Chapter nineteen

~ ZAC ~

"Hi Guys", Taylor obviously trying to encourage a good mood from everyone, flew into the breakfast room like a whirlwind of enthusiasm. Of course no one seemed the least bit interested including Claire and I, we just raised our eyes to meet across the table then silently carried on eating our cereal.

Taylor on the other hand was starting as he meant to go on, he wasn’t gonna let us get away with the silence. "How was your flight Claire, you arrived fairly late last night". "She looked straight at me, as if the sound came from my mouth, not expecting Taylor to even talk to her. I looked straight at Tay, his eyebrows scrunched in a questioning frown waiting for Claire to react or even reply. She suddenly realized it was Taylor talking to her, she turned to face him smiling. "Well yeah, my flight got in a little late because of the bad weather, thanks for asking", I think she was in shock he was actually talking to her.

Taylor, smiled and nodded, "so guys what we doing today, are we heading in town to", he leaned in towards the two of us lowering his voice "To get Ike’s birthday present". He said in a lowered whisper so Isaac didn’t hear.

But he did hear.

"Well, don’t let Tay pick my present Zac", ike shouted from the other end of the room from the sofa where he was reading the paper. Tay shot up in his own defence, "hey big ears, and what’s wrong with me picking the present". Standing above Ike his hands on his hips. "Well, you picked it last year, you got me some weird shoe’s that nobody in the world would wear". He said shaking his head, "and they were purple, Purple Tay who would wear Purple shoes". I couldn’t quite tell if Taylor was more hurt or just felt sorry for Ike’s lack of vision when it came to fashion. "Ike those were brilliant shoes, I’d wear them, hell what am I saying I do wear them, you have no fashion sense man". He threw his arms in the air, then buzzed with a new idea "hey, what if I get you a shirt to go with them, then you’ll practically have an outfit".

Claire, Taylor and I all looked at Ike, the look of shear dread on his face was a picture. We all burst into hysterical laughter at the sight of him sitting there deep in the thought of having to open the bright Purple shiny shirt in front of all his friends. As we left, Ike tried one last glimmer of reason, which sounded a little like begging, "please Zac, you pick the present, don’t let him show me up AGAIN". We all laughed, leaving poor Ike in a sweaty mess on the couch, wondering what the hell he was about to open in front of his friends. I should have reassured him a little, but this way was much more fun.

I was amazed at how well, Claire and Taylor were getting along, I’d decided to take a break and stop for a coffee, Ike’s present safely in my possession. Tay and Claire went off to see what delights they could conger up to wear that evening, so I’d decided I was best out of the way.

When my phone rang I knew it was Crystal, "Hi Zac, how is everything" she merely whispered on the other end, I knew she would be frightened that this whole plan would go dreadfully wrong, but so far it wasn’t. "It’s going surprisingly well as a matter of fact, they have gone off to shop alone, together……..Oh you know what I mean", I whispered back down the phone line like our conversation was something top secret. "Oh good, he’s behaving himself then", I laughed at her choice of words.

"Crystal, why are we whispering exactly", she chuckled as she said, "I have no idea".

"I have been so worried Zac, I haven’t slept all night, the last thing I want is Taylor and Claire arguing again." I could tell she was worried sick, and knew how torn she felt between the two, because I had been exactly the same feeling, he is my brother after all.

"It’ll be fine Crystal, I wouldn’t let you down, if things get out of hand then I’ll stop it, please don’t worry". She sighed a deep sigh of relief as I spoke, I could almost feel it. "Will you call me, if anything bad happens Zac". "Of course I will, but it won’t, she’ll either say yes, or dig her heels in the ground and say no, it’s as simple as that". "I love the way you simplify everything Zac, I bet you think I’m over reacting", she said with a slight chuckle in her voice. "Crystal, you and I both know, when Tay is involved there is no such thing as over reacting, because we all know he will". We both started laughing just as I saw Tay and Claire walking towards me, loaded with enough bags to clothe an army, if there’s one thing those two have in common it’s their love of clothes and shopping.

"I have to go here’s Tay and Claire, speak to you soon K", now I was doing the secret whisper, the line went dead as Tay stopped in front of me. "Who was on the Phone Zac, I bet it was Ike, asking what he was getting, I hope you told him we got his purple shirt, I hope you said we did, that’ll get him worried." We all laughed as we left for the car park.

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~ Claire ~

It was a pretty strange day today, It’s a weird feeling Taylor and I getting along like we have been today, although I feel extremely suspicious of his motives I’ve enjoyed every minute we spent together. He seemed so relaxed, and really seemed like he wanted to make the effort. He helped me choose my dress for the party, we had a great laugh trying on all those clothes, and he has great taste in clothes. There was no mention of Mom and I did expect it, and the awkwardness that would follow when we didn’t agree on the subject. But he never mentioned her once; I like to think he wanted the day to get to know me more, rather than not finding the right moment.

I smoothed down my dress admiring it in the mirror, thankful I let Taylor talk me into buying it, he was so right, it looks fabulous. Zac’s was behind me, his head on my shoulder watching through the mirror, "You look fantastic", he said kissing my cheek his arms went around my waist pulling me into him. "I love this dress babe", I looked at him smiling "Tay chose it", he locked eyes with me in the mirror raising his eyebrows, "Wow, you two are getting on better". I put my arms around his neck, and leaned in to kiss him. "Come on, let’s go show Tay and everyone how wonderful you look in it". He said pulling me out the door to join the party.

