Sequel: Until Forever Comes ›
Status: In Progress.
I Like the Remix
Love's a Game, Wanna Play?
Raelyn woke up to the smell of bacon. She had gone to move slightly just to realize that there was an arm holding her in place. She yawned as the memories from the previous night came to mind. It had been a fun night between the concert and then dinner at IHOP. They were able to sit there and just talk about stupid stuff. They had gone so far to play twenty questions and ask really basic questions… Favorite color, past jobs, what happened after high school… All the random things you end up asking people as you get to know them while dating.
It had felt like nothing was off limits. They’d talked about past significant others, how long their best relationship thus far had been and where they saw themselves in a few years. It had been nicer than she was expecting. And the aftermath had been enjoyable as well. She smiled slightly as she moved so she could see the look on Zacky’s face. She leaned up and kissed his cheek lightly.
He mumbled in his sleep and she leaned in to kiss his neck. After a few more attempts, she was met with confused green eyes. After thinking for a couple of moments himself, he smirked, “Wanna go for another round?”
“Not when they’re awake to hear us.” Raelyn admitted with a small smile. “I do want to get dressed to eat some bacon though…” He begrudgingly released her and watched as she pulled on her panties before walking over to her dresser to pull on a pair of lounge pants and an old t-shirt. “You may want to put on at least some form of clothing. I don’t want you scarring Tori for life.”
Zacky chuckled and watched as she turned around and leaned against the door. She watched as he moved around and finally slid out of her bed to find his boxers. “So are we even sure they’re going to share?”
“They better.” Was all Raelyn said before leaving him to pull his boxers on to demand that at least the bacon needed to be shared.
When he caught up to her in the kitchen, she had a mug of coffee in her hands and she was laughing with Tori over something as Brian shook his head. Zacky had decided to pull on his jeans just in case Raelyn decided to deny that anything had happened other than him spending the night. “What’s for breakfast?” He asked Brian with an tilt of his head.
“Eggs and bacon. You get lucky last night?” He smirked at Zacky.
“Did you?” Zacky countered with a knowing smile of his own.
A couple of months had done some good for everyone. Raelyn and Tori had been getting recognition for their jobs, and in turn getting better jobs. Tori had been offered a week long job in Rome. Raelyn had been offered for a year long modeling job in London. Tori had said yes without giving it a second thought… Raelyn had a little more to think about given the length of the job. She hadn’t told Tori about it. Tori was watching music videos while she read over the latest issue of People magazine. Her phone went off and she grabbed it and headed into the kitchen. “What’s up, Tuck?”
“Rae, Charlotte and I are going to be in California for a few days. We’re taking a little vacation and I was wondering if you would be willing to babysit Evann for a day, maybe a night. I wanna do something special for our anniversary.” Raelyn smiled as she heard the excited tone in his voice.
“Yeah, of course. Just let me know when.” Raelyn grinned. “You and Charlotte are doing well then?” She felt herself smile at the lack of pain in her chest. She had finally started to move on and was doing well. Maybe Zacky was actually good for her.
“Thanks Rae! It’ll be next week. We fly in Friday. I really appreciate this.”
“Anytime Tuck. You know I love Evann.” She smiled as she remembered the little boy’s excitement at finding her skateboard last time he was with her. Her phone let her know there was another call, “Hang on a sec.” She pulled her iPhone away to see Zacky’s name flashing across the screen. “Someone’s calling me, so I’ll talk to you Friday, okay?”
“Sure thing. Thanks again, Rae!”
“No problem. Bye!” She quickly switched the call over. “Hey, how’s recording going?” Raelyn asked as she recalled him say he’d be recording some of the guitar riffs for one of their new songs that day.
Zacky grumbled a response to someone else before she heard a door close. “Pretty good. Kinda boring to be honest. I was wondering if you wanted to go out tonight… Maybe see a movie?” He asked hopefully.
“Yeah, that sounds great.”
“Cool, I’ll pick you up around 6:30…” A door opened behind him. “And that’s Brian telling me my smoke break is over and to come record some more… I’ll talk to you later, baby.” Zacky promised and after a quick ‘bye’ from her, he was gone.
Tori stretched her arms above her head and smiled blissfully as her back cracked. She turned off the television and blushed as her mind went to earlier events in the day.
Last night had been eventful. Raelyn had been out and Brian had called her and asked if she wanted to celebrate with him. Michelle had finally agreed to the divorce. Something had made her realize that there wasn’t anything she could do to make him want to not follow through with the divorce. To avoid any trouble from Michelle who had also said she would be by to pick up her things… Tori had invited him back to her and Raelyn’s apartment.
