(Ohmigoodness yay, I am so glad people are enjoying this as a read! I love Zack, and I wanted to write something for him. This came to me and yeah, I'm gonna go with it as far as it takes me. It's good to be back and writing again I missed you guys! And I am so glad that you guys are enjoying reading.

Zara stepped out of the hotel room two doors down from Zack's, just in time to see her older half sister knocking at Zack's door. She rolled her eyes and slid the hoodie up over her head, making quickly down the hallway, hoping to avoid anyone seeing her. But, of course, Zack chose that second to open the door, and Eve chose that second to notice her.

Zack heard the knocking, and opened the door, just as Zara walked down the hallway, her hoodie pulled over her light brown hair, her head down, obviously not paying any attention to anything, nor aware that naturally, his eyes were drawn to her. Eve, however, called out to her little sister, "Zara, where are you going?" sweetly, as Zack glared at her.

"Leave her alone, Eve." Zack muttered as he scowled at Eve and then asked, "What do you want, anyway? I'm pretty sure I made myself clear earlier when I bumped into you."

"Yeah, but we need to go over things, so it looks real and goes smoothly." Eve said sweetly, as she stared up at Zack, her most pathetic and adoring look in her eyes, because she figured he'd eat it up.

Zara called back from up the hallway, "Somewhere you aren't, obviously, Eve." as she watched them standing there together, kicking at the carpet in the hotel hallway before pushing down on the elevator. Maybe if she went out for a run, and got some air..

No, not even that was going to take the image out of her mind. She muttered to herself, "And apparently, Eve's going to be right back where she was. And Zack's going to take her back, and they'll be a couple again and.. In the meanwhile, I've gone and gotten myself stuck in a gimmick with Swagger of all people. Fuck my life right now, seriously." as she sat down on the floor of the elevator, swearing at herself mentally.

The doors slid open on the floor below hers, and she pretended a smile as she saw Big E, a friend of hers through AJ, getting on. But of course, Big E was feeling extra empathetic tonight, so he sensed her mood shift and then asked, "You okay, green butterfly?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll deal."

"If it's that jerk Swagger, just say the word and Big E's gonna go take care of him. I hate that guy." Big E said as he sat down on the floor of the elevator, watching AJ's other best friend, and in a sense, little sister carefully.

"Not necessarily.. I mean it is Swagger, but at the same time, it isn't." Zara blurted as she looked up and said "I hate her for coming back.. I know AJ and Kaitlyn told you why exactly in the hell I took the gimmick McMahon offered, right?"

"Yeah, to finally reveal yourself to Zack.. Right?"

"Yeah.. Well, last visual confirmation has Eve in his hotel room, right now. And hell, from where I'm sitting, they looked like they were on the path to being broski and hoeski again."

"Yeah, but there's two sides to every coin, green butterfly." Big E pointed out as Zara shrugged and muttered, "It won't matter. Even if I did tell him I'm ZackRydersAnon, he has his precious Eve back. Is it wrong to hate her? I mean she's my sister, but she's done nothing to actually BE a sister.. hell, AJ and Kaitlyn have been more like my sisters than Eve ever was."

"Maybe hate's a strong word."

"I'm sick of finally thinking something good might just happen and then she shows up and screws it up. Or I back down and let her have it."

"And there's the problem, in a nutshell, green butterfly.. You give up too easy. If you want something, go for it." Big E said as he stood as the elevator stopped in the lobby and held out his hand, helping Zara off the floor. "You gonna be okay, or do I need to text the girls?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna go for a jog, think a little while.. I'll be back up soon." Zara said as she managed a brave smile and did her best to convince her best male friend Big E that he'd helped her just now.

He had, but she still got the feeling she'd either wind up backing down, or everything was going to get messy before anything ever went right. But she was already in this mess of a gimmick, she couldn't back out now. Especially not when it meant that Zack would start getting more on air time, more chances to prove he was as damn good as she knew he was.

And she was so close to finally telling him how she felt, that it was her behind the twitter account.

She'd just stepped out of the hotel and started to jog away, when she heard heavy footfalls, then felt a tap on her shoulder as she turned around. She scowled as she saw Jack standing there, holding her 'lucky charm', a green My Little Pony.

"You dropped this?" he said with a raised brow and the best charming smirk he could manage. He'd seen what Eve did, he knew for a fact, Zara had.. And if there was ever a time to make a move, then it was now, because she'd be vulnerable at best, and it'd make things a lot easier.

Zara raised her brow and quickly took the 'toy' from Jack shoving it into her pocket as she slid her hood off her head and then said calmly, "That was your good deed, Swagger, you can go now, really."

"Actually, if you want, I can jog with you? I sort of saw you when you saw Eve going into that jerk Ryder's hotel room." Jack said as he added, "Figured you might want to talk?"

"Not to you. If I wanna talk, I'll go to Kaitlyn or AJ, even Ziggler before I will you. No offense, Jack, but you've been an asshole since we got into this gimmick, and I'd really rather not trust you with anything, personal or otherwise."

"Why do you keep shooting me down?" Jack asked as she started to jog away, grumbling to herself as she slid her earbuds into her ears, and turned up Avenged Sevenfold until she thought her eardrums would bleed to block out his voice.

But of course, he caught up and said quietly ,"I'm sorry, okay? It's like I said before though.. I like you, probably more than I should, honestly, given how.."

