Disclaimer - I don't own ZOMBIES or any of the characters involved. Copyright to Walt Disney Studios. Names of BG zombies are mine, characters themselves aren't. Off My Mind and Break are both original songs by me.
This is a long one. This chapter is sort of a transition between act 2 (Life Apart) and act 3 (Repairing Relationships)
Chapter 7 theme songs: Instead by Emma Blackery, The Story Of Us, I Almost Do and Teardrops On My Guitar by Taylor Swift, Envy by Bowling For Soup and (I Guess I) Miss You from the Spongebob Musical
~ I can't say hello to you and risk another goodbye ~
Chapter 7
Jay and Lizzy had been shocked to find out what happened with Trisha a few weeks ago, but Alonzo had asked them not to bring it up once he'd explained everything. He was set on performing alone. Both of them offered to take Trisha's place but in the end, neither of them had auditioned in time, so there was no way they'd be allowed to do it.
Trisha kept her distance, but Jay and Lizzy would sometimes spot her around. Whenever they caught her eye, she would jump and look down guiltily. They agreed not to speak to her, though. Alonzo had been their friend first, and besides, Trisha should have known better. Alonzo himself never seemed to notice her but then again, between getting ready for the music festival and working on assignments, Al wasn't really paying much attention to anything else. Certainly not Trisha.
– SINCE WE BROKE UP –
It was the night before the music festival and Zephyr, Zach and Roz had just arrived in town. Most of the out-of-town acts were staying in the same hotel nearby and for three zombies, even a pretty cheap place like this was a big deal. They had gone most of their lives never even seeing a hotel in real life, stuck in Zombie Town as they were. Now that they actually had the chance, Zephyr was too riddled with anxiety to enjoy it.
"Hey," Zach clapped a hand on his shoulder and he jumped, "Just remember the plan. I'm gonna meet up with him tomorrow to hang out. I'll talk about you a little, test the water, see where he's at with everything. He'll be watching our set on Saturday and if it all works out, you can track him down after that easy."
"Right..."
It was simple enough. And Zephyr had even picked some songs to perform that might get Al's attention, and hopefully even remind him of what they used to have. Catalyst was on the list, of course, along with Epiphany, Ridiculous and Envy. He didn't feel like that was enough to convince him, though.
The next morning, the three of them were up early (much to Roz's annoyance) and on their way to the park not far from Alonzo's college campus where the music festival was being held. They were getting some odd looks from the humans already gathering there, either setting up for the event or just arriving early, but that was nothing they weren't used to. For a while, they were just wondering around, watching a few of the first acts to get a feel for things, until Zephyr stopped dead in his tracks when a flash of green and grey caught his eye.
It wasn't Alonzo himself that made Zephyr freeze, though. It was the human girl behind him, with the long, dark hair, and the concerned and pleading expression on her face, and the hand reaching out for his arm as he was striding along a few steps ahead of her. Every now and then, he would briefly look back at her and say something, always frowning or rolling his eyes or scoffing.
Roz and Zach stopped only a second or two after him, but by then, Zephyr had shaken himself out of it and started walking again. Roz was first to follow him with Zach catching up after them.
"Zeph...?"
He barely even turned around, "What?" It was obvious he was trying to pretend nothing had happened.
"Did you see him?" They weren't going to beat around the bush right now.
"Who?"
Already sick of this, Roz grabbed his arm and forced him to stop and face them, "You know who."
"Alright, fine," he gave in quickly, "But... look," he gestured towards Al and the girl. He sighed, then dropped his arm to his side and gave Roz a hopeless look, "I told you, didn't I? He's moved on. This was a mistake. I'm never getting him back."
He went to turn away but Roz slipped in front of him, "Hey, don't start jumping to conclusions. So he's with a girl, that doesn't mean he's with her."
"They've got a point, Zeph," Zach agreed, coming closer, "He never said anything about a girlfriend to me. Don't you think that'd be the perfect reason not to take you back? If it was true, he would've told me."
