Time: Back in the Day / Kinsey: Age 19 / Pre-YIM
Rating: It’s Just A Little Swearing
Kinsey lounged on the couch in her family’s living room watching TRL and eating out of a bag of Cooler Ranch Doritos. Zac was supposed to come over at any time to hang out and take a break from their incredibly intense work in the studio finishing up their album “Underneath.” Kelly Clarkson’s “Miss Independent” had just come on the TV when she heard the front door open. Based on the fact that she heard voices in the hallway, she knew that Zac hadn’t come alone and she rolled her eyes.
“Ooo MTV!” she heard Zac say before plopping down hard onto the cushion next to hers. Kinsey finally looked over at him and her mouth dropped open.
“You cut your hair!” she gasped, immediately reaching forward and running her fingers through his newly shorn locks, “You look so good!”
“Why thank you,” he replied cockily, and snatched the bag of chips from her lap.
“How come you never said anything when I cut my hair?” Taylor asked as he finally entered the living room. The can of pop in his hand told Kinsey that he’d made a stop in the kitchen before joining them.
“Probably because even though you cut yours, you still looked like a stupid girl,” she shrugged.
“Need I remind you of the bowl cut you had in sixth grade?” he queried, sitting in Anthony’s leather recliner.
“You had a rat tail,” she told him, over-annunciating the final two words she spoke.
“You had eighties bangs,” he countered, “In 1992.”
“Remember that time in the studio when you thought no one would ever know if you wore a headband?” she asked, prompting Taylor to glare at Zac for spilling that bit of information. Zac just ignored the exchange and continued to watch the countdown on TV.
“What about that time you got that terrible perm that made you look like a mangy poodle?” he asked and Kinsey felt her face flush a furious red. Exactly one week prior, Kinsey had gotten the first perm of her life and had thought up until that moment that it looked good. She stood, threw the remote control at him hard, loving the sound of it smacking aggressively against his kneecap and stormed towards him.
“I fucking hate you,” she spat, trying not to cry as she left the room.
“Kinsey…” Zac started consolingly, but abandoned the chips and followed her, leaving Taylor alone to contentedly change the channel in the family room.