Chapter Nine

"Does That Outfit Come Provided With Sunglasses, Or Do You Have To Pay Extra?"

"I feel really bad about it, actually," admitted Zac, pushing his hands through his hair.

"Sounds to me like he deserved it." Libby tugged at the hem of her white denim shorts.

"He did, but the look on his face…He looked so hurt, so alone."

Libby stroked Zac's forearm. "Zac, somebody needed to tell him. Better you and Ike than someone who doesn't care about him."

"But Libby, he's my brother. I can't hurt him like that. Sure, he's been an asshole of late, but he's not usually. I should have tried to talk to him about what was wrong, instead of yelling at him. I just feel so guilty." Zac swung the porch swingseat gently, rocking it back and forwards.

"Is he still up there?" asked Libby.

"Yeah. Probably still crying. There's bound to be a world shortage of Kleenex by now."

"Will he mind if I go up?"

"What for?"

"I need to use the bathroom."

"Lib, there's a downstairs bathroom, remember?" Zac grinned in spite of himself.

"Oh yeah. Well, can I use that?"

"No, I'd rather you wet yourself."

Libby grinned. "Won't be a minute."

Zac smiled at her, then swung the swingseat a little harder. Libby was acting like nothing had changed between them, touching him, flirting with him a little, just being normal. He loved it when things were like this between them. It was so natural, as if it was meant to be. She'd told him that she was going steady with Corey, and Zac had gushed about how happy he was for her. Obviously, he was a great liar. He felt anything but happy about it. He felt as if his insides were being ripped out and stamped all over, but he could hardly tell that to Libby.

He sighed, pushing back his hair and glancing up at his bedroom window. There was no noise coming from it, so Taylor was either crying more quietly than before or had fallen asleep.

Zac really did feel guilty about what had happened with Taylor. He loved his brother so much; it killed him to have to watch him upset. The things that were said were things that Taylor definitely had to hear. But maybe he could have heard them in a nicer way. After Isaac and Zac had left him alone, his crying had been heard from most places in the house, so Ike had turned the TV up as loud as it would go. He apparently wasn't feeling all that guilty yet.

"Thinking so much will kill you, you know." Libby grinned, sitting back down beside him on the swingseat. "Tay?"

Zac sighed again. "Yeah. I still feel so bad. Ike doesn't. All he's bothered about is this double date that he has with Honey, Rhia and this guy he hates tonight. What if things never get back to normal?"

"They will, Zac, and you know it." Libby tightened her ponytail on the back of her head. "You always make it back up."

"Yeah," sighed Zac. "I guess we do."

Libby turned to him and took his hand. "Just give him time, sweetie." She leaned over and wrapped her arms round him.

Zac gulped, wondering what was up, but returned the embrace. After all, hugs didn't necessarily mean anything. He hugged his brothers and sisters all the time, and he wasn't sexually attracted to them. Zac choked. The thought of being sexually attracted to Ike or Tay repulsed him. Isaac had told him about all the fan fiction he'd read on the Internet where there'd been a little more than brotherly love going on between them. It totally grossed him out. He wondered what kind of sick people wrote stories like that.

Libby pressed her lips gently against his cheek.

Zac froze. What the hell was she doing?

She kissed along his cheek, until she reached his mouth. There, she deepened into the kiss.

Zac returned the kiss for a few seconds, then coughed and pushed her away. He looked at her, confusion and hurt evident in his eyes. "Libby, I-"

"Shh." She leaned back down to kiss him again.

"No!" Zac pushed her away again, this time with more force. "You're seeing Corey."

"Yeah."

"So you can't kiss me."

"Who says?" Libby raised her eyebrows at him.

"Me!"

"Zac, I can do this too. I want you. More than I want Corey." She gazed at him sincerely.

Zac knit his eyebrows, unsure of what to make of her confession. "Uh, well…" He looked to the night sky, as if for help. "Finish with Corey, then you can have me."

"So you want me, too?" She took his hands in hers.

"Uh, I guess…"

"Zac, I'll finish with Corey. But not yet. I can’t."

"Why not?" asked Zac, screwing up his nose.

"It would devastate him. He seems so hung up on me."

Zac had to admit that he did. And the way Libby said it didn't sound big headed. It was only the truth. "Yeah, I guess he does."

"So give me a few weeks. I'll finish with him, I promise." She looked him straight in the eye.

It was hard for Zac not to relent. "Really?"

"Really. But, in the meantime, we can have some fun." She leant over to kiss him again.

"No! Not here! Anyone could walk past."

"Good point. Well, I know the perfect place." Libby took his hand and led him across the road, round the side of her house and into her back garden. "There."

"Where?" Zac squinted, but he couldn't see anything.