"Maybe he didn't think it was any of your business," he suggested, "Or maybe he didn't want you telling me."
"Zephyr," Roz sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, then gave him a tired look, "When Al's in love, he can't hide it. He's an open book. If he had a girlfriend, he'd tell Zach, at least."
"And I swear I'd tell you."
"Even if he told you not to?"
"I'd... strongly imply it."
Roz continued before Zephyr could make any kind of comment, "Besides, look at him," she pushed him back around so he could see Alonzo again, who was now facing the girl and clearly getting angry, "It looks like they're fighting about something."
Zephyr just shook his head, "That doesn't change anything. Couples fight all the time. And look at the way she keeps touching him."
Zach scoffed, "Yeah, and the way he obviously doesn't want her to."
"What do you want me to do?" Zephyr asked him with a blank stare, one hand held up towards Al, "Go over there?"
"Not right now. Stick to the plan."
But he wasn't listening anymore. The moment the words had left his mouth, Zephyr's eyes were set on Alonzo. His hand slowly came down again as the gears in his mind were turning.
He had a chance.
"Don't. You know what'll happen."
"He's right there...!"
Roz squinted, "Three whole months refusing to call him, then you see him in a crowd and you're suddenly ready to run over there and pour your heart out?"
"This is different. We wouldn't have been talking face-to-face. He could hang up, or just not answer. But he is right there."
Zach groaned, "Just hold on. Let me talk to him first."
Zephyr took a single step closer to Al, keeping his eyes on Zach, "I said I was done with talking to him through you, Zach. I'm going."
"Zephyr!"
"Everyone keeps telling me I need to talk about my feelings, so that's what I'm gonna do," he stated, the slight tremor in his voice betraying how nervous he was, "Even if it doesn't work out, at least I tried."
With that, he turned and left.
"Well," Zach slumped his shoulders, watching Zephyr go, "He's as stubborn as ever."
Roz nodded, a small smile on her face, "But he's finally gonna do it."
– SINCE WE BROKE UP –
Why couldn't she just take a hint?
"Back off, Trisha," Al snapped and turned away from her. He was walking through the crowd of humans arriving at the music festival on his way to meet Zach when she had appeared. She was probably just at the festival anyway, but once she saw him, she evidently couldn't stay away.
"Would you just listen to me?"
"I would if you said anything worth listening to!"
"How would you know? You won't even let me talk to you!" she pointed out and he rolled his eyes, but didn't answer, "I'm trying to-"
"I don't wanna hear it!"
He wasn't going to stop moving. And he wasn't going to look at her. And she was getting frustrated. She came to a sudden halt and for a moment, he thought he might be free of her.
"Why can't you actually deal with your problems?" she demanded, trying to sound calm. He kept walking, though he was being slowed down trying to get around people, "Cutting people off after one little negative experience with them is not a good way to stay positive. You did it to Zephyr, now you're doing it to me. You tried to do it to Zach. One mistake doesn't mean the relationship's completely ruined."
She was so caught up in her ranting that she hadn't even noticed Al had stopped. For a brief, shining moment she thought she had finally gotten through to him but then she realised he hadn't turned around. He was staring at something. Or rather, someone. He wasn't paying her much attention before, but now he couldn't even hear her. He was completely focused on the zombie walking towards him, catching the eyes of humans as he passed but never once acknowledging any of them.
"Alonzo...?" Zephyr said cautiously, coming to a stop a few feet away from him.
For a moment, Al stood frozen, staring at him. Neither Zephyr nor Trisha could tell what he might be thinking until his expression hardened. He wasn't sure exactly what it was he was feeling, but there was a lot of it.
"What do you want?"
Zephyr felt his heart crack at the sternness of his tone. Despite that, he took a hesitant step forward. Trisha glanced quickly from him to Al, then to the ground and she began to back away.
