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Expect Surprises



It looked like a bomb had gone off. That was the only way to describe the state of disarray that Zoe's room was currently in. Clothes were thrown all over the floor and bed. A shirt had even landed on her dresser. She was standing in front of her closet, still trying to decide what to wear for the night. She couldn't understand why she was having such a hard time deciding. Nothing seemed to look right or appeal to her. Which was crazy because she had a closet full of clothes that made her look good. Besides, it wasn't like she was trying to impress anyone. Right?



Zoe growled in frustration as she threw down her 6th pair of pants. This was getting ridiculous. She glanced at her watch and saw that it was already past the time she told the guys she'd meet them at Jack's. She surveyed the clothes around her room, still not satisfied with any of them, before turning back to her closet. After standing there for about couple of minutes, she remembered a shopping excursion she'd went on with Stephanie last week.



She rummaged around her closet until she found the bag she was looking for. She pulled out a pair of black leather pants that had blue flowers with green leaves embroidered on the side. There were also zippers at the hems of the pants. She pulled them on and looked at herself in the mirror. Finally, she was happy with what she saw. She decided to wear a plain red cami top and her leather platform ankles boots. She finished the outfit with red hoop earrings and a red beaded bracelet and necklace. She pulled her hair into a tight ponytail and touched up her make-up by reapplying her black eyeliner and running a clear lip gloss over her lips to give them shine.



Once she was satisfied with her appearance, she walked out of her room, turning off the light as she left. She walked down the hallway of her apartment and stopped at a little table that was sitting by the door. She grabbed her id and debit card and put them in the back pocket of her pants. She snatched up her keys and took her white "Music Love Creation" hoodie off one of the hooks on the wall. Mid September was nice in Baltimore, but it sometimes got chilly at night.



She slipped on her hoodie and walked out the door, making sure to lock it behind her. She walked down the sidewalk and to the parking lot, and got into her car. She pulled out of her parking spot and into the street. Once she was on the highway, she turned on her cd player letting Every Avenue fill her car. She nodded her head to the beat of the songs as she made her way to Jack's.



By the she got there, she was an hour late. Judging by the noise that was coming from his house, the "get together" was in full swing. She should have known that the guys would have invited their home town friends as well, not that she minded. She knew most of them anyway. She had just gotten the impression that it was going to be the bands, their girlfriends, and Zoe. It was ok though, she didn't care either way.



She climbed the steps to Jack's front door and let herself in. It had been established long ago that she didn't knock or ring a door bell when coming to their parties.



When she entered the hallway she took a look around. She recognized a lot of the people as locals. She saw Robby, Daija, Shannon and Chris in the living area. Robby was sitting on the couch with Daija in his lap, and Shannon was sitting on the other side. Chris had pulled a chair over to them and they seemed to be deep into conversation about something. She choose not to bother them and continued to look around.



"ZOE!!"



Zoe looked to the left to where the voice had come from. Mandy and Helena were walking out of the kitchen, the door swinging behind them. They both had a red plastic cup in their hands.



"I'm so glad you came!" Helena exclaimed. "I was getting worried you were gonna back out."



Zoe smiled at the slightly tipsy girl. "Of course I came. I haven't hung out with the guys in 3 months, and the guys in FNB seem cool too. With them living so close and the guys being such good friends, they'll probably be here a lot more. Might as well get to know them. Plus, you two joined them on tour the last 3weeks so I missed you guys too. I was stuck with Tiegan and Stephanie."



"You bitchestalking about me?"



The three girls turned their heads to see Stephanie coming towards them with two red cups. When she reached them she handed one to Zoe.



She peered into the glass. "Um, what is this?"



Stephanie shrugged. "I dunno. Some concoction Alex made. It's fucking good though."



Zoe sniffed the drink. There was definitely something fruity in it, she just couldn't make out what it was. She took a sip and immediately recognized coconut and vodka. There was something else in there, but she couldn't figure it out. It didn't matter though, Stephanie was right. It was fucking good.



