It was a few months later and I was enjoying my time in Florida. The city was so homely and I enjoyed everything about it. I was getting along with Ginger and Kris and it couldn't be better, so things were going my way. I spoke to my family whenever they would listen and Leo was coming out for Thanksgiving. Ginger had just had her second ultrasound and found out she was definitely having a girl, so sometime in January we expect to have Jenny here.
When I found out from my mother that Zac had spent his eighteenth birthday alone in New York I was pretty upset. Zac had been looking forward to his eighteenth birthday since the day after his seventeenth birthday. He said he was going to have a massive party with all of his friends and family to celebrate the youngest of the three of us becoming legal, but I guess everything changed when he left. My mother said she even wanted to fly out to visit him for his birthday but he refused. He's obviously hiding something out there and I have a feeling it's a new girlfriend.
Ginger was getting pretty big. When she couldn't fit into any of her clothes anymore she gave up on being secret and went out to buy some maternity clothes. Of course she wore sunglasses and a hat there and did it very quickly, but she managed to get some very stylish clothes. Being November in Florida, it was slightly cold out so Ginger had on a pair of thinly striped pink, yellow, and white pants and a pink T-shirt. She didn't wear shoes if she didn't have to because her feet were swollen and she couldn't fit into most of the shoes she owned. One thing I couldn't help but notice is that her breasts are huge. I know it's because she's pregnant, but they were big to begin with and now�now they're just massive. Kris finds me staring every once and while and hits me but I just can't help it. She can't do a lot about it because I caught her staring once, which confused me, but she just turned to me and said "How the hell does she walk around with those things?"
"Kris! Kris, are you coming with me?" I called up the stairs. I was incredibly excited. I hadn't seen Leo in about four months and I was antsy to do so.
"No! I've got to go with Ginger to her Lamaze class!" Kris said, appearing at the railway. "We should be back before you do. When does his flight come in?"
"Two hours."
"Then we'll be back before you are," she said. "We're going to leave in about five minutes. Are you going now?"
"Well I was going to do some errands beforehand, so yeah."
"All right. I'll see you two when you get back."
"Love you!" I called as I walked towards the garage.
"Love you too!" I left, taking Kris's car. I didn't have my own car anymore because Leo sold it. I didn't mind; I don't go many places without Kris. Ginger can't drive anymore so Kris'll drive her car now.
I still don't have a job. I thought I'd look for one out here but there's not exactly a big need for people like me in Tampa. I could find a nice job in Orlando, but that's an hour and a half away (on a light day) and I just didn't think I'd be able to do that. The only reason I'm not worried about this is because I still have a lot of money left and I just don't see myself running out of it. I don't see myself as being unemployed either. I don't feel like Zac's going to be up in New York for the rest of his life. I know he's been up there for six months already but I don't see him staying up there, by himself, forever. I don't see the band being over forever either. It feels like one of these days he'll be like "You know what, this is gay. Let's go back to being a band again."
I decided to release the album that we were working on. I fixed it up as much as I could and it'll be out in stores next Tuesday. It's the simplest little record, just thirteen songs and the liner notes are just something I threw together. There's nothing important in there, just some basic track information and a note I scrawled about it being the last album and it's only released because the fans wanted it. There are no pictures, or lyrics, just a few words and the music. I didn't even give it a name. However, I fixed it so that if the record did make any money, it would all go to me. Isaac didn't want anything to do with this album anymore and I don't talk to Zac, and since I did all the work, I should get paid for whatever comes from it.
I did a few errands (basic stuff, pick up the dry cleaning, bought some rose feed for Ginger's rose garden) before going to the airport. Leo's flight was right on time and I was happy for that. Four months is way too long to not see my best friend and I didn't want to wait any longer than necessary. When I spotted him I trapped him in a big hug, which made him laugh.
"I'm not your lover, Tay, get off of me."
"I missed you, buddy!"
"Get off of me!" I laughed and let go of him.
"Is that all you've got?" I asked, looking at the small suitcase he was dragging behind him. He nodded.
"Yeah."
"All right. Let's go then."
"Where's your girlfriend?" Leo asked.
"She and Ginger are at a Lamaze class. They should be home before we are."
"Ginger's got to be pretty close, isn't she?" Leo asked. I nodded as we began to walk out of the airport. I hadn't been here too often but I knew my way around by now. Leo looked around; Tampa International Airport has to be one of the prettiest airports in the world.
"Seven months," I said.
"Really? When's she due?"
"Mid January. She's having a girl."
"Oh cool. So I'm going to have me a pseudo-niece, aren't I?" I nodded. I knew that this child was Zac's kid but that slips my mind often because I don't think of him anymore. I keep forgetting that Jenny's going to be my niece. I'll be Uncle Taylor. That's kind of weird.
