“Breakfast is ready.” Taylor announced, knocking on the bathroom door.
I quick pulled my hair back in a low pony. “I’ll be right out.” I said, adding a bit of shine spray to my hair.
“Hurry before it gets cold.”
I opened the bathroom door and found Taylor standing there, staring me in the face. “It IS cold.”
He gave me a confused look before responding. “Oh, yeah I know.”
I shook my head. “Hurry before your COLD cereal gets cold Kinsey!” I mocked him as we walked the short distance to the kitchen.
“Shut up. I was just kidding with you.”
I stopped dead in my tracks once I saw Zac and Hallie sitting across from one another at the table, eating their cereal and talking quietly. Every couple seconds Hallie would giggle and flirtatiously push a strand of hair behind her ear.
Taylor stood next to me. “Interrupt.”
“Huh?” I asked, turning to him.
“Go interrupt them.”
I turned back to the two flirty birds at the table. Standing there watching them, being totally oblivious to Zac, hurt more than you can ever imagine. I thought everything was going to be okay now that Zac and I were sharing a bunk, but I was proven wrong. I hastily grabbed a bowl from the counter and filled it with Lucky Charms, then milk. I opened the drawer below me and got a spoon, then stormed off towards the back lounge. I slammed the door shut and sat down on the bench, grabbing the tv remote and hitting the power button. I found some morning cartoons and decided to watch those as I ate my breakfast.
Taylor threw open the door of the back lounge and stood there, glaring at me. “Could you BE anymore childish?” He asked
“Maybe if I tried hard enough.” I responded without looking up at him.
“Why couldn’t you just sit down at the table and eat with the rest of us?”
“You mean with THEM.”
“Kinsey this is ridiculous. You’re acting like a child, now get out there.” He pointed behind him towards the kitchen.
I shoved another spoon-full of cereal in my mouth. After swallowing I glanced up at him briefly. “And miss my favorite cartoon? I don’t think so.”
“You never watch cartoons.”
“I am now.”
He grabbed the remote off the bench next to me and turned the tv off. “I’m not kidding.”
I sighed and looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Please just go Taylor. I want to be alone right now.”
“Fine. But I hope you realize you’re only making things worse.” And with that small piece of mind, he was gone.
I left the tv off while I ate the rest of my cereal. I cursed out Hallie for coming into our lives and catching Zac’s attention the way she did. I know it didn’t do me any good, but it made me feel a little better nonetheless.
* * *
“EVERYONE OFF!!” I heard Ike shout from the front of the bus. I groaned and shut my magazine, then climbed out of Zac’s bunk. I slowly walked towards the front, spotting Ike standing at the top of the stairs, staring at me.
“What took you so long? We stopped almost ten minutes ago.”
I shrugged. “Eh, I don’t really want to be confronted with Tay or Zac right now.”
“Why?” He asked, sounding concerned
“It’s nothing.” I shook my head. “Just a little episode from this morning still playing over in my mind, no big deal.”
“You sure you don’t want to talk?”
“I said I was fine!” I shouted. I quickly realized how loud my voice had gotten and figured that probably wasn’t necessary. “Sorry.” I said quietly.
“It’s okay. Come on, let’s get moving here, we’re already a little late.” He ushered me down the steps of the bus and towards the back entrance of the hotel.
“Where’s my bags?” I asked him as we passed through the doorway and walked down the hall towards the elevators.
“I think Tay grabbed them on his way in.”
“Oh... okay.” I said, stepping into the elevator. We rode up to the twelfth floor in silence. I had a lot on my mind and talking to Ike about my current situation wasn’t a big priority of mine.
The dinging of the elevator brought me back to reality. The doors opened and Ike stepped out into the hall first. I followed slowly, a sudden thought occurring to me. “Hey Ike?” I called out
He turned around. “Yeah?”
“Who am I rooming with?”
“Uh... I think Zac.”
I wondered if I had remembered to clean my ears out earlier that morning. Did he just say that I was rooming with Zac? “I’m... what?”
“You’re rooming with Zac... is that a problem?”
I shook my head. “No... I don’t think so anyway.”
“Well good.” He said, stopping in front a door with the number 1230 on it. “Cause this is your room.” He knocked on the door a couple times. “Zac? Open up.”
My heart began to pound when I heard Ike call his name. Was he actually in there? Oh god, was Hallie with him?
The door was pulled open and Zac stood there, giving Ike a questioning glance. “What’s up?”
“Kinsey needs to get in... remember you two are sharing a room?”
