"Ohhhh darlin I was blind to let you go, but - now - since - I - see - you - in his arms, I want you back," I sang, trying my damndest to sound as much like Michael as I could. Taylor and I grabbed hands and spun around in circles. 

"All I want, All I need, All I want, ALL I NEEEEEEEEEEED," 

"Oh baby I was blind to let you go, but now since I see you in his arms...Oh baby I need one more chance,"

"You guys really have gone crazy," Lane shook her head and laughed. Our whole group was spread out on deck chairs across the bright green grass of the Hanson house. More like the Hanson country - They had tons and tons of acres of lannd all covered in beautiful grass with a pool behind the house. Lane, Zac, Reilly, Gabriel, Murdoc and even Isaac were sun baking while Taylor and I seemed to be the only ones who took to Give Me One More Chance by the Jackson 5 and decided to dance around. 

"Press repeat," I said, "I wanna keep dancing,"

"Oh oh me too,"

And again it started, we danced around in the sun, singing and giving our best moves. 

I danced towards Zac and tried to pull him up, remarkably, I succeeded. He wasn't a bad dancer, either. But the most amazing part was his singing, he was incredible. Husky and strong, but he could hit the high notes like you wouldn't believe. 

"You're a great singer Zac!" I said over the music. Zac just smiled graciously and twirled me around, "Ohhhh baby all I need is one more chance, won't - you - please - let - meeee - back in your heart. Ohh baby I was blind to let you go, now since I see you in his arms,"

Sadly, the song finished, and even more sadly, Zac stopped dancing and singing. I caught my breath and squealed as Kelly Osbourne's Papa Don't Preach started playing. 

"AHHH!! Papa I know you're going to be upset, cause I was always your little girl," I danced around the reluctant to move Zac. I even did the finger pointing and baby face that Kelly does. 

Zac laughed and pretended he wasn't into it, "Don't get too into it, Kirb, you promised you'd come to Aimee's with me,"

"Oh shit," I stopped dancing, "Sorry Zac, I forgot,"

"It's ok, Kirb, but you're still coming with me, right?"

"Of course I am! Gimme a second," I swapped my board shorts for black Dickies and pulled on my bowling style shoes. 

"Where's my shirt?" I mumbled to myself and searched through my mountain of stuff and finally found my A.F.I shirt. 

-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 

(cut to the car)

"How far away is Aimee's place?" I asked, watching cow after cow pass by the car window. 

"It's about an hour away, three towns to go,"

"That's probably really annoying, hey, you two being so far away from each other," 

"Yeah...It is," Zac feigned a half smile. 

"Imagine how happy she'll be when you surprise her," I said, trying to infect him with my big smile. It worked.

"You're right, ya know," He turned up the radio and squeezed my hand. 

-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 

(cut to the Grant estate)

Aimee lived on a huge block of land with a mansion right in the middle. There weren't any cows or horses: just trees, flowers and a fountain. It made me wonder why they wanted all that land just to put a big white box in the middle. Zac had told me they never actually walked out on the land, whereas the Hanson family use theirs every day. 

We slowed the car down at the gates, Zac wiggled his eyebrows and entered the code into the security pad. The gates clambered open.

"Now with any luck, she'll be in her back yard sun baking, since it's hot today and all," Zac said in a mischievous voice. 

"You're really excited, aren't you?" I grinned.

"Yes, I am, I haven't seen her in two weeks,"

We parked the car in front of the house. Zac gave me both thumbs up when he spotted the garage open and empty. We kept walking around the side of the house towards the pool area. The place was like a friggin resort, all tropical-like and terracotta. It looked so wrong stuck out in the middle of the country. 

We stepped onto the terracotta platform of the back yard and turned the corner. 

And there, on the deck chair, was Aimee with another guy. 

Her eyes widened like saucers when she spotted Zac.

Zac stood speechless, his face twisting with hurt and red hot anger. I, too, was speechless. The mystery guy struggled to get up off of Aimee and once he did, he avoided going any where near Zac. He jumped over the other deck chairs and ran away. 

"Zac, I'm - oh fuck."

Zac still said nothing.

"This means nothing - he means nothing," Aimee struggled to explain herself, "I was just - we were just - we were just mucking around,"

Aimee stopped stuttering like the fool that she was and looked off into the distance. A single tear rolled down Zac's cheek.

"How long."

"Zac..."

"HOW LONG."

"Since...since before I met you,"

More and more tears began to slide down Zac's cheeks, leaving shiny tracks of pain on his face. 

"You fucking whore,"

"I-"

"I catch you cheating on me, you tell me you were with him before me and suddenly HE'S the victim?! You whore!"