"Yeah�"
"So what's this with you releasing the record by yourself? Isaac is pissed." I shrugged. I knew he would be. When I called him to ask him about it he gave me a firm no but I did it anyway.
"Well I wanted to release it and he didn't, and that wasn't going to stop me, so I released it anyway. If he wants nothing to do with it he doesn't have to get any of the proceeds from it."
"You better be careful, Taylor. If this record does well he might want money and that can only mean a lawsuit."
"Ike wouldn't sue me," I said, shaking my head. "And if he even asked for his share I would give it to him. But come on, we're gone, Leo. Nobody cares about us anymore. Nobody's going to buy it."
"I'll buy it!"
"No, Leo. If you want it, I'll give it to you."
"Now how are you going to make money with an attitude like that?" Leo asked. I gave him a look. "Taylor, you don't have a job. At least try to make some money out of this! This is the only work you've done in six months!"
"I didn't do anything! And honestly, I don't expect to make a dime off this record. With the added studio time I put in down here and the cost of releasing it, I'll be lucky if I get back what I put into it."
"Come on, Taylor, your fans will buy it."
"Oh, yeah, and how many of them bought the last record?"
"Don't be such a downer, Taylor," he said. I sighed. He was right. I just didn't expect anything from this record. We'd put a lot of time and effort into it and it's good that I decided to release it, but I think it's just too late for it now. There's no advertisement, no single, no nothing�just a record out in stores for whoever stumbles across it.
When Leo and I got home Kris and Ginger were back from the class. When Leo saw Ginger he was absolutely amazed at how big she was since the last (and first) time he met her. Unfortunately when they met he was never formally introduced, but I've talked about him enough times so Ginger know who he is.
"Leo!" Kris said, getting up. She ran over and gave him a hug. "How are you doing?"
"Great�it's wonderful to see you again!" Leo had also only met Kris once but he's spoken to her a number of times on the phone when I wasn't around, so they knew each other quite well.
"Great!" Kris said. "Ginger, I know you and him have kind of met before but you haven't been introduced, so this is Leo, Taylor's best friend. Leo, this is Ginger."
"Hi," Ginger said. They shook hands. "How was your flight?"
"It was just fine," Leo said. "What can I say? A flight's a flight." She nodded.
"Come on, I'll show you around," I said, taking Leo out of the room and to the stairs. Once we were clear of Kris and Ginger, Leo turned to me and made a gesture referring to Ginger's breasts. "I know," I said. "They're humongous."
"Were they always like that?"
"No," I said, taking him upstairs first so he could put his suitcase down in his room. "I mean they were pretty big but they weren't at all like they are now. It's just because she's pregnant and they're full of milk and everything."
"Ew."
"I know." I took him into the guest room. "This is your room for the next two days," I said. "Ginger's across the hall in the room by the stairs and me and Kris are in the master bedroom."
"Don't worry, I'm not going to be coming in there at night."
"Good."
"This is a nice place the three of you have here," Leo said, looking around. "Did you have any say in it whatsoever?"
"I bought the piano that's downstairs."
"What else?"
"Um�that's it." Leo laughed.
"Yeah, that's what I figured."
"Shut up." We went back downstairs.
The next day the four of us attempted to make Thanksgiving dinner. If I hadn't remembered that a frozen turkey had to thaw for about four days we would be stuck with a twelve-pound frozen mass of meat. When Kris opened the fridge to take the turkey out it leaked blood on the fridge and she screamed and made me deal with it.
"I don't understand why we just don't get one of those turkey dinners," Ginger said from the kitchen table. "Something you just uncover and put in the oven for, like, two hours."
"What kind of Thanksgiving would that be?" I asked.
"One where you didn't have to stick you hand up a turkey's ass and pull out its guts," Ginger said. "Do you even know what you're doing?"
"Sort of," I said. Kris had put on her dishwashing gloves and was cleaning the fridge, incredibly disgusted. "I mean, how hard can it be?" I turned to Kris. "Hey, can I get those gloves when you're done?"
"Why?" she asked, looking back at me.
"I'm not going to stick my hand up there!" I said.
"You're not using my dishwashing gloves to do that! Use a plastic bag or something."
"No!" I turned to Leo. "Leo, why don't you�"
"No fucking way, man."
"I think so. You're the guest of the house, I think it's only fit that you get the honor of preparing the turkey." Leo shook his head. "Ginger?"
"I can't even get up anymore, Taylor. There's no way I'm going to get up, walk all the way over there and gut that fricken turkey. No way. Why don't we just order a pizza?" she asked.
