-10 years ago-
may 20th 2013, tusla: oklahoma
IVY'S POV
i was sitting with mackenzie, eating chips and watching the best movie of all time, (footloose) i hear my phone buzz on the table, i pick it up and see that zach texted me
"hey im on my way, if you guys wanna go get ice cream be ready in ten, if not i'll see you at home in ten, love you my pretty girl"
i show kenzie the text and her face lights up
"oh we are definitely getting ice cream" she stands up from the couch and runs to her room to get shoes and stuff, she goes over to her parents room and tells them where we are going
i giggle and pause the tv, i respond to zach before i forget and get carried away talking to kenzie
"hey handsome, we definitely want ice cream, text me when you get here and we will walk out, and i love you more z"
i stand up and go to zach's room to grab my shoes and a jacket, it's about 8:00 pm and the sun is starting to set, as soon as zach gets here me and kenzie walk outside to his massive truck, i sit in the front and kenzie sits in the back.
"hey pretty boy" i say to him as my lips meet his and he smiles to me
...
once we get to the ice cream shop kenzie runs inside, and orders right away i walk in with zach, with my arm wrapped around his, it smells amazing in there, i go up to order and see a really familiar face
"hello, how may i help you?" the really familiar face says
"hey there, can i get a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a small cone with some chocolate chips on top?"
"of course" the ice cream girl makes me my ice cream and then i realize who it was, it was a girl i used to go to middle school with, her name was debbie, we used to be super close but sort of drifted apart, we get ice cream and after that we walk around town for a little bit before it gets too late, then we are on our way back home, kenzie is getting super tired so as soon as we get home, kenzie passes out on her bed, i go and lay a blanket over her and shut the door, after that i walk into zach's room, i see him taking off his shirt and putting on a more comfortable one, i go over to him and kiss him
"i missed you." i say as i lay my head on his shoulder and we sit down
"hey v, i need to talk to you" he says in a very serious voice
"yeah what's up?" i say looking at him and sitting up
"i'm leaving in two days." he says staring into my eyes with a weird look
"what?" i say
"for basic training. i leave in two days for basic training." he grabs my hands and my eyes start to flood tears
"come here." he says as he holds his arms out, i fall into his arms and start crying
"what does this mean for us?" i say eagerly
"it means we stay the same, it's only three months, i'll call you everyday i can, write you a letter every day i can, we're gonna be okay v, i promise" he wipes my tears off of my face and we fall back into his bed together
"does kenzie know?" i ask
"no, and neither does my mom or dad, i needed to tell you first, because im terrified ivy" i put my head to his heart and grab his hand because his heart is beating so fast and i know he's scared
"it's okay baby, i'm right here." we fall asleep that night knowing we have very little time left together..
-now -
august 13th, 2023, oklahoma city
ZACH'S POV
ever since last night ivy is all i can think about, her little stories and her smile, i forgot how much i missed her, she is seriously the only and best thing i've ever had.
as i started to wake up, i grabbed my phone and looked at the time, i realized it was 10:00 so i woke up and got dressed real quick, ivy lives pretty far away from the stadium so i had to be ready by 11:00, before i went and picked up ivy, i thought it would be a good idea to go and pick up her favorite flowers and some cookies from the bakery down here, so i asked noah to borrow his car and i drove down to the local flower shop, i walked in and saw one of my very close friends from the navy, her name was debra (debs for short)
"debs? well isn't this such a lovely surprise?" i say as the bell of the door hits the glass
"zach! it's so nice to see you! how have you been?" a big smile crosses her face
"oh you know, lots of touring, concerts and i just reconnected with a very special someone" i look at all of the flowers around and then back at debs
"that's great, im glad your doing well, now what can i get for ya?" she responds
"can i get a large bouquet of flowers, i want some sunflowers, white and yellow roses and white baby breath, some greenery in there and wrapped with white, yellow and brown paper please?" i say and look at her with a shocked look on her face
"no guy has ever known flowers that well, you must've studied" she says laughing
"oh yeah for sure" she hands me the flowers and then i pay her
"see you around debs" i say with a smile, she waved and i walk out, after that i drive to the small little bakery on the corner and get some small stuff, after that i leave, so im not late, i finally get to her house around 11:55, i knock on the door and her bestfreind liv answers the door
"oh hey, um come on in" she says smiling
"she will be down in one second" she sprints up the stairs yelling for ivy
she then walks down and i see her there in a beautiful black tight short dress and some white and black cowboy boots and a white cowboy hat.
"holy shit" i say in awe of how gorgeous she looks, she laughs and i hand her the stuff
"aww z, you didn't have too" she says
"anything for my favorite lady" i say as i kiss her on the cheek
"you ready?" she ask me
"yes! let's go!" i say as i grab her hand and she blows a kiss to liv
"goodbye livy, i'll see you later, love you so many" she waves goodbye to liv and then we walk out and to noah's truck, i help her in and then get in on the other side
"so where are we headed?" i ask her
"start driving towards downtown and i'll tell you from there." she says with a smile
"alrighty" i back up out of the drive way and we start listening to some music, and the wind is blowing her hair perfectly
"can i ask you something?" i ask as she turns the music down
"yeah what's up?" and ask me
"why did you come to my show last night?" i ask with a slight smirk on my face
"liv wanted me to go, i told her yes, plus i missed your smile" she says and puts her hand on my knee, i look over to her and try to hide me blushing
"oh is mr.bryan blushing?" she teases me
"oh hush v" i laugh
...
