We're Back

"Sarah's pregnant?" Zac asked as he held open the car door for me. He still couldn't believe it.

"Yup, I was so surprised." Watching where I stepped, I was horrified at how much of my leg revealed as my stupid short dress pulled up my legs while getting in the Jeep. Catching the smile on his face, I realized Zac'd noticed too.

"Thanks for the door," I added sheepishly, tugging my dress to cover as much of my legs as possible, without much avail.

"My pleasure." I didn't like the smirk on his face. He could tease me without even opening his mouth, something totally not fair in my opinion.

"So where are we going now?" I asked him after he sat down next to me.

"It's a surprise."

Argh, I thought, frustrated. I hated that phrase more each time he said it.

"Not again.. Haven't I put up with enough surprises tonight?" I exclaimed.

"You aren't trying to kill me are you?" I warily raised one eyebrow in his direction.

"No, silly." Zac surprised me (yet again) by leaning over and brushing a tender kiss on my left cheek. Trying not to flinch, I just sat there, ignoring the fact it'd occurred.

"Wait'll Ike hears about Sarah," I mused, making stupid conversation with the first thing I remembered us talking about last.

"Ike.. ?" Zac looked blankly at me, expecting a reaction from the kiss.

"Oh, that's right," I practically saw the lightbulb click on above his head as he remembered.

"They used to go out, didn't they?" He turned the ignition key.

"Yup. What's Ike been up to lately?"

"Mostly school. He's studying business up north now." Zac waved his hand back and forth, as if to indicate he had no interest in the matter.

"Tay's studying graphic arts at the community college here in Tulsa." He added, pulling out of the parking lot.

"Really?"

News to me. A whole year had gone by, and even with me and Taylor going to the same school, I'd never seen him once. Great, now watch me turn into some psycho-stalker trying to find him on campus.. Might be worth it, if he's half as good-looking as he used to be.

"Yeah.. I still don't know what I want to do." Zac admitted.

"Well, anything but music." I teased. "The world has heard enough of it."

"Shut up! You were such a fan of us, you know it."

"I was not," I secretly lied. "Don't even go there, Zac."

"Sure you were, I know all about your secret subscription to Teen Beat magazine."

"I only read it for the articles," I joked, quoting some of my male friends' excuse for having mountains of PlayBoys stashed underneath their beds.

"Funny," Zac glanced over at me and smiled.

Does he have to keep smiling at me like that? I wondered. It was like he was holding something over my head.

"Where are we going?" I demanded. I didn't recognize the names on the street signs we passed.

"Shut up, we're almost here." Zac turned left onto a road.

"Where is 'here'?"

"God, you're so impatient," he rolled his eyes.

"Of course." I still had no clue where we were going; we just drove down small subdivisions of houses for a few blocks. We finally stopped in front of one of them, where Zac pulled into the driveway. Looking out the window, I saw a huge, split-level house looming over me.

"Where are we?" I asked Zac as he held the door open for me.

"Home," was the only response he gave, smiling mischieviously.

"You're.. house??" I spoke like it didn't even exist.

Oh, this is so not a good idea. What if his family's here?

"Come on." He took my hand, leading me up to the front porch. "I want you to meet everyone again."

"I don't think that's such a good idea." I replied meekly. My knees felt weak. I wanted to die. No wait - I wanted to crawl into the cracks of the sidewalk, then die. Most of all, I wanted to do anything but see his family again.. well, everyone except for Taylor.

"Don't be silly; I've told them I'd bring you here tonight." Zac held the door open for me. After briefly contemplating the backlash effects of running back to the Jeep, hot-wiring it and not looking back, I tentatively stepped inside the front door. Expecting utter chaos from his numerous family members, I was surprised to hear the sweet sound of silence in the dark house. With seven kids, how weird was that?

"Is anyone here?" I whispered to Zac as he took my coat and hung it up in a nearby closet, not wanting to interrupt the thick silence that fell around us.

"Yup, I said I'd bring you back about this time." Zac glanced at his watch.

"Actually, Jessi and Avie are at a slumber party right now, so you won't get to see them yet. Oh, and Zoe and Mac are staying at our grandparent's house, not that they wanted to see any of the rest of us. just the cute ones." He grinned.

"I'm sure you're parents don't mind the break," I returned his grin and followed him into the living room. He motioned for me to sit down.

"Wait here, I'll go see who I can find."

"Goody," I forced a crooked smile at him as I sat gingerly on the edge of the couch. After he disappeared down a hallway, I was suddenly struck with the urge to go to the bathroom. Crossing my legs didn't help the nagging feeling go away either..

Ok, now where the heck is the bathroom? I stood up.

Trying to trace Zac's steps, I stepped out into the hallway. Hearing the faint hum of a dryer, I figured there had to be a bathroom somewhere near the laundry room. After all, isn't that how most houses are?

Like I'm in a normal house.. Tiptoe-ing down the hall, I walked past three closed doors, following the rhythmic sound of the dryer. Then, all of the sudden, it stopped with a click and I heard footsteps from somewhere ahead of me. I squinted in the darkness. Because the nagging pressure on my bladder had clouded my head, I hadn't thought of looking for a light switch.

I could've sworn I heard footsteps. Damnit, where is Zac?? This was too creepy.. I was relieved to see a flood of light coming from the room a few feet in front of me on my right. I stepped into the doorway and blinked from the brightness. Sure enough, I'd found my way to the laundry room. Ironically too, I stood face-to-face with the one person I'd been hoping to avoid in this whole situation: Taylor Hanson himself.

If the years had been kind to Zac's appearance, they'd been a blessing to Taylor. Standing utterly speechless in the doorway, I blushed at first intake of his appearance. He continued folding his laundry, bending over to pull out his whites, not noticing my presence yet. Even better, he wore nothing but a pair of plain boxers and white socks. As if feeling my eyes bore through him, which I wished I could've done for hours except for the now-painful feeling in my lower abdomen, he glanced up from folding a pair of underwear in my general direction.

"Shit!" He gasped; I'd scared him. He threw the underwear back into the dryer as if they were on fire and grabbed a roughly folded tshirt, slipping it on.

"S-sorry," I stutted.

Damn.. I didn't remember him looking that good. Damn damn damn!!

"I.. umm, was looking for the bathroom.." I managed to form my lips into a weak, apologetic, smile. It widened into a full-fledged grin when I saw that he'd put his shirt on backwards.

"Across the hall," he nodded in the direction. As far as I could tell, he didn't recognize me.

So far so good, I thought, inwardly kicking myself for being so stupid in front of him. Still, even after I shut the bathroom door behind me, I couldn't ignore the grin that wouldn't leave my face.