"Well that was the worst concert I've ever been to," Zac said as we got back into the car after the concert was over. I have to say I agreed with him; I'd never seen such atrocious use of stringed instruments. Not only was the music off key, off rhythm, and sometimes created on the spot, the band had no confidence whatsoever. "They are definitely not getting signed."
"Oh, lighten up, Zac," Ginger said, getting into the car beside him. "I liked that one song�the last one they did."
"That's only because they found out Taylor and I were there and had us come on stage and play with them."
"True," Ginger said, nodding. "But come on, they're just not record contract material. They'll get better if they get some practice, and some vocal lessons, and learned how to play their instruments they could be good enough for a record contract."
"Sure," Zac said, "if they practice really hard and a meteor wipes out everyone in the world except for them and Avril Lavinge."
"Ooh, good burn Zac," I said.
"Thank you." I drove us all home. I'd talked to everyone about keeping the house as a winter home and everyone seemed okay with the idea as long as Zac could come down as well. I wasn't going to come down here without Kris, who wouldn't come without Ginger, who wouldn't come without Zac. Although that seemed a little bit of a hindrance that one of us couldn't do anything unless all four of us agreed, I didn't really want to do anything without Zac and Ginger, save a weekend in Vermont with Kris. I'd already decided that for our anniversary we were going to a bed and breakfast up there, and if everything goes well we'll come back engaged.
When we got home Ginger ran in and immediately checked on Jenny, leaving me to pay the babysitter. Kris walked her home (a whole three doors down) and when she returned the four of us sat down in the living room.
"Well," Ginger said, "since we got kicked out of the restaurant, we didn't get a chance to give you your presents. So here you go."
"You guys didn't have to get me anything," I said.
"Mine first!" Ginger said. She handed me a present with a card. I detached the card first and went to open it but Ginger stopped me. "No, present first."
"Okay." I opened the present. It was a watch. "Oh, killer watch."
"Yeah, it's just a little something. I know you don't have one and you're constantly asking for one."
"Yay," I said. I know it's hard to buy me stuff because I have everything and I have a lot of money to buy what I don't have. However, I really liked the watch. "Get it out for me so I can put it on." I handed Ginger the watch and she attacked the casing around it so she could get it out. "Can I open the card now?"
"Yeah," she said. After I opened the card she'd managed to get the watch out and was setting it to the time on the clock on the wall. The card was one of those campy humor cards that only Ginger would get. She loves these kind of stupid funny cards. When I opened it something fell out but I held onto it and read the card first. Taylor, I've known you for a little over a year now but it seems like it's been so much longer. I know we got off to a rocky start but things are so much better now. Now you're my best friend and I'm so grateful for that. Thank you so much for being there for me and Jenny. It means so much to me that you're a part of her life. Let me tell you this�if it had been a boy his name would be Christopher Taylor. Just don't let Zac know! I love you.
"Ginger�" I said, a smile on my face.
"Open that," she said, smiling brightly. I opened the piece of paper that had fallen out and my eyes widened. She giggled a little bit. "I know."
"What is it?" Kris asked.
"An apartment," I said, turning to her. "She bought us an apartment in New York."
"Nuh-uh!" Kris said. I handed her the paper. "Ginger! You're not supposed to out stage my present! I'm the girlfriend! I'm supposed to have the best present!"
"You'll still have the best present," Ginger said, waving it off.
"Anyway, thank you so much, Ginger." She smiled and gave me a hug before sitting back down next to Zac. I could see he was a little uncomfortable with it but he was definitely a lot more comfortable with it then he was before. "All right, baby?"
"Here," she said, handing me her present. "I don't see it being better than an apartment, but there you go." I gave her a look.
"Oh, come on," I said. "Can I open the card first or are you anal like Ginger?" Ginger gave me a look.
"No, you can open the card first." I opened the card. It was slightly more sentimental than Ginger's although it still had a punch line. Kris wrote all over the blank side of the card, starting big because she always thinks she's not going to write a whole lot and then ends up writing so much the last few lines as squished on there. It was sweet and kind of sexy, which was what I had expected. "All right, all right, open the gift," Kris said.
