Entering the diner about 20 miles away from where we lived, the group of guys were causally talking with smiles on their faces.
It eased my mind of what Zak might have to tell me.
Cara and I started heading back to the large booth before the guys even spotted us but Greg was the first one to see us since he was facing the door.
"Annie, you're still glowing? Wasn't that about..Three weeks ago?" He said with the biggest smile his face could possibly hold. "Damn man, what did you do to her?" He asked Zak.
I stopped dead in my tracks as the guys looked towards me.
Anger and embarrassment started to fill my face, knowing I would be hot to the touch right now.
I glared over at Cara as Greg started laughing hysterically.
"Don't look at me, I didn't tell this time." She held out her hands in defense.
So if she didn't tell, that means..
I looked over at Zak who was glaring at Greg.
"Uh oh man, you're sleeping on the couch tonight." Chase said, hitting Zak's shoulder. Zak jerked his head to me, seeing me visibly embarrassed.
He pushed Corey out of the booth and climbed out right behind him. Cara took the opportunity of sliding in beside Greg as Zak came over to me.
He took me into his arms, hugging me tightly as the anger started fading away.
"I didn't tell him, I swear. He just figured it out." He pulled back and brushed my bangs out of my eyes. "I promise he will pay for this." He said with a bit of annoyance in his tone which made me smile.
"It's okay; I knew it was only a matter of time before Cara let it slip anyways."
"HEY! I heard that!" Cara called from behind Zak.
I ignored her and kept my focus on Zak. "So, what did you need to talk to me about?"
He smiled and looked back at the guys. "Actually, we all need to tell both of you girls something." Zak took my hand and led me to the booth.
We sat down and I was instantly pulled into Zak. I snuggled closer as the waitress asked Cara and I for our drink orders.
Greg took a sip of his coke and took a deep breath with a smile still on his face. "You know David at the record company?" He asked, looking between Cara and me.
We both nodded simultaneously.
"Well the reason we weren't back stage for the most part of the night was because we were in Zak's office.." He paused and looked between the guys.
Zak shifted some and took over. "We were discussing next Saturday."
A strange feeling came over me, like I knew that date. I glanced at my phone and counted the days and stopped when it hit me.
"My birthday?" I questioned and Zak nodded happily. "What about it?"
"We are playing a gig for you. Which will double as a release party for the album we just officially cut." Greg spouted out excitingly.
Cara's mouth dropped open as did mine. "You're kidding, a release party?!" Cara said, practically jumping up and down in the booth.
I wanted to say something..ANYTHING..But all I could do was look at Zak's face. He was smiling like he just won the lottery. The same smile he wore the night I told him I loved him.
He felt my stare as Cara started questioning the guys to death and looked down at me. I returned a genuine smile and leaned up to kiss his jaw. "I'm so proud of you."
The rest of the night past with Greg's attempt to make me turn every single shade of red and the guys talking about the mini tour they might be doing after the release party.
-Saturday-
Wet kisses were being planted all over my face. I haven't smelled Zak's breath this bad before; and come to think about it, he's being mighty sloppy with his kisses.
"Zak, stop." I kept my eyes closed and Zak's weight shifted on top of me. He felt..Different.
I swatted at his face only to have my palm come in contact with something very fury. All of a sudden the kisses stopped and a wet snout poked me under the chin. My eyes opened the find a very happy Bentley lying on top of me. I sighed at threw my hand on the top of his head, petting him like he obviously wanted.
He started whining and poking me again with his nose. "What? What do you want?" I started questioning as if he could answer me. He stopped panting and barked in my face and looked towards the door. I followed his stare and had a feeling that Zak was up to something.
I sat up as much as Bentley would allow before he jumped down to the floor and bolted out the door. I buttoned up Zak's dress shirt I slept in as I followed Bentley.
All was quiet out in the hall and into the living room. Lights were off and all I could hear was the tick of the clock over the mantle.
I heard the back door open and close, figuring Zak was out in the garage getting something I decided to try and scare him.
Tugging on his dress shirt to try to cover my panties I hid behind the wall to the kitchen and waited until I heard footsteps close enough.
"BOO!" I jumped out from behind the wall and Greg let out a high pitched scream. He almost dropped the cake box he was carrying but Zak came running in between us to catch it while I laughed at his girly scream.
"Jeez Gregory..." I was about to start making fun of him when Zak got in front of me and pulled me into his back.
Greg gave him a questioning look and Zak cleared his throat. "Annie, you need to go change clothes."
I furrowed my eyebrows, looked down and immediately realized why he was acting weird.
Zak started backing us out of the living room with Greg looking up at the ceiling. "Just so you know, I didn't see your blue panties."
Zak paused for a minute and his grip tightened on me; I could tell he was giving Greg the death stare.
As soon as we got close enough to the hallway, I bolted back to Zak's bedroom and changed into decent clothing.