She took another sip, the burn of alcohol going down her throat, and went in search of the boys. She waved to her friends and walked towards the kitchen. When she opened the door, she saw Alex at the island mixing drinks. In the corner at the kitchen table was Jack, Andrew, Mike, Alex's friend Jimmy and Tiegan and they were playing some sort of drinking game. She walked over to where Alex was. He looked up and smiled when he saw her.



"Damn girl!"



Zoe stopped in her tracks. She saw that Alex was looking her up and down. She suddenly goself conscious. Was there something on her clothes? Or her face? She looked down at herself but didn't see anything.



She looked back up at Alex. "What?"



He shook his head slightly."Nothing, you just look hot."



She blushed lightly at his statement, but when she caught Andrew staring at her, she blushed even more.



"Dude areyou blushing?"



Zoe narrowed her eyes at Alex. "No, it's just, um, really hot in here." To emphasize her point, she unzipped her hoodie and slid it off. She walked to the back door where she knew there was a small closet. Since this was one of her favorite sweatshirts, she didn't want anything happening to it.



She then proceeded to walk over to the table and sat down in the empty chair between Jack and Mike.


"So what are we playing?"



*



"Never have I ever slipped out of someone's bed in the morning because I didn't want to see them again."



It had been two hours since Zoe had joined in the "Never Have I Ever" game, and the players had shifted. Jack had abandoned the game when Mandy came and whispered something in his ear. He had shot up out of his seat so fast he'd knocked the chair over. One could only assume they'd made their way upstairs. Not that anyone really wanted to think about that. Stephanie and Rian had joined in, but Rian had left when Helena had started to not feel well and wanted to go home. Andrew had gotten up a little while ago and hadn't returned. Not that she had noticed or anything.



Zoe and Tiegan both picked their drinks and took a sip.



"No way man, Zoe?Come on."



Zoe looked at Jimmy and shrugged her shoulders. "I was drunk."



Jimmy gave her a drunken smile. "You drunk tonight?"



She rolled her eyes. "Not enough for that Jim-bo."



Jimmy frowned but sat back in his chair. It was starting to get hot around the table, and Zoe figured she'd probably had enough to drink for the night.



She stood up from the table. "Ok guys, I'm done for the night."



"Aw Zo, comeon, were hafe fun." Mike drunkenly uttered.



Zoe reached over and ruffled his hair. "Sorry Mikey. I'm going to go outside and get some air."



She walked away from the table and headed to the closet to grab her hoodie. She knew that Jack had a screened in porch off the kitchen so she opened the door and stepped onto the patio. She pulled on her hoodie, wrapped her arms around herself and walked to one of the screens.



"Needed some air?"



Zoe let out a small scream and her hand flew to her chest. She turned to where the voice came from. She saw Andrew sitting in one of the chairs on the other side of the porch.



"You asshole, you scared the shit out of me."



Andrew chuckled. "Sorry. I thought you saw me."



Zoe lowered her hand. "And you thought I was ignoring you?"



"What? No, I didn't, I mean I just though, well, um...."



Zoe held up her hand and snickered. "It's ok Andrew, I was just messing with you."



Andrew smiled and nodded his head. Zoe shifted from one foot to the other, not knowing what else to say. She started to chew on her lip ring, which was something she did when she got nervous. She hated that she felt this way around him. She didn't get nervous around guys. Heck, the majority of her friends were guys. This was confusing.



"Did it hurt?"



Zoe snapped out her thoughts and looked at Andrew. "What?"



He pointed to her mouth. "Your lip ring. Did it hurt when you got it pierced?"



"Oh, um..." she thought for a second. "Not really. I mean, I got it done so long ago that I don't quite remember it."



"What made you want to get it?"



Zoe walked over to the empty chair across from Andrew and sat down. "It was just something I wanted. Kind of like my tattoos. Self-expression and all that." She leaned back in her chair and put her feet up on the little table in front of her. "How about you? Is music your form of self-expression?"



