Zac took Ginger the next morning to go pick up her best friend Kris from the airport. He'd met her before but it was only for a moment, so he was a bit nervous to see her again. Kris was practically family to Ginger, more family than her own parents, and the way she saw him had a great affect on the way Ginger saw him.
Tapping on the steering wheel, Zac drove the familiar route to the airport. Sometimes it felt as though he spent more time at this particular airport than at home. Ginger was getting excited, as if she hadn't seen Kris in months when in actuality it was only three days.
"We're usually not apart this long," Ginger explained. "I know it sounds like I'm so clingy to her but she's important to me." Zac could only nod. It was that was between him and his brothers a long time ago. If he went a couple of days without seeing them it was like his best friends had abandoned him and it wasn't a good feeling.
At the airport Ginger, holding onto Zac's hand, ran through the airport. There was a point where they couldn't go any further, and once Ginger got there she excitedly ran to the arrivals schedule. "Geez, Ginger, you act as though you haven't seen her in a month."
"Shut up," Ginger said. "What's her flight number?"
"1947," Zac told her. She looked up and scanned through the arrivals and Kris's plane had landed already, but was still taxiing to its gate. "Sit down, honey, we have a while."
"All right." Ginger pulled Zac off to a set of uncomfortable chairs where they sat down together. "Do you think Taylor will like her?"
"Of course Taylor will like her," Zac said. "She's rather�well endowed."
"Zac!"
"What? I'm simply stating a fact!"
"Zac, you're my boyfriend! You're not supposed to notice these things!" She gave him a look but didn't do anything else about it. He gave her a smile and kissed her cheek, then the two settled quietly and waited for Kris. When she appeared, Ginger got up and ran over to her, giving her a tight hug hello. Zac got up and walked over to them.
"Hey Kris," Zac said.
"Hi Zac," Kris said, giving him a hug hello as well. It surprised Zac, being that they'd met only once or twice before. Ginger didn't seem surprised at all about it; apparently that was just how Kris was. That was how Ginger was too. "Let's go, I'm starving."
"Do you want to go out for lunch?" Zac asked.
"What time is it?" Kris asked. Zac looked at his watch at they began to walk towards baggage claim.
"Nearly eleven."
"Okay." Kris only had a suitcase, so they were out of the airport quickly. Ginger and Kris were chatting about what Zac could only presume as her book. That was confirmed when Kris mentioned something about chapter seven. "I don't know what it is, but they just don't like it."
"Of course they don't like it," Ginger said, climbing into the front seat of Zac's car, leaving Kris to the back seat. "It's chapter seven. Nobody ever likes chapter seven. I'm not taking it out, though, it's an integral part of the story."
"I completely agree with you. If you take it out nobody would understand anything about why Daniel is ignoring Ann's affair with Jonathan." Ginger agreed and Zac looked over.
"What kind of story are you writing?" Zac asked. Ginger gave Zac a smile but didn't respond to him.
"Exactly," she said to Kris.
"I don't know," Kris said. "I'll read it over again a few times and see what I can do with it. They don't like it because it hardly has any dialogue. I don't know�I'll think it over."
"All right," Ginger said. "So, baby, do you think Taylor would want to join us for lunch?" Zac picked up the hint immediately.
"I don't know," Zac said. "I'd have to call him. Or you would have to call him."
"I'll do it," Ginger said. "Since you're driving and all. Where are we going?" Zac shrugged. "Kris, hun, do you have a preference?" Kris shook her head. "Is there a Panera close by?"
"Yeah, there's one on the way home." Ginger nodded.
"That works. Where is it?"
"Just tell him it's the one by the mall. He'll know where it is." Ginger went in Zac's pocket for his phone. "Whoa, hey!"
"Shut up, I'm just getting your phone."
"Hey, what are you doing up there?" Kris asked from the back seat. Ginger gave her a sneaky grin. Kris laughed and looked out the window.
"It's not even in that pocket, Ging," Zac said. "Here." He reached in his other pocket for the phone.
"What? You mean this isn't it?" Ginger asked.
"No, that is definitely not it."
"Ginger!" Kris said. Ginger reluctantly removed her hand from Zac's pocket and took the phone he was holding out for her.
"You guys don't let me have any fun," she said. She looked through Zac's phone book and called his house. One of Zac's sisters picked up the phone. "Hey, is Taylor around?"
"Yeah, let me get him." Ginger smiled as she suddenly heard a loud shout for Taylor and in a moment he picked up the phone.
"Yeah?"
"Hey Taylor, it's Ginger. Do you want to come to lunch with us?"
"Who's us?" Taylor asked. His voice sounded groggy; he'd been out late again after the show, with some random girl, and must have just woken up.
"Me, Zac, and Kris."
"Kris? Your hot friend? Sure. Where?"
"At the Panera by the mall."
"Okay. I'll be there�um, I'll be there in a half hour."
"All right. We'll be there." She hung up the phone. "Yeah, he'll be there in about a half hour."
"It'll take a good twenty minutes to get there," Zac explained. Ginger nodded and stuck his phone back into his pocket. Zac glanced back at Kris through the rear-view mirror.
"How's it holding up back there?" he asked. Kris smiled.
