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

Chapter Thirty-Four.

At some point in the afternoon, my dad left the house to go over to Matt’s and help organise things. Charlotte had called me, and it sounded like pretty much all the girls were already there, as I could hear their laughter and chatting from the background. I kept a smile on my face, but I was secretly dreading all the attention I was about to be given.

Ronnie managed to remember it was birthday, which I didn’t even remember telling him, but he still called to wish me a good day and tell me that we’d go out and celebrate together sometime this week.

But there was a nagging at the back of my mind, and I didn’t know why it was there. Since I’d left England, I’d been sure that I wanted absolutely nothing more to do with my mum. Yet the fact that she’d obviously not remembered it was my birthday was hurting me a little. Even if I didn’t have any good birthdays, she’d always managed to remember. Obviously, she’d failed that this year.

It was about five PM when a knock came on the front door. My dad was still out and he had a key with him, so it couldn’t have been him. I sighed and left my room, quickly running down the stairs and yanking the door open.

To see Leana stood there, a huge grin on her face.

“Happy birthday, Midgey!” She exclaimed, reaching forward and pulling me into a hug. “Are you excited?”

“Uh...sure...” I blinked, hugging her back and then pulling away. “My dad’s not here, if you’re looking for him...”

“Oh, I know that. He’s at Matt’s. I just came from there.” She shrugged. “I’m here to see you.”

I couldn’t even imagine why she’d need to see me, but for a brief moment, the random worry that she’d figured out my feelings for Zacky flashed through my mind. I began to get slightly edgy.

“Oh...how come?” I asked, trying to keep my voice normal.

She rolled her eyes and stepped into the house, walking past me and then turning to face me.

“To get you ready for your party, of course.” She explained, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I do the same for Charlotte and Linds on their birthdays, too.”

I had to hold back a laugh at that, as I couldn’t imagine either of my cousins particularly enjoying that experience. But I could see just how excited Leana was, and although I’d been planning to turn up looking how I did every day, I honestly didn’t want to disappoint her. And part of it felt nice...that someone was actually bothering to be excited about my birthday.

“Oh...great.” I plastered a smile on my face. “You wanna...come through?”

She grinned and enthusiastically hooked her arm with mine, nattering away about how amazing Matt’s house always looked with party decorations and how great tonight was going to be. I listened politely as I poured her a drink, but she soon snapped out of it and became suddenly serious as she focused on getting me ready.

“So,” She said, clipping some of my hair out of the way and making a start on it, “A little birdie tells me you and Dylan are hitting it off pretty well.” She then paused, a smile on her face. “Well...two little birdies, actually.”

“Oh yeah?” I raised my eyebrows. “And would those two little birdies happen to go by the names of Linds and Charlotte?”

She immediately let out a laugh, nodding her head, at which I rolled my eyes.

“Dylan and I are...friends.” I told her truthfully. “I barely know him, anyway.”

“Well...you can get to know him. Tonight, at the party.” She said, enthusiastically

A frown fell onto my face. “He’s going to that?”

She paused for a moment, then wrinkling her nose. “I don’t know if I was supposed to tell you that or not.”

“I won’t tell anyone you told me, don’t worry.” I laughed.

I honestly didn’t see how Charlotte and Linds could think I was hitting it off well with Dylan when I’d barely spent any time with them, but I knew I’d much rather them think that than discover the truth about my feelings for Zacky. It was a lot safer to just let them believe I was interested in Dylan.

By the time Leana had finished getting me ready, there was only half an hour to go before the party. She’d desperately tried to persuade me to wear a dress, but that was where I put my foot down. Luckily, when I got into her car, I was dressed in my normal clothes.

I was actually feeling a little nervous about arriving on the way there. Part of me was seriously hoping that they wouldn’t jump out of nowhere and scream “surprise!” in my face. I wasn’t one for having a fuss made over me.

But I had to admit, as I stepped out of the car, the place did look amazing—and that was from the outside. I could already hear loud laughter and chatter, and as I walked up to the door, the sound of music started.

The door was suddenly yanked open before I could knock, and stood there was Jimmy, a goofy grin on his face. Before I knew it, I was being pulled into a tight hug and squeezed so much I almost couldn’t breathe.

“Happy birthday, Midgey!” He yelled at the top of his lungs, gaining the attention of practically everyone else.

Before I could even utter a thank you, Leana was by my side, trying to push Jimmy off.

“Jimmy, let her go, I just did her hair!” She exclaimed, practically yanking him away from me.

Jimmy, of course, just found it all completely amusing.

“Sorry!” He laughed, turning to me. “But your hair looks very nice, Midgey.”

“Thanks, Jimbo.” I smiled.

Before I knew it, everyone else was greeting me with hugs and bombarding me with “happy birthday’s” . It was like a routine—hug them, thank them, and then move on to the next person. It seemed to be taking me ages, but there were a lot of people here. A lot of faces I didn’t even recognise.

I realised, when I was stood with my cousins and our friends, that the only guy out of Avenged that I hadn’t actually spoken to was Zacky. I’d not seen him yet, but I knew he was here, as Linds had said something about talking to him.

As if right on cue, he walked in from the kitchen, a drink in his hand as he went over to my dad. I tried my absolute hardest to not watch him and pay attention to what Charlotte was saying, but it was proving to be extremely hard. It was like I couldn’t shift my gaze from him as he stood there, talking to my dad.

And then he glanced over my dad’s shoulder as if he felt my stare, continuing to say what he was saying, but staring directly at me.

And as soon as my dad looked away from him for a split second, Zacky’s lips twitched into a smile, and he sent me a subtle wink.

And I immediately blushed and turned away, knowing it would be difficult to be around him tonight.