The Ballerina and the Rocker

Zacky

Zacky didn’t see Quinn for the rest of the summer. She never came knocking at his bedroom window and he didn’t go to hers. It was weird knowing she was literally right next door… so close, yet so far away. Occasionally he would catch her walking down the street but it was pretty rare considering he either spent his time out with Gena or at the recording studio.

And speaking of the recording studio…

It was just two days after Quinn had climbed through Zacky’s window to tell him about why what happened between her and Brian had happened that Zacky braved coming face to face with his friend for the first time since he punched him. He walked into the studio and spotted Brian sitting on the couch flipping through a music magazine. Zacky nervously cleared his throat and caught Brian’s attention, who immediately put down the magazine and stood up.

“Hey man,” Brian said with a faint smile. Zacky could see there was light purple bruising under Brian’s left eye.

“Sorry about that,” Zacky said, contorting his face into a grimace. He felt bad.

“Ah, it’s ok,” Brian said with a shrug of the shoulders. “I deserved it.”

“Nah man, you didn’t.” Zacky took a step forward. “I was being a jerk.”

“But I shouldn’t have --” Brian began.

“Look,” Zacky said loudly, cutting Brian off. He sighed before continuing. “Quinn and I weren’t dating… Quinn and I aren’t dating. It’s just -- it’s weird, you know?”

Brian nodded. “I know, I’m sorry man.”

“I’m not mad at you. Quinn and I have the issues, not me and you. But it would definitely be a good idea to not mention it for a very long time.” Brian chuckled.

“Yeah, sounds good.”

In the weeks that followed it was like nothing had ever happened. Zacky and Brian moved forward and it certainly helped that they had the album to keep them busy. For what seemed like the first time in a while things felt normal.

Quinn

When Quinn told Zacky she was out she meant it. Not because it was necessarily what she wanted but because she knew it had to happen. Not only were they growing up but they were growing apart and in completely different places -- Zacky had the band and Quinn was still committed to New York. It just seemed to take a long time to accept the inevitable.

As much as she wanted to talk to Zacky she stayed strong and stayed busy for the rest of the summer: when she wasn’t teaching a few classes and the dance center, Quinn, along with her sister and mother, were cheering along for Mason and the Angels. She also practiced ballet incessantly in preparation for the beginning of her next semester at Juilliard.

Before she knew it August had arrived and it was time to head back out to New York. Her mother cried at the gate at LAX, like she always did, and Audrey gave her a tight hug.

“Call us when you land,” her mother said. Quinn promised she would and, with one last hug for each, boarded the plane. As soon as she was seated, Quinn took out the letter from her father that had arrived, conveniently, just earlier that day, and began to read.

“Ready for another year?!” Quinn’s roommate, and fellow ballet dancer, Crystal Rodriguez said exuberantly when Quinn walked into their new apartment.

“You have no idea,” Quinn said. “Is Lily moved in yet?” she asked of their third roommate.

“No, not yet,” Crystal said as she helped Quinn carry in her luggage. “I think she’s coming next weekend.”

“Cool.”

“Well chica, get unpacked and take a quick nap for your jet lag because we’re going out tonight!”

“Woo!” Quinn cheered and she quickly began unpacking, eager to see what this year would bring.

Zacky

After months of hard work writing and recording and editing, it was amazing to see Avenged Sevenfold’s new album sitting in a store. And not only that, but they were about to start a tour to promote it.

“We’re not rolling around in money,” Matt said. “But at least this time around we won’t have to pay for everything ourselves.”

Everything was falling into place and Zacky almost couldn’t believe it.

Quinn

Quinn popped into the Virgin Megastore in Times Square and went straight for the ‘rock’ section. And there it was under ‘A’ -- Avenged Sevenfold’s Waking the Fallen. She smiled and bought the CD without any hesitation.

Zacky

“Thanks so much, Reno!” Matt shouted to the crowd as the final notes of “And All Things Will End” resonated throughout the theatre. “You were fucking great!”

Their tour had officially been kicked off with a bang. Not only was it a great show, but kids were wearing their merch.

“We’re on to something here,” Zacky said with a smile as he and Brian walked off stage in sweaty mess.

Quinn

She knew school was supposed to get more difficult the further along you went, but even so there was no way Quinn could have prepared enough.

When she wasn’t in her dance classes Quinn was constantly in a rehearsal room. Considering how busy she was last year with her internship at the New York City Ballet and much stress in put on her schedule, Quinn decided to focus on school and postpone her apprenticeship application until she was closer to graduating.

“This year is gonna be a killer,” Crystal said as she and Quinn prepared to practice.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Quinn said. She began wrapping her battered dancing toes with athletic tape. “We’ve only been back for a week and I already feel like I’m falling behind.”

“I went to apply to work at Starbucks,” Crystal continued. “But with our workload I think I’ll only be able to work, like, 10 hours a week.” She stuffed the point of her ballet slippers with padding. Quinn followed suit.

“There’s absolutely no way I’d be able to juggle a job with all this. I barely got through my internship! Thank god for financial aid…”

Quinn finished lacing up her pointe shoes and went over to the barre to begin her warm ups.

Zacky

Denver was great. Kansas City was great. Chicago was great. The tour was just going great.

“Here we come Columbus, Oh-hi-ohhhhh!” Jimmy exclaimed after everything had been packed up following the Indianapolis show.

