"Listen to this song Zac wrote," Taylor said, short into a phone conversation with Kris. He pulled out a tape of the recording he took of Wish that I was There, that he insisted that he needed on tape so he could play for Kris.
"You want me to listen to some of your songs? That Zac wrote?" Kris asked, a bit skeptically. "Fine. You do know I'm not the biggest fan of your music."
"Yeah but this is different from what you know." She sighed. He didn't bother, only put on the tape. She sat and listened, a bit intrigued. I was calling�Cause without you it's the end�Kris's mouth dropped. She didn't expect something of this caliber to come from the notorious MMMBop boys. I wish that I was there�I wish that I was there�When you're not here�I wish that I was there�
"Woah," Kris immediately said, interrupting the song.
"Shh," Taylor said. "Listen." And you make me feel�Won't you take me when you're not here�It's been raining here�And I just want you to be near� Kris put her hand over her mouth, shocked. This was something almost completely out of her life, that Zac had written half a year before she even met Taylor. As the song ended, Kris's hand dropped from her mouth.
"Oh my God that was so much more than I thought it would be," she said. "I didn't know you guys were that good."
"Well that's what you get for judging us over one song."
"Taylor I barely listen to anything more recent than 1989. I listen to Tonic every once in a while, but nothing else. I'm not with today's music. But that was wonderful."
"And that's just a recording I did a couple of hours ago. I set a tape recorder down and told everyone to play. We haven't actually played that song more than once before."
"Damn�"
"I know, I'm good."
"Shut up."
"What do you think we should do about this situation?" Taylor asked. "I miss you already." Kris sighed. There wasn't much she could do about it.
"I miss you too." Kris suddenly heard a yelp from Taylor.
"Ow!" Kris grew a bit confused. "Zac I'm going to fucking kill you one of these days." Kris began to laugh. "Why are you laughing at me?"
"Because you're stupid," she said, stressing it as much as she could. "What happened? Did he throw something at you?"
"No, he kicked me."
"Then kick him back." She heard Zac scream this time, and laughed harder. "I am so glad my sisters are older�I couldn't handle having a younger sibling."
"It's a trip," Taylor said, then kicked Zac again. He yelled out in pain again.
"Taylor!" Kris said. "Don't kill him!"
"I'm not; he'll live."
"Barely," she heard Zac say. "Kris you need to help me! I think I'm bleeding internally." Kris began to laugh again.
"She's laughing at you, Zac," Taylor said. Suddenly there was a few seconds of rustling and Zac's voice came over the phone.
"Bitch," Zac said, laughing.
"I love you too Zac."
"You know you do. I'm simply irresistible." Kris heard a door slam.
"Okay Zac, what's going on over there?" she asked.
"I locked Taylor in the bathroom." Kris laughed. "He's trying to get out but obviously I'm stronger than him. Considering I actually weigh more than 100 pounds!" Zac yelled, probably to Taylor on the other side of the door.
"This is why I don't have brothers."
"No, you don't have brothers because you're lucky. Wait until we get you to stay with us for a while�then you're going to go through hell and back. We're like this all the time."
"I'm surprised you haven't broken Taylor yet."
v "We go easy on him," Zac said. Kris tried to keep a straight face while she heard the pounding of Taylor's desperate fists on the door.
"Zac!" Kris heard, distantly. "Let me out or I swear I'm going to kill you!"
"Isaac and I both understand that even though Taylor's the tallest out of us, he's actually the littlest. I'm sure if I tried I could break his bones very easily."
"ZAAAAAACCCCCC!!!"
"Are you going to let him out of there?"
"No."
"You're evil!" Suddenly there was a loud bang and the door slammed again.
"Hi Kris," Taylor said, sounding very out of breath. "Now he's stuck in the bathroom."
"Are you going to let him out?"
"No."
"You two are very much alike, you know that?" The pounding on the door was louder now that Zac was doing it.
"Taylor! Let me out!" Kris began to laugh.
"Wait until we get you here. You're going to be the one in the bathroom," Taylor said. "Don't start laughing now. You're not going to like it."
"I'm sure I won't. That's why I'm bringing a baseball bat with me."
"TAAAAYYYYLLLLOOOORRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"He screams louder than you do," Kris said. This had to be the funniest conversation she'd ever experienced.
"Yeah, I noticed that," Taylor said. "He's also a lot more annoying than I am."
"Let me out!!!! Let me out!!!! Let me out!!!! Let me out!!!! Let me out!!!! Let me out!!!! Let me out!!!! Let me out!!!! Let me out!!!! Let me out!!!! Let me out!!!! Let me out!!!! Let me out!!!! Let me out!!!! Let me out!!!! Let me out!!!! Let me out!!!!" Kris started laughing hysterically. Taylor finally relented and let Zac out of the bathroom.
"God, you are so annoying!" Taylor said.
"I knew that would work," Zac said. "Give me the phone."
"No."
"Give me the phone. I have many, many things I can tell Kris that you don't want her to know."
