A Helping Hand

Indy stood in the doorway of her bedroom, staring intently at the items of furniture it held. It was now Thursday, and Indy had managed to deep clean her entire house, organise her kitchen cupboards, rearrange her living room, and was now obsessively changing the furniture placement in her bedroom. Julia and Winston were smart enough to know to stay clear of their owner and were both asleep in the hallway, making sure to stay close enough to her that they were in her presence, but far away enough that they would not get in the way.

Since she got home on Sunday, she had nothing to do, and she was not good at being bored. She was too used to being run off her feet, work lined up for months ahead of her, but since the recording of the Raconteurs had taken a lot less time than intended, she had two free weeks ahead of her. She obsessively checked her phone to make sure she hadn’t accidentally missed a call from someone needing session work. So far, the only call he had missed was from Brendan, and that was far from an accident. She had listened to the voicemail he left, and after the eighth apology, she had deleted it from her mailbox.

Her house was thankful that she had no work planned, but her brain was not. She had tried just about everything to distract herself from the second kiss she had shared with Zacky on Sunday outside the studio. After they were interrupted by Brian and Johnny, Indy quickly made her way into the studio to return her father’s keys, and then hightailed it to his house to pick up the puppies as she had originally planned. She had no idea how to react to the kiss, and though she was hopeful when he had confided that he liked her, too, she was losing the hope each day.

As had happened last time, Zacky and Indy had yet to discuss the kiss. It seemed almost routine now, and Indy was not comfortable with it. She couldn’t blame him, though, as since Sunday the band had been in the studio with Mudrock as he mixed the album, the mixing process nearly as important as the recording as they all needed to make the decisions on how it all came together, and if they needed to retake a track they needed to be there. Indy knew they were doing long days, so couldn’t get upset when her calls would go straight to voicemail, or her texts unanswered for hours at a time. She had done everything she could think to distract herself from her own thoughts, and had been successful, to a point.

Indy left her bedroom, happy with the new set up, and fell onto her couch with a loud sigh. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and let her head fall back into the couch, her thoughts taking a pessimistic turn.

She had finally been honest with Zacky, opening up and letting herself be vulnerable, but had it been too much? He had said that he liked her, too, but was that just a knee-jerk reaction to her words? Had he kissed her just to shut her up? Was the first kiss they had shared been a reaction to her leaving, and his jealousy that she was going to be working with an ex-boyfriend? Did he actually care for her the way she cared for him, or did he just enjoy her company while she was working for them, and now she was free, had he realised that she was nothing special?

“I have turned in to one of those girls,” Indy said to herself, running her hand through her hair. She couldn’t believe that she had let herself down, that she had let someone get to her so much. The last two years of being single had been so much easier, so much less stressful. She didn’t have to second guess herself, she didn’t spend hours waiting for someone to text her, or call her. How had she let herself be swept up by a stupid crush, and how had she let that turn into something more?

A smile tugged on her lips as she reminded herself why she was going through this mental anguish. It was all the fault of that stupidly handsome, green-eyed guitarist. It was his fault he was too funny for his own good. It was his fault that he made her feel so at ease and relaxed when he was around. It was his fault that her heart now raced every time she saw him.

With another sigh, Indy looked to the clock to see it was only 3pm. She still had hours to kill before she could realistically call it a day. Her next plan of action was to take her dogs for a run. They had been so good over the last few months, having to put up with only one walk a day, usually in the mornings before Indy went to the studio, so now she had the time, she was going to get them out as much as she could.

She quickly changed into more appropriate running attire and harnessed up the dogs. They both looked so excited to be going on yet another walk. It was also doing great things to Indy’s body, even over the last few days she had noticed the return of her stamina, and she was sure that she had managed to budge a little weight that had made a home on her love handles. Collecting the leads, she attached the blue to Winston and the purple to Julia, holding them in her hand while she locked her front door, hid the key underneath a hole on the side of the two steps that lead to her door, and took off.

The trio made their way along their usual route, Indy running for a few miles before reaching their local off leash dog park. The two large dogs had a ball playing with the few other dogs that were at the park, running, jumping and chasing each other. It was very cute to see her babies playing around, and Winston managed to make friends with another husky that was at the park, the pair equal in agility and ferocity. It was adorable.

The dogs soon tired, and Indy decided it was time to go home. After all, they still needed to make the walk home. They took it easy, walking the mile or so home, rather than running. The time out had revitalised Indy, and had helped clear her mind of her previous thoughts of Zacky.

That was until she got home and saw him standing in her doorway.

She cautiously walked up to her house, quickly bending down to grab the key that she had previously hidden underneath her stairs. She let go of the leads in her hands, both dogs going to Zacky with excited wagging tails, remembering him from the last time he was over. He bend over, giving them both a good scratch behind the ear as Indy opened her house, leaving the front door open so he could follow her in.

