"Gwen! Are you coming or not? The flight comes in an a half hour!"
Zac was standing at the front door, jingling the keys in his hand. It was the day before Thanksgiving and Zac was ready to pick up his family from the airport, only Gwen wasn't around. She'd been fervently cleaning for days and he had a hard time believing that she still needed time when the apartment was cleaner than when they bought it. "Gwendolyn!!"
"I'm still cleaning! You go! I'll stay here."
"Whatever�" He walked out of the apartment and ran down to the parking garage to get in the car. There was almost no way he'd get to the airport in time. Hopefully the plane would be late. His parents and the little kids were coming. Taylor indeed stayed home, Zac could only guess with Isaac, and Zac couldn't be happier. Seeing Taylor would just ruin the holiday.
Driving down the highway towards LAX, Zac couldn't help but look around the car. Eyebrows furrowed in confusion, he couldn't help but shake his head. Gwen cleaned the car. She didn't just clean the car, she immaculated the car. Anything that could be vacuumed, dusted, scrubbed, or washed was. Gwen was just nervous and wanted to make the best impression she could.
Weaving in and out of traffic, Zac made it to the airport in record time, but he still arrived late. By the time he ran through the airport to baggage claim, his family was already there, bags and all, waiting for him.
"I'm sorry I'm late," he said, running up to them, "but I left late." He kissed his mother and looked at Jessica and Avery, standing next to her. "Hi?" he offered, but neither of them looked at him. "All right. Well, if we're all here, let's go."
"Where's your girlfriend?" Diana asked.
"She's at home. She's so nervous she's on the trip that everything has to be absolutely flawless in the apartment that she's been doing nothing but clean for days. I told her that the place looked perfect, but she doesn't believe me," Zac said. He took his mother's bag and the seven of them began to walk back to the parking lot. Zac's car was just that�a car, so it only fit five people. However, Diana insisted that they were going to rent another car of their own the few days they were in town. The kids wanted to go to Disneyland and the older girls would definitely want to go shopping, so Diana wanted to make sure she had a ways of getting around.
Once they got to the parking lot, the car was waiting for them. "So, are you following me?" Zac asked his father. "The building's in Santa Monica; it's not that complicated to get there."
"Sure," his father answered. "Okay, who's going with Zac?" When nobody answered, Zac was dejected.
"Is anybody coming with me?" Zac asked. "Mack? Zo�?" Mackenzie didn't answer and Zo� hid her face in Jess's shirt. "Okay�I know the girls won't come with me because they're not talking to me."
"No," Diana said. "The girls and I will come with you. Come on." Diana walked over to Zac and motioned for Jessica and Avery to follow. "Come on!" Neither of them moved. "Jessica and Avery, right now!"
"Mom, you don't have to make them. That car is big enough for all of you to fit in. I'll just drive myself."
"No, Zac, I'm coming with you," Diana said. She turned back to her daughters. "I'll deal with you two later." Diana followed Zac to his car. Once inside, Zac sighed. "It's nice to see you again, son. It's just not home without you."
"I know, I know," Zac said, starting the car and looking in his rear view mirror for his father's car. "But I really like it out here. I have a steady job with steady hours�I even have weekends! I've never had the pleasure of a real weekend before. I'm still doing what I love but now I actually have time to enjoy it."
"Well, as long as you're happy, dear," Diana said. "That's all I want for you." There was an awkward silence that Zac knew he'd have to get used to over the next few days while his family was around.
"So�" Zac said, looking behind him to make sure his father was still there as they left the airport, "How's everybody been?"
"Just great," Diana said. "Um, Avery's got herself a boyfriend, which I'm completely against. I think she's too young."
"Avery's fourteen, Mom. Get over it. She's not going to stay a little girl forever."
"Still," Diana said. "And Taylor's been teaching Jess how to play guitar. It's only been about a month since she started but she's doing really well. All of you kids pick that up really quickly. How long did it take you to learn? A week or two?"
"Not really," Zac said. "I mean once I picked it up and actually started messing with it, yeah it was a week or two, but I'd been watching Ike do it for years. I already knew where all the chords were and stuff, it was just a matter how learning how not to mess up."
"Maybe if you talk to Jess about playing she'll open up to you again. Once you get Jess you'll get Avery. Do you have a guitar? If you bring one out I'm sure Jess will play it; she just loves that thing."
"Yeah, I have a guitar," Zac said. "Maybe if conventional methods don't work, I'll bring it out. But I don't think it'll be too hard to get her to talk again. The band I'm producing right now is one of her favorites."
"Really? What band?"
"Feeling Left Out."
"Yeah, that'll work. She loves them. I bet she doesn't even know they have a deal." Zac shook his head.
"Nope, I don't think she knows."
"Well, that'll work."
The rest of the ride went smoothly. Diana enjoyed her time alone with her son before they got to the apartment building. "So you have the penthouse, do you?" Diana asked, looking up at the building while Zac got her bag from the trunk. "I hope that didn't cost too much."
"Ma, don't worry about me," Zac said. "I know how to manage my money. With what they're paying me at the studio, I can pay that entire thing off in a month."
"Are they really paying you that much?" Diana asked. Zac nodded. A sneaky grin worked its way onto her face. "Why?"
"Shut up, Mom," Zac said. "I'm important to these people. When artists hear I'm a producer, they just want to run right over here and give them business. Or at least that's what the executives said when they tried to persuade me to join the first time." Diana opened her mouth to comment when Walker came up with the rest of the kids. "Okay, let's go."
Zac led them into the building and into the elevator, where they went up to the top floor. Zac realized he hadn't called Gwen to let her know they were on their way, but that didn't matter now. He unlocked and opened the front door. "Hello? Gwen?"