"I-I..." she stammered, "I should go..."
Al didn't even look at her, "Yeah, maybe you should."
She turned and left without another word and Zephyr watched her go, but he could feel Alonzo's eyes still on him, scared to look at him at first when he knew what he'd be met with. He searched for something, anything, to say to him. Trisha disappeared into the crowd and he finally had to face his fears.
"... She your girlfriend or...?"
The only change in Al's expression was a single raised eyebrow, "Why? You jealous?" he tested. Zephyr flinched and opened his mouth but Al instantly shut him up, "You broke up with me, Zephyr. You don't get to be jealous this time."
"This time?" he couldn't help but ask.
Al smiled, but it was nothing like the smile Zephyr was used to. This was cold and accusing, "Remember Zeke? Remember every single time I ever called Zach my best friend? You were always jealous," the smile fell and Zephyr went quiet, his eyes down. Alonzo knew that was the right time to either argue, or turn and walk away, but something was holding him back. He was supposed to be angry at him. He was supposed to want nothing to do with anymore. He was supposed to push him away, show him he was stronger, better off without him. So why did seeing Zephyr's face make him feel so weak? He sighed and looked away, "... She's not my girlfriend. She's not even a friend now."
At that, Zephyr's head snapped up, unable to hide his concern.
"Why? What happened?"
Al was taken aback. He stared at him, surprised, then scoffed and shook his head, "Don't do this."
"Do what?"
"This!" he gestured between them, "Act like you give a damn about me anymore! What do you want from me?"
This was it. This was the moment of truth. Zephyr took a breath and carefully met Alonzo's eyes, "I wanted to apologise. In person."
"... I alrea-"
"You need to hear it from me," he sounded desperate, "I shouldn't be expecting Zach to do everything for me. And I'm sorry for that, too."
It was all Al could do to laugh, "You dumped me for going to college, you never even tried to call me, and you wanna apologise to me now?"
"I knew you wouldn't answer. And I almost asked Zach to let me call you on his Z-band once but I knew you'd hang up as soon as you heard me. I couldn't handle that. But I'm sorry, Al. I didn't mean anything I said, I was scared, I thought I'd lose you sooner or later if we tried to make long-distance work. I should've said something before it went too far but-"
"Yeah, yeah, Zach's been making excuses for you," Al held up his hands to stop him, "You really think that's gonna fix things?" he tried to stay calm but his voice was rising almost out of his control, "I loved you, Zephyr, and you gave that up because I wanted to live my life."
It took everything Zephyr had to not reach out and try to comfort him. It wasn't going to work, "I know. I'm sorry, I just wan-"
"I don't care what you want...!" Al snapped, squeezing his eyes shut, his hands coming up as if he wanted to cover his ears but instead, he balled them into fists before dropping them to his sides again, "Where's Zach? He's the one I actually wanted to see today."
He had to accept he wasn't going to break through. At least, not yet.
"He's with Roz..." he muttered.
"Where?"
"I think I left them near the main stage..."
He was gone in an instant and Zephyr hurried after him.
When the two of them came into view, Zach's eyes widened in panic. Alonzo looked angry, and Zephyr guilty.
"I told you...!" he hissed at Zephyr, more worried than annoyed, then turned his attention to Al, "I told him not to talk to yo-"
"Whatever, can we just go?"
None of them dared to say a word for a few seconds.
"... Yeah. Yeah, sure."
Throwing Zeph an apologetic look, Zach picked up his backpack from the ground and followed behind Alonzo as he turned away, only glancing at Roz for a second and completely ignoring Zephyr.
Roz felt her heart drop when she saw Zephyr bite his lip and look away.
– SINCE WE BROKE UP –
Al had refused to even mention Zephyr after they had walked away, but it only took a couple of minutes for him to relax enough to talk about anything else. A few questions from Zach about how he was doing with college seemed to bring a little bit of the old Alonzo back out. Seeing as neither of them were playing that day and had nowhere they needed to be, plus Jay and his boyfriend had decided to make a date of the festival so he wasn't around, the two of them headed to Al's dorm.
