"Indie, can you shut the hell up!?" Reilly yelled at his sister who'd just nagged for some new teen magazine for the 37th time.

"Reilly, honestly, if you're going to tell off your sister, at least do it tastefully. Like this, for example," Mum cleared her throat and turned to face Indie, "India, I've told you 36 times already, there is no chance in hell I am buying you that brainwashing piece of crap that costs $6 for no evident reason. Drop it or sit in the car while we shop,"

India pursed her lips and crossed her arms. Mum gave one last grunt at her and India scampered off to walk at the back of the group. 

"That was impressive, Mum. One day I'll be as nasty as you," Reilly patted Mum's shoulder as we walked along past the food court. 

For some warped reason, my whole family was in each other's company all at the one time. It must have been the day of a full moon or something. Even Jesse was there! And the even spookier detail was, even though all eight of us were present, everyone was in reasonable behavior (minus the fruitless nagging for trashy magazines). 

"Oh, honey, we better get the kids some early dinner, there isn't much food in the house," Dad said. 

Mum nodded and turned the group around in the other direction towards the food court. 

Once we all had our respective meals, we sat down like a civilized family, eating in the company of each other, which, believe me, was not a common occurrence. 

As usual, I'd bought the smallest amount of food out of everyone, so I finished fairly quickly. Jesse, on the other hand, had bought a large Big Mac meal and a sundae, and had finished at the same time as me.

"I'm going to the music shop and then I'm gonna go, ok?" Jesse announced to Mum and Dad.

"Alright Jesse, how are you 'going'?" Mum asked.

"The bus," He replied.

"Yeah, if he had friends, they'd probably be more than happy to give him a lift," Reilly snickered.

"Shut up you little-" Jesse glanced at the younger diners amongst us and settled on digging his knuckles into Reilly's arm instead of calling him an obscene name.

"That'll be enough you guys. Do you have enough money Jesse?" Dad asked.

"Yes, Dad. I'm fine. Bye everyone," Jesse got up and weaved his way behind our seats.

"Wait, I'm coming with you, Jess," I called out, but he was too far away to hear. Nonetheless, I took off in his direction.

The music shop wasn't very far away so he was already inside by the time I got there. I found him in the guitar section, drooling over a vintage Gibson with a price tag so huge, you wondered if it was really worth it.

"You have three dollars fifty in your pocket, Jess. Dream on," I said over his shoulder. He huffed and glared down at me. 

"Who says I can't afford that?"

"Uh, everyone!" 

Jesse pulled a sour face and moved away from the guitar towards other, more affordable, bits and pieces. He started poking at strings and picks and straps until the guy served him.  

I got bored with watching Jesse give a whole speech on how picky he was with the technique in which his guitar is strung. I started scanning the rows of shiny classical and electric guitars, wishing I could play more than Stairway To Heaven. And terribly at that. 

I then spotted a rather familiar figure flicking the switches of a Marshall amp in the corner.

"Taylor!"

"Kirby!"

"This is a surprise," I said, "I didn't think I'd find Taylor in a music shop!"

Taylor chuckled lightly, "Yeah, I play bass,"

"Oh cool! And a bit of guitar as well?"

"Yep, sure do,"

"I'm just here with Jesse. Honestly, he's such a queen when it comes to his guitars,"

Taylor laughed and switched his weight between legs. I admit the scene was a little awkward. We'd usually bump into each other and flirt like maniacs, but since times had changed, we weren't quite sure what to fill the gaps with. 

"So he's making one of his rare appearances?" Taylor asked.

"Who?"

"Jesse,"

"Oh!" I chuckled nervously, "The whole family's here actually. I just took off to follow him for some reason. That reminds me, I should check back with them before they freak out."

Taylor nodded, "Hey have you got any plans for tonight?"

"Nope, Zac's with Aimee tonight so it's just the evil twin brother and I,"

"Do you wanna hang out?"

"Sure!"

"Cool, cause I'm having some friends over that I want you and Reilly to meet," He explained, seemingly excited since I'd never really met any of his proper friends.

"Excellent, your house?"

"Yep, around, I dunno, 8?"

"Cool," I nodded and felt an awkward moment coming on, so I walked over to Jesse, Taylor following. He'd decided on a couple of steel strings from a new brand that was only just put on the market, three Fender picks, a new manuscript book and a blue velvet strap. I raised an eyebrow as he pulled out a fresh hundred dollar note.

"Ahem," 

"What?" He looked at me.

"Where did you get that money from?"

"Nowhere," He answered. 

"You took it out of your supposed college account, didn't you?"

The guy gave him his bag of purchases and a friendly goodbye as we walked out. 

"Mum will NOT be happy, they saved for ages you know,"

"Yeah well I'm obviously not going to college am I?" He answered quickly and hopped on the escalator. I followed him with Taylor still close behind.

"But it's the whole concept of it Jess. They want you to keep the money for when you desperately need it,"

Jess stepped off the escalator and turned around. "It doesn't matter. I don't care. They won't care. Everyone's happy. I've gotta go, I'm running late."

Jesse took off, "Late for what? Since when have you got to be somewhere?" I called out, but it was useless, he was out of sight.

"Ok...I'm starting to understand it now. He is a very strange guy," Taylor said. 

