Chapter 18: Surprise Surprise

Taylor walked in and out of every room in the house. He couldn't find Erica anywhere. He walked into the living room where Isaac and Zac were watching T.V.

"Hey guys, have you seen Erica?" Taylor asked.

"Isn't she with you?" Isaac asked not moving his eyes from the T.V.

"No, I thought she was with you guys." Taylor said.

"Nope." Zac said.

"So where is she?" Tay pressed.

Isaac turned to him,"I don't know Tay. It wasn't our turn to babysit her." he cracked.

Taylor rolled his eyes,"Oh very funny Ike."

Zac waved Taylor away,"Well where ever she is I'm sure she's fine. Now stop talking, I'm missing the best part."

Taylor heard someone fumbling around at the front door,"If that's her..." he said trailing off as he left the room to go see who was at the door. He pulled the door open to reveal Erica standing there with a key in her hand.

"Where were you?" he yelled not bothering to wait for her to say anything. She looked at him startled.

"I had to run an errand." she said shoving the key in her bag.

"An errand?" Taylor asked,"At nine o'clock at night?"

"Yeah, where's Zac?" Erica asked.

"In the living room, why are you still standing outside?" Tay asked.

"Get him please." Erica said.

Tay gave her a strange look but called for Zac. He came walking to the door.

"What?" Zac asked.

Erica grinned slyly and turned to the side of her,"Come on, go in!" she said.

Kerri was pushed through the door. Zac's jaw dropped and Taylor's eyes widened and then he started to snicker.

"Hi Zac." she said looking at her feet.

I can't believe Erica did this Zac thought,"Hi Kerri." he said blushing.

Taylor smiled,"Don't be rude Zac, show her where to put her jacket." he instructed.

Zac shot him a look and then looked at Kerri,"Follow me." he mumbled.

Taylor laughed once Zac was out of earshot,"I can't believe you did that."

Erica grinned,"One more surprise."

A pair of hands covered Isaac's eyes.

"What are you doing Erica?" he asked.

A voice spoke,"Guess again, it's not Erica."

Isaac gasped and whirled around,"Stacie!" he threw his arms around her.

She threw his arms around him and giggled,"I missed you so much." she said.

"Me too, how'd you get out?" Isaac asked.

They stopped hugging and Stacie pointed to Erica,"My genius cousin."

Erica smiled,"Thank you. I know I'm great. I'm spectacular, wonderful, words cannot describe just how great I am."

They all laughed.

"Here, let me show you where to put your jacket." Isaac said grabbing her hand and walking from the room.

Erica turned and flashed Tay a smile,"I'm brilliant."

Taylor shoved his hands in his pockets and pouted. He dug his toe into the ground,"So, what now? Is my genius girlfriend to busy for me?"

Erica linked her arms through Taylors and around his back,"Only if you're threatened by a girl who is smarter than you." she said.

He took his hands out of his pockets and wrapped them around Erica,"Ooh, not fair."

All six kids sat in the kitchen chomping on food.

"So what are we doing tonight?" Isaac wondered aloud.

Stacie swallowed what was in her mouth and smiled,"Watching movies."

"Oh, you brought them?" Erica asked.

"Oh God! Chick movies!" Zac said slamming his head on the table.

Everyone laughed at him.

"What movies?" Taylor asked.

"I have What's Eating Gilbert Grape..." Stacie said.

All three girls smiled and simaltaneously said,"Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio."

"Doesn't Leo act as a retarted person in that?" Isaac asked.

"He was acting?" Zac cracked.

Kerri swatted his arm,"Shut-up. Leo's hot."

"What else you got?" Zac asked.

"Um, Picture Perfect." Stacie replied.

Now the guys smiled,"Jennifer Aniston." they said.

"Jennifer Aniston is so hot..."Taylor said and out of the corner of his eye saw Erica staring at him,"What? Oh you can say that Johnny and Leo are hot, but I can't say that Jennifer is?"

Erica smiled,"That's right."

"You tell him girl!" Stacie said sticking out her hand.

Erica slapped her hand and Tay and Ike rolled their eyes.

Isaac slid his arm around Stacie and kissed the top of her head. She smiled at him and grabbed his other hand and rested her head on his shoulder. Isaac then stole a glance at Taylor and Erica. Taylor had his one arm around her and he was whispering something in her ear. Erica looked at Taylor and smiled. Then they kissed and turned their attention back to the movie. Isaac's eyes flicked over to Kerri and Zac. Zac was sitting indian style with his elbows on his knees and his hands under his chin. Kerri was sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees which were curled into her chest. Isaac tried to turn his attention back to the movie but he couldn't get into it. He really didn't care what was eating Gilbert Grape, he didn't even know the guy. So Isaac did the most logical thing...to him anyway. He shut the movie off. The blank screen was met with remarks that were non to happy.

