It was a few days before Christmas that Zac arrived for a long, pleasant stay at home. Since September he'd spent most of him time in LA with a few stints back at home where he only stayed for about three days before shipping out west again. Things were beginning to turn around. He could invite Ben over without having to lie to anybody, he could leave and say, "I'm going to Ben's" without hesitation, and he could love his boyfriend without being afraid of what his parents would think.
He was surprised at how big he was getting. His brothers weren't exactly happy about it, but he was pretty much everywhere. His endorsements caused his album to go platinum, which was definitely a good thing. People were getting interested in his music again. Pretty soon he and his brothers would start recording and hopefully the new album would be out while he still had people interested.
Zac walked down the stairs after putting his suitcase in his room and his mother caught him. "Where are you going, honey?" she asked.
"To Ben's," he said.
"Don't stay out too late, okay honey?" she asked.
"Okay, I won't," Zac lied. He didn't plan on returning at least until the next morning. Zac left and drove over to Ben's apartment. He went inside the apartment and Ben looked up, smiling. "Hey baby."
"Hey," Ben said. He got up and walked over to Zac. "I missed you."
"I missed you too." Ben kissed him before they went over to the couch and sat down together. "But at least now I get to spend a whole two weeks with you." Ben smiled.
"Good."
"When do you want to go buy your car?" Zac asked, giving Ben a smile. Ben shook his head.
"Zac, you are not buying me a car!"
"I told you already I want to. I have this money and I wouldn't have gotten it if it weren't for you, so the least I could do is buy you something nice. You're always complaining about your car�come on."
"You're so stubborn, Zac," Ben said, shaking his head. Zac paused.
"Baby, are you okay?" Ben nodded.
"Yeah, of course!" Ben said. "I love you." Zac was about to say something when Ben kissed him, cutting him off. Ben's hands immediately moved to the hem of Zac's shirt and peeled it off of him. When he started taking off Zac's pants, Zac stopped him.
"Ben, what has gotten into you?" Zac asked.
"Well, nothing yet," Ben said. Zac gave him a look. "I love you baby, and I haven't seen you in a while." Ben kissed him again. "Come on. I'll let you buy me a car�" Zac smiled.
"I'm still getting nothing out this deal."
"Well, then," Ben said, pausing to kiss him, "maybe this time we'll have something get into you." Zac raised an eyebrow. "Come on." Ben got up and pulled Zac to the bedroom, giving him a tight grin. Zac relented and followed Ben into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him.
Afterward Zac and Ben were lying in bed together. Zac was exhausted but Ben was kissing him again, and Zac was too tired to push him away. "Oh come on, baby," Ben said, giving him a smile. "I know you have more energy than that."
"You just wear me out, Ben," Zac said. "I think I'll just take a nap. I was tired before I came over." Zac turned over and Ben laughed, latching his arms around Zac.
"You're so full of it."
"No, not anymore." In Zac's pants on the floor, Zac's cell phone began to ring. "Ugh, I hate that phone." Zac reached out and grabbed one his pant legs, pulling his jeans over. He grabbed the phone out of his pocket. "It's Sheila." He put the phone to his ear. "What do you want, Sheila? If it takes time out of my vacation you should just hang up right now."
"No," Sheila said. "It won't cut into your vacation time. Are you busy right now?" Zac looked at Ben.
"No, not at the moment."
"Good. I got a call and in January, after your vacation, Barbara Walters wants to do an interview." Zac looked confused.
"Why?"
"You're hot right now! Your album is selling monumentally and it's all because of your endorsements. Whatever you sell people want to buy and not a lot of people can do that, at least not like you. You're all over the place and she wants an interview."
"When?"
"It's be somewhere around mid-January. I'll check out your schedule and clear a day for you to do it, that is, if you want to do it."
"I will," Zac said. "Now don't bother me again." Zac hung up the phone, turned it off, and threw it on the floor near his clothes. He turned over again and Ben looked at him expectantly. "Barbara Walters wants an interview."
"Why?"
"That's what I said, and you know what, I still don't know," Zac said. "I'm hungry. Why don't you order a pizza?"
"Why don't you order a pizza?" Ben countered.
"It's not my apartment!"
"I'm not hungry."
"Ben, just order the pizza," Zac said. Ben groaned and reached over Zac to the nightstand where the phone was. He dialed the pizza place and was ordering when Zac started to kiss him. Ben smiled and pushed Zac away, just enough for Zac to come back and kiss him again.
"Yeah," Ben was saying, "One extra large, extra cheese."
"Sausage," Zac whispered.
"Extra cheese and sausage," Ben said, laughing a bit as Zac's tongue grazed his neck. "Stop it!" Ben pushed Zac away a bit, who only persisted. "Yeah, that's it. Thanks." Ben hung up the phone and Zac put his lips over Ben's. "The pizza'll be here in a half hour."
"A half hour? That's a long time to do a lot of stuff," Zac said, smiling.
"I thought you were tired."
"It passed."
It was a half hour later that they were interrupted by a knock on the front door. Zac got up, threw on Ben's robe and ran over to the door, his pants in his hand looking for his wallet. He grabbed his wallet and threw his pants on the floor before opening the door. "Hi," Zac said to the pizza man.
"That'll be $16.55," he said. Zac gave him a twenty.
"Keep the change," Zac said. He grabbed the pizza and closed the door. "Ben! Pizza's here." Ben walked out of the bedroom and headed to the kitchen with Zac where they sat down.
"So are you really going to do a Barbara Walters interview?" Ben asked. Zac nodded.
"Yeah. Why not?"
