The next morning Zac arrived home from his boring stint in the Christmas Day Parade to find Taylor, Kris, Ginger and Jenny waiting anxiously for him to return. Zac was the only one awake when he left, but he'd been gone for quite a while, giving the others plenty of time to get up and wait for his return.
"You guys didn't have to wait for me," Zac said, taking off his coat as he walked into the living room. The tree was up and decorated and all of the presents remained underneath it, waiting to be opened. "I told you to unwrap the gifts without me."
"Now what kind of Christmas would that be?" Ginger asked. "It's tradition to have everybody gather around and open the presents together."
"Whatever," Zac said. "I told you to go without me. You're all massively anxious, I can see it all over you guys." He walked over and sat down. "Well, I'm here now, so we can start."
"All right," Kris said. "Well�" There was a knock at the door. "Dammit!"
"I'll get it," Zac said, standing up again. "You�sort out the presents or something." He walked over to the front door and opened it, but immediately froze. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Oh, gee Zac, nice to see you too," Isaac said.
"I thought you hated me."
"Listen, it's Christmas. Are you going to let Roni and I stand out here in the hallway or are you going to let us in?" Zac looked over. He was so shocked by Isaac's appearance he didn't even realize that Roni was there as well. He sighed.
"All right, come on in. We were just about to open gifts."
"Good, we're not too late," Isaac said. Zac walked inside and Isaac and Roni followed behind. He led them into the living room where Kris was pushing gifts into piles in front of people.
"Ike!" Taylor said, the first of them to see him. "What ever could you be doing here?"
"Oh, so you're the one who invited him?" Zac asked. Taylor gave him a look. "All right, all right, I'll shut up." Zac sat down next to Ginger. "Sit down, guys."
"We brought presents too!" Roni said. She opened up the bag she was carrying and pulled out a number of presents�one for each person in the room. "It's nothing much but I figured if we're going to drop by unannounced on Christmas, we might as well bring presents for everybody."
"Roni, you didn't have to do that," Kris said politely. "That makes me feel obliged to go out and get you something�luckily I knew you were coming so I did!"
"Was I the only one blissfully unaware that you were coming today?" Zac asked, looking around the room. It was obvious both Taylor and Kris knew, so Zac focused heavily on Ginger. She was looking away. "Ginger?"
"All right, all right, I knew too. I wasn't allowed to say anything, though, because it was supposed to be a big surprise." Ginger handed Jenny to Zac and stood up. "We got them something too."
"What?" Zac asked. Ginger handed Roni and Ike a present, apparently that was from Zac as well. With that, everybody began to open presents. Christmas had always been a hard time for Zac, especially after he and his brothers became famous. What exactly do you get a person who already has everything? He had an especially hard time this year, what with trying to find something for Ginger. She lived with him and, frankly, there wasn't a thing she didn't own. Despite that, they all made out okay. It seemed that Zac got a lot of clothes, which was basically Ginger's way of getting Zac out of the habit of dressing the way Gwen wanted him to. Zac gave Ginger a necklace Kris told him to buy, and Ginger gave Zac, among other things, the complete Kevin Smith collection. Zac already announced he had control of the television for the rest of the day, although Ginger insisted she didn't want that much swearing around Jenny. However, when Zac got up he tripped and let out a loud "Fuck!" right in front of Jenny, so Ginger relented and let him put his movies on.
Zac wasn't surprised when everybody conveniently left Isaac alone with him. Taylor and Kris decided to take a walk while Ginger insisted on showing Roni around the apartment. Jenny was playing with her new toys on the floor, ignoring the constant swears emitted from the television. Although Ginger and Zac tried to give Jenny a clean environment, Jenny still heard a good share every day, and Zac wouldn't be surprised if Jenny's first word was "fuck."
"So," Zac said, realizing a conversation would never start unless he started it. "Why are you here?"
"Taylor invited us," Isaac said. "He laid a massive guilt trip on me, saying I should be here with my family and it's my fault we're not all together anymore, but that's not true. It's your fault."
"Oh, excuse me," Zac said. "I'm the one tearing the family apart."
"Well, you're the one with an apartment in LA while everyone else still lives in Tulsa," Isaac said.
"Taylor lives out here. It's not just me."
"Whatever."
"That doesn't sound like you're making up to me!!" Ginger yelled from the other room. Zac sighed.
"I don't want to do this anymore, Ike. I'm sorry I left, but I'm happy doing what I'm doing right now. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"All I wanted to do was make music with my brothers, Zac. You were the one who left before we could finish the record." Zac looked down.
"I know."