Just as they entered the building, Zach remembered something and slipped his backpack off his shoulder.
"I almost forgot," he said as he opened it and pulled out a tupperware box, "I brought something for ya."
Al practically lit up when he saw the potato fingers and immediately hugged Zach, "My saviour...! I knew I stayed friends with you for a reason."
Grabbing the box, he made a detour towards the kitchen to use the microwave before leading Zach to his own room. Once he was eating, he was much happier.
"You wanna know something? Zane doesn't know what he's talking about, french fries are nothing like potato fingers."
Zach just smirked, "They are literally just fries, Al."
"Liar!"
"Potato fingers are flavoured to taste like flesh."
"Exactly!" Al stressed and tossed another one into his mouth, "Nothing like fries."
"... But they are pretty much still fries. It's just seasoning."
Zach was holding back laughter as Alonzo stared at him in fake shock.
"How can you even say that?" he placed a hand over his heart and shook his head, acting hurt.
"'Cause it's true. How are you doing without zombie food, by the way?" he turned serious, "You getting any cravings...?"
"Kinda, but I can deal with it. Mostly by eating way more meat than I ever did before."
The conversation soon moved onto home, and what he was missing in Zombie Town and Seabrook in general. And then, the band.
"I gotta admit, though," Al started, looking like he had been thinking about this for some time, "I'm kinda glad I quit BFZ."
Zach hesitated to say anything at first.
"Because of... Zephyr?"
"Honestly?" Al asked and Zach nodded. Al simply shook his head, "No."
"Then why? You loved it. You loved Bowling For Soup and you loved playing their music and you loved forcing it onto everyone else who would listen."
Al smiled, sticking a few more potato fingers in his mouth, "Of course I loved it! I'm not saying I didn't, I'm not saying I regret it..." he laughed at how serious Zach looked, covering his mouth before he could choke, "I'm still a fan of Bowling For Soup! But I want something different now. I wanna do something different."
Zach tilted his head to one side, "Like what?"
"Like be a real musician," he grinned, "Give Bonzo a run for his money."
"You're already a real musician."
"You know what I mean. I want to actually create something and..." he shrugged, "I'm good at it."
Catching on, Zach raised his eyebrows, "You're writing originals?"
He hadn't planned on telling him about his songs, but Al nodded, "Yeah. A lot. My friends here like 'em, so..." he trailed off at the reminder of Trisha but Zach didn't seem to notice. He just leaned forward, curious.
"What about?"
Here we go...
"About anything. Leaving home, friends, being a zombie," he said vaguely, hoping it would be enough to satisfy him but when he turned his head, Zach was staring back at him expectantly. Alonzo immediately frowned and scoffed, shoving him away, "Don't look at me like that, I know what you're thinking and don't even go there."
Zach barely reacted. He kept his eyes fixed on Al, "If you know what I'm thinking then am I right?"
He was going to see right through any lie Al tried to tell him. He cracked easily.
"... So maybe you are, but what does it matter? It's just venting, getting everything out, it doesn't mean anything."
There was a pause, and then Zach sighed and leaned back on his hands, "Let me see 'em, Al."
"What?"
"Show me the songs. If they don't mean anything, you don't care if I read them, right?"
"... Fine," he gave in and went to get his songbook from the desk, quickly thrusting it into Zach's hands and sitting down again like he just wanted to get it over with, which he did. He tried to relax but the second Zach opened it, he felt uneasy, "You'll know it when you see it."
Zach sat reading in silence for a short while, glancing up at Alonzo every now and then, making him more and more nervous, until he eventually lifted his head to lock eyes with him. Al waited anxiously for him to say something.
"And you're telling me you're over him?"
