Ginger's cancer was declared to be in remission on Valentine's Day. Zac had called her the day before saying he was in Spain and he was freezing his ass off. She was waiting for him to call her again so she could tell him the good news but it didn't look like he was going to do it. After an early dinner at four-thirty, Kris and Ginger were huddled on the recliner with a blanket wrapped around them sharing a box of chocolates their parents had bought for them and watched romantic movies.
"What a Valentine's Day," Kris breathed. "You're alone, I'm alone, we're stuck watching Julia Roberts while eating chocolate and complaining about our crappy boyfriends."
"You have a boyfriend?" Ginger asked, looking at her sister. "Since when?"
"I thought you knew," Kris said. "Taylor."
"You're going out with Taylor? Thanks for telling me! But you guys never went out! You were going to lunch until me and Zac had that fight and you stayed home and�" Kris gave her sister a look. "What?"
"Don't mention that fight, okay? Taylor apologized for all of that. You're not the only one who's getting long distance calls from Europe, you know." Ginger smiled and nudged her sister.
"Well I'm happy for you. You need someone. And Taylor needs somebody like you. I'm glad. Pass the candy." Kris handed Ginger the collection of various candies and they leaned back in the recliner and continued to watch the movie until the phone rang. Ginger sprang up, Kris still connected to her. Kris ended up on the floor and Ginger ran to the phone and picked it up. "Hello?"
"Hey baby, happy Valentine's Day," Zac said into the phone.
"Hey baby! I love you! Guess what!!"
"What?"
"I'm in remission!!" she yelled in the phone.
"Whoa, whoa, what?" he asked. "You're in remission?"
"Yes!"
"Oh my God! Ging, that's so awesome! So it's gone?" Zac asked. Ginger sat down and Kris appeared in front of her, anxious to get on the phone and speak with Taylor. Ginger waved her away.
"Not necessarily. It's pretty much gone. There's nothing on the scans and it's theoretically gone, but it could come back. They say if I don't relapse in five years then it's gone."
"Oh�well�I guess that's still good news."
"Of course it's good news!" Ginger said. "So, are you still in Spain today? Is it still cold?"
"Yeah, it's still cold. We're leaving tonight for France." Ginger sighed heavily. She'd always wanted to go to France. "When we come back next year you're coming with me." She smiled. "Hold on a minute, babe. Taylor, go away! Call her on your own damn phone! No! Leave me alone! Fucking moron�" Ginger giggled. "Sorry, babe."
"It's okay. Maybe you should let him talk. Kris is standing in front of me about to have a conniption fit because she wants to talk to him. He can call her on the other line if he wants."
"Call her on the other line, idiot!" Zac yelled at his brother. "Yeah, he's about to do that." The other line started ringing and Kris bolted for the phone. "Ginger, I'm really getting annoyed with him. He's really started to get on my nerves. I need a break from him. Everyday for a month and a half sharing a room with him and constantly being around him�me and him aren't like you and Kris. We don't like each other. We never got along like the two of you do. I don't know. I don't know what went wrong but it never happened with us."
"I'm sorry, honey. You know, one of these days it's going to happen. It's going to come around and suddenly you two are going to be friends. You spend too much time together for it not to happen."
"I hope so."
"I'm sure it will. So, how has your day gone?" Ginger asked, curling up onto the chair and looking out the window. There wasn't much of a view, just two feet of grass and the side of the neighbor's house, but it was still something to look at.
"It's been a very boring day. We didn't do anything. I guess somebody wanted a break or something so basically we've just been hanging around the hotel all day long. What time is it over there?"
"It's five o'clock," Ginger said. "What time is it where you are?"
"It's eleven."
"And you waited until the day was practically over to call me? What kind of boyfriend are you?" she jokingly snapped into the phone.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, it's easy to lose track of time around here. I knew we were a couple of hours ahead of you so I didn't want to call you in the morning, then I knew you were going to the doctor today and I had no idea what time you'd be there, so I just kind of waited. Taylor was actually the one who pointed out how late it was and told me I should call before the day was over�at least over here." Kris suddenly burst out laughing in the next room and Ginger gave her sister a look. In return, Kris stuck out her tongue. "He wants to come along when I see you for your birthday. He wants to see Kris."
"Why doesn't Kris just go to him?" Ginger muttered.
"Because then Kris would be missing school, and Taylor is out of school. Don't think I'm defending him, though. I don't want him to come along either."
