She quickly shook herself out of her trance and walked over to her sister.

“Can you drop me off at Matt’s?” she said as the two got into the car. “I need to talk to Zacky.”

Zacky

Zacky reached into the cooler beside him and tossed a beer to both Brian and Matt.

“Toss me one, too?” Johnny said.

“How old are you again?” Jimmy said. The guys all laughed as Johnny flipped him off and walked over to grab a beer himself.

“Hey!” Brian said to someone at the garage door. Zacky turned his head and saw Quinn walking up to them. His mouth pulled into a smile.

“Hi guys,” she said. Even though she smiled when she addressed them it didn’t seem genuine. Was something wrong? “Um, Zacky, can we talk?” Well, that didn’t sound as positive as it did when she wanted to talk earlier in the day.

“Sure, what’s up?” he said.

She crossed her arms. “Can we go somewhere, please?”

“Is something wrong?” he asked quietly, walking up to her.

“Can we please, just, go inside?”

“Uh oh, trouble in paradise,” Jimmy softly chuckled to Brian.

“Shut it, Jim,” she said, sternly. Each and every one of them looked up at her in shock and fear. “Zack, you always complain about how I never speak what’s on my mind. Well, I’m here to speak what’s on my mind. Let’s go inside.”

Without waiting for him to respond, Quinn walked passed the guys and walked into the house. Zacky followed, worried. He closed the door behind him and saw her leaning against the kitchen counter.

“Quinn,” he began. “What’s wrong?”

She took a deep breath. “Zack, are you seeing someone?”

Shit.

“Uh, what -- what do you mean?” His palms were starting to sweat and his heart began racing.

“I think I’m being pretty straight forward,” she said, her face unflinchingly stern. “Are you currently dating someone? Like, a blonde who works at the hair salon?”

He didn’t know what to say. He was completely frozen.

“It’s a yes or no question, Zacky.”

“I --”

“How long?” There was no point trying to get around it. “Zacky -- how long?”

“We, uh, we’ve only gone out a few times.”

Quinn crossed her arms and looked up at the ceiling. “Oh my god…”

“It’s not like Gena and I are official or anything!”

“I feel sick.”

“What, why? I just said she and I aren’t official.”

“Have you slept with her?”

This was not going to be a good conversation.

“...yes.” He noticed her blue eyes welling up with tears. “Quinn, why is this making you so upset? It’s not like I cheated on you or anything!”

“You are so off the mark right now, Zacky. I didn’t sign off on being the other woman.”

“Oh come on, it’s not like that!”

“Are you sure? Because it sure looks like that to me.”

Quinn

“Jesus, Quinn! You and I weren’t together and Gena and I weren’t exclusive, so why are you making this into such a big deal?”

“Because I feel cheap,” she said, tears rolling down her cheeks now. “This girl clearly likes you a lot, and you must like her, too. And… I just don’t want to feel like a screw to keep your bed warm when you’re not with her!”

“Quinn, you’re completely overreacting!” Zacky exclaimed. “You’re not just some random fuck.”

“Just because you say it doesn’t make it true.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “If you could just toss her aside that easily without a thought then how am I suppose to know you won’t do the same to me once I head back out to New York?”

“Because,” he said, walking up to her and grabbing her hands in his. “I love you. I love you so fucking much, Quinn.”

“I just… it hurts to look at you.”

Zacky placed his hands on her wet, tear stained cheeks and cupped her face. “Quinn… please don’t be like this.”

“Were you even going to tell me about her?” He didn’t answer. “No, of course you weren’t,” she said, pulling her face away from him. “Because you knew it was a shitty thing to do.”

Zacky

“Fine, what do you want me to say?!” He was trying to control his temper, but it was difficult.

“I -- I don’t know,” she said, still crying.

“Even though nothing was wrong you’re trying to find an issue with us, just like last time! It’s so obvious that I care more about you than you do about me, and it’s always been like that.”

“What? No --”

“Do you want me to be with Gena instead of you?”

“Were you going to stay with Gena if you and I didn’t sleep together last night?”

Well, he didn’t expect that question.

When he didn’t answer, Quinn continued quietly, “I was considering getting back together, but right now I don’t think I can.”

“Quinn --”

“Bye, Zacky.” Without another word, she rushed past him and exited back through the garage.

After a moment of standing in complete shock, he followed suit and found himself in the garage with four sympathetic faces looking up at him. They had obviously heard the entire thing.

“Zacky,” Matt began.

Ignoring his friends, he grabbed a beer from the cooler and took off down the street.

Fuck.