Zac's hangover wasn't very bad. He threw up twice and Ginger took care of him, stroking his hair and giving him coffee until he felt better. Taylor was just fine. He was so drunk he ended up stripping for a whole bunch of girls in a bedroom until Ginger pulled him away and got him redressed. He didn't throw up at all and once he had his coffee he looked just as sober as Ginger.
Their flight was in the evening a week later and when they got back home everybody was just fine. They spent an uneventful few weeks at home, resting before Zac and Taylor were to leave home for a couple of months (bringing Ginger along with them) until the twelfth of February where they found out their friend Tim Jones was having a party. They hadn't seen him in years and his parties were definitely not something to miss, so Zac and Taylor decided to go.
Ginger was in her room looking at herself in the mirror. She turned to the side, looking at her stomach, then turned back around. "How to tell him," she muttered to herself, "how should I tell him?" The past couple of weeks she hadn't been feeling very well and Zac finally convinced her to go to the doctor where she found out her unexpected news. She was pregnant. He told her the date of conception (New Year's Day, when Zac was sober she finally agreed to have sex with him) and gave her a whole bunch of pamphlets that she hid from Zac until she was ready to tell him. She put a hand on her stomach. She sure didn't feel any different, besides how sick she was in the morning.
"Hey you," Zac said, leaning against the doorway. She gave him a smile. "What'd the doctor say?" She opened her mouth to tell him, but then she thought about it. She wasn't so sure she wanted to yet.
"Nothing," she said, smiling. "It was nothing."
"You sure? You were throwing up a lot."
"Yeah, it was just a little virus." She put her hands on her stomach. "I'm fine."
"Good. Hey, my friend Tim is having a party tonight." She made a face. "Before you say no, listen to me. This is one of my friends and it'd mean a lot to me if you met him. There's going to be alcohol there but I promise you I won't drink any tonight. I know how upset you were last time."
"I don't know, Zac. I'm having a bad feeling about tonight."
"It would mean a lot to me. We don't have to stay long but I'd really like you to meet him. You're always saying how I don't talk enough about my friends. Now you get to meet one of my friends." She looked over at him.
"All right."
"Good. Get ready."
"What? We're going now? What time is it?" She looked at the clock. It was almost seven. "Geez? Where did today go?"
"Well you were at the doctor until two, then you came home and I haven't seen you since." She knew where the day had gone. She'd been standing in front of the mirror for the past five hours, staring at her stomach and thinking about the weight that had been placed on her shoulders. "We're going to leave in about a half an hour and I know you, that's not enough time to do anything."
"I'll be ready, don't worry," she said, walking over to him. "I always seem to make it on time."
"Or significantly late," he said. "You know, same thing." She smiled.
"I love you," she whispered, pausing to kiss him. "I love you so much."
"I love you too, Ginger." She smiled. "Now get ready. I don't want to be late!" She smiled and went over to her closet to pick something out.
In a half an hour she walked down the stairs in the most conservative outfit she owned. It was still showy and her skirt was still short, but Zac finally approved of it. "You look beautiful," he said.
"I try," she said. "I only had a half an hour to get ready, you know."
"I think you pulled it off quite nicely. Taylor! We're leaving." Taylor showed up a moment later and the three of them left. Ginger sat in the front with Zac while Taylor sat in the back seat.
"So this friend of yours," Ginger said, putting on some lipstick, "how long have you known him?"
"About ten years," Zac answered. "He's a really neat guy. I think you'll like him." Ginger nodded. "Oh, Taylor, I heard Megan is supposed to be coming tonight?"
"Really?" Taylor asked. "How'd that end up happening?"
"Apparently her and Tim are getting along now. I thought he'd never talk to her again but they're supposed to be friends. I doubt they'll ever get back together, but at least they're talking to each other," Zac said. "That's terrible what she did to him. I don't think I'd ever be able to talk to someone after she did that to me." Taylor looked at Ginger who was trying not to pay attention. "Wasn't that terrible, Ging?"
"Why do you always have to ask me?" Ginger snapped. "You keep saying how terrible it was, how terrible it was. I don't know if it's terrible! I don't know the situation! The girl is only human, you know." Zac's eyes widened.
"Sorry�" he said.
"Jesus Christ," Ginger muttered under her breath. Zac parked in front of Tim's house. There were a lot of people there. She could hear the music from inside and there was a couple making out on the lawn, two empty beer bottles next to them. Ginger shook her head. "Nice place, Zac."
"It's a party, what do you expect?" Zac asked. "Come on." He took her hand and pulled her inside. Taylor had already disappeared and the moment Zac walked in the door he was greeted by people he knew. There were a lot of kids in there and all of them looked and acted like Zac, which was probably why Zac was the way he was. Half of them were drunk but Ginger was surprised at how many of them weren't drinking. Whenever she went to a party she was the only one not drunk off their ass. It was surprising. "There's Tim. Hey Tim!"
"Zac! You came!" Zac hugged his friend and Ginger was surprised. It was weird to see Zac with a friend. "Oh, man, I was beginning to think you weren't coming. Where's Taylor?" Zac looked around.
"�I don't know. He's around here somewhere; I guess you're just going to have to find him. Look for the booze and I'm sure you'll catch him."
"Yeah, I know," Tim said, laughing. He looked next to Zac at Ginger. "Who is this?"
"Oh, Ging, this is Tim. Tim, this is my fianc�e Ginger Stevens."
"Dude! You never told me you were getting married!" Tim said to Zac before turning back to Ginger. "Nice to meet you."
"You too," Ginger said. "Zac's told me a lot about you."
