I Found You, Something Told Me To Stay - (Jason Berry/Zacky Vengeance)

Chapter Twenty-Seven.

Just as I was folding up my spare change of clothes, my phone began to ring in my pocket. I immediately dropped everything in my hands to answer it, discovering it was Charlotte.

“Hey, Charles.” I said, a sigh escaping my lips as I stared down at my bag.

“What’s up with you?” She laughed.

“Nothing. Just packing an overnight bag.”

“To stay with Uncle Zacky? Have fun with that.” She laughed again.

I frowned. “You know?”

“Oh, yeah. News travels fast in the Avenged family. Zacky was at mine this morning talking about the situation with your dad’s parents. He seemed pretty cool with having you over.”

“Is there any reason why he wouldn’t be?” I asked.

“No, it’s just...the last time I was left under Zacky’s supervision, Linds and I invited Sierra and Wednesday over and then they invited Dylan, Riley and Adam over, and it all got a bit out of hand. He finds it hard to deal with teenagers after that.” At that last sentence, she laughed even harder.

“Oh...” I murmured, blinking. “Anyway, I’m guessing you want to hear about last night, right?”

“Yes! Hold on, I’m putting you on loudspeaker because Linds is here.” There was a load of cluttering noises coming from the other end, before Charlotte spoke again. “Okay, we’re listening. Go.”

“Nothing much happened...” I started. “They took me back to the station, called my dad and I had to wait there. Only...there was this guy...”

“A guy?” Linds inquired.

“He was really weird.” I said. “Like, he just started talking to me and at first he was being really rude, but then he was all like “that’s a nice ass you’ve got there” and...I don’t know...it was just really weird.”

“What?” Charlotte practically yelled. “How old was he?”

I shrugged, despite the fact that they couldn’t see me. “I don’t know. He must’ve been around Johnny’s age.”

“What a creep.” Linds laughed. “Was he hot?”

I paused. I didn’t want to admit it, but even under all the bruises and cuts, I could tell he was good-looking. My hesitance to answer provoked a reaction from my cousins.

“Oh my God, he was, wasn’t he?” Charlotte exclaimed. “What did he look like?”

I really didn’t want to start giving them a detailed description of how the mystery guy from last night looked. I was happy to tell them about the situation, but my mind was completely on the fact that I’d be spending the whole of today and the night at Zacky’s and I wasn’t really thinking of anything else at the point.

Luckily, just as I opened my mouth to reply, my dad called out to me.

“Midge? Come on. We’ve gotta go!” He yelled.

“I’ll tell you another time.” I said into the phone, slightly relieved. “My dad’s yelling at me from downstairs. I’ve gotta go.”

“Okay. Have a great time with Uncle Zacky.” Charlotte said.

I heaved a quiet sigh. “I’m sure I will.”

They said one more goodbye, and I cut the phone off. I realised that I’d not properly finished packing my stuff into the bag, so I literally just shoved it all in there and then zipped it up.

“Midge!” My dad called again.

“Yeah, alright!” I shouted back, a little irritated. I took the bag and then left my room, running down the stairs and into the hall.

My dad took my bag from me as I put my shoes on and then followed him out to the car. At first, he pulled out of the driveway silently, but he kept looking at me so I knew there was something on his mind.

“What, dad?” I asked, sighing in aggravation.

“Nothing.” He shrugged. “So...who were you talking to upstairs?”

“Charlotte and Linds.”

He nodded. “What were you talking about?”

“Just stuff.” I raised my eyebrows, not entirely sure where he was going with this.

“Stuff like...the guy you met at the station last night?”

Immediately, I rolled my eyes. “Okay, dad. What’s the deal?”

“Nothing! No, I was just...nothing.” He vigorously shook his head, like he’d decided not to say what he was originally going to.

I just cocked an eyebrow. Sometimes, I really didn’t understand my dad. But before I could say anything, he pulled up in Zacky’s driveway.

Nearly instantaneously, the front door opened and Zacky stepped out. I just sighed and grabbed my bag from the backseat, then undoing my seatbelt and going to step out of the car.

“Hey! Come here and give me a hug!” My dad said, to which I turned back and brought him into a hug. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? Love you.”

“Love you, too.” I sighed, pulling away and stepping out of the car.

My dad rolled down his window as Zacky grinned at me and then stepped forward, going to the driver’s side of the car.

“Thanks for this, man.” My dad said. “I’ll pick Midge up tomorrow, around noon.”

“No problem, dude.” Zacky replied. “I’ll see you then. Drive safe.”

As my dad began to pull out of the driveway, he sent me another wave, at which I just narrowed my eyes and stomped into the house, grumbling to myself about how I didn’t need a babysitter.

And Zacky just laughed his attractive laugh and followed after me.