Zac put his clothes back on, glancing at Gwen, who was still on the bed, wearing nothing but a sheet and her heels. That was something Gwen always did; she kept her shoes on. Zac never understood it and never actually wanted to understand it, he just knew it happened and he might as well ignore it because she wasn't about to change.
"So that's how it's going to be, huh?" Gwen asked, giving him a smile. "Come over for a nice lay and then leave? I see how it is."
"I'm not even supposed to be here, Gwen," Zac explained.
"You're never supposed to be here. That's never stopped you before."
"But I'm really not supposed to be here this time," Zac said. "I'll take you out tonight. How about that?"
"Oh, all right�"
"Thanks for being so interested, Gwen." She shrugged. "I'll be back at�" He looked at the time. "At seven. And if you don't piss me off, I'll stay the night with you." He walked over and kissed her. "Don't ever get dressed."
"You're so dirty."
"I'll be back later."
"I'll be waiting."
He gave her a smile and left her house down the back stairs in a better mood than he'd ever been in. He went around the house to the front where his car was parked and got inside. The day had gotten so much better and all it took was a trip to Gwen's house. He remembered why he went out with her to begin with. She always made everything better. She knew how to talk to him, what to say, and even though that usually ended up with sex, he didn't mind.
He drove home with the windows down and the radio blasting. He sang along with Everclear and allowed his mind to wander. Barely paying attention to the road, he made it home in record time, surprisingly alive and without a citation. He went in the house through the front door and saw his mother immediately.
"Hi Mom," he said, giving her a smile and a kiss on the cheek. "How're you doing?"
"Someone's in a good mood," Diana said. "Ginger was over earlier, did you two work things through?"
"Nope," Zac said, his smile holding fast through the mention of his now ex-girlfriend. "We broke up. I'll be upstairs!" Zac ran up the stairs to his room. He opened the door and froze, his mood broken. "What the fuck are you doing here?" Zac stood at the door, his arms crossed, looking at Taylor. "I thought you were still in Florida."
"I took an early flight."
"So did everyone else," Zac muttered.
"What?"
"Get out of my room, Taylor," Zac said, stepping out of the doorway. Taylor didn't move. "Do you want me to hit you again?"
"Zac, I'm not going anywhere. We need to talk about this."
"We don't have to talk about anything," Zac said. "You want Ginger? She's all yours; we're broken up." Taylor shook his head.
"You shouldn't have broken up with her."
"Get out of my room!" Taylor didn't move. "Get out, Taylor! Get out of my room and get out of my life! I don't want to see you anymore." When Taylor still didn't move, Zac left himself and went back down the stairs to find his mother. Taylor followed and Zac ignored him.
Diana was in the kitchen. "Mom?" Zac asked.
"Yes, dear?" She looked up. "Oh, Taylor! You're home."
"He doesn't matter," Zac said. "I want to move out." Diana paused, her eyes shifting from Taylor to Zac.
"What?" she asked.
"I want to move out of the house."
"You're still seventeen, Zac. You can't do that."
"For twenty-three more days," Zac said. "I cannot live in this house with him and if he doesn't leave, I'm going to."
"Zac, that's ridiculous," Diana said. "Even if you do leave, you'll still see him every day at work."
"I'm quitting the band too."
"What!" Taylor yelled, coming from behind Zac into his direct vision. "Zac, you can't just do that! I'm sorry I slept with your girlfriend, but you can't just move out of the house and quit the band because it happened!"
"I can't?" Zac asked, looking at Taylor. "You cannot tell me what to do anymore. I'm quitting the band and I'm moving out of the house and there is nothing you can do about it." Zac turned and walked out of the room. He ran back up the stairs and went into his room, where he immediately began to pack all of his things. Diana came into the room.
"Zac, you're not being reasonable here," Diana said. "I can understand if you cannot forgive Taylor for this, but moving out of the house and quitting the band? That's not like you. You love your job. You love making music with your brothers."
"I used to love my brothers too," Zac said. "Things change."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to get myself my own place and not have to deal with him any longer. Columbia offered me a job as a producer in Los Angeles."
"LA? Zac, that's all the way across the country."
"I know."
"Zac, you need to calm down and think about this. Once you turn eighteen there is nothing I can do to stop you from doing whatever you want to do, but until then I'm not letting you get your own place."
"Then I'll stay with someone else."
"Who? Vinnie? After three days he'll be so sick of you he'll send you back home." Zac shook his head.
"I'll stay with Gwen."
"Who's Gwen?"
"A friend," Zac said. "She'll let me stay with her, at least until my birthday."
"Zac, no," Diana pleaded. "Don't. I'll give you a couple of days to think this through, and then if you still feel this way, there's nothing I can do to stop you. I'll let you go out to LA and take that producing job. I'll even help you move in, but if you leave now, I will not take part in anything."
"I can't take three days here with him, Mother," Zac said. "Not after what he did."
"It wasn't entirely his fault, Zac."
"I know. It was Ginger's fault too. I took care of that." Diana looked expectantly at her son, who was still packing. She sighed and walked out of the room.
At seven o'clock Zac pulled in front of Gwen's house and hopped out. His good mood from seeing her earlier had completely worn out by now and he was hoping for another high to last him for at least a little while. He wasn't entirely sure if Gwen would let him stay at her house for the next three weeks until his birthday, but he was hopeful and with the right atmosphere he could convince her to say yes.