"Well, that's the eldest for ya. We changed that middle child syndrome and made it eldest child syndrome," I said, trying to see the lighter side of things so it wouldn't get to me. Taylor and I walked back to the general area of my family while making meaningless banter.

-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 

(cut to Taylor's get together: six people in the back yard)

So, Taylor's friends turned out to be pretty damn cool. There were only three of them, but they were very well chosen. There was an artist with the coolest glasses called Lane, a punk called Murdoc and another artist called Gabriel. Lane and I got along like a house on fire from the beginning and Reilly was quickly becoming Murdoc's biggest fan. 

"Taylor and I did actually have a little...thing, for a while there," I admitted to Lane. The two of us sat away from the group gossiping. 

"Oh really?" She said, her eye brow raised, "Do share,"

"It wasn't really a relationship...But he thought it was,"

"But what was it?"

"We were, I dunno, what's the proper term? Lovers?"

"Wooo really? Why didn't he ever tell me!"

"It was sort of a secret...sort of. Anyway we basically let the attraction get the better of us without discussing the prospect of a relationship at all," I said. Lane nodded in understanding. 

"What an experience, hey?"

"That's a new word for it!" We laughed, "So what about you? Any love interests running the circuit at the moment?"

"Ah...no..."

"Ah no? Are you sure?"

Lane giggled and blushed, "Murdoc..."

"Really!?"

"Yes...we're in love."

"Oh my god! That's so cute!"

She giggled again, "He told me last night, but nobody knows we're together, so we're just going to break it to everyone very slowly. The four of us have been best friends for so long, and something like this could kind of cause a bit of a shock,"

"Mmm, I can see how that'd happen. You just have to talk to them,"

"Definitely, we want them to see it from our point of you. They need to know that no matter how long we've known each other, Murdoc and I, that we can still find a real love for each other,"

"That is the sweetest thing I've ever heard," I said with a big idiot grin on my face. 

I looked at Lane, "You and I have to be buddies, ok? I haven't got one female friend..."

"Aww, of course we'll be buddies!" She said. She reached out and hugged me tight. 

The rest of the night was excellent. Taylor got to show off his friends who became my friends, as well as Reilly's. Lane drew a portrait of Gabriel and Murdoc played Purple Haze on his guitar that he always has with him. We all exchanged numbers and promised to see each other on a regular basis.

"Thanks for coming, Kirb," Taylor said. He smiled gratefully. 

"You're welcome, Tay. They're great people, you know,"

"Yes, I do know. I love them a lot,"

"Ok, well, I'll see you soon," I reached out and hugged Taylor good bye. I waved one last time and walked to the car where Reilly was waiting. 

-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 

(cut to the week after : 7pm wednesday night)

"Oooh videos, what ya got?" Reilly stuck his head in the door way and eyed the videos laid out on the table. Spencer appeared beside him and mimicked his brother's movements. 

"Just some...just some girlie love stories, is all," I answered as I switched the pillows around on the couch. 

"Ugh." Reilly complained and took off down the hallway, Spencer following close behind. Both were thoroughly uninterested in a couple of girlie movies. 

I'd rented the videos for a special occasion - Lane was coming over to watch them with me after we'd decided over the phone that neither of us really had a good female friend, hence the movies, pop corn, chocolate and comforter set up just for us. 

"Kirby!!!!!!!!! Your friend is here!!!!!!!!!!!" One of my sisters shrieked from downstairs, although it was still incredibly loud. Lane come down the hallway rubbing her temples. 

"Hey Lane! Sorry about my sister, she hasn't really grasped the concept of lowering the decibels around guests," I apologized and showed Lane into the room. 

"Oh it's alright, I'm used to it. Ezra reminds me of my little brother Evan," She smiled, politely hiding the fact that her ears were ringing. 

"Ok so I've set it up all nice, as you can see," I said, showing off the room like a chick off Wheel Of Fortune. We were in the study/rumpus room which was right next to my bedroom, so I basically called shot gun over the interior designing. I'd put coloured lanterns everywhere so it had this warm purple glow to it, I'd set up a comfy couch with a velvet covering, huge squishy pillows and maroon mink comforters to top it off. I'd just finished it off the weekend before so I was pretty damn proud of it.

"Wow! It looks excellent," She awed, looking around her, "It all looks so comfy...I bet I'll fall asleep,"

"No you won't! Ok here, have a look, I rented Dead Poet's Society and Dogma. I guarantee you that Ben Affleck and Matt Damon will keep you wide awake," I winked like a pimp with a sleazy look on my face. Lane laughed and shook her head. She grabbed Dogma out of my hand and sorted out the video player. 

"So I told Taylor about me and Murdoc," She said casually while bent over, pressing buttons on the VCR.

"YOU WHAT?" I shrieked, "How did he take it?? Oooh tell me everything!"

The trailers came up on the screen and Lane left them to play, "Well, he was pretty shocked at first...But then he calmed down cause I started explaining everything. I told him that no matter how special him and Gab are to me, I can't hide how much I love Murdoc, and neither can he. And, surprisingly, he came around and was happy for me by the end of it. He even said he was glad that I didn't beg for his blessings,"

"That's Taylor for ya," I smiled. I didn't want to bring it up out loud, but while Lane and I watched the last of the trailers before Dogma, I remembered just how amazing Taylor had been to me. Even though I could never love him how he wants me to love him, I will always be grateful to him for forgiving me for one of my cruelest mistakes.