Zac yawned and stretched. He looked at the clock, 12:17 p.m. Woah he thought guess I was tired. He looked over to the sofabed. Isaac was snoring and his arm was hanging off the bed. Taylor and Erica were wrapped in each others arms. He couldn't help but feel a ping of jealousy about what they had together. Not that he wanted what they had, he didn't want any girl kissing him like Erica kissed Tay, but he couldn't help but wonder if he was missing something great. He thought he now understood why Kerri had kissed him that day, she cared. Zac shook his head from all of his deep thoughts, it was too early to think. He stared at the three of them. Who to wake up first? Decisions Decisions. Taylor and Erica? He wouldn't dare wake them up, they looked to cute. But Isaac, well Isaac was snoring away. Zac walked over and pinched his nose and covered his mouth with his hand.
Isaac's eyes flew open,"Zac!" he cried slapping at his brothers hand,"It's too early to get up." he said ducking back under the covers in hopes to salvage any remainder of sleep.
Zac laughed and left the room to scrounge up some food. He was starved.
"Damn it Zac." Isaac muttered to himself moments after Zac left the room.
Why must he be the victim? Everyone knew once Isaac was woken up he couldn't fall back asleep, why did people insist on torturing him?
Isaac glanced over at Erica and Taylor, they were tangled in each others' arms. He rolled his eyes and then decided to wake Taylor up. He tapped on Taylor's forhead. He cracked one eye open and peered at Ike over Erica's head.
"Good morning." Isaac said a little to cheerful with a cheezy grin.
Taylor closed his eye and yawned,"What time is it?" he asked.
"12:22" Isaac answered.
Taylor nodded,"That's nice...goodnight."
Zac came bounding into the room with a bag of pretzels and four drink boxes. He tossed them onto the sofabed. Taylor opened his eyes to peer at Zac.
"Yes food!" Isaac exclaimed opening the pretzels.
Zac plopped onto the bed,"Ooh look! Taylor's awake!"
Taylor stared blankly at Zac and then closed his eyes again.
Erica heard someone crunching loudly and opened her eyes. She found herself staring at Taylor's shirt. How did I get here? she thought. She picked up her head. Taylor opened his eyes again and looked at her. She pulled her arm off of him and sat up.
"Look Erica's awake now too! Yipee!" Zac yelled.
Erica stared at him,"I'm not a morning person." she said groggily.
"Good thing it's 12:30 in the afternoon then huh?" Isaac cracked.
"Thirsty?" Zac asked throwing a juice box at her.
"Oh breakfast, I mean lunch in bed. Zac, how thoughtful." she laughed and playfully smacked Taylor,"Why can't you be romantic like this?" she joked.
Taylor sat up and looked at her,"A juice box is romantic?" he questioned.
"Tay, get a clue." Zac said throwing a juice box to him.
Zac answered the phone,"Hello?"
"Hi Zac, it's Kerri."
"Oh,hi." Zac said.
"Listen about the other day..." Kerri started.
Zac cut her off,"I can't talk right now."
"Why?" she asked.
"Because I have to help Taylor." Zac stalled.
"Help him do what?" she asked.
"Umm...tie his shoe." he blurted out.
"Taylor can't tie his shoe?" Kerri asked in disbelief.
"No, it's uh, very unfortunate. I really gotta go, bye." Zac hung up.
Meanwhile, Erica and Taylor were sitting in the living room. Taylor was going on and on and on about the song that he, Isaac and Zac were writing.
Erica sat indian style on the couch with a pillow in her lap trying to listen to Taylor. She was having trouble though, she kept looking at the way his hair fell in his eyes and how he talks with his hands when he feels strongly about something. He looked at her and flashed a smile.
"You're not listening to a word I'm saying are you?" he laughed.
"Yes I am." she insisted.
"Then what did I just say?" he challenged.
"You just said,'You're not listening to a word I'm saying are you?'" she replied.
"I meant...nevermind." he said shaking his head.
Zac walked into the room and flopped into a chair. He sighed.
Taylor went on talking to Erica about the song.
Zac sighed louder. Taylor looked at him.
"What's wrong Zac?" he asked.
"Girls." he said.
Erica looked at him and smiled.
"No offense Erica." he said.
She shook her head,"None taken."
"What kind of girl trouble could you have?" Taylor laughed.
Zac turned red,"Shut-up Taylor." he stormed out of the room.
"That wasn't nice Taylor." Erica told him.
"Don't worry he's fine." Taylor said.
They heard footsteps pounding up the stairs followed by a door being slammed. Erica looked at Taylor.
"Uh, maybe I should talk to him?" Taylor suggested.
Erica nodded,"Maybe."
Taylor walked up the stairs and to the boys room. He knocked on the door,"Zac can I come in?" he asked.
"I don't care it's your room too." Zac replied.
Taylor opened the door and found Zac laying on his bed staring at the ceiling. He went and sat at the foot of the bed,"So what's going on?" he asked.
"What do you care?" Zac snapped.
