Chance

Zak and Marco talked in the backyard for nearly twenty minutes before Zak finally made his way back into the house, looking a little red faced. “You okay?” she mouthed to him. He nodded and looked at her a little nervously.

“I'll text you Sweetie,” he promised, kissing her head as he walked past. However, she found her hand grasping his t-shirt to stop him. He turned back and looked at her carefully.

“Let me at least walk you out,” she begged. He nodded and she followed him to his car. “What did he say to you?”

“Nothing, typical stuff,” Zak shrugged.

“You wouldn't be acting weird if that was the case. What did he say to you?”

“Maisie, he just said that I need to watch what I do or he'll kick my ass. That's it.”

“And that took twenty minutes? Don't start lying to me, Zak...I can't deal with liars.”

“I'm not lying, I just have some important editing to get done.”

“Yeah? The editing that you have procrastinated on all day? It's important now, I guess,” she sighed. “I'll see you when I see you, I guess.”

“Baby, don't be like that...”

“Be like what? Mad that my boyfriend can't even be honest with me? Why not? Maybe you should tell me the truth and I wouldn't be mad...there's a suggestion for you.”

“He said some other things too, but I think that their best saved for another time...Now c'mere and lemme give you a kiss.”

“What did he say to you?”

“He told me more about Peter. You didn't tell me the whole story.”

“Zak I'm—”

“What else have you lied about? You were married to him all the way up until last year?”

“I know...I shouldn't have lied to you. I just hate that son of a bitch and I wished that I wasn't married to him for that long. I should have divorced him and you have every right to be pissed at me—especially since I just gave you a whole lecture about lying. I'm sorry, Zak. I...”

As much as he wanted to be mad at her, the only thing he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and hug her tightly. He knew that she felt bad and that this was probably the only thing that she had lied to him about. He realized how much he really cared about her when he couldn't bring himself to even be mad. “It's okay, Sweetie.”

Zak closed the gap between them and kissed her head. She wrapped her arms around his middle and her head rested on his chest. “He just...I was embarrassed. I let it go on. I let him cheat on me for that long and it was stupid. I was just stupid.”

“You're not stupid, Maisie, and you never were. You were just holding out to try to make it work.”

“Do you really forgive me?” she asked quietly, fearing his answer.

“Yeah, I can't stay mad at you.” She brought her eyes up to meet his and he slowly.

“Just so you know, I owe you.”

“You can make it up to me by coming with us this weekend,” he grinned.

“I'll see what I can do,” she agreed. He kissed her lovingly and soon he had to go.”

XxX

“I really can't believe that you can't go...” Zak frowned at the airport.

“I know, but you'll be back soon. It'll be okay,” she wrapped her arms around his neck and pecked his lips.

“C'mon, Sweetie, that's not a real kiss,” he took over the kiss, this time deepening it. “You won't see me for a couple days, I think we should make this count.”

“More than we did this morning?” she joked.

“Mm, this morning was the best,” he thought back to their fun first thing this morning.

“Agreed. I'll see you in a couple days.”

“I'm going to call you when I get there.”

“I will be eagerly awaiting just that.”

Aaron walked over to her and decided to give her a quick, friendly hug. “I'm going to surprise him. Don't you dare tell him,” she whispered to him. Text me what room he's in...” Aaron gave her a smile and accepted the small piece of paper with her phone number so that he could do just that. Billy came over and offered her a friendly hug as well.

“Have fun you guys,” she told them, patting each of their shoulders. Zak stood there, frowning a little. “Are you jealous?” she gave him a smile. She walked over and kissed him again. He held her close, kissing her again and again. “I don't want you to go either, but it's your job and I'll see you soon.”

“Not soon enough.” He was amazed by how much he liked her and how much he wanted to be around her all of the time.

“It will fly by, just have fun with your lockdown.”

“I'll try.”

XxX

“What time do we start filming today, G?” Aaron asked Nick as they ate breakfast. Zak and Billy weren't awake yet, and Aaron knew that Maisie needed picked up from the airport.

“Noon, why?”

“Zak's girlfriend is coming to surprise him. She asked if I could pick her up.”

“I'll do it, bro. Zak needs you for the camera work. We're not doin' much right away. When does her plane get in?”

“Ten.”

“It's eight now. I'll go, just tell Zak I went shopping or somethin'.”

“You should probably make her a sign or something. I'll let her know that you're the one picking her up.”

“Thanks.”

XxX

Maisie hated plane rides. She hated that she had to be on one all by herself. She didn't leave with Zak and the guys yesterday because she had to watch Conner until Marco got home that night. Lucky for her, he said that he would figure out arrangements for Conner so that she could go on her trip. She knew that she would have even less time there now, but it would be okay.

Once the plane landed she got her stuff ready and went out into the airport. All that she had was her carry-on bag because she didn't feel like going through baggage claim. She pulled out her phone and there were two messages. The first was from Aaron.

'Nick's gonna pick u up.' was all the text said. She didn't know Nick at all, but she did know what he looked like at least. The next text was from Zak.

'Miss you so much, babe.' She smiled a little before replying.

'Miss you too. Take some pictures for me, so it's like I'm there. Crazy here. Conner has been up since 6 :(' She decided to play it off like she was still at home. She didn't want Zak to know that she was coming, it had to be a surprise.

She made her way out towards the exit of the airport and that was when she saw it. There was a man wearing sunglasses holding a sign that said 'Maisie Bagans'. She rolled her eyes, knowing it was probably Aaron's idea to put that on the sign, but she went over to the guy in sunglasses—who she guessed was Nick.

“Maisie?”

“Not Bagans,” she laughed. “Grayson, actually.”

“It was Aaron's idea...He asked what would happen if there was another Maisie on your plane and we didn't know your last name so there it was.”

“It's okay. It's nice to meet you.”

“You too. I can finally put a face to the name.”

“I can finally meet you in person,” she laughed. “I've seen a couple of episodes of the show...”

“We now you'll see one being made,” he grinned.

“It's exciting! So do you think Zak'll be happy that I'm here?”

“Ecstatic.”

“Speak of the devil,” her phone began ringing and she picked it up. “Hello,” she tired to sound tired and wore out rather than excited, like she was.

“Hey Sweetie. Are you busy?”

“Yeah. I've gotta get Conner in the bath and then I have to run to the store.”

“I can call you back later...We're just going to start filming soon and I miss you.”

“I miss you too, but enjoy your trip. Go see the sites for me.”

“I'll take lots of pictures.”

“Please do,” she smiled. “Shoot, okay, I gotta go.”

“Bye Maisie.”

“Bye Zak.” She hung up the phone and put it in her pocket. “Did that sound okay?”

“Yeah. Who's Conner?”

“My nephew. I'm a nanny.”

“Gotcha.”

XxX

Once they got to the hotel, Maisie chilled in the car for a while while Nick and Aaron played it off as nothing was going on. Aaron and Zak had already filmed the first interview and they had some time before the next one and went back to their rooms. Aaron texted Maisie Zak's room number and that was when she begun her journey to that room. She went upstairs and found herself knocking at his door. She could hear him groan as he made his way over to the door and opened it. She smiled a little. He had sent her a text about ten minutes earlier, but she decided not to answer so that it would make the surprise that much better.

“What? You're not happy that I'm here?” Maisie asked, she wasn't even sure what happened after that, Zak wrapped his arms around her and covered her mouth with his.

“Maisie,” he kissed her again.

“Well, somebody missed me,” she giggled.

“Damn right I did. I'm so glad that you're here.”