"In the trees. You guys aren't the only ones with a treehouse, you know." She grinned wickedly at him.

"No," admitted Zac uncertainly. "I guess we’re not."

***

Isaac stabbed miserably at his chicken cordon bleu Kiev and watched the cheese sauce spill out. He just wanted to go home.

Beside him, Honey was chatting animatedly with Rhia and Jake, and even doing a bit of flirting with Jake. If he'd cornered her about it, though, Honey's excuse would have been that she wanted to work in PR someday, and therefore, her public relation skills had to be good and sharp. But does she really have to practice with him? Isaac thought, glancing sidelong at Honey's vibrant, red-lipped smile. For a second, she looked uncannily like Abby in 'Dawson's Creek', with her clear skin, her red lips and her heavily made-up eyes.

It took him a few seconds to realize that those red lips were speaking to him. "I'm sorry?" he asked, blushing for some reason.

"I asked you what was wrong." Concern washed briefly over Honey's face. "Are you okay?"

Isaac tried - unsuccessfully - to smile convincingly. "Sure, I'm fine. Really."

Honey narrowed her eyes and scrutinized him for a few seconds, then shrugged. "Okay," she relented, sounding doubtful. "Rhia, coming to the Ladies room?"

Rhia and Honey excused themselves, then disappeared off in the direction of the bathrooms, clutching their purses and Rhia making faces towards Honey's back. Obviously she still wasn't keen on Isaac's choice of women, even though it had been her that suggested this double date in the first place.

"Why do women always do that?" Isaac muttered absently to himself. "Go to the bathroom in pairs. No wonder the queue's so long in there."

"Don't even try, Hanson." Jake stared at him, his face contorted into an evil sneer.

"Try what?" Isaac stared back, ever the innocent.

"Try to talk to me. I don't want to hear your gay little voice, and I don't give a shit about your crappy conversation. I want you to keep your hands off my girlfriend!"

Isaac sighed. "Look, Jake, I don't want your girlfriend. Rhia's my best friend," he told him through clenched teeth. "I don't know how many times I'm going to have to tell you that to get it through your thick skull."

"Are you calling me stupid?" demanded Jake, standing up.

"Well, admit it," spat Isaac, suddenly becoming angry. Why should he have to take this crap? "You're the personification of the stereotypical dumb jock."

"And you," growled Jake, "are the personification of the stereotypical incestual homosexual. How long does it take to get Taylor up? And how much fun do you have getting him back down?"

"How dare you?!" screamed Isaac, ignoring the looks they were getting from the other diners. "You leave my brothers out of this!"

"Oh, Isaac, Isaac, Isaac…" Jake's voice took on a patronizing tone. "Ever the older brother, the do-gooder, the protector of his loved ones. But guess what, Ikey-poos? Most older brothers don't fuck their little ones."

"You asshole!" yelled Isaac. "You jumped up, egotistical, judgmental, evil, patronizing asshole! You leave me alone, leave my brothers alone and leave my best friend alone!" In a flash, he was round the other side of the table, clutching Jake by the collar of his pristine Tommy Hilfiger shirt. He raised his arm to swing at him, but something stopped him.

"Ike!" yelled Rhia, looking and sounding as shocked as she would have if Brad Pitt had walked in and proposed to her. "What in the name of God are you doing?!" she demanded. Let go of him!"

Isaac looked from Jake to Rhia, Rhia to Jake. He leant in closely to Jake, only inches away from his face. "You're not worth it," he hissed in his most disgusted tone. "You're just not worth it." He pushed him away and stalked out of the restaurant, leaving all three of them in utter shock and without a ride home.

He drove home shakily, replaying the scenes in the restaurant in his mind. He screeched into the driveway, almost knocking down Zac and Libby in the process, who were in the middle of a very passionate goodnight kiss, apparently. Zac glared at him angrily, kissed Libby one more time on the lips and waved to her as she jogged across the grass, then stomped over to the car, pulling open the door and getting in beside Isaac, slamming the door hard behind him. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded. "The freakin' Grim Reaper? First you kill Tay with words, and now you’re trying to kill me with your damn car!"

"Sorry, I didn't see you," apologized Isaac absently, in a monotone.

"You didn't see me?" Zac stared incredulously at Isaac. "For God's sake, Ike, I'm wearing a Day-Glo orange shirt and bright yellow pants!"

Isaac looked down at Zac's choice of attire. "So you are. Very striking, Zachary. Does that outfit come complete with sunglasses, or do you have to pay extra?"

"Oh, very droll. Well, you didn't see me, did you?"

"My mind was on other things, as was yours, by the look of it. I though she was seeing Corey?"

"She is."