Aimee finally began to cry. But from my view point, they weren't tears of sadness and regret, they were tears of anger at being caught out. 

"Don't you dare cry, you bitch. I'm the one who deserves to cry," With that, Zac broke down. He covered his face and sobbed. I ran over to him and put my arms around his shoulders. 

Aimee stood up and came over towards us. She glared at me and went to touch Zac's back. "That would be a very stupid move, Aimee." I warned her, my face burning up with anger. 

She visibly shrugged, turned around, and went inside. 

I slowly walked Zac back to the car. He latched off me and silently sat himself in the passenger's seat.

"Take me to your place, Kirby," Zac said. Those were his only words for the whole trip back. 

-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 

(cut to Kirby's room)

Zac sat beside me on the floor of my room. He'd stopped crying but still hadn't said a word.

"Zac," I touched a silky lock of hair and tucked it behind his ear, "Do you wanna talk to me yet?"

Zac blinked and held his eyes shut, "I just...I just want to know...Do things like this always happen, even if you love someone?"

"No, Zac, of course not," I said, wanting to cry myself. Zac and I both knew I was lying. No matter how much you love someone, there's no way of telling what they're capable of.  

Zac looked me in the eyes, "I never thought she would do something like that. It never crossed my mind. Not even for a second,"

"My old friends had told me she was this total slut and she'd screwed all these guys, but I never believed them because I knew she was better than that. At least I thought she was...Didn't she ever feel guilty? Shouldn't she hate herself for something like this? Didn't she ever think, when she used to look in my eyes and tell me she loved me, that what she was doing was wrong? What I really want to know is how I've changed from loving her to hating her so quickly,"

Once more, Zac began to cry. His crying wasn't as violent as the first time, perhaps he was beginning to realize she wasn't worth his love. I pulled him over so he could rest his head on my lap. I brushed his hair with my fingers, smoothing it down, in hopes of calming him down some more. 

"None of this is your fault, Zac. You're the most lovable person I know...I don't want you to burden yourself with her careless mistakes...You're allowed to be angry, but not for too long. You need to get back on your feet and put all of this behind you. You're strong, I know it,"

Zac smiled sleepily and yawned. His eyes were heavy from crying and slowly began to droop closed. I kept stroking his hair and speaking quietly, "I'm here for you whenever you need advice, Zac, or just someone to cry around. I'm always here, no matter what..."

-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 

(cut to the next morning: Zac and Kirby waking up)

Zac and I both woke up at the same time and rubbed our eyes. We stretched and carried on for a little while then looked at each other.

"How do you feel Zaccy?" I asked. 

"I feel maaarvellous," 

"Really?"

"Yes, and it's all thanks to you,"

I grinned, "Aww,"

"No really, thank you so much," Zac flung an arm across my stomach and hugged me. 

Just then, Reilly practically knocked the door down and shrieked: "GOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING DICKHEAD!"

Reilly looked at us and screamed. "What the HELL? GET OFF MY SISTER!"

Zac looked perplexed, "Waah?"

"Reilly heeelllpp...He's trying to rape me," I squealed and pretended to break free. Reilly soon realized what a dumbass he was.

"Very funny," He rolled his eyes. 

"I was just messing around, dickhead,"

"What's up Zac," Reilly asked Zac, "What brings you to be sleeping in my sister's bed?"

"Your sister was helping me out through a rough time," Zac explained, hugging me one last time before hopping out of bed. 

"What happened?"

Zac pulled his pants on over his boxers, "Aimee and I broke up,"

"Holy hell, man, I'm sorry,"

"Eh, I'm over it now. You can thank Kirby for that too,"

"Well, well, well. How very mature of you guys,"

"Mature?" I asked, still finding it difficult to remove myself from the warmth of my bed.

"Yeah," Reilly answered. Zac pushed past Reilly and went into the bathroom, "Most people would have ended up screwing in a situation like this,"

"Ugh. Zac and I may well be mature, but you sure as hell aren't," I rolled my eyes and tried to find a decent outfit. 

"Yeah, well, I just have a grip on reality. Anyways, did you know that Jesse didn't come home last night?"

"Yeah, so?"

"It's the third night in a row!"

"Again - Yeah, so?"

"He hasn't even called, paged, written, sent a homing pigeon, written a message in the sky - NOTHING!" 

I closed my cupboard door after successfully locating my white track pants and a baby blue wife beater. "Maybe it's a good thing. The guy's a bit of a loser, he needs some variety in his life. He is 18, ya know."