"Hey!!" Kerri yelled.

"I was watching that!" Zac screeched.

"Put it back on!" Erica yelled.

"Geez calm down," Isaac said,"Hasn't anyone noticed that all we do is watch movies?"

"So?" Stacie said.

"Woah, you're right Ike." Taylor said.

"Besides," Isaac continued,"this movie sucks. Who really cares what was eating that Grape dude."

"I think it was his mom," Talor spoke up,"she's huge! You saw her!"

"Your mama's so fat," Zac said,"when she sits around the table..."

Isaac and Taylor joined in,"She really sits around the table!" then they cracked up.

Erica pinched Taylor.

"Ow!" he yelled.

"Shut-up! I wanted to watch it. I feel bad for his mom." Erica told him.

"It's just a movie." Taylor reminded her.

"Anyway," Stacie interrupted,"what are we supposed to do?"

Isaac looked thoughtful,"I bet I can think of something." he smiled devishly.

"Oh God!" Zac yelled standing up,"must you constantly be a sex maniac?"

Stacie burst out laughing at the thought of Isaac as a sex maniac.

"Come on Kerri," Zac said pulling her to her feet,"let's get away from all of these horny people!"

Erica and Taylor and Isaac all started laughing.

"Whatever." Kerri shrugged letting Zac pull her out of the room by her elbow.

After Zac and Kerri left the room, and everyone left calmed down, Stacie excused herself to go and get a drink of water. Isaac then excused himself babbling about having to do something. Thus Taylor and Erica were left alone in the living room. Erica stood up and stretched.

"So, what do you want to do?" she asked.

Taylor just stared at the small portion of her stomach which was exposed when she lifted her arms.

Erica saw him staring and smiled,"I guess I know what you want to do." she joked.

Taylor snapped out of his own little fantasy world and looked in her eyes,"Come here." he said motioning for her to sit on his lap.

"What?" she asked sitting down.

He put his hand on her leg and looked in her eyes and leaned over and whispered in her ear,"We could do stuff." he said.

"I don't think so...not with all these people around." she said sliding off of his lap.

Taylor groaned,"Come on, please?"

Erica smiled at him and put her feet up on his lap and leaned against the arm of the chair. She started to pull her hair back.

Taylor smiled because when she raised her arms again her shirt went up a little. He reached over and placed his hand on her stomach. He gently ran his hand back and forth.

She smiled,"I said no. Didn't you hear me?"

He moved himself so that he was laying on top of her,"I know you did." he said before gently kissing her.

Isaac walked into the kitchen and found Stacie who was leaning against the counter sipping her water. She looked very absorbed in her thoughts.

"What's up?" Isaac asked.

Stacie jumped slightly,"You scared me!" she informed him.

"Sorry," he said smiling,"let me make it up to you."

"How are you going to do that?" she asked walking over to the sink to dump the rest of her water out.

Isaac came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek,"I'll do whatever you say."

"Oh really?" she asked smiling and turning around to face him.

Isaac nodded and went to kiss her.

She put her hand over his mouth and smiled,"And what if I said not to kiss me?" she asked taking her hand away.

He grinned,"Well why would you want to do that?"

"I don't know." she shrugged.

Isaac went to kiss her again only for her to stop him again,"Let's just say I did."

Isaac kissed her hand and then she pulled her hand away,"Well if that's how you feel." he said softly bringing his face close to hers, their noses touching.

Stacie slightly shook her head,"No. I feel like I want you to kiss me."

"Like I said," he whispered,"I'll do whatever you say." then he kissed her.

Kerri sat down on Zac's bed and looked at him expectantly.

"Sooo..." Zac said.

"Sooo..." Kerri said.

"Wanna see my new rollerblades?" Zac asked.

"I've seen them remember?" she reminded him.

"Oh yeah." Zac answered quietly.

There was an awkward silence as they were both lost in thought. Zac felt so comfortable around Kerri. He liked having her as a friend but having her as a girlfriend...? He wasn't so sure. He had never had a girlfriend before, what was he supposed to do with her? Did he have to kiss her? Not that that would be bad or anything. He blushed at the thought. He stared at her for about a minute before deciding that he wanted to ask her to be his girlfriend although he still wasn't quite sure why.

"Kerri?"

Kerri looked up from her hands,"Yeah?"

Zac's eyes wandered around the room,"I was just wondering if...I mean...Do you...would you like...maybe we could..."

Kerri smiled as Zac babbled on.She had a pretty good idea what he wanted to ask her but she wanted to hear him say it,"Just say it Zac." she said calmly.

"Umm...uh...could you wait here for a minute?" he asked leaping to his feet.

"Huh?" she looked at him completley confused.

"Just, wait here." he said darting out of the room.