"Is anybody open on Thanksgiving?"
"If not we can go out and get that Jennie-O turkey dinner thing that cooks in two hours." That sounded good to me.
"Well what are we going to do with butterball here?" I asked, gesturing to the turkey sitting on the counter, juicing all over the place. Ginger shrugged.
"Trash?"
"I'm not going to trash a fricken twelve-pound turkey!" I said. "Do you know how much this thing costs? That could feed an entire homeless shelter!"
"No it couldn't�"
"Whatever," I said. "I'm not going out to a shelter anyway." I opened the trashcan at the end of the counter and pushed the turkey into it. It made a loud thud when it hit the bottom and Kris went to disinfect the counter. "So, who's going to call the pizza place?"
"Now?" Ginger asked. "It's only noon!"
"Well we've got to see if it's open or not."
"Give me the phone," Ginger said to Leo. He got up and grabbed the phone, then handed it to Ginger. She called up the pizza place. "Hello? Are you guys going to be open later?" She waited for a response and then looked up. "Hey, when do we want to eat?"
"Four? Five?" I asked.
"Four-thirty," Kris said. I nodded and looked at Ginger.
"Four-thirty," Ginger said into the phone. "You are? Great! I'll order a pizza from you then." She went to hang up the phone but then put it back to her ear. "What? Oh, I can? Sure! What do you guys want on your pizza?"
"Mushrooms and black olives," Kris said. I gave her a look. "What?"
"Cheese," I said. Leo agreed.
"All right," Ginger said. "Um, we'll have two large pizzas, one with extra cheese, the other with mushrooms and black olives. Thanks!" Ginger gave them the address and hung up the phone. "They're going to deliver it at four-thirty."
"Mushrooms and black olives?" I asked Kris. She looked up at me.
"Yeah! It's the best kind of pizza!"
"Whatever�"
At four-thirty the pizza came and we sat down at the dinner table to eat. The only thing that made it different from any other meal was that Leo was there. When the phone rang I got up and answered it. "Hello?"
"Happy Thanksgiving, honey!" It was my mother.
"Hi Mom," I said. "Happy Thanksgiving." I walked back to the table and sat down, grabbing another slice of pizza. This was actually one of the better Thanksgiving meals I've had. I didn't have to worry about dry turkey or nasty ass green bean casserole, just good pizza from a good place.
"So how are you doing? Did you manage to cook the turkey?" I smiled.
"No," I said. "We're having pizza."
"Taylor�"
"We would have been able to cook it but nobody wanted to take the guts out," I said. "So we gave up. We're having a good dinner, though. We're having a good holiday. How's everybody back home?"
"Good, everybody's good," she said. "We're still waiting on the turkey to finish before we have dinner."
"Is he there?" I asked.
"No. No, he was supposed to come but then he cancelled because he had something to take care of at the last minute. I don't know what's more important than Thanksgiving with his family. He's becoming so reclusive. He hardly ever calls, it seems like I'm calling him just to find out what's up. I haven't seen him since he left."
"That's his choice, Ma," I said. "Is Ike there?"
"Yes he is. He�he brought his wife."
"What?!" I yelled, drawing attention to myself. "When did that happen?"
"This weekend," she said.
"Why wasn't I invited?"
"They eloped, sweetie. I'd never even met his girlfriend then all of a sudden he comes home with a wife." I shook my head.
"Oh my God." I looked up. "Ike got married," I explained to everyone who was intently listening to me.
"To who?" Leo asked. I shrugged.
"Some girlfriend he had," I said. "Ma, what's her name?"
"Roni."
"Roni," I said. Leo shrugged. He didn't know her either. "Well, tell him I said congratulations."
"I will, dear. And I'll let you get back to your elaborate Thanksgiving dinner." I smiled. "Bye, honey."
"Bye Ma." I hung up the phone. "Well that was something I was definitely not expecting." Everyone else seemed to agree with me. Across from me Ginger suddenly winced and put a hand on her stomach. "Are you okay?" I asked. She nodded.
"Yeah," she said. "Jenny's just kicking like crazy."
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Yes. I'm not going into labor. Don't worry." That was a relief. Ginger gave me a smile and got herself another slice of pizza. "So," she said, "is he over at your mother's?" I almost didn't want to answer her. Talking about Zac with Ginger almost guaranteed a fight, and I had no idea why she was asking. She doesn't ever ask about him. I'm sure with the baby coming soon she's thinking about him more than often.
"No," I said. "He bailed out on her."
"Really? Well she's not the only one," Ginger whispered, her eyes glistening with tears that she didn't want anybody to see. The conversation ended there.