After Lindsay left a few days later, Jessica came to take her place. However, unlike Lindsay, Jessica was planning to leave the next morning. Jessica's only bag was her carry-on backpack with two sets of clothes and some odd things to do on the plane, and Zac took her straight from the airport to the studio.
"I haven't been to one of these in a while," Jess said, walking into the building with Zac. He nodded to Ellen at the front desk and went immediately into the studio area. One of the producers that worked under Zac on the Feeling Left Out album (which was almost done, surprisingly) was already there in the editing room, waiting for Zac and Jess to show up.
"Hey Gavin," Zac said. "This is my sister, Jessica. Jess, this is Gavin."
"Nice to meet you," Jess said. She shook his hand.
"Likewise. Are we ready?"
"Just about," Zac said. "We're going to go through it a couple of times before we start recording. We haven't worked on it together yet."
"You haven't? Zac, are you sure about this, it's a big risk�"
"What risk? I'm only doing this for Gwen," Zac said, giving Gavin a look. Gavin backed off. Zac was being slightly ridiculous about this, and he had just lied again to his sister. "Okay, Jess, you ready?"
"I guess�" she began.
"All right." He dug through some files and pulled out the song. Jess already had her copy with her and she was looking over it. "Come on, let's go out there. We won't start recording but the acoustics are better and the guitars are in there."
"Okay." Jess followed Zac into the recording area and he handed her a guitar. He took his (the one Gwen gave him that he hadn't been able to put down yet) and sat down on the stool in front of one of the microphones. He put the music on the music stand while Jess took the stool next to him. He counted off and they began to play together. Zac sang the first few lines, but when it got to Jess's turn, he couldn't help but notice how completely nervous she was.
"Okay, okay, stop," he said. Jess looked up.
"What?"
"Calm down, Jess, we're not even recording."
"Well I've never done this before! I'm nervous!"
"Don't be! It's just you and me here. We sing together all the time. The only difference is that there's a microphone here."
"And Gavin's here," Jess said.
"Is he making you uncomfortable?" Zac asked. "Because he's really just here for convenience. We don't need him." Jess nodded. "All right, I'll send him home." He walked out of the room and back over to Gavin. "Hey Gav, she's really nervous and�"
"I heard. I'll go. If you need me, I'll be working with the boys in studio C."
"All right. Thanks Gavin. I'll see you tomorrow," he said. Gavin nodded and left. Zac walked back into the recording room. "Okay, he's gone."
"Thanks."
"All right." Jess's nervousness left and Zac was ready to start over again. They ran through the song a few times, and then Zac went back to the editing room, leaving Jess in the recording room by herself. "Can you hear me?" Zac asked. Jess nodded. "Speak into the microphone if you need to say something to me, I'll be able to hear you in here. You can hear yourself in the headphones but don't walk around with them because they're connected to the stand. Any questions?"
"No," Jess said into the microphone. "Well�yes. Where am I starting?"
"Um�we're going to start with your first line. We'll record vocals first, then the instrumental parts."
"Okay."
"Whenever you're ready." Jess took a few breaths, put the headphones on, and began to sing. Zac smiled as he heard her voice, but she still wasn't doing what he knew she could. She was still nervous. She'd never done anything like this before. Although she knew music as well as he did, she'd never been in a situation where she had to be perfect about it. "Stop." She stopped.
"What?" she asked.
"You're not singing full voice, Jess," Zac said.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"Don't worry about it. You're still nervous. Loosen up and try again from your line," he said, and sat back. She tried again and she still wasn't singing full voice. "Stop!"
"Ugh, what?!"
"Hold on a sec," he said. He got up and walked into the recording area. He stepped up to her, put his hands on her shoulders, and placed her where he wanted her to stand. He stood next to her. "Try again." She sighed and began to sing again. He put a hand right below her rib cage and pushed up, and her voice went from light and airy to strong and powerful. "There we go. Sing like that every time."
"All right," she said, taking in a deep breath.
"It's going to be a long process, Jess. Don't expect to get it exactly right every time. Just wait until I get out here; I'll be stopping myself every three seconds."
"Why does this have to be so perfect?" Jess asked. "It's just for Gwen."
