I drug my fingers through the water below me as the raft gently floated in the center of the Hanson's pool. The mid-day sun beat down on me, and I smiled, knowing I was getting tan. I had finally fallen asleep around two in the morning, after watching Zac sleep for a couple hours. I think he got up once around four A.M. and threw up in the bathroom, but I was half asleep as he crawled over me on the bed. Now why he didn't just get out of the bed on HIS side was beyond me. I woke up around 9:30, before everyone else, and headed home to shower, then threw my swimming suit on and headed back over here to tan.

I could hear the patio door being shut and figured it was about time someone got up. It was close to 1:30.

"So you think you can just come over here, use OUR raft and float it in OUR pool, huh?"

I opened my eyes behind my "rockstar" sunglasses and looked up at the side of the pool where his tall and lanky form stood. "Pretty much, yeah." I answered, a smirk spread across my face.

"Okay then. Just checking."

I laughed. "So how was last night? You get a little wasted?"

"Ah…" He ran a hand through his hair and sat down on the pavement. "Yeah, just a little."

"How you feeling now?"

"… Better. I guess."

"Is Zac up yet?" I asked

"Not that I know of. I heard from Ike he got pretty drunk."

I groaned. "He told you?"

"Yeah."

"Oh god. Tay, I SO shouldn't have let him drink. But the thing is, I thought it'd be fun, though I'm not sure why. Ike kept saying he didn't think it'd be a good idea, and I was out to prove him wrong… I guess we know who owes who an apology here."

"I think we do, yeah."

As if on cue, Isaac walked out the back door. Taylor saw him approaching and stood up, silently walking over to the other side of the yard to give us some privacy. I dug my hands in the water and pushed myself over to the side of the pool where he was now sitting, dangling his feet and legs in the cool water.

"Ike I'm… sorry." I said quietly

He stared down at the water and not at me, which made me feel even worse. "You should've known better, Kinsey. I trusted you."

"I know, I know. But it's not like he did anything bad when he was drunk."

Isaac lifted his eyes to meet mine behind my sunglasses. "He was still drunk. Zac was DRUNK, Kins. ZAC."

Why was he making me feel so bad? Didn't he know how sorry I was? "Look Ike, I don't know what else to say but I'm sorry. I know you trusted me, and I know I messed up. We all make mistakes in our life, okay? But please don't hate me for this."

"I don't hate you."

"Could've fooled me." I said

"I'm just upset with you, that's all. I'll get over it. I know people make mistakes and we can't hold grudges against them for those mistakes."

"So… we're okay then?" I asked tentatively

"Of course we are." He smiled

I smiled back, and before I knew it, he had reached over and pushed my shoulder, causing me to fall off the raft and into the water. "ISAAAAAAC!!" I screamed as soon as I surfaced

He grabbed his stomach as he fell back on the concrete laughing. Taylor approached from across the yard, laughing as well.

"This is SO not even funny." I said, hoisting myself up and out of the pool. I grabbed my towel from a lounge nearby and wrapped it around my body. "Well?" I asked the laughing hyena.

He composed himself long enough to answer. "Well, what?"

I huffed. "Aren't you even going to apologize?"

"Oh yeah, sorry. Hahaha…"

I turned and stalked into the house, closing the patio door shut behind me, blocking out all the laughter. It wasn't like I was MAD at him for pushing me in, I just wanted a simple apology, not a forced one. I decided to go upstairs and wake Zac up since he had yet to show his face. I climbed the stairs to the second level and walked down the hall to his room. I didn't bother knocking since I knew he was still sleeping. I opened the door and my jaw just about hit the floor when I saw him standing there naked, holding his boxers like he was going to put them on. I tried to say something, but my voice was nowhere to be found. I tried moving, but my feet wouldn't allow me to. I was frozen.

"KINSEY!" He shouted, "CLOSE THE DOOR!"

Right. Close the door. I scrambled to get in the room and slammed the door shut behind me.

Zac looked up at me as he was hurrying to put his boxers on. "I didn't mean COME IN!" He yelled frantically. Suddenly, it dawned on me. "Oh!" I said, "God I'm so sorry." I quickly opened the door and went back out into the hall, closing the door again. I covered my face with my hands out of embarrassment. How could I have been so stupid?

A few moments later Zac opened the door slowly. "I'm dressed now. It's okay to look."

I uncovered my face and lifted my eyes to his. "I am SO sorry. You have no idea."

"It's okay."

"No it's not! I just walked in on you when you were NAKED!"

He looked up and down the hall. "Can you not raise your voice please? I don't want anyone to know."

"Augh." I sighed, "I feel like I'm doing everything wrong."

He narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"Well for starters, I let you get drunk last night." I saw the pain wash over his face. "Yeah, not a good idea. Especially when I promised Ike nothing bad would happen and it'd be a fun experience; which it wasn't. I was afraid he was going to be mad at me for a while, but he's not… for whatever reason. Then, I walk in on you changing. Also not good. But you don't seem to be too mad about it."

"I don't hold grudges for too long."

"Thank god." I said

"What were you doing? Tanning?" He gestured down at my scantly clad body.

I looked down at myself. "Yeah. Then Ike threw me in the pool… the dick."

Zac laughed. "He did, huh?"

"Unfortunately, yes, he did."

"I'll have to thank him."

"What?"

"Nothing. Come, walk with me." He placed the palm of his hand flat against my lower back and ushered me downstairs to the kitchen.

"What are we doing here?" I asked

"Getting something to drink." He opened the fridge and peered inside. "Mmm, water."

"Do you remember last night?" I questioned, sitting down at the table.

He finished taking a sip of the bottled water before answering. "A little. Not much though."

