Kris and I came home early on Monday morning. After dropping our suitcases off at home, Kris and I went upstairs to tell Zac and Ginger about our engagement. Of course Zac already knew, but he didn't know if Kris had said yes or not (as if there was any doubt in that). Kris ran up the stairs and into the apartment. Ginger was attempting baby food with Jenny in the kitchen, although Jenny was so used to nursing she didn't exactly care for the baby food. Zac was in there as well with a cup of coffee.
"Hey guys," he said upon seeing us. "How was the weekend?"
"Beautiful," I said. Kris ran over to Ginger.
"Ginger! Look!" she said immediately, showing Ginger the ring on her finger. Ginger's mouth dropped and she looked at me a moment. I gave her a smile before she turned to Kris.
"Oh my God!" Ginger threw her arms around Kris. Zac turned to me.
"So, she said yes, did she?" he asked. I nodded.
"Yup."
"He knew?" Kris asked. "How did he know?"
"For one thing, he was with me when I bought it," I explained, "and another, I needed somewhere to keep the ring so you wouldn't find it! You've been snooping around for weeks looking for it." She opened her mouth to protest. "Don't tell me you haven't because I know you have."
"You're right, I have," Kris said, lowering her head.
"You knew and you didn't tell me?" Ginger asked, hitting Zac in the arm. "How come you never told me?"
"You would have told Kris!"
"No I wouldn't of!" Zac gave her a look. "Yeah, I would." Ginger sat down in front of Jenny who was begging for attention, but once Ginger picked up the spoon she got fussy again.
"Have you thought of any specifics yet?" Ginger asked, looking up at me. Kris had just walked over and put her arms around my waist.
"No," I said. "I don't think the excitement has died down yet."
"Well you've got plenty of time," Ginger said.
"We'll be downstairs," Kris said. "We've got to unpack."
"All right, see you later," Ginger said, waving. "Congratulations!" Kris and I went back downstairs. As we started to unpack, Kris turned to me.
"So," she said. "When are we getting married?"
"I knew you were going to ask that," I said. "I guess it really all depends on what kind of wedding you want. If you want a church wedding we have to be engaged for a certain amount of time, if you want a wedding in, like, a hotel or something that's another thing, and if you just want to run out and get married we could do that right now." She smiled.
"No, I want a wedding," she said. "I don't think I want a church ceremony, though. You're not catholic, are you?"
"No," I said, shaking my head. "Are you?"
"Yes."
"Oh. I was definitely unaware of that." She paused.
"You know, I don't think we've ever talked about religion." I shrugged. It just wasn't as important as it used to be, and although that was a terrible thing to say, it was true. Neither of us have ever really done anything when it came to religion. We didn't go to church or do anything remotely religious ever. I think I became pretty much exiled from my religion when I started drugs. I could have gotten back into it when I was getting clean, but then I became a man whore.
"I guess it's just not as important as it used to be." She agreed. She began to think about it and I let her. When we finished unpacking I was walking to the living room when Zac came in. "Hey Zac." He huffed and sat down in the living room first. "Or not."
"Thanks to you and your happy news I'm sleeping here tonight."
"What?" I asked, sitting down on the couch opposite him. "What happened?"
"Ginger," Zac said. "As soon as you and Kris left she turns to me and says 'Do you think me and you are going to get married?' I told her 'I don't know!' She got pissed off, we started fighting and now I don't have a bed to sleep in tonight!"
"Oh come on, Zac."
"What? I'm eighteen and a half years old! I'm not thinking about getting married right now!"
"Zac, you may be eighteen years old, but you have a six-month-old daughter. Of course Ginger's thinking about getting married. She's got a career, she's got a daughter�she just wants to settle down. She wants you to make an honest woman out of her."
"Well I don't think I'm ready for that, you know? I'm still getting used to the fact that I have a daughter. It's hard enough for me to acknowledge that I'm a father; it'll be nearly impossible to acknowledge being a husband too."
"It's not as hard as you think it is, Zac," I said. "Just over a year ago if you would have told me that I was going to fall in love and be engaged right now I would have laughed in your face, but here I am. It's scary, yeah, but it's a good kind of scary. I been telling Kris ever since we met that she scares the hell out of me but I really don't mind. I completely understand where you're coming from, though. You are eighteen. You've just lived so much so fast, Zac, that you're years older than your age. Maybe it is time for you to settle down. I mean if you're sure you want to spend the rest of your life with Ginger then why not do it now?" He looked at me, a very sullen expression on his face. "Oh." He wasn't sure if he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Ginger. Frankly if I was in his position I wouldn't be sure either. "Well, think about it. She's just overreacting."
"Who's overreacting?" Kris said, walking into the room. She was fiddling with the ring on her finger and just seeing it there made me smile.
"Ginger. She kicked me out for the night because I told her I don't know if I want to get married or not."
"Oh," Kris said. "Well I'll talk to her."
"Thank you," Zac said. Kris left. "Did you talk about the wedding at all?"
"A little bit," I said. "But we haven't decided anything yet." I got up. "I should probably call Mom�you know, she might be interested in hearing this."
"Yeah�" I grabbed the phone and sat down in the kitchen. I could still see Zac in the living room. He'd turned on the television and was flipping through the channels for something to watch.
"Hello?"
"Mom? Hi, it's me."
"Taylor! Hi! I haven't heard from you in so long, what have you been up to?" I tried to remember the last time I spoke to my mother and I realized it was on my birthday, and honestly I'm not entirely sure I mentioned that I had met up with Zac again. It's been such a hectic two months, what with the move and getting to know Zac again, and everything else that it was very easy to forget that other people existed. As it was I hadn't spoken to Leo since my birthday either. "I almost didn't pick up the phone because I didn't recognize the number, where are you?"