They spent the night drinking what was left of the beer and popping the cork off of a bottle of champaign Tori had been saving for a special reason to celebrate with Raelyn. Needless to say they were both pretty wasted by the end of the night. Their lowered inhibitions had led to some...risky behavior.
Rather than be upset about it come morning… Tori had decided to embrace the feelings that had come with sleeping with Brian and had kissed him just to realize he wasn’t asleep as she thought. He had flipped her over and looked down into her eyes before pressing his lips to hers. Once she had made it clear that she was okay with where things were going… They repeated their actions from the previous night, sober.
Sure, it might have been dumb on her part… But it had felt so good. Plus they both knew what they were getting into… That was the plus side to having been in a past relationship. They could just fall back into the sex… Romance was optional. The question that had plagued her mind since Brian made his walk of shame to his car, was whether or not she wanted the romance part.
Maybe the previous night and the morning had been a one time deal. She bit her lip as she thought about that. Was she ready for anything other than a friends with benefits type relationship with Brian? Did she want to go back to him after everything that had happened? Tori shook her head as she tried to clear it. Any kind of relationship with Brian would lead to some kind of pain wouldn’t it?
When Raelyn came out dressed like she was going out, Tori smiled and waved her off. If Raelyn could be happy with Zacky… Why couldn’t Tori be happy with Brian? They’d been happy once before. It would be hard, sure, but it was worth fighting for. She had never felt the same about anyone else. She bit her lip as she reached for her phone… A decision made. And she sent a text, ‘I need to talk to you.’
They had decided on a movie together… But by the end of it… Neither one of them would be able to tell anyone what it was about. They had spent too much of it making out like teenagers in the back row. Raelyn laughed softly at something stupid he said as they walked out to his car. “So what now?” She asked. The plan had only been about a movie… Not what they were doing after.
“What’s a movie without dinner afterwards? How about I cook?” He asked with a small smile coming to his face. “You like Italian food, right?”
Raelyn raised an eyebrow at the man in question. “Who doesn’t? They have to have some sort of issue if they don’t… And can you actually cook, or do you need a fire extinguisher in the room?” She teased.
“Ha ha, very funny.” Zacky rolled his eyes. “I could just drop you off at your apartment.” He opened the driver’s side door with a shrug.
Raelyn’s eyes went wide as she shook her head. “No! I’m sorry… I’ll behave…” She joked as she slid into the passenger seat and buckled her seat belt. “I have to say… Now I’m intrigued.” She smiled brightly as he started the car.
“You know… They say curiosity killed the cat…”
She rolled her eyes. “Without curiosity… Life gets boring.” Raelyn announced as they headed back towards his house. The rest of the ride was filled with random music and small talk. Neither one of them expected what they found waiting for them at his house. Meaghan leaning against her car parked in Zacky’s driveway.
He pulled in next to it and parked. “Why don’t you head inside and I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Zacky promised softly as they got out of the car. He handed her his keys and glared towards Meaghan. “What are you doing here?” He asked, his annoyed tone of voice letting her know that he was in no mood to deal with her right then. He glanced towards the door and watched Raelyn play around with her keys until she found the right one and walked inside.
“Well, I have something I wanted to tell you.” She stated with a shrug, the Vengeance University tee she was in was something that threw him for a loop. It wasn’t a crop top… Or so tight it was making her boobs seem like they were falling out. It almost looked as if it was a size too big for her.
Zacky let out a frustrated sigh. “Make it quick. I have plans and you’re not part of them.” He ran his hand through his hair and glanced back towards his house where he could see Raelyn watching them through the window.
Meaghan giggled at his obvious hurry to get back to his girlfriend. “Always in a hurry. That’s what led to this mess.” She told him with a knowing glint in her eyes. “Maybe if you’d been more careful… We could have avoided this.”
Tori made her way into the Harmony Cafe smiling at a few familiar faces from when she was there last. She had decided that the best way to have a conversation with Brian without leading to any awkward moment would be to have it in a public place where they couldn’t end up in a bed. She waved when she noticed him walk in the door.
Brian walked over and took a seat across from her. A waitress walked up and they ordered coffees. He cleared his throat as she walked away. “You said you needed to talk to me?” He smiled appreciatively at the waitress when she placed their coffees down. His eyes went back to Tori’s as he waited.
She took a sip of her coffee before speaking. “Yeah. Thanks for agreeing to meet me.” She gave a nervous smile. “What happened last night… And this morning…” She paused as her cheeks grew warm. “We need to talk about it.”
