Interlude
"Really?" said eleven-year-old Taylor asked.
"Yeah, I was thinking maybe a little later we could go in the garage and work on it when the baby wakes up of course." Taylor looked at his brother strangely.
"Why can't we work on it now? You know Ike out here."
"Because," Isaac began to look around to the ground below the tree house they were sitting in. he was making sure no one was listening, "I wrote it about Lisa." Isaac blushed slightly.
Lisa was there neighbor and was the prettiest girl in the neighborhood. She was thirteen and looked about sixteen. Every boy within' ten miles and under the age of sixteen had a thing for Lisa.
Isaac had always been fascinate by girls even way back when he was in diapers. He never went through that girls-have-cooties stage. "Ewww.... that is so beyond gross!" Taylor yelled right in Isaac's face.
He put his finger in his mouth and made a gagging motion. Unlike his older brother, Taylor had most certainly gone through that stage and it seemed all to likely that he was still very much in that stage. "Tay, don't you think your getting to old to still be hating girls?" Isaac asked trying to be and obviously thinking he was way more sophisticated, when it came to life then, Taylor.
"No! They are so way gross and all they want to do is kiss and hug and hold hands. They never want to do anything fun, yuck!" his face contorted at the thought of those repulsive things.
Isaac rolled his eyes, "You know Tay, that stuff can be fun too!" he was trying to get Taylor to understand what he felt. "Oh yeah Isaac, like any girl ever kissed or hugged you!" he stated, but was almost asking, wondering what dirt he could use as blackmail.
"As a matter of fact, there has been, but don't even thinking of asking me to tell you who, where or when because, you will learn Taylor a real man doesn't kiss and tell."
"Yeah that means it never happened, but you don't want to sound like the big fat loser you are and tell me the truth!" Taylor snapped.
"I'm not a loser, fart face," Isaac yelled back, "Besides if I'm such a loser then why do you always want to hang out with me?"
The truth was, Taylor really did think Isaac was by far the coolest thing to walk the planet. He looked up to his older brother more then anyone else in his whole life. Isaac's approval on things meant the world to him. He could never admit that to him because that would make him a total dweeb so he had to keep it to himself. "I only hang out with you because there is no one else to hang out with, but I'm reconsidering because all you ever do is talk about girls and want to hang around with girls. That's just not my scene Isaac." Isaac laughed rather loudly and just shook his head.
"One day that will all change Taylor, trust me you’ll see!" he told him.
Taylor just shook his head no. "Hey, you guys up there?" A smaller boys voice called up to the tree house.
"Yeah Zac, we're up here!" Isaac yelled back.
They could hear the footsteps coming up to the top of the tree house. Getting louder the closer they came. When he came to the entrance way Taylor and Isaac's attention went in that direction and Taylor immediately jumped up. He positioned himself completely in front of the door to the tree house as soon as Zac had entered. "No way! Zac you know the rules, No Girls Allowed!" Taylor yelled at his eight-year-old brother.
"Stop it Tay! Let her in," Zac whined.
"Move out of my way Snot Head," Joley said pushing Taylor hard enough that he was forced to move.
She gave him a dirty look as she entered and sat down next to Zac, "Hi, Isaac."
"Hi, Joley."
"This really sucks you know! Now we are gonna have to wash everything," he huffed.
"Why?" Zac asked.
"Because, there's a girl in here retard!" Taylor pointed exaggeratedly towards Joley.
She just stuck out her tongue at him. Zac laughed and put his arm around Joley, "She's not a real girl, she's my best friend."
"Hey, I'm a girl though,” she said back to Zac kind of offended by his comment.
"I know, but your not one of those cooties girls. You're my girl," he told her sweetly.
"Zaccy!" she said wrapping her arms around him.
He stiffed up and tried to pull his body away. "Ewww.. Isaac, look what you did. You changed him on me. He was supposed to be on the hating girls side not the liking them." Taylor huffed throwing Isaac the dirtiest look ever.
"Hey, Isaac, are you up there?" A soft sweet voice drifted up through the tree house making Isaac stand to attention almost immediately.
"Oh my god, it Lisa!" he said to no one but himself.
He started to fix his hair and straighten his close. "You look very handsome Isaac," Joley told him.
"Thank-you!" he said with a huge smile, "Ummm yeah Lisa, I'll be right down!" he yelled down.
A sly smile came creeping across Taylor's face. "Oh it's Lisa...maybe I should tell her about her song!" he said to his brother.
"You wouldn't dare?" Isaac said staring down his brother.
"Try me Ikey-poo," Taylor said in a mocking tone.
"I'll kill you!" Isaac yelled.
"You'll have to catch me first!" Taylor said as he took off running and Isaac was right behind him.
"Come back here you little shit!" he yelled leaving Zac and Joley alone in the tree house.
They both gasped and giggled when Isaac cursed. "He better not let Mom hear him do that, she'll make him eat soap and I had to and it's gross." Zac told his best friend.
She laughed. "What did you do?" she asked him.
"I called her the b word. I didn't know what it was so I called her that."
"No you didn't? My mom would have killed me!" Joley told him really entranced by this conversation.
"I'm lucky my Mom didn't kill me," he joked.
They both laughed as there dialogue trailed off. There were always uncomfortable moments between the two of them, but they didn't realize what it was at there age. They couldn't understand the feelings that they both held for one another. "I have your birthday present Joley," Zac said quietly, going over to his little hide away behind the box of play guns.
He grabbed a little bag and brought it over to her, "Happy Birthday."
"My birthday is not till Monday," she told him taking the bag.
"I know, but I want you to have it now."
"You bought this yourself?" she asked him still completely surprised that he thought about her.
"Yeah it took me three weeks allowance, but it's ok. You deserve it." he told her.
She took it from him and opened the bag, she pulled out a Bedtime Bear Care Bear, one of the bigger ones that you could use to lay in bed. "Zac, wow! I love it!" she smiled at him as she hugged it to her.
"I know you have been getting scared at night and they are your favorite so you can hold it when your scared and think of me." he told her blushing, but to young to understand why.
"I will!" she said.
"And it think you look like a Care Bear!" he laughed, "So I'm gonna call you Jo Bear from now on!"
"Gee thanks, Zac!" she rolled her eyes.
"No problem, Jo Bear." he kidded back.