Gwen's show the next day was a complete success. Zac never really cared for fashion shows; to draw more attention to the clothes they always made the models look as terrible as possible, and this show was no different. Gwen's makeup was so loud, you wanted to look at the clothes instead of her face, which probably was the point to begin with. And, once again, Gwen was wearing next to nothing. Apparently the new fall fashion, for when the weather got cooler, was to get rid of all clothing period and lose an extremity to frostbite. It was reminiscent to the summer fashion expose Zac had attended.
After the show Zac attended the after party where he met up with Gwen again, wearing her favorite outfit that she'd modeled. She'd taken most of the makeup off and looked more like the Gwen he knew rather than the Gwen the catwalk knew. She was two different people, but then again so was he, so he was glad she finally understood.
"Hi baby," Gwen said, coming up to him. She kissed him. "Did you like the show?"
"Of course I did," he said. "Any time I can see half-naked chicks and you actually approve is fine by me." She giggled.
"That's not funny," she said. "Everybody heard about your album, they're dying to talk to you about it."
"Great."
"Don't, baby doll," she said. "Everyone's really excited that you're here." At this point Zac was just anxious to get back to the hotel and go to sleep. He and Gwen were going back to LA the next morning. Two days in Milan was too much for him. Gwen had spent six figures in one store the previous day on less than two outfits. At least now she had her own money to spend carelessly.
"I'm�I'm going to get a drink first," Zac said. "I'll meet you over there."
"Are you sure? You're not going to bail out on me now, are you?" she asked, smiling. "That wouldn't make me look good at all."
"No, I'll come back," he said. "I promise." He kissed her and walked towards the bar. After ordering himself a drink, he was ready to go deal with Gwen's friends when a voice called his name from behind.
"Zac? Zac, is that you?" He turned around and immediately regretted doing so.
"Kris? What are you doing here?" he asked. Kris walked up to him, a forced smile on her face.
"Ginger and I were invited," she said. Zac's face fell.
"She's not here, is she?" he cautiously asked, looking around. Kris shook her head.
"No," Kris said. "No, Jenny got sick and she had to stay behind."
"Who's Jenny?" Zac asked. Kris froze. "Kris? Are you okay?"
"Um�yeah�" she said. "You know, you should go see her. We're going to be in LA in a few days to shoot a movie."
"I don't think so, Kris," he said, shaking his head. "I really don't want to speak to her. You know, Gwen and I have been together a year now, and if I see Ginger again it'll just fuck everything up."
"And why do you think that is?" she asked. "I really think you should see her. You don't even have to stay long; you should just speak to her for a little while." He gave her a look. Slightly embarrassed, she put her hand on her forehead and Zac couldn't help but notice the massive diamond on her ring finger.
"Whoa!" he said, taking her hand. "When'd this happen?" Kris smiled. Although a minute ago she looked scared out of her mind, she was now beaming with happiness. Her cheeks flushed red.
"Oh," she said. The smile on her face was unmistakable; this must be new. "It just happened a few days ago. I was completely surprised."
"So who's the lucky guy?" he asked. Her face changed again and he didn't need an answer. "It's Taylor, isn't it?" She nodded. "That's what I thought. Well�" To Zac's great chagrin, Taylor walked up to Kris and slid his arm around her waist.
"Hi Zac," he said. "Nice show."
"I have to go." Zac turned around and began to walk away.
"Tell your girlfriend I said hi," Taylor said. Zac clenched his open fist and continued to walk away. He walked over to the table where Gwen was sitting with some of her friends. Zac sat next to her.
"Can I go?" he whispered.
"What? The party just started!"
"Taylor's here," Zac said.
"I know." He sat back, confused.
"You know?" he asked. She nodded. "And you didn't bother to tell me that he was here? Did you know that Ginger would be here too if someone didn't get sick? Who invited them?"
"I don't know who invited them," Gwen said. "But, honey, there's nothing you can do about it. You can either continue to avoid your brother or you can just deal with it. It's been over a year, Zac."
"I think I'll continue to avoid him," he said, standing up.
"Then I'll just have to hang out with him for the rest of the night." Zac sighed and sat back down. "Don't be such a baby." Zac groaned and put his head down on the table.
The next morning Gwen and Zac went back home in an uncomfortable atmosphere. Ever since Zac met up with Kris again he couldn't stop thinking about Ginger. Gwen realized this and wasn't happy at all. When they arrived at home, she threw her bags down, leaving Zac to deal with them, and announced she was going to take a long bath.
"Ugh," Zac said. He threw his bags down with hers. He could deal with them later. He was exhausted. He would go into the bedroom to go to sleep, but unfortunately Gwen had slammed the bedroom door behind her. As inviting as the sound of bed was, he didn't want to deal with her attitude at that particular moment.