"Oh, for Z's sake, man! You sound like Trisha," he spat, but he was avoiding his gaze now, "I said they didn't mean anything."
Zach cocked his head, giving him a look of 'oh, really?' and looked back down at the page, "I should've known you'd left your mark, why can't I ge-"
"That's an old one, it doesn't count," Al tried but Zach just turned the page and opened his mouth to read the next song. Al snatched the whole thing away from him, "Give me the book back," he let his eyes drift across the words on the page for a brief moment before he closed it, keeping his thumb inside as a placeholder. When he turned back to Zach, he was met with a hard stare, "OK, what?"
"You love him."
For a split second, Zach saw a hint of fear in Al's eyes before he scowled.
"No, I loved him. Past tense. He's not the same person I was in love with now."
"He's barely changed at all since you left. You know what the only real difference between then and now is?" he asked and Al looked up at him sceptically, "He actually talks about things now. He's not keeping things bottled up anymore. That's huge, Al! That's real improvement. He wants to talk to you, he came here to ta-"
The scowl turned into a glare, "You said you weren't coming here just to get me to talk to him."
"I came to see you. And to play at the music festival. Zephyr came here to talk to you," Zach explained, "I told him to wait, though. At least until I could talk to you, but-"
"So you came to convince me."
"I'm not saying you have to get back together with him! All I'm saying is listen to him, think about it, if you can just learn to trust him again..."
"I don't need to trust him. We're done."
It sounded so final, Zach went quiet. Then he slowly shook his head.
"You know, Zephyr might not have changed, but you definitely have."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Zach shrugged, "That you've changed."
Al looked down, idly flipping through the book, "Yeah, well, change happens."
Zach watched him for a moment, thinking, "... Hey..." and when Al looked up, he grabbed the book from him. Al gaped at him.
"Why does everybody keep taking my songbook?"
"Because it's the only way to know what's going on in your head anymore!" Zach was getting frustrated, "It's like you've switched places, Zephyr's the emotional one now, you're the distant one. You're only giving yourself one outlet, and it's this book," he opened it and found the song Al had stopped him from reading, "Here," he held it up to show the page, "Play this."
Al just frowned, confused, "What?"
"Play it or I'm taking the whole book to Zeph."
Al's face went blank, "Are you kidding me?" he deadpanned.
"Pick up your guitar," Zach pointed to where it was propped up against the wall, then back at the page, "And play the zraghan song."
Al rolled his eyes but stood up nonetheless, bringing the guitar over. He grumbled as he sat back down, "I don't know why you think this is gonna prove anything."
"Oh, you know."
With a single huff, Al began to play.
"No-one saw it coming, no-one thought there would be an end. But all of a sudden, we were dead and gone, not a friend in sight..."
He softened almost the moment he started to sing.
"How could it happen? How could we let everything go? When did it go wrong? We were all I'd ever known."
And he seemed to forget Zach was even there.
"We thought nothing could break us, and we thought we were in control. Didn't know where this would take us, we just knew we made each other whole. Whatever we turned out to be, we thought it'd still be you and me, we thought nothing could break us. We thought nothing could break, break, break us..."
His eyes were half-closed, lost in the memories.
"If things ended, you said you'd hold on to our past. So when it ended, how come we couldn't make it last? Something inside me just wanted to hear your voice, wanted you to remind me. But in the end I had no choice."
Zach had heard Alonzo's passion when he sang before, but he had never heard it like this, right from the heart.
"We thought nothing could break us, and we thought we were in control. Didn't know where this would take us, we just knew we made each other whole. Whatever we turned out to be, we thought it'd still be you and me, we thought nothing could break us. We thought nothing could break, break, break us..."
He avoided looking at Zach after the song was over.
"... That's about him, isn't it?"
"It's just venting," he repeated, "That's all any of this is, OK? That's not even really a love song."
"But it is about Zephyr."
There was no denying it.
"Yes, it's about Zephyr. You happy now?"
