Abbey's Road
the list
Abbey + Zacky
Best friends forever
06/17/1988
Zacky Baker traced these words, his head bowed solemnly against the bitter October wind. He could easily remember the day they carved these letters into the bark, he and Abbey. He was young, only six, and she seven. They met in the swingset in the nearby park; Zacky had saved her from a bigger boy attempting to shove her from her swing and then they'd come here and permanently established their newfound friendship.
But now all of that - everything they had started on that remarkable summer afternoon - was completely in vain. Abbey was gone, and Zacky had no idea where she'd gone. He'd woken and she was just gone, with only a note explaining her absence. She said she needed to find herself. She said it wasn't that she didn't love him, it was just that she found no purpose in her life in California. And so Abbey had gone, leaving Zacky clueless and utterly heartbroken.
With a sigh, Zacky dropped his hand from the tree and began the walk back to his car. Any other night, he and Abbey would be together, cuddled on the couch. Abbey would lean heavily on Zacky, her short, soft auburn hair fanning over both of their shoulders. Zacky would touch it, caressing the tender curves of her neck, and their attention would no longer be on the tv. Their eyes wouldn't leave each other for the rest of the night, and the eye contact would eventually lead to passionate kissing, which in turn would lead to love-making that would have both Abbey and Zacky singing one another's praises and leave them sweaty and spent.
When his phone started ringing on the dashboard, Zacky reached for it and hit the green button before placing the device to his ear. "Hello?" he said begrudgingly.
"Hey Zack, how's it going?" his friend Jimmy said. His tone of voice was tentative. He - like the others - knew that Abbey's sudden disappearance had shaken their green-eyed friend, so he was careful with his words.
"Oh, I'm just peachy, Jim," Zacky replied sarcastically.
"God okay, no need to get pissy, mister," Jimmy grumbled. "Hey, you wanna come to Johnny's Bar with us tonight?"
Zacky sighed again. Going to Johnny's Bar had once been a weekly outing for the group, almost a ritual. But since Abbey had left without a trace, Zacky's desire to leave his home had slowly waned. Now he spent his evenings alone in the bed he and Abbey once shared, clutching her pillow to his chest to provide the illusion that she was still in his arms.
"Sure, why not?" Zacky replied half-assedly. When he reached the next intersection, instead of turning left to go home, he turned right to head to the bar. "I'll be there in about ten mintues."
"'K, see you then," Jimmy said, and then the line went dead.
Zacky dropped his phone unceremoniously into an empty cup holder. The reason he was going to the bar tonight wasn't to appease Jimmy, or even to socialize with his friends. The one and only reason Zacky was going to Johnny's Bar tonight was for the alcohol.
♪•♫•♪•♫•♪•♫•♪•♫•♪
"Look what the cat dragged in!" Zacky's friend Brian shouted jokingly when Zacky trudged through the door of Johnny's Bar. Zacky turned an angry gaze on the chocolate-eyed man and Brian immediately looked to the floor, quickly realizing his comment was inappropriate.
"Nice of you to join us, Zack," his friend Matt added, clapping the younger man on the back. Zacky only grumbled in response and called out to the bartender to bring him a bottle of whiskey.
"Don't you think it's a little early to be breaking in the Jack?" Brian asked cautiously. Again, a silent glare from Zacky quieted Brian.
Matt, Brian, Jimmy, and Johnny all shared a worried look. Zacky just wasn't himself anymore. Ever since Abbey left in the dead of night a week ago, Zacky had been sullen and moody. He barely slept, he hardly hate, and this was the first time any of them had seen him outside of his home. And with the way Zacky was chugging his whiskey, one of them would have to drive him home as well.
"Zack, I really think you need to slow down with the whiskeys," Jimmy suggested gently. Usually the hard partier of the group, if Jimmy said slow down, it was serious.
"I'll drink…as much…as I fucking…want…to," Zacky spat, his words already beginning to blend together. He finished off his third bottle of whiskey, and after slamming it down onto the counter, demanded a fourth.
"Don't bring him anymore," Matt put in when he saw the bartender going to retrieve the Jack. "He's had enough."
