Chapter seventy nine:
Zac was crouched
in the alley behind the studio. He and his brothers had stopped for a half hour
lunch break, and while Isaac talked to
After a few
rings, Becky’s voice came on the phone. “Hello?”
“Hey,
Becca? How are you?”
He asked, pushing the phone even closer to his ear.
“Zaccy! Hey!” She sounded excited. “Things are
okay here, how are you? Are you working hard?”
He laughed.
“Well, we’re working moderately.”
“Oh, that’s
good. Don’t work too hard.”
“I won’t.” He
grinned. “I just phoned to see what you were up to…”
“Oh, umm… well,
Jen is a little down in the dumps lately, so we’re trying to cheer her up.”
“Really? And what’s all involved in that?”
“Ice
cream and a lot of bitching about men.”
“Ahh… not bad-mouthing me too much, are you?”
“Of course not,
Zaccy, you’re perfect.”
“I don’t think
so. You’re the perfect one.”
“Aww…” She laughed.
“How come Jen is
unhappy?”
“She misses
Luke, you know? Is there any way we can fly him out here?”
“I offered. He’s
in bad shape too, you know. But he’s determined to get a foot in the door at
his uncle’s company, you know? He’s working hard, and goes to college in the
fall…”
“Oh…. Hmm…. I’m all out of ideas then.”
“It’s sweet that
you’re helping out your friend so much.” He added.
“Yeah, well, I
know what she’s going through. When you and I were away from each other I was
pretty badly depressed.”
He smiled. “Yeah, me too.” Zac glanced at his watch. “Uh-oh.
My lunch break is over, I’ve got to go…”
“Okay.”
“I just called
to say… really… that I miss you. And I can’t wait to come home and see you.”
“Aww…” She gushed. “That’s sweet! I miss you too, Zaccy.”
“I’ve got to go.
I’ll see you in a couple of hours?”
“I’ll be here.
Bye, Zaccy.”
“Bye Becca.”
He pressed the
button on his phone and ended the call with a smile on his lips.
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Christy was
sitting in the room she shared with Isaac, simply appreciative of the freedom
from being under the watchful eye of the bodyguard for a few minutes.
She was curled
in an armchair, reading an old issue of Cosmo that she had found stuffed at the
bottom of her suitcase when Isaac appeared in the door way. “Hey,
C!” He met her with a kiss. “I brought you something.” He handed her a
coffee with the Starbucks logo on the front.
“I love you!”
She smiled, accepting the coffee. “Just what I was craving,
thank you.”
He grinned,
“Don’t mention it. I got you something else.”
“You did? What?”
She sat up in the chair expectantly.
He removed a
magazine which had been tucked under his arm and placed it into her hands.
“A bridal magazine?”
“Yeah, well, I
thought maybe tonight we could start thinking about the wedding, and you’ll
probably want to start getting ideas for dresses and hair and everything… and I
figured you might be a little tired of reading the same issues of Cosmo over
and over again.” He sat down at her knees on the ottoman.
“Honey, I’d
never tire of Cosmo. It’s full of useful information.” She corrected him.
“Oh,
no. I didn’t mean
anything bad against your beloved book; I just thought you might enjoy a new
magazine.” He teased.
“Thanks Ikey.” She kissed him. “What should we talk about first?”
“Well, I called
my parents and told them the news last week… perhaps we should discuss…
telling-”
“No.” She said
before he even finished. “We’re not telling my parents. I don’t want them to
know.”
“I know. I
realize you said that, I just thought maybe you had changed your mind and
maybe-“
“No,
baby. My parents are
insane! They’re crazy, and they’ll ruin everything.”
“They can’t be
that bad.” He placed a warm palm over her knee. “Maybe just think about it? My
parents would love to meet yours…”
“Oh
my god, honey. It
would be like ‘The Osbornes’ meeting ‘The Brady
Bunch’. Your family is so perfect and mine is so… fucked up.”
“I’ve never met
your parents either. And maybe I should…”
“Baby, please.
Let’s just not even go there. They’re drunks and they’re hicks, and they’re…
psychotic. Lets just get married, and forget they even exist.”