Taylor wiped tiny droplets of sweat off of his forehead. "Yeah, it'll be cooler in the theater than in the house. What do you want to see?" he asked as he came over to the table to sit down next to Gwen.
"Mmm...I don't know," she sighed. She rested her head on his shoulder and said, "I'm so tired..."
Taylor leaned over to kiss her cheek. After gently kissing her, she turned her head and brushed her lips against his. When they parted, Taylor smiled warmly. He moved closer and kissed her again, this time with a little more intensity. She wrapped her arms around him. Their kisses grew deeper with the second. And then the phone rang.
"Damnit," Taylor muttered.
"Let it go," Gwen insisted.
"I can't, it might be my parents." Taylor reluctanly got up and picked up the phone on the third ring. "Hello?"
"Hey Tay," Ike said cheerfully. "What's up?"
"Oh," Tay said, "it's you."
"Man, I feel loved," Ike replied sarcastically. "Anyways, wanna get together today and work on that song we've been putting off?"
"Umm...Ike...uh...I'm sort of busy...and I don't know about Zac," Tay stalled.
"Ohhhhhh yeah, those girls came to visit again, didn't they?"
"Sort of..." Taylor responded.
"Ok, well, I might stop by later, ok?"
"Whatever Chewwy," Tay laughed.
"Augh! Stop calling me Chewwy!" Ike exclaimed.
"Ok, bye Ike," Taylor said without giving Ike a chance to say anything. He hung up the phone and turned around. "That boy has some serious problems," Taylor snickered.
Zac was silent. He didn't really know what to say. "You can tell me," was all he could think of.
She looked back up at him, her eyes brimmed with tears. She closed her eyes and bit her lip. A tear fell down her cheek slowly. "I've never talked about this with anyone," she hesitated. "No one else knows."
Zac looked into her eyes. It hurt him to see her so upset. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he whispered.
She shook her head and the tears came down faster. Zac wrapped his arms around her and he began to rock her gently. "Zac," she said quietly in his ear, "I was raped."
"Oh my god," he half-exclaimed, half-whispered (does that make any sense?). "When?" he questioned in a hushed voice.
She took a deep breath. "Last year."
"Oh my god, Alisha," he said wide-eyed. He paused for a sec. "Who did it?"
Alisha looked at Zac with pleading eyes. "Zac," she choked out, "please."
"Alisha" he insisted, "you have to tell someone."
She shook her head and said, "No Zac, you don't understand, I can't."
"Yes you can, you can tell me."
She gazed into his trusting eyes and looked back down at her feet. "Zac-" she started slowly.
"Alisha, please," he begged.
She rested her head in her hands and slowly nodded. "Ok," she gave in. She hesitated, not really sure how to say it.
"It's ok," Zac whispered in her ear rubbed her back.
"My uncle raped me," she said hoarsely.
"No one knows?" he asked quietly.
"Only you," she replied, on the verge of sobbing.
He quickly held her tighter, not really knowing what to say. It was sort of an awkward position in a way. (Hey, that rhymes!)
"Sometimes I wonder if I could have helped it," Alisha cried.
"No Alisha, it's not your fault," Zac assured her, while giving her soft kisses. "Don't (kiss) blame yourself (kiss). You couldn't (kiss) have stopped him (kiss)."
"I'm just so scared that if my uncle can do that, so can someone else I know," she told Zac.
"It won't happen," he promised, "I won't let that happen."
"Well, I brought this up for a reason. I know it sounds really weird just to blurt out one day that I've been raped. But there's something I need to discuss with you," Alisha whispered, "Will you promise this conversation won't go past these walls?"
Zac just nodded his head and held Alisha tighter.
"Are you crazy? How could I get sick of someone with..." Taylor was interuppted by the familiar tune of chimes coming from the front porch.
"Someone with what?" Gwen asked with a puzzled look on her face.
"That boy...he has some nerve!" Taylor set down the sodas onto the counter top and ran to the door and peeked through the spy hole of the front door.
"Gwen come quick! Ike has a girlfriend! This is a once in a life time event!" Taylor motioned for Gwen to come over to peek into the hole. While Gwen took her sorry-ass time to come over, Taylor watched as his brother was lightly kissed on the lips with such sweetness he became jealous. Gwen sprinted over and flung open the door. Taylor was thrown to the ground. Isaac strutted in with his arm around his "girlfriends" waist.
"Jordan Taylor Hanson! Were you spying on me and Katy?" Ike inquired with a smirk on his devilish face.
"Of course not Ike, um...I gotta go...bye." Taylor rushed out of the room holding his jaw.
"What was that all about?" questioned Ike with his hand still nonchalantly around Katy's waist. Gwen just shrugged and quickly followed Tay into the enclosed kitchen.
"Well, Isaac...I guess I've met your sister and brother...why don't you give me a tour of your house," grinned Katy. Isaac's eyes bulged and started to laugh. "What? What did I say?" she asked, confused.
"That was my brother and his girlfriend! My other brother is someone tromping around with his toy, and my parents are away with the younger clan of this massive family. Well I better give you the tour our you might mistake this house as a brothel." Katy gave Ike a weird face.
" A brothel? Ike, you really do surprise me sometimes!" Katy continued to chuckle to herself while Isaac took her hand and led her down the corridor.
"I didn't mean to Tay, I didn't know that the force of the door opening would throw your little body all the way across the room!" Gwen exclaimed as she took another ice pack out of the freezer. Tay just whimpered in reply. "Aw, poor baby, my poor little Tay hurt his little ol' chin! Can mommy kiss it and make it better?" Baby Taylor nodde his head in reply. Gwen removed the ice pack and pressed her lips against his tender jaw. "Does that feel better?" Tay shook his head.
"Taylor needs another kiss!" Gwen shook her head and pressed the ice pack to his jaw. They both sat there alone in the kitchen, the only accompaniment was the gentle hum of the refrigerator. Gwen thought to herself about how this all started. It had been almost 3 weeks since the concert and so many things had happened in their relationship. She wished it would never end, but only time could predict that.
"I don't understand, Alisha. You don't need to please me, I don't understand." Zac replied.
"You know, sex." Alisha blurted out. Zac was speechless. He had no clue as what to say.
"Um...Alisha, don't worry. We don't have to do anything if your not ready. It's ok, as long as we're together.." Zac took her hand and placed it in hers. (Ok, have ya had enough corny-ness yet?!)
"Are you sure?" Alisha's eyes filled to the brim. Zac nodded for reassurance. "But Alisha...what made you think of this? Ya know..."
Alisha took a deep breath. "Ever since last year I've never really been able to keep a boyfriend for very long. I'm incapable of getting too serious or something," she informed him, sounding a bit guilty.
"It's ok," he whispered, "it's not your fault." He held her hand and she rested her head on his shoulder, tears still falling slowly. Zac calmed her with his voice and they just stat there letting the day drift by.
"So, whatcha doin'?" she asked. Tay jumped and banged his head on the door.
"SHHHHHHHH!!!! Quit scaring me! Plus, be quiet, Katy and Ike are gettin it on!" whispered Tay with his hand to his head.
"Why must you always do these stupid little listening expeditions to your brothers?" questioned Gwen. Tay just motioned for her to be quite or shoo. Gwen chose to shoo, not that it was any of her business what her boyfriend's brother is doing. Now, Tay sat all alone with his ear to his parent's bedroom door listening to his brother make out. What is the world coming to? He finally figured his mistake and quickly walked away making sure no one else saw his stupid listening activity.