Isaac's eyebrows shot sky-high.

"Don’t go there, Ike. I don't need you preaching at me." Zac suddenly sounded weary.

Isaac spread his hands. "I wasn't planning on it."

"Oh. So, what's so important that it nearly made you kill your favorite thirteen year old brother?"

Isaac smiled slightly. "I nearly got into a fight on my date," he confessed.

"Fisticuffs with Honey?" Zac looked confused. "God, I'd love to see that!"

Isaac's smile broadened, then disappeared almost immediately. "No, with Jake."

"Oh, the jock."

"Yeah."

"What happened?" asked Zac, fiddling with the gear stick.

"Basically, he thinks that I'm after Rhia, and also that I'm having some incestual affair with you and Tay. Don't touch that!" he scolded, slapping Zac's hand away from the gears.

Zac frowned. Hadn't he just been thinking about incestual affairs? "Eww," he murmured.

"Yeah, so to cut a long story short, I was about to punch him when Rhia walked in. Then I walked out."

Zac winced sympathetically. "Ouch."

Isaac shrugged. "There's something not right about that guy, Zac. I can feel it. I'm worried about Rhia. I dunno what it is, but there's something odd about him."

Zac pushed open the door, suddenly appearing bored with the conversation. "Yeah, well, it's Rhia's life, you gotta let her live it, Ike. Come on; let's go in. It's late."

"Okay." Isaac climbed out of the car and followed Zac into the house and up to their room.

Pushing the door open, Zac tiptoed into the room, and turn the dimmer light on very dimly. In the low, yellow lighting, he and Isaac could see Taylor curled up on the bed, surrounded by crumpled Kleenex and sound asleep. His cheeks were tearstained and even redder than usual. His hair was in total disarray and his clothes completely rumpled.

Lying there on the bed, he looked so small, so innocent and so fragile that Zac badly wanted to take him in his arms and hug him, whispering into his ear that everything would turn out fine and that he would be okay. He swallowed the lump in his throat and blinked back the tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "Isaac," he spoke up quietly. "We did this to him."

Isaac shrugged. "He deserved it. He's been a total asshole lately."

"But, Ike, look at him." Zac's voice broke. "Don't you love him any more? We used to be so close."

"Sure, I love him," replied Isaac nonchalantly, unbuttoning his shirt. "But he deserved it," he repeated. "And anyway, we didn't do it. He's like this because Gabbie's in Ohio and he thinks she's breaking up with him."

"What?" Zac stared at Isaac in amazement. "You mean, this is a time when he really, really needs us, and we tell him he's a pig-headed, egotistical, selfish, self-righteous asshole?"

"Uh-huh." Isaac headed into the bathroom to clean his teeth.

Zac sat down gently beside Taylor on his bed. He stroked the side of his brother's face softly. "It's gonna be okay, Taybear," he whispered, knowing full well that his words were unheard by his sleeping brother. "I'm here for you. It may not seem like it, but I am. And I always will be." Zac gulped, wiping away a stray tear that had escaped from his eye. "Always."

"Zac, don't be so soft."

Zac looked up to see Isaac standing in the doorway. He gazed questioningly up at him, the light shimmering in his unshed tears.

"Look at what he did to you. To us. That bad press is going to scar us. Scar us badly; permanently, even."

"Ike, he's our brother."

Isaac just shrugged and hopped up into bed. "Maybe when he's acting like he's my brother, I'll act like I'm his. Shut the light out, will ya?"

Zac looked down at Taylor one more time, patted his shoulder, then headed into the bathroom to get ready for bed, his heart feeling like lead, turning off the light as he left the room.

***

"Tay, will you come to the store with me?"

Taylor sighed and buried his head in the pillow again. He heard his mother's footsteps coming upstairs, and quickly grabbed his copy of 'Merchant Of Venice'.

"Well?" Mrs Hanson asked, poking her head round the door.

"Um, I don't really feel like it, Mom, plus I have this to read, remember? You did assign it, after all."

"Tay, are you sure? I want to see you out of the house. Out of your room, in fact. All you've done in the past week is mope around in here. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm just reading this."

Mrs Hanson crossed her arms and stared at her son doubtfully. "How did Portia fool Bassanio, then?"

"Uh…there was no right answer for the casket test."

"Taylor…"

"Okay, okay, I've just been thinking. But I'm okay, really."

Mrs Hanson began fussing around the room, straightening mirrors and picking up clothes. "Well, at least you should have fun at Josh's party tonight."

"I wasn't planning on going."

"What were you going to do instead?" asked Mrs Hanson, a mocking tone in her voice.

"Just stay here, I guess."

"Not you're not."

"Huh?" Taylor stared at his mother in disbelief.

