The Ballerina and the Rocker

Zacky

He couldn’t believe it. He just couldn’t believe it. In the days that followed his confrontation with Quinn and Brian, Zacky mainly just stayed to himself processing the situation. He had a date with Gena but cancelled. He had to go do recordings but insisted he go when Brian wasn't there. He didn’t care if it was childish of him, he knew if he saw Brian there’d be a good chance he’d punch him again.

Quinn

She knew Zacky and she knew how he dealt with things, so as much as she wanted to talk to him Quinn resisted and gave Zacky his space. Her temper at Audrey faded away pretty quickly, after all she didn’t mean for anything to happen. In hindsight she should have just told Zacky right away, but then again who’s to say he wouldn’t have reacted the same way.

One day Quinn got a phone call from Val asking if she wanted to hang out, to which Quinn immediately welcomed the company.

“How are you doing?” Val asked as the two girls sat on the beach sipping their iced coffees. Quinn shrugged her shoulders.

“I honestly don’t know,” she said. “I mean, I feel awful but at the same time I don’t think I did anything wrong.”

“I agree with you.” Quinn raised her eyebrows in surprise. Val laughed. “I’m serious! I think it’s ridiculous that Zacky would get mad that you as a single woman slept with a single guy. It’s not any of his business.”

“Yeah, but do you think he would have gotten this upset if it was with some guy that wasn’t his best friend?” Val paused before answering.

“I suppose that’s fair. But still, it’s ridiculous that a guy can get this mad and territorial. Especially if he’s dating someone else.” So Zacky and Gena were still together.

“Have you met her?” Quinn asked carefully. “Gena?”

“I have,” Val answered with a bit of sorrow in her voice. “She’s really nice.”

“That’s good… and, uh, how’s Michelle?” Val laughed boisterously.

“Honestly, I think you sleeping with Brian really helped his cause with her because she opened her eyes and realised he wouldn’t wait around and pine after her forever.”

“Well I’m glad some good came out of this whole thing,” Quinn said with a big smile.

“It’s going to be ok, you know that, right?”

Quinn let out a heavy sigh and looked at her friend who was always there for her and never failed to make her smile during difficult times. If things were ever going to be ok Quinn needed to make the first step towards reconciliation.

Zacky

Zacky had just reached Ganon’s Tower in ‘Wind Waker’ when he heard a rapping at his bedroom window. He paused the game and thought about if he should open it and let Quinn in or ignore her and leave her hanging on the tree between their bedroom windows. He was about to continue playing his video game when the tapping at his window began again and he heard Quinn say, “Come on Zacky, I know you’re in there.”

With a heavy sigh, Zacky walked over to the window and opened it. Quinn was balancing and holding onto the giant branch.

“Can I come in?” she asked.

“Yeah, I guess,” Zacky said, halfheartedly. He moved away from the window to make way for Quinn who climbed in.

“Zacky, we need to talk.”

“I don’t have anything to say.”

“Oh shut up, we both know that’s not true.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“Let me talk first while you think of something.” Zacky rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

“Fine, go ahead.” Quinn took a deep breath before she started talking.

“I think you’re being really immature.”

“I’m being immature!”

“Let me finish!” She took another deep breath. “Yes, I think you’re being really immature. I know that you’re hurt because of what Brian and I did --” Zacky huffed. “--but we didn’t do that to hurt you. We didn’t intentionally seek each other out, ok? It just sort of happened.”

“So you two just slept together accidentally?” Zacky couldn’t believe this was her excuse.

“Yes.” Zacky rolled his eyes again. “Look, you don’t have to believe it but that’s what happened,” Quinn continued. “I was hurt and upset over you and Gena and Brian was just trying to cheer me up.”

“Oh wow, what a great friend,” Zacky said, sarcastically. “My mom’s been feeling a bit ill lately, maybe Brian can ‘cheer’ her up, too!”

“Oh god, will you stop that. It wasn’t Brian’s idea!”

“...What?” Quinn crossed her arms and looked down at the floor, like a child in trouble with their mother.

“Brian was just there for me as a friend and walked me home… I was the one that initiated everything.”

Zacky almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had just assumed Brian was the one that came on to Quinn. It just seemed so out of her character. He tried to say something but couldn't get the words out. Quinn took this as an opportunity to continue.

“I’m so sorry that we hurt you,” she said slowly, calculating each word as she said it. “If it wasn’t Brian it might have been someone else, who knows… but please, don’t be mad at him. Please don’t be mad at him… he didn’t do anything wrong.”

These words hit Zacky hard and he finally felt himself calming down.

“I know,” he said as he sat down on his bed. “But how could I not be mad? I mean, he’s my best friend and you’re my… Quinn.” He saw her smile and she sat down beside him.

“If you want to keep being mad then be mad at me and not at your best friend and bandmate.” Quinn smiled again and took Zacky’s hand in both of hers and held it tight. “There’s something toxic with us,” she said, sounding as though she was about to cry. “And I wish I knew how to fix it.”

“We have to stop hurting each other,” Zacky suggested, his voice on the verge of breaking.

“And as long as we’re in each others’ lives… we’re going to keep hurting each other.” Zacky looked up from their hands and saw a tear run down Quinn’s face. It was incredibly poignant with her subtle smile. “So,” she continued. “I’m out… officially.”

What did that mean? Zacky was about to ask but Quinn seemed to know he was going to and continued before he could get a word out. “I’m going to stop getting in the way and let you be with Gena,” she explained. “I’m not going to try to get in contact with you while you’re off on tour and stuff. We need to really, truly go through our break-up, otherwise we’re never going to be able to be friends. Which is why I’m allowing you to be mad at me for however long you need to be.”

Quinn smiled and Zacky smiled back. He knew she was right. Neither of them could really move on with their lives if they kept trying to hold on to something that wasn’t there any more.

“Ok,” Zacky said. “I’ll be mad at you.” Quinn smiled and squeezed his hand. Without another word, she got up and walked back over to the window.

“Good luck with finishing up the album,” she said. “I can’t wait to hear it.”

“Thanks,” Zacky said with a genuine smile. “Have a great semester.”

With one last smile from Quinn, she climbed back out of his window and climbed across the tree back to her room. Zacky then closed his window, unsure of when he would ever see her again.