"Then why does he have to? We always fight when you and him are around me. I don't like that but I know it's going to happen. He can see Kris any time."
"You know how hard it is for us to get time off, Ging." She sighed. "I'm only going to be there for two days anyway. We fly in on your birthday and leave the next morning. That's about all the time we can get. Now that you're in remission, you don't have to stay home glued to your bed. We can spend the night out somewhere and you don't have to see him at all."
"I have school both days, Zac."
"Oh yeah, right. I forgot. Well we can go out after you get home and stay most of the night out and you still don't have to see him. I already told him he could come along."
"Zac!"
"What was I supposed to do? Tell him no? He would have come anyway and he would have deliberately tried to piss the both of us off. No, this way he'll stay out of our way." She sighed. "I just don't know how to deal with this, Ging. I don't know how to get away from him. When you come up here it's going to be a million times worse. I wish he'd move out of the house like Ike did. At least I didn't have a problem with Ike."
"You never talk about him."
"Who? Ike?"
"Yeah. It's like he doesn't exist. I keep forgetting he's there."
"Ike's�he's kind of dong his own thing. He's twenty-two, he's engaged, you know it's like he's light years ahead of me and�"
"Whoa, whoa, back up. He's engaged?"
"Did I not tell you that?"
"No, I believe it must have slipped your mind."
"Yeah! To Roni. You met her, didn't you?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah. They got engaged, um, New Years I believe it was. She's an awesome chick. I love her to death. There is no doubt in my mind that they're going to spend the rest of their lives together. I mean, she is the only person I know who can put up with Ike. Sometimes I can't even put up with his dorkiness but she's just as bad as he is sometimes. They're perfect for each other. They haven't talked about where or when or anything like that yet, but they've only been engaged for like a month and a half so there's no rushing anything."
"That's nice. Yeah, I met her. I like her. She's really cool. Hey, Kris, did you hear Ike is getting married?"
"Yeah, Taylor told me."
"See Zac, Taylor told his girlfriend that Ike was getting married."
"Shut up!"
"I'm just kidding, sweetie. I love you."
"Whatever�"
"You say it's your birthday!" Kris yelled with the radio on the way home from school on Ginger's birthday, the twenty-fifth of March. "You're gonna have a good time! I'm so glad it's your birthday! Happy birthday to you!"
"Oh my God you need a life," Ginger said. Kris had requested the song during lunch so it would play on the way home from school and Ginger had just found this out. "Now stop singing and drive, sis, I wanna see my boyfriend."
"Oh, so you don't care about me. You don't care that I took time out of my lunch to call up a radio station and dedicate a song to you. You just want me to drive as fast as possible so you can see your boyfriend. I see how it goes."
"It's not that I don't love you, sis. It's just I love Zac more." Kris hit her. "Ow! You whore!" Ginger hit her back. Kris laughed and slowed her speed to about five miles under the speed limit. "Kristina! You're doing this on purpose! You know I'd figure you'd be racing the cops to get home, what with Taylor being there as well and everything."
"Taylor's there?" Kris asked, her head shooting over to Ginger for a moment before looking back on the road. "He didn't tell me he was coming. I know he talked to Zac about it but Zac said no."
"Maybe he wanted to surprise you�I don't know. Zac told me he was coming along. That's why we're not going to be home tonight."
"You know, sis," Kris said, "it's really hard to have a boyfriend when you refuse to be around him."
"When did I ever refuse to be around him? I don't care to be around him because Zac and I always get into a fight when he's around, but I never refused to be around him." Kris shook her head.
"It's the same thing."
"I know, Kris," Ginger said. "I know it's hard for you to deal with this but he's with you. He obviously cares a lot about of you, from what I've overheard on your conversations. It'll just be the best for all of us if he and I spend as much time away from each other as possible."
"Too bad we're double dating tonight," Kris said. If Ginger had been drinking anything, she would have spit it out and began to choke. Fortunately, she wasn't.
"Ha ha, that's really funny Kris. You should try standup."
"I'm serious! I've been wanting to do this I met Taylor but you were sick and then he wasn't around�"
"You and Taylor haven't been on a date by yourselves yet," Ginger said. "Why don't you do that first and then we'll think about double dating? But then I already know the answer is going to be no. If you ask Zac he'll hurt you for even bringing it up." Kris pouted. "Don't. There is absolutely no way it's going to happen."
"Fine," Kris said. "So where are you going tonight since you're not going to be spending your big eighteenth birthday with your family who cares about you and loves you and will be heartbroken that we won't be able to celebrate today with you?"
