Zacky had a place just outside of Huntington.

A field, a place that he'd only ever told one person about in his entire lifetime. Not his best friends, his brothers in his band, or his parents and family. The only person he told about the field was Lizzy. It had been late one night, and they'd been driving just outside of the city after spending the evening in Los Angeles, where he'd taken her out to dinner. His car had broken down just beside the field, but instead of getting mad, the two of them had walked out into the middle of the field, sat beneath a tree and looked up at the stars.

So he wasn't surprised that when he opened his eyes, Lizzy was sat next to him, her car parked a few meters away.

"You know, sleeping under a tree is only comfortable when there's someone to do it with you" Lizzy said softly as he sat up, rubbing his eyes. He hadn’t been able to sleep after he’d gone home, and the last person he expected to be sat next to him was the girl who’d run away from him.
“How did you know I was here?” he asked sleepily, closing his eyes to block out the blinding sun. This was why he hated camping- natural light was a pain in the ass.

“Zachary James Baker, I am ashamed of you. As soon as your own mother called to tell us you were missing, I was the only one who knew where you’d gone. I remember…when you got broke up with Gena, when I came home, I got a call from you at 2am asking me to come pick you up. And you didn’t say where, but I knew. I knew where you were”

She leant back against the trunk of the tree, breathing in the only air she’d had in a while that hadn’t been contaminated by the city and then smiled at him.
“When things go wrong, you escape here. You have done ever since we broke down outside this field. And now you’re here…because of me” she said quietly, looking down at her hands and twisting them together. She hated that she was hurting him, but she was…confused. Did she really want to fall in love with him, or did she want to hate him for being so horrible to his fiancée? She sounded like a bitch, but if she made Zacky happy- she’d be civil around her.

“It’s not your fault Liz. I was really stupid just thinking that as soon as I said something you’d jump straight back to me, in complete reckless abandon” Zacky replied softly, seeing her guilty expression.
“It is my fault. It’s not fair to you that after all the years I’ve spent trying to repress feelings I should never have had, they all come rushing back when I look at you”
“What feelings?” Zacky asked, shifting a little closer to Lizzy along the dirty dry mud beneath the tree. She sighed again.

“After we broke up, I spent two years trying to forget you. I spent the other eight convincing myself that I didn’t need you, when deep down I knew I was lying to myself. When I came back here, to get away from New York, I hoped that you would still be waiting for me, like you promised. But then I heard about Anna and…it didn’t seem right. Breaking something like that apart”

Zacky stared at Lizzy for a moment. He saw the hurt little girl who had scraped her knee on the sidewalk, who was comforted by Brian rather than her father. He saw the high schooler whose boyfriend had cheated on her with a cheerleader, and how Brian had been so quick to round up his friends and beat the shit out of that punk. He saw how miserable she’d looked when he’d run away from her after she told him about Harvard, and how Brian had been the one to storm out and threaten to kill Zacky.

He saw Lizzy as she tried to hide herself. A lost little girl who had given up hope on ever being happy again, because everyone around her had moved on. Even Brian.

And slowly, he turned to look at her, lifting her chin up to stare into the emerald orbs of his eyes and pressed their lips together. It was the second time he’d done it without even asking her how she felt, but this time, he felt her kiss back. She didn’t pull away when he gently put his hands on her waist, and she only broke apart from him when she heard thunder crack and the heavens opened, rain pouring down from the skies.

“Shit! Zacky we can’t stay out here!” Lizzy yelled as he grabbed onto him like he was an umbrella. She’d never seen it rain so hard before- and the only place of shelter was a little barn a few meters away.
“Who says we can’t?!” Zacky cried, lifting her up off of her feet and running straight into the rain, laughing as she shrieked and giggled with him. As he put her down on the ground, she paused. The water was soaking both of them to the skin, hair plastered to their faces, but smiling. This was happiness- getting caught in a rain shower together. Not what they’d been telling themselves happiness was.

And this time, it was Lizzy who kissed Zacky first.

He lifted her up, never breaking their kiss as she wrapped her legs around his waist, letting him carry her over to the small barn. She didn’t want to let him go, she didn’t care that she was tearing his marriage apart. All she knew was that she wanted Zacky Baker, here and now- because if kissing in the rain wasn’t the most romantic thing she’d ever witnessed, she didn’t know what was.
Zacky slammed the door to the barn shut and looking around, he noticed there was a little room up a flight of stairs. He grabbed Lizzy’s hand and pulled her up with him, laying her gently down on the bed of straw and blankets.

“I love you Lizzy Haner. Don’t leave me again” he whispered as he kissed down her neck, unbuttoning her shirt with his free hands. She gasped as his cold hand touched her burning hot flesh and grabbed his shoulders, dragging him back up so she could see him properly.

“I love you too Zacky Baker. Now…make love to me like it’s ten years ago all over again”