Zac groaned and pulled his pillow over his head,"Can't she just shut-up?" he mumbled as he listened to Zoe wail.
Taylor pulled his blanket up over his ears,"I can't take this!" he moaned.
Isaac just snored away.
How can he sleep through this? Tay wondered.
Zoe still cried.
Taylor kicked off his covers and crawled out of bed. He really wasn't in such a good mood and no sleep just made it worse.
He stumbled into the living room, the source of Zoe's crying. His mother was pacing the living room and rocking her,"Shhh... it's okay Zoe, it's okay...shhh...be quiet now baby...shhh..." she murmered in her motherly tone.
"Mom." Taylor spoke up from the doorway.
His mother looked at him,"I'm sorry sweetie, I know you need your sleep, but Zoe just seems to be in the mood for some screaming and crying."
Taylor walked over to his mother,"I know how she feels," he held out his arms,"can I..?"
Diana placed Zoe into his arms,"Sure."
Zoe's cries softened the minute that Taylor cradled her in his arms. He smiled,"She just needed someone that understood."
His mother stood there baffled,"I guess so."
Taylor looked at his mother,"You can go back to bed. I'll put her back in her crib after she falls asleep."
Diana patted her sons head,"Thanks sweetie." she said as she tiredly made her way out of the room and up the stairs.
Taylor sat on the couch and held Zoe,"Mind if I dump some stuff on you kid? You know I talk alot."
Zoe gurgled and kicked her legs.
Taylor snickered,"I'm going to take that as a go ahead. You know little girl, cherish being this little and being pampered by everyone because pretty soon that's all over."
She gave him a toothless grin.
He sighed,"And put up a fight when a guy wants to break up with you. He probably doesn't mean it. I know from experience. I know that right now I'm your big brother and you think I'm great and I can do nothing wrong but, I can. I have a great knack for messing up good things. But, she messed up too. I'm not all at fault and I'm not going to act like I am. I just don't want her to hate me." he said looking down at Zoe, she was asleep.
"Everyone falls asleep when I talk." Taylor murmered to himself as he got up off of the couch to return Zoe to her crib.
After placing Zoe in her crib, he checked on Jessica and Avery. It was almost comical how he had become a whole lot closer with his sisters latley. Well, with the exception of Jessica. For some reason he never really spent alot of time wih her. Maybe because she was always off with her own friends. He silently vowed to spend more time with her.
After fixing their comforters that were falling off, he walked past the window. He glanced at Erica's house. Her light was on. Why was she awake?
She flipped through her notebook. Had she really written another poem? Her journal was almost full now. She smiled a sad smile as she remembered how Taylor had reacted to her poems once.
"What the heck are you always carrying this notebook around for?" Taylor asked grabbing it from her hands.
Erica swiped to get it back,"It's just something I do." she mumbled.
Taylor flipped through the pages and srunched up his nose,"Poems? Why do you bother writing this stuff?" he scrutinized.
She grabbed it back,"It's a form of expression. Excuse me if you don't like it. We can't all go around writing such trite lyrics to songs as Mmmbop." she mocked.
"Mmmbop has..." he started.
"I know, a deeper meaning than it sounds." she muttered as she rolled her eyes.
"Well excuse me for being happy with life and not dismal like you. I don't go around writing poems and dressing in all black and talking about the meaning of life and things that are 'deep'." he shot back.
"I don't dress in black, and I could give a crap about the meaning of life." she muttered.
Erica closed her notebook and sighed. She wished she knew what she had done with her old notebooks. She would have liked to reminisce. Oh well, her new one would have to do. Maybe one day she'd share them with Taylor. Maybe one day.
"Stacie, I don't know how much more of this I can take. You have to tell me what your secret is. I know it's a secret and that is supposed to entitle you to complete and total privacy but, this obviously has an effect on me too. Until you can tell me, I think we should spend time apart because this whole thing isn't fair to either of us." he paused and then sighed as he studied his reflection in the bathroom mirror. If only things were really that easy. he thought to himself as he turned the shower on full blast to freezing cold water. He stepped in hoping that this problem would just wash away down the drain with all of the excess water. He knew it wouldn't but, he could still hope after all. It seemed as thought hope was all he had left.
Zac sat on Kerri's floor and leisurely flipped through his MAD magazine. Kerri was perched on her bed reading the latest issue of Teen.
"Zac, do you ever feel like we're too close?" she asked him innocently.
He paused in flipping the page. What kind of question was that?
"No." he replied heatedly as he hastily flipped a page.
"You never feel like we spend too much time together?" she pressed.
He paused again,"Why?" he asked slowly as he turned to face her.
She shrugged,"I don't know. I guess it's just because I wanted to go somewhere with my friends today but I didn't because I knew that you were coming over."
