Ginger ran up to Zac and threw her arms around him, embracing him tightly after she walked out of the high-security area to the limit of where non-ticket holders could go. He wasn't quite expecting the greeting he received but he was nonetheless happy to receive it. "I missed you!" Ginger said to him. She kissed him.
"Well I missed you too," he told her. "Let's go." She smiled and put her hand in his as they walked towards baggage claim. The less time they spent in the airport the better. Both of them were recognized on their own enough, now that they were together they were bound to attract some kind of attention.
Luckily the two made it through the airport without any kind of commotion. Ginger got recognized and had to sign an autograph, but that was about it. As they walked out to Zac's car, Ginger's grip on his hand got tighter and tighter. "Ginger," he said, a smile on his face, "It's okay. They're going to love you."
"Why?"
"Because�" He paused. He almost said it. Because I love you, he finished for himself in his mind. "How could they not?"
"I don't know, Zac. They don't have to like me because I'm with you, you know. They might just not like me at all and judge me and all," she said, looking away. Zac sighed. They were at the car.
"I don't know what to tell you, then, Ging," he said. "If they don't like you, and I don't see why any of them wouldn't, then screw them. I'll come to your place instead."
"You're so good to me," she said. She kissed him and let him open the door for her. He went around to the driver's side and he drove home.
She followed behind him as they went into the house. Zac went immediately up the stairs with Ginger's bags and put them into the guest room. As soon as they walked out of the guest room, Zac spotted Diana coming down the hallway, probably looking for the two of them. "Mom, this is Ginger," Zac said. Diana's image of Ginger was already sour, and when she saw the two of them unexpectedly come out of the bedroom, she supposed the worst. Zac noticed it immediately and looked at Ginger, who didn't seem to notice anything.
"Nice to meet you, dear," Diana said, with a slightly bitter smile on her face as she shook Ginger's hand. "I'm Diana. Welcome to our home."
"Thank you, Diana," Ginger said, a genuine smile on her face. "It's nice to finally meet you as well."
"Well," Diana said, "I have laundry to finish. I'll see the two of you later." Diana left as quickly as she appeared, leaving Ginger looking a bit confused. Zac didn't give her time to think about it as he brought her down the hall and down the stairs. She'd already met Taylor; he was around somewhere. Isaac didn't live there anymore; the two older girls were at dance, while Mackenzie and Zo� were in the living room watching television.
"This place is mammoth," Ginger muttered, more to herself than to Zac, carefully by her side as she explored his home.
"Well if you had six brothers and sisters then you'd have a big house too," Zac said. She looked up at him.
"I'm sorry, did I say that out loud?" she asked. She looked embarrassed.
"It's okay, sweetie. Are you hungry?"
"Not really," she said. "Why, you making something?"
"I was thinking about it." She shrugged and followed him into the kitchen where she sat down at the counter and allowed him to open the pantry to look for something he could make a lunch out of. He had to go back to work in a little bit, Taylor and he had taken a long lunch from the studio so he could pick Ginger up from the airport. They had to leave in about a half an hour, so that was long enough to make a lunch and get Ginger acquainted with the house.
"When do you go back to the studio?" she asked, as if she'd been thinking the same thing he was.
"A half hour," he told her, looking at her. "We'll be back before dinner, but the only reason I'm here now is because I convinced everyone to take a long lunch so I could pick you up." Ginger looked at the time.
"Is that enough time to make me food and all?" Zac nodded.
"You're getting a sandwich," he said, giving her a smile. "That'll take five minutes, tops." She smiled back and he pulled the bread out. He knew how uncomfortable she was, especially knowing that in a half an hour she was going to be left to fend for herself. She didn't exactly want to come all the way out there to boring Oklahoma on her days off, but he wanted her to so she came. He wanted her to meet his family so she did. She looked like she wanted to get out of the house, but he wouldn't be able to take her anywhere until the evening.
Over lunch she didn't say much and it seemed that Zac was just boring her, but it was quite the opposite. "Are you okay?" he asked. She looked over from her half-eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
"What?" she asked.
"I asked if you were okay," he asked again. She nodded.
"Yeah. I guess I'm just a little tired," she told him. "I should probably take a nap. You know, jet lag and all." He'd forgotten about that. She came from Germany. "Zac?" He looked over. "Does your mother not like me or something?"
"Ginger, babe, you met her for two seconds in the hallway upstairs. Why would you think something like that?" he asked, trying to keep the smile on his face when he was obviously lying to her. His mother hated her. She had no real reason to do so, but she did and that was just the way it was.
"I don't know," Ginger said, looking down again. "She just gave me a bad vibe, that's all."
"I assure you she doesn't hate you. She doesn't even know you yet." Zac had finished his sandwich ages ago and Ginger looked to be done with hers, so he stood up. "Do you want me to take you around a bit more?"
"Sure." He cleaned up the mess quickly and she took his hand as they walked out of the kitchen and around the downstairs area of the house. Ginger was amazed at how many rooms there were, and how clean everything was. Zac assured her the only reason it was clean was because Diana knew Ginger was coming over; otherwise it would be a mess of children's toys and various items from the studio that Zac and Taylor were too lazy or just too tired to pick up and put in its proper place.
When he got back upstairs, he had about ten minutes before he had to leave, so he decided to skip the little kid's rooms and go straight to his. "This," he said, opening the door, "Is my room. I don't exactly spend a lot of time in here, so there's not much. I'm usually so busy that I'm somewhere else and when I am in here, I'm sleeping."
