Better Off This Way

Zack POV:

I was all smiles right now, honestly how could I possibly be upset? I had just gotten back from the zoo with an absolutely amazing girl and then we would be going out after sound check was over. I jumped onto the stage and did a quick few strums on each guitar, nothing too fancy, just enough to make sure that everything sounded perfect. Rian was drumming away, Alex strummed a bit and tested the mic out, while Jack was busy goofing off on the corner of the stage. I chuckled to myself, and picked up the next guitar.

“Alright guys, everything sounds good so I guess you guys can do whatever until six.” Matt clapped his hands and released us for the short few hours of free time. I walked back outside and saw something that I didn’t think would be happening for quite a while. Blithe was wrapped up in Neil’s arms and before I knew it she was walking out of our bus with all of her things in tow.

My shoulders slumped and my heart felt like it had shattered… She went back onto ADTR’s bus right behind Neil and shut the door behind them, leaving me breathless. I could nearly feel my body tremble as I shuffled onto my bus. Crawling into my bunk I lay on my stomach but something sharp was poking into my side. I rolled over and picked up an envelope with Zack written nicely on it.

“Dear Zack,

I’m really sorry about all of that happening. I just realized how selfish I was being, how much I was hurting those around me. I know that we weren’t really that serious to begin with but Neil needs me now and I can’t hurt him again. This doesn’t mean that we can’t be friends, I love being around you guys and I don’t want to lose the bond I just started to create with every single one of you!

And I don’t think I’ll be able to make it to dinner tonight, sorry. I hope that we can still work out in the morning though, I seriously need to work off the sweets we had earlier.

Love ya, Blithe.”

I tossed the letter at the end of the bunk. I can’t. I just can’t bring myself to spend more time with her. It’s true, we weren’t that serious but we had talked about it before. I was going to ask her out tonight, but who was I kidding? She had Neil and that was that. My head fell onto my pillow and I just laid there, for too long.

“Hey Zack, want to go pick up some food?” Rian’s voice echoed throughout the front of the bus. A groan was the only response I had, I didn’t feel like doing anything right now. The curtain was pulled back and Rian’s apparent smile was fading.

“What the fuck man? Why are you looking so depressed?” He cocked his head a bit and dropped his hand from the curtain. I pointed towards the end of my bunk and he looked down at the letter. Giving me a weird look, he reached down for the letter. His eyes scanned over the paper quickly and a frown started to appear on his face. He dropped the letter and sat next to me on the bunk.

“Can I be honest with you or should I just try to make you feel better?” He asked.

“Whichever you feel like doing.” I shrugged, knowing that he was going to be honest with me no matter what I said. Rian was just the type of person who had great morals, even if that meant turning something down due to just being too honest.

“I was sure that this wasn’t going to last and I know that you did too.” He patted my leg. “But what matters is that both of you are doing the right thing, I mean she is dating Neil and she was when the two of you had your little fling. I’m not saying that it was wrong or anything but… it kind of was.”

“Well I guess you’ve managed to kill my hopes and dreams of having a great girlfriend Ri.” I sat up.

“Oh come on dude, she’s already in a relationship! I know that you don’t want to be the home wrecker.” And with that he hopped off my bed. He was right. I didn’t want to be the person that tore apart a relationship because they were so damn selfish. But there was no way that I was going to be able to let Blithe get out of my grasp. She was perfect, no doubt about it, and I wasn’t ready to give her up yet. But for now, I could at least try to forget about her.

“Whatever man, you’re right I guess.” I shrugged and rolled out of my bunk. “Let’s go get some food, I’m starving.”

“Now that’s the guy I know and love!” His hand clapped onto my back and we walked off the bus.

--

“Those kids were fucking crazy man!” Jack shook his sweaty head.

“Tell me about it dude, they were even throwing bras on my side of the stage.” I laughed at the kids’ demeanor during the concert. Alex really wanted a pit going on during one of our older songs and we actually got one. Sure it might have been a little weak but whatever, they were enjoying themselves and we were too. At the end of the day that’s really all that matters.

“You act like I didn’t get them!” He laughed and threw one of the bras at my back.

“Come on man, I don’t want them.” I rolled my eyes and tossed it back to him.

“Whatever man, I’m keeping every single one of them and there’s nothing you can do about it.” He crossed his arms.

“And what are you going to say when your future children ask you where you got all of the bras?” I questioned him.

“We’ll still have the band so it’ll be kind of an obvious answer.” He shrugged and went into the bathroom. “Don’t wait up man.”

I walked down the hallway and passed the empty room that belonged to ADTR and then towards the end of the hallway. I went out onto the bus and changed into some clothes that were clean and dry, tonight I was going to party.

Notes

Spicing things up a bit! Let me know what you guys think.