"Jess, it has to be perfect every time. It doesn't matter if you're singing for a million people or just for one. You give your all every time. You never know what may come of it." Zac walked back into the editing room. "Let's do it again."
"Zac! Hurry up!"
It was the next Saturday and Gwen had made an appointment for Zac to get a fitting with Armani for his suit. She was planning to make a day out of it; since they moved in together she'd been dying to revamp his wardrobe and he'd never had time to do it. He'd never wanted to do it either, but her incessant nagging got annoying after a while and he finally caved in.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Zac said, dragging slowly behind, carrying the jingling keys. She held out her hand. "No, I'm driving."
"Do you even know where this place is?"
"I know better than you do," he said, giving her a look.
"I know exactly where I'm going and I know exactly how to get there. I don't shop every weekend for my own health, you know. I do it to get around."
"My ass."
"Your ass is in dire need of some fashionable clothes. I mean, just look at you. You're still dressing 1997."
"So?"
"It's almost 2004, honey. You're seven years behind. Give me the keys." He groaned as he handed her the keys and opened the door for her. She walked out, a paradigm of fashion, and he mimicked her while she wasn't looking. He couldn't believe her sometimes. She'd done her makeup, done her hair, and dressed in two hundred dollar jeans that she would only wear this once, three-inch stiletto heels, and a short-sleeved top that still showed off her perfectly sculpted stomach.
"Aren't you going to be cold?" Zac asked.
"Zac, it's seventy degrees out! I could go out in a bikini and I wouldn't be cold," she said.
"Well I'm glad you've decided for something that covers a little more skin," Zac said sarcastically. Gwen had a tendency to not realize how much skin she was showing, and how uncomfortable that made Zac.
"What's your problem?" she asked.
"You never wear anything when we go out!" Zac said. "I don't understand why you even get dressed at all."
"Zac, you're overreacting," Gwen said, rolling her eyes. She walked to the elevator.
"I just don't like it when we go out and every single other guy that passes by is looking at you." She sighed and took his hand.
"But Zac," she said, "I'm only looking at you." He shook his head. He couldn't help but disagree. She'd cheated on him before, and although that was way done and over with, he'd forgiven her and they were happy together again, he always had a slight fear that she'd do it again.
Gwen drove, and when she and Zac arrived, the store associates were waiting for them. "Mr. Hanson, Miss Garcia, come on in," the manager of this particular store said. "We're so happy you decided to go with us."
"So what exactly did you have in mind?" Gwen immediately asked, getting straight to business. Zac almost laughed at it; Gwen was serious about her clothes. Zac followed blindly behind as the associate led Gwen up the stairs to the private personal shopping area.
"Well, from the color you sent us," the associate said, "we came up with these three styles." Gwen looked over to where the woman was pointing, where three suits hung up against the wall. "And along the table over there we have every combination of shirt and tie that would still match." Gwen walked over and began to browse.
"Now what kind of numbers are we talking about with these?" Gwen asked. "Are these the kind of clothes that a lot of people purchase, or are these a limited collection?"
"I don't think that really matters, Miss Garcia," the associate said. Gwen looked back at her.
"Excuse me? I don't want the chance of going to this awards show and have somebody else wearing the same thing as Zac, here. Do you know how embarrassing that would be?"
"Well, unfortunately, Miss Garcia, with men's clothing we're very limited on creative control and�"
"Come on, Zac, my designer will make you something original," Gwen said, pushing Zac towards the stairs.
"No!" the associate said, and looked around nervously to make sure nobody else saw what just happened. "I apologize. The pants and jacket are basic in almost every suit you can find, I can't do a thing about them, but I can limit the shirt and tie to what no one else will have."
"Thank you," Gwen said. Zac gave her a look. "What?" she quietly asked.
"That was a little rude, don't you think?"
"Did you see her, Zac?" Gwen asked. "She was ready to take advantage of you! I'm not going to let her do that. Don't worry; I know what I'm doing here. You're going to look awesome."
"Okay�"
"Fortunately," the associate was saying, "with the color you're wearing, Miss Garcia, we have a nice selection of limited clothing. It's not a common color."