"Obviously he hasn't told me anything about you! When's the wedding?"
"November," Zac said. "We don't have a date, but in November." Tim nodded and then leaned in.
"Am I invited?" he asked.
"Of course you are!"
"Great! Well, all the drinks are the kitchen. If you see Taylor, tell him I'm looking for him! Nice meeting you." He shook Ginger's hand, gave a salute to Zac, and was off. Ginger smiled.
"Well he was nice."
"I told you. Let's go see if he has anything that doesn't contain alcohol." Zac took Ginger's hand and led her to the kitchen.
Three hours later nearly everyone was plastered and Zac was beginning to see why Ginger was so upset at the last party. "This is really boring," Zac said. "No wonder you didn't want to come."
"Yeah, it tends to get that way when you're not drinking," Ginger said. "Have you seen Taylor at all tonight?" Zac shook his head. "This house isn't that big, I don't understand where he could be. Unless he ran away�"
"No, he's still in the house. I say we find him and then leave." She nodded. "Meet back in here in ten minutes." They split up, going to look for Taylor. Ginger found him first, upstairs in one of the bedrooms passed out on the floor.
"There you are," she said. "Get up, let's go." She rolled him over onto his back and started smacking him until he woke up. He did and saw her.
"What? Oh�what time is it?" She looked at her watch.
"It's almost eleven. We're leaving."
"Why?"
"Because Zac and I want to leave. You're passed out up here anyway, you're not going to miss anything, Taylor." Taylor stood up, fixed his hair in the mirror, and they left the room. Zac was just walking up the stairs when he saw Ginger and Taylor coming down.
"Oh, you found him," Zac said. "Good, we can go now. I already found Tim and told him we were leaving."
"All right," Ginger said. Zac and Ginger went out the front door, Taylor stumbling behind them. "He was passed out upstairs but he looks like he's still drunk." Zac nodded.
"I'll keep the window open just in case he decides to throw up." Zac opened the back door and shoved Taylor in before they all got in the car and went home. When they were almost at the house, Taylor began babbling.
"You know what," he said. "I don't think what Megan did to Tim is all that bad. It's not like that doesn't happen all the time." Ginger stiffened. "You know, a guy meets a girl and his brother really likes her. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. If he acts on it, that's when it starts getting problematic." Ginger looked out the window. They were just down the street from the house. If they could get there without Taylor saying anything else, it would be just fine.
"You know, Taylor, you should probably keep your mouth shut, you look ready to puke," Ginger said.
"No, I'm saying something here." She turned around and looked at him. He wasn't paying attention to her. "You know, if a guy really likes a girl, he should go for it, whether she's taken or not! There's always the chance she'll just dump the other buffoon and date him."
"Taylor, what are you babbling about?" Zac asked, pulling into the driveway of the house. Zac turned off the ignition and looked back at his brother.
"Zac, I have something to tell you." Ginger got out of the car. "I love your girlfriend. I've always loved your girlfriend. I kick myself every time I see you with her because you got to her first. Well let me tell you this, brother of mine, when you're not home, she's been with me."
"What?" Zac yelled.
Ginger was in the house when Zac came running up behind her. She went quickly to the stairs but before she could get there, Zac caught her and flipped her around. "Is this true?" he asked. "Have you been fooling around with him?"
"No!" Ginger yelled.
"Don't lie to me!"
"If you think I'm lying why are you even asking me?" she headed up the stairs and he followed behind.
"You've been fooling around with him. I knew it all along, Ginger, but I didn't want to admit that you would be low enough to do something like that."
"Why do you even believe him?" Ginger yelled, turning around in the middle of the hallway. "He's drunk off his ass! He doesn't know what he's talking about!" Zac looked around then pulled her into his room and shut the door.
"You don't know drunk Taylor like I do. When he is that wasted he tells absolutely nothing but the truth. He doesn't lie. You're the one who's been lying to me all of this time. You've been sleeping with him."
"I have not been sleeping with him."
"Then what have you been doing? Obviously it's something because I can see it in your eyes. I can see how guilty you are."
"I didn't sleep with him."
"I didn't ask that. I asked what you were doing with him. Are you doing anything with him?" She didn't say anything. "Oh my God! Oh my God how could you do this, Ginger? I thought you were different. I thought you were going to be the one who would change all of this. Never in a million years did I think you would do this to me."
"Really? You didn't think so? That's why you've asked me a million times. 'Is he hitting on you? Are you fooling around with him? I don't trust you with him.' Every single day since we met! Jesus Christ, Zac!"
"Well it seems I had good reason. You were." He shook his head. "I cannot believe this! I absolutely cannot believe this. You're just like the rest of them. You're just like every other girl I've known. I should have known. I cannot believe I ever asked you to marry me." Ginger looked away. "Tell me one thing."
"What?" she said, her voice low and her eyes filling with tears.
"Does he know your real name?" She didn't say anything. "Answer me!"
"Yes," she whispered, a tear slipping from her eye.
"Save the tears, Ginger."
"Rosemary."
"What?"
"My name is Rosemary."
"And he knew this?" She nodded. "And he called you that?" She nodded again. "I don't know what to do. I can't even look at you."
"What am I supposed to do, Zac?" she asked, still looking away.
"I don't know and frankly I don't care. I don't care what you do with your life from this point on. Whatever you do, wherever you go, I am no longer a part of it." She looked at him. "I want you out of this house as soon as possible and I don't want to see you again." He went to the door and opened it, then paused and looked back at her. "And trust me, Kris will hear about this as well."
He left the room in one fluid moment and she was alone. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she took the ring off her finger and placed it on his desk. Then she left.