My Angel in Disguise

*****
(Teegan's POV)

I awoke the next morning still in Zacky's tight grip. He obviously hasn't moved all night. I glanced up at my alarm clock, seeing the numbers flash 8:25 am brightly. I had the horrible urge to go pee and my left arm was completely numb, I needed to get up. I wiggled underneath his weight, eventually slipping out from his hold, causing him to stir but not fully wake up. Thank God. I quietly stepped through my room and basically sprinted down the hall to the bathroom. I breathed a sigh of content as I was finally able to relieve myself. Once I headed back to my room to grab some clothes for a much needed shower, I noticed Zacky was awake. He peered up at me with one eye still closed. "Sleep well?" I asked while rummaging through my closet. He let out a long yawn before stretching out his arms and getting up. "Guess so, you're quite comfortable to use as a pillow though." He chuckled. I rolled my eyes, shoving him playfully. "Yeah well, you're lucky I love you. I don't see anyone else letting pass out in their bed. Speaking of which, why were you so drunk in the first place?" He looked down at the floor with a slight shrug. "Thinking too much." I nodded, not needing anymore of an explanation. "There's coffee in the kitchen, I'm gonna go shower."

It felt great as the hot water blessed my skin, my mind wandering off every so often to yesterday. I had an amazing time and honestly didn't mind if it could happen again. Actually, shit, I totally forgot Chester wanted to hangout again tonight. I hurried up once the pipes started to roar, signaling my hot water was coming to an end. I settled on a simple black dress and fishnet stockings before putting my hair up in a wet bun. I checked my phone casually as I made my way to the kitchen. My mom had left to work so I didn't have to worry about waking her. Zacky was sitting at the table face down with a cup of coffee and bowl of cereal beside him. I grabbed a cup for myself before sitting down and noticing that Chester had called while I was in the shower.

I decided to call him back despite the looks I could endure from the hungover mess sitting across from me. Thankfully he picked up on the first ring. "Hey Teegan. Sorry for calling so early, good morning by the way. Listen are you doing anything now? I wanted to see if you wanted to come to LA. I have a quick last minute meeting it really only should be a couple minutes.Then we could go to Venice or something?" I glanced over at Zacky who was indeed listening in on my conversation. "Sure, I'm just finishing up some stuff around home. I'll be ready in half an hour." He made a bitter face, rolling his eyes. "Great I'll be there in an hour then. See you soon." After hanging up the phone I got up from my seat and put my dishes in the sink.

Zacky proceeded to tag along behind me as I went back into my room to get my camera bag ready for the day. "So you're going out with him again huh?" I pretended not to hear his comment while I put on a smidgen of eyeliner and mascara. "I know you heard me, Teegan. Don't act like you didn't." I huffed, tossing my stuff back inside my makeup box. "What do you want me to say Zee? You introduced me to him in the first place, you knew he wanted to stay in touch. I'm just taking pictures, that's all." I really didn't feel the need to explain myself to him, but I really didn't feel like fighting either. "Well it sure didn't sound like it. It sounds like you're going on a date." He snickered matter-of-factly. "You're acting like a child Zacky and it's really irritating. Why do you care if it is or isn't? It's really none of your business. To be quite honest, you're acting like a jealous bitch." I was starting to get irritated by the way he was coming at me with his attitude.

Luckily the doorbell rang before he could say anything back to me as I practically ran to answer it. Matt, Jimmy, and Brian all stood there with uneasy looks plastered to their faces once they saw the look on mine. "Thank God, could you please get your asshole friend away from me? I've gotta get ready and he's being a baby." I felt bad for the things that I had said, Zacky was my best friend, but he really was acting completely childish. "Don't worry I was just leaving. Have fun on your shitty date." He spat coldly before shoving past me and out the front door.

Jimmy put a hand to my face and smiled weakly at me. "Don't let him get to you Tee, he's just been having a tough time getting over Gena. I'm glad you're hanging out with Chester, you need a change. Have fun and make sure you call or text any of us in case something goes wrong." I hugged Jimmy tightly, laughing as he lifted me off of the ground. "Promise I will, thanks Jimbo. I'll be over later to see what's up." I said over to Matt who just nodded with a smile. "Good, Val has been asking about you." I gave each a goodbye hug as they walked outside, noticing Brian smack Zacky in the back of the head before they all piled in to Matt's car. Chester couldn't seem to get here fast enough.

(Zacky's POV)

I sat with my arms folded across my chest, not saying anything to either of the guys as we drove over to Matt's for a band meeting. I hated fighting with Teegan, it was the last thing that I wanted to do. But seeing her spending time with Chester and getting closer to him made me feel extremely jealous. Not that I would ever admit it, I didn't want to make things more difficult then they already were becoming. "You don't have to treat her like shit just because she's out with a guy other than you. You had your chance and you didn't want to do anything about it. You fucking introduced them in the first place!" Brian finally spoke up making me groan in annoyance.

I was in no mood for a lecture, but I knew there was no getting away from it now. "I don't need a reminder, thank you. And I only introduced them so she could meet one of her favorite singers, not fucking fall in love with him and all this shit." The more we kept talking about it the worse my head started to pound. "She's a fucking photographer, Zacky. She does shit like this all the time, it's apart of her job. And so what if they are growing close? She deserves to be happy." I stayed quiet this time, not knowing what else to even say. I know it wasn't fair for me to do this to her, but I loved her.

It is selfish of me, but I was always happy every time her relationships ended. I would be there to comfort and care for her, making her feel like she mattered. It gave her more time to spend with me and I enjoyed every minute of it. I guess Brian had a point though, I should of said something years ago. But I had too much to lose this time around.

And I wasn't gonna let him take her from me.

