The Way Your Heart Sounds

A few days later, Lauren was invited to go over Matt’s house to play video games with him and the rest of the gang. She was so thankful that the guys always included her in their activities like she was one of them, since they knew how lonely she was without Jimmy around. She anticipated his return more and more every day, knowing that he would have to come home eventually. It was almost two months now that he was gone. Aside from hoping that Jimmy would be back soon, she hoped to see her dad again so she could talk to him about what was going on. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been back since that one night. He told her she wasn’t alone, but besides the guys here, she felt pretty alone.

Zacky was running a bit late, but finally made his way through the door. Lauren got distracted when he came in, giving Matt the opportunity to kill her in the game they were playing. Matt laughed victoriously, and asked who wanted to get killed next.

“I’m here, I brought extra beer,” Zacky announced. He put the beer in the kitchen, and made his way back into the living room to pick up a controller and plop onto the couch across from Lauren. She turned to him and smiled. He returned her smile and selected a character, mumbling about how he couldn’t wait to beat Johnny’s face into a bloody pulp. She wished Jimmy was here, he loved a good round of video games.

After an hour or two of the group taking turns playing Mortal Kombat, everyone dispersed to get a drink and take a walk. Matt complained about his wrist starting to hurt, which was surprising considering he played the most video games out of any of them. Zacky went outside to the backyard to smoke a cigarette with Johnny.

“Hey you,” Brian said, leaning onto the counter next to where Lauren was standing.

“Hey Brian,” she said, taking a sip of the soda she was holding.

“What’s up with you and vengeance?” he asked. Lauren raised an eyebrow at him, confused.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s been talking about you non-stop lately. It’s a little weird… I was wondering if something was going on between you guys…” Brian trailed off, looking a little awkward. Lauren took a minute to process what he was saying. Why was Zacky talking about her? She got the feeling that Brian was trying to infer that Zacky had a crush on her. She shook her head.

“Bri, you know I’m faithful to Jimmy no matter what. Zacky and I have gotten close because of his dad, maybe that’s it?” she asked. He shrugged.

“Kind of seems like he has the hots for you,” he said honestly, with a shrug.

“I’m sure that’s not it,” Lauren laughed. “I feel like I would have noticed. He treats me how any of you guys would treat me, and I don’t think you guys are all in love with me or anything.”

Lauren looked through the patio door at Zacky and saw him smoking a cigarette with Johnny. They were both laughing. She had never gotten the feeling that Zacky liked her in that way, and she wondered if Brian was just being stupid, or if he was on to something. She heard the patio door open and saw Zacky and Johnny return, starting to raid the kitchen fridge for another beer.

“Just a thought. I could be wrong,” Brian added before he walked away. Lauren finished her soda and sighed before pouring another cup. What if Brian was right?

“Hey,” Zacky chirped, using a bottle opener to pop the cap off his beer.

“Ready for another round of getting your ass kicked in Mortal Kombat?” she laughed. The only person who lost more matches than Zacky was Johnny.

“Actually, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something in private.”

She nodded and followed him as he walked down the hall and into Matt’s room. She wondered if something was up with his dad that he wanted to talk about, and that’s why he wanted to do in private. Or maybe Brian was right after all. Zacky took a seat on Matt’s bed and sighed. She sat down next to him.

“What’s up?” she asked. He took a few moments to reply, and appeared to be gathering his thoughts.

“So there’s something I want to tell you that I’ve been thinking about,” he nervously rubbed the back of his hands. She nodded for him to continue. “I want to be honest with you because we’re good friends and I think I owe you that.”

“Of course, you can tell me anything,” she replied.

His next thought was interrupted by his cell phone ringing, and he briefly glanced at it.

“I’m so sorry, I have to take this, give me one second,” he said quickly before he got up and left, answering the phone on the way out.

Lauren wondered what he had to tell her about. He seemed really nervous to tell her, which made Brian’s prediction seem all the more likely. How would she react if Zacky told her something like that? She wasn’t sure. A few more moments passed then she had actually anticipated, Zacky was sure taking a while on this phone call. She became more nervous as the minutes went by, she just wanted this conversation to be over with.

The door creaked open. When she looked at Zacky, she saw that he looked deathly pale, and his emerald eyes were glassy with tears.

“He’s gone,” was all he said.

Notes

Almost to the end! Thanks to everyone who's stuck around this long so far. What do you guys think Zacky wanted to tell her before he got such horrible news?