"I'll fucking say when I've had enough, dammit!" Zacky yelled in outrage. He got to his feet and attempted to leap over the counter, but in his inebriated state only made it halfway. Matt and Johnny reached forward and dragged the emerald-eyed man back to a sitting position; Zacky, in an attempt to fight back, swung out and caught Johnny in the temple. The shorter man cursed loudly, and the others simply sighed.
"Zacky, what would Abbey do if she saw you like this?" Jimmy asked, knowing that bringing Zacky's missing girlfriend into this was testing the waters. "She'd beat you up one side and down the other."
Jimmy's later sentence went in one of Zacky's ear and came out the other bathed in Abbey's southern accent, and hearing this brought tears to Zacky's eyes. He missed that voice. He missed the Georgia inflection and her colorful colloquialisms. He missed it all so much. Slumping down into the seat in defeat, Zacky laid his head down on the counter and started to cry. His shoulders shook with all of his pent-up emotions, fueled by the alcohol as they ravaged his already exhausted body.
"Come on Zacky, I think it's time for you to go home," Brian said sympathetically, grabbing his friend's arm and pulling him to his feet. Brian carefully took his friend out to his car and after forcing Zacky to relinquish his car keys, he drove the drunken man home. Zacky's sobs subsided into soft whimpers as they drove, and Brian couldn't help but feel sorry for him. If Taylor up and disappeared like Abbey had - with only a note to explain her absense - Brian wouldn't know what to do.
Zacky's footsteps were unsure as Brian helped him into his house, but they held a purpose. He berated Brian into assisting him in getting up the stairs, and once there, he stumbled over to his closet, only one thought in mind.
"The list," he was saying, over and over. "Where is that fucking list?"
"What list, Zack?" Brian asked.
"Abbey's list," Zacky replied. Ever since Abbey had left, he'd been yearning to see her face, hear her voice, smell her unmistakable smell. And it wasn't until Brian was driving him home from the bar that Zacky had remembered something important, something that could possibly be the key to having Abbey back in his arms.
"You see this list, Zacky?" Abbey said, brandising a piece of paper in Zacky's face. "This is my bucketlist. This is all of the places I wanna visit and the things I wanna do before I die."
"You're a little young to be making a bucket list, don't you think?" Zack asked curiously. He wound his strong arms around Abbey's shoulders and she leaned into him with a happy sigh.
"You ain't never too young to dream, Zacky," she whispered in her sweet Georgia accent. Abbey rested in Zacky's soothing embrace for a few minutes longer before getting to her feet and walking over to the closet. Her hips sashayed naturally as she walked and this drew Zacky's green eyes to the swell of her backside; her southern heritage had filled her out in all the right places, none too overbearing. "I'm gonna stick the list in this box right here and put it in the closet. That way both you and I will know 'zactly where it is."
"Why would I need to know where it is?" Zacky asked.
Abbey smiled softly before looking up to meet the smouldering green gaze of her boyfriend. She loved him more than he would ever know, and what she was about to do to him killed her inside. "So if I ever go away, you'll where to go to find me."
"Found it!" Zacky shouted in triumph. He pumped his fists into the air and in doing so knocked himself off balance; he went tumbling to the floor in tangle of flailing limbs. Brian watched him fall and tried hard not to laugh. "Brian man, I found the list! I fucking found Abbey's list!"
"Abbey has a list?" Brian questioned.
Zacky nodded happily and unfolded the piece of paper. Abbey's handwriting was still crisp, almost as if she'd written this just yesterday. Zacky sighed. He wished it had been written yesterday, because that would mean Abbey would still be here with him. He cursed himself for not thinking of this earlier. Abbey left to find herself - as the note had entailed - so she must be following this list. Which meant that if Zacky followed this list, he might very well find Abbey waiting for him at the end of the road.
The first town on the list was Las Vegas, Nevada. Abbey loved to play poker, and she'd always wanted to play in Vegas and smoke the boys at the table. Zacky calculated the days in his head as best he could in his intoxicated state. Abbey was going to Las Vegas. She had to be.
Which meant Zacky would go to Las Vegas as well.
"Hey Brian, you and the guys wanna take a road trip with me?" Zacky asked his friend, folding up the list and stuffing it down deep into his pocket for safe-keeping.
"To where exactly?" Brian asked. Zacky's behavior was beginning to irk him, with all the pointless questions and the stumbling about. Maybe it was a good thing Zacky had stopped coming to Johnny's bar.