"Just fine. So, Taylor's coming to lunch?" she asked. Zac nodded.
"Yeah." Kris smiled and looked out the window again. "What's that about?" She didn't say anything, but her smile grew a bit. "Oh, come on, you like him, don't you?" She looked up at Zac.
"Zac!" He gave her an innocent glance. "Shut up." Zac didn't say anything but gave a knowing look to Ginger, who made a mental note to tease Kris about it later.
"How about right there?" Zac asked, pointing to a booth by the window. For eleven o'clock, the place was pretty empty. It would most likely get busier later as people stopped by for lunch, but at the moment there was hardly anybody there. Zac had picked a virtually deserted spot, for obvious reasons. Both he and Taylor would be there, and they were constantly recognized wherever they went, and now Ginger was with them. They were bound to be interrupted during their meal.
They had just sat down when the door opened and Taylor walked in, dressed in what Zac referred to as his "scoring" outfit. Taylor always wore that when he was trying to impress someone, and it always, always worked. Taylor saw Zac immediately and walked over. Kris was facing the other way so he didn't get a look at her until he was right in front of the booth.
"Hey Taylor," Zac said. Taylor, however, had frozen dead in his tracks. He was looking straight at Kris, who was staring back up at him, her mouth slightly agape in awe of him.
"You�you must be Kris," he said. It was different, though. Usually Taylor's first words to a girl are something like a line, but this wasn't. He wasn't even flashing that smile he always smiled when meeting a girl he liked. His words were more like an observation than a flirtation. Zac and Ginger were both immediately confused.
"Yes I am," Kris said. "So you're Taylor." Taylor sat down next to her, not taking his eyes off her.
"Yeah�"
"So, now that we're all here," Ginger said, standing up, "Who wants to order?" Taylor finally looked up, his head snapping a bit as he broke his trance.
"Yeah, sure," he said. He got up, Kris getting up behind him, and the foursome went to the counter to order their food. Kris and Taylor ordered first and walked off, leaving Zac and Ginger behind for a moment.
"What the hell was that?" Ginger asked. Zac shrugged.
"I have no idea."
"Does he not like her or something?" Zac glanced over at Taylor and Kris who were quietly talking while they filled their drinks.
"No, he likes her," Zac said, looking directly at Taylor. "I've just never seen him like this before." Zac looked over at Ginger, whose eyes were wide in worry. "Don't stress about it, babe. They're fine." Zac brought Ginger over to Taylor and Kris, who were lightly talking about Kris's job.
"I'm basically her editor," Kris was saying. "I read over her work, check mainly for typos and grammar, but sometimes I check for content and such. It's not exactly the best thing for me to do, since I'm probably her biggest fan and I enjoy reading it too much to pick it apart like I'm supposed to, but she hasn't fired me yet�" Taylor smiled for the first time since he walked into the room.
"Well at least you get to do something you enjoy."
"Yeah."
Back at the table, things weren't any more exciting. Usually Kris was so animated, and Taylor would be flirting her clothes off, but they were talking about nonsexual things and in a quite monotone level. "So, I heard you guys had a show to do last night," Kris said, looking over at Taylor, sipping her drink from a straw. Usually Taylor would make an innuendo out of that, but this time he didn't.
"Yeah, we did," Taylor said.
"How was it?"
"Ginger went," Taylor explained. "It'd probably be better to ask her; she wasn't the one doing all the work."
"It was good," Ginger said. "I had a blast. Can I ask you guys something?" Ginger looked at both Taylor and Kris equally. They exchanged glances.
"Sure," Kris said.
"What the hell is going on?"
"What are you talking about?" Taylor asked. Zac nudged Ginger and gave her a look, so she didn't respond as she stuffed another piece of bread into her mouth. Taylor and Kris contently spoke to each other through the rest of the meal, which was the only conversation happening.
After they all finished eating, Taylor and Kris stood up and walked away to throw away their trash. Ginger and Zac stayed behind and, since there was nobody else around, could hear them speaking. "Um, are you busy after this?" Taylor asked. Ginger's eyebrow immediately rose and she gave Zac a nudge.
"Not until three; Ginger and I have a conference call with the publisher in New York again." Taylor looked at his watch. Zac did the same; it was eleven-thirty.
"Do you want to do something, like go for cof�" He looked down at the cup of coffee in his hand. "�like go out somewhere?" Kris smiled.
"Sure. Let me just�tell Ginger."
"Just go, Kris!" Ginger yelled. Kris looked over.
"You were listening?" Ginger paused.
"No." Kris gave her friend a look, but Ginger waved them off and they left together. Ginger immediately turned to Zac. "Did you see that? What was up with that? Is Taylor normally like that when he meets a girl?"
"Absolutely not," Zac said. "He has a whole routine that he does, and all of it is just trying to get the girl into bed as quickly as possible. That had nothing to do with it. Usually he's so domineering and forceful; 'We're going out right now' and the girl doesn't have a choice in the matter, not like she'd say no or anything, but he seemed a little nervous around Kris."
"Hmm�"
"Is Kris usually like that?" Ginger shook her head. "Double hmm�"
"Well, they're going out. That's all that matters." Ginger kissed Zac quickly and stood up, walking towards the trash bin.