Kinsey woke up and found herself staring right at the Road Runner’s smiling face, but she couldn’t smile back at him. The second she saw the drawing, she obviously thought of the giver of the wonderful gift, namely the one and only Taylor Hanson. The same Taylor Hanson who had made her life a living hell since her early teens. The same Taylor Hanson who she had had surprisingly amazing sex with on his dresser the night before.
“It was a dream, right?” she asked herself, but she knew it hadn’t been. The parts of her body that were achy told her that much as did the feeling of completely overwhelming panic that was now making its way into her brain. What the hell had she been thinking? What had he been thinking? What severe brain malfunction had they had simultaneously that made them make out and then have sex of all things? He had started it, but she had gone along willingly. Completely and utterly willingly, she remembered, groaning out loud and flinging the covers off of her body dramatically. She wanted to go take a shower, but as her hand touched the doorknob, she stopped.
What was going to happen when she opened her door? Would Taylor have told Isaac and Zac? Would they all be sitting downstairs waiting for Kinsey to come downstairs so they could make their little disapproving or mocking comments? She shook her head and sighed at herself before turning the knob and pulling the door towards her body.
Of course Taylor hadn’t told them. He wouldn’t have broken their pact of not sharing the details of their sex lives to tell them about something as unseemly and touchy as sleeping with Kinsey. As she cleaned up, she thought about what it was going to be like now. Would she be able to even look him in the eyes? She shook her head before yanking her still damp hair back into a pony tail. No matter how weird things felt, she knew what she had to do. She had to act like normal. She had to fight with him and be annoyed with him just like she usually did, and she couldn’t imagine that it would be that much of a problem. Even though he had given her the most intense orgasm she could remember having in recent years, he was still, after all, Taylor. Just Taylor.
And that was her mantra as she made her way slowly down the stairs, her heart pounding in her chest and sweat forming lightly along her hairline. Kinsey tried, but she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so nervous and she had certainly never been this nervous about seeing the guys. There had been that one time after they’d come back from their first tour and she had been dealing with her first boy drama and had to prepare herself for the teasing she had been sure would commence. It hadn’t. In that situation, they had far exceeded her expectations. She wasn’t sure that the reaction would be the same if Zac and Isaac learned about what had transpired the night before. But then again, maybe she didn’t have to worry about it. Maybe they could keep it a secret. At that thought, she rolled her eyes and went off the bottom step onto the smooth wood floor of the hallway.
“Yeah right,” she mumbled under her breath. Taylor had spilled the beans about their kiss after three margaritas, and she could only imagine that he had the potential to do the same with this new and considerably bigger piece of information. Zac came around the corner just as Kinsey was talking out loud to herself.
“You know, they say that talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity,” Zac said, his expression and tone completely void of any distinguishable emotion. It was so bland that for a moment, she thought that he knew. But when his mouth turned up into a genuine smile at her look of annoyance, she knew that he didn’t.
“Well, they also say that being a smart ass is the first sign of me kicking your ass,” she retorted, lifting her leg into the air to do just that as he walked by. He made his way up the stairs and Kinsey took a deep breath before heading into the kitchen where she heard the mumblings of conversation taking place. When she moved into the kitchen, she found Taylor, Isaac, and Tif all eating a breakfast that Tif had obviously prepared. The omelets and hash browns smelled delicious, but when Kinsey looked at Taylor and found him looking back intently at her, her appetite all but disappeared.
“I’ll bet you don’t want any of this,” Isaac laughed, looking at Kinsey, “You drank enough to be hungover for days.” Kinsey forced her best fake laugh and moved to the fridge to get herself a bottle of water.
“I certainly did,” she said, leaning against the counter and keeping herself as far away from Taylor as possible. He kept looking at her, some bizarre gaze that looked strange and concerned. She tried to look at him in a way that would tell him to knock it off, but he apparently wasn’t getting the hint. Isaac excused himself to go the bathroom and Tif went to get a sweatshirt from her makeshift room, leaving them alone at last.
“Taylor!” Kinsey scolded, “Stop looking at me like that!”
“Like what?” he asked, mouth full of omelet.
“Like you give a shit about how I am!”
“But I do give a shit. Are you okay?” he asked sincerely.
“I’m fine!” she said almost hysterically as the sound of footsteps approached, “Just stop it!”
