8------- The walk back to the hotel room was not a quiet one. We talked about our pasts, and presents. He told me about his music and his family, and I related my own family stories too. We ended up walking past the hotel and almost becoming lost in the outreaches of the city. We also admitted to eachother that we missed home, and just staying put for more than a couple weeks. I told him about my weaknesses and problems that I couldn't shake, and he listened well, adding his own pet peeves and hatreds. We talked more about Mac, and my life with him, and how I really didn't miss him as much as the stability that he created for me. It was hard talking about the loss of a soulmate to a future one, but the more he asked about him, I realized that he had been a big part of my life, and Taylor knew this. When we had reached the very outskirts of London, and were barely in farm country Taylor started to talk more than me. And it was my turn to listen to his stories with a quiet but careful ear. He told me about growing up in a hot spotlight with his two brothers, and being utterly confused with himself. He loved his family, but felt like he couldn't get on with his life, and seperate from them. His older brother was still living with the family in Tulsa, something Taylor didn't want to do. He wanted his own life, becoming his own person, more than one third of some big thing that produced hits, and was plastered on girls' walls. At that point I interrupted him, and told him that there were a bunch of people that I knew that liked their music, which was true. He was sick of writing about what he wanted in life, and not really doing it. He wanted time off, but the whole tours' inertia had kept the group going for two years on the road with his family. He wanted out, for at least six months. The tour was to continue for around another two months, he didn't think he could make it through. His mom wanted to go back home and raise her kids in Tulsa, normally, while his dad was always looking ahead, trying to gain more fans, earn more money, sell more records. He told me about his brothers who didn't perform with any feeling anymore, Issac wanted to marry a longtime girlfriend but couldn't because of the group, Zac had to be paid up front before every performace, he didn't like it anymore. At that point I had to giggle, the Zac I had remembered was the 12 year old who liked jello, and not cash. Taylor looked at me with a tired eye, "He's lost his spark, you should see him when we make it home, he just sleeps 14 hours a day and plays video games. The kid doesn't like me 'cause most of the girls scream for me, we never talk unless in interviews or in concerts, when we have to."

"If it makes you feel any better I never talk to my brother. Only about twice a year, Christmas and on his birthday, I send him German sausages, he likes 'em." Taylor laughed. "Yeah, unless there's food being offered, or a record deal, he and I don't get along."

"He's a musician?"

"Well he plays the guitar, we used to jam together a bunch. But that's ended."

"What'd you play?"

"I love playing the piano or keyboards, unfortunately I suck at both, but it's just fun." I laughed. Taylor didn't laugh along with me. Instead he looked off the stony, unpaved road, and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Your life is so weird, yet so cool. Hey, check it out, pegasus. It's a little east of the North Star." He pointed to the conselation in the clear dark sky, then stuffed his hands in his pockets. The street lamps were waning off, and it was almost four in the morning. I lifted my eyes to the heavens and looked at the night sky.

"When I was a girl, I used to love those Greek Myths, y'know, Psyche, Persephone, Zeus, all the stories. I thought it must have been the most interesting religion, I mean, instead of being lectured on your one, solo god, you've got a bunch, and you've got these incredible stories to go along with them." I paused to see if he was listening to my drifting rambling. His face was still raised to the dark night sky. So I continued, "I always felt so bad for Echo. She was this forest nymph, who fell in love with this boy, who was absolutely in love with himself. He'd just spend hours in the forest, by a lake, staring at himself. Well Echo did something to make a god mad, I think it was Hera, I can't remember why, it could've been for Zeus falling for her, but she was forced to repeat what someone else said, she couldn't talk on her own. So before she could talk to this mortal boy she was in love with, Hera put that spell, or curse on her. So she found him, staring at himself in the lake, and touched him on the shoulder. He was amazed by her beauty, and started to talk to her. But she couldn't answer him. She only repeated what he said, and he thought she was mocking him. He couldn't deal with Echo not liking him, because he thought he was irresistable, so he threw himself into the lake and drowned. Echo is now supposed to be always wandering, mourning the boy, and forever repeating what people say." I breathed in the morning air, and felt tired, the conversation began to take its' toll.

"I always liked Apollo, he seemed like he was the only one who really tried to do right all the time." Taylor dreamily answered.

"He let his son roast the earth, and gave Zeus permission to kill him." I looked back into the twilight sky, that had already started to lighten. Our surroundings had taken a sweet turn to a rural setting. Lush green fields could barely be seen in the little light given. We approached a run down barn, the wood was a stony, grey colour, with shale walls on the first floor. I stopped walking, and looked at it, there was still too little light to make out most of it. "Check it out." Taylor followed me to the opening, which looked about the size of a garage. The sweet scent of hay filled the air, it would seem as if the barn was just used for holding hay now. I could hear the faint rustling of mice, and felt the warmth of the hay. Taylor was still carefully snooping through the structure, and had climbed up into the hayloft. I looked around the barn once more, then found the ladder he had used to get up into the hayloft, which was solid, and clambered up into the higher floor. On the far wall there was a dirty window that had started to let in smoky light and the hay began to glisten. I took his hands and began to sway with him, "Did you ever get to go to a prom?"

"We used to play at them a bunch, before we made it big. I never really got to hang out though, we never knew any of the kids." Taylor looked into my eyes with conviction, "You know, Apollo was also the main love god before Venus."

"That's one hell of a pickup line if I ever heard one." I laughed, then drew him in closer, and lightly kissed his full lips. I whispered, "But that is true."

Chapter 9

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