Once she & her father were fastened in for the brief car ride home, Jayden began her mini-interrogation.

"Why would you go back there so soon? Last night you said that if you saw that 'old bag' again, it would be too soon-"

"Jayden! Were you eavesdropping???" her father interrupted, looking slightly embarrassed at his choice of words.

Jayden shook her head,"Blame it on thin walls... But anyway, you said what you said. I don't get it."

Pulling into the driveway, he replied,"Your mother, Regan, & I aren't going back, but we concluded that a little time to yourself-"

"I'm staying with Bertha by myself?!" Jayden cried,"But Dad, what about my internship at the gallery? That's not very far away."

"Calm down now, Jayden. I didn't say we were shipping you off for months, but just for a week or so..."

"Yeah but Dad-"

"No buts. You need to take your mind off of Taylor & concentrate on more important things, like your art..."

Jayden couldn't believe what she had heard,"More important??? I love Taylor, but you just wouldn't understand that now would you?"

She angrily slammed the car door shut and stomped into the house, ignoring her mother's calls as she ran to her bedroom.

"Zac?"

"Ugh... Jayden, your apologies or whatever, I don't want to hear them," Zac muttered, putting down the magazine he was reading long enough to send death glares in the direction of his bedroom door.

The hesitant voice continued,"Zac, it's Mom. Can I please come in?"

Zac marched over to the door and let Diana in,"Sorry about that. I thought you were Jayden."

"I figured as much..." Diana said,"Now what's this about apologies?"

Zac sighed,"It's no big deal... Jayden & I are not on the best terms at the moment. I'll just leave it at that."

Diana gave her sudden a quizzical look,"Well, ok... But if you need to talk..."

"Yeah, Mom. Thanks."

"Oh, I just remembered Isaac was looking for you. He's out in the backyard right now," Diana said before leaving & closing the door behind her.

Zac pulled his hair, which was frizzy from the restless sleep he had earlier, back into a hasty ponytail & trudged to the backyard, where he plopped down on a lawn chair next to Ike.

"Oh hey, there you are," Isaac said, taking note of his brother,"Where have you been?"

Zac shrugged,"Jayden & I went for a walk then I came home. Nothing much."

"Is Jayden still here?" Isaac asked, peering back at the house.

"Nah, she went home," Zac said, giving no hint as to there conflict,"So what did you want to talk to me about?"

Ike sighed,"Well, Dad just got the official word that the tour dates for the next couple of weeks are cancelled."

"That all?"

Isaac nodded.

"Ok, thanks," Zac said, getting up & walking back into the house. He saw the portable phone laying on the kitchen counter, and contemplated calling Jayden to apologize. He knew that he may have overreacted, but Jayden was treating him like an invalid...

He fingered the buttons of the phone, before setting it back down.

Let her squirm for a bit... Zac thought THEN aplogize...

"What's that? Obstruct painting?"

Jayden scowled, resting her paint brush on the edge of her easel & turning to her brother in the doorway of her room.

"That would be abstract, you idiot."

"Woah!" Regan said, holding his hands up in mock defence,"Skipped your dosage of Midol or what?"

Jayden just shook her head,"It's just- it's... nothing."

"Awww, c'mon little sis. Let Big Bro help you out here..." Regan said sweetly, holding his arms out for a big bear hug.

Jayden got up and began putting away her watercolor paints,"Very funny."

Seeing that his sister was in no mood to so much as snicker at his lame attempt at humor, Regan turned serious.

"Did you and Dad have a fight?" he asked quietly,"I heard the front door slam."

Jayden paused and stepped a few feet away from her latest painting, ignoring her brother's question. Lines of red & black slashed across the pristine white background, an extension of her earlier anger & explosion. It was somewhat different for her, as she tended to opt for more realistic subjects... Wildlife, scenery, and occasionally people.

Regan, knowing not to prod but yet not wanting to leave his sister alone, meandered over to her dresser. He chose a picture & examined it more closely.

"I remember this you know."

"Remember what?" Jayden said gruffly, pulling off her color-streaked painting overshirt & tossing it carelessly into a far corner of the room.

Regan motioned for her to come beside, and when she did so, showed her the picture.

"It was your first date with Taylor. You were so nervous. The night before, you just kept pacing in your room. Back & forth..."

Jayden tilted her head,"How did you know?"

"I have the room directly below yours," Regan said bluntly,"You were up until all hours of the morning-"

"2:49," Jayden interrupted. Her face reddened,"I mean... Somewhere around there."

Regan just smiled & nodded,"And then the next afternoon you were so highstrung-"

"I was not!"

Regan grinned,"Right. Because you always flip out when I change the channel during Scooby-Doo cartoons...

"But you know what I remember most?"

Jayden shook her head.

"You had this goofy grin on your face afterwards. It looked like you'd rented it from a circus clown," Regan chuckled.

Jayden smiled, recalling how her stomach had, despite how cheesy & cliche it sounded, felt all fluttery as she had lay in bed that night.

And she still felt it.

Jayden glanced at her brother, felt her cheeks flush, & quickly changed the subject to her upcoming art internship.

"Mrs. Livaro, the director at the art gallery, wants me to come in for an orientation the second Tuesday of summer vacation," she said with false enthusiasm, almost hoping the topic would urge her brother to leave the room out of pure boredom.

But Regan remained,"Is it like a group thing? Or just you?"

"Group thing. Janine -Mrs. Livaro- listed the names of a few other people over the phone, but none of them sounded familiar," Jayden said, placing a stack of folded laundry which was perched on the edge of her desk, in her dresser drawer,"I'm really looking forward to it, though..."

Regan nodded,"That's good... I mean, with everything that's been going on and uh..." He stuttered & sent Jayden an apologetic look.

Jayden sighed,"Now don't get all sad-puppy-face on me, ok? I get enough of that from Mom & Dad."

"Speaking of whom, I repeat my question: Did you and Dad have a fight?"

Jayden gave in & nodded.

"He & Mom want to ship me off to Great Aunt Bertha's house to take my mind off of Taylor. Thrilling or what?"

Regan's first urge was to snicker, but seeing his sister's look of annoyance, chose to do otherwise.

"Alone??"

Jayden rolled her eyes,"Yeah, supposedly. I'll get the 'old bag', as Dad called her oh-so-kindly last night, all to myself."

"Maybe they're not all that insane to propose it..."

"What???"

Regan shrugged,"What would so bad about it, really? As long as you don't miss out on your gallery thing. You've got to admit you've been stressed lately."

"My ex-boyfr--," Jayden stopped abruptly, not wanting to spark a conversation on her & Taylor's possible falling-out,"I mean, my boyfriend, has been missing for days with no trace. No ransom note. No 'So long. I'm off to find a better life. See you in 10 years.' message. NOTHING..."

She paused & gave Regan a withering look,"And our parents find this situation to be surprisingly stressful & believe a week away will make every thing magically all right??"

Throwing his hands up in defeat, Regan replied,"Look, I came up here because, believe it or not, I was concerned about my baby sister. I did not, however, come up here to witness the stark sarcasm of someone who is making no effort whatsoever to accept the help of others but rather feels the need to disregard any concept brought into play."

Jayden's jaw dropped.

"And don't even think about making a witty comment on my 'new found vocabularly range' because I am in no mood for it."