Always Here For You: Ch.2
#1 of Always Here For You
Chapter 2 of Always Here For You
"Your words are my food, your breath, my wine. You are everything to me."
~Sarah Bernhardt~
please enjoy and leave feedback ^_^
(Also, if anyone had noticed in the last chapter, there may be a connection between Alex in P.S., and Zack in this story..... mwahaha)
Zack got home and juggled his things in his arms to try and get the key into the lock. He sighed as he got inside and shut the door; he kicked his shoes off and went into the kitchen. He dumped his stuff on the table and then went and hung his coat up.
He looked around the kitchen. He felt like he had a bubble inside him and he couldn't stop grinning. He was going out with Ryan, the most famous musician ever! He was! Zack, high school English teacher from a small town in New Jersey!
He giggled manically and hugged himself tightly.
"What am I gonna do for the next..." He looked at the clock, it read four-thirty. "Two and a half hours!"
"A shower would be a good idea!" He thought and he went into the bathroom. He stripped off and was about to step into the shower when he caught sight of himself in the mirror. He stared at his reflection.
He looked worn. Exhaustion and anxiety were present in his facial expression. His wolfish grin only barely hiding the hurt he had felt earlier. He slowly raised a paw to his head and pushed back the fringe of grey fur.
He blinked and cocked his head to one side. 'What does he see in me? I'm ugly, untalented, and a nervous wreck. He deserves so much better...'
Zack looked a while longer into the mirror. He shook his head, feeling disappointed in himself. He needed to be more confident, the kind of person who should stand by Ryan.
Zack hopped into the shower and turned on the hot cascade of water.
He got out after half an hour and toweled himself dry. He dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, until he found something to wear to the fancy restaurant. Pushing his fringe out of his eye yet again, he made his way to the bedroom.
He rummaged through his wardrobe, trying desperately to find something nice to wear. He didn't want to wear a suit because he knew for a fact that Ryan wouldn't wear one, but he didn't think jeans were in the dress code somehow.
Maybe he could wear his black trousers with the matching jacket, a white shirt and his converse. He dug around and pulled them out, laying them on his bed. They wouldn't need ironing as they had been hung up which was good as Zack actually hated ironing.
He was staring down at his outfit with his paws on his hips when the silence was shattered by his phone ringing. He jumped at the sudden noise and hurried into the living room. He grabbed the phone off the hook and flopped onto the sofa.
"Hello?" he asked.
"Hey Zack it's me, Oliver!" came the reply.
"Oh hi Oliver!" Zack greeted him enthusiastically.
"Hey how you been? How's work and whatever?"
"Oh fine, fine, everything's great! How about you?"
"Same as usual! Anyway, I was wondering if you'd like to come over tonight. Marcus is going out for some big record producer business thing and leaving me all alone! Wanna come over? I have wine and various other alcoholic drinks!"
Zack heard Marcus in the background protesting about the mean image Oliver was giving him. He giggled.
"I'm really sorry Oliver but I'm busy tonight!" he said apologetically.
" What? Everybody seems to be busy tonight except me! What're you doing?"
Zack bit his lip and his toes curled with pleasure at what he was doing tonight.
"Ryan is taking me out to dinner tonight."
There was a moment of quiet on the other end. Zack frowned slightly at his best friend's silence.
"That is so not fair!" Oliver said after his pause_. "Where's he taking you?"_
Zack grinned. Oliver would love this!
"Lockets."
"No way! Oh my god! That's no way fair!" Oliver ranted, Zack heard him call back to Marcus.
"How come you never took me to Lockets?"
"Because you never asked to go." Came Marcus's reply, closer than it had been before.
"Do I have to ask? I doubt Zack asked Ryan to take him there!...No! No you can't have the phone! Marcus GET OFF!"
"Hey Zack, did Ryan just invite you to Lockets tonight?" Marcus spoke into the phone, Zack giggled as he could hear Oliver moaning and shouting.
"Marcus no give mOHMYGOD...AHH no give me the phHOLY SHI Marcus get your perverted paws away NO! Aaaaaaaaaaahh!"
