This Means War

Loser

Marley could feel the anger pulsing in her veins. It was fake...all of it...every little bit...every conversation....every smile...every kiss....all FAKE. Who the fuck did they think they were to play such a game?

She made it to where Lisa was standing sipping her drink. Lisa picked up on her red face immediately. "What happened?"

Marley shook her head angrily. "Let's get out of here...now."

"What? Why? Tell me what happened."

"Nothing happened," Marley pulled her by her hand looking behind her, expecting to see at least one of the guys following but neither appearsd. "Let's get out of here. I'll explain in the car."

"Don't you want to see the guys play at least?" Lisa asked.

"No," she replied abruptly anger clear in her eyes.

"Wow," Lisa said quickly setting her drink down. "Okay lead the way."

Marley made a beeline through the crowd, the sound of her heart beating in her ears and her face red hot with anger. The lights went out when they hit the edge of the club and fans began to scream in anticipation as the familiar chimes of Nightmare began to play joined in quickly by the Brian's fluid guitar medley.

The music was mesmerizing and Marley slowed her pace to stop and watch.

"Are you staying or going?" Lisa said over the music. "Make up your mind."

"I-I..." Marley couldn't finish her sentence.

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Zacky felt like he had a huge hole in his stomach. He'd wanted to punch Brian but he had to remind himself that he'd had to own his part of making the the situation what it was. He wanted to chase after her but he knew the fans had to come first. He had a responsibility to them.

Brian, for his part, knew he fucked up. He hadn't wanted to hurt Marley. He genuinely cared about her and wanted to be her choice. He hated that he'd let his mouth get him in trouble again. Would he ever learn from his mistakes?

They managed to make it through "Nightmare" by keeping their mind on their playing task and making little eye contact with each other but as they started "Afterlife," Zacky began to look into the crowd. Searching faces for those perfect grape colored eyes. 

It didn't take long to find her. She wasn't standing in the VIP area. She was standing in the back near the bar...close to the door.

His fingers faltered and Matt turned to look at him curiously. He tried to regain focus. Maybe he'd only imagined he saw her. He looked out into the crowd and saw her again. His fingers faltered again, this time catching Brian's attention as they sang the back up lines.

Brian moved to stand near him as he usually did while Jimmy's part was played. 

"You ok?" Brian asked.

Zacky, his anger forgotten,  motioned his head to the back of the room. "Way in the back. She stayed."

Brian strained to look but his solo came up quickly and he moved to take his platform. He used the higher ground to spot Marley. She looked pissed but she hadn't left...maybe there was still a chance. His fingers danced across the frets and she kept her eyes glued to him. He gave her a smirk and her eyebrows crashed together. She turned quickly and moved toward the door.

Brian hadn't wanted that but he couldn't stop her. "Go," he commanded to Zacky.

"What?" Zacky said looking at him sideways. 

"She's leaving...GO!"

Zacky hesitated for a minute before pulling his guitar off and jumping into the crowd. Matt continued singing but looked confused as the crowd parted and Zacky ran out the door.

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"Marley!" Zacky yelled. "Marley stop! Hold on Marley Helton...I'm not done with you."

She turned on him quickly almost as if she was expecting him to stop her but surprise was clear in her expression when she saw him. Maybe she'd expected Brian. She rallied nicely. "You USED me to win a bet with your friend, you arrogant backstabbing jerk!"

"It wasn't like that," Zacky said "I mean it started that way but I feel...and wait a minute, you dated us BOTH anyway. You knew what the score was. Did you think you weren't going hurt one of us when you chose?"

"Are you kidding me?" she replied angrily "Are you trying to make me seem like I was the one who is wrong here? You two made a BET."

"Okay you're right..that was wrong and I'm sorry...but it wasn't fake..for me or for Brian...I mean I know he's a jackass sometimes..well pretty much all the time but he genuinely likes you...I can tell that much."

"At least he didn't try to sleep with me to get me to choose him."

"That's not what I did," Zacky said anger creeping into his tone. A small crowd stood to watch the scene unfold "Is that what you think of me? I didn't sleep with you because I wanted to win a bet. I slept with you cause I'm falling for you and I wanted you to choose me. But even after all that, you couldn't. What did you think was going to happen? How did you expect all this to play out?"

He had her there. She'd stressed over it but she'd never really considered what would happen when she really had to choose. "I didn't expect to find out that it was a contest between you two."

"Even without a bet between me and Brian, it was always a contest. Either way someone was always going to be the loser."

She hated that his logic was right. "Yeah...I didn't figure it was going to be me."

He shook his head. "C'mon Marley....you didn't lose. I'm standing here in front of you. I ran off of the stage..in the middle of a fucking concert... to chase you...to ask for forgiveness. For me...and Brian. It was stupid of us but that doesn't mean we don't really care about you. Just...give me a chance....to make it up to you. I promise...you have to let me try."

She wanted to. For a second she wanted to jump into his arms and kiss his face and tell him that everything was okay. But then she'd have to forgive Brian as well and she didn't know who if anyone of them was being sincere. At this point she didn't know if she wanted to find out. She was still really pissed and her next words let him know it.

"I wouldn't bet on it," she said a lot calmer than she felt.

And then she walked away.