"Don't be like that Zac. I care. I'm your brother after all." Taylor pointed out.
Zac propped himself up on his elbows,"Why do girls have to be so confusing?"
"Zac, I have been asking myself that for quite sometime now. I wish I knew." Taylor sighed.
"Well if you don't know how am I supposed to find out?" Zac asked.
Taylor shrugged,"You know those life lessons mom and dad always tell us about? How when we're older we'll figure stuff out?" Taylor asked.
Zac nodded,"Yeah."
"Well I think this is one of those things." Taylor told him.
"But you seem to know alot Tay. I mean you and Erica get along great." Zac said.
Taylor laughed.
Zac shook his head,"I knew I shouldn't have talked to you about it. I am trying to be serious here Tay why do you have to laugh at me?"
"I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing because I have no idea what I'm doing either. It's a learn as you go kind of thing. A relationship is like riding a rollercoaster. What happens the first time you ride the most intense rollercoaster? You throw up. So next time, you get on the rollercoaster only this time you learn not to eat those extra hot dogs before the ride."
"What?" Zac asked.
"You won't make the same mistake again. You know eating that extra hot dog is going to make you blow chunks everywhere." he explained again.
"So...if I mess things up with a girl I'm gonna puke?" Zac asked.
Taylor shook his head,"No. You're going to get hurt, but next time you remember not to do whatever it is that caused you to get hurt the first time. Then you don't get hurt by that anymore but you might discover something else that could hurt you."
"Well you and Ike make it look so easy though, it's not as easy for me." Zac said sadly.
"Well Zac you're only eleven. You don't exactly need to turn into Don Juan overnight. Things take time. Erica and I took thirteen years almost fourteen to realize how much we really cared..."
"How did you know that you really cared?" Zac interrupted.
Taylor paused,"You know what Zac? Truthfully I think I always knew, I just didn't see it until I got scared that we would grow apart, then I realized..."
Zac cut him off again,"Then you realized all that gushy, mushy, "I feel like I'm gonna barf because my hearts racing and you are so beautiful" kind of feeling right?"
Taylor snickered,"Yeah something like that kid." he said standing up.
"I know I'm only eleven, and I know that I don't even know half the stuff that you and Ike know about girls but if I do ever need you guys to help me, would you?" Zac asked.
Taylor nodded,"Of course."
Taylor walked into the kitchen where Isaac and Erica were sitting at the kitchen table joking and eating chips. Erica got up to get herself a glass of water when taylor stopped her,"Can I have a hug?" he asked.
She looked at him confused but gave him a hug,"Why?" she asked when he pulled away.
Taylor shook his head as he sat down at the table across from Isaac,"I don't know. I just figured that I'm pretty lucky to be able to say that to you. You know to be honest or something."
"Are you dying Tay?" Erica asked sitting back down with her water.
He laughed,"No. I just talked to Zac."
Isaac nodded knowingly,"Oh he's coming into now too isn't he?"
Taylor nodded,"Do you know how old we're getting?" he asked Ike.
Erica laughed,"You guys are not old. You are sixteen and fourteen. Hardly grandparents yet."
"You don't have any younger siblings." Isaac told her,"You feel old when they go through stuff that you went through a long time ago."
Taylor nodded,"Can you believe that Jessica will be doing this soon? She will have boyfriends coming over here." he pointed out.
Isaac shook his head,"Oh no she won't. She's not dating until she's 20."
Erica shook her head,"Don't you dare do that to her."
"Do you know how guys these days are?" Taylor asked.
She nodded,"Of course I do. And so do you. You don't want her with guys because you know how you two treat girls, and what you two do with girls."
"Exactly!" Isaac said,"We are protecting her from guys like us!"
"I can't listen to this anymore." she said getting up from the table and leaving the room.
Zac picked up the ringing phone in the living room just as Erica walked into the room,"Hello?"
"It's Kerri again Zac." she said.
"Oh, hi Kerri." he said obviously regretting that he picked up the phone.
Erica looked at Zac. He was turning red and looking to Erica for help.
"Tell her to hold on." Erica mouthed.
Zac nodded,"Kerri can you hold on for a sec?"
"Sure."
Zac hit the mute button,"Why did I just put her on hold?" he asked.
"Cause I have an idea, where does she live?" she asked.
Zac spouted out the adress,"Why?"
"Your sisters and your brother are staying at your aunt's house tonight right?" she asked.
"Yeah, why?" Zac asked.
"And your parents aren't home until one a.m right?" she pressed.
"Yeah why?" Zac stamped his foot.
Erica stuck out her hand,"Give me the phone."
Zac handed her the phone.
"Now leave the room." Erica commanded shooing Zac out.
Once Zac was gone, Erica took the phone off of mute,"Kerri?"
"Yes who is this?" she asked.
"This is Erica. Do you know me?" she asked.
"Yeah, you're Taylor's girlfriend." Kerri answered.
"That's right, anyway, listen up...I have a proposition for you..."
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