"I'm sick of you moping around this house. You're going to this party tonight, and you're going to have a good time! I'm sick of telling your friends that you're in the bathroom, or that you can't come to the phone! You’re going, and you will enjoy yourself! That, Taylor, is an order!"

"But Mom…"

"No, Taylor, I mean it. Tonight, you're going into that shower, you're having a shave, you're putting on some nice clothes and you're getting out of here. It's for your own good, sweetie." Mrs Hanson patted him on the top of his head. "Just have some fun, okay?"

Taylor sighed. "Yeah, okay. It might not be too bad."

"Good." Mrs Hanson started to head out of the door.

"Mom?" called Taylor.

"Yeah?"

"I thought I was grounded."

Mrs Hanson grinned. "Nice try. A week and a half is plenty. Anyway, I'm the mommy and I make the rules, 'kay?"

Taylor smiled. "Yeah, okay. Thanks. I think."

"See you later." Mrs Hanson slipped out of the door and was gone.

Taylor sighed again. He really didn't feel like going to this party. All week, he'd been sitting in his room, just hoping that Gabbie would call. But she hadn't. He had a number to contact her at, but so far hadn't been able to muster up the courage to call her. Things had been a little tense ever since that night at Buttshakers.

He got up and walked over to the window. Zac was sitting out on the swingseat on the front porch with Libby. He glanced up and gave Taylor a tiny wave. Taylor waved back, then flopped back down on the bed, retrieving his tattered copy of 'Merchant Of Venice'.

Oh well, he thought, I guess I'm as well finding out how exactly Portia did trick Bassanio.

It wasn't like he had anything better to do.

***

Taylor stirred the straw round in his plastic cup of Dr Pepper. He didn't know how long he'd been sitting in the corner of the room, and he didn't really care; all he knew was that he wasn't having a very good time.

This party was eerily reminiscent of Martin's party, where he'd first met Gabbie. Maybe if he went and sat on the stairs, she would appear from nowhere like she did last time. He sighed. It was hardly likely, was it? Gabbie was miles away, in Ohio.

Isaac and Zac had once again disappeared, after arranging to meet up at twelve-thirty. Taylor presumed that Zac was with Matt, Corey and Libby - an odd place for him to be, considering that he was seeing Libby and she was supposed to be seeing Corey - and he figured that Ike would be with Honey somewhere, if she'd forgiven him for making an ass of himself at Pierre Victoire's the other night.

So Taylor was sat by himself yet again, feeling sorry for himself and drowning his sorrows in Dr Pepper. Well, not drowning all of them, that would take probably more Dr Pepper than there was in the world, but he was trying his best.

"Hey."

Taylor looked up. "Hey, Zac."

"What's up?" Zac sat down beside him, popping the tab on a can of Coke.

"Nothing much."

"Aww, cheer up, buddy."

"I'm cheery," lied Taylor.

"Yeah, looks it." Zac crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue.

Taylor grinned for what felt like the first time in weeks. Leave it to Zac to make him feel better.

"That's better!" crowed Zac. "Look, I'm only here to get some drinks, so I'll see you later, 'kay, buddy?"

"Sure." Taylor shrugged amiably.

"Take it easy." Zac squeezed Taylor's shoulder, then disappeared into the masses of people, balancing about ten cans of soda in his arms.

Taylor shook his head, laughing to himself as he watched Zac precariously try to maneuver around the laughing and dancing people.

"Something funny?"

Taylor looked up. "Oh, hey, Katie." Just what he needed, he thought sarcastically.

Katie sat down where Zac had been seated only moments before, tugging at her short, tight, hot-pink dress.

Taylor had to admit she looked great. Her dark brown hair tumbled in loose waves to her shoulders, layers cut in at the front to frame her face. Her make-up was dramatic and her shade of lipstick matched her dress exactly. The dress itself clung tightly to every curve of her body, accentuating her large chest and hips. No one could call Katie slim, but no one could call her fat either. She was curvy. It was the only way to put it.

"Taylor?"

He snapped back to reality, cursing himself silently for so openly eyeing up Katie and being caught. "Uh, sorry? What did you say?"

"I asked you if you wanted some punch. Wake up, dreamy!" She playfully shoved Taylor's arm.

Taylor narrowed his eyes. Unlike last time, Katie didn't appear to be drunk. Taylor figured one glass couldn't hurt. Maybe it would help him loosen up and enjoy himself. "Yeah, sure. Why not?"

Katie smiled, showing her colored braces, colored green and purple; Katie was a huge fan of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. "Cool. Let's knock-back together."

"Knock-back?" repeated Taylor doubtfully.

