Five Years

A week went by and I was finally settling into my new daily routine that I started as soon as I got my new job. Every week day from 10 am to 3 pm I worked at Journeys and then on every other Thursday I would go to the grocery store and pick up the things that Zack and I needed at the house. It was nice being able to finally be prepared for a set schedule and still have time in the afternoons to spend time with Zack. It was better to live with Zack because instead of me doing all the household chores, we would split them up and do them evenly. I preferred living with someone else, it was just easier than living by myself.

Now it was Saturday and we were going out with the guys to a bar downtown, nothing fancy. I wore my light skinny jeans and a Glamour Kills pullover. I slipped on my red vans before heading downstairs and Zack was sitting at the breakfast bar in the kitchen.

“Ready to go?” He asked and got up from his chair. I nodded and we headed out the door. The bar was only a short drive away, it wasn’t long before we were walking through the front door and heading toward a table where the guys were seated.

“Nice to see that you guys finally showed up.” Jack laughed and waved the waitress over so we could order a couple of drinks. We all just went with a local brew and she brought over the glasses in almost no time.

“I assume Baltimore is treating you well.” Rian looked up at me as I took the first sip of my beer.
I nodded and raised my glass. “This city tends to do that for me, thank you for noticing.” Jack rested his elbow on my shoulder and shook his head.

“Always smart banter with you,” he laughed. “This is why you shouldn’t have moved away, I missed it too much.”

I shrugged and moved his elbow off my shoulder. “It honestly wouldn’t matter where I am when you guys are on tour, I wouldn’t be able to see you anyway.”

“While that is a good point, we would rather have you here, with family, rather than over in Cleveland.” Alex pursed his lips and cocked his head to the side. “Plus, it’s a lot nicer being surrounded by good people, like us.”

I sighed and took a long drink of my beer. “Whatever you guys, it’s not a huge deal that I’m back.”

They rolled their eyes and the night went on. There was talk of another US and Canada tour that they would be doing in the winter. I was really happy for them but coming back to them leaving in a couple weeks was just kind of a bummer. That meant I would be left alone, without them. And they were the reason that I came back in the first place, so none of this seems fair.

“How’s the job going?” Jack asked.

“Honestly, it’s pretty great.” I smiled. “I get discounts on shoes and I meet a lot of cool people that come in and I still get to run with the same crowd that I did with my old job.”

“Yeah except you won’t get to interview cool band members anymore,” Zack frowned.

I shrugged. “I could actually be a roadie on Warped next year since we support them and have a stage.”

“Can you do that?” Alex asked.

“I don’t know, but it wouldn’t hurt to find out, would it?” I shrugged and chugged down the remainder of my beer.



As we left the bar, Alex walked me out the door behind the rest of the guys. “So have you given us any thought?”

I shrugged and looked down at the ground. “Honestly Alex, if you want to win me back, you’ll have to gain my trust all over again. That means that we’d have to start all over again, the whole dating thing and you’ll have to be chivalrous and everything. No skimping out on any of it.”

He nodded and smiled. “Well if you’d let me, I’d love to take you out on a date. We could start off on a fresh note and I promise that I won’t pay anyone.”

“It’s a little soon to make jokes about that Lex.” I scrunched up my nose and Jack turned around to look at the two of us with a goofy smile on his face.

“It might be too soon but it was funny.” He held up his hand to high five Alex nut he just gave Jack wide eyes and Jack turned back around with a frown. I rolled my eyes and laughed. We all walked back to the cars and I got into the passenger seat of Zack’s car.

“So did you have fun tonight?” Zack asked me as we drove home.

“Yeah, I’m honestly a little surprised that Alex wants to date me again.” I sighed and looked out the window at all of the street lamps we were passing.

Zack laughed. “I’m even more surprised that you’re actually going to do it.”

“Why?” I furrowed my brows and looked back at him.

“Well that night after you broke up with him, it was like all hell broke loose.” I shrugged. “You just said that there was no way you’d ever go back to him.”

*Flashback*

My head was racing with all the dirty things Alex could have done while I wasn’t around. It was so disgusting that he could possibly do that to me, I never thought he could have the courage to do something like that. I never would have thought that Alex of all people would be the one to break my heart into the smallest pieces.

“Are you all right?” Zack cocked his head to the side while we sat on my bed. It was two weeks after I had broken up with Alex and I was devastated. After the guys got back from tour they came over to comfort me and Zack was there for me the most.

I shook my head and felt the tears start to roll down my cheeks. “It’s just… I can’t believe that he could do something like that, I honestly never pegged him to be that kind of person.”

“So have you talked to him since the big fight?” Zack asked.

I scoffed and wiped the tears away. “There’s no way in hell that I will talk to him, look at him, or even think about him.”

“So if there’s no chance of that happening, I bet the chances of the two of you getting back together would be microscopic.” Zack chuckled and tried to lighten the mood.

“Zack, I will never get back with such a scumbag.” I stopped the tears that were starting to well in my eyes again. “It was disgusting what he did and the only way I’ll get back with him is if we have to repopulate the earth.”

Zack’s eyes widened and he got off my bed. “Well call me if you need anything, okay?” He headed out the door and left me alone with my thoughts again.

*End Flashback*

“Well people change,” I shrugged and looked back out the window. “Besides, I didn’t know the whole story back then.”

Zack frowned and focused on the road. “Well if he hurts you again then I’m going to bash his face in.”

Notes

The more I come back to this the stupider I think this is. But it's been a month so I might as well post something.