"To find Abbey," Zacky said.
Best friends forever
06/17/1988
Zacky Baker traced these words, his head bowed solemnly against the bitter October wind. He could easily remember the day they carved these letters into the bark, he and Abbey. He was young, only six, and she seven. They met in the swingset in the nearby park; Zacky had saved her from a bigger boy attempting to shove her from her swing and then they'd come here and permanently established their newfound friendship.
But now all of that - everything they had started on that remarkable summer afternoon - was completely in vain. Abbey was gone, and Zacky had no idea where she'd gone. He'd woken and she was just gone, with only a note explaining her absence. She said she needed to find herself. She said it wasn't that she didn't love him, it was just that she found no purpose in her life in California. And so Abbey had gone, leaving Zacky clueless and utterly heartbroken.
With a sigh, Zacky dropped his hand from the tree and began the walk back to his car. Any other night, he and Abbey would be together, cuddled on the couch. Abbey would lean heavily on Zacky, her short, soft auburn hair fanning over both of their shoulders. Zacky would touch it, caressing the tender curves of her neck, and their attention would no longer be on the tv. Their eyes wouldn't leave each other for the rest of the night, and the eye contact would eventually lead to passionate kissing, which in turn would lead to love-making that would have both Abbey and Zacky singing one another's praises and leave them sweaty and spent.
When his phone started ringing on the dashboard, Zacky reached for it and hit the green button before placing the device to his ear. "Hello?" he said begrudgingly.
"Hey Zack, how's it going?" his friend Jimmy said. His tone of voice was tentative. He - like the others - knew that Abbey's sudden disappearance had shaken their green-eyed friend, so he was careful with his words.
"Oh, I'm just peachy, Jim," Zacky replied sarcastically.
"God okay, no need to get pissy, mister," Jimmy grumbled. "Hey, you wanna come to Johnny's Bar with us tonight?"
Zacky sighed again. Going to Johnny's Bar had once been a weekly outing for the group, almost a ritual. But since Abbey had left without a trace, Zacky's desire to leave his home had slowly waned. Now he spent his evenings alone in the bed he and Abbey once shared, clutching her pillow to his chest to provide the illusion that she was still in his arms.
"Sure, why not?" Zacky replied half-assedly. When he reached the next intersection, instead of turning left to go home, he turned right to head to the bar. "I'll be there in about ten mintues."
"'K, see you then," Jimmy said, and then the line went dead.
Zacky dropped his phone unceremoniously into an empty cup holder. The reason he was going to the bar tonight wasn't to appease Jimmy, or even to socialize with his friends. The one and only reason Zacky was going to Johnny's Bar tonight was for the alcohol.
♪•♫•♪•♫•♪•♫•♪•♫•♪
"Look what the cat dragged in!" Zacky's friend Brian shouted jokingly when Zacky trudged through the door of Johnny's Bar. Zacky turned an angry gaze on the chocolate-eyed man and Brian immediately looked to the floor, quickly realizing his comment was inappropriate.
"Nice of you to join us, Zack," his friend Matt added, clapping the younger man on the back. Zacky only grumbled in response and called out to the bartender to bring him a bottle of whiskey.
"Don't you think it's a little early to be breaking in the Jack?" Brian asked cautiously. Again, a silent glare from Zacky quieted Brian.
Matt, Brian, Jimmy, and Johnny all shared a worried look. Zacky just wasn't himself anymore. Ever since Abbey left in the dead of night a week ago, Zacky had been sullen and moody. He barely slept, he hardly hate, and this was the first time any of them had seen him outside of his home. And with the way Zacky was chugging his whiskey, one of them would have to drive him home as well.
"Zack, I really think you need to slow down with the whiskeys," Jimmy suggested gently. Usually the hard partier of the group, if Jimmy said slow down, it was serious.
"I'll drink…as much…as I fucking…want…to," Zacky spat, his words already beginning to blend together. He finished off his third bottle of whiskey, and after slamming it down onto the counter, demanded a fourth.
"Don't bring him anymore," Matt put in when he saw the bartender going to retrieve the Jack. "He's had enough."
"I'll fucking say when I've had enough, dammit!" Zacky yelled in outrage. He got to his feet and attempted to leap over the counter, but in his inebriated state only made it halfway. Matt and Johnny reached forward and dragged the emerald-eyed man back to a sitting position; Zacky, in an attempt to fight back, swung out and caught Johnny in the temple. The shorter man cursed loudly, and the others simply sighed.