"Yes he did, to make up for leaving me this morning."
"Leaving you?" The Lion inquired, Oliver still moaning and yelling at him in the background.
"Yeah, he left before I woke up, he said you called him cause he had to record something again."
"Ah, I did wonder why he wasn't at his place," Marcus said sheepishly. "Sorry Zack."
"It's okay, besides I get to go to Lockets now!" Zack grinned and curled up on the sofa, hugging one of the worn-out cushions to his chest.
"HA! See it was entirely your fault Marcus! Now give. Me. The. Phone! No...Marcus no please p... p... please! OH GOD Marcus STOP IT NEEEAHHH!"
The phone was dropped to the floor and Zack could hear nothing. Not that he particularly wanted to hear them! After about two minutes he heard movement and then a clatter as the phone was picked up off the floor.
"Now that I have sufficiently punished Oliver you can have him back, have fun tonight." Marcus said before handing the phone over.
"I swear one day I'll get him!" Oliver said sounding slightly breathless. Zack heard Marcus' soft laughter.
"I will!" Oliver said to him indignantly.
"In your dreams baby, anyway it's six I gotta go, see you later, love you."
Zack heard him kiss Oliver and then walk out of the room.
"Bye, have fun, love you too!"
"Aaanyway, where were we before we were rudely interrupted!"
"Erm, my going to Lockets with Ryan?" Zack said.
"Oh yeah! Well, have fun anyway, I'll just drink wine all on my own!" Oliver sniffed and pretended to cry. Zack felt kinda guilty.
"I'm sorry Oliver; I'd love to come over but..."
"No, shut up! You're going to Lockets! Ignore me! I'm just whining, I'll be fine!" Oliver admonished him.
Zack laughed happily.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was half past six when they finally said goodbye and put the phone done. Zack rushed to his room and pulled on his outfit. He checked himself in his mirror before hurrying to the kitchen and grabbing his keys, phone and wallet from the bowl on the little table. He shoved them into his pockets and then left the apartment. He locked the door behind himself and headed down the stairs.
He caught a tram to the center of town and then walked the short distance from the clock tower to Lockets. He got more and more excited and nervous with every step. He couldn't wait to see Ryan.
When he reached the restaurant he took a calming breath. The exterior had trailing flowers hanging from window boxes and a warm light was spilling from the windows. The sound of laughter and the clinking of glasses and cutlery came from inside.
Zack went to the door and pushed it open. A warm, delicious smelling scent washed over him. He looked around at the candlelit tables, the warm lights hanging from the ceiling, the flowers in vases and the other patrons. He couldn't see Ryan but it was only just seven o'clock.
"Can I help you?" asked a young waiter, his pitch black panther fur contrasting against his white tuxedo. His name badge read 'Tristan'.
"Yes, I think my friend booked a table for us? My name's Zack Wilson." He didn't want to give Ryan's name if he didn't have to, he didn't want to be bombarded by his fans.
"Ah yes table number nine, if you would care to follow me."
Zack followed the waiter to a table for two at the back, in a more private spot. After he was seated the waiter asked,
"Can I get you anything while you wait?"
"Umm, no thank you, I'm fine."
"Very well sir." And the young panther left. Zack looked around nervously. He didn't like being around so many people that he didn't know, it made him feel uneasy.
After ten minutes he began to fiddle with the flowers in the vase. Arranging and re-arranging them. Ryan was coming, of course he was, he had promised.
Half an hour later and Zack's fringe was slowly falling back to cover his face. Tristan the waiter had been back and had asked if he could get Zack anything.
"Umm, well, maybe if you could...just a glass of water?" he had asked. Tristan had hurried off and returned with an ice-cold glass of water. Zack had thanked him.
He was now plucking the petals off the flowers one by one. Ryan had promised.
After an hour Zack knew he wasn't turning up. Ryan had broken his promise. He hadn't come. Fighting to hold back tears Zack stood up and went to the front desk. Tristan was stood there.