Zach didn't answer. All he could think about was what Zephyr had said about a promise. Some promise he had made to Alonzo when they started dating. A promise that he broke, adding another layer of heartache to the breakup.
"... He really left you hanging like that, didn't he?"
Alonzo sniffed and scratched his face, then tried to subtly wipe away a stray tear, "We swore we'd still be friends if dating didn't work out. No matter what. I think that's what really hurt about this whole thing."
He couldn't stand to see Al like this.
"You know, I think he'd go for that."
"What?"
"Being friends," Zach smiled reassuringly and when Alonzo dropped his head, he gently nudged his arm, "I'm serious. It's like... you guys really are meant to be together, just maybe not as boyfriends. I mean, come on, you're both complete train wrecks without each other."
Alonzo still didn't look up, but his next words gave Zach a little hope.
"... He seemed pretty desperate when he tried to talk to me earlier..."
"Because he just needs you in his life. Is that so bad?"
"Zach, I don't..." he didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do, "I don't know if I can. He already hurt me once. What if it happens again? Being friends isn't gonna keep that from happening."
"It won't," Zach promised, "The first time was an accident. It was a misunderstanding and it went wrong, but he's getting better. Give him a chance."
– SINCE WE BROKE UP –
"I'm about to give up, Roz. I tried talking to him and look what happened."
Zephyr and Roz had moved to the other side of the park. It was quieter here, seeing how the festival was drawing everyone in, but they could still hear the music blaring and a handful of humans were hanging around, taking a break from the high energy. Zephyr was sitting on the ground, his back to a fence, with Roz standing beside him.
"You did kinda come at him outta nowhere," she pointed out, "It's the first time you've seen each other in, like, almost four months. You can't just walk up to him and expect to carry on from where you left off. That's exactly why Zach was gonna talk to him first, right? Ease him into it?"
Zephyr sighed and looked up at her, "I get that, but easing him into it is starting to feel more like forcing him. It's not worth it if that's the only way he'll listen."
"It's definitely worth it."
Zephyr and Roz's heads snapped up at the sound of someone else entering the conversation and when he saw who it was, Zephyr quickly stood up.
"You're the girl who was talking to Al before."
She nodded, "Well, trying to talk to him. I'm Trisha. No need to introduce yourselves, I watch your YouTube channel."
"OK..." Roz was obviously confused but one look at Zephyr, who was watching her with caution, told her there was something important about this girl, "What are you doing here?"
Trisha's eyes dropped to the ground for a moment, then locked on Zephyr. She looked almost desperate, "Look, Alonzo still has feelings for you."
Zephyr felt a glimmer of hope, "He what?"
"He'll deny it, and he'll try to push you away," now she sounded desperate, too, "But, goddammit, he is not over you."
He had to remind himself that something had happened between this girl and Alonzo to end their friendship. He gave her quick once over, looking for any signs she was lying.
"... How do you know?"
She bit her lip, like there was something she wasn't sure she should tell him. Then she smiled, somewhat sadly. She must have been thinking back to before whatever had caused the rift between her and Al.
"I'd always catch him singing Bowling For Soup breakup songs when he thought he was alone. And only breakup songs. He never wanted to talk about you. He won't date or even just hook up with anybody..." Zephyr noticed her wince slightly at that, "It's just obvious he still thinks about you. He's trying to pretend he doesn't but... he's nothing like he was with you. I watched those videos of the two of you together and he's nowhere near as happy as he was with you."
Zephyr didn't know what to make of that.
"... You're serious?"
"I am so serious," she was practically pleading with him by this point, but he still didn't know whether or not he could trust her, because it felt like there was something else she wasn't telling him.
What had she done to make Alonzo so mad at her?
– SINCE WE BROKE UP –
"We used to be the envy, we used to be the talk of, we used to be the best thing about this fucking town! We used to be the ones who everyone thought would make it. We used to be the best thing about this fucking town! Whenever I'm sober, I say to myself, it sucks that it's over but at least we gave it hell!"