Brian nodded and waited for her to continue. When she didn’t, he spoke up. “I had fun.”
Tori nodded and bit her lip. “I did too.” She rubbed at the back of her neck. “I don’t know if I can do a friends with benefits thing with you… And as much as I want to trust you… It’s hard.” She looked down into her coffee to avoid looking at him. “I love you, Brian… There’s no question in my mind about that. But I don’t want to be hurt again when times get rough.”
Brian nodded, his eyes wide in surprise. He hadn’t been expecting her to tell him that she loved him. He had assumed she’d gone on to hate him. “I won’t… I’m done making stupid mistakes.” He took a shaky breath before reaching over and taking her hands in his. “I love you, Tori. And I want to make everything right. The reason Michelle finally decided to sign the papers is because she realized that the entire time we were married I was still in love with someone else.”
Tori bit her lip as she returned his slightly shocked look from earlier. “So where do we go from here?”
“I know it may sound crazy… But would you consider moving back in with me? I want to go back to the way things were… I know it’s going to take some time… And I’m not asking you to move in and sleep in my bed or anything like that…” He rambled for a moment. He looked down for a second to get his thoughts together before looking back up at her. “I just know that I don’t want to live my life without you by my side.”
When Zacky finally entered the house, he looked pale. Raelyn tilted her head in confusion. “You okay?”
“Yeah. She’s just being annoying. It’s nothing important.” He answered with a shrug. He gave her a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Anyways, I promised you food… I should make good on that promise.” He walked to the fridge and pulled out a couple of beers before starting to pull out the ingredients. “How does Fettuccine Alfredo sound? My mom’s recipe is really good…I don’t make it as well as she does… But I think I do pretty well.”
Raelyn nodded. “Sounds good… Can I help? Or am I not allowed to interfere?” She joked as he offered her one of the beers after popping the top. He took a long sip out of his before looking back at her and smiling.
“I think you can help… Just don’t burn my kitchen down… Okay?” He teased, a real smile coming to his face for the first time since they left the movie theater. She rolled her eyes before shoving him in the chest. “Okay, so first we’re going to get everything together for the sauce… It doesn’t take quite as long as the noodles.” He told her before directing her towards the items he had sitting on the counter.
It had felt like nothing was off limits. They’d talked about past significant others, how long their best relationship thus far had been and where they saw themselves in a few years. It had been nicer than she was expecting. And the aftermath had been enjoyable as well. She smiled slightly as she moved so she could see the look on Zacky’s face. She leaned up and kissed his cheek lightly.
He mumbled in his sleep and she leaned in to kiss his neck. After a few more attempts, she was met with confused green eyes. After thinking for a couple of moments himself, he smirked, “Wanna go for another round?”
“Not when they’re awake to hear us.” Raelyn admitted with a small smile. “I do want to get dressed to eat some bacon though…” He begrudgingly released her and watched as she pulled on her panties before walking over to her dresser to pull on a pair of lounge pants and an old t-shirt. “You may want to put on at least some form of clothing. I don’t want you scarring Tori for life.”
Zacky chuckled and watched as she turned around and leaned against the door. She watched as he moved around and finally slid out of her bed to find his boxers. “So are we even sure they’re going to share?”
“They better.” Was all Raelyn said before leaving him to pull his boxers on to demand that at least the bacon needed to be shared.
When he caught up to her in the kitchen, she had a mug of coffee in her hands and she was laughing with Tori over something as Brian shook his head. Zacky had decided to pull on his jeans just in case Raelyn decided to deny that anything had happened other than him spending the night. “What’s for breakfast?” He asked Brian with an tilt of his head.
“Eggs and bacon. You get lucky last night?” He smirked at Zacky.
“Did you?” Zacky countered with a knowing smile of his own.
A couple of months had done some good for everyone. Raelyn and Tori had been getting recognition for their jobs, and in turn getting better jobs. Tori had been offered a week long job in Rome. Raelyn had been offered for a year long modeling job in London. Tori had said yes without giving it a second thought… Raelyn had a little more to think about given the length of the job. She hadn’t told Tori about it. Tori was watching music videos while she read over the latest issue of People magazine. Her phone went off and she grabbed it and headed into the kitchen. “What’s up, Tuck?”
“Rae, Charlotte and I are going to be in California for a few days. We’re taking a little vacation and I was wondering if you would be willing to babysit Evann for a day, maybe a night. I wanna do something special for our anniversary.” Raelyn smiled as she heard the excited tone in his voice.