"Kris�"
"What?" Ginger shook her head. "So where are you going?"
"We'll probably end up at the hotel we always go to when we want to be alone," Ginger said, giving her sister a smile. "I finally have the energy for an all-nighter. What are you going to be doing?"
"I don't know," Kris said. "I didn't even know he was coming until now. We'll probably finally go out on a date. Is Taylor a flirt? If we go out will he be checking out other chicks?" Ginger grinned. I can guarantee it, she thought.
"I don't know," Ginger lied. "But, Kris, you're like me. If he gets out of line just kick him under the table really hard. Make sure you wear pointy shoes." Kris giggled. "I'm serious, though. The first time Zac and I went somewhere we saw this really pretty girl with boobs nearly falling out of her top and he was just drooling all over her�I kicked him really hard and he never did it again."
"But you would do something like that."
"So would you! I know you, honey, and you're not afraid to get the upper hand in a relationship. Do it twice if you catch him looking at me," Ginger said. "Maybe three times."
"Just if he's looking at you, babe."
"Thanks."
Kris pulled into the driveway and the two girls bolted out of the car, hardly taking the time to shut the doors, and ran to the door. Ginger first checked to see if it was open (just in case) but it wasn't. Kris fumbled with the keys and in a moment they were falling into the house. Zac and Taylor were watching television in the living room, sitting as far away from each other as they possibly could. Taylor had a cut under his left eye, which looked to be swollen.
"Zac! What did you do?" Kris asked, walking over to Taylor and sitting on his lap to check out his eye.
"Automatically it's my fault," Zac said.
"Of course it is, I'm sure you did it," Kris said. "Did he do it?" she asked Taylor. Taylor nodded. "See?"
"Let me change and we can go," Ginger told Zac.
"All right," Zac said. He shut off the TV and stood up.
"Where are you going?" Taylor said.
"We're leaving," Zac said. "We'll probably be gone all night."
"Did you tell my parents this?" Kris asked. "They were planning to do cake and everything tonight and that'll be a little hard without my sister here." Zac shrugged.
"What time? We'll come back for a little bit." Kris sighed, turning around on Taylor's lap to face Zac.
"I don't know. Come back around eight and we'll just do it then. But you'll have to deal with my mother. I'm not going to do anything about it." Ginger came out of the bedroom in a different, more comfortable outfit. The first thing Zac noticed was that she was wearing a skirt. He raised an eyebrow at her but she smiled.
"Bye," Ginger said, opening the door. "Kris I'm taking your car," she muttered.
"What? What are you doing?" Kris asked, standing up.
"I'm taking your car," Ginger mumbled again.
"No! I'm using the car!"
"Use Mom and Dad's car!" Ginger said, her voice suddenly rising.
"You use their car!"
"They're not home and we're leaving now!"
"Then leave later!"
"No! We're leaving now. Unless you leave right now, we're going." Ginger's eyes flickered back to Taylor. Kris groaned.
"Sis, this is stupid!"
"You're stupid."
"Nice one, Ginger," Zac muttered.
"Shut up, you," Ginger snapped at him. "Kris, we're leaving now. You're not. Just wait until Mom and Dad get home and take the car. I'm not even insured under their car anyway; I'm insured under yours. Please?"
"Fine, fine," Kris said, relenting. Ginger smiled.
"Great. Zac, let's go."
"Wait!" Kris said, stopping her. She turned around. "No sex in my car, okay? Nothing in the back seat, in the front seat, none of that other stuff while you're driving there, nothing. I want my virgin car to stay that way, all right?" Ginger groaned.
"Fine." Zac and Ginger left, closing the door behind them. Once at the car, Ginger looked behind her then threw the keys to Zac and got in the passenger's side. Zac knew she hated driving no matter whose car it was, and didn't at all have a problem driving. He got behind the wheel and pulled out of the driveway, leaving the neighborhood in good time. "She's so full of it," Ginger said, a smile on her face. "You know if her and Taylor were taking the car she would have had absolutely no problem having sex in the car."
"It's not like you're going to listen to her anyway," Zac said.
"You're right. I'll try to contain myself but I don't know�three months is a long time�" she said, grinning.
"Yes it is."
"How fast can you get to the hotel?"
"Twenty minutes."
"Good."
Twenty-two and a half minutes later Ginger was screaming her lungs out in the bed of their usual room in their usual hotel.