He Saved Me, Loved Me, Wanted Me

“Here you go, Zacky,” I said, walking into the kitchen where he and Zina both were. “Gena called by the way.”

“So… how was the phone sex?” Zacky asked with an annoying little smirk plastered on his face.

“Terrible. I’d rather have the real thing,” I said, even though we both know fully well that’s not what happened. I huffed as I sat down in the chair beside Zacky.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, taking my glass from my hand and filling it with more juice.

“Thanks,” I told him.

“Are you okay?” Zina asked.

I shrugged. “Just hungry.”

“Fuck, don’t scare us like that again!” Zacky joked while setting the glass down in front of me. I smiled and took a sip.

“What do you want?” Zina asked.

“Brian,” I replied.

“Cannibal!” Zacky accused, pointing at me. I just laughed and turned to my juice.

“I… would like some…,” I paused for a moment as I tried to think of what would sound good. “What do you have?” I asked.

“Anything you want. If we don’t have it, we can always send Zack up to the store,” Zina said with a smile.

“Will not!” Zacky retorted.

“We will, and you will like it,” Zina said, sticking her tongue out at him and crossing her arms.

“Do you have any ice cream?” I asked meekly. “Chocolate? Oh, with some Hershey bar in it?”

Zina smiled and looked to Zacky. “Guess where you’re going Zack?”

“Awe, do I hafta?” he whined, much like a child.

“Yes,” Zina and I both said at the same time.

Zacky rolled his head over to look at me. “Do you really have to be pregnant?”

“Zacky, my boobs hurt, I’m an emotional wreck, I like fucking macaroni and cheese with ketchup, the least you could do is get me some fucking ice cream,” I said with a straight face. I tried my hardest to keep in my laugh. His face paled out a bit more and his eyes got wide.

“Yeah… I’m going now. See you in a bit,” he stumbled up, “Chocolate ice cream and Hershey’s chocolate bars, right?”

I grinned and nodded; he was out the door like lightening. “I used to do that when I was pregnant with Ayden,” Zina said through tears of laughter.

“It’s fun. I like it,” I noted. Zina nodded in agreement.

----

“Would you rather surprise everyone with your appearance, or would you rather let them know you’re on your way?” Zacky asked, putting the last of our luggage in the cab’s trunk.

“Surprise. It’d be so much more fun,” I said. Zacky laughed and shut the trunk.

“Keep me updated, okay? Zacky has my number,” Zina said, pulling me into a hug. “I want to know when that baby comes out. Come see me when you guys are off tour, also.”

I smiled. “Will do.”

“It was nice to meet you, Ana,” Jack said, giving me a hug also. “Be safe.”

“I will. Zacky will make sure of that.”

“Psh, yeah, ‘specially when Syn isn’t himself anymore. Lovesick puppy.” I slapped his arm.

“That’s not my fault if he’s like that way around me,” I retorted.

“Sure, sure.” Zacky said, shaking his head. He looked at his watch. “Okay, well I think we need to go or else we won’t make it.” I nodded and we said goodbye to Zina and Jack one last time before heading back to New York.

“Excited?” Zacky asked as we turned onto a ramp leading to LA.

I nodded excitedly. “I can’t wait to see everyone again. It’s been way too long.”

“Um, Ana, if you don’t mind me asking, what happened, exactly. All we know is Ricky kidnapped you.” My heart stopped for a second, hearing his name.

“I’ll tell everyone at the same time.” I looked at him and he spared a glance in my direction. “It’s not something I like to relive.”

He nodded. “It’s okay. Whenever you’re ready.” He grabbed my hand and squeezed it in a comforting fashion. The rough skin of his calloused finger tips reminded me of Brian. I squeezed back, glad that right now we were on our way to see him. The moment just couldn’t come fast enough for me.

“How long is there left of the tour, how is everyone? I’ve been meaning to ask you that instead of sending you out on my craving runs all day.”

Zacky laughed for a moment. “It’s cool. We’re all really tired; the tour is catching up with us. The last one is uh… sometime in May, maybe June. We don’t know if Shadz is going to be able to last that long though.”

I gasped. “What’s wrong with Colonel Sanders?!” He laughed at the way I said it, it was sort of high pitched and all.

“We’ve all called him that from time to time. It’s just good to her you say it again.” I smiled. “His voice is going to become shot here pretty soon. Syn and I’ve picked up some of his lyrics when he couldn’t sing it. He’s not talking that much, trying to rest his voice.” I nodded. He then smiled at me. “Brian’s going to be so happy to see you, Ana. Really, he is. He’s hired this PI, and he found your address in Paris and he and Val went there,” he chuckled. “and you weren’t there. The landlady said you just moved out or something. He was so upset.”

“I know. He told me. He mustn’t have missed me by that much.”

“True.”

Soon, weaving in through the dark traffic, when mothers and fathers would be settling down with their children, while teenagers would just begin their night, we made it to the airport. We got me a ticket and went through all the security checks without anything interesting. Then, we were boarded on the plane and off to New York.

“Ana, wake up, we’re here,” Zacky said, gently nudging me.

“Already?” I asked, my voice thick with sleep.

“Yep. We’re not far away from the hotel either.”

My smile widened. I wasn’t far away from the rest of my family.