"But we never see him these days, even when he is here, he never talks to us, he never notices us! He seems to have forgotten you and I were his best friends,"

"Yeah well I don't care anymore, Reilly. I've already tried to get through to him several times but he shot me down every time. Whether he talks to us or not is his choice," 

I went back to sorting through my sock draw and finally chose a pair I liked. 

"I don't wanna fight with you Kirb, I'm just worried is all. I don't know what to do,"

"There's nothing you can do, Rye. We've already tried our best, now it's up to mum and dad and Jesse. We just have to sit back and wait," I pushed past Reilly once Zac came back into the room.

"Wait for what?" Reilly asked.

"For him to forget to come back,"

-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 

(cut to tuesday night: sipping tea in the back yard)

"How are you really, Zac?"

Zac looked at me, "Really? I'm still a little shell shocked. I mean...you can't get over something like that too quickly...But I think I'm almost there,"

"I'm so proud of you,"

Zac smiled, "There'll be more chances. She was only the first,"

"That's exactly right, you're so young Zac, you'll find love again, and again,"

"And again,"

Zac and I smiled at each other again and stared back out at the stars, sipping our tea. 

-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 

(cut to wednesday night: Kirby and Ezra are glued to Dawson's Creek, India is sketching, Reilly is trying to scrub his shoes back to their original color, Spencer is reading for school and the parents are making the monthly phone calls to family back in Australia)

"Pacey is NOT fat," I said with force, defending the hunk of burning love that is Pacey Witter. 

"He is SO, look at that belly," Ezra shook her head as if it were a damn shame.

"Shut up! I don't think he's fat. India, do you think he's fat?"

"No. He's sexy,"

"HA! See?"

"Pfft. I still think he's fat,"

"I can't believe you!" I crossed my arms over my chest and continued to gawk at Pacey. 

The door soon clicked open and every set of eyes looked at Jesse who came clambering into the lobby. 

Dad shot up immediately. He looked very angry which is an extremely rare way for him to look. Jesse cowered like a scared little boy and avoided eye contact. 

"Where the HELL have you been???"

"What...."

"You were gone a WEEK, Jesse, a week, and not one form of contact with any of us, do you know how worried we've all been??" Dad nearly yelled. Jesse lowered his head even more. 

"Say something, Jesse!" Mum spoke up and looked upset. 

"We know you're an adult now, but this isn't just about you disappearing for a week without a word. You've been avoiding us for months now, we just want to know what's going on,"

I switched the TV off, Reilly stopped scrubbing, Indie stopped sketching and Spencer stopped reading. We all watched the scene unfold. 

"Mum, Dad, I'm sorry...I know it seems like I've been avoiding you, but I have a good reason,"

"I'd sure as hell like to hear it," Dad said, still angry.

"I've been...recording an album,"

Everyone gasped.

"JESSE!" Mum said, reaching out and hugging him.

"Well, Jesse, I wish you'd have told us you were trying to make a way for yourself. I've always told you that you just have to keep trying,"

"No Dad, I don't have to keep trying. I was busking in town a few months ago when Jamie came past with his uncle who works for BMG,"

"Oh my god..." I said to myself. 

"He liked what I was playing and said I should play some more. He gave me his card and told me to show up at this party thing where all his business partners would be. So I went and played a few songs and they really liked it - can you believe it! So Mitch, the uncle, told me to get writing cause he was willing to offer me a contract...a three album contract!!"

"OH MY GOD!" Mum hugged Jesse again while he laughed and tried to finish his explanation.

"So that's why I've been so distant, whenever I was here I was desperately trying to concentrate on writing songs, and whenever I wasn't here, I was recording the demos at the dodgy recording studio in the country,"

"I can't believe this, Jesse...I'm so proud of you," Dad said, visibly choked up with pride. 

"I've spent the past week holed up in the studio recording as much as I can and now I've got 23 songs down. BMG paid for everything! They've even bought me three new guitars!"

Everything was rapidly clicking into place. The extra cash he always seemed to have, the incessant scrawling down of lyrics, the smooth guitar riffs drifting up from the basement. 

"I've worked so hard on this album...I've put every hour I have into it, every thought, all my blood and sweat...I still can't believe this is happening," Jesse shook his head. 

"Tell us more," Ezra said. 

Jess seemed happy that everyone was so eager to hear him speak, "Well, I'm officially part of BMG records now, and they said my demos sound excellent.....I'm going to L.A in a week to mix the album, and my first single will be released in about three months,"

Everyone was absolutely speechless, even Spencer. Just the fact that we were all quiet alone was enough reason to celebrate. We finally snapped out of the silence thing and started drilling Jesse for all the information he had. We wanted to know what his songs were like, if he had fun recording, what the sound guys are really like and if he thought he was going to be famous some day. We eventually had enough of our own Spanish Inquisition and let Jesse retreat to the basement. 

