“You’ve already won me over in spite of me . . . don’t be alarmed if I fall head over feet . . . don’t be surprised if I love you for all that you are . . . I couldn’t help it . . . it’s all your fault
~Alanis Morissette~
Zac walked down the street back to the hotel, hand in hand with Abby. Their kiss had certainly been incredible, atleast to Zac anyway. But he hadn’t kissed all that many girls. Actually only one. It was at a friend’s birthday party, when they were playing spin the bottle. But it didn’t quite compare to this one.
“So . . . want to do something together tomorrow?” Zac asked.
“I’d love to,” Abby replied. “Let’s go see a movie.”
“Which one?” Zac asked.
“The Sixth Sense. I heard it was really good,” Abby said.
“Isn’t that rated R? We’re not 17, so how are we going to get in?” Zac responded.
“Mom will buy the tickets for us. She’s done it before,” Abby replied.
“Oh . . .,” Zac trailed off. Ask her, Zac, his brain said. Ask her. “So . . . um . . .will . . . um . . . will . . . you-be-my-girlfriend?” Abby looked over at him.
“Huh? I didn’t understand a word you just said,” Abby said.
“WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME?” Zac shouted.
“You didn’t have to shout it at me,” Abby said. “But, yeah . . . I’d love to go out with you.”
“Great,” Zac said, smiling at her. Cool . . . I have a girlfriend.
Isaac paced back and forth across the living room, listening to the rain pouring outside. There’s got to be some way to get through to Marilla. Some way, he thought. He had already tried calling her five times, and she had hung up on him every time. She’d deleted his e-mails and just generally had driven him to the brink of desperation. He had never realized that he could feel so strongly about someone, as he did about Marilla. He was ready to just go over to her house and surprise her, so she couldn’t stop him. Isaac heard the door to the penthouse slam shut, and Taylor walked into the room.
“Hey, Tay. Where have you been?” Isaac asked. Taylor plopped down onto the couch, letting out a loud sigh. He stared off into space. Isaac walked over to him and snapped in his face. “Hey you! Where have you been?” Taylor snapped to and looked up at Isaac.
“I took a walk in the park. I told you that before I left. Stop bugging me about it,” Taylor said. Isaac himself began to stare off into space. “What’s wrong with you? I thought you and Marilla were supposed to do something together today.”
“We were . . . ,” Isaac trailed off. “Aisleagh called.” Taylor looked up at Isaac with a look of shock. “She wanted to get back together. She called while Marilla was here. I guess Marilla overheard me, and she got upset. I heard the door slam and went to see who it was, and Marilla was gone.”
“Well, did you atleast go after her?” Taylor asked.
“Yeah. She got all mad and told me she never wanted to speak to me or see me again. She said that she didn’t want to play second fiddle, and that it was over,” Isaac replied. He sank down on the couch beside Taylor. “God, Tay . . . she was crying. I made her cry. You have no idea how badly that hurt. I had no idea I could ever have that kind of power over someone.”
“Well, what did you tell Aisleagh?” Taylor asked.
“That it was over and that I had met someone else,” Isaac said. “But that still doesn’t fix things with Marilla. She won’t talk to me on the phone or answer my e-mails. She won’t even give me a chance to explain. It’s not like I was expecting Aise to call and want me back. I couldn’t help it.”
“Sounds like you may have to do something really extreme to win her back,” Taylor said.
“Like what? Do you have any ideas?” Isaac asked, frustrated. “I have racked my brain, and have yet to come up with one single thing.”
“Didn’t you say that you stopped in a little coffee shop last night?” Taylor asked.
“You remember that? I’m surprised . . . you seemed a little out of it last night. But yeah, we stopped in one. She wanted to hear Juliana Hatfield,” Isaac replied.
“Who?” Taylor asked.
“Juliana Hatfield. She’s one of Marilla’s favorite singers,” Isaac replied.
“Oh . . . well, anyway, take her back to that coffee shop. Or get Andrea to take her there without her knowing that anything is up. Have it set up all nice and romantic, you know what I mean. Drippy candles, nice food, and live music,” Taylor suggested. “Get Juliet Hat- . . . ”
“Juliana Hatfield,” Isaac cut in.
“Whatever . . . just get her to sing the song for Marilla. I guarantee you’ll have Marilla back in your arms in no time,” Taylor said.
“That’s a great idea,” Isaac said, smiling. “You give great advice, little bro.”
“I know, I know,” Taylor said, grinning cockily.
“Do you care to tell me now what you were really doing this afternoon? Cause I know you couldn’t have possibly been at the park for the past four hours, walking,” Isaac asked. Taylor narrowed his eyes at Isaac and stuck his tongue out at him. Then he stood up and walked out of the room “You know I’ll find out, somehow, anyway, so why don’t you just tell me?” Taylor slammed the bedroom door in response. Isaac shrugged his shoulders and stood up, walking over to get his jacket. There was a knock at the door. Isaac reached over, opening the door slowly. A wave of shock swept over him.
“Marilla?!”
