Rush Together.

third person POV--

Matt turned the key and opened the door to his huge home as the sound of Pantera began blasting out of the door, Kat and Dahlia were still cowering behind him. The guys all filed to the door, some more intoxicated than others. Brian was the first to speak.

"What's up, motherfucker? Who's the hottie behind you?" He said, trying to peek behind Matt.

He rolled his eyes at Brian, already annoyed with how this day was about to go. "Just come out already. They can obviously see you."

Shit, Dahlia thought. Nervously, she stepped out from behind Matt and let go of Katrina, earning a gasp from everyone almost simultaneously. Was it really her? There was no way. Everyone felt a pang of shock shoot throughout their bodies. Zack stepped forward, in extreme disbelief and looked at the once tiny, blonde girl that he was once in love with.

"Dahlia?" Zack said squinting his eyes, almost dropping his beer.

"Hey guys." she said throwing a hand up nervously.

She scanned the faces of everyone in the room. Brian stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at her, assumingly at her transformation. Johnny and Jimmy were smiling brightly, even though the girl Johnny had his arm around was reading her to filth in her mind. Matt and Katrina stood behind he in a supportive brace, prepared to defend her if anyone had anything smart to say. Finally, she looked over to Zacky who was wide-mouthed with his face turning a shade of red. She knew that face anywhere. He was either enraged or going to cry. She lowered her head so that her face was hidden behind her flowing hair.

Jimmy was of course, the first to have anything to say about her arrival, running up to her and wrapping his lanky arms around her small form. He buried his face in her mane of hair and whispered to her, "You look beautiful."

She wrapped her arms around Jimmy's slender waist and felt his body begin to shake, as he was fighting himself not to cry. "I missed you too Jimmy." she said patting his back.

Brian walked up slowly, with his eyebrows furrowed. "I can't even believe it. You...you look so different."

"Surprise." she said as she opened her arms for Brian to come into a hug.

He looked reluctant to go into her arms and with his eyebrows still furrowed, he hugged her lightly, almost with no emotion at all and stepped back into the group.

Johnny came up, despite the obvious disapproval from what Dahlia assumed was his girlfriend. He pulled her into a hug, just like Jimmy had and lightly stroked her hair, sniffling a little bit

"I missed you, punk." he said letting go and grabbing both sides of her face lightly.

Good old Johnny hadn't changed a bit. "I missed you too, shitbag." She kissed him on the cheek before he walked back over to his...creature.

Zack was the only one left now. He was still standing there red-faced and tears lining his eyes. He walked up to her slowly, fists clenched. Matt placed a protective hand on Dahlia's shoulder, even though everyone knew Zack would never actually put his hands on her, but they hadn't seen him look so upset in ages. He reached one hand up to touch the side of her face, rubbing his finger along her jawline. Her face turned red at the feeling of his fingers on her skin and her eyes shut and fell into the touch for a brief moment. Zack pulled away and stared at her with a look of shock on his face, as if he was surprised at himself for acting the way he was. He walked away without saying a word and

They all bombarded her with questions and hugs, asking her about New York and how she'd been. They all appeared to be pretty happy to see her return apart from Zack, who remained in the living room by himself. Dahlia glanced from the crowd around her over to Zack who was staring at her just as intensely as he was before. He stood up and grabbed his jacket before walking towards them all.

"Excuse me." he said, shoving past Dahlia, Matt, and Katrina.

Dahlia looked over at Matt with questioning eyes and without having to say anything, he knew exactly what she was getting at. He nodded and moved out of the way as Dahlia ran out the door after Zacky. She caught him just as he was opening the door to his BMW. His lips were pursed in a tight frown.

"Zack! Zack, where are you going?" she yelled, running throwing a hand in the air trying to get his attention.

He stopped with one foot outside of the door and his head hanging down drearily with one hand rubbing his face. He knew even after all these years, he couldn't deny her as badly as he wanted to. He prepared for the worst.

"Home, Dahlia. I can't be here."

"Why? Aren't you happy to see me?"

He looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed, giving her a look of 'can you really be that stupid?' and shook his head. Could she really have thought that after all this time, after not speaking to him for years, not a phone call, not a text, nothing that he would be HAPPY to see her? She had to be the most naive person in the world to think that.

"You're fucking kidding, right? " he said with a sour giggle.

She backed up slightly, shocked by his attitude, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. "Zack I couldn't. You don't--"

He interrupted loudly, "No, Dahlia. You left me here. You left all of us here. You left me here by myself and you didn't call, you didn't check in with us, you didn't even shoot me a text once in a while to see how I was. You fucking disappeared and moved on to "bigger and better" things in New York. You were supposed to come back and visit, you were supposed to keep track of us all and maintain our friendships and you just stopped. And after five years, you just expect me to be happy that...ugh...you know what? I'm done here. Enjoy your stay but don't expect to see me anymore while you're here."

And with that, he climbed into his car and sped off, leaving Dahlia standing alone in Matt's driveway. A reverse mirror image of 5 years ago, her arms wrapped together, her legs shaking from shock. She didn't realize that her leaving had affected things so drastically. Brian had even acted funny seeing her earlier. She stood in the road, just as Zack had those years ago, watching him disappear over the hillside.

"Dolly!" she heard someone cry.

Jimmy was standing in the doorway of Matt's house, looking at her. She waved a hand at him and began walking back towards the house, her head down trying to fight back tears. Never had Zack yelled at her in the 15 years she'd known him. Jimmy looked at her with worried eyes when she reached the door and as she attempted to breeze past him back into the house with everyone else, he placed an arm in front of her. She stopped knowing she wasn't getting past her best friend without talking about what had happened just now. He got close to her face and uttered a simple word.

"Talk."

She sighed and rested her head on Jimmy's chest, wrapping her arms around his tiny waist.
"He hates me, Jimbo. He hates me for leaving him here, for leaving you all. I should have kept in contact, but I just couldn't. I should have stayed. I should have never gone to New York and I never should have--"

Jimmy interrupted, "What's all this talk of never? I'm glad you left."

She looked up at Jimmy with hurt in her eyes. He quickly reassured her, patting her hair
"No, no, no! I never wanted you to leave. None of us did. We just...knew there was nothing for you in Huntington. Zack knew too. He's just in shock. Give him a couple days and he'll get over it. You know how over-dramatic he can be."

Dahlia smiled softly to herself, knowing that Jimmy was correct. He always was. She wrapped her arm around his and turned to walk back inside.

"You good to go in?" He asked before taking a step forward.

"Yeah. Let's do this Jimbo."

Notes

Do you think Zack will forgive her after all, guys? What will everyone say to her at the party, especially after arguement they just witnessed.