Kerri flopped backwards onto her back, covered her face with her hands and screamed into her hands.

Zac stood at the foot of the loveseat watching Erica and Tay rather curiously. Taylor was gently sucking on her neck and Erica had one hand rested on Taylor's ass and the other running through his hair. Zac couldn't see Taylor's hands and he was pretty sure he didn't want to. He decided to speak before he saw something he'd regret seeing.

"Ummm, Taylor?" he mumbled.

Erica's eyes fluttered open and she stared wide-eyed at Zac. Taylor rolled off of Erica and onto the floor. He stared up at the ceiling,"What did I ever do to deserve this?" he asked aloud.

"I have to ask you and Ike something." Zac mumbled meekly.

Taylor pulled himself up off of the ground,"Can't it wait? Don't you see I'm busy?" he scolded.

Zac's eyes shot to the carpet,"Oh, I understand."

Erica looked at Taylor and then Zac and then back to Taylor,"Taylor, can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked getting up off of the loveseat and grabbing his hand.

Taylor groaned,"Come on..." he trailed off when he saw the look on her face.

Erica turned to Zac,"Wait here." she instructed.

Zac nodded as Erica led Taylor out of the room.

"You are so immature." she informed Taylor backing him against the wall in the hallway.

"He interrupted us." Taylor protested.

"So?" Erica said slightly annoyed,"He looks up to you and Ike and you guys are so mean to him!"

"We are not! I went upstairs earlier today didn't I? I chased after him, I found out was wrong and I helped him out so don't dump this pile of shit on me that I'm mean to him!" Taylor defended himself.

Erica crossed her arms,"Well it's none of my business what you do with your brother but I think that you should be nice to him and help him out. He might have something important to say."

Taylor sighed,"I doubt it," he said putting his hands on her waist.

She pulled back,"Get off of me Taylor."

"What the hell? Now you are going to be mad at me? Because I would like to spend a little time with you before we leave? I'll be with Zac for months! I can talk to him then, besides you just said what I do with my brother is none of your business." he pointed out.

She nodded,"You're right Taylor, I did say that. But, I don't like you that much when you can't treat other people the common respect and courtesy that they deserve. Especially, your little brother." With that she turned around and walked back into the living room.

Where's Ike when you need him? Tay thought. He was off searching for Isaac after Erica made him feel guilty. Was he so wrong for wanting to spend time with Erica? No. Should he have listened to what Zac had to say? Yes. His mind was in knots. Taylor walked into the kitchen and stumbled upon Stacie and Isaac. He watched them for a second. His brother was doing exactly what he was doing only moment ago, until Zac ruined his life. Okay maybe he was exaggerating slightly, just slightly.

"Hey Mr. Roaming Hands," Taylor interrupted. He was almost happy to interrupt. If he couldn't have fun then he didn't see any reason Ike could.

"What do you want?" Ike snapped pulling away from Stacie.

"Sheesh calm down! Zac needs to talk to us." Taylor informed him.

"Later." Isaac told him.

"Come on Ike! Do you have to feel Stacie up right this second?" Taylor asked smiling.

Isaac scowled,"I'm coming."

He gave Stacie a quick kiss and then walked over to Taylor. He grabbed his neck and dragged him out of the kitchen.

"Oh hey buddy, take it easy." Taylor pleaded as he was dragged into the living room.

"This better be good." Isaac muttered.

Isaac basically threw Taylor onto the couch and then plopped himself in a chair across from where Zac was talking with Erica.

"Now Zac, what do you want?" Isaac asked.

Zac glanced at Erica,"I guess they are going to help me after all. Thanks for trying." he told her.

"No problem." she said getting up and leaving the room. Taylor watched her walk out, she didn't even throw him a glance.

"I'm gonna ask Kerri to be my girlfriend." Zac told them.

"Gee, thanks for the update." Taylor said slumping into the couch.

"But I don't know what to say." Zac said.

"Just tell her how you feel." Isaac instructed getting up,"Problem solved."

Zac looked horrified,"I can't!"

Isaac sat back down and sighed,"Why not?"

"Because, I just can't. How did you guys ask Stacie and Erica out?"

Taylor smiled in remembrance of that day,"I just opened my mouth and the words flew out."

"What happened if she said no?" Zac questioned.

Taylor looked thoughtful,"Actually, that didnt even cross my mind."

Zac just shook his head and looked at Isaac,"What about you?" he asked.

"I remember being nervous." Isaac said.

"Why?" Zac asked.

"Because she had been crying the day before." he replied.

"What was she crying about?" Zac asked.

"You know, to this day I still don't know." Isaac said making a mental note to find out about that.

Zac shook his head,"You guys don't know anything. I'm going to do this my way." Zac told them standing up and making a dramatic exit from the room.

Isaac and Taylor just looked at each other and shrugged.

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