"Well�she tends to ask the really personal questions," Ben said. "It's not some normal teen magazine interview, this is the Barbara Walters. She's not afraid to ask the questions everyone else is, and for some reason people usually answer her truthfully." Zac shrugged.
"So?"
"Zac, she might ask about your personal life," Ben said. "She's going to ask if you have a girlfriend."
"Well I don't," Zac said. "And I'm not lying."
"But what if she asks if you're seeing anybody?" Zac sighed.
"I know what you're getting at, baby, and I don't know. I have no idea. I mean it's just one more stranger asking me questions that I don't want to answer. I don't have to tell her the truth. I can seem as straight as I ever was."
"Oh, posh, you're getting gayer by the second," Ben said. "Before you know it you'll be into fashion�oh wait, you are!"
"I'm not into fashion! I'm just in the industry! I know nothing about fashion."
"I noticed you now care about what you leave the house in and your finally started matching your belt with your shoes." Zac didn't say anything. "Tell me, Zac, how many pairs of shoes do you own?"
"That's besides the point. I always had a lot of shoes. It comes with the job."
"You're right, it does come with the job," Ben said, giving Zac a knowing look.
"You're so dirty!"
"And you love it," Ben said. Zac nodded.
"So which one do you want?" Zac asked, walking with Ben through the Mercedes Benz dealership. Ben was in awe of the beautiful cars all around him, knowing that he was able to actually choose one and would be driving out of here in one. Zac felt a little self-conscious about going into a car dealership with just Ben and saying he was going to buy him a car, so they brought Jayden along.
"Oh, man, Zac, I wish you would buy me a car," Jayden said, looking around.
"Yeah, but Jayden your car works fine. Ben's car desperately needs to go to the junkyard." Ben gave Zac a look. "That's why we're here! So I don't have to make fun of your car. Anyway, Jayden, you're not in need of anything."
"I have a Jeep Cherokee," Jayden said. "It's ugly and it's definitely not a Benz!"
"Jayden just shut up." Jayden huffed and looked around some more. "So, Ben, what are you doing for Christmas?" Zac asked. Ben shrugged.
"I don't know." Zac paused.
"You don't know? You're not going to spend it at home, are you?" Ben shrugged again.
"Like I said, I don't know. I most likely will stay at home, but I might go over to my Mom's. We're not big on holidays. She hasn't even tried to contact me since I moved out of the house and tomorrow's Christmas Eve, so it's not like she invited me over or anything."
"Ben?" Zac asked. He looked over. "Did you even give her the number to your place?" Ben looked away again.
"Hey, I like that one." Ben walked over to a silver metallic S500 sedan, nearly drooling. "Ohh man," he said. "This is one nice car."
"Find something you like?" an employee with the nametag of Bill said, appearing out of nearly nowhere. He was tall and distinguished, as many people were around here. He recognized Zac immediately, as most people did. If he hadn't recognized Zac, he would have been sneezing on the three kids checking out the cars right about now. "Ah, Mr. Hanson, come to purchase a car from us today?"
"Yes and no," Zac said. "I am feeling very generous and my dear friend Ben here is in desperate need of a new set of wheels, so I believe I'll be purchasing him a car."
"Quite all right," Bill said. "This one here is the 2003 S500 sedan, base price of $81,700."
"Eighty thousand dollars?" Ben asked, blown away. "Zac, this one's too much."
"No it's not," Zac said, waving a hand.
"This one here," Bill said, gesturing to the car Ben was drooling over, "is approximately $90,000."
"So that means don't drool on it unless you're planning on taking it home," Jayden whispered to Ben, who took a step away from the car.
"It is a nice car, Ben," Zac said. Ben shook his head. "Come here." Ben and Zac excused themselves from Jayden and Bill. Jayden started to talk to Bill, who rolled his eyes and feigned interest now that the one with the money was off to the side. "Do you like it?"
"It's too much, Zac! I could go to college on what it's going to cost you to pay for that car!"
"But do you like it?" Ben sighed.
"I love it."
"Good. We'll take it for a test drive and if you don't hit anything while we're out there, I'll get it for you." Ben shook his head. "Why the hell are you so difficult?"
"It's�it's nothing. Nevermind." Ben turned around and walked back to the car. Zac followed close behind.
"So I think we're leaning towards this one," Zac said. Bill nodded.
"Why don't I get the keys and we can take it for a test drive?" Bill asked. Zac looked at Ben, who nodded. "I'll be right back." Ben scratched his arm and looked around. Jayden sighed.
"I still can't believe you're buying him a $90,000 car," Jayden said to Zac. Zac shrugged.
"Well if you were my boyfriend I'd do the same for you," Zac said. Jayden made a face. "Yeah, you'd kind of half to earn your $90,000 car." Jayden shook his head and looked away. When Bill returned he handed the keys to Ben. Ben got behind the wheel and Bill sat in the front with him while Zac and Jayden sat in the back. "Oh, roomy," Zac said. Jayden gave him a look.
"Ohh man," Ben said as he sunk into his seat. "This is so comfortable."
"Ben, you may want to start the car first," Zac suggested. "We want to see how it drives." Ben put on his seatbelt, smiling, and started the car. Zac could tell by the look on his face that he was already sold, which made Zac smile.
Ben took it for a quick test drive, Bill explaining various features of the car, and Ben was obviously smitten with it. Ben went around the block before he started to head back to the dealership. "Don't you want to take it on the freeway?" Bill asked.
"No, I'm sold already," Ben said. "I just want to pay for it and get it home."
"Great. Pull in front of the building and we'll take care of that for you." Ben pulled in front of the building and they all got out of the car. Ben gave a smile to Zac, who returned it, and they all went inside to purchase Ben's new Mercedes Benz.