“Everything okay in here?” Tif asked as she reentered the room. Kinsey wasn’t entirely sure, but she could have sworn that Tif winked at her as she moved past, her face completely hidden from Taylor’s view. Kinsey wanted to know what that subtle eyelid movement had meant, but she didn’t have time to ask. Isaac and Zac had come back in with their typical flurry of sound.
“So what are we doing tonight?” Kinsey asked.
“I thought we could all go out to dinner. I mean, Tif leaves us tomorrow already and I thought that we needed a nice evening to spend together before she goes,” Isaac said.
“Sounds great. What time are we going?” Kinsey asked, dishing some food onto a plate rapidly.
“I made reservations for eight,” Isaac told her. Kinsey just nodded vigorously.
“Well, I’m feeling really sick,” she lied, “So I’m just going to go choke down what I can and then sleep for a few more hours.” And with that, she ducked out of the room and ran up the stairs before anyone could ask questions or make comments.
“What the hell was that all about?” Zac asked, “She sure wasn’t acting like she felt sick.”
“It’s Kinsey, do you really expect anything she does to make sense?” Taylor asked, his eyes snapping up to look at Tif as she choked lightly on her bite of food.
“Man, I sure dried out the edges of these hash browns. These things could kill someone!” she said, rubbing her throat and reaching for her glass of orange juice. Taylor narrowed his eyes at her slightly, knowing her well enough to know that she was up to something, but he found himself afraid to ask in front of his brothers. Something about the mischievous look in her eyes was making him nervous.
At eight that night, they were all seated at the Atlantic Grill, ready to gorge themselves on sushi. They busied themselves with talking and reminiscing.
“I remember the first time Kinsey told us about Tifani. It was the day after we all went swimming in our new pool for the first time,” Zac said.
“Oh, I remember that,” Isaac said nostalgically, “That was a long time ago.”
“That was the first time we all saw Kins in a bikini after she got boobs,” Zac laughed, “I thought Taylor was going to have a heart attack.”
“What?! I was not!” Taylor said defensively, looking at Kinsey, “I wasn’t!”
“Whatever, you could hardly form a coherent comeback all afternoon and when she finally got the best of you, you threw a stupid hissy fit over nothing and stormed into the house,” Zac shrugged.
“It wasn’t exactly about nothing,” Isaac said, obviously reminding Zac of something that he’d forgotten.
“Oh yeah,” Zac said, choosing to drop it instead of further torturing Taylor, “But, back then, Kins had always just been one of the guys and it was just weird to realize that she wasn’t.”
“So you guys do know I’m a girl? I was just wondering the other day if you did,” Kinsey rolled her eyes, trying not to think about what Taylor might have gotten mad about that day. She knew that the guys had many secrets from her, brotherly things that she had never been privy to. But since she knew that it had apparently come on a day that Taylor had also been ogling her in a bikini, she couldn’t help but be curious.
“Of course we know you’re a girl, we just choose to ignore that fact most of the time,” Isaac said, reaching over to playfully tap her arm with his fist. She just shook her head and took a sip of her drink. At least Taylor had chosen to fully acknowledge her as being part of female sex. That much was now obvious, she thought.
“Not to break up this very touching moment,” Tif laughed, “But there’s something that we need to talk about.” Kinsey felt her heart flutter nervously at that comment. That wink Tifani had sent her way earlier had Kinsey wondering what exactly she knew, and if she would dare to bring it up at dinner if she did know something. But before she could start to panic too much, she noticed that Isaac’s hand had reached over to cover Tif’s on the table, prompting her eyebrow to raise significantly.
“Yes we do. Um, well, I guess I might as well just come out and say it, ” Isaac said, smiling warmly at Tifani, “Tif and I are dating and have been for several months now.”
“What?” Taylor, Zac, and Kinsey all asked in unison.
“We’ve been together in some form or another,” Tif started, blushing slightly at that ending of her statement, “since March.”
“Why are we just hearing about this now?” Taylor asked, “Why were you keeping it a secret?”
“Well, because right when things started between us, we were talking about moving here and we weren’t sure what was going to happen,” Isaac explained.
“But things just kept getting better and we kept getting more serious, so we stayed together,” Tif chimed in.
“And the longer we waited to tell you, the harder it was to find a time when it seemed appropriate.”
“So you thought that now six months later was the best time? You had to make this reservation at a nice restaurant to tell us that you guys have been sleeping together and dating behind our backs for half a year?” Taylor asked.