"Sure. Count to three, then drink the whole lot." Katie retrieved two glasses of red punch from the table and handed one to Taylor. "Ready?" she asked.

Taylor nodded. "Uh, yeah."

"'Kay…one…two…three!"

Taylor and Katie threw back their heads and tipped the liquid down their throats. Taylor shuddered. The alcohol burned his throat and all the way down his esophagus into his stomach. "Wow," he breathed. "What a rush! That was totally…insane!"

"Heard you say that somewhere before," giggled Katie. "But this time you didn't have to throw yourself off a cliff!"

For some reason, Taylor found this hilarious. "Yeah! Hey, want another one?"

"Sure!"

Taylor lost count of how many knock-backs he and Katie had, each time squealing "One…two…three!" like excited toddlers and laughing like hyenas after they'd done it.

"Katie?" slurred Taylor. "You're beautiful."

Katie giggled. "Oh, Tay, if only you knew how long I've been waiting to hear you…oh, God, I sound pathetic!" She dissolved into drunken giggles again.

"Like Scarlet O'Hara!" spluttered Taylor.

"Like Rose in 'Titanic'!"

"Like someone in a Jane Austin novel!"

"Like Joey in 'Dawson's Creek'!"

"Like Dawson in 'Dawson's Creek'!"

"Like Lisa Simpson!"

"Huh?" Taylor stared at her, trying to stop giggling.

"Okay, well, maybe not!" howled Katie.

Taylor burst into fresh gales of laughter. "Katie, Katie, Katie…it's too busy in here. I feel cramped. Let's go somewhere else."

Katie beamed. "Okay. Come on." She took his hand and pulled him through the crowded room.

Taylor followed her, both of them wobbling slightly and staggering through the masses of friends, acquaintances and strangers.

They wove their way through the queue of people on the stairs who were waiting to get into the bathroom, ignoring the pounding beats of the music from the living room where they'd just came from.

Katie pulled him into a room and slammed the door behind her. "Finally!" She rolled her eyes. "We're alone."

Taylor gulped. "So we are." He wondered briefly what he had done, then figured that Gabbie was in another state, so what the hell?

"I've been waiting for this…" Katie frowned. "Okay. We need some music." She rifled through Josh's CDs, then popped one in the CD player.

Taylor raised his eyebrows. "Culture Club?"

"Why not? I find Boy George very, very sexy."

"You do?" asked Taylor incredulously.

"Sure I do. Maybe we could find some of Josh's mom's makeup for you," she mused.

"Ah, no!"

Katie smiled. "I was kidding, Tay, relax. You're just fine as you are." She curled her lip seductively and leaned close to him, pressing her lips against his.

Taylor kissed her back, gently at first, than harder and more urgently.

"Taylor," she moaned, jabbing her fingers into his hair and tugging it, tightening and prickling at his scalp.

He groaned, darting his tongue inside her mouth. She tasted of alcohol and strawberries, a strange, yet oddly satisfying combination.

Katie grabbed one of his hands from behind her back and shoved it around to her front, pushing it against her chest. She moved her hand down between his legs and began to rub gently.

Taylor moaned again. He knew that they weren't going to go any further, but the desire he felt inside him was so strong, so powerful. He pulled down the zipper on Katie's dress, and it fell to her hips.

She fiddled with the button on his cords and unzipped them, kissing Taylor's stomach and moaning.

Taylor was in the middle of trying to unclasp Katie's bra when he became aware of the music. In his own inimitable way, Boy George was singing Culture Club's biggest ever hit.

Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma chameleon
You come and go
You come and go
Lovin' would be easy if your colors could match my dreams
Red, gold and green
Red, gold and green

Taylor suddenly stopped kissing Katie. Even in his drunken state, he could, all of a sudden, realize that what he was doing was wrong. Maybe there were plenty of karma chameleons around, but Taylor certainly wasn't one of them. He couldn't change his moods or his desires like a chameleon changed its colors; Taylor didn't have a red desire, a gold desire and a green desire - he had one Technicolor desire, for one person and one person only. That person was Gabriella Young, not Katie Gibson.

He'd never been a huge Culture Club fan, but tonight, that song had taught him a very important lesson: he wasn't a karma chameleon, he was a one-woman man, even when he was drunk.

"Taylor, what's wrong?" asked Katie, looking up at him. "Why did you stop? Are you worried about protection, cos I have some."

Taylor stared blankly at Katie. "There's nothing to protect. Katie, this was wrong."

They stood, staring at each other, tears forming in both the blue eyes and the chocolate ones.

"I'm sorry," choked Taylor, before pulling up his cords and bolting from the room.

Running blindly into the bathroom, he pushed the door open and locked it tightly behind him, ignoring the yells of protest from the long queue outside.