-Saturday Night-
Sliding on my black pumps and smoothing out my dress before I stood up to face myself in the mirror, I felt butterflies erupt in my stomach. Taking a deep breath, I started from the floor up; taking every inch of hard work Cara and I put in this afternoon.
Once I finally reached my face, I was pretty satisfied. Everything seemed to be in place. Not even a single strand of hair was messed up.
Now we just had to make it to the bar.
Cara came strolling out of the bathroom and did a complete twirl. "So, how do I look?" She stood beside me as we examined ourselves.
"You look amazing, much better than me!" I said, running my fingers through my bangs.
"Hush, you are so much prettier than me."
"Tie?" I questioned, turning towards her.
"Tie! Now let's get going."
We grabbed our clutch bags and headed out the door.
When we pulled up to Eighty-Five, the place was packed.
I sent a text to Zak saying we were here, knowing he would have to get us in with the band.
The next thing I knew, Chase was jogging over to Cara's car and handed us two passes.
"Finally, I've been waiting for over half an hour on you two." He joked.
"Well then stop standing around and let's get inside." Cara pushed past him and headed towards the back of the bar.
We followed closely and as we entered the darkened bar, loud music and talking filled our ears. The place was decorated for the release party and for my birthday. It was amazing for Zak to throw both of the events together.
Once I got into the center of the crowd, Chase turned me towards the stage where Zak was standing.
All at once, the entire place yelled Happy Birthday at Zak's command.
Zak hopped down from the stage and the crowd parted for him to get through to me. He took me into his arms and hugged me tightly.
"Happy birthday angel. I love you"
"Thank you, I love you too." I held onto him for as long as possible.
David got up on stage and introduced himself, making everyone quiet down. He talked a lot of the record company and how I came to him with the idea of Zak's band recording a couple of tracks in his studio, which led to tonight and the album that they officially cut.
After telling his story and complimenting the guys on their work, he called them up to the stage.
Cara and I were seated on the side of the stage while the guys did a little mini concert. After a few songs, the dj took over for the guys to have a break.
Our table was bombarded with groups of people trying to get the guys autographs. Everything seemed to be going great. Zak was signing copies of their CD left and right.
Zak seemed to be growing a tad frustrated, so I grabbed his hand and led him towards the back. He was following closely when all of a sudden he was being pulled into the opposite direction. His hand broke from mine and when I glanced back to see what the issue was, I saw a petite blonde attached to him.
He was backing up as she held her grip; jealously started creeping up fast as I saw her all over him.
"Michelle." He said almost as a question. "What are you doing here?" He started pulling her arms off of him.
"I heard you were releasing a CD. I had to come see for myself." She was trying to touch any part of him that she could. "Plus, I missed you Zak." She eased up on her tip toes and threw her arms around his neck.
"Yeah..." He eased her off of him once more and reached over to me. "This is my girlfriend, Annie. Annie, this is an old friend, Michelle."
Michelle's face instantly went hard, her smile faded away and annoyance took its place when she looked at me. The only thing I could hope for now is that she didn't realize where she first saw me. At school. Obviously Zak forgot our little meeting outside his classroom.
"Zak." She giggled some. "I'm more than an old friend. I mean, friends don't really.." She leaned up and whispered in his ear, keeping eye contact with me.
It took all of me not to knock the bitch down.
Zak pulled back from her whisper and ended the conversation quickly. "Thanks for coming Michelle, have a safe flight back to New York."
He pulled me close to him and turned to walk away.
"Oh, I thought I'd stick around here for awhile. You know, catch up." She winked at him.
"No thanks." He said politely and put his arm around me.
She crossed her arms and shot me a dirty look. In all honestly, I forgot just how gorgeous she was. I was shocked Zak didn't seem phased by her.
I pulled him to a stop and looked up at him. Before I could get a word out, he started explaining.
"She went up to New York for modeling. I had no intentions of seeing her again. She was a friend from high school who I fooled around with once or twice. It wasn't anything special. She could never compare to you..."
"We met." I stopped him from finishing. "She was at school. I left my bag in your classroom and she saw me looking for you. Zak, she knows I'm your student."
Worried flashed on his face for a split second. "It's dark in here. I'm sure she didn't notice. Don't let this worry you. It's your birthday and you deserve the best birthday ever."
"But..." I started. He surprised me by pressing his lips to mine in which clouded fears.
"I love you Annie." He pressed both palms to the side of my head softly and rested his forehead on mine to allow me to catch my breath.
"I love you too."
He started leaning down to kiss me again when Greg called out for him, letting him know the break was over.
I sat back down beside Cara as Zak went back on stage. After a few songs, I noticed Michelle standing close to my left side.
She leaned down as I kept my stare to on Zak. "I will never give up bitch. Get ready to fight for him. And believe me, I fight dirty."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Book two is being released one chapter a week!
MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW ME FOR ACCESS TO THE BOOK! I wanted it to be a release for fans. Hit that follow button and keep reading about Zannie!