"And then you went ahead and made another record, on your own, without telling any of us about it! I just don't know how I'm supposed to forgive all of this, Zac."
"I don't really expect you to forgive me for it, but it'd be nice if you respected me for it. I did it for a reason, and yes it was rash and yes I should have thought it out more, but I don't regret doing it." Isaac sighed. "Ike, I lost Taylor for a year because I wasn't thinking straight. Don't make the same mistake I did. I'm sorry."
"All right," Isaac said. "But it's not going to happen right away."
"That's perfectly understandable."
"Yay!" Ginger said, running into the room.
"Gee, I wonder if Ginger was listening," Zac said, rolling his eyes. Ginger kissed Zac and picked up Jenny off the floor.
"I just came in to get Jenny. I'm leaving." She ran out of the room with her daughter. Zac turned to Isaac.
"I'm sorry," he said. "She's�she's been wanting this to happen for a while. So, anyway�"
"Do you know what your third single is going to be?" Isaac asked. Zac's second single, which turned out to be just as successful as his first, was released the same time as the album and it was time to start thinking about the third single already. He had already decided.
"I'm not entirely sure," Zac said, however the only thing he was unsure of was how Isaac was going to react to it. "But�I was sort of thinking of that duet with Jess." Isaac snorted. "What?"
"You run that by Jess and tell me how quickly you think of another single."
"No, I really want to release this one. I can convince Jess into it." Isaac shook his head. "Oh come on, it's a good song! It could be a hit and do you know why that is?"
"Why?"
"Because I sing it." Isaac sighed. "All I have to do is talk to Jess about it. She'll agree with me."
"What makes you think that?"
"Once I tell her how much money she'll make out of it, trust me, she'll do it. That's how I got her to record the song to begin with."
"Whatever, Zac."
"It's good to talk to you again, Ike." Isaac nodded.
"Yeah. Yeah, it is."
"No."
"Oh come on, Jess!" Zac said over the phone. It was a few days later; Ginger and Kris went home, taking Taylor and Jenny with them. Zac was spending the next few days peacefully by himself until he went back home. Frankly, he was getting bored. He was extremely busy, but the few hours a day he got to himself he spent on the phone, talking to someone back home. Today, however, he was talking business with his little sister.
"No, Zac," Jessica said. "There is absolutely no way. I don't want what you have! I'm not a celebrity."
"Jess, you don't have to do much. The single will be released just as it is, I won't record a different version if you don't want me to, and you'll just have to be in the video. You won't have to promote it at all."
"Zac�"
"You'll get paid for it."
"It's not about that, Zac, and you know it. I didn't want to record it, but come on, a million dollars is a lot of money. I don't want to do it, Zac."
"Well, I hate to tell you this, Jess, but you really don't have a say in it. The decision's already been made and the single is being released. See, it's my song and I can do what I want with it. I was just hoping you were going along with it. It'd be nice if you were in the video, but if you really don't want to then put Avery on the phone. Nobody really knows the difference between the two of you and I'm sure she could use the money�"
"All right, all right I'll do it," Jess said. "Jesus, Zac, you're so manipulative."
"I'm not trying to be anything like that, Jess, I just really want you to do this. This song is a hit."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I have to go now, though. I have a date. Call me later."
"A date, eh?"
"Shut up, Zac." Zac smiled.
"All right, I'll call you later. I won't need you for a while, though. The single won't be out for at least another two months."
"Good. See you." Zac said goodbye and hung up the phone. He immediately dialed home again and allowed him to relax in a big chair in the corner of the room. Ginger picked up. That was a rarity. She was hardly at home when he called. "Hello baby," she said.
"Hey," he replied. "How are you doing today, dear?"
"Ugh," she said. "Busy. I'm getting really, really tired of this job."
"It's almost over, Ging. Don't worry about it. I'll be home soon." He was counting down the days. Eight more and he could finally go home. This promotional tour got the better of him. All he wanted to do, every day, was go home. Now that he didn't even have Jenny or Taylor to spend his time with, the days were getting longer and longer, and surprisingly busier and busier.
"I know. I was thinking about having a party when you got home."
"Ugh, Ginger�"
"It wouldn't be a lot of people�it'd actually kind of just be a banner that says 'Welcome Home Zac' and then the five of us."
"Okay. I think I can handle that."
"And I don't think we'll have time to make a banner, so�I guess it's not a party at all."
"That's all right, Ginger. It's the thought that counts."
"Exactly."
"I love you, Ginger," Zac said. He could almost hear her bright smile over the phone. He couldn't wait to get home to see it on her face.
"Aww, honey�I love you too."