"Taylor! Do you mind?"

Taylor snapped his head up, and for the first time, realized that someone was actually using the toilet. "Sorry," he managed to say, before slumping down against the bath and passing out.

***

"Tay? Wake up. Come on, sit up. That's it." Zac spoke soothingly, his arm in a position of support around his brother's shoulders. "Sip this. Slowly." He held the glass to Taylor's lips and watched as he took tiny sips of the water. "Good boy," he murmured, feeling slightly stupid, as if he were talking to a dog, but not quite sure what other way there was to approach the situation.

"Zac?" Taylor's eyes finally blurred into focus. "What happened?"

"You walked in on me and collapsed. That's basically it. You've only been out for a few minutes."

"What were you doing?" mumbled Taylor.

"Hmm. Shall we think about that for a minute? I was standing in front of a toilet with my fly undone. Obviously, I was tightrope walking."

"Smart ass." Taylor smiled.

"Yeah. I don't like to pee in front of my brothers. Anyway, when you saw it, you keeled over."

"Saw what?"

"My manhood. Never knew jealously could make you faint, Tay. Never mind. Some day you might be as big as me" Zac grinned. "On second thoughts, that's fairly unlikely."

Taylor grinned right back. "Yeah, you wish."

"So, you gonna tell me what's up?" asked Zac gently.

His eyes filling with tears, Taylor remembered the incident in the bedroom five minutes ago. Katie was probably still in there. Hugging his knees to himself, Taylor laid his head down on them, beginning to sob again.

"Tay?" pressed Zac.

Taylor looked up. "Oh, Zac, what's wrong with me?" he wailed.

Zac pulled him close and Taylor rested his head on Zac's chest. Zac held him while he trembled. "Tay, what happened?"

"I…um…kissed Katie."

"And now you feel guilty?"

Taylor nodded wordlessly.

"Well, it was only a kiss." Zac shrugged helplessly. He had no idea what to say.

"Zac, I almost had sex with her!" Taylor blurted out.

"Oh." There wasn't much else Zac could say.

"And I don't even like her, and I'm with Gabbie, and…" Taylor trailed off, covering his face with his hands.

Zac distractedly stroked his hair. "Let's get you out of here. I don't think Ike'll mind. He doesn't seem to be having a very good time anyway. He can't find Honey." He pulled away from Taylor, got up, then offered him his hand. "Come on."

Taylor took Zac's hand and unsteadily got to his feet.

Zac unlocked the bathroom door, ignoring the cheers and yells of "Finally!"

"Come on, Tay." He led his brother down the stairs. "We just gotta find Ike now," he muttered to himself.

Suddenly, Taylor stopped short.

Zac turned in surprise. "What's up?" he asked.

"Uh…Zac…um…you said Ike was looking for Honey?"

Zac frowned. "Yeah."

"Oh…well…um…gee…I sure hope he hasn't found her."

Zac followed Taylor's gaze. "Holy shit!" he cursed.

"That…that is Honey, isn't it?"

"Sure is," confirmed Zac bitterly. "What the hell does she think she's doing?"

Honey Perkins, dressed in a very revealing red dress, was hanging all over Scott Allcorn. As Zac and Taylor watched, she leaned over and they became involved in a very passionate kiss, their hands roaming all over each other.

"That's it!" growled Zac. "I'm going up to her and finding out what the hell she's doing!"

Taylor grabbed him by the shoulders. "Zac, don't," he said quietly. "It's none of our business."

"None of our business?! None of our business?! Tay, Ike's our brother!" Zac stared at him incredulously. "I know you two haven't been speaking much lately, but he's still our brother! Don't you even care?"

Taylor took a deep breath. He didn't know if he could handle this. Sure, he was sobering up slowly, but it was bound to take more than ten minutes to work off all those glasses of punch. Mind you, the shock of realizing exactly what he had been about to do with Katie had done a pretty good job, he supposed. "Zac, of course I care. But I don't think we can do anything, and if we try to, it'll only make things worse, don't you think?"

Zac sighed. "I guess."

"The only things I think we should do is find Ike and get the hell out of here."

"Hear, hear!" cheered Zac. "Tay, what do we tell him?"

"Nothing," replied Taylor firmly.

"Nothing?"

"What he doesn't know can't hurt him, right?"

"Right," agreed Zac uncertainly.

"Well, at least just now. If we think he needs to know, then we break it to him, okay?"

Zac nodded. "Yeah, okay, Tay. What are you gonna do? Are you gonna tell Gabbie?"

"Yeah," answered Taylor decidedly.

"You are?"

"If we don't have honesty, we don't have anything."

