Chapter two hundred and thirty-eight:

Taylor tried on a checkered dress shirt, leaving it partially unbuttoned. He walked out of the change room to the little area with the mirror and found Isaac sitting on a stool with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Are you actually trying on clothes or are you deliberately trying to stall us so you don’t have to be on the same bus as Luke?”

Taylor sighed and began sloppily rolling up the sleeves of the shirt.

“I’m going to assume you mean the latter.” Isaac said, leaning forward on the stool. “So what is it? You don’t like Luke?”

“It’s not that I don’t like him, it’s just… well…” Taylor stopped fidgeting with his sleeves. “Did you see the way he was behaving around Jen when she was sick? He was treating her like crap.”

“Maybe he didn’t know how to handle the situation… He was afraid to see her so sick.”

Taylor glared at his brother and shoved his shaggy hair out of the way. “I just… I want her to be happy. And I know she’ll never be happy with me. She loves Luke, and she’s meant to be with him.”

“And you’re not happy with that?”

“No. I… as much as I want her to be happy… I love her too.”

“Well, you know they say that if you love someone than you should let them go…” Isaac tested.

“I don’t know who they are, but they’re idiots.” Taylor grumbled walking back into the change room. He removed the shirt and pulled on his own plain white t-shirt.

“Why don’t you go out and meet some new girls then?” Isaac suggested, raising his voice to be heard through the change room door.

Taylor opened the door and replied. “Do you have any idea how hard that is now that we’re on tour? It’s impossible.”

Isaac shrugged. “I guess it’ll be tough then, but you’ve got to get over her. She’s with Luke.”

“Yeah, I keep telling myself that, but its easier said than done.”

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Once Taylor and Isaac were back on the bus, the driver started the second leg of their trip.

Christy and Becky managed to convince Luke to go to the back of the bus after Zac had challenged him to a video game war. He had been reluctant, but Jen insisted she would be fine and Becky and Christy promised to take good care of her.

Jen was still laying on the sofa, with a blanket pulled up to her chin. She didn’t want to admit it in front of Luke, but her incision was killing her. Every time she moved it felt like the stitches pulled. The entire area felt like a deep bruise.

Becky had put on a movie, and they sat eating junk food, which the exception of Jen who insisted she had already eaten and couldn’t stomach another bite.

Christy sighed heavily. “I don’t think I could eat another skittle… pass me the M&Ms?” She asked.

Becky laughed and handed the bag to Christy. “So what does Cosmo have to say?”

Christy shrugged. “Well, there are some excellent suggestions for pleasing your man…” Christy pointed out.

Becky laughed.

“Wait, a minute… you never told me that you and Zac…” Jen interrupted.

Becky smiled. “We did… a couple of times now.” She hugged her knees. “It’s been amazing… I mean, I don’t have a lot of experience, but we’re crazy about each other…”

“Yeah, yeah.” Christy waved her hand. “But the sex. How’s that?”

“Amazing.” Becky couldn’t hide a grin.

“Is he as… gifted as his brother?”

Becky’s eyes grew wide, “Oh my god!” She laughed, throwing a pillow at Christy.

All three girls lapsed into giggles.

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Taylor was laying in his bunk, listening to one of his favorite songs on his ipod.
He couldn’t get his conversation with Isaac out of his head. He knew that everything he had said would be held secret, but he just hadn’t expected it to come out of his mouth so freely.

He had liked Jenna for a long time now, and he was so used to hiding it, he couldn’t believe how easily he had admitted it to Isaac.

And Luke’s behavior while Jen was sick was extremely odd. Taylor knew that it boiled down to the fact that Jen had made herself bulimic, but it was still an illness, which wasn’t her fault.

She admitted that she had started the dieting, but got carried away and couldn’t stop.

Taylor could forgive her for that, but if Luke couldn’t, what did that say about their relationship?

He closed his eyes. He was fooling himself, and he knew it.

Luke and Jen were crazy about each other. He knew the moment she laid eyes on Luke that she was crazy about him, and the feeling was mutual.

She would never look at him like that.

 

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