"And I'm sure I don't," Kris muttered. "It'll just hurt you, Taylor. Let him talk to me for a few minutes."
"Oh, and now you're against me?" Taylor asked. "Fine then. Talk to Zac. I'll just fall off the face of the earth now."
"I love you Taylor."
"Shut up." The phone exchanged and Zac's voice spoke up.
"Hi!" he said, loudly. Kris took the phone away from her ear, making a face.
"God, Zac, I wasn't deaf before but I might be now." She shook her head clear and put the phone back to her ears. "Now calm down boy. What did you want to say?"
"Nothing, I just wanted to annoy Taylor. I really don't have much to say to you." Kris rolled her eyes. "I heard Taylor playing the song for you. Did you like it?"
"Yeah! God Zac I wish I could write like that! I'm lucky I can get two sentences to sound good together."
"It's not that hard, Kris."
"Yeah, to you. It just comes to you; you've been doing it for years. I haven't. And Zac, I'm kinda complimenting you here, so don't try to weasel out of it." Zac laughed. "But seriously it was a great song."
"Yeah, cause I wrote it."
"No, I think it was because Taylor had a part in it. Your part sucked."
"Hey!"
"I'm just kidding," Kris said. "I liked your part too."
"You better."
"You know I love you Zac."
"You realize you've met me all of once."
"The phone relationship's working out pretty well," Kris said. "I don't need to meet you to love you; you're perfectly lovable over the phone."
"Yeah, babe, cause I'm all sexy and all�"
"Yeah you are," Kris kidded. She knew it was getting Taylor jealous, so she just had to do it. "I'd take you any day."
"So you're my ho now, right?"
"That's my girlfriend, Zac!" Taylor shouted. Kris laughed. Taylor grabbed the phone from Zac. "What are you saying to him?"
"I want his sexy body. Oh baby, oh baby. Hold me back."
"Kris!"
"You know I'm kidding."
"How do I know? You've never said anything like that to me before."
"Okay Taylor. I want your sexy body. Oh baby, oh baby. Hold me back," she said, dryly. "Like I would ever do it with him anyway."
"When did we get to that?"
"Now." Kris laughed. "Do you actually believe for a minute that I would do that to you? With you right there?"
"I don't know�"
"Taylor you're an idiot."
"Sure Zac can be sexy but I'm an idiot," Taylor said, feigning his upset mood. "I see how it goes. If you want Zac, fine, take him."
"Hey! Alright, put him back on the phone. I'm ditching you."
"Okay, that's enough," Taylor said. "I was getting sick of being dismissed, so we'll go back to the real life now."
"I love you."
"I love you too. And I'm going to kill you Zac if you make another face at me." Kris started laughing again.
"Listen, if you don't want to do this, then I'll just go home," Kris said, sitting next to Brian at the counter. Lately Johnny's was becoming more of the fight scene than the make up place. "If you insist the only place we can be seen together is here, where nobody comes but us and a few select people, then fine. We'll sit here the rest of our lives and not let the outside world know we're together."
The regular clerk was trying his hardest not to listen in, but he'd been following the relationship since before it started. He knew how much they fought; he knew how much pain Kris was going through. He knew that it wasn't worth it anymore. He didn't know why Kris still bothered.
"You know that's not it�"
"Then why don't we go anywhere?" Kris asked, twirling her cup in her hands. "Why do we have to stay here all the time? This may be my home, but everyone has to leave home sometime."
"Fine. We'll go somewhere," Brian snapped, fed up with the charade.
"Nevermind, if you're gonna act that way then I'll go home." She got up and walked to the door.
"Why is it that whenever I offer to go somewhere you always walk away?" Brian called out. Kris walked back over, knowing he didn't like the make their quarrels known to the other people there.
"Because you always offer when you don't want to hear it anymore. You don't want to hear the truth anymore. I'm leaving." She left, ignoring whatever he was saying to her, if he was saying anything at all.
"Kris! Wait up," Brian called out. She kept walking. Eventually he caught up with her, and stood in front of her. "Please." She walked around him, but he grabbed her arm and kept her close to him. "Kris, don't walk away from me."
"What do you want?" she asked, frustrated. "What do you want from me? I don't know anymore!"
"Go to a movie with me." She sighed, the nodded. "Come on." He took her hand and led her to the car. She got in herself, huffing. Figures. He holds my hand but doesn't open the car door for me. Brian drove to the nearest movie theater, which was in the mall. Kris could tell already that Brian was regretting this. There was that slim chance that someone they knew would be there.
And there was. When Kris and Brian walked into the movie theater, their friend Guy was there with a few of his other friends. Kris recognized a few of them from school, but she wasn't very close to any of them. Brian tried to ignore him, pretending that he never saw him. But Kris, knowing how much she could back at Brian for everything, decided to wave.
"Hey Guy!" she said, and ran up to him. Guy Harris was one of her closest friends, and since she always seemed to be in a fight with Brian, he was closer than before. "I haven't seen you in a while."