Andrew nodded his head. "Yeah, for that plus much more.To me, music is so much. It's therapeutic in so many ways. You can express yourself and emotions, and help others with it as well."



"That must feel good, knowing that some people re-act to your music like that."



Andrew smiled a little bit. "It does, it really does."



*



Zoe opened her eyes the next morning, only to shut them again against the sunlight. She proceeded to open her eyes slowly until they had adjusted to the light. She looked around and realized that she was still on Jack's porch, only now she was on the ground. And she wasn't alone. She was cuddled up to Andrew's side, and he was still asleep. Careful not to disturb him, she scooted herself away from him and quickly stood up. She didn't remember falling asleep. She remembered lying down on the ground so that she could look out the screen and into the sky. She also remembered that Andrew had joined her, but he hadn't been that close. At some point, she must have dozed off.



She realized that she should probably wake Andrew, but she was too embarrassed and rattled. She hurried into Jack's house and saw Alex and Stephanie in the kitchen.



Stephanie looked up from the magazine she was reading, confused. "Zoe, you're still here?"



Zoe looked at Stephanie, then to Alex, then back to Stephanie. "Um, yeah. I guess I passed out on the porch last night."



At that moment, the porch door opened and Andrew walked in. Zoe saw Stephanie smirk as she looked between the two of them. Zoe gave a look that pleaded with her not to say anything. Stephanie lifted an eyebrow, but kept her mouth shut. Alex didn't seem to realize that Andrew and Zoe had just emerged from the same location.



Zoe looked behind her at Andrew, but then turned back to Alex. If she was uncomfortable around Andrew before, she was even more so now. She couldn't bring herself to look at him, so she moved to the counter where Stephanie was sitting and took a seat.



"So Alex, what are you making us for breakfast? And why are you making it and not Jack?"



Alex looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. "Do you really want Jack making your food?" Zoe thought about it for asecond and then shook her head. "Besides, he and Mandy still haven't surfaced from his room yet, and I don't want to go anywhere near that."



"MM, good point."



She glanced at the magazine Stephanie was looking at. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Andrew move towards the island and stand next to Stephanie.



"Hey, Andrew," Alex said, while flipping a pancake. "Aren't you guys off tour for the next couple of months?"



Andrew nodded his head. "Yeah, it's going to be nice to be able to relax and work on some music."



"You should take a little vacation."



Andrew gave Alex a wary look. "Um, yeah I guess I could do that. But to where."



Alex smiled that goofy grin of his."Baltimore."



Zoe choked on the sip of orange juice she had just taken. She felt Stephanie pat her back as she coughed. What was Alex doing?



"Baltimore? You mean, like, here?"



"Yeah, it'll be fun. You can stay for a couple of weeks, experience all there is to the great city of Baltimore. You can even stay at my place."



Zoe watched the exchange between Alex and Andrew. Stay? Alex wanted Andrew to stay? And at his place? That would mean that anytime she hung out with Alex in the next couple of weeks Andrew would be around. She didn't know how she felt about that.



Andrew looked skeptical. "What about the guys?"



"I already asked them. Chris is staying here with Jack for a couple of weeks but Mike and Robby are going back to Fairfax with Shannon and Daija."



Zoe watched as Andrew deliberated what he wanted to do. She didn't realize she was holding her breath until her chest started to hurt. She let it out, but it didn't do anything to calm her down. Part of her wanted Andrew to stay, but the other part wanted him to leave due to the fact that part of her wanted him to stay.



Finally Andrew made a decision."You know what Alex? I think staying here for a bit could be fun," he glanced at Zoe, who looked away quickly, then back at Alex. "Count me in."







Zoe's outfit for the party: http://www.polyvore.com/zoe/set?id=22154233





A/N Hello again my lovely readers. Hope you are all doing well. I'm not going to write a long note here, I just ask that you please comment if you read. This story has had a lot of readers but only two comments. Even if it's short, I'd really appreciate it. Love to all.