He got out of his car and rang the doorbell. He was still getting used to the chimes but they were more familiar now and he could still hear them when Gwen opened the front door. "Hello beautiful," Zac said, giving her a smile.
"Why hello! You're in a good mood."
"Actually, I'm in a terrible mood but I'm just so completely out of my mind I wonder how I got here alive."
"Out of your mind, eh?" she asked, stepping out of the house. She shut the door and began to walk to his car. He followed close behind, reaching out and opening her door for her when she arrived. "What happened?" She got inside and waited for him to get in as well.
"Well, I made two completely spontaneous, life-altering decisions in a span of thirty seconds and I think I'm going to stick by them."
"What would those be?" He started the car.
"I'm moving out of my house," he said. "And I'm quitting the band." She gasped.
"You're quitting the band? Why? You love playing music, Zac!"
"I know, I know," Zac said, looking over at her. "I just can't spend all my time with Taylor any longer. I can't even stand to look at him, much less work with him and live with him. I got offered a job in Los Angeles as a producer a while ago and I'm going to take it. The guy told me if I ever needed that job he'd give it to me�and I need it right now."
"So you're going to LA?"
"Yeah." He put the car into drive and started out onto the road. "This is going to be really good for me, Gwen, even if it means quitting the band. I'll still be working with music, but I just won't be working on my music. It's only a little difference."
"It's a big difference, Zac," Gwen told him. "You won't get to tour or do live shows. You won't be doing publicity. You'll just be in the studio, day in and day out, working on other people's music. You won't get the recognition you're getting now."
"Don't try to talk me out of this, Gwen. It's not going to work," Zac said.
"I just don't want you to go. I just got you back and you're already leaving." He smiled.
"I'm not leaving right away, Gwen," he said, looking over at her. She was looking down. "It won't be until my birthday."
"Still."
"You could always come with me." She looked up at him. "Yeah. You could come out to LA with me. It'll be fun."
"Geez, Zac, I'd have to think about that."
"Go right ahead and think. We've still got time." She sighed. "What?"
"Nothing, sweetie. So, where are we going?" Zac shrugged.
"I hadn't really thought about it."
"So you're just driving around aimlessly?" He nodded. "There's a party at Jarren's house tonight if you want to go."
"Who's Jarren?"
"A good friend of mine. I must have met him after we broke up. The whole gang's going to be there�Lindsay, Matt, Brandy, Ryan�"
"All right." Gwen smiled and directed Zac to Jarren's house. When they arrived, Zac recognized Lindsay Branford's car immediately. It was just as unique as Ginger's�a bright purple Honda Civic. It was so loud it could possibly be seen from space. "Looks like Linds is already here."
"She practically lives here with Jarren," Gwen explained. "She's probably been here for days. Let's go." Zac and Gwen got out of the car and walked up the sidewalk to the front door.
"When's the party supposed to start?"
"Jarren said eight o'clock. We're early," Gwen said. Instead of knocking, she opened the front door and walked right into the house. It was a small house but had a lot of room inside. Zac looked around; there was a keg on the small dining room table, which was in a room hardly big enough to be considered a room, and directly in front of him, at the square living room table, Lindsay and Jarren were getting high.
Lindsay looked up first. "Zac! Oh my God, it's been forever!" She got immediately, running over to Zac and throwing her arms around him. Lindsay was a skinny little girl with long, curly, dirty-blonde hair and deep brown eyes. She was continuously high and, despite the loss of brain cells, was the smartest person Zac had ever known. Zac had forgotten how many friends he'd lost when he broke up with Gwen. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in Florida."
"I was," Zac said. "But I came back."
"Are you still with that Hollywood girl?" Lindsay asked. Gwen had made herself comfortable next to Jarren, sharing his joint.
"No," Zac said, shaking his head. "No, we broke up."
"Oh, good." Lindsay took his hand and brought him over to the table. They sat down on the floor and Lindsay passed him her joint. It'd been ages since he'd gotten high; it was probably since the last time he went to a party with Gwen, and he couldn't help but miss it. "So, are you single now?"
"That's up to Gwen to decide," Zac said.
"No, he's not," Gwen said, smiling. "He's all mine."
"Sorry, Linds," Zac said.
"That's okay. You'd be too much of a hassle for me anyway," Lindsay said. "Have you met Jarren yet?"
"No I haven't," Zac said.
"God, Gwen, what kind of person are you?" Lindsay asked. "You crash our party with him and you don't even introduce him to the host!" Gwen shrugged. "Well, anyway, Jarren, this is Zac Hanson. Zac, this is Jarren Ascalace."
"Nice to meet you, buddy," Zac said.
"You too." They shook hands. "Wait, are you THE Zac Hanson?"
"Yeah, I am."
"Oh. Well, then it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Zac Hanson of Hanson."
"Hey, I'm not with them anymore," Zac said, putting his hands up.
"Zac! You didn't!" Lindsay gasped.
"I did," Zac said, nodding. "I quit this afternoon."
"Why?" Lindsay asked. "Why would you do something like that?"
"Taylor slept with my girlfriend. Repeatedly."
"Oh, well then. Nevermind."