And after Columbus the next stop was… New York.

He wasn’t sure if he should call Quinn and let her know. It had been three months since the two had spoken… was it too soon? Or had enough time passed?

Zacky decided to shake it off. He was on tour with his boys, after all, and he was going to focus on that instead of on Quinn.

Quinn

“Guess what!” Crystal said bouncing into the living room. Quinn and Lily looked up from the television where the two were watching General Hospital.

“Does it have to do with Zander’s life being completely crushed because Emily and Nikolas slept together?!” Lily lamented.

“What?!” Crystal exclaimed as she rushed towards her roommates. “But Zander and Emily were going to work on their marriage!”

“Ok, Crystal,” Quinn said, stepping in. “What do you want us to guess?” As interesting as dissecting soap operas was she’d much rather hear some actual gossip.

“Right,” Crystal said, getting back on track. “So, I was having lunch with my cousin over in Brooklyn and I walked past this theatre and saw a poster that had your friend’s band on it!”

“I didn’t know your friend had a band,” Lily directed at Quinn, sounding relatively impressed.

“It’s her boyfriend,” Crystal jumped in.

“Ex boyfriend,” Quinn corrected with a nervous little laugh. “It’s complicated.”

“Well I’m always looking for new things to do,” Crystal continued. “We should go! It’s next weekend.”

“I’m up for that,” Lily said.

“I don’t know, you guys,” Quinn hesitated. “I’ll have to think about it.”

She wasn’t sure if she wanted to see Zacky yet, or if she even could even handle it. But on the other hand she had four other friends that were in the band, so why couldn’t she go to support them?

Zacky

“We’ll have to come back out here when we’re not doing a tour,” Johnny said as the guys were getting their instruments ready for the New York show. “And really see the city.”

“Aw, do you want to go to the Statue of Liberty?” Jimmy teased.

“... maybe.”

Even though he was laughing he knew Johnny was right, they definitely had to take the time to explore New York. And it was at that moment Zacky began to feel extremely shitty for never coming out here when he and Quinn were dating. He was here now, sure, but he was here for himself and his band, not for her.

Quinn

In the end she decided to go to the concert. It was a win-win really: she got to support her friends and she got to make fun of her roommates as they tried not to stand out in this new environment. It reminded Quinn of the first show Zacky brought her to.

As they made their way inside the theatre Quinn noticed the Avenged Sevenfold merch booth in the lobby and manning the booth a very familiar set of twins.

“Hey guys,” she said to Crystal and Lily. “Come over here for a second.” She lead the way over to the merch booth and before she could say anything she noticed Val’s face light up with a huge smile.

“Quinn!” she exclaimed. Val ran around to the other side of the booth and gave Quinn a big hug, which Quinn returned extra tight.

“Hey Val!” Quinn said.

“I was hoping you’d show up!” Val said, ending their embrace. “But I wasn’t sure what your schedule was and we’re literally hitting the road as soon as the show ends.”

“Yeah, it was actually a last minute decision.” Quinn introduced her roommates and explained how it was all Crystal’s idea. At this point Michelle had stood up and reached over the merch table to give Quinn a hug, too.

“So…” Quinn said with a smirk. Michelle blushed.

“Yes, Brian and I are together now,” Michelle said with a smile.

“Good, I’m glad,” Quinn smiled back.

“Hey, it’s about to start,” Lily said. “We should probably head in.” Lily and Crystal said their ‘good-byes’ and ‘nice to meet yous’ to the DiBenedetto sisters and began walking into the theatre.

“Hey listen,” Quinn said to Val and Michelle before she wandered off too. “Could you not tell Zacky I was here? Or at least not until after the show?” The girls nodded.

“Of course,” Val said, understandingly. And with one last smile and hug for each Quinn ran to catch up with her girls and watch the show.

Zacky

“I’ve gotta say,” Matt addressed the crowd. “You guys are probably the best damn audience we’ve had so far.” The crowd cheered in response. “Thanks for coming to our show, thanks for buying our shit, and thanks for listening to our record!” The crowd cheered some more. “Now, we’ve been going pretty hard all night so we’re going to slow things down just a little bit -- this one’s called ‘I Won’t See You Tonight.’” The cheers became louder and were soon joined by a piano track. Then, Zacky and Brian jumped on their guitars.

“Cry alone, I've gone away, No more nights, no more pain,” Matt began to sing.

Quinn

“I've gone alone, took all my strength, I've made the change, I won't see you tonight…”

She really liked this song. And Zacky looked great on that stage.

And you know what? She didn’t feel awkward or unsettled. Sure, that may be her ex-boyfriend up on that stage but right now he was just a musician and she was an anonymous audience member enjoying the show.

And she was so proud of him.

Zacky

Another show done, and while each show felt like the best this one definitely was the best so far. He only wished he had tried to call Quinn to let her know about the show…

“Hey Zacky,” Val said. Zacky snapped out of his daze and saw Val standing in front of him.

“Hey Val,” he said. “What’s up?”

“I just wanted to say good show.”

“Thanks.”

“...Quinn thought so, too.” Zacky felt like he got slapped across the face.

“What?” Val was trying so hard not to smile she looked like she might explode.

“Mmhm. She was here tonight and she wanted me to tell you how great the show was.” Val quickly turned around and walked away to finish packing up the merch.

Zacky smiled.