**Ariana's P.O.V.**
So it was my birthday in two days. Zack had been giving me cute little presents all week. On Monday he gave me a cute little ring that was engraved with 'Zariana' (apparently that was the ship name some girls at school came up with), on Tuesday he'd given me a stuffed penguin (Lexi probably told him about my obsession with them), on Wednesday he'd given me (and the rest of the cafeteria) a show by 'serenading' me in the middle of lunch. Today was Thursday and after that performance yesterday lets just say I was a little afraid as to what he had in mind for today.
Thank God my birthday was on a weekend or without a doubt he would've embarrassed me (lovingly) in front of the whole school. At least the serenading was just a couple hundred people and not the whole school, even though by the end of the lunch period everybody in school knew about it. And if the rumors I've heard is true, it was even uploaded onto YouTube. I was a little (okay maybe a lot) embarrassed over the whole thing, but Zack said and I quote 'My singing was fucking awesome baby and our kids will enjoy it'. Which led to another awkward conversation with my face about as red as a tomato as Zack just laughed at me and proceeded to come up with baby names. Let's just say, if we ever have kids, I'm coming up with the names. Because there is no way I'm naming my kids Brat #1 and Brat #2.
So that is why, two days before my birthday, I am walking through the hallways like a ninja trying not to be noticed by Zack. He knows I don't like to be embarrassed, so he purposely looks for reasons to embarrass me. Is it too much to ask to celebrate birthdays like a normal person and not embarrass me in front of everyone? If I didn't love him so much, I would beat him with the sock full of batteries.
"Ari, I'm sure what he has planned isn't that bad," Lexi says trying (and failing) to reassure me.
"You were there yesterday Lexi, you saw him sing to me in front of everyone!"
"You looked like you wanted the ground to swallow you whole," she says laughing uncontrollably.
I give her my nastiest glare before pressing myself against the locker as I hear movement from the other hallway.
"Stop acting like you can't be seen," Lexi says rolling her eyes.
I silence her with a glare and move stealthily down the hallway, making sure to check before proceeding.
"I don't want Zack to-"
"You don't want Zack to what?"
"Ahhhhhh!" Lexi screams causing me to scream while clutching my heart as it beats rapidly.
"What. The. Hell!?"
"He scared me!"
That's when I notice an amused looking Zack with his arms crossed waiting for a reply.
"You don't want Zack to what?" He repeats.
"I uh don't want my wonderful boyfriend to uh catch a sore throat from all that singing he did yesterday," I say as it comes out as more of a question than an answer.
He quirks an eyebrow at me obviously not falling for my lie, "You forgot talented. My wonderful, talented boyfriend," he states with a smirk.
I scowl as I realize he's not going to be mad that I was basically avoiding him all day.
"But don't worry baby, sadly I'm not going to grace you with my talent today."
I let out a relieve breath, changing it to a totally fake cough as a way to hide it smiling sheepishly at the end, but Zack just rolls his eyes and grabs my hand as he tells me why he's not embarrassing me today.
"I want you to meet my parents."
But after what comes out of his mouth, I would much rather take some embarrassment. I gape at him as if he's lost his mind.
"I absolutely adore your mom, but the last time I meant your dad he automatically got on my hit list."
"My mom kind of found out about us and she's dying to meet you, but my sperm donor could care less, my mom is just forcing him. It'll just be the three of us because Payton will be at a sleepover with her friend."
"How is this even a present? This is absolute torture!"
"Please Ari," he pleads verbally as well as with his eyes as they turn a stormy green.
I try not to budge because I really don't want to be anywhere near the man (if he can even call himself that) that hurts his own son, the son who I love and care about a lot. Zack and I haven't talked about what happened that day, it's like there's an unspoken rule that we just don't discuss it, but if there's one thing I know: I can't be held liable for any damage I do to that son-of-bitch. Anyone who hurts their child, physically or emotionally, is automatically disliked by me.
But then I can't say no to those green eyes that are still pleading with me to say yes, no matter how much I try.
That's how I end up dressed in a beautiful dress, that my mom lent me, in Zack's arms as he guided me to the dining room. Apparently rich people have different spoons or whatever to eat with and Zack had to teach me over at my house before we came here. A half hour of kissing, pleading, and a signed contract that he owed me big time for this were enough to finally get me to accept my fate. The things I do for this boy...
I was going to meet my boyfriend's parents and if that didn't scare me shitless it was the fact that as I sat down at the dining table Zack's father was looking at me with extreme distaste. I wanted nothing more than to jump across the table and claw at his face, but I managed to restrain myself.
Zack pulled out my chair for me and we didn't even sit for a second before the charming (note the sarcasm) Mr. Kingston opened his mouth, "That's your girlfriend."
As if I wasn't even there. I gritted my teeth along with Zack as we both turned to look at him with nothing but anger.
"Yes, this is my girlfriend."
"Of course he would date another maid, why am I even surprised?"
Another?
"Zack, honey, are you sure this is a good idea?"
What happened to her actually liking me?
As if she sees the disbelief on my face, "It's nothing personal dear, but this is my son and the past maids he has dated have only been after him for his money."
"Mom, she's not like that I've told you already."