"It suits you," she said, looking around. She stepped in to get a better look at things and Zac noticed something. She was the first girl he had in his room. For a while the excuse was that he was "too young" to have girls up in his room, then for a while he didn't have any girlfriends or girl friends at all. He was too busy. Then came along Gwendolyn and he refused to even tell his mother about her, much less bring her to the house and put her in his room. Ginger was the first one. It was strange, but the strange part was, it didn't feel weird to have someone like Ginger flop down on his bed and look over at him.
"You know I missed you while I was in Europe," she told him, lying on her side on his bed. Her head was on his pillow and she was looking up at him in a way she never had before. "I didn't know I could miss someone that much."
"Really?" It was all he could say.
"Yeah�" She rolled onto her back and looked at his bare walls. "I thought you had a poster of me."
"I did," he said. "But when I got home it was weird to have a poster like that of you on my wall so I took it down and gave it to Taylor." She sat up.
"You gave it to Taylor?"
"Yeah�"
"Why?!"
"He wanted it. It's better he has it than someone I can't beat up if he's ever�indecent about it." Ginger sighed and fell back on the bed again. "You know, I never saw any of your tattoos on that poster."
"They airbrushed them out," she explained. "They want my image to be wholesome." Zac snorted. "They do!"
"That's why you're half naked in that poster. Whatever, Ginger."
"I don't know; according to the photographer half-naked is more wholesome than tattoos. It's just more accepted nowadays." He walked over and sat down next to her. She looked up at him from his pillow, a smile on her face. "Thank you for having me over, Zac. I know you're busy."
"Stop. I'd take you over work any day." She sat up again and kissed him. They'd barely begun when Taylor appeared at the open doorway and cleared his throat. Zac looked over.
"We have to go, Zac, or we're going to be late," Taylor said. Zac nodded.
"I'll be right there."
"Hi Ginger," Taylor said to Ginger first. Ginger smiled and waved.
"Hi Taylor." He didn't say anything before he left and Zac turned back to Ginger, who was still smiling.
"Are you going to be okay here by yourself?" he asked. She nodded.
"Yeah. I'll get settled and find something to do," she told him. "When are you going to be back?"
"Um�six-thirty, I think. No later than seven." She nodded. "I'll see you when I get back." She nodded again and he kissed her a moment before he got up and walked out of the room.
When Zac came home from the studio, he found Ginger typing fervently away on her laptop computer in the guest room that would be her room for the next few days. She had a glass of water next to her that looked to be untouched, while her eyes stayed locked on the screen of the computer. The sun was setting and the room was getting dark, so her face seemed illuminated by the light escaping the screen in front of her. He leaned up against the doorway, waiting for her to notice. She hadn't even looked up yet.
He had been standing at the doorway for a few minutes when he finally said something. "Is this what you call a writing fit?" he asked. She jumped and looked up.
"I didn't even see you there!" she said, surprised. "How long have you been standing there?"
"A few minutes," he said. "I was waiting for you to notice, but you looked so absorbed I knew it wasn't going to happen. I didn't want to say anything; you looked so happy." She smiled and closed the laptop, putting it aside.
"I'd take you over work any day," she told him.
"You know, I've never seen you write," he said. She smiled, shrugging.
"Well, now you have."
"Did you talk to Taylor?" he asked. She looked up immediately, confused.
"Why would I talk to him?" she quipped. He shrugged.
"It's just he got home before I did and I was wondering if you had spoken to him. You and him have spoken on occasion." She shook her head. "Okay. Do you want to go somewhere? I'll take you to dinner."
"All right." She put her laptop away and walked over to him, still at the doorway. "Where are we going?"
"I don't know," he said, taking her hand and walking with her down the hallway to the stairs. "I'll think of somewhere." They headed down the stairs. "Were you okay here by yourself? There's not much to do when I'm not around, being that I am the center of attention in this family." She grinned.
"No, I got by," she told him. "I talked to your sisters for a while, your little brother and I played Super Mario until I got bored and went off to write�then you came home."
"What were you talking to my sisters about?" he asked. He opened the front door, but before they could leave Diana spotted them.
"Where are you going?" she asked, walking over to them.
"We're going out to dinner," Zac explained. "We'll be back later."
"I�"
"See you, Ma," he said. He pushed Ginger out the door and followed close behind, cutting his mother off. He closed the door behind him quickly.
"That was rude, Zac," Ginger told him, huffing a bit at his lack of respect for his mother. He sighed.
"Ging, she wouldn't have let us go," he told her. "I know that woman and she would have pulled the whole manipulative guilt trip on me so I wouldn't go because she 'hardly ever sees me anymore, now that we're in the studio all day. I want my boys at home where I can spend quality time with them.' Like she doesn't see me enough when I am at home."
"It was still rude."
"Hey, do you want to go out or not?"
"Zac! I'm just saying!"
"I'm sorry," he said. "She gets on my nerves." He headed to the car and opened her door for her. When he got into the car, she turned to him.
"I thought about it," she said, "and I really don't think your mother likes me."
"Whatever, Ginger."
"She doesn't. She's been nothing but short with me all day. I don't know what she has against me or anything. It's not like she's ever met me before, and I've been nothing but nice to her since we walked in the door. Did you tell her something that would make her not like me?" Zac shook his head.
"No," he said. "You're just paranoid. Don't worry about it, Ging. She doesn't matter. The rest of my family likes you. Mack will love you for the rest of his life now that you played Nintendo with him for a while. Taylor likes you. You haven't met Ike yet but I'm sure he'll like you. If Taylor and I both like you, then you're set with him."
"I don't know," she said. "It means more to me than I thought it would." He smiled. At least he knew it meant something to her now. "You mean more to me than I thought." Before he started the car, she leaned over and kissed him. When she let go, he gave her a smile and started the car.