Golden Boy

"There you are," Zac exclaimed, grabbing my elbow as soon as I came out of the bathroom. "I couldn't find you, but Tay said you were in there."

"Yup.. call of nature." I smiled weakly at Zac as he led me back into the living room. Two heads turned toward our direction when we got there: Diana and Walker.

"Mr. and Mrs. Hanson." They looked just as friendly as I remembered them, which actually was not much at all.

"Hello, Maggie. Feel free to just call me Diana." Mrs. Hanson- err, Diana said. "It's nice to see you again."

"It's nice to be seen." I smiled as Zac and I sat down on the couch. "How have things been?"

"Fortunately, a little slower for all of us," Walker joked.

"I can imagine. Quite a life these guys have, huh?" I reached over and fluffed Zac's hair.

"Hey-" he started to say, but any further comments he made flew into one ear and didn't register past that. I was completely focused on HIM the millisecond he casually sauntered into the living room to join us, after changing his clothes to my dismay. It was harder than anything to keep my eyes from darting in his direction.

He looked so different - a couple inches taller, the roundness of youth in his face had been replaced by strong, prominant features, his hair was a slightly darker shade of blonde, and an unexpectedly look of maturity surrounded him. At the same time, he was still the Tay I'd had my junior high school crush on: that darn stick-skinny figure, melting smile, and sharp blue eyes. However, for the moment, they appeared darkened, as if he was deep in thought. Or just completely bored; I couldn't determine which. The five feet from me to him felt more like a mile separated us. Perhaps it was a lack of friendliness from his direction.

Can I blame him though?

"Hey," Taylor said, sitting near his parents by perching on the sofa arm. Although my eyes focused sharply on every tiny movement in his body, he didn't even so much as glance over at me, I noticed, feeling somewhat down-hearted.

"Oh, yeah, Tay's here right now." Zac pointed out the obvious.

"Yeah, I know. He's been doing laundry." I finally caught his eye and smiled. He didn't return it.

"I gotta go." He announced, standing up suddenly.

"Bye everyone." With that, he was out the door. Unfortunately, he must've taken all the good conversation topics out the door with him because the rest of us sat in uncomfortable silence.

"So.. Maggie?" Walker cleared his throat, guessing at my name. I nodded in response.

"What have you been up to recently?"

"Mostly school. I'm an education major at the community college." I saw a spark of interest flicker in Diana's eyes.

"Elementary, secondary, or university?" she asked.

"I'm not completely sure yet. I work with high school kids right now," (like I was really going to say what I did), "but I absolutely love children. I think the only thing I can say on that is I'm weeding out teaching at a college."

"I see," she replied, nodding understandably.

"In my free time," I continued. "I work at as an aerobics instructor at a health club."

"Yeah," Zac added slyly. "She's been picking up all sorts of hot, talented guys there."

"Actually, quite the opposite." I grinned at him. The dirty look I received was priceless.

"How are you parents?" Diana inquired.

"Pretty good." Which was true, I guess.

"Still enjoying the legal firm." I made a face at that comment. While I respected them very much for their hard work, I don't think I could ever be a lawyer. I guess I must've passed whatever expection they put me through, because Walker looked at his watch, and said,

"We'd better get going soon, Diana." He stood up and walked to the front closet to get their coats.

"You guys are actually going out tonight?" Zac almost sounded like my parents earlier. I smiled, remembering their reaction.

"Surprise, Zac, you're parents have social lives." Diana smiled. Walking past us, she winked at me and added,

"Nice to see you again Maggie. Hope we can count on you for some more baby-sitting."

"Oh, I'd love to. The girls are such little angels."

"My sisters?" Zac exclaimed. "Are you sure you were at the right house then?"

He casually moved a little closer and rested his arm on the back of the sofa, behind my shoulders. Suddenly, I began to wish his parents weren't leaving..

"Zac," I looked at him after Walker closed the front door quietly behind him ".. I need to ask you something.."

"You don't have to go the bathroom again, do you?" He asked in mock exasperation.

"No, my bladder's all empty right now. Happy?"

"Very," he lowered his voice and snuggled a little closer to me.

That's not exactly what I meant.

"Does Taylor remember me?" I moved a little far back from Zac, hoping to just have a conversation.

"He should.. why?"

"He didn't even say my name." I replied, hoping I didn't sound as sad as I felt.

