While Isaac was thinking about the curly-haired girl, Taylor noticed that the other girl was quite good-looking, too. Her straight light brown hair, which was up in a neat ponytail, would reach just past her shoulders if down, he estimated. She appeared somewhat shy, singing backup while Isaac's dream girl sang lead. Her smile was neither as wide nor as frequent as her friend's, but Taylor liked it. As the last notes of the song died away and the girls left the stage, Taylor began clapping, followed by Isaac and Zac. The girl with straight hair blushed as the girls returned to their table.
Isaac had seemed to snap out of his depression for a minute when the song started, but now he sank back in even deeper, just staring off into space. Taylor noticed this and decided to do something about it. "Come on, Ike," he said.
"No," was his only response.
"Isaac, come on! You can't just stay like this for the rest of your life. Now come on. We're gonna go meet those girls."
"Taylor, I can't."
"Yes, you can, and you will. Let's go."
Isaac turned on Taylor angrily. "Taylor, just SHUT UP! You don't understand; you couldn't possibly understand what I'm going through right now. You've never even been on a date or broken up with a girl, and especially never had that girl threaten you. She threatened me, Taylor. She said she'd make sure I'm never happy with a girl again."
Taylor looked at his brother sympathetically. "It's true, I've never had a girlfriend, so I don't really understand what's going on, though I am trying to. But I really don't think she'll follow through on her threat."
At those words, Isaac seemed to explode. Without a word, he stormed out of the building. Taylor stared after him and couldn't believe what his big brother had just done.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" A sudden impact threw Taylor forward. He whirled around and came face-to-face with the girl from onstage. He smiled self-consciously.
"Hey, that's all right." He took a deep breath and a chance. "I'm Taylor."
"Monica, and this is Jamie," she said briefly.
"You guys sounded really good," Taylor complimented.
"Was that your brother that just ran past me like there was a fire?" the girl named Jamie asked with a smile.
"Oh, he..." Taylor thought for a moment. "He just needed to run home to grab something. Our house is right down the street...we come here all the time..." He shut himself up from blabbering on and on at the look on Monica's face.
"Come on, Jules, let's go," Monica said, pulling on Jamie's arm. Taylor's heart sank. Jamie offered Taylor a smile.
"Nice meeting you, Taylor...and tell your brother to smile once in a while," she joked. Taylor nodded as Monica pulled Jamie away.
Taylor ran outside. "Ike!!" he screamed, looking both ways down the street. Finally, he started running towards home, all the while thinking of the girl named Monica that he thought was so beautiful...and so strange...
Just then, Taylor heard a voice calling his name. He stopped running and turned around to see Zac running after him. He waited for Zac to catch up with him.
"Taylor, what is going on with you and Ike?" Zac asked, annoyed. "First you two are talking secretly about something, then you argue about those girls, and now he runs out of the karaoke night with you after him, leaving me back there. What is going on?"
Taylor looked at his younger brother, ashamed of himself. He and Isaac had left Zac out of most of their talks. Actually, he wasn't even sure why; he and Ike had always thought that since Zac acted so immature most of the time that he wouldn't understand. He realized now that Zac understood more than Isaac or Taylor had thought. "Zac," he said, "I'm really sorry we left you out. What happened was this. You remember Karen?"
"Yeah. She's Ike's girlfriend."
"Was Ike's girlfriend," Taylor corrected. "To make a long story short (I'll let Ike tell you the longer version later), they were caught by the press at the movies last night, and Mom, Dad, and Ike decided that they shouldn't go out anymore. Karen...um...didn't take that news too well. She threatened Ike, telling him that she would make sure he was never happy with a girl again. Then tonight, Ike saw that one girl, the one that sang lead, and he apparently forgot about Karen's threat temporarily. But, when I suggested that we meet those girls, he blew up and ran out."
"Yeah, I can see why he would be mad. He just got threatened by his ex-girlfriend, and now you're trying to get him to meet another girl. You know, Tay, for someone who is usually so smart, you can be pretty dumb sometimes."
"Hey," Taylor protested, "I really was trying to help. Ike obviously liked this girl. I just thought that meeting her would help. I honestly think that it would help me if I ever got into this situation."
"Okay, fine. I know you were just trying to help. I take it back. You're not dumb..right now, anyway."
"Hey!" Taylor complained.
"Okay, okay. I'm just kidding."
"Let's go home now. We need to see how Ike's doing." The brothers headed down the street.
Chapter 4
Forbidden Angels
Story Page
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