Kris and I walked into my apartment that evening. I told her I'd make her dinner and we'll see how that goes. I don't cook much but the stuff I do cook is either very good or my family is just being incredibly nice. I have yet to find out but I like it so we'll see. Kris sat down at the counter.
"You have messages," Kris said, pointing to my answering machine. I looked at it and it was blinking. I always have messages. People are constantly calling here; it's like Grand Central Station it can get so busy. I swear, if I go out for the day I come home and I have twenty messages. Today it looks like I only have three. I got lucky.
"So I do," I said. I pressed the play button.
"Hey Taylor it's your brother," Isaac said. "Something fucked up with one of the tracks and we're going to have to edit it over. We need you and Zac in the studio tomorrow. Call me." I groaned. This happened every time. I began to wonder if it had to do with Ike. I got out a pan from the cabinet and put it on the stove. The next message began to play.
"Hey Tay, it's Zac." How many times do I have to tell him not to call me Tay? "Oh, sorry. Taylor. Anyway, I guess you and Kris are still out. Um�call me when you get back. Ginger and I are at the hotel. Let me know if Kris is going to stay there or if you're going to bring her here or what. Bye." The next message clicked on.
"Taylor, it's your mother. Call me."
"I guess you have a lot of calling to do," Kris said, giving me a smile.
"Pfft, like I'm going to call any of them."
"Well I better call Ginger anyway." I shrugged and gave her the phone. "Hey sweetie," she said. "Am I interrupting?" I tried to focus on dinner and not on her conversation but it seemed whenever Kris spoke I just wanted to listen. "Oh, I completely forgot to tell you, when I was waiting for you and Taylor this afternoon Elyse called and she wants you to completely redo chapter seven. I know! That's insane, it's the best chapter in the book. I don't know, but I think it has something to do with the page where you used thirty different phallic euphemisms." I couldn't help but turn around and give Kris a very confused look. "Taylor, she's a romance novelist." She smiled. "He gave me a very strange look�no I haven't! What kind of girl do you think I am? I'm not you!" And that was definitely true. "He's making me dinner. What? No, Ginger not now�"
"What's going on?" I asked. She put the phone on her shoulder.
"She wants me over there." I had a feeling that would happen. I knew the moment we had contact with one of them they would try to break us apart. Neither of them trusted me. They were afraid I was going to just nail her and get rid of her like I did to everybody else but I wasn't going to. I wasn't even going to sleep with her. I haven't even kissed her yet.
"I had a feeling she would," I said.
"Do you mind?" I sighed.
"No, no I don't."
"That doesn't sound very convincing."
"Listen, Kris, I'll take you over there. No big deal."
"All right�" She put the phone back up to her ear. "I'll be back in a bit, okay Ginger? Bye." She hung up the phone. "I'm sorry. That was completely out of the blue."
"You know why she's doing that," I said.
"Why?"
"She doesn't trust me, and neither does Zac. They're afraid I'm just going to one night stand you and I'm not going to do that. Not to you." She smiled.
"Well you'll just have to prove them wrong," she said. "Let's go." I shut off the burners and we left again. I was thoroughly pissed. I was having the best date of my life, even if I hadn't kissed her yet, and my untrustworthy brother and his slutty little girlfriend were just ruining everything.
In the car on the way to the hotel Kris turned to me and asked me something I didn't think she was going to ask. "Taylor?"
"Yeah?" I asked, looking over at her.
"If you're not going to one night stand me," she said, "Then what are you planning on doing?"
"I don't know," I said, shrugging. "I mean I kind of figured I'd take you to the airport tomorrow and we can talk on the phone and stuff�and maybe I could see you again." She grinned. "I mean, if that's what you want."
"Do you mean like, maybe, have a relationship with me, maybe?" She was definitely more forward about this than I was. She was actually making fun of my nervousness. I just didn't want her to say no. I didn't hear a lot of no's in my time and I definitely didn't want to hear it from her. I really, really was starting to like her and the more time I spent with her the more I wanted to be with her. Unlike Ginger, when I couldn't stop thinking about having sex with her, with Kris I couldn't stop thinking about talking to her again, and seeing her again. It was really weird.
"Yeah�"
"Why Taylor Hanson, I had no idea," she said.
"So, um," I said, "do you?"
"Do I what?"
"Want to have a relationship with me?" I cautiously asked.
"Yeah. Yeah, I do," she said. "But of course this means you're going to have to kiss me at one point or another."
"I'm just waiting for a good time," I said, quickly.
"Why are you so nervous?" she asked.
"Because I am absolutely petrified," I told her. "I'm afraid of you." She raised an eyebrow. "I've never in my life actually felt this way about someone and it just scares the hell out of me. I don't want you to say no."
"I haven't said no yet, now have I?"
"Well�no."
"Then you have nothing to worry about."
We arrived at the hotel and I went in with Kris. We went upstairs and stopped in front of the room she and Ginger would be sharing for the night. She raised her fist to knock but I stopped her. "Wait," I said.