"Honey I'm just watching out-"
"-for me, I know. But Ari isn't like that. It's a struggle to even let me pay for her things most of the time. She's independent, she doesn't rely on me at all. Unlike you daddy dearest, she doesn't rely on someone else all their life for money," he finishes with a smirk aimed at the elder Kingston who's sitting menacingly with a vein throbbing on the side of his head at the end of the table.
I'm sitting there trying really hard to stop the laughter that's threatening to spill at the sight of his vein, but it's becoming increasingly hard. I feel Zack's hand on my thigh which instantly makes me forget about laughing and makes me blush, to which I clear my throat to tell him to stop. But of course he doesn't listen.
It's deathly silent as the maids bring the food from the kitchen and begin to serve us. I look at the spoons, not knowing which one to eat with when Zack motions with his eyes which one is the correct one. I pick it up and notice that his mother is giving me an approving look. One parent down, one to go. It's not like I even care about his father's opinion, that bastard could go fall off a cliff for all I care, but I'm doing this to please Zack. My mother has already met him before, since we've hung out a lot together over the past couple of weeks. Funny how all this started with me being his maid.
His father is still glaring at his son, but when he catches me looking at him he gives me a deadly smirk. I shift my eyes away, terrified to even look at him.
"So you're a maid huh? How much is he paying you to be with him?"
"Joseph!"
"What? I'm just saying. Nobody has ever wanted to be with him, girls just like him for our money."
"You mean mom's money, you're doing nothing with your life but living off of her anyways," Zack snaps back.
"Well maybe if you didn't make Joshua leave I wouldn't-"
"You can't blame him leaving on me! He left because of you!"
"Why you ungrateful little-"
"Joseph, enough! You will not talk to my son like that!"
"Stop acting like you care Steph, you don't jump to his defense when I'm kicking his ass," he snaps.
My eyes widen when he says that. His mother knew about it and she didn't do anything? I turn to glare at her, but see her eyes as wide as mine, her face pale.
Zack's dad is pale as well, finally realizing he let the cat out of the bag. I feel Zack clutch my hand squeezing it hard and I squeeze it right back letting him know that I'm here for him, that I won't let anything happen to him anymore and judging by the look on his mom's face I think it's safe to say neither will she.
"Joseph, pack your shit and get out of my house. I will not house a man sick enough to abuse his own children. I'm disgusted with myself that I didn't even realize this sooner because believe me if I did you would've been long gone. Don't even think about trying to take any of my money either because I will make sure you don't get a fucking penny from him you worthless bastard. Zack, please take Ari to your room while I get security to throw out this worthless excuse of a human being."
Zack grabs my hand leading me out of the dining room, but not before I catch a glimpse of a distraught looking Joseph looking like he just lost everything, which he did. I can't say I feel sorry for him because I don't. He abused his own son, his flesh and blood, he deserves to lose all that he just did and more.
Zack and I are laying on his bed, holding hands, with me running my fingers through his hair. Over the weeks I've learned that when I do that it relaxes him and he definitely needs that now. I want to ask him about what happened just a few minutes ago, but I'm not sure he wants to tell me about it. He's been silent since we've gotten up here and I don't want to possibly ask something that he's not willing to share with me right now.
"Thanks," he finally says, "for coming even though that turned out way worse than I originally thought. I'm sorry you had to see that."
"It's-"
"No it's not okay," he interrupts, "I'm not okay. That bastard is all my mom has really known you know? I've always wondered if he's cheated. He beat his own son, so I didn't put cheating past him. I never actually caught him, but I've assumed he has. But my mom? She's always been loyal to him, even if he treated her bad, which he did when Joshua left. But my mom was strong, she understood that he was in pain. That didn't give him the right to hurt us though, I'll never understand why people hurt those they claim to love. But what is my mom supposed to do now? They'll probably get a divorce and then she'll be alone, all because of me. I just ruined their marriage," he says sighing frustration.
"Zack, I'm here for you. I'll help you get through this."
He looks at me with so much love in his eyes it scares me, "Josh would've loved you. I wish you could've met him. The day he left, I cried. I cried for days straight. I sat for weeks by the stairs waiting for him to come home like always and make lunch with me, but he never did. After a couple more weeks, my dad put a stop to it and told me to get over it. My dad took his frustrations about Josh leaving out on me, I mean he would occasionally talk bad to my mom but he wouldn't ever lay a hand on her and Payton was too young to remember, so I was just like his secret little punching bag. He took all his anger out on me, and believe me, he had a lot of anger. He made me believe that Josh left because of me, later I realized that wasn't true, but it was easy for me to believe it at the time. Then the shit between Emily and I happened and I just didn't have a reason to be happy anymore."
"But now I do," he says looking over at me with a smile.
"I'm sorry for asking, but what exactly happened to Josh?"
"I don't know, he just packed up and left. He didn't leave a note, nothing. We looked for him for about a year before my dad just altogether stopped. My dad was extremely angry, but mom and I we were just torn up you know? Why would he just leave without an explanation? To this day we don't know where Josh went. I just hope he's happy wherever he is."
"I'm sorry you had to go through that," I say as I see the obvious pain on his face as I bring him as closer to me as I possibly can.
"It's okay," he says pushing a strand of hair behind my ears, "I don't know if Josh is happy, but I know damn well that I am."
So we lay there on his bed, talking, laughing, and kissing. It's like the dinner didn't even happen.
Both of us blissfully happy, together.