It was 3 a.m. Ike and Taylor sat in the livingroom watching an infomercial for a dress with over 500 functions. Ike flipped upside down in the cushy recliner, throwing his legs over the back. "I should get me one of those..." he said, watching the dress turn into a tablecloth.
Taylor awoke from his trance and gave his brother his commonly used 'what the hell's with that, Ike?' look. "I'm not even gonna ask..."
"Well not to wear or anything...but it would be cool to have around in case you were in a bust or something," Ike said wisely.
Taylor sniffed. "Oh yeah, you wouldn't want to be caught outside without your dress/scarf/picnic blanket/raincoat/turban, Ike...then whatever *would* you do?"
"Not for ME exactly," Ike replied defiantly, "like what if you were on date and she spilled all over her dress? Whip it out of the glove compartment and there ya go. Caught in a storm? No problem. Reverse the dress and it's a poncho. Find yourself in the middle east? Wrap it around your head and fit right in. " He folded his arms and dared Taylor to argue.
"Okay okay," Taylor answered, stifling a laugh, "but I think those purple ruffles might give you away."
Ike did a backward roll out of the chair and landed on his butt. He smoothed his hair and laid back on the floor like he meant to do that all along. Taylor pretended not to notice. "The ruffles are removable," Ike mumbled.
"What?"
"Nevermind."
Zac flipped through the latest issue of Cosmo. What the hell do women want from him? He decided to buy it...maybe this glamor magazine held the answer to the mystery. He brought it up to the front of the store to buy it and flushed slightly when the cute cashier girl gave him a weird look. "It's for my sister," he explained. She nodded and winked knowingly. Zac slapped the cash onto the counter and rushed out of there as fast as he could. He paused to lean against the brick wall on the side of the building.
"While men are stimulated by visual, women are now found to be stimulated by hearing things," he read aloud. Interesting.
"That's bullshit," he heard an unmistakeable voice behind him say. Zac looked up quickly and wasn't astonished to see Ruby standing beside him. "Cosmo?" She raised an eyebrow.
Zac snapped the magazine shut. "It's for my sister," he muttered.
"Oh sure it is." Ruby pulled it out of his hands and opened to the page he had been reading. "Like I said, this is all crap."
Zac smirked. "And how would you know?"
She grinned and gave a small shrug. "Personal experience." Zac's surprised expression and eager nod caused her to go on. "I, for one, am extremely turned on by *watching* guys do stuff, not just hearing. Like once I asked my last boyfriend if I could watch him jerk off."
"Did he let you?"
Ruby laughed. "Of course. It's the most fun thing to see. After he was done I felt I owed him something though, if you know what I mean." She winked at him in the same way the cashier had.
Zac's eyes widened and he felt the tips of his ears grow warm at the mere thought of jerking off with Ruby's eyes upon him. She sensed his thoughts and leaned in to whisper, "maybe we could try that sometime."
Zac blushed harder and looked into her clear blue eyes and down again at the pavement. He suddenly went all shy. He was never shy in front of girls, why now, of all times? "Yeah. Maybe," was all he could manage to get out.
She began pulling her hair into a sloppy ponytail. "Do you still have my number?"
Zac remembered stashing it in the nightstand by his bed. "Yeah. I'll call you."
Ruby leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. When Zac didn't bother hiding his disappointment, she nudged him in the side. "Save some for later."
He nudged her back, but in a place that wasn't really appropriate. She reacted by slapping his arm, but smiled. She straightened her skirt and took a few steps toward the street, but first turned around and grinned. "Have fun with your magazine, Zac."
Making sure she saw, he tossed it into the trash can, shoved his hands into his pockets, and started home.
Taylor walked into Ritello's Bakery to order a cake for his parent's anniversary, even though he didn't feel much like celebrating. The girl behind the counter that was wrapping up cookies for a little boy caught his eye. She had long, light brown hair that looked shiny and clean, and curled slightly at the ends. She was short, about 5'3" maybe, and in his opinion, extremely cute. When she looked up, he met her glance and held her gaze for a few seconds before she smiled at him and turned back to the little boy who had decided that he wanted Cookie Monster cookies instead of Big Bird. Her eyes were a dark chocolate brown. They reminded him of Zac's.
When the boy was finally satisifed with his selection, he marched out of the establishment biting the heads off of various Sesame Street characters and clutching a box that contained more. Taylor stepped up to the counter, casually wiping his sweaty palms off on the sides of his khakis, hoping she wouldn't be able to tell how suddenly nervous he was becoming.
"May I help you?" She gave him another sweet smile.
Taylor blanked for a moment but then recalled why he was there in the first place. "Uh, yes. I'd like to order a double-layer chocolate cake with fudge icing and pink writing that says 'Mom and Dad, Happy Anniversary,'" he bluntly recited what he and his brothers and sisters had agreed on the night before.
She wrote his order down on a card. "Fudge icing, you said?" She kept writing, not looking up.
