Installment Three

It was the day of confrontation, as I so called it.  Taylor was coming home.  Mom and dad were picking him up at the airport.  Why he couldn’t drive himself, I have no idea.  But that’s Taylor for you; get everybody to do everything for you.  He was actually second on my mind, mom was first.  She still hadn’t been herself, and honestly, dad had been acting weird for the passed two weeks too.  I hoped they weren’t fighting or anything of that nature.  It’s not to say they don’t ever fight, they do, just not huge blow outs.  And you don’t even have to personally know my mother to understand my concern; one, she’s my mother, and two, if you’ve ever just seen her, in church or the grocery store or something, you’d know she was always smiling, always seemed to be happy, and it just wasn’t like her to seem so… depressed.  I mean she wasn’t moping around the house or anything, but even Zoë had picked up on the fact something was off, and she’s only eight.  God help Taylor if he did anything to hurt her, or dad for that matter, though I highly doubt I’d need to defend my father – he could still slap the shit out of Taylor if he wanted to, regardless of the fact Taylor was taller than him.

When he finally got home everyone went down to greet him; I went down, but greet him, ha – I promise you I did not.  I gave him a really dirty look and went into the kitchen.  Mac wasn’t all that interested in his return either, saying his hello and finding something better to do than be occupied with Taylor – good boy; it’s about time you showed that you have a brain that does real thinking.  Zoë, on the other hand, I felt bad for.  She wanted to know everything about what it was like in New York, did he have a new girlfriend, was he staying home long – did he come home to stay.

“Maybe later, Zoë,” he said to her, basically brushing her off.  She adored the ground he walked on and he just… dusted her off, like she wasn’t worth his time.  I wanted to come out of the kitchen and just slap him.  Zac said his hello, made idle chat, and was off with Rachel to his room.  Jessica talked to him for a few minutes, but that was it.  She wasn’t thrilled to death with him either, but mom and dad, of course had to help him with his bags.  He had a lot of stuff…  Just how long was he staying?

“Did you forget anything?” Mom asked him quietly, and he just shook his head.  He almost looked tired.  Duh, he just got off a plane; of course he’s going to be tired.  But did I honestly care?  Nope.  The other thing that I found a little strange was the fact it was almost eighty degrees out and he was wearing a long sleeved shirt.  Is he really that blond?  Can he not feel the heat and realize this is tee shirt weather?  I didn’t care so I wasn’t going to waste my time wondering.  I grabbed a Coke out of the fridge and headed upstairs, whether it was to my own room or Zac’s it didn’t matter.

I did end up going to Zac’s room, and almost burst into giggles as soon as I walked in. I stepped around him and Rachel on the floor and sat on his bed.  They were fully engaged in a wrestling match, that Zac was winning; but don’t get me wrong, she put up a good fight, gave him a run for his money.

“Zac, you are so much huger than me,” she grunted under his weight.  “This is totally unfair.”

“Hey, you wanted to wrestle,” he said back, pinning her shoulders down.  She swung her legs loose, planting her feet on the floor and trying to push herself up and Zac off.  She had swung one leg over enough to push against his hip, forcing him most of the way off of her.  “Oh no.  I am not going to let you win this.” He grinned.

“Zac – “

“No way, Rach.  It would hurt my pride way too much to be beat by my woman.” He immediately began to tickle her.  She instantly dissolved into a loud fit of laughter.  I liked her laugh; it made me smile.

“Zac!” She screeched.  “Stop!”

“Not until you say the magic words.”

“Uncle!” She shrieked, laughing harder as he tickled more.

“Nope, that’s not it.” He grinned.  “Zac is the master and I will never beat him at wrestling.”

“Screw you!” She laughed, and he tickled harder.  “Please?!”

“Say the magic words.”

“Never.” He tickled her in earnest now, and I was giggling from my place on his bed, imagining her discomfort and being glad it wasn’t me; I would have peed my pants by now.

“Say it…”

“Fine!” She was laughing so hard she could barely catch a breath.  I watched through narrow eyes as Taylor passed the doorway with the last bag he carried.  “Zac is the master and I will never beat him at wrestling!” He just stopped.  They lay on the floor, both on their backs, breathing hard.  She turned her head to look at him.  “You’re a jerk.”

“It comes naturally,” he replied smoothly.  They both giggled.  She reached over and slapped his chest.

“I’ll find a way to get you back.”

“Sure you will,” he said, rolling his eyes and sitting up.  I was still giggling.  “What are you laughing at?  You wanna piece of this too?” I put my hands up as if surrendering and shook my head.

“No, I’m content to watch, thanks.” I smiled sweetly, and he stuck his hands out for Rachel to take, which she did, and he pulled her to her feet.

“I think I have rug burn,” she said, inspecting her elbows.  “Do I have rug burn?” She asked me, lifting the hem of her shirt so I could see her back.  Her lower back was bright red, and no doubt burned.