"Hey, erm, thanks for the water and...erm, well, I'm gonna go now, h... here for your h... help." Zack placed some money on the counter.
"Thank you, sir, and I'm sorry." Tristan really did look sorry for him.
"Thanks." Zack said before he left the restaurant.
He walked through the dark, holding back the waves of sadness that threatened to engulf him. He wrapped his arms around himself as if trying to hold himself together.
He knew he wasn't good enough for Ryan. He knew the musician deserved better than him. It was pathetic, how happy he had been before. Absolutely pathetic. He should have known better than to expect Ryan to love him. When the beautiful fox could have anyone, why would he choose Zack?
There was a sudden crash of thunder from the sky and the heavens opened up. Zack's fur was soaked to the skin within seconds.
"April showers bring May flowers."
Zack remembered Ryan telling him one rainy night while they lay curled up together under a blanket, listening to the storm raging outside and relishing the warmth of each other.
He didn't realize where he had been going until he stood in front of a huge, pretty, cream colored house.
Oliver and Marcus' house.
He pushed open the gate and walked up the path to the front door. He hesitated before tapping on it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Marcus?"
"Mmmmm what?"
"There's someone at the door."
"No, there's not."
"There is! Listen!"
Marcus kissed Oliver' neck.
"No, it was just the storm."
"Marcus just let me OH mmmmmmmm."
Tap tap.
"See! Now get off me!"
Marcus sighed and rolled off of Oliver, letting the husky go to the door.
The door opened.
"Zack?"
Zack looked up into the confused face of Oliver.
"What're you doing here? I thought you were with Ryan?"
Zack could hardly hold back the tears.
"He d... didn't show." Those three words confirmed what had happened and Zack felt his mouth twist and a sob escaped his throat.
"Oh no," Oliver whispered to himself. Then he said, "Well, get inside out of the storm! Come on."
He pulled a crying Zack into the hall and shut the door.
"Marcus! C'mere!" he called to the lion. Marcus came padding into the passage with curiosity written all over his face. His eyes widened when he saw Oliver cradling a crying, soaking wet Zack in his arms.
"Go get him something to wear. Something clean!" Oliver said whilst he hushed Zack.
Marcus hurried upstairs and hunted around their room for something clean for him to wear. He found an old polo shirt that was actually his own and a pair of pajama trousers. He grabbed a couple of towels on his way past the bathroom and ran back downstairs.
Oliver had got Zack in front of the fire and was making him drink a glass of wine. They helped dry him and got him into the clothes Marcus had brought. Then they sat him down on the couch between them and got him to tell them what had happened.
"A... and I waited f for an hour a... an... and he didn't show." Zack sobbed. Oliver wrapped his arms around him and rocked him back and forth.
"Shhh, Zack, it's okay, I'm sure he had a good reason." Oliver tried to comfort him. He threw a desperate glance at Marcus over Zack's head. Marcus shrugged and looked down sadly.
"I'm not good enough for him... that's his reason." Zack mumbled as he leaned on Oliver' chest.
Oliver frowned.
"Hey, hey!" He made Zack look up into his eyes. "Don't ever think that! You're too good for him not the other way around, do you understand?"
Zack nodded as his breath came in short bursts. "He's soo...perfect." he whispered sleepily. Oliver' expression softened.
"C'mon, you need to sleep. You can stay here tonight." He helped Zack up and took him upstairs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He came down five minutes later looking weary. Marcus held his arms out and Oliver slipped into his warm embrace. He nuzzled at Marcus's neck and the lion leaned back on the sofa, gathering Oliver to him.
"You've gotta talk to Ryan. He can't keep doing this, it's tearing Zack apart." Oliver whispered. Marcus kissed the top of Oliver' head.
"I know. I'll talk to him again."
"Thank you." Oliver' voice was almost inaudible. He yawned widely.
"C'mon it's late, let's go to bed sunshine." Marcus stood up, carrying Oliver in his arms. Oliver giggled quietly and snuggled into Marcus's arms as he carried him to their bedroom.