"Wha- oh yeah, fudge. That's right." When she finally stopped filling out the card and lifted her head again, his stomach flip-flopped. She slid the card across the counter to him and waited expectantly. Taylor lost himself in her eyes, he felt a silly smile appearing on his face.
"Um...the card........hello?" The girl said uneasily.
"Huh?"
"The card." She pointed at the pink slip right in front of him. "Could you fill it out please?"
Taylor's face went crimson. "Oh, sorry." He filled it out and handed it back to her, taking care to make sure that their fingers touched as he did so. He looked at her nametag for the first time. "Quinn."
The girl toated three loaves of bread into her arms. "Yes?"
Taylor turned on the charm. "I was just thinking about how beautiful your name is."
She began stacking the bread on a shelf above her. "Not really," apparently oblivious to his means of inquiry, "I think it sounds like a kind of bird."
Taylor watched her stretch up to reach the top shelf, silently wishing that she didn't have an apron on over her clothes, so that maybe he'd get a glimpse of her stomach, which, judging by the rest of her, was probably quite sexy.
"What is it?" Quinn said, slightly irritated.
Taylor jerked out of his spacey mode. "What do you mean?"
"Well, you're staring at me like I'm an insect or something, and you're not leaving." She wiped her hands off with a towel.
Taylor didn't let this take him back. "I'm not staring...I'm admiring."
"Big difference," she huffed, but blushed and averted her eyes, regretting the bitchy tone she had used before. Feeling awkward just standing there, Quinn began to clean the counter, but stopped when Taylor reached over and wiped the flour off her cheek with his fingertips.
She looked down at his hands like she couldn't believe he had just touched her. "Thanks," she murmured.
Taylor smiled warmly. "Why do you look so surprised? Never been in contact with a member of the male sex before?"
Quinn gave him a small nod. "Actually, that's not really far from the truth. Guys don't usually pay much attention to me."
"No way, I don't believe it." He was thoroughly dumbfounded. She was hot.
"Believe it," Quinn told him. "I'm kind of shy. I don't get out much," she admitted.
"We should change that," Taylor said. Then he realized that she didn't know his name yet. "Allow me to introduce myself." He gave her one of his irresistable smiles. "I'm Taylor."
"Taylor...." Quinn scratched her head like she was trying desperately to think of something but she just couldn't put her finger on it.
"Hanson," Taylor said, figuring he may as well tell her now, before she tortured herself until she finally remembered and bitched at him for not telling her sooner.
"Ah...Hanson. Gonna sing a song for me?" Quinn leaned across the counter flirtatiously.
"Only if it's on a date," he bargained.
"Alright then. If that's the only way you'll sing something for me...I guess we'll have to go out," she sighed with fake exasperation.
"Tuesday night...7 okay?" Taylor grinned.
"Tuesday's fine. She wrote her phone number and address on the back of a pink cake order card and handed it to him, and this time, it was her who took care to make sure that their fingers touched.
Zac was on the phone in the kitchen talking to Aurora. Taylor walked by, munching on an apple and practicing his vocal warm-ups. "lo, lo, lo, lo, lo," he chirped.
"What's all that racket?" Aurora asked.
"Oh that's just Taylor singing," Zac told her, glaring at his brother from across the room.
Taylor took another bit of apple. "Be quiet dear brother. You're just jealous," he sputtered hoitily. He swallowed and began again. "Meee maaaaay maaah moeeeee moooooooooooo...."
Zac kicked him hard to make him shut up. Taylor gave Zac a death stare before pitching his apple core at him and stomping out of the room.
Confused at the sounds she was hearing, and the distant barks of "shut the fuck up Taylor!" Aurora was inclined to ask again, "what's going on?"
Zac rolled his eyes and bit into a slice of cold pizza. "Tay's got his period again."
"Oh," Aurora said, like that was perfectly normal. "So anyway, when am I gonna see you again? I miss you Zac."
Zac thought of Ruby and instantly felt guilty. "I miss you too, baby."
Aurora smiled. "I was thinking about having a party tomorrow night...you've gotta come!"
"YES! Par-TAY!" Taylor shouted into the phone that he was eavesdropping from.
Zac ran into the next room and shoved his brother off the couch, then confiscated the phone from him. "Go back to your goddamn vocal shit Tay!"
Taylor sat up and gave Zac an overexagerrated pout. "What about the party?"
"You're not invited!" Zac stormed out of the room and apologized to Aurora. "Sorry babe...he's an idiot."
"No kidding. Anyway," she went on, "tomorrow I'll have a ton of people come over...dancing...it'll be a blast."
"Sounds good to me," Zac obliged. "As long as Taylor doesn't come."
"Yeah," Aurora said, "I don't think there's enough room in my house for balls that big."
"Excuse me? MY balls are twice as big as Tay's any day," he declared.
"Yeah Zac, I know. But it's not safe for Tay to come in the first place."
"Why?"
Taylor came in as Zac was laughing at Aurora's reply. "So can I come to the party?"
"Nah," Zac laughed, "her glass windows are very sensitive." He stood up and walked past his brother.
Taylor shook his head in confusion. "And what exactly is THAT supposed to imply?"
