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Zacky and the Lawyer

Perception


After my conversation with Matt, things on the tour went mostly back to normal. He stopped looking at me like anything was unusual when Zack was around, and even Val’s looks became less frequent. Not having to worry about anyone else in the band catching their expressions came as a huge relief to me.

While my feelings for Zack never subsided, I was able to put them on the metaphorical back burner as I settled back into a routine. I did legal work during the day, wrapping up loose ends for our upcoming court appearance as well as I could, and watched the show or helped out with the kids at night. I still spent quite a lot of time with Tennessee, especially when the band had days off from shows, and even watched a couple more movies with him and Zack in their hotel rooms. It was a lot easier to just enjoy these interactions, and take them for what they were, when no one else was making a big deal out of them.

Now, it would be a lie to say I’d flipped a magical switch and stopped noticing that Zack was incredibly attractive, or talented, or caring—those things would probably never go away—but I had regained my ability to act like a normal, semi-professional human being around him. I was back in control. And, for a self-professed control freak, that felt pretty damn good.

Matt didn’t completely give up on the situation immediately, though. Every so often, after he’d seen me talking with Zack or playing with Tennessee, he’d pull me aside to remind me that it’d be okay if something happened. And while I appreciated the reassurance, I still had no plans to pursue the guitarist. I was firmly in camp “Assume-that-it’s-not-gonna-happen-unless-he-makes-a-move-first.”

And so we rolled on down the highways, going from city to city and state to state, checking shows off the list and blitzing through the second half of the tour. It was when we only had a couple of weeks left on the road that things really got interesting again.

I was on the bus with Val and the boys one night, trying to help get everyone ready for bedtime. It was already nine o’clock, and the band was off playing a show. Val was tucking River in, and I was trying to do the same with Tennessee, but was being met with some resistance.

“Will Dad be able to read to me tonight?” he asked, looking up at me curiously. I was crouched next to his bed, blankets in my hands, and shook my head apologetically.

“Not tonight, buddy. I’m sorry. He’s at work, and he won’t be back until really late.”

Tennessee looked sad for a moment, then perked back up, sitting up in bed. “I’m not sleepy. We can wait for him!”

I laughed softly, and shook my head again. “I don’t think so, bud. Your dad’s not gonna be happy if you stay up so late. That’s way past your normal bedtime.” It was true that the kids stayed up to see the show on some nights, but they always ended up tired and cranky the next day. For the sake of all the adults on tour, we stuck to an earlier bedtime whenever possible.

Tennessee pounded on the sheets with his tiny hands. “But I’m not sleepy!” he insisted. “I can’t go to sleep. Can we stay up longer? Pleeeease?”

I looked him in the eyes, and saw a surprising amount of determination there. Finally, I relented. “Okay, we can stay up for now. But if you start getting sleepy, you have to tell me. Promise?”

The little boy nodded happily. “Promise!”

I chuckled. “Alright, come on, then.” I helped him pull back the covers and get down from the bunk, and we went back into the bus’s main living area. I had no intention of actually letting Tennessee stay up very late, but he seemed to be feeling persistent that night. After a half hour of reading or games, I figured, he should be yawning and ready to go back to bed.

I said goodnight to Val and her kids, and she shut the door to the bunk area so that we wouldn’t keep them up. “We have to be quiet now, okay?” I whispered to Tennessee, pointing to the door. “Aunt Val, River, and Cash are all sleeping. We don’t want to wake them up.”

Tennessee pretended to zip his lips and throw a key over his shoulder. “Okay!” he stage-whispered. I smiled. It wasn’t the most quiet voice, but it would work for now.

Unfortunately, my plan of having Tennessee to bed by nine-thirty didn’t work at all. I thought putting together the same puzzles we’d already done a dozen times would surely put him to sleep, but I was wrong. After that, I thought that reading to him would definitely do the trick, but he seemed set on staying awake. His eyes were wide open, and he was alert the whole time. Heck, I even started getting sleepy after a little while, but he’d nudge me in the arm every so often and ask me to read the next page, and I’d go along with it.

