**Zack's P.O.V.**
My girlfriend has become a crazed fangirl.
I shouldn't have let her know that I listen to One Direction. It's not my fault! My sister is always listening to them and being that I try to spend a lot of time with her, I've listened to a lot of their songs with her.
Ari has been gazing at me all day as if I'm Harry Styles, her favorite band member. I'm more of a Louis Tomlinson kind of guy. Not that I would tell her that, for fear of getting castrated.
I gulp as she's looking at me again with that same starstruck look on her face. I'm internally smiling at the obvious love and adoration in her eyes. It's just her fangirl side kind of scares me.
Now you're probably thinking why would a bad boy like me be afraid of fangirls? Simple, they're deadly. You don't mess with one. Ever.
Ari takes my hands and snuggles closer to me making me shiver slightly. I'll never get over the fact that she's finally mine.
I grab her hips and move her closer to me smiling when I feel her shiver. It just feels so good to finally be able to hold her this close to me. I could never get tired of it.
Everyone was talking about us in school today, as if seeing me with Ari is a huge deal. People date, get over it. Apparently there's a huge buzz because I'm taking her to that one party everybody has been looking forward to.
It'll be the first time I'll be bringing a girl to a party. Usually I just hook up with some random girl there. I've heard people have been betting on how long we'll last. Too bad nobody is betting on us being together forever, they would've made some decent amount of cash.
Ari isn't just one of those girls I just hook up with. Sure, those girls are nice to have a little fun with. But the kind of girls like Ari? Yeah, those are the ones you marry.
The kind that are genuine and honest, that make you feel all that sappy stuff on the inside making you weak at the knees, who don't judge you based on your past (and trust me there are a lot of things she could judge me for), who are so damn loyal to you it hurts, who just care so greatly about you and would give anything to see you happy.
That's Ari for me right there. I know we may be young, but trust me when I say I could totally see myself married to her in the future.
She just makes me undeniably happy in every possible way. I know I can count on her. She's so understanding, she didn't press me on details about Josh and I couldn't be more grateful. I don't want to go back into that hole I was in when he left.
So Ari and I are headed to the mall to get her something to wear for the party. It took a long time to convince her to let me pay, but she finally agreed. You're my girlfriend, let me spoil you.
We go into one of the stores and she tries on dress after dress while I give her my opinions. So far I've hated every single one of them. They're either too short or the front is too low where it shows too much cleavage. I want her to look hot don't get me wrong, just not enough to have every guy at the party drool over her.
As we're going into the next store, we run into Nick and Lexi. Nick just looks absolutely miserable, no doubt they've been here for hours. They tag along with us, which Nick looks grateful for.
The two of us stand outside the dressing rooms, while the two of them try on dresses. Lexi comes out first wearing a pretty hot, but not slutty dress. Nick gives her an approving stare and breathes a huge sigh of relief when she decides to buy it.
I chuckle, but immediately stop when he glares at me.
"Who's whipped now?" I smirk.
He just turns pink and flips me off, making me laugh again.
Ari comes out in a dress that's hot, but way too short for my liking.
"You look hot Ari," Nick says.
I glare at him and he automatically looks away.
"You're not wearing that," I tell her.
"What's wrong with it?"
"It's too short, I don't want every guy all over you."
She rolls her eyes, "Nick thinks it's hot."
I glare at him again for even saying that to her, no doubt making her too stubborn to listen to me. He avoids eye contact, smart bastard.
I grab Ari and take her back into the dressing room. Yeah I know this is a women's dressing room, but fuck it.
I grab her and kiss her. Hard and demanding. I've never felt this possessive over a girl before, but I'll be damned if any guys try to come between us.
"You're not wearing that to the party," I say after ending the kiss.
Her lips are swollen, her eyes glazed over. She's utterly breathless, unable to form a coherent sentence. So she just nods.
"Try on the other dresses babe," I say before smacking her butt which earns me a gasp of surprise from her, and leaving the dressing room.
Six dresses later before I finally approve. She's wearing a short (but not too short) red dress. It's tight enough to show off her delicious curves, but not tight to get too much attention from those horny bastards we go to school with.
We finally leave the mall and I leave with Nick, while Ari leaves with Lexi. It's just easier to get ready for the party that way. Besides Nick looked like he could use a break from Lexi. He was in desperate need of some guy time.
So instead of wasting hours to get ready like the girls were probably doing, we play video games with Luke who decides join us. We wait until the last ten minutes to even get dressed. We opt for some jeans and a t-shirt. Us guys generally wear casual outfits, instead of going all out like the girls usually do.