"Hey Kris," Guy said, and looked behind her. Brian stood pretty far away, in line for the snacks. She never got snacks before the movie; Brian knew that. The only reason he was there was to get rid of the fact that he was there with Kris. "You here with Brian?" Kris nodded.
"Yeah. I don't know why he's in line, we never get anything before the movie starts." Guy gave her a look, skeptical. "You know that."
"I saw you two holding hands when you were walking up�"
"We're dating," Kris said, smiling. Brian's going to kill me. "We've been dating for months! You never knew?"
"No," Guy said. He looked a bit pissed off. "You've been going out how long and you never told me?"
"We've been together officially for about seven months now."
"Seven months! How come you never told me?" Guy said. He was really pissed now.
"To tell you the truth, Brian never wanted to tell anybody. He said it wasn't anyone's business that we were together. He doesn't want other people to see it. This is the first time we've been here on a date. We've been at Johnny's and that's pretty much it."
"Well Johnny's is you guys' place. I never go there cause I know that place belongs to you and him. It always has." Kris shrugged. "What's wrong?"
"He's being a bitch. It seems lately we fight more than we actually talk to each other. Every conversation in the past few weeks has ended in a fight."
"If it's affecting your relationship that much than Brian's not worth it. He's not worth you." Guy smacked her arm. "He's pathetic when it comes to these kind of situations."
"I'm just gonna give him a bit more time. If he doesn't change, or act up or whatever, I'm leaving him." She bit her lip. "It won't be pretty, I can tell you that right now."
"It's not going to hurt your friendship, will it?" Guy asked. He knew more than anyone how much their friendship meant to them. They'd been best friends for longer than he could remember, this couldn't break it up.
"I think it will," Kris said, sighing. She ran her hand through her hair. "Actually I know it will. After we break up, I don't think I'll ever talk to him again."
"That's gotta hurt."
"It will." But I got Taylor to fall back on. "But all good things come to an end sometime. Before you know it we won't be on speaking terms anymore." Brian finally walked up. Guy turned to him.
"How come you never told me you two were dating?" he asked. Brian immediately turned to Kris. She smiled at him. "God I've been wondering why you were acting differently together!"
"Uh, Kris, can I talk to you for a second?" Brian asked. Kris smiled to Guy and the two walked to a corner of the theater. She grabbed his soda a took a sip from it. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"There's nothing wrong with me, Brian," she said. "I don't know what you're talking about." She continued to smile. "I'm just telling my best friend what's going on with me."
"I thought I was your best friend."
"Not anymore." Her smile faded. "Not since you've been a total bastard to me, Brian. You treat me like shit, I don't understand it."
"Why did you tell Guy about us?"
"What's wrong with me telling people?" Kris asked, speaking up. "Why should I keep something I'm proud of a secret? I am proud to be your girlfriend, Brian. Well, at least I used to."
"Don't take this all out on me, Kris."
"You're the reason I'm pissed off! It's not like I'm mad at someone else, Brian! I'm fucking pissed at you!" He groaned, but looked around. He was making sure no one was watching. "What was that?" she asked. "What? Are you fed up with me? You don't want me yelling at you in a public place? Afraid that I'll cause attention? Afraid everyone else will look at you? FUCK YOU!!!"
She ran out of the movie theater. Brian stood there a few seconds, looking off in the direction she ran. He decided to go after her for the second time that day. Guy stopped him when he passed. Brian shook him off, ignoring anything that he said. He walked out of the movie theater, more pissed that he wasted good money on a movie that they never got into than her actually leaving.
Kris had slowed her pace into just walking quickly down the street. As much as there could be someone willing to jump out and kill her, she still didn't care. She was so angry that nothing could bring her out of it. She was waiting for Brian to come out of the movie theater and run after her like he always did, but he seemed to be taking his time.
"Kris!" She rolled her eyes and ignored it. "Kris, don't do this again." She continued to ignore him. If she was lucky, and if Brian didn't bug her too much, she'd be home in fifteen minutes. Brian appeared in front of her again. "Please."
"Leave me alone, Brian."
She walked away. Brian remained standing where he was before. "Fine, Kris! Just walk away like you always do! Walk away from all of your problems so you don't have to face the hardship of reality." She stopped and turned around. "Go on!" She walked back to him and shoved him away.
"Don't say that to me! The only reason I walk away is so that I don't kill you! Do you have any idea how horrible you make me feel each and every day? Do you know how many people have told me to get rid of you because it's not worth the trouble? Do you know how many times I've told those people that I frickin' love you too much to go away?" He didn't say anything. "That's what I figured." She walked away again, tears pouring down her face. She didn't expect to cry, and she sure as hell didn't expect to say that she loved him.
Shit I said it. Once she was around the corner she punched the wall, trying to release some of her pent-up rage. But he didn't say it back. He didn't say anything. She leaned up against the wall, and cried harder.
Never did she think he'd make her cry.
Musical Credit goes to Hanson (Wish that I was there)