Zac had to admit that Taylor was making sense, for once in his life. He smiled, feeling slightly proud of his older brother. "Good on ya, Tay."

Taylor slugged him on the shoulder. "Thanks, man."

***

Zac rolled over slowly in his bed, watching as the fuzzy shapes in front of him gradually came into focus. Averting his gaze, he could see Taylor in his bed, eyes still tightly shut and snoring ever so slightly. Slowly, Zac sat up, trying to shake the sleepy, foggy feeling from his brain. For the first time, he realized that Isaac was sitting awake in his bed, talking on the phone.

"But we were supposed to be going to the movies, Honey!"

Zac collapsed back down into his bed. Now Honey was starting to blow Ike off. How long would it take her to tell him that she was seeing someone else?

"No, no, it's okay. I understand." Isaac sounded resigned. "Yeah, yeah, okay, tomorrow. See ya." He hung up the phone.

"Trouble in Paradise?" asked Zac, pulling the duvet over his head.

"Hmm?" Isaac looked surprised. "I wouldn't say that. It's just that Honey has to go visit her grandmother. It's her eightieth birthday, you see."

"Yeah, and she's gonna fly there on a pig," muttered Zac.

"What?"

"Nothing," Zac mumbled. "I…um...I said that she should buy her grandmother a wig. For a present. You know with her being eighty and all." Zac raised his eyebrows. That sounded ridiculous, even to him.

"Tay awake?" asked Isaac, looking at Zac like he was insane and choosing to ignore the wig comment.

Zac looked over. "Nah, not yet. Are you speaking to him again?"

Isaac shrugged. "I dunno. I mean, this has been going on for ages, but he hasn't apologized or anything yet. How come you're speaking to him?"

"I never stopped," replied Zac, sitting up and pushing his tangled hair out of his face. "I only told him a few home truths. That's all. We've always been speaking."

"Was he…was he okay last night?" Isaac tried to sound nonchalant, as if he didn't care.

Zac grinned. "I knew you'd ask that!"

"He'd been crying, hadn't he?"

Zac nodded.

"What happened?"

"Gee, Ike, I dunno if I should tell you. I mean, I want to, but it's really up to Tay, y'know?" Zac spread his hands apologetically.

"It's okay; I understand. I wish he would still talk to me though, as well as you."

Zac smiled wryly. "He would, Ike. If only you'd give him a chance. He needs his big brother right now."

"He does?"

"In your own words, Ike, more than anything." Zac glanced at him meaningfully. He got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. He stopped beside Ike's bed and squeezed his shoulder. "Just talk to him, Isaac. He needs all the friends he can get right now."

***

Taylor sighed. It was now or never. He picked up the phone and dialed all but the last digit of Gabbie's number. Quickly, he hung up the phone for the seventh time in the past five minutes. This was proving to be more nerve-wracking then he'd first thought.

Despite his bravado to Zac the previous night, the thought of confessing all to Gabbie made Taylor want to throw up. Would she kill him? Would she break up with him? Taylor really had no desire to find out.

But he knew that he had to. Even though it had been bravado, what he had said to Zac had been true: If Taylor and Gabbie didn't have an honest relationship, did they even have a relationship at all?

Squeezing his own hand for support, Taylor took a deep breath and punched in Gabbie's number. All of it.

He counted the rings - one…two…three…fo- "Hello?"

Taylor jumped, started by the masculine voice at the other end of the line. "Uh, hi. Is Gabbie there?"

"Who's this?"

"Um, it's Taylor. Taylor Hanson."

Taylor pulled the phone away from his ear as the guy hollered for Gabbie. Second later, "Gabbie Young."

"Gabbie, it's me. Tay."

Gabbie sounded surprised. "Oh, uh, hi there, Tay."

Hi there, Tay. Hi there, Tay? We've not seen each other for ages and all she can say is hi there, Tay? Taylor thought, twisting the cord around in between his fingers. Aloud, he said, "So, how've you been?"

"Great, just great." Gabbie sounded kinda distracted.

"Do you know when you're coming home yet?"

"Uh, no. Not yet."

"Oh." Taylor swallowed. "Gabbie, I got something to tell you."

"Shoot."

"I was, uh, at this party last night…"

"Yeah?"

"And, I, uh…you know Katie Gibson?" Taylor could feel himself blushing.

"The one who has a mega crush on you?" asked Gabbie.

"Yeah, that's the one. I…um…I kinda kissed her. Things got kinda hot. But I didn't, y'know…and I only did it cos I was missing you and I feel so bad and I, uh…Gabbie?"

"I'm here."

"Are you mad?"

"No."

"No?" Taylor couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice.

"Tay, I've been meaning to talk to you, too."

