“Come on. We’ll get settled, I’ll show you around, and then I want to take you to dinner tonight. It’s my turn for you to meet someone.” His eyes are filled with a giddy mischief.
“Who?” I want to know. I know he grew up close to here, and his mom and Sammy are coming in a few days. Who could it possibly be?
He just quirks an eyebrow and holds out a hand to help me out of the SUV. “You’ll see.”
I follow him as he pulls me into the house. I was right about the landscaping, the front door is back behind a secluded patio; completely hidden from all the trees and bushes in front of the house. I almost feel like I’m walking through a small forest just to get inside.
I walk into the front of the house and am instantly frozen on the spot. I vaguely see furniture. Shadows of couches and tables and artwork on the wall, but I don’t really see it, because all that I can focus on is the view. The entire back of the house is one, enormous, wall of windows. They span the width of the monstrous room and reach from floor to ceiling. Just past the patio is an infinity pool that looks like it drops off a cliff, straight into the ocean. I ignore everything else and walk, feeling like I’m being pulled by the beautiful view, straight towards the windows. I’m so very glad the sun is shining without a cloud in the sky so I can get the full affect. Nothing - there is absolutely nothing I can say to explain the view in front of me. All I see is the brightest blue ocean, melting perfectly into the bright blue sky, speckled here and there with the whitecaps from the waves pushing against the shore that I can’t see.
I sense Zack’s presence behind me as I stand at the wall of windows, just gawking. “This is just…wow…” I can’t even form a complete thought looking out the windows.
“I know,” he replies and puts his arms around my waist from behind pulling me gently but firmly into him. “The view totally sold me on the house. I love it here.”
“I can see why.” I speak in a reverent awe at the beauty before me.
“Let me show you the rest of the place really quick.”
I don’t want to leave this view. Zack laughs at me, pulling me along behind him. “You can see it when we’re done. And tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after….” I slide a glance towards him once I’m finally able to pull away from the ocean. I wonder how many ‘day afters’ he was going to say before his voice trails off but think better of it because the last thing I’m ready for right now is to hear the word ‘forever’ again.
With as mesmerized as I am by this house and that view, I could actually say yes. I shake the crazy thought from my head as he pulls me into what he calls the ‘east wing’ of his house. He lives in a house with ‘wings.’
He shows me the bedrooms where I learn he has eight of them. Eight! I never would have believed it if I didn’t see it for myself.
After showing me the kitchen and giving me another look at the living room, he takes me to the other side of the house, the ‘west wing,’ where his fun rooms are located. My mouth drops when I see each room. The first is his media room. It looks like a real-life movie theater room with twelve leather, high back chairs; each separated by an armrest with built-in cup holder. Then I see his music studio where he tells me they practice writing and recording new music, sometimes. Most of it is done at his label’s office in downtown L.A., but on days when the whole band is here, they’ll occasionally lay a track or two. I imagine my favorite picture from the tour; the one with Zack and Chase, their heads bent together writing new music - and envision what they look like in this very room. And what songs were written here.
Before I can ask him, though, Zack pulls me along to his last play room. Inside the room is a large pool table, and a full-size bar. The back wall is the same as in the living room; a full