I did try to tell him a couple times that we should probably go to bed soon, but he’d just tell me again that he wasn’t sleepy. And I didn’t have the heart to forcibly send him to his bunk; you can’t go back on what you said to a little kid, right?

We went on this way for a couple of hours. I was reading Polar Bear Parade, my eyelids drooping, when we suddenly heard a soft knock at the door. I trailed off in the middle of my sentence and looked up, gaze turning towards the front of the bus. Tennessee immediately became excited, looking from the direction of the door to me and back again.

The door was pulled opened slowly and quietly, and a moment later, Zack’s head appeared around the corner. He looked curious at first, and then a bit confused. “Tennessee? What’re you still doing up, kiddo?”

“Dad!” Tennessee exclaimed, stage-whispering loudly again. He scooted over even closer to me on the couch, beckoning Zack over with his arm. The guitarist chuckled, walking onto the bus and shutting the door behind him. He was shaking his head, but came over and sat on the couch on the opposite side of Tennessee.

“I saw the light was still on over here and decided to come investigate. What’re you still doing awake, Ten?” he asked again, ruffling his son’s hair. I opened my mouth to apologize for letting him be up so late, but Tennessee beat me to the explanation.

“Chrissie said I could stay up and wait for you tonight as long as I wasn’t sleepy!” he said, smiling back at me briefly before returning his focus to Zack. “I wanted you to read to me tonight, so I stayed awake!”

Zack chuckled slightly, looking up at me with one eyebrow raised as if to confirm the story, and I nodded. “I thought he would’ve gotten sleepy ages ago, to be honest. But he’s more awake than I am, so here we are!” I shifted my focus to Tennessee. “Do you want your dad to finish reading the story, and then we can all get to bed?” I didn’t mean to pass the task off to Zack, but considering this is what Tennessee had been waiting for all night, it seemed like it was probably the only way to get him to go to sleep.

Tennessee shook his head, much to my confusion, before proclaiming, “I want you both to read it to me!” He looked between the two of us expectantly.

Zack met my eyes again. “You okay with staying up for a few more minutes?”

I nodded. I was sleepy, yes, but I could make it through a bit more reading for these two. I shifted the book in my hands so that it was resting on Tennessee’s lap, where Zack and I could both see it. “Okay, now where were we…”

I found my spot on the page and read the last few sentences. Tennessee flipped the page, and then it was Zack’s turn. He read the contents of that page, and we continued trading off throughout the book. I couldn’t help but feel like this sort of thing normally only happened between two parents and their child, but I did my best to ignore the thought.

Before too long, Zack had read the last page, and Tennessee closed the book’s back cover. “Hooray!” he said, earning shushes from Zack and I. “Don’t forget, other people are asleep on the bus,” I reminded him softly.

He nodded in acknowledgement, but didn’t seem concerned about it. In fact, his brow furrowed and he looked back and forth between me and Zack, like he was trying to figure something else out. “What’s on your mind, Ten?” Zack prompted, taking the book and setting it back on a side table with the others.

“Hmmm,” Tennessee said thoughtfully, scrunching his face up like he was in deep thought. His expression lit up again suddenly, as if he’d come up with a brilliant solution to a problem. He turned to look at Zack, and said matter-of-factly, “I think that you and Chrissie should get married.”

And just like that, I was choking on my non-existent drink. Could I have possibly heard him correctly? What on earth would make him say that? And what, pray tell, was I supposed to do in response? I could feel my face heating up as I continued through my coughing fit, unsure of what to do or even where to look, but my gaze eventually settled on Zack. He wasn’t literally choking the same way that I was, but he didn’t seem much more prepared to handle the situation.

“O-Oh,” he started, looking from me to Tennessee with a blank, shocked expression. “Well… that’s not really how it works, bud.”

Tennessee frowned again. “Whaddaya mean? People get married when they love each other.”