When we got to the bottom of the stairs Taylor was just putting the phone down, I could tell he’d been crying, he wiped his eyes and swallowed the lump in his throat hoping we didn’t notice. He approached us, putting on a forced smile, I almost felt sorry for him. "Hey, you look great, I told you that dress was you didn’t I", he said admiring the dress. We all walked towards the living room, it was lively with music and there were hundreds of people already here, the room was bursting at the seems. Zac stopped at the door, "It’s packed in there, just how many people did Ike invite to this little get together as he called it". "Lets go check out the kitchen, I said to them both see if we can get a drink".

As we approached the kitchen I pulled Taylor back " Was that bad news on the phone, you looked pretty upset". He shuffled a little looking at his feet, when he lifted his head I could see the hurt in his eyes. "No I was talking to Crystal I just wanted to see how she was, I always get a bit weird at party’s……, you know, you and Zac are together, and Ike has Sarah here, I just feel that Crystal should be here and I just miss her I guess". I nodded and walked into the kitchen, feeling a little guilty I didn’t suggest she came. I had been pretty fed up with her getting back together with Taylor at Zac’s party; my life would be so much easier with the Hanson’s if they weren’t together.

The party went great, Ike even loved his present, and grateful Taylor didn’t present him with something Purple. We all danced together, but sometime during the dance session Zac and Taylor has disappeared, I looked around and Ike came up to me, "Taylor and Zac went upstairs, they found something interesting on the message boards at Hanson.net". I said thanks and made my way up the stairs.

I knocked on Zac’s door when I heard them both laughing on the other side. "Come in Claire", Zac shouted, he must have guessed it would be me. "What you guys up to", I said walking nearer to them. When I looked at the screen I gasped in shock, it was my mum, going up the stairs in this very house hand in hand with Taylor. "Oh My God, No that’s all we need", I was shocked to see that picture there, and started to panic. "No it’s alright, look read what it say’s there’s hundreds of posts, they all say they like the look of her., and they are pleased for me". Taylor stated with a huge smile, obviously happy with it. I looked at the screen, right enough they were words of acceptance, and I was quite surprised.

"This is still bad Tay", I had a really bad feeling about this. He looked at me with that "what now look". "Why, what’s bad about it". I could see he wasn’t going to be pleased with what I had to say next. "Well firstly, they are all going to start asking her age, then they’ll start putting two and two together, and find out that that’s my Mom". The "that is my Mum" came out unintentionally as if I was shouting. Taylor’s happiness shattered there and then, he swallowed hard, he looked a little angry. "You would say that wouldn’t you Claire".

Taylor, pointed to the screen, "why would they do that, and what does it matter, if they accept your Mom which they clearly have, what makes you think they will say anything about her being your Mom". "Oh come off it Tay, you and I both know they’ll be disgusted by it". I didn’t mean to be that horrible, but it was the truth. I knew he wasn’t hearing what he wanted to, so I decided to end the conversation. "They must never find out, and the only way that will happen is if you don’t see each other".

"Oh, just like that", he clicked his fingers, "You decide that’s what you want, so I have to go along with it", He was getting really angry. "Taylor, it’s for her own good, she wouldn’t be able to cope with the things they will say about her, specially when they find out her age. It would kill her if they were horrible about her, I know she will, and if I can protect her from that I will". "Well, don’t forget the bit about how embarrassing it would be for you Claire, you see I’ve heard all these excuses before, you are just being selfish".

"How dare you". I shouted, Zac got up, "Okay you two that’s enough, Taylor we tried man, she isn’t gonna budge you might as well give up". He put his arm on Taylor’s shoulder, and turned off the computer. Taylor got up, walked towards the door and turned just as he reached it.

"Claire, in a few years you’ll be leaving home, you’ll either get married or move to a place of your own, hell, you might end up moving to the states to be with Zac. What then, what does your Mom do, you’ll leave and she’ll be alone, in her thirties, maybe her forties then but alone all the same. You’ll be off starting your new life, and what will she have? ………nothing that’s what". He looked me straight in the eye, knowing what he said was true, and I had to admit it was true. "Well, she might meet someone", I didn’t know what else to say "But what if she doesn’t, what if this is her only chance for happiness, what if she never wants anyone else, I know I won’t. What then, what if she’s on her own for the rest of her life, how will you feel with the knowledge that you caused her to be alone because you were to damn selfish to let her be happy".

Now those words hurt, partly because they could be true, but because they came from him, he was so smug about being right it pissed me off, I turned to face him. "You’ve said your peace now piss off". He walked out and slammed the door.

I cried, Zac pulled me to him and kissed my head, stroking my hair until I stopped crying, he lay me down on his bed, and cuddled up to me, I stayed like that safe in his protective arms until we drifted off to sleep. I knew Zac didn’t agree with my reasoning as far as the Taylor and Mom situation, he kept his opinions to himself and I loved him for that. He had a pretty good friendship with Mom so I know he has no problem her seeing Taylor, and to be quite honest I could understand why he thought the situation was alright. We managed to talk about it the next day and I eventually agreed to allow Mom to come to the Hanson’s for Christmas. I don’t know why I agreed, I knew that it would please Mom and Taylor, I really didn’t want to make them unhappy, but I knew I was right.

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