“Your cast is gone,” she said as she unclipped the dogs leads as they walked past her to go outside to have a drink. Since the dynamic between Indy and Zacky had changed, she was unsure about everything; how to act, how to talk. It was all too much!

“Yeah, yesterday,” he replied, freely wiggling his fingers now they were free from the cast.

Zacky followed Indy into her kitchen, watching her as she opened the fridge, taking out two bottles of water, offering one to him before downing about half of her bottle. He was assuming she had just taken the dogs for a walk, and couldn’t help find her current state very attractive. Her workout gear clung to her like a second skin, the black of her sports bra showing through the white of her tank top, and the light sheen of sweat that covered her exposed skin made his thoughts turn very dirty.

“How’s the mobility?” Indy asked after rehydrating. Noticing Zacky’s gaze boosted her confidence, making her feel a little more sure of herself. “Have you tried playing guitar yet?”

“First thing I did yesterday,” he admitted, bringing his thoughts back around to their conversation. “It was bad.”

“Oh no! How bad?” She asked, leaning against the kitchen counter as she talked. She took another sip of water as she awaited his reply. Again, his focus was on her, watching as she slowly sipped at her water.

“Chords were fine, but trying to play some of the solos with Gates was just ugly,” he replied, shrugging as if it didn’t bother him. He knew he wasn’t going to be 100% fine when the cast came off, but he had higher hopes that what he was able to achieve.

“That’s shit, I’m sorry to hear that,” she said, trying not to be too obnoxiously sympathetic towards him. She didn’t want him to think she was taking pity on him, just that she truly felt his pain. “Do you have to have any physiotherapy or anything?”

“No, luckily. I just have to check in with the doc in a week or two, and slowly start practicing again,” he told her, repeating the instructions the doctor had given him yesterday.

“So you should be back in action by the time you guys tour the album?” She asked him, finishing the last of her water and putting the bottle in the recycle. She noticed that he hadn’t even opened his but was using it to fidget with.

“Here’s hoping, or else you will have to fill in again,” he joked, grinning at her. She let out a small laugh, shaking her head.

“I’ll take a pass, thanks. No way am I getting stuck in a tiny tour bus with 5 stinky, sweaty boys.”

“Like you can judge us right now,” Zacky pointed out.

“Well played, sir. Well played,” she said, still laughing. She looked down at herself, suddenly self conscious with her appearance, assuming that she would smell even worse than she looked. “Uh, so did you come over for a particular reason? I mean, not to be rude or to push you out, I was just wondering because I kinda need a shower.”

Zacky looked to her again, his nerves kicking back in. He played with the label on the water bottle he was holding as he tried to figure out how to say what he needed to.

“Oh, yeah, sorry. I didn’t really think to call ahead, or message you to see if you were busy, I just hopped in the car and drove over from the studio,” he said, apologising to her. She smiled as he ranted, finding it cute how he suddenly became so restless.

“It’s OK, I promise,” she told him, walking over and putting her hand on his shoulder. He looked at her hand, and then to her eyes, smiling widely at the touch. The small gesture had given him the confidence he needed to ask the question that had been in his mind for the last 4 days.

“I was just wondering,” he started, his words coming out faster than he would ideally prefer, “if you wanted to go out with me sometime? Like, on a proper date?”

Indy immediately blushed at the question, unable to help her body’s reaction. With a shy smile, she nodded, her hand falling from his shoulder, down his arm and gripping his hand.

“I would love to,” she accepted, giving his hand a quick squeeze.

“Yes!” Zacky cheered, his own reaction escaping his mouth before he realised what had happened. It was his turn for his cheeks to heat up, though the soft laughter emanating from Indy soothed his embarrassment.

“Were you even that nervous I would say no?” She asked, still smiling from both his question and his celebration.

“There was always a chance,” he admitted, smiling widely.

“We clearly need to spend more time together, Baker,” she said, nudging him and winking.

“That’s the idea!” He replied.

He quickly closed the gap between them, pecking Indy’s lips before leaning back. He didn’t want to get carried away, and took a step back from her.

“I will make all the arrangements. Just be ready at say, 7pm on Saturday. I will pick you up,” he told her, slowly backing towards the front door. He quickly changed his mind, taking the few steps forward so he was in front of her again. He quickly cupped her cheek and kissed her lips once more, this time leaving them a fraction longer. “Is that ok?”

“Perfect,” she replied, not sure if he was referencing the time and date of their date, or the fact that he had kissed her, twice! Either way, she was more than happy with both.

“Great! I will see you then!” He said, quickly turning and making his way out of her house, leaving her stunned and leaning against the door jam of her kitchen.

She raised her hand to her lips, her fingers softly touching the areas Zacky’s lips had set ablaze. She had to wonder exactly what their date was going to entail. She was nervous, and for the first time in a long time, she was actually excited about the anticipation.

She was actually going on a date!