My face felt like it was on fire. I’d managed to stop coughing, but I’d swapped it for a stunned silence that wasn’t any more helpful to the situation. I risked another look at Zack, whose seemed to be getting a little more flustered. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times. “We’re not...” He looked back up at me, then to his son. “It’s...” He seemed to be trying to choose his words carefully. Finally, he moved into placating mode instead of explaining mode. “Well, you never know what might happen. But people don’t just decide to get married all in a day, Tennessee. It takes a long time.”

The boy seemed to be thinking of a reply, one finger resting on his chin, but Zack beat him to it. “Let’s get you to bed, okay? It’s way past your bedtime.”

Tennessee frowned again, but Zack gave him a warning look that effectively stopped his protests. “Okay,” he said, a slightly grumbly tone in his voice as he slid off the couch. He walked towards the bunks, before turning back to me to wave briefly. “Goodnight, Chrissie!”

I cleared my throat before answering him. “Goodnight, buddy. Sweet dreams!” I felt the weight on the couch shift again as Zack got up to follow his son, avoiding looking in my direction as he passed.

The two of them headed into the bunk area, and Zack closed the door softly behind them so that he could put his son to bed. I wasn’t sure what to do at this point; my first instinct was to bolt from the bus so I’d be gone when Zack came back and I wouldn’t have to see him again, but considering that I slept here, that probably wouldn’t work out. Instead, I stayed put on the couch and waited for his inevitable return.

My mind was racing as I tried to process what had just happened. Where had Tennessee gotten the idea that we were in love? Or that we should be getting married? Was I really that obvious that even a four-year-old kid could tell I had feelings for the guitarist?

...Or, did he think that Zack liked me for some reason? The two of them spent a good amount of time alone together. Had Zack said something to make him think that we should be a couple?

I shook my head as I attempted to clear my thoughts. No, that was silly. He surely wasn’t that perceptive. Tennessee probably just liked me and wanted me to be closer to his family. Which in itself was a big compliment, but probably not anything to dwell on too much.

You’d be his stepmom. It’s kind of like being his mom—

I shut my brain off again, not letting myself entertain the idea. No, I was only friends with Tennessee, and I was only friends with Zack. And after this tour was over, we’d be together less often and Tennessee would probably forget all about me—

My thoughts were interrupted yet again when I heard the door to the bunks open. I snapped to attention and looked towards it. Zack backed out of the darkened room slowly and closed the door, before finally turning to face me.

His expression was blank as he gave a short laugh, still not seeming sure what to say. He sat back down on the other end of the couch and clasped his hands between his knees. I could feel my heart rate pick up again.

Zack was the first to speak. “Hey, I’m sorry about… that. He gets excited about things sometimes.”

He seemed to be trying to play it off, so I figured that I would, too. I shrugged my shoulders. “It’s okay. We’ve been spending a lot of time together recently. Guess it just got in his head, somehow.”

Zack nodded at me gratefully. “Yeah, I guess so. Thanks again for reading to him so often, and for everything else.” He was looking at me intently with those gorgeous green eyes.

“Of course! We’ve had a good time together. And I’m glad to help.” I was smiling now, probably with another blush on my face. I really was happy I could be useful beyond working as their lawyer, but my nerves were still wracked from what Tennessee had said.

Zack nodded, expression thoughtful now. He was quiet for a minute before he spoke, seeming almost hesitant, like he was unsure of his next words. “Yeah, he really likes you... and he’s not the only one.”

My heart skipped a beat once I’d registered what he said. I looked directly at him. “What do you mean?” The question came out as a whisper, and not just because I was trying to be quiet for the people asleep. I was as hopeful as I dared to be, but there was no way...

Zack bit his lower lip as he held my gaze. “Tennessee wasn’t far off with what he said earlier. I really care about you, Christa.”

I was shocked by the admission, even more so than I had been by Tennessee’s words. Was he being serious? The expression on his face said that he was, but it seemed crazy.

“I-I... Zack... really?” I stuttered eloquently.