“Yeah, of course. Just let me know when.” Raelyn grinned. “You and Charlotte are doing well then?” She felt herself smile at the lack of pain in her chest. She had finally started to move on and was doing well. Maybe Zacky was actually good for her.
“Thanks Rae! It’ll be next week. We fly in Friday. I really appreciate this.”
“Anytime Tuck. You know I love Evann.” She smiled as she remembered the little boy’s excitement at finding her skateboard last time he was with her. Her phone let her know there was another call, “Hang on a sec.” She pulled her iPhone away to see Zacky’s name flashing across the screen. “Someone’s calling me, so I’ll talk to you Friday, okay?”
“Sure thing. Thanks again, Rae!”
“No problem. Bye!” She quickly switched the call over. “Hey, how’s recording going?” Raelyn asked as she recalled him say he’d be recording some of the guitar riffs for one of their new songs that day.
Zacky grumbled a response to someone else before she heard a door close. “Pretty good. Kinda boring to be honest. I was wondering if you wanted to go out tonight… Maybe see a movie?” He asked hopefully.
“Yeah, that sounds great.”
“Cool, I’ll pick you up around 6:30…” A door opened behind him. “And that’s Brian telling me my smoke break is over and to come record some more… I’ll talk to you later, baby.” Zacky promised and after a quick ‘bye’ from her, he was gone.
Tori stretched her arms above her head and smiled blissfully as her back cracked. She turned off the television and blushed as her mind went to earlier events in the day.
Last night had been eventful. Raelyn had been out and Brian had called her and asked if she wanted to celebrate with him. Michelle had finally agreed to the divorce. Something had made her realize that there wasn’t anything she could do to make him want to not follow through with the divorce. To avoid any trouble from Michelle who had also said she would be by to pick up her things… Tori had invited him back to her and Raelyn’s apartment.
They spent the night drinking what was left of the beer and popping the cork off of a bottle of champaign Tori had been saving for a special reason to celebrate with Raelyn. Needless to say they were both pretty wasted by the end of the night. Their lowered inhibitions had led to some...risky behavior.
Rather than be upset about it come morning… Tori had decided to embrace the feelings that had come with sleeping with Brian and had kissed him just to realize he wasn’t asleep as she thought. He had flipped her over and looked down into her eyes before pressing his lips to hers. Once she had made it clear that she was okay with where things were going… They repeated their actions from the previous night, sober.
Sure, it might have been dumb on her part… But it had felt so good. Plus they both knew what they were getting into… That was the plus side to having been in a past relationship. They could just fall back into the sex… Romance was optional. The question that had plagued her mind since Brian made his walk of shame to his car, was whether or not she wanted the romance part.
Maybe the previous night and the morning had been a one time deal. She bit her lip as she thought about that. Was she ready for anything other than a friends with benefits type relationship with Brian? Did she want to go back to him after everything that had happened? Tori shook her head as she tried to clear it. Any kind of relationship with Brian would lead to some kind of pain wouldn’t it?
When Raelyn came out dressed like she was going out, Tori smiled and waved her off. If Raelyn could be happy with Zacky… Why couldn’t Tori be happy with Brian? They’d been happy once before. It would be hard, sure, but it was worth fighting for. She had never felt the same about anyone else. She bit her lip as she reached for her phone… A decision made. And she sent a text, ‘I need to talk to you.’
They had decided on a movie together… But by the end of it… Neither one of them would be able to tell anyone what it was about. They had spent too much of it making out like teenagers in the back row. Raelyn laughed softly at something stupid he said as they walked out to his car. “So what now?” She asked. The plan had only been about a movie… Not what they were doing after.
“What’s a movie without dinner afterwards? How about I cook?” He asked with a small smile coming to his face. “You like Italian food, right?”
Raelyn raised an eyebrow at the man in question. “Who doesn’t? They have to have some sort of issue if they don’t… And can you actually cook, or do you need a fire extinguisher in the room?” She teased.
“Ha ha, very funny.” Zacky rolled his eyes. “I could just drop you off at your apartment.” He opened the driver’s side door with a shrug.
Raelyn’s eyes went wide as she shook her head. “No! I’m sorry… I’ll behave…” She joked as she slid into the passenger seat and buckled her seat belt. “I have to say… Now I’m intrigued.” She smiled brightly as he started the car.
“You know… They say curiosity killed the cat…”
She rolled her eyes. “Without curiosity… Life gets boring.” Raelyn announced as they headed back towards his house. The rest of the ride was filled with random music and small talk. Neither one of them expected what they found waiting for them at his house. Meaghan leaning against her car parked in Zacky’s driveway.