"Okay." I tore open the present and a large smile crossed my face. It was a hardback copy of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. I looked at it, a bit confused. "Did I tell you�" She nodded. This is my absolute favorite book in the world and I've never owned a copy of it. I always got it from the library and honestly the first time I read it I was at Leo's when we were spending a lot of time together trying to get over our addiction and I just fell in love with it. I've read it a million times but I've never actually thought of going out to buy it. "Did I tell you why?" She nodded.
"Open it," she said. I opened it and my mouth dropped. It was signed by Ernest Hemingway himself.
"Oh my God." Kris smiled, biting on her nail. "Oh my God, Kris�is this real?" She nodded.
"Yes," she said. "I bought it in an auction a few months ago. I've been waiting to give it to you." I looked at my book, absolutely amazed. I couldn't believe I had something in my hands that Ernest Hemingway autographed.
"Oh my God." It was all I could say. "Kris, this is wonderful."
"So you like it?"
"I love it! This blows the apartment out of the water."
"Good." I gave her a kiss.
"Oh, by the way," Ginger said, handing me the watch. I put it on. "That apartment is right downstairs from Zac's."
"Really?" I asked.
"Or is it upstairs?" Ginger asked Zac. "Upstairs or downstairs?"
"Downstairs," Zac explained. Ginger nodded. "Well I'm exhausted. Are we done here? Can I go to bed now?"
"Yeah, I'm tired too," I said. The four of us got up and collectively went upstairs. Kris and I went into our room and she shut the door behind us.
"So do you really like my gift?" Kris asked as soon as the door was shut.
"Oh my God, Kris, like you would not believe," I told her. "This is my absolute favorite book in the world and just holding it, knowing it's been signed, is like heaven for me. This is amazing." She smiled. "Thank you so much, honey. I love it."
"Well I love you." I put my book carefully down on the dresser. "You know your birthday's not over yet. I still have something else for you."
"What?" I asked. She kissed me. "Oh." She smiled and we walked over to the bed.
When we arrived in New York the next day it was raining. As we waited outside for a cab Zac gave me an attempt at a smile. "Well," he said. "Welcome home." It was dreary, cold, and even though it was three o'clock in the afternoon it was dark and it scared the hell out of Kris. She was holding onto me for dear life and although I found it quite amusing, I was scared out my mind too.
"Nice, Zac," I said. "I really want to live here now."
"Shut up," he said. "It's just a little rain."
"No, Zac, it's rain, thunder, lightning, and complete darkness in a city that's known for its crime. We're out here waiting for a cab with weirdoes and I seriously think someone tried to grab my ass," Ginger explained.
"That was me," Zac said.
"No, it wasn't you. When it happened both your hands were nowhere near me," Ginger said. "Why the hell are we still out here? Don't you have a car?"
"No, I don't have a car," Zac said. "I live in New York. You take the subway, you take a cab, or you walk. There's no place to park anyway." Ginger huffed. She's always been a bit of a diva and that's only heightened recently when her and her accountant tallied up how much money she really did earn and minus all her expenses it was about fifty million dollars. Kris, being her editor (amongst other very important jobs) and the reason Ginger was writing, was entitled to twenty percent, so Kris was worth ten million. Surprisingly enough Zac had less money than I did right now, but that was only because he insisted I keep the benefits from the latest album for myself instead of giving him his share.
We finally got a cab, loaded all of our shit into it, and went to the apartment complex in Manhattan. It was an awesome place in a swanky neighborhood and it looked exactly like a place Zac would live. Kris and I would be staying in Zac's place until we got ours furnished and ready to live in, but upon walking into Zac's apartment I realized that maybe we were better off sleeping on the floor tonight until we got some furniture. This place was a mess.
"Jesus Christ, Zac," Ginger said.
"I'm sorry about the mess," Zac said, "but I haven't exactly been able to clean since�never mind. I'm sorry. I'd clean it right now but I have to go to work." Ginger sighed, looking around. Jenny was in her arms, and surprisingly Jenny took the ride up here very well. It was the first time she'd been on a flight and she didn't cry as much as any of us expected her to. Of course she did cry, but not enough to disturb everybody during the entire trip.
"Wait, did you say you have to go to work?" Ginger asked.
"Yeah. I have to go in right away�it's a pain in the ass at times but I like my job." Ginger shrugged and followed Zac into the bedroom where she put down a sleeping Jenny. "Uh, you two are in there for the night," Zac said, pointing to a room behind a closed door. "Feel free to throw all your stuff in there. I've really got to go. I'll see you all around eight." And with that he was gone.