“Yep,” I answered.  She turned to Zac, pouting fully.

“You gave me rug burn,” she whined sadly, pouting.  She was great at pouting, and I had to grin.

“Aww, poor baby,” he cooed, teasing her.  “Want me to kiss it?”

“Yeah.”

“Where?”

“Right on my ass.” I burst out laughing, as did she, and he grabbed her, pulling her into his arms.  They were both laughing, and he snuffled his face into her neck.  She put her arms around him, still grinning and they just stood like that for a moment.  He pulled back and kissed her, and then smiled.  I took that as my cue.

“I’m going to check my email, and you guys can make-out without an audience.” I smiled sweetly, hopping off of his bed.  I was almost as tall as Isaac now, and Zac ruffled my hair up.  “Zac, you nerd.” I said, fixing my hair.

“Hey Zac?” That was Taylor’s voice and I stopped in my tracks.  I just stood there looking at him as he looked at Zac, his head poked in the doorway.

“Yeah?” He replied, turning around.  He was civil to Taylor; more than civil, nice even.

“Um, do you know where mom keeps the Pepto?” He asked.  Like he couldn’t go in the bathroom and look for the medicine himself.

“Uhhh…” Zac scratched his head for a moment, squinting one eye.  “Try the… second shelf in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom.” He answered, looking satisfied with himself because he remembered.

“Okay; thanks,” he replied.  He glanced at me before leaving, and I made sure I gave him the most pissed of look I could muster, and it wasn’t hard.  He turned away after a moment, and went to the bathroom in search of the stomach reliever.  At least he knew better than to say a word to me.

“Avie?” That was Zac.  I looked at him.  “What’s with the dirty looks?” He asked me.

“Like you don’t know why.” I answered.  “How can you be nice to him?”

He shrugged.  “Life is too short to hold grudges.” That was Zac for you; personally, I think he was being too forgiving in this case.  “It’s in the past.”

“Well, maybe it’s easy for you to forgive him at the drop of a hat, but I’m not that good of a person.” I said, knowing I sounded angry – I really was.  “He was a bastard, Zac.  I can’t forgive him.”

“Avery…” he said quietly.  “Look, I know he hurt you when he… changed, but – “

“No, Zac.  I’m not forgiving him,” I interrupted.  “It’s taking a lot of willpower right now not to just say I hate him.” I have a fear of saying things I’ll regret, but that doesn’t mean I’m not blunt with people, because I am, because that’s just who I am.  Though I doubt I would regret voicing the fact I seriously thought I hated Taylor.

“Avie,” Rachel said softly.  “He’s your brother; you shouldn’t say things like that.”

“Brother or not, it doesn’t mean I have to like him or forgive him for the way he treated me and other people in this family, or for the things he did.”

“Ave…”

“End of discussion, Zac.  I have an English paper to work on, see ya later.” I walked out briskly, heading for my room.  Even the discussion of Taylor angered me beyond belief.  I guess it’s safe to say I was still a little bitter.  That paper was due at the end of the month anyway, I might as well work on it – at least that way I wouldn’t have to associate with my stupid brother.

When I got to my room I didn’t work on my paper; instead, I turned on my computer and went to check my email.  Junk, junk, junk, porn, and more junk.  I just kept deleting.  I had a few messages from my friends, but I’d check those after I deleted all the crap I didn’t need.  One of them caught my eye though.  I didn’t recognize the email address, icebabygirl@yahoo.com.  The subject line read TAYLOR.  Against my better judgment, I clicked ‘read’.  It was a girl from school, and how she got my email address was beyond me.

Hey Avery, I hear your brother is home.  So what’s the deal?  Is he sick?  The th.org (www.taylorhanson.org) forms are buzzing like crazy.

http://www.dyingtobealive.com/cgi-bin/pth-board/topic.cgi?forum=3&topic=3002

Check it out and let me know.

Amanda

Oh.  Her.  She’s the stupid bimbo I sit next to in biology and I wasn’t going to reply to her email.  But, like a moron, what do I do?  I click on the link and check it out.  Taylor Hanson dot org?  Forums?  Dear God, there is such a place that exists?  Sure enough there was, and sure enough there was my brother’s picture – from the airport an hour ago!  He did look sort of sick, pale even, but…  PLEASE, don’t these people have lives?  Anything better to do with their time than moon over my dickhead brother?  I’m not going to judge all of them – I’m sure not all of them were teeny boppers.  I skimmed around for a few minutes and found that I was right – I particularly liked the threads where they were making fun of my brother.  Those in particular were the best part.  All in all, I wanted to gag at the thought people liked my brother enough to create a web domain dedicated to him.  He was definitely not worth it.  I deleted the email, and shut down my computer.  Maybe I would just take a nap instead.  Again.

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