Alonzo stood in the crowd watching his former band play. He tried to keep his focus on Zach, but their conversation from the day before was still playing over and over again in his mind and he couldn't help looking over at Zephyr. He seemed so confident taking the lead. Seemed. Not a single one of the humans watching would know it, but Al caught all the tells that he meant every word he sang. When Zephyr swept his gaze over the audience, though, Al ducked his head to avoid being seen.
By now he had accepted that he was telling the truth, and that Zach was probably right. It was still hard to come to a conclusion. He was doing fine without him. He didn't feel the same way about him now.
"Our friends always gave us shit for being so in love, we were kings of the PDA..."
Al bit his lip trying not to smile at the change to the lyrics. It had come and gone so quickly, the humans didn't seem to pick up on it.
"We kissed until the sun came up and you were gone, we never said goodbye..."
This was bringing back too many memories. He missed playing with them. He missed BFZ.
... He missed his friends.
"We used to be the envy, we used to be the talk of, we used to be the best thing about this fucking town!"
A familiar face caught his eye and his head snapped up; Trisha was among the other humans watching the band perform. Right. She was a fan. But seeing her only reminded him that he would be onstage alone tomorrow. He tried to ignore her and turned his attention back to Zach. And Zephyr.
Between the nostalgia of watching BFZ and the anxiety of having to play alone, it didn't take long for Al to make a decision.
"When I'm not sober, I say to myself, maybe I should call him, and wish him the best. But I remember it's over. And this feels like fucking hell."
Once their set was over and they were leaving the stage, Alonzo made his way over to them. Zephyr and Roz were shocked to see him, while Zach was staring expectantly at him.
"... Hey..." Al started a little awkwardly, "Look, I'm sorry I blew up like I did yesterday. I'm not gonna take it all back, but... there was a lot going on..."
"You had every right to be mad," Zephyr spoke up when he couldn't find the words to say.
Al barely even looked at him, "It wasn't just you I was mad at. That girl you saw me with?" he asked and Zephyr nodded, exchanging a subtle look with Roz, "Her name's Trisha. She... she was supposed to be my best friend here. She was gonna sing with me tomorrow but y'know, I guess she was more interested in doing something else with me instead. And I wasn't."
He wasn't. That's what had happened.
"So I cut her off and I was gonna do the show solo but now I don't know if I can handle that. I've never performed solo in front of a crowd. I always had someone with me."
Zephyr was trying so hard not to get his hopes up. Trisha could always be trying to trick him, ruining his chances or something, "What are you saying?"
"... Do you guys want to play onstage with me tomorrow night?"
His mouth fell open and he stared at Alonzo. Zach was grinning and Roz's eyes widened in surprise, but Zephyr could only stare. What did this mean? For them? He was at a loss for words but luckily, Zach took the initiative.
"What are we gonna be playing? BFS or your stuff?"
Zephyr suddenly found his voice, "Your stuff? Like, your own songs?"
Al shot Zach an annoyed look and reluctantly nodded, "Yes. I was gonna play a few originals with Trisha but it kinda feels weird doing the songs I rehearsed with her. I just... I don't wanna think about her. So, probably BFS."
"None of your own songs...?" Zach pushed. Zephyr couldn't read his expression as he seemed to be asking Alonzo some silent question.
Al briefly glanced at Zephyr, only making him even more curious, "... Maybe. I do want to perform something I wrote. Just nothing I was planning on playing with her. But at least if it's mostly BFS we won't need to spend a lot of time rehearsing."
Zach nodded, "Speaking of which, we've only got one day to learn whatever you want to want us to do. We better get started."
"We'll get to that. First, though," Al finally turned to look Zephyr in the eye, "Zeph?"
"Yeah...?"
Alonzo hesitated, then sighed, "Can we talk?"