once we arrive to this beautiful western restaurant, i help her out of the truck and she leads me inside, once we walked inside there was multiple people who recognized us and ivy could tell that i was getting a little uncomfortable
"it's okay z, i got us a private table upstairs, it'll be just us" i smile and people take some pics of us, but i continue to walk up with her, it was much quiter with just us, and i liked it that way, once you looked down you saw the beautiful view of everyone else dancing and having a good time, you could see outside from where we were sitting and it was such a perfect night
"so, you have more shows coming up?" she asked me and my phone started buzzing, i ignored it at first
"yeah actually, in 3-" i got cut off by my phone blowing up
"i'm sorry, one minute v" i look and see a bunch of text from noah, my sister, reed and everyone else from the band
noah: "ZACH HOLY SHIT" "YOU GOTTA GET OUT OF THERE AND COME TO THE STADIUM RIGHT NOW" "YOU CANT BE OUT THERE" "ZACH!!" "SHIT DUDE"
mackenzie: "HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEWS" "GET OUT OF THERE RIGHT NOW, GO FIND NOAH, AND DUDE YOU RECONNECTED WITH IVY? CALL ME WHEN U GET TO NOAH!"
reed: "ZACH! get back right now! the news is gonna' destroy you, zach you have to come back"
"holy shit!" i say dropping everything and grabbing the remote to look at the news
"what's wrong??" ivy ask
i see the news "FAMOUS COUNTRY SINGER SPOTED AT A RESTAURANT. HELICOPTERS, FANS AND EVERYONE ARE ON THERE WAY. AND IS THIS WOMAN ZACHS EX FIANCÉ IVY? HOW WILL HIS EX WIFE REACT TO THIS ONE WEEK AFTER FILING FOR DIVORCE? THIS RISING STAR GOT HIMSELF INTO A MESS, tune in for more news at 1"
"OH SHIT" ivy says as she grabs my hand and we go the back way into this dark aly and run to noah's truck, at this time it is pouring rain, i step on the gas and speed to the stadium, the car is so silent, once we get there i sprint to my trailer, leaving ivy behind and ivy follows slowly behind but ends up going to noah's instead since she couldn't see through all the rain
-now -
august 13th, 2023, oklahoma city
IVY'S POV
i accidentally walked into noah's trailer and could feel the panic rising throughout my body "oh shit, i'm sorry noah i'll leave" i say grabbing the door handle but he grabs my wrist and pulls me back
"no, stay, fans are crazy and if you leave they will know for sure that your here, it could ruin everything, just stay with me until everything calms down" he says with panic written on his face
"HOW COME NO ONE TOLD ME THEY FILIED FOR A DIVORCE LAST WEEK?!" i say yelling at noah even though i know it wasn't his fault
"WE THOUGHT YOU KNEW! AND HIS WIFE IS THE WOMAN!!" he yells back at me
"WHAT WOMAN?" i yell to him
"THE WOMAN." anger arises in my face and i get so visibly upset
"SHIT THIS IS BAD, I RUINED EVERYTHING. AND HE WANTS ME BACK AFTER DIVORCING HIS WIFE WHO HE CHEATED ON ME WITH!" i throw my hat on the floor and fall onto the floor sobbing
"hey, come on ivy it wasn't you, you didn't know, but they got divorced because of you" i wanted to keep asking questions but i start having a panic attack and i start breathing heavy, but he grabs my leg and try's to calm me down, i look to him and felt a weird feeling inside
"thanks noah, but shit, what about zach? what do i do?" i say sobbing into his arms
"it's okay ivy, i'm here, we will see how this plays out" he wrapped his arms around me while we were both sitting on the floor of his trailer
after about 30 minutes of sitting there, zach busted through noah's trailer
"what the fuck?" he says as he sees noah's arms around me
"zach, it's nothing man" noah says backing up and standing up
"zach WHAT THE FUCK?" i say and i could tell zach knew that i knew EVERYTHING.
"ivy im so sorry, i'll handle them, and i'm sorry i didn't tell you about the divorce" he says letting out a breath
"if you did all this, and cared so much about me, why did you get married and not even try to fix what happened between me and you, you just said sorry and that was the last convo between us before last night zach." i could tell he was getting uncomfortable
"well i didn't feel like i had too." he said and that made me visibly angry
"really zach??" i yelled
"you didnt feel like you had to tell me that you got divorced a week ago, and had a WIFE and more than just 'im sorry' after you cheated on me with your ex wife???" i pick my hat up off the floor and throw it over my head, i push all my long blond hair behind my shoulders and tears start pouring from my eyes
"i appreciate the gesture and the kindness you showed me for one night, but i don't deserve this, so if you learn anything about how messed us this situation is, text me and we will talk. but if you care more about your music career, then say that to my face and lose my number" i pick up my stuff and walk close to him
"i had a reservation for us at the fanciest hotel in oklahoma, i thought we were gonna have fun, and look where that got us" i look to noah
"can you give me a ride home?" i ask him
"yea why not" we walk past zach and i slam the door
as soon as we get into his truck i start sobbing, noah pats my shoulder and drives me home
...
"thanks again noah" i smile to him and before i get out he stops me
"i'm so sorry this happened ivy, here's my number, call me when you get the chance and we can talk more" he smiles and i smile and walk inside
i saw liv sitting on the couch, it's like she knew what was gonna happen
"oh i'm so sorry liv" she pats the couch that is empty and i sit down next to her, i lay my head on her shoulder and she puts a blanket around me
"i got the hot guitarist number" i say trying to make light of the situation, she high fives me and i smile and take a nap on her shoulder, i get rudely awoken by zach banging on our front door.