"Given how what?" Zara asked, getting defensive.

"Given how little you like me." Jack finished.. He'd been about to say tons of other things, more honest and probably meaner things, but something told him she was a gullible sort of girl when upset, and that what he said would be the better way to go, and the quicker way into her defenses.

Zara stopped and studied him for a moment and then sighed as she said quietly, "Fine. You can jog with me. But don't try anything with me, Swagger, or I swear to God, I'll punch you in the face."

"Okay, I won't."

They jogged quietly for a while and then out of nowhere, Zara said quietly, "I wasn't mad or anything.. Hurt, but not mad.. I mean I finally might have had a chance and then of course, big sis comes slithering back in."

Jack listened and then said calmly, "Well, maybe if you show him you're better off without him.." as he smiled at her, again, his most charming of smiles.

"Right.. And I suppose you're offering yourself up?" Zara said as she added, "I'd rather not. I mean it's not necessarily a bad idea, but.."

"But what?"

"But I honestly do not trust you." Zara finished calmly, as she sighed and then said "And I'm not good at any of this. I wish to hell I'd just stayed invisible instead of getting myself into this gimmick.. Hell, Eve's better in this part than I am."

"But that's why I like ya, hon.. You're not a fake bimbo." Jack said as he flashed the grin again and then said "Just being honest.. Not trying to freak you out." as he waved his hands, backed off a little so she'd be 'secure' and think he was really becoming a nice guy or something.

He'd do anything at this point. Just the one time with her, and then he'd be done with her, free to move on. That's all he wanted. Because frankly, she annoyed him, her friends annoyed him, and he just thought that she was too 'weird' for him and that she'd be lucky to even have him the one night.

He wasn't getting it twisted, this wasn't about love, it was just about his physical attraction to her. That's all he felt.

They reached the end of the parking lot, and she looked at him and said quietly, "Going back inside now. I told AJ and Kaitlyn we'd watch some damn movie called Suckerpunch." before starting to jog off.

Jack grabbed her, and stopping her, he pulled her into a hug which she remained stiff in, because she got the distinct feeling that this was all some sort of head game where he was concerned. "Jack, let me go." she grumbled as she shoved out of his grips, and took off at a jog to the building's double doors, turning up Korn/Skrillex Get Up, as she pushed the up button on the elevator.

She'd just gotten off on her floor when she felt another tap to her shoulder, and she turned around to find Zack standing there, leaned against the wall like he'd been waiting outside or something.

She looked around the hallway, and was about to try and walk past, but he called out, "Don't you like arcades?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Found one in town earlier. Don't want to look like a jackass and go in by myself because according to Kofi, gamers can spot a newb a mile away and.. I figured I'd ask you on your way back in?"

Zara looked around and then blinked as she realized that no, there wasn't someone standing behind her and no, she wasn't on Punk'd. Shrugging casually, she smirked and said "Sure. I could stand to blast a few zombies tonight."

"Huh?"

"This game.. I play it all the time, it's got the gun controllers? Area 51?"

"Oh." Zack said as he walked beside her back to the elevator, smiling to himself. On a scale of 1 to 10, he hadn't seen his asking her to go to an arcade with him as resulting in a yes answer, but despite his shock at her actually saying yes, he was glad he'd asked.

"Hope you're ready to get owned, Long Island Iced Z." Zara said with a mischevious grin as they walked out of the hotel and to her car. "Is this yours?" Zack asked as he looked at her, brow raised because somehow, he hadn't pictured her as driving a Dodge Challenger.. He'd sort of thought she'd drive one of those small hybrid SUVs, so when he'd seen her getting into it at the arena, he'd been curious and asked, AJ finally telling him that yes, the Challenger was Zara's personal vehicle.

"Yeah, why?"

"Just surprised is all.."

"There's more to people than meet the eye." Zara said as she stifled a laugh and then said "I had to have it after I did the stunt driving test drive a few years ago at Talladega."

"So you're into stunt driving..."

"Not really, I just did it because AJ said I didn't have the cahones."

"So you're a daredevil, huh?" Zack asked, a bright smile as he looked at her from where he sat in the passenger seat.

"Somewhat.." Zara said as she raked her hands through her hair and then said "I'm surprised my sister's even letting you out of her sight."

"Ahh, she left about two minutes after you were out of sight." Zack said as he added, "Kind of told her where to go."

"Same.. I ran into Jack when I was jogging and he wouldn't just piss off already, so I wound up giving in after three laps around the hotel, coming back inside."

Zack told her where to go, and they sat in the parking lot of the arcade for a few moments, quietly. Then she got out, and waited on him to get out, walking inside as she said "And welcome to where I come to embrace my inner child and gaming nerd." sweeping her arms dramatically, as he laughed and then said "It actually looks like fun."

"You've never been to an arcade?"

"A few times, but they weren't like this one." Zack admitted as he shrugged and then spotted the racing game. "Care to race me?"

"Oh you're going down, Ryder." Zara said with a smirk as she ran to the racing game and flopped down into the seat, putting some quarters in the slot, laughing.

While they talked and played games, walked around, she found herself wondering why he'd waited on her to come back up, because he could have just as easily gotten Kofi to come with him.

And she wondered why it sort of felt like he was trying to flirt with her while they played games against each other that night. Surely she was reading too much into it, right?

That had to be it. For now, that's what she was going with, because there's no way he liked her of all the girls on the roster.