"I'm in New York," I said. I definitely did not mention that I moved to New York, then. "Um�I guess I haven't told you everything that's happened, then. It's just been so hectic with the move and all, Kris and I have been renovating the apartment and everything and it's just taken so long�"
"The move? Renovating? Honey, are you living in New York now?" she asked.
"Yes."
"When were you planning on telling me this, Taylor?"
"I'm sorry! I've been so busy lately."
"Obviously because you haven't even bothered to call your own mother in the past two months! What are you doing in New York? Have you seen Zac?'
"Um�yes," I said. "It's actually the reason we're here in New York. Back in March Zac and Ginger met up again and he insisted she move up here with him, and wherever Ginger goes Kris goes and wherever Kris goes I go, so we're all up here. We all live in the same building, and Zac and I are friends again."
"Oh, honey that's so fantastic!"
"Yeah, everything's getting back to normal again," I said. "Um, but that's not the reason I called. I have some news for you."
"More news?"
"Well, yes. Kris and I are engaged." My mother gasped.
"Oh my God, Taylor that's wonderful! I'm so happy for you! Do you have a date or anything set?"
"No, nothing like that just yet," I said. "It just happened on Saturday."
"Well then you have plenty of time to work that out. I'm so happy for you. Is she there? Can I say congratulations?"
"No, she's not here right now," I said. "She's upstairs talking to Ginger. Zac's here, though. Do you want to talk to Zac?"
"Sure! Put him on!" I walked over to Zac and handed him the phone. He seemed rather reluctant to take it but I put him on the spot for a reason. I know he hasn't spoken much to our mother since he moved out here and she missed him so much.
"Hi Mom," he said. I smiled and walked away. I had a feeling that when Zac did talk to our mother before he never spoke with her for longer than a few minutes. Neither did I, but that's because I would speak to her on a daily basis, not for a few minutes once every few months.
Zac was still on the phone with our mother when Kris came back. "Who's he talking to?" she asked me.
"Our mother."
"Oh. Did you tell her about us?" I nodded. "Is she happy? She doesn't want to kill me now, does she?" I laughed.
"No, Kris, she's very happy for us."
"Good."
"What'd Ginger have to say?"
"I did as much as I could. I told her that Zac's only eighteen, you know, he's not really thinking about this yet. I told her it wasn't because he didn't want to marry her, it was just because he wasn't sure if he wanted to get married right now."
"Well he's not sure if he wants to marry her," I said, lowering my voice.
"She doesn't have to know that," Kris said.
"It's only because he doesn't know if he can trust her or not. He's afraid she's going to cheat on him again. I think once he starts to trust her again he'll be okay with marrying her. I mean, come on, they have a child together." Zac got off the phone and walked over to us.
"Did she say anything?" Zac asked.
"You just need to give her some time to calm down," Kris explained. "Stay here for a while and then go try to talk to her. If you act civilized then you'll be able to sleep up there tonight."
"Civilized? I always act civilized!"
"No you don't." They started bickering and I left the room so I could call Leo. I knew he was going to be mad that I hadn't called him in such a long time, but if I put off calling him he'll only get madder.
"Hello?"
"Hi Leo."
"Well, well, well, look who decides to call his best friend? Doesn't even have the courtesy to tell me you moved�"
"I'm sorry Leo," I said. "I'm really sorry, I've been really busy and it just slipped my mind." Leo huffed. "Oh, come on, you're starting to act like I'm a boyfriend who said he'd call but didn't!"
"Whatever, Taylor," Leo said. "So, how are things with you? Aren't you in New York?"
"Yeah. How did you know that?"
"Zac told me."
"Since when do you talk to Zac?" I asked.
"Well he is my friend too, you know. He just didn't talk to me when he wasn't talking to you for the obvious reasons. He told me you moved up there with him."
"Oh. What else did he tell you?"
"Nothing really," Leo said. "I haven't spoken to him in a while either. How's everything going? Are you working yet?"
"No," I said. "I'm not exactly looking right now, though. There hasn't been a lot going on, you know, Kris and I have been doing a lot with the apartment. Speaking of which, I have some news for you."
"Really? What?"
"Kris and I are engaged."
"Oh, wow! It's about time!" I groaned. "I'm happy for you, man. Do you know when the wedding's going to be?"
"No, we haven't talked about it yet." I sat down. "So how have you been, Leo?"
"Good," Leo said. "Good. It's kind of boring out here without you around. You know, there's only so much a person can do in Tulsa and with my best friend not around anymore, it can get boring." I sighed. Leo didn't have friends outside my family, just because that was the way it'd always been. He had his group of friends, it just turned out that all of his friends were in the same family. Zac and I were his closest friends and with the both of us living in New York, he was by himself. I would suggest he get new friends, but he'd just get upset with me.
"Why don't you come out here?" I asked. "We'd all love to see you again. I mean you haven't even met Jenny yet! She's six months old now."
"Already? Doesn't she look exactly like Ginger?"
"Pretty much. She's got a little bit of Zac in her but it's mainly Ginger. She's so adorable, though. She's a good kid. I see the good part of it. I don't have to do diapers or anything like that, so I get the good baby experience."
"Geez, Taylor, you sound like you could use a kid of your own."
"Not until after Kris and I are married," I said.
"How long after?"
"Like�a day." Leo laughed.
"So you really want kids?"
"Yeah! Kris brought it up this weekend�we went away for the weekend�and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since, you know? I mean I want to wait until we're married but I don't want to wait very much longer."
"Yeah, I understand you."
"So, are you going to come up here and visit me? It's not the same around here without my buddy."
"Okay, okay�I'll come up to visit you."
"Great! Call me when you get a flight." We said goodbye and I hung up the phone. When I turned around Kris was standing at the door, giving me a smile. I put my arms around her.