"Hey, you were supposed to call me!" Gwen said. She was in the hallway already with the lemon Pledge and a rag. "You didn't give me any time to put any make up on."
"She's lying," Zac said to his family. "She doesn't look like that without makeup on." Gwen gave him a look and he smiled. "Anyway�everybody come on in and put your stuff down and I'll formally introduce you." Diana walked in first, looking around in amazement.
"Zac, honey, this place is absolutely gorgeous!" Diana said.
"I told you," Zac said, smiling. "Its all Gwen's doing. I was at work the whole time while she was out picking out furniture and decorations and things."
"Gwen, you have marvelous taste."
"Thank you," Gwen said, blushing slightly and looking away. "You can all put your suitcases in this bedroom here. We'll deliberate on who's sleeping where later, after you're used to the place." After putting their things down, the family moved to the living room where Zac introduced them to Gwen.
"Well, everybody, this is Gwendolyn Garcia," Zac said. "Gwen, these are my parents, Walker and Diana, and then there's my littlest sister Zo�, my brother Mackenzie, Avery, and the one with the stick up her ass over there is Jessica." Jess shot her brother a look and he could only dismiss it; she only did it because she knew he was right.
"Zac," Diana warned, "that wasn't appropriate."
"But it's true," Zac said. "So! Now that everyone's acquainted, how about lunch?"
After lunch, the family dispersed around the apartment. Diana took to Gwen immediately, which was unexpected. Gwen was a million times worse than Ginger, and Diana knew it, but she still liked Gwen more than she liked Ginger. Gwen was giving Diana a small tour, explaining where she got all of the decorations and trinkets and things only the two of them would enjoy discussing. Walker was tending to Zo�, who had made a massive mess during lunch, despite the fact that she was five years old and shouldn't be making such a huge mess. Mackenzie and Avery were snooping and Jess had settled in the living room in front of the television, trying to figure out how to turn it on.
"You have to turn on the cable box first," Zac said as he walked into the room and sat down on the couch opposite Jessica. She took the advice but didn't look at or say anything to Zac. She figured out the remotes and had settled on MTV. "You know, I wish you'd talk to me. I know I left without saying goodbye and I did all of these things I probably shouldn't have done, but I didn't mean to hurt any of you in the process. It just turned out that way." Jessica turned up the volume, obviously not impressed. In turn, Zac only spoke louder. "I mean, I think you'd enjoy hearing about my work. I'm producing for this really awesome band; it's their first major label work. I think you've heard of them� Feeling Left Out?"
Jess immediately muted the television and looked at Zac. "No way."
"Yeah," Zac said, nodding. "I almost died when I heard they wanted me to produce their record. It's really, really good."
"No way!"
"Way." Jess's eyes had grown huge and she looked like she was ready to burst with excitement.
"Are they putting Spilled Milk on there?" she asked.
"Well we just started, so we don't know what exactly is going on the album, but I'll make sure it gets on there."
"Oh my God, Zac, that's so incredibly awesome," Jess said. She paused, realizing she was talking to him again, and turned back to the television. She took it off mute, but lowered the volume so it wasn't blasting at them. "I'm still mad at you."
"That doesn't bother me," Zac said. "You have every reason to be."
"I didn't want you to leave. Not right away and especially not without saying goodbye."
"What was I supposed to do, Jess? Look the other way and pretend it didn't happen? I couldn't do that," Zac said.
"What exactly did happen?" Jess asked. "Taylor won't talk about it."
"He slept with Ginger. Repeatedly."
"Oh."
"So Mom tells me you're playing guitar now," Zac said to quickly change the subject. Jess nodded. "I was wondering when you guys were going to get into music."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well we've been doing music for the longest time now and you guys just never did anything about it. You're my sister, I know you're bound to have some kind of desire to play, if not professionally then at least for yourself," Zac said. "Mom says you really love it."
"Yeah," Jess said. "I do."
"You'll have to play for me later."
"You have a guitar?" she asked, lighting up.
"Oh come on, Jess, you know me better than that. Of course I have a guitar. I have every single instrument I know how to play and even some I don't that I keep just for kicks."
"Can I play it now?" she asked.
"Sure." Jess turned off the television and they stood up. The phone rang. "Oh, let me get that. My guitar is in my bedroom down the hall there." Jess ran off and Zac picked up the telephone. "Hello?"
"Hey Zac! It's Joe."
"Hey Joe! I thought you guys were going back to New Jersey for the holiday," Zac said. Joe was one half of Feeling Left Out, and the reason Zac was able to be home for four days was because the band was supposed to be going back to New Jersey.
"Plans changed," Joe said. "We're still going to have the rest of the week off, but we're staying in town."
"Really? What are you guys doing tomorrow?" Zac asked.
"Oh�I don't know. Bill and I are probably going to get a pizza or something."
"No you're not," Zac said. "You're coming over here. My family's over. It'll be fun."
"Are you sure?" Joe asked.
"Yeah! Um, just to warn you, though, my little sister's a massive fan so she might freak out a little bit."
"Wow, I don't think I've ever met a fan that's freaked out before."
"There's a first for everything," Zac said. "Anyway, dinner will be around four, so you can come over any time before then. You can watch football with my dad or something�"
"Sounds good."
"Zac!!!" Jess screamed from the bedroom. "Are you coming or what?"
"Oh, crap, I gotta go, Joe. I'll see you tomorrow?" Zac asked.
"Yeah, we'll be there."
"Great."
"Zac!!!"
"See you later." Zac hung up the phone. "I'm coming, Jess!" He ran into the bedroom.