Zac peered out into the hall and looked at me. “Oh.” He said upon seeing me. “I didn’t know we were sharing a room... but okay. If that’s what they want.” He moved aside so I could enter. “Where’s your stuff?” He asked me as I walked by.
I shrugged. “Ike said Tay grabbed it.”
“He’ll be up with it in a minute.” Ike informed us. “Now you kids behave... no fighting. I’m going to find everyone else... Zac remember we have a sound check in an hour so meet us down in the lobby, okay?”
“I’ll be there.”
“Bye kids.” Ike said, heading back down the hall.
“Bye.” Zac and I echoed.
I walked in the room and sat down on the bed. “Why does he always call us ‘kids’?”
“You got me. I’m going to take a shower though, I can’t be all smelly for tonight now can I?”
“Of course not.” I said, “How will you score with some lucky fan then?”
“Exactly!”
I laughed at his enthusiasm and gave him a playful kick in the rear. “Get going.”
“Yes ma’am.”
* * *
I stood there, listening intently as they sang ‘Penny and Me’. I watched the expressions on Zac’s face as he sang the chorus and I wanted to laugh a couple times. I knew he was really into the music, but the faces he was making were hilarious.
Out of nowhere Hallie ran to my side and grabbed onto my arm. “Oh my gosh!” She cried, running her other hand through her hair. “I can’t believe I’m standing backstage watching them do a sound check!”
I slowly turned to her and just stared. I was at a loss for words at the moment to be honest. I mean seriously, could she BE anymore teenie?
“Hey, look at Zac.” She tugged on my arm she was STILL holding onto and pointed towards Zac. “Isn’t he making the most adorable faces?”
“Yeah...” I said, jerking my arm free.
“You know him pretty well, don’t you?” She asked
“Yes...”
“Okay, well, I don’t know if you knew this or not, but I kinda - sorta like him. And see, I was thinking that maybe him and I could go out later after the show... like on a date, but I don’t know if I should ask him cuz I’m not sure what he’d say, so that’s why I was thinking that maybe YOU could ask him for me...”
“Oh, uh... yeah, I don’t think so.”
“Why, you don’t think he’d say yes?”
“No that’s not it I just... well he’s usually pretty tired after shows so tonight probably isn’t the best night.”
She nodded. “Oh yeah, that’s true. So what about tomorrow night? Will you ask him about tomorrow night?”
“Uh, Hallie...”
“What?” She asked
I stared at her pleading face and as much as I wanted to tell her no, I just couldn’t. “Yeah I’ll ask him.” I said. Truthfully, I was never going to ask him, but I just couldn’t say no to her face.
“Oh my gosh! Thank you so much!” She grabbed my arm and jumped up and down. “Oh wow!”
“Okay, okay...” I reached for her arm and pried it off of me. “Calm down.”
“Yeah you’re right. So uh... when are you gonna ask him?”
She sure was a pushy little thing. “Later?” I suggested
“Later like... when they’re done with the sound check?”
“I don’t know.” I said, “Whenever I can find the time and we’re both alone.” Yeah, cause the next time Zac and I have a moment to ourselves my number one priority will be asking him if he wants to go on a date with Hallie. Hah. Right.
“Oh my gosh Kinsey, I can’t tell you how much this means to me. You’re so sweet to do this for me!”
Wow, could I feel anymore guilty? “It’s uh... it’s no problem.” I had to escape... fast. She was driving me insane. “I’m gonna go see if there’s anything I can do to help set up... “ I quickly walked off before she could say another word. Once I was a fair distance away from her I let out an aggravated sigh as I walked down the hall towards the back entrance. I opened the door and stepped outside, taking a deep breath of fresh air to help calm my nerves.
I hated getting jealous, but for some reason I couldn’t stop myself from acting like this about Zac and Hallie. She had to learn that it’s near impossible to come waltzing into Zac’s life and expect him to fall madly in love with her in a couple days. Sorry, but her little fantasy wasn’t going to happen and I felt it was my job to make sure it didn’t.
* * *
I waited anxiously in my hotel room for Zac to return from the concert. I had gone to the show intent on watching it from the side and singing along just like I always did. This time however, Hallie was next to me, screaming like the teenie she is and shouting Zac’s name over and over. I got so tired of it I left a note for them in their dressing room and had one of the roadies drive me back to the hotel.
