Missing You Again

Shots in the Dark

"Before I tell you all the shit that's gone down for me I better let you take a shot at me first," Zacky said taking a pull at the vodka bottle.

"Why the fuck would I take a shot at you? For a start you haven't done anything wrong to me and secondly I'm not going to kick you whilst you're down." I snatched the bottle from his hand and without bothering to wipe the neck I tilted it to my lips and took my own swallow.

"I was a bit of an asshole to your sister." There was a clear note of apology in his voice.

"What?" I turned toward him in surprise. "Why the hell would you do that?"

"Because I'm a miserable asshole who is the Grinch of happiness? She and Matt had a little spat and have now decided to come clean to the rest of us about their relationship. I may have been a bit short with them." He dropped his head in defeat and stared at his hands. I should have been pissed off at him for being a dick to my sister but it was impossible, especially considering the way he'd kept an eye out for her when she first started working for Matt. Not that Caitie knew about that. Nor did Steph know that the person who'd borne the brunt of Zacky's whinging and bitching when she'd first gotten together with Brian was me. I wondered if they'd ever forgive me if they found out.

"Idiots," I said, "as if we didn't already know. Don't be mean to my sister again or else I might have to hurt you. Or if I couldn't I have enough money to pay someone to do it." That got me a hint of a smile from him. "So they're sharing their love with the world huh?"

He reached over and extracted the vodka bottle from my hand. After taking a deep swallow he licked a drop of moisture from his lip and said, "Oh yeah. They're shouting it from the rooftops. Or they would be if Matt could speak."

My mouth dropped open in shock. "Matt can't speak?"

"Nup," Zacky answered flatly.

"For how long?" I couldn't hide the concern in my voice.

Zacky shrugged his shoulders tightly, "We'll know more in a week."

"Oh Zack." I couldn't tell if the compassion bleeding out of my voice was welcome or not. It wasn't usually what people came to me for, most people considered me brash, forthright and maybe just a little bit over confident. Certainly not someone to confide in but Zacky and I had always been different. I closed the distance between us on the sofa and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"We've had to cancel shows which sucks and of course it sucks most for Matt because it's his voice but you know what makes me a total shit heel?" he turned his head to look me in the eyes. I silently shook my head in response. "I was counting on those shows so I could be gone when Meaghan came back to get her stuff. Like I'd have the perfect excuse to not be in the house when she packed up her share of our life together."

Woah! Things really had gone pear shaped for him.

"She's moved out? Meaghan's left you?" I asked tentatively. Funny really, from what he'd told me I'd never really imagined that she'd be the one to leave. Even if their relationship had disintegrated into a nightmare I'd always imagined that she'd stay and cling on with both hands to everything that she could get.

"Oh yeah, she's left me all right and moved in with the guy she was fucking behind my back." Zacky swallowed vodka down like it was water.

"Jesus Zacky," I didn't know what to say. No wonder he looked like shit. The guy's life had just exploded around him. "Fucking hell." I snagged the vodka bottle and took another long sip. I could feel the vodka starting to burn through my system, we were going to be wasted.