He chuckled slightly, but his sober expression remained. “Yeah, really. You’ve always been a great partner to us. But since this tour started and we’ve all been on the road, we’ve gotten to know each other better, and...” he shrugged, trailing off before starting again. “You get along well with everyone here. Tennessee thinks you’re the best. And I didn’t mean for it to happen, but I guess I got attached, too.” He shook his head, but there was a smile on his face now. “Dang kid must’ve picked up on how much I was talking about you. He knows I don’t invite anyone over to do things with the two of us so often. He had me all figured out.”

My heart rate hadn’t slowed down one bit during his explanation. It made Tennessee’s behavior from earlier make more sense, but that was hardly enough to calm me down. Zack was waiting patiently, eyes still on me, and I realized I should answer him.

“Zack…” I started quietly, before taking a deep breath to steady myself. “You’re not the only one who’s gotten attached. I like you, so much, but I just never thought…” I went quiet as I shook my head, a smile growing over my face. I could hardly believe we were having this conversation.

Zack let out a sigh of what I think was relief, moving closer to me on the couch until he was sitting right next to me. I dropped my eyes to my lap, nerves getting the better of me, until he poked me in the arm. “Hey,” he said, prompting me to look back up at him. He’d never been quite this close before, and he was smiling. “Do you want to give this a try? I know we’ve both got our own lives, and there’d be some things to work out. But I think we could do it, if you want to.”

I was still nervous. I didn’t know what the rest of the band would think, and I didn’t know what this would mean for my job. But I did know that I wanted this more than anything else in the world. I finally let go of my doubts, grinned back at him, and nodded. “Hell yeah. Let’s give it a shot.”

Zack returned my expression, lifting one hand to cup the side of my face affectionately. I leaned into the touch, thrilled to finally be close to him in this way. His face became serious again a moment later as he let his hand linger, slowly leaning his face towards mine. His focus moved between my eyes and my lips, almost as if asking permission, and I nodded at him again. I lifted my chin up to help close the gap between us, and met his lips in a sweet kiss.

Despite being a rockstar, who I’d assumed was used to taking whatever he wanted, Zack’s kiss was exceedingly gentle. His lips moved slowly over my own as he stroked his thumb across my cheek. After a moment’s hesitation, I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck, bringing us closer together.

He broke the kiss before long, leaning back just far enough to look me in the eyes. “Okay?” he asked softly. I could feel his warm breath against my lips. Unable to hold his gaze, I moved my face to nuzzle against his neck, instead, and nodded. “More than okay.”

He made a contented sound, and wrapped his arms around my back and under my knees, moving my legs to lay across his own. I was practically sitting in his lap at this point, and felt myself blush again. I met his eyes once more as he wrapped both arms around my middle to hold me close. He leaned down to give me another quick kiss.

Once we’d separated, and were both grinning at each other like fools, he spoke again. “So, we have the next few days off. Do you maybe want to go and get dinner tomorrow night?”

My smile grew even bigger, if that was possible, and I nodded at him. “I’d love to, Zack.”

His expression became teasing. “You can call me Zacky, if you want to.”

I laughed then, pushing him on the chest as he referenced my previous mistake. “That was one time!”

He grinned, grabbing both of my hands to keep me from pushing him more and, once he was satisfied that he was safe, smirked at me triumphantly. “You’re still too fun to mess with.”

I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed, shaking his head, before leaning forward to kiss me again.

Notes

Comments

NESS FOR THE WIN

BeccaBearSc BeccaBearSc
1/29/19

@violetshade

Thank you so much! I know I teased it for a long time, but they finally got that kiss, lol! And I had so much fun writing this story around Tennessee!

rizanicole rizanicole
1/29/19

@rockstarsNredpants
@Nicole

Thank you both!! I don't have any plans to continue it at the moment, but I also didn't want to stop writing it when I got to the end, lol. I may well end up adding to it in the future! :)

rizanicole rizanicole
1/29/19

@BeccaBearSc

Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked the ending :)

rizanicole rizanicole
1/29/19

I loved it!! Nice to see them finally hook up! And way to,go Ness for playing matchmaker :)

violetvictoria violetvictoria
1/27/19