"You have?" Taylor could literally feel his heart slipping down to his toes.

"Yeah, I…I'm not coming home, Tay. I have a boyfriend here in Ohio."

"What?!"

"I'm sorry…I should've told you. We've been seeing each other for two years."

"Two years? Two years?"

"I'm sorry, Tay."

Taylor took a deep breath. "What exactly was I to you, Gabbie? Just what was I? A bit of fun?"

"Tay, I didn't think you would be so serious about it. I mean, you're so much younger and everything."

"Just cos I'm younger doesn't mean I don’t have feelings." Taylor bit his lip, forcing himself not to cry. He couldn't show Gabbie that he was upset.

"I know. Look, Taylor, I have to go. Take care of yourself, okay?"

"That's it? That's it? After all we've had together!" Taylor burst into tears.

"Don't do this, Taylor." Gabbie's voice sounded remarkably cool and calm. "It's over. It was fun, you’re a sweet guy, but you didn't really think it would last, did you?"

Taylor said nothing.

"Oh, you did? How sweet."

Where had he heard that before? "Gabbie, don't quote movies on me, please. You at least owe me to be original, not steal lines from chick flicks like 'She's All That'."

"Tay, I have to go. Take care." Click. She was gone.

Taylor slowly replaced the receiver into the cradle, tears sliding slowly down his cheeks.

***

The house shook and Isaac's coffee splashed out of his mug and onto his lap.

"I'm back!" yelled Zac.

"No kidding," muttered Isaac, wiping at the coffee spillage with a Kleenex.

Zac burst into the family room and flopped onto the couch, leaning against his mom.

"Zac, do you really have so slam the door so loudly?" asked Mrs Hanson, putting her arm around his shoulders.

"Yeah, Zac, that's must've been at least a 4.8 on the Richter scale." Jessica shot her brother a withering look.

"Sorry," apologized Zac, pulling away from his mom.

"Where were you, anyway?" asked Isaac.

"Libby's."

"Oh, yes?" Isaac raised his eyebrows.

"Yes," mimicked Zac, exasperatedly. "We watched 'Bean'."

"'Bean?'"

"Yes, 'Bean', as in Mr Bean, the dorky British guy who doesn't talk and is such a geek. Reminds me a lot of you, actually, Ike."

Isaac almost choked on his coffee and Zac grinned at him enigmatically.

"Yeah, Mr Bean and Austin Powers. Groovy, baby!" Zac did his best Austin Powers impression.

"Aww, Zac, you can't do it as good as me!" Isaac smiled. "I am the best Austin Powers impersonator."

"Uh-huh, and we're glad that makes you happy, aren't we, Jess?"

Jessica looked up. "Yeah, sure. We're all so jealous of you, Ike."

"Don't get lippy, Jess," kidded Isaac. "I'm almost eight years older than you, remember."

"I remember," muttered Jessica.

"Okay, since this dumb little thing between Ike and Jess is going nowhere, where is everybody?" asked Zac.

"Your dad's taken Avery and Mackie to Wal-Mart, Zoë's asleep and I haven't seen Taylor since lunchtime. I think he's in your room."

Zac frowned. "Is he okay?"

"He was a little quiet at lunchtime. He said something about calling Gabbie later."

"And he hasn't been down since?"

"No."

"I'm going up to see him. Ike, come on."

"Why me?" Isaac looked up, surprised. "He's not even speaking to me."

Zac just looked at him. "Come on."

Sighing, Isaac put down the coffee cup and followed Zac out of the family room and upstairs to their room.

Zac pushed open the door. "Tay?" he called. There was no sign of Taylor anywhere. Another Kleenex mountain on his bed, but no Taylor. "Tay?" He walked over to the bathroom door and knocked on it gently. "Taylor?" He turned to Isaac. "I'm going in, okay?" He knocked softly one more time, then pushed open the door. But there was something in the way. "Ike, it won't budge!"

Isaac appeared at his side. "What's stopping it?"

Zac peered round the door and gasped.

"Zac? What is it?"

Zac didn't answer; he just pulled back, tears welling in his eyes.

"Zac?" Isaac grabbed him and shook him. He was beginning to panic now. Zac began to tremble. "Dammit, Zac! Tell me!"

"Tay," Zac croaked.

"What is it?"

Zac pointed at the bathroom door, letting his tears spill forth.

Isaac looked behind the door and saw the thing that probably scared him the most in the whole entire world.

Taylor lay, slumped and pale against the door, apparently unconscious. A trail of drool trickled down his chin.

Beside him, there was an empty tub of painkillers.

Isaac pulled back, also beginning to tremble. "No," he whispered. "No, Tay, no!"

Chapter Ten
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