"What?"
I leaned in and kissed her. It was one of those first kisses that send sparks flying all over the place, the kind that makes a person weak in the knees yet so incredibly strong all at the same time. It wasn't like the other kisses I've had, where I was just kissing because that's what you do, I was kissing so I could taste her, explore her, and find out everything about her that I wanted to know and I could only find out this way. She was killing me with every passing moment but I was dying happily.
I pulled away and took a breath and she was astonished. "Wow," she said. "Um�wow."
"I�" She kissed me again, cutting me off, and pushed me up against the door. I couldn't help but smile a bit as she took over, kissing me so hard I thought my lips would fall off but I didn't want to stop. The door opened behind me and Kris and I fell into the room.
"I thought that would be you," Zac said. "Get up." He walked back into the room, telling Ginger that we had arrived. I'm sure that did nothing for them; they probably thought we were screwing in the car and just continuing on as we came up here. Kris noticed my hesitation to get up and gave me a reassuring smile. She pulled me up and we walked into the room. Ginger was sitting on the bed and I'm sure when Kris called the two of them were in some heavy heat and the only reason they stopped was because they didn't want me to take advantage of Kris. As pissed off as I am about it, I do understand why they did it. I'm known for this kind of thing and they both care about Kris a lot; they just didn't want her to get hurt. Looking at her right now I don't think I could ever hurt her, especially not like that.
"Well did the two of you have fun?" Ginger asked, looking at me and not at Kris.
"Yeah," Kris said, sitting down on the other bed. "We went to the park. We would be having dinner right now if you didn't insist that I come over. What's your big emergency anyway?"
"Um�" Ginger said. I crossed my arms.
"Yeah, what could you possibly need her here for, Ginger?" I asked. "I mean, couldn't you have done it over the phone?"
"Taylor, I think you should just go."
"Is Zac going?" I asked. Zac shook his head. "Then I don't see why I should go." I sat down next to Kris on the bed. The sight of Kris and me on the same bed together was way too much for the both of them and Zac got up.
"You know what?" he said. "I am leaving. Ging, I'll stop by to bring you and Kris to the airport tomorrow."
"Actually," Kris said, drawing Zac's attention, "Taylor was going to bring me to the airport tomorrow."
"Whatever. Taylor, are you coming?"
"Sure," I said. I turned to Kris. "I'll call you in the morning, okay?"
"All right." I kissed her and stood up. Zac was in such a fury he barely even said goodbye to Ginger. He and I left the room together.
"Listen, I don't know what the hell you're trying to do but do it to someone else, all right?" Zac demanded as soon as we got out of the room and started down the hall to the elevators. "Kris is a good friend of mine and I'm not going to let you mess things up."
"I'm not going to do any of that, Zac! Stop being so fucking paranoid!" I yelled. I pressed the button for the elevator and in a moment the doors opened and we got inside. Zac didn't say a word to me and my mind began to drift back to the day I had. Starting with the moment I met Kris, it turned out to be, hands down, the best day I can ever remember. Just the thought of Kris sent a smile to my face.
"Oh, so you're happy about this now?"
"Happy about what?" I asked, looking over at him.
"Ugh," he said, his visage turning to disgust as he looked away. I thought of Kris again and, again, I smiled. "Taylor?"
"What?" I asked, looking over at him again. He looked at me, inspecting my face for a moment. "What?!" He let out a shocking gasp and backed up against the wall of the elevator, one hand over his mouth, the other with his finger pointed at me.
"You're in love with her!!!"
"No�" I said, shaking my head. "I just met her."
"That's all it takes!" A big smile crossed his lips. "All this time I was thinking you were just going to screw her like you did all of the other girls but you love her!"
"No I don't!"
"Did you sleep with her?" he asked.
"Not that it's any of your business�"
"It's always my business."
"No," I said. "I didn't."
"Oh�you love her," he said, shaking his head. "You love her so much you didn't even fuck her."
"Don't say it like that."
"Oh my God I cannot believe this. I was so waiting for this to happen," he said. He sounded very excited. "With all of the girls you meet, you feel absolutely nothing but physical attraction to them and finally you fall in love with someone. You didn't sleep with her, you don't like it when I call sex 'fucking' so you obviously have something for this girl. I'm surprised you even kissed her."
"I almost didn't."
"No way!"
"Yeah. Our first kiss was right outside the door of their hotel room, like, five minutes ago."
"Wow." He smiled. "You are so in love with her."
"Shut up, Zac!"
"Oh, come on, Taylor," Zac said. "It's obvious! You're in love with her. You want to get married and have a million children and everything!"
"Don't say that!" I said, putting my hands over my eyes.
"Oh, excuse me, I forgot Taylor has commitment issues," Zac said, putting up his hands. "Whatever�"
It wasn't that that scared me. Tell me that yesterday and I would have been scared out of my mind. What scared me was when he mentioned marriage and babies and everything, it didn't scare me.