-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 

(cut to Jesse's basement: half an hour later)

"Hey Jess,"

"Key Kirby," He looked up from tuning his guitar and smiled. I sat down on an amp and swung my legs. 

"Whatcha doing?"

"Ah, just messing around," He said, plucking the strings randomly. 

"Kirb..." Jesse lifted the guitar strap over his head and set it on a stand, "I just want to apologize for...being such an ass,"

"It's ok Jess," I smiled.

"But really, I was a total fuck head to you and I'm really really sorry. You know you're my best mate...I'm really sorry,"

"Jess, it's cool, you're forgiven. But I wouldn't argue if you were to put Reilly and I in your first video," I grinned. Jesse laughed.

"Don't push your luck!" He laughed and then looked as though he'd been struck by a lightning bolt, "I just got an idea!"

"Uh oh," I pretended to leave. Jesse was oblivious. 

"Your school holidays are coming up, aren't they?"

"Yeah, in February, two weeks...Why?"

"OH MY GOD!!"

"What what!?"

"You and Reilly can come to L.A with me!"

I looked at him blankly. He looked back at me the same way. 

"You know, that could work," I answered, finally. 

"I know!"

"But dude, I'm leaving it up to you to ask the oldies, there is no way I'm facing them with a question like that,"

"Oh yeah no worries, I've got them wrapped around my little finger at the moment," Jesse grinned, "It'll be fun you know. You should bring some friends, too,"

"Hmmm," I stroked my chin, "I'll look into it,"

"Good good,"

"Yes yes," I stood up and patted Jess on the back, "Well, I'm gonna watch C.S.I,"

"I'll come with you,"

"Ok, cool," I smiled to myself as we walked up the stairs. I was glad I had my brother back.

-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 

After asking all of our friends if they could join us in L.A, Zac was the only one that was definite. Not that I was disappointed that he was coming, not one tiny morsel. But - I would have liked more people to have come with us. But I guess with two weeks notice, there isn't much you can really do, especially when most of them work and go to college. 

Zac's parents (Diana and Walker) were invited over to discuss everything they could about the trip with my parents (Jeremy and Ella). They were talking about some really ridiculous things, such as, "What if Zac were to catch a really nasty disease, who would take him to the hospital?". Meanwhile, Zac, Reilly, Taylor and I did the smart thing and hid in my bedroom. 

"Imagine if I actually did catch a really nasty disease. Like an STD or something, imagine how they'd take that," Zac laughed heartily.

"I'll give you $100 if you come back with an STD, Zac," Taylor giggled. 

"No way!.....$200,"

"Deal,"

"Oh god Zac, you're foul," I shook my head.

"We're known for making bets on pretty stupid things, but this would have to top it off," Taylor said. 

"You do know that STD's take months and months to go away...some of them don't even go away at all," I said, always providing the reason.

"Kirby, you're taking the fun out of it. It's a challenge," Reilly said. 

"Kay. But let me just say, I'll be pissing myself laughing when you start scratching your knads in the middle of class," I said, the three guys laughed together. 

"I wish I could come with you guys," Taylor said. He was a little bitter since there was no way his work would give him two weeks off without firing him. 

We all started staring off into space, the music playing over the silence. 

"......Do you think Jesse's gonna be famous?" Reilly said, flat on his back, his eyes fixed on the lantern hanging over the light. 

I thought about this for a little while. At first, I wanted to say no, but when I thought about it a little more, it didn't seem too impossible.

"I think he might...one day..."

"Do you want him to be?" Taylor asked, laid out on his side, his head resting on his palm.

"I...don't know. I mean, of course I do. He deserves it," I answered.

"But does he?" Reilly asked me. 

"What do you mean, 'Does he'?"

"Well none of us really know what it's like to be famous...I'm sure it isn't easy," 

"I guess you're right...."

"What if he changes?"

"He won't, Rye,"

"But how are we to know that?" 

Reilly had me stumped. He was so right. No Bloom or Hanson had the foggiest idea of what it was really like to be famous. How were we to know how Jesse would react - or if he would change? 

"There's nothing you can do, guys....You might want to stop him from taking this opportunity, but you know you can't," Taylor said, "You may not know what the music business is like, but you sure as hell know Jesse. He may seem like he's changing, but it'll only be on the surface. He'll still be Jesse...Just as long as you guys are there for him whenever he needs you,"

Taylor was definitely a great big ball of wisdom that afternoon. Reilly and I then knew that we shouldn't be afraid of what Jesse would become, but of what our family could become. The secret was to stay by his side.