Chapter two hundred and eighty-two:

“God damn it, is he sleeping already?” Taylor demanded. He walked from the vocal sound booth to hear the playback of the vocals he had just laid down.

Taylor made a disgusted sound, seeing Zac passed out cold on the plush leather sofa with his arms folded over his face. 

“We’re working our asses off out here and he’s taking a nap.” Taylor jerked his thumb over his shoulder to signal his brother’s lazy work ethics. He had to shout to be heard over the snoring.

Isaac shrugged helplessly. “You know how he is… though to get going, then when he wakes himself up completely, he’ll be working ten times harder than the both of us put together.”

Taylor rolled his eyes and dropped into an office chair. He reached for his Starbucks cup but knew by the weight of it, the cup was empty. He squinted into the cup in hopes of finding an overlooked drop. His suspicions were confirmed; the cup was bone dry.

“Fine, but he’s making the next coffee run.” Taylor compromised. “Where’s Luke?”

“I told him he could go home. We don’t really need him anymore; he’s helped out all he could.” Isaac replied, fiddling with a dial on the mixing board.

Taylor couldn’t admit that he was relieved. “What do you think of my song?”

“Well, to be honest, I don’t know if I hear single-potential.”

“No, of course not.” Taylor said quickly.

 It had just been a small song he had been working on for quite some time, and decided to test the microphones and the sound system, he would lay down some lead vocals. He had been meaning to record a demo for some time anyway.

“It’s definitely got some sentimental quality. Is it about anyone in particular?”

“No, I just pulled it out of thin air.”

Isaac eyed his brother, searching for confirmation of his suspicions.

“Honestly!” Taylor clarified. “I think I can write a song without it being about… her.”

“Can you?” Isaac questioned further. He was trying to get a truthful answer, but only succeeded in angering Taylor.

“Yes! I don’t even like her anymore! She’s my friend… and she’s with Luke.”

“Right.” Isaac nodded. “It’s a good song, though. I like it. I like the lyrics in combination with the piano melody you laid out earlier in the week.”

“Okay, we’ll see what Zac thinks when he gets up… I’m going on a coffee run. I can’t wait anymore.”

“Alright.”

“The usual?” Taylor offered.

“The usual.” Isaac confirmed. “And grab me a muffin?”

“What kind?”

He shrugged. “Whatever they have.”

Taylor was relieved to be fleeing the conversation. For once in his life, he hoped there would be a line up in the coffee shop. This would buy him time before he had to answer the same questions from Zac.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luke returned to an empty house. He wandered throughout the first floor living room and into the office and kitchen, hoping for some glimpse of the girls. The house was eerily quiet and he had to be honest that it worried him.

He was standing in the kitchen with his hands on his hips when he heard the radio playing. He walked to the patio doors and stood there for a few moments watching the girls laugh and have a truly good time since the hotel fire. Christy and Becky were both standing in the shallow end of the pool, playing a disorganized game of volleyball with a massive beach ball.

“Oh come on! You so could have got that!” Christy taunted with laughter, splashing Becky.

Becky laughed. “Yeah, and I would have fallen out of my top in the process!” She splashed back.

“What’s the score anyway?” Christy asked.

“Five to six.” Jimmy replied, not looking up from the sports section of the paper.

This made Luke smile privately to himself. They all appeared to be having such fun. Even Jimmy, who was pretending to be serious about his job looking after them, though he was secretly having fun.

Luke glanced to the lounge chairs on the other side of the pool and didn’t see Jen. He scanned the rest of the back yard pool area, and still couldn’t see her.

He was about to turn into the house to look for her, when he heard her voice behind her.

“Spying on us?” She teased.

Luke spun around, “No, I didn’t want to interrupt. How come you’re not out there?”

“I was going to the bathroom.” She shrugged earnestly.

“Oh. Are you going back out?”

“I was planning on it… Want to join us?”

“I won’t be in the way?” He teased.

“Nope, you’re with me.” She kissed his cheek. “Go put your suit on.”

 

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