Taylor laid back on the huge king size bed in his room, putting his hands behind his head. I can’t believe I slept with Andrea . . . how am I ever going to keep this a secret? , he thought. God . . . she’s so gorgeous . . . if only I hadn’t made that comment yesterday. This could be something real. Taylor made a face at the thought of his rude remark. It wasn’t usually like him to have a conscience, at least where girls were concerned. The only girl he had ever really cared about was gone. And that had just been too hard to deal with. So, he used girls for the pleasure of it, nothing more. The thought of falling for someone again, and possibly losing that person was too much to bear. So, he didn’t get emotionally involved at all. But there was something different about Andrea. He had known that the first minute he’d seen her. Her smile, her blue eyes . . . the way she crinkled her nose up when she smiled . . . her voice was like music to his ears . . . Taylor shot up like a bullet out of the bed. I’m in love with her . . . God help me . . . I’m in love. Dammit . . . I can’t even tell her. I already said this was going to be just a physical thing. But I’m falling in love with her . . .
Marilla stood in front of Isaac, soaking wet. Her cheeks were red and tear-stained, her eyes puffy, and an icy blue. She was shivering, the sleeves of her coat pulled over her hands.
“Marilla? What are you doing here?” Isaac asked.
“I’ve been walking around the city all afternoon, thinking. Isaac, it wasn’t right of me to just run off like that, without letting you explain, or even putting up a fight,” Marilla explained.
“Come in, dry off,” Isaac said. She walked into the room. He helped her with her jacket, which taking it off, revealed that her clothes underneath were also soaking wet, as was her hair. “You’re freezing and soaked. Let me get you a change of clothes.” He ran into his room and pulled a pair of boxers and a t-shirt out of his suitcase. He ran into the bathroom and grabbed a towel. Then he walked back into the living room and handed them to her. “You can change in the bathroom over there.” Marilla slipped her boots off, and padded over to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. He walked over to Taylor’s room, and knocked on the door. The door opened.
“Marilla’s here,” Isaac said. Taylor gave his brother a surprised look. “Can you leave and go find something to do for a couple of hours? I need to talk to her.”
“Sure . . . I have just the thing,” Taylor said. He walked over to the door and grabbed his coat. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, Isaac.” Isaac gave his younger brother a dirty look. Taylor left, slamming the door behind him. Marilla came out of the bathroom.
“Who was that?” Marilla said, rubbing at her long hair with the towel.
“Just room service,” Isaac lied. He sat down on the couch. “So start talking.”
“Well . . . see . . . when Aisleagh called . . . I overheard you talking. I guess you know that, though. Anyway . . . when you mentioned her wanting you back, I just figured, you’d go straight back to her, and there was nothing I could do to stop you. I mean, she had you first, and you two just broke up . . . so naturally, I just assumed . . . ,” Marilla trailed off. Isaac raised an eyebrow, looking at her. “I guess I should explain why I haven’t dated anyone for a while.”
“That would help,” Isaac said. Marilla began to pace.
“Well . . . about three years or so ago, I was dating this guy, Bobby Machiavelli. He seemed to be really nice, and I fell really hard for him. We had been dating for about 6 months when we slept together for the first time.” Isaac had a shocked look on his face. “Keep listening, it gets worse. Anyway . . . it was at about that time that he started cheating on me with another girl. My best friend, actually. It was several more months before I found out, and by then . . . well . . . we had slept together several times, and to say I was a little hooked doesn’t even begin to cover it. I found out, and I was so hurt by it, because I loved him so much, and I had given so much of myself to him.”
“Yeah, I understand,” Isaac replied.
“Well, I just decided that I wasn’t going to let that happen again. He was my first boyfriend, and I, being the naive person I was at the time, figured all guys were like that. Horny constantly, and couldn’t sustain a monogamous relationship. I figured if I ever met the right one, I would know instantly, and we would just click, no problems, no questions asked. I would just marry the guy on the spot, without dating him first. Which was stupid and totally unrealistic, but I held firm to it. So, to date, I have been dateless, and gutless, for almost three years,” Marilla said. “And then I met you.”
“And?” Isaac said.
“I think you know the answer,” Marilla said, giving him a withering look.
“But I want to hear you say it. I’m not going to let you off easily after you flew off the handle the way you did this afternoon. I want to hear it,” Isaac said, smiling.
“You are so totally different from most guys that I have met,” Marilla said. “You treat me with respect, and you seem to truly care about me , not getting me in the sack. I guess what I’m trying to say is that . . . well . . . I’m not going to give you up that easily. At least not without a fight anyway.” Isaac stood up and walked over to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist.
“Trust me, you don’t have to,” he whispered. “I told Aisleagh no. I told her I had met someone else that I really cared about.”
“Really?” Marilla asked, pressing her forehead against his.
“Yes, Marilla,” Isaac said. “I love you.”
“Excuse me?” she said, startled.
“I love you, Marilla,” Isaac stated simply. She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.
“I love you, too,” she replied. She kissed him again.