I opted for the tv, although I had yet to find something actually enjoyable to watch. I hit the power button and got up off the bed, going out onto the balcony. I loved the city at night. For some reason I found all the city lights with the bright stars to be really romantic. Taylor used to tease me about it because I’d sit out on the hill in my backyard at home and look at the city at night all by myself. I didn’t think it was that crazy, but apparently he did.
“Anyone home?” I heard Zac’s voice from inside.
“Out here!” I called
Moments later he appeared, sweaty as ever. “Hey.”
“Hey... good show?”
“Awesome.” He nodded, “Sorry you had to leave.”
“Oh don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault.”
“Staring at all the lights again, huh?” He smiled
I looked down sheepishly. “Yeah...”
He chuckled. “You’re so cute.”
“Well, what can I say...”
“So what do you think, time for a shower?” He ran a hand through his short sweaty hair.
I crinkled up my nose in disgust. “Um, YES.”
“Okay, how about I go take a quick shower, you order a movie and when I’m done we can cuddle up and watch it together. Sound good?”
I smiled. “It sounds great.”
“It’s a date.... at 8... maybe we’ll eat some grapes... on a plate... with... Nate?”
I raised my eyebrows at him in a questioning glance. “WHAT?” I finally asked
He laughed. “Sorry, I just felt like rhyming.”
“Okay...”
“Really though, I’m going to shower. I’ll see you in a few.”
He went back in the room and headed for the bathroom. I stayed out on the balcony for a few more minutes before going back in myself. I laid down on the bed and turned on the tv so I could find a movie for us to watch. I went straight to the comedy section. Usually I’d go for the drama or action first, but tonight I needed a good laugh. I saw that Anger Management was listed, so I ordered it. As I waited for Zac to finish up in the shower I scrolled through all the other movies they had listed.
A few minutes later Zac came waltzing out of the bathroom in boxers and a wife-beater, his hair a damp mess. He never seemed to actually brush his hair after he took a shower... well, not unless he had to be somewhere right away.
“What’d you pick out?” He asked, crawling in the bed next to me.
“Anger Management... is that okay? I know we saw it in the theater, but I’m kinda in the mood for a good laugh tonight.”
“Whatever you want.”
I hit the play button and as I set the control back on the night stand I turned out the light, leaving the room dark except for the light coming from the tv. Zac put his arm around me and pulled my body up against his. I laid my head on his shoulder, then froze and wondered if I should even be putting myself in this potential dangerous situation. I remembered the last time I rested my head on his shoulder and I wasn’t sure we should be going through all that drama one more time, especially since we agreed to not let it happen again. I finally decided to leave my head where it was since I was comfortable, number one, and number two, I figured that he would just lay there and watch the movie. I was sure he had no intent whatsoever on making any kind of a move on me.
A fair amount of time later I started to drift off to sleep, but was quickly woken up when I heard Zac laugh. I sat up a little and looked over at the clock.
“Is it really 1:25 already?” I asked
“Yeah...”
I looked to see what part the movie was at, then laid back down, this time resting my head on my pillow. I was lying on my side facing Zac, my eyes closed. I sighed and tried to fall back to sleep.
“Hey,” Zac said, nudging me
“What?” I asked, not opening my eyes
“You can’t go to sleep now.”
I opened one eye and looked up at him. “Why not?”
“Because the movie isn’t over yet.”
I closed my eye and sighed before opening both of my eyes. “But I’m really tired, Zac...” I said, my voice taking on a slight whiney quality.
“Okay, okay.” He relented, “If you want to sleep, then go ahead and sleep.”
“Thanks.” I half-smiled before closing my eyes again. Seconds later I felt his soft lips pressing themselves against my cheek.
“Goodnight, sweets.” He whispered
My eyes shot open. “What?”
He stared down at me, his eyes searching my face for the okay he was looking for. “Goodnight.” He repeated, leaning over and placing his lips against my own in a kiss that was so sweet it sent chills up my spine. I acted on impulse and deepened the kiss, pulling his big bottom lip between my teeth. He let out a soft moan as my tongue slid across his lip before releasing it. We both pulled away slightly, taking deep breaths.
“I’m sorry.” I said, beginning my long and twisted apology for kissing him back. “I know that we shouldn’t be doing - “
“Stop.” He cut me off.
I knit my brow in confusion, letting him know I was unsure as to why he had interrupted me.
“I want to.”
I stared at him, trying to figure out if he meant what I thought he meant. “You mean you - “
“Yes.” He interrupted me again. “I didn’t mean what I said before.”
My breath caught in my throat as he started to lean in and all I could think was oh my god.... this is it.
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