Taylor woke up smiling. It wasn't the fact that Nikki was almost perfect for him. It was...that he had had fun with her. She'd shown him a pretty good time, even invited him to one of her friend's parties a couple days away. He had something to thank Brent for.
He had decided to take one more withdrawl from his savings account. And that withdrawl was only going to be to stock his kitchen with food enough to get him by for a week or two. Nikki had asked him if he had a job, he'd regretfully said no. Either way he decided now was the time to get one, and fast.
Opening the fridge and grabbing what was left of Brent's hand out, he smiled. She really was great. She smiled a lot, laughed. She was real smart, gorgeous. He could vaguely remember her from highschool, just barely. But he was okay with that, cause the past really didn't matter anyway.
Pouring himself a bowl of cereal he smiled.
"I think I'll call Nikki today."
He had intentionally locked the door from the inside. No disturbances until noon.
"Zac!"
So what, he was a deep sleeper, not his fault. Either way. He only deserved a day of 100% undisturbed slumber.
"ZAC!"
Zac awoke, startled and rolled out of bed.
"What?!"
"For crying out loud, I thought you were dead or something. The telephones for you."
Sighing he stood up, grabbed a shirt and opened the door.
"Who is it."
"Why does it matter, it's for you, and I think as far as your concerned, you haven't pissed anyone off lately have you?"
"Very cute Tammy."
"Here. I think it's Kate."
Rolling his eyes and grabbing the phone from Tammy, he turned back into his room, closing the door behind him.
"Hello."
"Way to sound chipper big man. What's up?"
"Well I was peacfully sleeping until the phone rang. Then Tammy screamed at me to get up, but either way. I'm fine. You?"
"Sorry bout that. Wait a minute. Zac...it's one in the afternoon!"
Laughing he looked at his nightstand clock.
"That it is! I wanted to sleep in all day. But like I said I was rudely interrupted."
"You dork."
"Anyway...you called?"
"Oh yeah, well me and the guys were kinda thinking...you know you haven't really played together in a while. Maybe you should get together, sort of....polish up. I think if you guys worked hard enough I could get you a gig at my brothers friend's party next weekend."
"Your brother's friend's party eh. That's interesting. You know. For being such a social butterfly, why is I've never seen your brother?"
Frowning on her end of the phone she sighed.
"Oh. Well, it has to do with the people he hangs out with. You probably wouldn't like them."
"Mm. Well anyway. I guess I could come over today. What time?"
"How bout 4. My mom isn't getting home til 7, and then she's gonna leave on a date. Can you believe my mom's got a date? Anyway. We'll basically have the house to ourselves all night, no one bitchin' about the noise."
"Noise? Man that's art..."
The two laughed, it had been awhile since they'd really talked.
"So Zac, can I ask you a touchy question?"
Pausing he thought.
"I guess it depends on what it is."
"Well...Kirstin."
"Oh. Kirstin. Well Kirstin and I are..still okay I guess. I called her back last night."
Smiling on her end of the phone, Kate sighed.
"Good to know Zac. Definitely. Alright dude. I have to run to the store and the post office, but I'll be by at four alright?"
"Yup."
"Peace out til then kay?"
"Later Kate."
"Later."
Taylor laughed. Nodding his head and changing the channel.
"She's great. Really. I didn't know there were people like that out there."
"So then your little phobia of girls...gone now?"
Taylor stopped for a moment. He couldn't exactly say that. Allison had left a pretty big chunk in his heart. He still had the band aid stuck on it. It wasn't something that you could just recover from.
"Not exactly. But I'm willing to take risks."
"Ohhh. Why exactly is that?"
Shaking his head and staring blankly at the tv he thought.
"She was my girlfriend dude. Totally 100% my girlfriend. We went out for like, 6 months. Then all of a sudden I realize she's got eyes for Isaac you know. Before I know it, she doesn't want anything to do with me anymore, and what just totally sucks the most...Isaac didn't care. It was like..."sorry bro, but she doesn't like you anymore." So then she was his. From then..we just sorta...grew appart. We started fighting all the time, all the time. I didn't want to hang out with him anymore. I didn't even want to make music with him anymore. I hated him. It was just...It was just awful you know?"
Frowing, Brent sat down on the sofa next to Taylor.
"Tay, where did all this come from? I mean...yeah I always wondered...but...I mean why now exactly?"
"I dunno why now. I just know...that...girls. They're touchy. I mean. Allison...I thought I really like her. I mean she was like the first really serious girl I'd ever dated. I think I might have actually loved that girl. And then my brother? Of all people my brother. And he didn't even care. That's what hurts dude. He didn't care."
"I would've never guessed...that's deep man..I mean.."
"And Zac. I hate him even more then Isaac. He was all after Allison before I even broke up with her. You'd think that your little brother would pick someone besides his brother's girlfriend to experiment with...Only reason I found that out was cause they were still at eachother when Isaac was dating her too. That's why Zac is a problem. I still can't believe it. We were all so young. It was like...hard to interperate."
"Now wait a second. I don't mean to take anyone's side here...but...isn't she like..75% of the problem? Do you even know what they were doing together? I mean..if you don't know what was going on...then how can you judge him. Either way, she seems like she played a pretty big roll here. Sounds more to me like she either wanted all three of you, or she wanted all three of you to split."
"Well I don't know exactly what they were doing. I know though, that they were doing more then what my girlfriend and my little brother should be doing together."
Turning and watching the tv for a few seconds, Brent shook his head.
"I can definitely understand your phobia of girls. Definitely. That's something that would push me away from the opposite sex too. But dude. Maybe it's not entirely your brother's fault? Maybe your interpereting this completely wrong."
"Dude. I know how I was interpreting them...and trust me. I know what was going on."
"Oh hi! I didn't expect to see you here..."
"Yeah. I'm picking up Zac. He's going to practise today if it kills him."
Laughing, Tammy went to get Zac.
"Does he know your coming to get him?"
"Yeah, I told him earlier."
"So it was you that called."
"Yup."
Walking through the kitchen to Zac's door, Tammy knocked lightly on the door.
"Zac?"
When there was no answer she frowned. Opening the door just a crack, she saw him laying on the bed, phone in one hand.
"Zac?"
There was still no answer. Feeling curious she listened.
"Why do I hate him so much? Because. They both suck. I'd rather not live anywhere but home. They're both dicks."
Frowning, Tammy waited.
"Well, because. Taylor thinks I did something horrible with her. They both do. Like I was the little horndog that couldn't get my satisfaction somewhere else so I chose his girlfriend. That's not how it was either way. She asked me...and it went from there. No one's willing to listen to my side anyway. That was a long time ago anyway."
Tammy sighed. Isaac really had some explaining to do, and she didn't care how. Knocking on the door quite a bit louder, she stepped in.
"Zac, Kate's here."
"Oh. Okay. Hey Kirstin, I have to go."
Nodding he smiled, and hung up the phone.
"Thanks Tam."
"Sure."
"Yo."
"What's up. You seem a little down."
"Oh. Just talkin' to Kirstin."
"Yeah? Bout what?"
"Nothing. Just some stuff."
"Oh...that kind of stuff. I got it..."
"Anyway. I told her we might be able to stop by and pick her up."
"Why exactly?"
"Cause...she wants to see us play."
"Okay. You sure?"
"Of course I'm sure."
Climbing into Horrace, she started the car.
"Okay then. Lets go get her."
"Zac get up!"
"So do you like her?"
Tammy stood to open the door. She didn't quite understand who would be coming over at 3:30 in the afternoon, but what the hell.
"Hey man!"