"Well," I said, looking around. "I'm not going to stay in this dump much longer. Kris, do you want to check out our place?"
"Yeah�" she said airily. As we walked towards the door again I couldn't help but notice a lot of things were broken. I knew this neighborhood and it was a nice neighborhood. Maybe he had a party that got out of control or something. Whatever it was he didn't seem to want to talk about it.
Kris and I went downstairs to our new apartment. When we went inside it looked exactly like Zac's apartment, only instead of piles and piles of mess, it was absolutely empty. Kris walked in and looked around. "Oh my God this place looks so much better when it's not filled with crap." I smiled. She was right. She weaved and out of the rooms. From the look on her face I could tell her mind was swimming with ideas. Kris always had a knack for interior design, which she told me she would have done if she weren't working with Ginger.
"So what do you think?" I asked.
"I've got some ideas," she said, stopping in front of me. "I need a theme, though."
"How about 'My apartment in New York?' " She gave me a look. "Fine. How about 'New York: My first place with Taylor?' "
"I know you're joking, but I actually like that." She turned around, facing the empty apartment. "Okay," she said, "I'm going to need lots of pictures, lots of reds and whites�the floor is going to have to change. Most of the place will be hardwood; we actually get that done right away so we don't have to worry about after we move in. Our room will be carpeted, white�" She took my hand and walked me to the bedroom. "We need a new fan and new lighting. I'm thinking lots of white, like the Art Room only not."
"White?" I asked. "Isn't that a virginal color?"
"Yeah, so?"
"You and I are hardly virginal," I said. "Especially me."
"Well we can throw a lot of red in here. You know�red does make everything beautiful." She gave me a small smile.
"Oh my God you did not just say that. You did not."
"Oh, come on, Taylor! You knew I was a fan when you asked me out. It was only a matter of time before I threw it back in your face." I sighed. There are a number of things I've said that I regret saying because they get blown out of proportion. That was one of them. "But I won't do anything unless you agree with me, okay?"
"Okay."
"All right. I need to call someone about those hardwood floors." She walked out of the room. "We need a rug for the front room too. Oh! I saw the perfect one in Tampa. I'll call my mother and have her pick it up for me, or at least take a picture of it so we can look for it up here." I paused. Kris never mentioned her parents. She was really close to her parents, but it seemed as of late she just didn't speak to them. We've been together for nearly a year, seven of those months in Tampa, and I've never even met them. I don't know what happened but she doesn't talk about them at all.
When we went back upstairs to Zac's apartment we found Ginger cleaning. "Ginger, why are you cleaning?" I asked. She had a garbage bag in her hand and was stuffing torn and broken things into it.
"I can't stay in here with the place looking like it is. It looks like a fight broke out and Zac just left it this way. It's terrible. No consideration, that man."
"Well if he did have a fight, he probably had it right before he left and he just figured he could go to Tampa and cool off. He did not go to Tampa expecting to come back with a daughter and a girlfriend."
"True. But how can someone live like this? I know I can't."
"And that's why you're cleaning." The phone rang. "I'll get it." I looked around for a phone and found one in the kitchen. I picked it up. "Hello?"
"�Who is this?" a female voice asked.
"This is Taylor, who is this?"
"Taylor? What the hell are you doing at Zac's apartment? Never mind, I don't want to know. Is Zac there?"
"No, he's at work. Who is this?"
"This is his girlfriend, Eva. Well, ex-girlfriend, but that doesn't matter anymore. When will he be home?"
"He'll be home around eight. I'll have him call you."
"Fine. Whatever. Goodbye." She hung up the phone before I could say anything more. Huffing at her rudeness, I put the phone back in its charger and turned around. I saw a broken glass still broken on the floor. Suddenly it made sense. There were things broken all over the apartment, Zac didn't want to talk about what happened, and a very angry ex-girlfriend calls looking for him. They must have just broken up when Zac left for Tampa, and from the looks of it, they had a hell of a break-up fight.
"Who was on the phone?" Ginger asked when I walked back into the living room.
"Zac's boss," I immediately lied. "He was looking for Zac but I told him Zac already left." Ginger nodded.
"Okay."
"There's a broken glass in the kitchen."
"Geez," Ginger said, shaking her head. "What the hell happened in here?" I let out a breath.
"I have no idea�"