He sat down in the kitchen, taking the phone with him. He'd had a lot of time to think about it and he actually wanted to go see Ginger. Ever since they broke up, people have been trying to get him to go see her, and he'd refused every single time. He'd never seen anything like this before; it seemed everybody wanted him to see her again.
Sighing, he propped his head up with his hand, his elbow on the countertop. Gwen appeared at the doorway. "So that's how it's going to be?" she asked. "You're just going to sit there and not talk to me?"
"Oh my God, Gwen," Zac said. "You were the one who yelled 'I'm taking a bath, don't you dare come in and bother me.' What am I supposed to do? Go in there and have you yell at me? I don't think so."
"Well I want to talk about this," she said, standing on the opposite side of the counter.
"What's there to talk about? I don't even know why you're mad!"
"You want to go see Ginger!"
"Yeah, I do," Zac said. "What's so wrong with that?"
"Oh, come on, Zac! What's going to happen if you go see her? She's no good for you, Zac."
"Everybody told me you were no good for me either, and look what happened with us."
"So what does that mean? Do you want to get back together with her?"
"What?! No!" Zac groaned. "I just want to see her. Everybody's been telling me to go see her and I want to know what all the fuss is about. I don't want to get back together with her at all. I have you and I don't need anybody else."
"That's a whole bunch of shit and you know it," she said, throwing up her hands and walking away.
"Gwen, what the hell am I supposed to tell you?" he yelled after her. He got up and followed her into the hallway. "Tell me."
"Don't even, Zac," she said, putting up her hand and walking towards the bedroom again, her heels clicking on the wooden floors as she did so. "I don't want to hear it from you."
"I don't know what to say, Gwen! I want to see her, I'm sorry if I do, but it's not like I'm going to go over there and fuck her. I'm not you."
"Oh�you did not just say that," she said, turning around and putting a hand on her hip. He looked directly at her.
"What?" he asked. "I'm just stating the truth. I can trust myself around other girls. I have girl friends that I don't sleep with. I don't think you have any."
"That was a long time ago, Zac," she said. "I'm not like that anymore!"
"Yeah, that's because you live here now. I'm always around so there's no way you could cheat on me again."
"Goddammit, Zac�"
"You haven't changed at all! You're still an irresponsible little girl, the only difference now is that you have millions of dollars so you don't have to worry about spending all of your cash and ending up on the streets because even you can't spend all the money I make. And I do make all of it, don't I? You could spend your paycheck in ten minutes but the money I make that for some reason I allow you to spend seems unlimited to you."
"What does that have to do with anything? You tell me I can spend your money. You say that you wouldn't do anything with it so I should spend it so it doesn't just sit there gaining interest. Don't talk to me about irresponsible, Zac, all right? You can't take responsibility for your own actions when everybody around you is telling you exactly what's going on but you still refuse to see the big picture!"
"What are you talking about?"
"You know nothing of responsibility! You've been spoon-fed your life ever since you were ten years old, Zac! You run around making records and getting hundreds of millions of dollars for it. Not everybody's life is like that! But, it doesn't matter because your life is set. Your brother does something that you knew he was going to do, and frankly Zac it wasn't all his fault, and you refuse to speak to him for an entire year! This is your brother, Zac. Yet you allow yourself to go see Ginger, you want to see Ginger, but you still refuse to talk to your brother. I'd talk to Taylor before I would talk to Ginger, if I were you."
"But you're not me," Zac said, "And you never will be. You run around like you're my wife but you're not, Gwen. I'm only eighteen years old. I'm not thinking about getting married right now. Not now, and not to you. You need to realize that." She stopped, shaking her head.
"I cannot believe you just said that," she said.
"Believe it."
"Tu eres un pend�jo!" she yelled. "Yo debo haber salido con Taylor cuando �l pregunt�!"
"Whoa, whoa," Zac yelled, backing up. "What the hell does that mean?"
"You figure it out," she said. She opened the door to the bedroom and went inside.
"Oh no! I don't think so! Don't be speaking your Spanish to me and then go running off. Did you say something about Taylor?" he asked. She slammed the door behind her. Fuming, Zac ran back into the kitchen and picked up the phone. He dialed a number and put the phone to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Hi Mom," Zac said. "What's Taylor's cell phone number?"
"Why?" Diana asked.
"Because I need to speak to him! Well, not him, I need to speak to Kris, but�it doesn't matter! Just what is it?" Reluctantly Diana gave him the phone number and he wrote it down. "Thanks, Mom." He hung up the phone without saying anything else to her, which he knew he would have to deal with later, and then called the number.
"Hello?" It was Taylor.
"Taylor, it's Zac," he said. "Is Kris around?"
"Zac? How'd you get my number?"
"It doesn't matter. Is Kris there?"
"Yeah�what's up? Why are you talking to me?"
"Just put her on the phone, all right?" he snapped. Taylor groaned and called out for Kris who picked up the phone. "Kris?" Zac asked.
"Yeah. Zac? What's up?"
"Where are you and Ginger staying in LA?"