"No it's not," Gwen said. "That's why I picked it." Gwen looked at the three suits on the wall. "Zac, come here." Zac walked over. "What do you think of this one?" She pointed to the center suit.
"I like it."
"Ugh," Gwen said. "Why did I even bring you? You could at least touch it. It's a nice material." She felt the pant leg. "I think we should go with this one. Since we have such a limited choice�"
"Yeah," Zac said, quickly interrupting her, "we'll go with this one."
"Great," Gwen said. "That's settled. Now we just need the rest of it." She turned to the table. "Ooh, I like this shirt." She picked it up. "Okay�this shirt with�this tie. Miss? Where'd you go?"
"I'm right here," the associate said from across the room. She had two more ties in her hand.
"He'll try on the center suit with this shirt and this tie." The woman nodded and took down the suit, then brought Zac to a dressing room where he could try it on. He did and walked out. Gwen crossed her arms and looked him over. "Turn around." He turned around. She scrunched her nose. "I don't like the shirt. How about�this one?"
An hour later Zac had tried on nearly every shirt and tie, and Gwen didn't like any of it. Frankly Zac was getting tired and the associate had already plopped herself down in a chair, letting Gwen take complete control. "Gwen, honestly, is there anything I haven't tried on yet?"
"Yes," she said, giving him a look. "This one. Try it on." She handed him a shirt and he walked back into the dressing room to try it on with the tie she'd given him as well. Walking back out, Gwen's eyes lit up.
"Yes? Finally�"
"Almost," Gwen said. "I like it, but�" She walked up to him and took off his tie, then unbuttoned a few of the top buttons. "Perfect. If you wear your hair spiked up like you had it the other day I think you would look gorgeous. Don't you think?" Gwen looked at the associate.
"Yes."
"Wonderful! We'll take it."
Twenty minutes late Zac and Gwen were in the car again, and Gwen was headed to the Barneys in Beverly Hills. "Do we have to go?" Zac whined. "We spent over an hour in the last store."
"Yes, honey. You agreed to this."
"Oh, all right�"
"It'll be fun!" Zac rolled his eyes.
At Barneys, Gwen obviously was a common customer because some of the employees addressed her by her first name. "Hi Gwen," one of the women said, walking up to her. "So, you finally got him to come along?"
"Yeah," Gwen said, smiling. "He needs some new clothes. I mean, look at him."
"Gwen," Zac warned. Gwen smiled.
"We'll be around," Gwen said. "I'll call you if I need you." Gwen walked off with Zac and immediately began looking around. Zac opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off. "Yes, I come here often."
"I've noticed."
"You need some new jeans," she said. "I'm not liking the look you have right now. It's very punk rock and you're just not like that."
"Whatever, Gwen."
"Here," she said, sorting through a section of jeans for his size, which she had committed to memory to make shopping much easier. She handed him a pair. "I'll keep looking around, you go try those on right there." She pointed to a stall by a mirror and continued to look around as he walked into it. After he put them on, he grew slightly confused. "Oh my God, Gwen, what the fuck are up with these jeans?"
"Let me see," Gwen said, turning towards him. He walked out and she smiled. "Oh, those look so good!"
"Are these chick pants?" he asked. She didn't say anything. "Oh my God, Gwen, these are girl pants!"
"Everybody's wearing them, Zac!" she said. "And they look so good. Come over here and look at yourself." She led him over to the mirror and turned him sideways. "Oh, man, they make your ass look fabulous." With both her hands she grabbed his ass. He rolled his eyes. "Look at this, they like lift it up and everything."
"There is no need to publicly grope me, sweetheart," he said.
"But they do!"
"Yeah, they do," he said, slightly embarrassed to say that a pair of girl jeans made his ass look good. "But this just isn't me. This is�this is something Taylor would wear."
"But, Zac, you look so hot. They make me want to take you back into that fitting room and bang your brains out." He sighed. "And who cares if it's something Taylor would wear?"
"I'm not Taylor, Gwen." She sighed.
"No. No, you're not." He turned around and looked at her.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing! So, are you getting them or not?"
"Yeah, fine, whatever." He didn't want to admit it, but they were damn comfortable jeans.