(Teegan's POV)

I was still upset about my fight with Zacky when Chester had finally picked me up. I tried my best to hide any sort of those feelings so it wouldn't ruin our day, but I knew he must have noticed something by the way he was staring at me. "You know, it only gets worse if you hold it in." He said in a light voice. We were starting on a walk to the building where he needed to meet with one more label guy when he stopped and suddenly took my hand in his. "Please believe me when I tell you that. I won't judge you, you can tell me anything." I was sort of taken back by how respectful and considerate he was of me and my feelings, I almost felt bad for not speaking up sooner. But I didn't want to basically want to say that one of my best guy friends was overly jealous, so I lied a tad. "My friend, she's just really upset that I'm spending so much time with you and with the guys." He smiled giving my hand a reassuring squeeze. "Well I definitely know all about that. I'm hardly ever home and I've lost plenty of friends because of it. But I've made new ones who are more understanding and accepting of my life. You will figure that out especially the longer you start staying away. But it gets easier, I promise." My mouth dropped to the floor in response. He chuckled, putting his hand under my chin to close it. A simple "Thank you." was all I managed to get out by the time we had walked inside of the large record building. There were records and pictures scattered all over the bright white walls. Some gold, some platinum. I had never been inside this place before and it was truly breath taking.

We headed up the elevator to the tenth floor where the bands management was waiting. I was extremely terrified of heights but decided to try my best and not pay attention to anything else but Chester. We walked inside a small conference room, sitting beside Chester's band mate Mike and a few seconds later four men in casual dress clothes came inside taking the empty seats all around us. I fidgeted with my hands under the table the entire time until I eventually noticed that my name had been said. I looked up nervously at the man at the head table, who was staring at me with a slight grin. "Teegan, this is Jim, he's our head manager. I showed him some of your pictures from the show in Texas and he really likes your work." I could feel my face start to get hot and flustered. I didn't do well under pressure, especially when it was completely unexpected. "I'm impressed to say the least. These two have kept nagging me to hire you as the bands photographer since they've met you. So what do you say, kid? You interested?" Again, my mouth literally dropped to the floor and I couldn't manage to get any sort of words out. "I take that as a yes?" He laughed heartily as I just nodded.

I glanced over at Chester who just kept looking at me with the most adorable smile I had ever seen. He looked like a child who had just gotten a puppy or a toy they've always wanted.I signed a couple of forms stating that I would officially start as the bands official photographer on the next tour in the new year. With exceptions of course, that I could go home at any time during any show and or tour to take care of my mother as I was her sole caregiver. After the meeting had finished and we had finally made it back to Chester's car I couldn't contain myself as I hugged him tightly. He held onto me, the scent of his cologne filling my nose. "I'm sorry if it came so sudden but I just wanted to surprise you. You're a really great girl, Teegan and I think you have great potential." Tears stung in my eyes as he said those words to me. I had never felt this way before for anybody, even Zacky. Chester had only known me for a short three weeks and already he was going great lengths for me to have a full time job and still be able to be independent. He wiped away a few stray tears that rolled down my cheeks with his thumb. "I don't want you to think that I'm rushing anything in this friendship but I want to get to really know you. So if you're okay with it, then I'm willing to do anything." I looked him dead in the eyes and smiled widely. "I'm more than okay with it, I love the idea of getting to spend more time with you. Now if you don't mind, I'd love to go get some food. I'm starved!" We both laughed happily, clearing away any tension or feelings of anxiety that had started to form between us.

We had settled on a nice Chinese restaurant in Hollywood, the happy vibe never changing at all. The food was great and everything about the evening was spectacular. I was only sad when it had came to an end and Chester had drove me back home to Huntington. I was mostly sad because this was his last day in town and he had to go back out to New York to finish working on some recording that they had been working on since the tour had finished. I was really getting comfortable with being around him daily. "Well this is it." I muttered sadly once we had pulled into my driveway. I noticed him digging around the backseat before handing over a small stuffed bear. It had a mini custom Linkin Park shirt on it and a tiny purple mohawk. It was the cutest fucking thing that I had ever seen. I hugged him, grateful for my gift. "You're really awesome, thank you so much, for everything today. I mean it. You didn't have to do the things you did and I'll never be able to repay you." I felt the urge to just kiss him as I rambled on, but I certainly didn't want to rush things either and make a fool out of myself.

Only I was caught off guard when he had made the bold move and kissed me first instead. It wasn't a serious kiss, it felt more like it needed to be done type of kiss. I blinked a couple times, still trying to comprehend what had just happened but decided to kiss him back anyways before he could say anything. "I really can't wait to see you again." He said softly after I had pulled away. I put my hand on top of his and gave it a squeeze. "Me either. I'm excited to see where this goes." We said our goodbyes before swearing that what just happened wouldn't change things between us just yet because we were still getting to know each other. But I definitely could see myself getting used to the thought of it happening again.

Once I headed inside the house, immediately I saw Zacky, Brian, Val, Jimmy, Johnny, and Matt all sitting on the sofa in my living room. "Guys, is this an intervention?" I asked uneasily as I put my stuff down on the counter and threw myself on top of Val's lap. She giggled and patted my back "No, were having a family game night, it's Friday!" I shook my head, laughing uncontrollably. It was a Friday, of course, our weekly round of Call of Duty Zombie party. While everyone had gotten the system set up I headed into my room to change and put away my gift. I saw Zacky eyeing me suspiciously once I came back and sat beside Jimmy on the floor. "So how was your night?" Matt asked as we loaded up our teams. I smiled shyly, trying to hide the blush that was stuck on my cheeks. I knew I was going to have to break the news sometime to them about my new job, but decided that now wasn't the best. Instead I just told them the little details, earning "Aww's" and "Oooh's" from everyone except Zacky. I only earned an eye roll and scoff from him, making my heart sink.

I just really wish he understood.