"How much is a little?"

"Um…" He thought for a minute. "When we were sitting out by the pool. That's it though."

I sighed. "Okay, good."

"Why?"

"Oh, no reason."

"Kinsey…" He warned, "Tell me what I did."

"You didn't do anything." I lied. Well technically, he really didn't DO anything. I mean, he may have said a couple of things, but that's about it. The thing that got me though, was that when people are drunk, they tend to say things they wouldn't normally say. Like the truth perhaps? They open up a lot, and that can turn out to a pretty bad thing… sometimes.

He glanced out the backdoor and saw Ike and Tay approaching. "I can just ask them."

I stopped breathing momentarily when he said that. "No!"

"No, what?"

"Don't ask them. I was with you the whole night and I told you already, you didn't do anything bad."

He eyed me skeptically. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Isaac and Taylor entered through the back door. "Heeeey, look who it is!" Taylor teased, "It's about time you got up." He went over and patted Zac on the back before shoving him away from the fridge. "You take some medicine for that headache?"

Zac narrowed his eyes at his older brother. "Don't EVEN think about giving me shit Tay."

"Guys." Isaac said in a warning tone, "Let's not start anything, okay?"

"Hey Ike." Zac called

"Yeah?"

"Did I do anything last night that I might… I don't know, regret?"

My eyes got huge and I turned to look at Isaac, who was looking right at me. I silently begged him not to say anything.

"Uh… no." He said, looking back at Zac. "No you didn't do anything."

"Wow, really?"

"Really."

"Really, really." Taylor mocked them in the voice of the donkey from Shrek.

We all turned to look at him like, 'HUH??'

"What?" He asked

I shook my head at him. "So," I said, turning away from Taylor, "I should probably get going."
"What, you got plans?" Zac asked

"Plans to change clothes and go out, yes." I got up from the table and headed towards the front door. "See ya guys." I called over my shoulder

"Whoa, wait up." Zac came running after me.

I didn't stop to turn around until I reached the front door. "What?" I asked, my hand gripping the door knob.

“Why don’t you come over later after you’re done doing your... things.” He suggested

“Mmm...” I scrunched up my face like I was thinking really hard about my decision. “I don’t know.”

“Well, you think about it while you’re doing whatever, and then come on over later if you feel like it, okay?”

“Okay.” I agreed. “See ya.”

“Bye.”

* * *

“Don’t EVEN try to tell me that you wouldn’t do it. I mean come on, you’re a guy.”

“So?”

“So? SO?! Ike seriously!!”

“Kinsey, seriously.” He mocked me

I sighed, throwing the rest of the popcorn kernels in the garbage. “Okay fine, so you wouldn’t have a one night stand. But do you think girls who do that are sluts?”

“Most of them are, yes.”

“Because...”

“Because it shows that they have low self-esteem about themselves.”

I shook my head. “Ike, tell me again why you’re still single?”

He laughed. “I’m not sure. But if you can find a girl who you think I’d get along with, then I just might let you set me up.”

A light bulb suddenly went off. “Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Hmm.... I’ll have to see what I can do.”

“About what?”

I turned around. “About setting Ike up with someone.”

Zac threw his pop can in the garbage. “Who were you thinking of setting him up with?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

Ike gave both me and Zac skeptical looks. “Alright kids, it’s late so I’m gonna turn in. Thanks for watching the movie with me Kins.”

“No problem.”

Ike patted me on the shoulder as he walked out of the kitchen. “Night.”

“Night.”

“Hey,” Zac spoke up as soon as Ike was gone, “Do you um... do you wanna go sit out by the pool? It’s a nice night.”

“Sure.” I agreed. “We can go out sit out there.” It seemed as though he was a little nervous, but I wasn’t too sure why.

We both headed out through the patio doors, onto the cement surrounding the pool. We took a seat on a chaise lounge over by the deep end. It was really pretty out; all the lights were on in and around the pool.

“I uh... I kinda brought you out here so I could talk to you.” Zac kept his eyes focused on the ground.

“Okay... about what?” I immediately began to panic. I prayed it wasn’t about what I THOUGHT it was going to be about.

“Last night...” He began, “I don’t really remember what I said to you. I know you said I didn’t do or say anything, but we both know that’s not true. Now I don’t even really WANT to know anymore, but I just wanted to say thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being there for me. Most people would’ve just left me to fend for myself, but not you.”

“Zac you’re my best friend. I love you too much to just leave you.”

“Yeah, about that...”

“What? What did I say?”

He pushed some hair behind his ears and looked up at me. “Kinsey I still care about you. A lot.”

I sat there for a minute, unsure of what he meant exactly by “care about”. “Oookay...”

“Okay?” He asked, “Is that all you have to say?”

“Well... I...” A mental picture of Taylor flashed into my head, and I was immediately reminded of all those talks we had back in California. The words, ‘Kinsey you need to tell him’ repeated over and over. I fought with myself for what really was only a couple seconds, but felt more like an eternity since Zac’s eyes were boring into me, awaiting my answer. “I don’t know, Zac.”

“What don’t you know?”

“I mean, I’m just not sure how I feel about you right now.” Okay that wasn’t a lie or anything.

“Oh. I see.”

“I think I just need some more time to think about it.” Or perhaps I just need some more time to gather the courage to tell you the truth.

“If that’s what you need, then I guess I can give you that.”

I nodded as he stood up, pushing some more hair behind his ears. “Are you gonna turn in?” I asked

“Yeah, I think so. I’ll see you later.”

As he walked away the little voice in my head screamed at me to stop him from going any further. To tell him how I really felt before it was too late. His hand gripped the handle on the sliding glass door and slid it open. “Zac, wait!”

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