“We know we messed up with this, we really do. And we thought that this was a good time to talk about it because we’re all actually together. It’s not exactly a conversation I wanted you guys to have without me here to put in my two cents,” Tif said to him.
“I just think it’s ridiculous,” Taylor muttered.
“Can’t you just be happy for us, Taylor? Because we’re very happy together,” Isaac said.
“Of course I’m happy for you guys, Isaac. That’s my point! I think it’s ridiculous that the two of you were sneaking around having a secret relationship when we very clearly would have been happy for you two. I mean, you guys have always been really close. For years you guys have talked on the phone more than Kinsey and Tif did, which is almost impossible.”
“I’m happy for you guys, too, but I’m kind of with Taylor on this one. You two being together makes sense. I just wish you would have told us about it sooner,” Zac said.
“We do make sense, don’t we?” Isaac asked, smiling before shooting an uncomfortable glance in Taylor’s direction as Taylor was sitting there with his arms crossed across his chest looking thoroughly annoyed.
“Yeah, I was actually always hoping that you two would get together because you got along so well. It’s not like if Taylor and Kinsey came in and told us they were dating,” Zac chuckled at the thought. Kinsey dared to look over at Taylor and found him looking at Zac with very confused and angry looking eyes.
“Where did that come from?” Taylor asked Zac.
“What?” Zac asked.
“Why did you say that?”
“Taylor, come on,” Kinsey said.
“No, I want to know what he meant by that,” Taylor replied.
“Oh god, please don’t make this about you, Taylor, because this night is so not about you,” Isaac said.
“What?” Taylor asked.
“You heard me,” Isaac said sternly, “Tonight is about me and Tif, not whatever Zac just said that pissed you off. Get over it.” And with that, Taylor put an extremely grumpy look on his face and slumped down in his chair, sighing in defeat. Everyone pretty much ignored him and eventually he perked up so they could all at least somewhat enjoy the massive amounts of sushi that had been placed on their table. But a few hours later after the cab had dropped them off, Isaac couldn’t help himself.
“I just don’t get you, Taylor,” Isaac said.
“What are you talking about? I’m very happy for you two. All I was trying to say that it hurts that you kept it a secret because you should have known that we’d be happy for you guys,” Taylor said, trying to play off the immature behavior he’d displayed after Zac had unknowingly made a comment that had struck a nerve.
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Isaac informed him, “I’m talking about how you tend to take everything important and turn it around so somehow it’s about you.”
“Give me one example. I want to know the last time I did what you’re accusing me of,” Taylor stated.
“I’m not going to play your game, Taylor. I just want you to apologize for marring what could and should have been a great evening.”
“I didn’t ruin the night!” Taylor said, “Stop being such a dick!” Kinsey saw the look of hurt in Isaac’s eyes as Taylor said that and she wanted to shake him for his inability to let something go at the appropriate time. He did have a penchant for always dragging out a disagreement for just one or two jabs too far and this exchange was no exception. Isaac, Tif, and Zac just looked disapprovingly at Taylor before going inside, leaving Taylor and Kinsey alone on the front stoop.
“Are you happy now?” Kinsey asked.
“They hid their relationship from us! We would have been happy for them! Why did they hide it?”
“The same reason we hid our first kiss from everyone,” she said, her voice dropping to a whisper before finishing, “The same reason why we’re hiding what happened last night from them. Because they know as well as we do that messing with the balance of a group of friends can get really messy really quickly! Go apologize to him!”
“No,” Taylor said definitively before turning to go inside.
“Jordan Taylor Hanson!” Kinsey called out, hoping that her motherly tone might have an effect on him. It didn’t, but it did leave her standing there on the stoop alone wondering what in the hell had just taken place. Before she walked back inside, she couldn’t help but wonder if Taylor was acting out because he was afraid that if the guys ever found out about their little tryst, that they wouldn’t be as open to the idea as he and Zac had just been about the notion of Isaac and Tifani being in a relationship. They had just been teased about the first kiss because it wasn’t that big of a deal. Sex, on the other hand, was a big deal. It was a sweaty, naked, intimate big deal. A big deal that she couldn’t stop thinking about, not even when she was so annoyed with Taylor for acting like a big baby that she could hardly stand to be in his presence. Mere thoughts about the night before lit her insides on fire and her pulse quicken.
“Sex ruins everything,” she decided before going inside.