He pulled in next to it and parked. “Why don’t you head inside and I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Zacky promised softly as they got out of the car. He handed her his keys and glared towards Meaghan. “What are you doing here?” He asked, his annoyed tone of voice letting her know that he was in no mood to deal with her right then. He glanced towards the door and watched Raelyn play around with her keys until she found the right one and walked inside.
“Well, I have something I wanted to tell you.” She stated with a shrug, the Vengeance University tee she was in was something that threw him for a loop. It wasn’t a crop top… Or so tight it was making her boobs seem like they were falling out. It almost looked as if it was a size too big for her.
Zacky let out a frustrated sigh. “Make it quick. I have plans and you’re not part of them.” He ran his hand through his hair and glanced back towards his house where he could see Raelyn watching them through the window.
Meaghan giggled at his obvious hurry to get back to his girlfriend. “Always in a hurry. That’s what led to this mess.” She told him with a knowing glint in her eyes. “Maybe if you’d been more careful… We could have avoided this.”
Tori made her way into the Harmony Cafe smiling at a few familiar faces from when she was there last. She had decided that the best way to have a conversation with Brian without leading to any awkward moment would be to have it in a public place where they couldn’t end up in a bed. She waved when she noticed him walk in the door.
Brian walked over and took a seat across from her. A waitress walked up and they ordered coffees. He cleared his throat as she walked away. “You said you needed to talk to me?” He smiled appreciatively at the waitress when she placed their coffees down. His eyes went back to Tori’s as he waited.
She took a sip of her coffee before speaking. “Yeah. Thanks for agreeing to meet me.” She gave a nervous smile. “What happened last night… And this morning…” She paused as her cheeks grew warm. “We need to talk about it.”
Brian nodded and waited for her to continue. When she didn’t, he spoke up. “I had fun.”
Tori nodded and bit her lip. “I did too.” She rubbed at the back of her neck. “I don’t know if I can do a friends with benefits thing with you… And as much as I want to trust you… It’s hard.” She looked down into her coffee to avoid looking at him. “I love you, Brian… There’s no question in my mind about that. But I don’t want to be hurt again when times get rough.”
Brian nodded, his eyes wide in surprise. He hadn’t been expecting her to tell him that she loved him. He had assumed she’d gone on to hate him. “I won’t… I’m done making stupid mistakes.” He took a shaky breath before reaching over and taking her hands in his. “I love you, Tori. And I want to make everything right. The reason Michelle finally decided to sign the papers is because she realized that the entire time we were married I was still in love with someone else.”
Tori bit her lip as she returned his slightly shocked look from earlier. “So where do we go from here?”
“I know it may sound crazy… But would you consider moving back in with me? I want to go back to the way things were… I know it’s going to take some time… And I’m not asking you to move in and sleep in my bed or anything like that…” He rambled for a moment. He looked down for a second to get his thoughts together before looking back up at her. “I just know that I don’t want to live my life without you by my side.”
When Zacky finally entered the house, he looked pale. Raelyn tilted her head in confusion. “You okay?”
“Yeah. She’s just being annoying. It’s nothing important.” He answered with a shrug. He gave her a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Anyways, I promised you food… I should make good on that promise.” He walked to the fridge and pulled out a couple of beers before starting to pull out the ingredients. “How does Fettuccine Alfredo sound? My mom’s recipe is really good…I don’t make it as well as she does… But I think I do pretty well.”
Raelyn nodded. “Sounds good… Can I help? Or am I not allowed to interfere?” She joked as he offered her one of the beers after popping the top. He took a long sip out of his before looking back at her and smiling.
“I think you can help… Just don’t burn my kitchen down… Okay?” He teased, a real smile coming to his face for the first time since they left the movie theater. She rolled her eyes before shoving him in the chest. “Okay, so first we’re going to get everything together for the sauce… It doesn’t take quite as long as the noodles.” He told her before directing her towards the items he had sitting on the counter.
♠ ♠ ♠
So I accidentally skipped a chapter and posted 30 for 29... Either way it still leads up to where we are now, but if you want to read a little more about what happened after the fancy dinner date... You may want to reread chapter 29. Sorry, guys!Things are about to get interesting... And a bit twisted. Thank you for reading! And thank you for the comments! Let me know your thoughts on this chapter, and I promise the next one will be up soon!
If it makes it any better... I got the title idea from listening to I Prevail's cover of Blank Space.