"Zacky, what would Abbey do if she saw you like this?" Jimmy asked, knowing that bringing Zacky's missing girlfriend into this was testing the waters. "She'd beat you up one side and down the other."
Jimmy's later sentence went in one of Zacky's ear and came out the other bathed in Abbey's southern accent, and hearing this brought tears to Zacky's eyes. He missed that voice. He missed the Georgia inflection and her colorful colloquialisms. He missed it all so much. Slumping down into the seat in defeat, Zacky laid his head down on the counter and started to cry. His shoulders shook with all of his pent-up emotions, fueled by the alcohol as they ravaged his already exhausted body.
"Come on Zacky, I think it's time for you to go home," Brian said sympathetically, grabbing his friend's arm and pulling him to his feet. Brian carefully took his friend out to his car and after forcing Zacky to relinquish his car keys, he drove the drunken man home. Zacky's sobs subsided into soft whimpers as they drove, and Brian couldn't help but feel sorry for him. If Taylor up and disappeared like Abbey had - with only a note to explain her absense - Brian wouldn't know what to do.
Zacky's footsteps were unsure as Brian helped him into his house, but they held a purpose. He berated Brian into assisting him in getting up the stairs, and once there, he stumbled over to his closet, only one thought in mind.
"The list," he was saying, over and over. "Where is that fucking list?"
"What list, Zack?" Brian asked.
"Abbey's list," Zacky replied. Ever since Abbey had left, he'd been yearning to see her face, hear her voice, smell her unmistakable smell. And it wasn't until Brian was driving him home from the bar that Zacky had remembered something important, something that could possibly be the key to having Abbey back in his arms.
"You see this list, Zacky?" Abbey said, brandising a piece of paper in Zacky's face. "This is my bucketlist. This is all of the places I wanna visit and the things I wanna do before I die."
"You're a little young to be making a bucket list, don't you think?" Zack asked curiously. He wound his strong arms around Abbey's shoulders and she leaned into him with a happy sigh.
"You ain't never too young to dream, Zacky," she whispered in her sweet Georgia accent. Abbey rested in Zacky's soothing embrace for a few minutes longer before getting to her feet and walking over to the closet. Her hips sashayed naturally as she walked and this drew Zacky's green eyes to the swell of her backside; her southern heritage had filled her out in all the right places, none too overbearing. "I'm gonna stick the list in this box right here and put it in the closet. That way both you and I will know 'zactly where it is."
"Why would I need to know where it is?" Zacky asked.
Abbey smiled softly before looking up to meet the smouldering green gaze of her boyfriend. She loved him more than he would ever know, and what she was about to do to him killed her inside. "So if I ever go away, you'll where to go to find me."
"Found it!" Zacky shouted in triumph. He pumped his fists into the air and in doing so knocked himself off balance; he went tumbling to the floor in tangle of flailing limbs. Brian watched him fall and tried hard not to laugh. "Brian man, I found the list! I fucking found Abbey's list!"
"Abbey has a list?" Brian questioned.
Zacky nodded happily and unfolded the piece of paper. Abbey's handwriting was still crisp, almost as if she'd written this just yesterday. Zacky sighed. He wished it had been written yesterday, because that would mean Abbey would still be here with him. He cursed himself for not thinking of this earlier. Abbey left to find herself - as the note had entailed - so she must be following this list. Which meant that if Zacky followed this list, he might very well find Abbey waiting for him at the end of the road.
The first town on the list was Las Vegas, Nevada. Abbey loved to play poker, and she'd always wanted to play in Vegas and smoke the boys at the table. Zacky calculated the days in his head as best he could in his intoxicated state. Abbey was going to Las Vegas. She had to be.
Which meant Zacky would go to Las Vegas as well.
"Hey Brian, you and the guys wanna take a road trip with me?" Zacky asked his friend, folding up the list and stuffing it down deep into his pocket for safe-keeping.
"To where exactly?" Brian asked. Zacky's behavior was beginning to irk him, with all the pointless questions and the stumbling about. Maybe it was a good thing Zacky had stopped coming to Johnny's bar.
"To find Abbey," Zacky said.
5/5/13