We decide to car pool in Luke's jeep, since he's usually the one who drinks the least and is most likely always the designated driver. We pick the girls up, who all looks absolutely stunning.
Luke can't keep his eyes off of Vanessa and normally I wouldn't mind, but he's driving and I like living thank you very much. Nick and Lexi haven't stopped blabbing and if I wasn't too busy focused on Ari, I would've probably strangled them both.
But Ari must sense my irritation because she's rubbing circles on hand and its eerily making me calm. Just that simple touch makes me go crazy.
We arrive at the party and the second Ari and I enter the house everyone is staring. All the guys look angry because the girlfriends are obviously ogling me. I notice some girls giving Ari the stink eye and they're lucky I don't hit girls. I glance at Ari and she just looks downright uncomfortable with all the stares and I take her hand in mine and squeeze it which instantly makes her relax.
I know she's not used to all these stares and whispers. I can't help but feel a little guilty because if she was still with Alec she wouldn't have to deal with this. But glancing at her and how she's still smiling, makes me feel a little better. It lets me know that at least she's enjoying herself. Even if it's only a little bit.
"Do you want something to drink?"
"Sure," she says with a smile.
So I give her a quick kiss before leaving to get her a drink. If there's anything I've learned from these kind of parties, it's to always watch your drink. And I definitely don't want Ari possibly getting drugged or something at her first party.
I get two plastic red cups, one for each of us, before making my way back to where I've left her. To find her talking and laughing with Alec.
My face instantly hardens as I see this. This guy just can't get the hint can he? He obviously hasn't learned from the time I punched him right in the face.
Ari finally notices me and takes the cup out of my hand, "Thanks Zack!"
"You're welcome," I mutter.
Alec looks a little too smug for my liking so I grab Ari a little forcefully and kiss her right there in front of him. I know you're thinking I'm just doing this to 'stake my claim'. Well I am. She's mine, not his. Plain and simple. Besides I love kissing Ari more than anything.
As we break apart, the smug grin vanishes from his face and is replaced with longing. For my girl. I put my arm around her hips and utter a quick goodbye to the douche before guiding us away from him. Far away.
Ari seems a little perplexed by what just happened, but she doesn't know what it's like to see her all buddy buddy with her ex. The same guy that for a while came between us. I completely trust Ari, but I can't help but be jealous. It would be so much easier for her to be dating Alec. No whispering whenever she's seen with him, no hateful glares, none of the things that have her feeling insecure.
I don't want to think about it, but it would make her life a hell of a lot easier if she just left me and got back together with Alec. She wouldn't have to deal with the things she faces when she's with me. Girls can be some of the most nastiest creatures when it comes to guys. Instead of building each other up and just being happy for one another, they resort to name calling and just downright bullying to make themselves feel better about themselves while lowering others' self esteems.
I don't want that for Ari. I know her self esteem isn't even that high right now, but with the way things are going it's not long before she realizes that all this shit just isn't worth dealing with to be with me.
Ari must sense something is wrong, she always notices. Before long, she's making me forget. Dancing with each other, our bodies so close and synchronized together. We've been dancing for hours, both of us sweating and a little flushed from the couple cups of alcohol we've consumed.
"I have to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back," she tells me giving me a quick kiss before leaving upstairs to the bathroom.
After about ten minutes I get worried and start to head toward the stairs, only to be stopped by a voice I thought I'd never hear again.
"Well, if it isn't Zackary Kingston."
I turn around and am speechless to find Emily.
"How have you been Zackary?" She asks sweetly as if she didn't fucking break my heart two years ago.
Before I have a chance to get angry and tell her off, her lips are on mine.
"Zack you won't believe what I-"
I angrily push Emily off me as I hear Ari's voice.
"-just saw," she finishes off before looking at me and then glancing at Emily.
Her eyes flash with hurt and her eyes start getting glassy. But then she does a complete one eighty and her eyes flash dangerously with anger and unmistakeable fury.
She turns around and starts making her way around the people dancing, with me on her heels chasing after her.
"Ari please wait!"
She doesn't listen and continues walking away. I try my best to catch up with her, but with the slight amount of haziness due to the alcohol I drank I'm barely keeping up with her.
"Please Ari it isn't what it looked like!"
Next thing I know she's going up to some guy, who turns around letting me catch a glimpse of him and I immediately tense as I realize who it is.
Alec.
I stand there helplessly frozen as she grabs his face and puts her lips onto his.
She kisses him and kisses him. For the longest time she possibly can. Then angrily walks away out the door to God knows where.
While I stand there with my heart shattering again just like it did two years ago.