"Well, I know this sounds mean, but you really pissed him off Maggie. I don't know if you were just so mad you couldn't ever return any of his messages, but he really liked you, whether you believed it or not."

"I was mad," I remembered, ignoring the statement that Tay had might've had feelings for me.

"I didn't want to have anything to do with him... but could you blame me? I mean, the guy read my diary without me knowing, purged into the depths of a very traumatic, personal experience, made me an appointment with a therapist-" I rattled off the list of my past frustrations with Tay.

"But that wasn't what made me not write to him." I added softly.

"So what was?" I could tell by the tone of his voice that Zac really didn't want to talk about this right now, if ever. Not that I really did either.. I just didn't want to talk to Tay about it personally. Truth was, I felt terrible for closing out him years ago. The main heart wrencher was absorbing the sight of him kissing one of the nastiest girls I'd ever met - right in front of me, of all places. I also figured I deserved more than an 'I'll see ya every three months for a few days or so' relationship. Look at Ike and Sarah: they'd started out so much closer, only to end up at the same place as me and Tay: bitterly far apart.

"It's simple: long distance relationships don't work. Not when someone's as famous as you guys were.." I replied instead.

"Well," Zac said. "We're home right now, maybe a relationship could work."

It took me a second, and a quick glance at his face, to realize that he wasn't talking about Taylor anymore.

"Zac, I-" he cut me off by placing his hand over my mouth.

"Not that I don't love to hear your voice," he added. "I just want you to relax for once tonight."

"Zac, I don't think-" I pulled away and tried again, with no such luck.

"Exactly, don't think."

Ahh.. my mind screamed as he leaned towards me for the second time this evening. This time there was no waitress to cut in. I had no means of interruption, except...

Burp.

Finally, something Mark taught me had finally payed off: belching on command.

"Oh, excuse me!" I made it seem like an accident, covering my mouth with my hand. My face was red from supressing my laughter, not embarrassment.

"Must-must've been that chicken you ordered tonight.. he he.." I pretended to laugh nervously. Well, I could've done a lot worse than belching in his face. It worked though - who'd want to kiss someone after signs of indigestion? The look on Zac's face, not to mention his lack of a response, flooded relief into me.

"Oh, shit." I put my elbows on my knees and held my forehead in my hands.

Time for trick number two.

"Headache?" Zac asked, moving his arm from the couch to rub my back.

"Yeah," I lied. "I get migraine headaches a lot. Must be the winter." Ok, that's really lame, I know. But it would get me off the hook and back at home.

"What do you take for it? We've got Tylenol, Bayer, Excedrin.." Zac began listing off medications.

"Actually, I normally just take a warm bath." Well, that much was true. So what if I didn't happen to have such a headache at the moment?

"Well.. we are alone." Zac's eyebrows raised and his eyes sparkled devilishly.

Oops. Wrong answer.

"Don't even think that," I punched him lightly in the arm.

"Wow, do, like, you work out or something?" I asked in a high voice, pretending to feel his muscles and quickly changing the subject.

"I am known to be seen around the health club," Zac flexed his unimpressive muscles. I couldn't help but giggle.

"Actually," I rushed, trying to be nice, "I'd rather just go home; I'm sorry to end things so quickly."

Standing up quickly, not really waiting for an answer, I walked over to the front closet to get my coat.

"I guess I'll take you home." Poor Zac couldn't hide his dissappointment. It nearly broke my heart to turn him down.. nearly.

"Thanks again Zac," I said, reaching for the car door handle. "I had fun tonight. Contrary to the popular belief, you are a gentleman."

"Wait a second," he grabbed my outside shoulder and pulled me closer. Fearing the worst, I shut my eyes and hoped it wouldn't last too long. Instead of kissing my mouth like I expected, Zac's fingers gently stroked my cheek. I felt his lips softly brush against my forehead.

"Medicine for your headache." I painfully gazed into his warm brown eyes as he lowered his fingers. It was one of the sweetest guestures I'd ever received. Shit, I couldn't get out of the car sooner.

"Bye Zac," I stood up to leave. Walking up to the front porch as fast as those darn high heels would take me, I didn't want to be in earshot of his reply. After closing the door quickly behind me, I leaned against it and sighed, closing my eyes and hanging my head, and inwardly cursed myself.