"Well, I didn't tell you to break your stupid little tea party date. I could have done something else too. If you didn't want to hang out because you had something better to do you could have said something." he angrily closed his magazine.
"I didn't say what we were doing was better," she defended herself,"I'm just trying to stop myself from getting so attatched."
Zac hastily stood up,"Well then I guess I better be going. Seeing as you have better things to do and all."
Kerri frowned,"You're switching my words."
Zac stormed from the room.
"Where are you going?" Kerri called after him before standing up to follow. When she caught up with him, he was letting himself out of her house,"You're leaving?" she asked.
"Yes!" he snapped.
"Was it something I said?" she asked confused.
"No," he said sarcastically,"I am just assuming that you would rather be hanging out with your friends right now."
"I never said that." she sighed in exasperation.
But he slammed the door already. He was making his way down the front walk.
Kerri shrugged and went upstairs to call her friends. He'll be back. she thought.
Zac slammed the door to his house. He grimmaced as he heard it slam. What had happened back there? So, she wanted to hang out with her friends, what that a crime? No. So why had he made a scene?
He sighed heavily and made his way up the stairs as he silently prayed that his brothers weren't home. He just wanted to take a nap and sleep away any traces of guilt.
He opened the door to the room. Isaac was in there but he too was napping.
Too bad Tay isn't here, he could talk me to sleep. Zac thought bitterly as he kicked off his shoes and layed on his bed. He fell asleep rather quickly. Moments later, he sat up in pain. Someone had stepped on him,"Ow!" he exclaimed rolling onto his side.
"Sorry." Tay mumbled and then sniffed before collapsing on his bed in tears.
Zac sat up,"Tay, it's okay I'm not mad, don't cry about it."
Tay had to laugh a little,"No Zac, it's not about that."
"Then what is it?" Zac asked as he was suddenly intrigued.
Taylor sighed,"I just asked out Samantha."
"Ick," Zac shuddered,"Princess Ditz? Why?"
Taylor struggled to get the words out,"Because, I saw Erica with Mike..." he trailed off.
Zac's face fell,"Awe man, I'm sorry."
Taylor just sighed and rolled onto his back,"I figured I'd get back at her and make her jealous with Samantha. I sunk low this time." he mumbled.
"My friend, I would like to share with you the words a wise young Taylor Hanson once told me," he smiled and paused,"girls are like a rollercoaster, they make you puke," he paused,"wait that's wrong..."
Taylor snickered,"Dude, that was a relationship analogy, and you got it wrong."
"I know," Zac laughed,"but you know what you said."
Mike knocked on Samantha's door. She answered,"Hi sweetie." she smiled at Mike as she twirled her hair around her finger.
Mike smiled at her and stepped past her into her house,"Thanks Sam."
She giggled,"You're welcome."
Mike sighed and walked over to her couch and plopped down,"So did you ask him out yet?" he asked curiously.
"No." she replied.
Mike leapt up,"What? Are you nuts? After everything we went through to break them up and you haven't asked him!? We need to make them hate each other so she won't go back to him! I'll kill you if she goes back to him!" he screamed before slapping her.
She put her hand up to her face,"Baby, he asked me out." she quivered.
All of the tension left Mike's body,"He asked you out?" he said calmly.
She nodded,"That freak actually thinks that I like him. But I only like you." she added.
Mike smiled at her and stroked her face,"I know, I love you Sammy."
"I love you too." she smiled as she wrapped her arms around him.
Mike pulled away,"I'm gonna get myself a glass of water, so why don't you go up to your room and get all ready for me. I'll be up in a bit." he instructed.
She nodded,"Okay Mikey." she cooed before turning and bouncing up the stairs to her room.
Mike got a glass of water and then went up to Samantha's room. She was lying on her bed seductively. He approached her and stood at the foot of the bed.
"Let's not use a condom this time Mike. It doesn't feel as good when you wear one." she murmured as she unbuttoned her shirt.
He smiled down at her,"Okay." he replied before laying on top of her and getting down to business.
Mike's beeper went off again. It was he third time Erica had beeped him in an hour. He cautiously pulled into a convienient store parking lot. What does this bitch want now? he thought to himself as he deposited thirty-five cents into the pay phone. She picked up on the first ring.
"Where were you? I've been beeping you!" she said when she realized who it was,"Your mom said you were at Sam's house but you left here two hours ago! What were you doing?" she demanded angrily.
Having sex!!! he thought to himself,"I was just driving around thinking how lucky I was to have you for a girlfriend sweetie. Then I had to find a pay phone." he lied.
All of her anger melted away,"Really?" she asked.
"Of course," he lied again," besides why would I go to that bitch Samantha's house?"
"I don't know." she replied.
He smiled when he realized that she believed him.
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