Zack

I loved California.

After the last year of touring, I was glad to be home for the next year or so while we worked on our next album. Oh, and I guess I should be excited about getting married in a month. I didn't want to plan our wedding so close to the end of our tour, but Gena insisted. Things have been a little rocky between us for a little while and I wasn't sure why. I've been telling myself that it was because we've been away from each other on and off for a year but if I was being completely honest I wasn't sure if there was more to it or not.

The trust issues I gained in high school were no joke. What Evelyn and Matt did to me twelve years ago still fucked with me to this day. As if constantly worrying about someone entering my lie because of my financial status wasn't bad enough, now I had the constant fear that someone was entering my life just to fuck with me for no reason like Evelyn did.

I know Matt did what he did to help me. It was fucked up, and I wish he would have just minded his own business, but I know his intentions were good. He knows what he did was fucked up, and he regrets it immensely. It took me a very long time to forgive him or to even hear him out but once I did I understood that he didn't do it to hurt me. He was my best fucking friend; he was just trying to help - even if he did go about it entirely wrong. Matt really thought Evelyn would stop being the snobby, stuck up bitch she was. He thought we would be good together, and I’ll admit for a while there I thought we actually were good together. I thought she loved me and really had changed her attitude about some things over the months we were together, but turns out she was worse than I had even anticipated.

I mean, who in their right mind can just blatantly lie, use and fuck with someone like she did? And she did it with such grace! Who in their right mind can do that to someone they don't even know? How could she shamelessly use me, confess her love for me and fuck me just so she could pass a class? I genuinely thought she and I were going to last for a very long time. Hell, I even told her I would quit Avenged Sevenfold so I could follow her to New York because I didn't want to be without her. I did all of this for her just to find out she was a lying, heartless and conniving woman.

Matt claims she really did love me. Hell, even Evelyn told me she really did end up developing feelings for me. I remembered that day like it was yesterday. I remember being angry, and heartbroken. How was I supposed to believe her when it came to how she really felt? And even if it was true - and that was a big if – how was any of our relationship supposed to be real if it was built on a lie?

I had done a lot of thinking about Evelyn in the last couple of days. I knew it was because I was probably going to see her next week at her family's family reunion. I debated not going but her mother insisted since the guys and myself were really good friends with Ryan - Evelyn's deceased brother. She liked us being around because of all the stories we had of him.
I didn't notice Gena had sat down next to me on the couch until she offered me a beer. I took it from her and then planted a kiss on her cheek.

"I'm glad you decided to come home," I told her. "How was New York?"

"It was so much fun," she told me. She scooted forward and raised her shirt up to reveal her inked skin. "I got my tattoo finished, finally. The girl is going on vacation next week so my appointment got moved."

"That's awesome, babe!" I told her. "It looks amazing."

She lowered her shirt and cuddled up next to me. "I love it so much. She's amazing, like the next Kat Von D."

I laughed. "Well, maybe we'll have to go to her to get our matching couples tattoos after we get married."

"Yes!" She exclaimed. Her phone began to ring and she glanced at to before quickly muting it and turning it over so I couldn't see the screen.

I thought her actions were weird but decided I didn't want to fight with her about it so I acted like I didn't notice. "What made you decide to come to the family reunion with me?"

She shrugged. "You just really seemed like you wanted me to be there, and since my appointment got moved, I was able to make it work."

I nodded. She was right, I did want her to come. I wanted her to be there because I knew Evelyn was going to be there. I wanted Evelyn to see how happy I was; I wanted her to see the ring on Gena's finger. I wanted her to see how good I was doing even though she fucked me over in high school.

"Well, I'm glad you were able to make it work," I told Gena, giving her another kiss on the cheek.

She smiled at me gently and nodded. "Me too."

---

I woke up to a hushed whisper and an empty bed. I reached for my phone on the night stand and hit a button so the screen lit up. It was almost three in the morning.
Light seeped through the closed bathroom door, accompanied by Gena's whispering. I rubbed my eyes and ran a hand through my hair before tossing the blankets off me and climbing out of bed.

"Babe?" I called, approaching the closed bathroom door. The whispering didn't stop, and she didn't call back to me either. "Baby, are you okay?" I rapped lightly on the bathroom door.

Abruptly, the whispering stopped and the door opened. Gena appeared in pajamas, her cellphone in her hand. "Zack, why are you up?" She asked me.

"I noticed you weren't in bed," I told her. "Who were you talking to?"

She shook her head. "No one."

I sighed. "Gena, I heard you whispering."

She walked passed me and climbed back in bed, her cell phone still clutched tightly in her hand. "Come back to bed. You must be exhausted."

She was right, I was but that didn't mean I was going to let this go. "Gena, you're keeping something from me and I don't like it."

She groaned. "Zack, you're going to ruin the surprise. It's for the wedding, please drop it."

"You're doing wedding stuff at three in the morning?" I asked her in disbelief. I slowly began to approach the bed, waiting on her answer but it never came. "Okay," I sighed in defeat.

She patted the bed beside her. "Come back to bed. I'm done for the night."

I nodded and crawled in beside her. These trust issues were going to eat me alive.

Notes

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Title credit: Panic! at the Disco "Don't Threaten me with a Good Time"