“Jesus Christ, Kinsey, can we slow down? I’m about to pull a muscle here!” Taylor exclaimed.
“Oh for god’s sake…” Kinsey huffed, dropping her hands from his shoulders to the mattress with a thud.
“Well, I’ve never done it like this before, so just give me a second,” he said, sitting back on his heels and swiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
“Wuss,” she laughed. He glared at her before reaching a hand forward to dig his fingers into her ribs, tickling her and making her squirm and make a strange squeaking sound as she attempted to swat his hand away. “Stop it!” He did so with a cocky grin before leaning down to kiss her. Before she even had a chance to respond to his kiss, he had filled her again.
“I thought you were tired,” she asked as she met his movements.
“I got over it,” he grinned before kissing her neck. Kinsey wanted to threaten him with bodily harm if he gave her a hickey on her neck to match the one on her shoulder, but she lost the ability to form coherent thoughts as his hand slid between their bodies.
Twenty minutes later, she was redressing herself quickly, knowing she needed to get back to her room soon.
“So, are we okay?” she asked nervously. Their now public fight from the night before was really bothering her and even though they’d had much worse fights in the past, this one was really affecting her for some reason. Sure, they’d decided a few hours earlier that their “relationship” had changed, but that fight and that stupid TMZ article were still present in her mind. She had told him that it was all over the night before, and she hoped that he had really forgiven her for that offense this easily.
“We’re fine,” he said reassuringly, “I’m sorry for… doing what I did.”
“Yeah, you should be,” she told him, the disturbing image of him looking into her eyes while kissing another girl flashing through her mind, “And I’m sorry for my reaction. I shouldn’t have interrupted you two, that wasn’t right.”
“I didn’t want to sleep with her, Kinsey,” he said with a light, genuine laugh.
“So you were only doing that to make me jealous,” she said, finding herself feeling strangely uncomfortable and angry upon hearing that information.
“Not exactly,” he said, “More just trying to get your attention.”
“Next time you want to get my attention, try just asking me to talk to you or something,” she spat.
“Are you mad at me?” he asked incredulously.
“Well I’m certainly not happy,” she stated, “Good night.”
“Will you get over here?” he demanded. Kinsey stopped with her hand on the doorknob and looked back at him even though everything in her told her not to. He looked adorable, of course, sitting there looking at her expectantly while pointing to a spot next to him on the bed. Providing him with a great, annoyed sounding sigh to let him know that she was following his orders against her better judgment, she walked across the room and sat down. “I didn’t want to have sex with her because ever since you and I have started sleeping together, I haven’t had the slightest desire to sleep with anyone else. Sex with you is so much better than it has ever been with anyone else. I don’t know why, but it is. And until something happens to make our arrangement end, I don’t plan on sleeping with anyone else.” She sat there and took in his words, staring down at her hands as they picked at the edge of the sheet that covered his lap.
“You’re making me feel like a big jerk for sleeping with Tyler…” she admitted softly and she meant it. A weird surge of guilt had just passed over her with his words even though she knew that hadn’t been his intention.
“You don’t need to. And if you want to sleep with other people, then that’s your own decision. As we said earlier, we’re not in a relationship, so I’m just letting you know where I stand.” She nodded and swallowed thickly.
“Okay,” she started before smiling, “Would you stop being so nice to me though? This feels kind of weird.”
“Do you want to go back to mauling me and then stomping out afterward?” he asked with a laugh.
“I never did that!” she insisted, “But I don’t know… I just don’t want things between us to change too much because-“
“Then Isaac and Zac will realize something’s wrong?” Taylor interrupted.
“Well, yeah, but that wasn’t my point,” she said, “I meant that as messed up as we are, I like it. I would miss us if we changed.”
“Kinsey, I guarantee that there will never be a day in our lives when you don’t bug the piss out of me for at least five minutes,” Taylor smiled, “I really don’t think you have anything to worry about there.”
“You are completely missing my point,” she rolled her eyes before standing and grumbling under her breath the entire way to the door.
“See what I mean?” he asked. She just stuck her tongue out at him and turned off the lights before opening the door quietly and stepping into the hall.
The next morning, she woke up early so she and Brenna could have breakfast together before she had to go to work. Even though Brenna had been ten shades of heinous on Saturday night with her pathetic attempt to blackmail Kinsey, it really had been a nice visit. They had never really had the chance to spend an extended period of time just the two of them since they’d both been out of high school, which Kinsey had realized during her shower, and that thought made her as sad as it made her thankful that Brenna had lucked into the plane tickets to come visit. She had the feeling that somehow, it might spark a rejuvenated relationship between them, and that made her happy. Brenna would always be a sisterly pain in the ass, but it would at least be nice to say that they were friends as well.
“So, the guys are all set to take you to the airport?” Kinsey asked Brenna.
“Yup. We’re leaving around four so I can have plenty of time to get to the gate and so we can beat rush hour traffic.”
“Sounds smart to me,” Kinsey stated, sitting down across from Brenna with a bowl of Frosted Flakes and a banana, “So, how did your talk with Zac go last night?”
“Okay, I guess,” Brenna sighed, “He just kept going on and on about how he never should have kissed me and how he hoped that I wasn’t too hurt by his actions. He hardly let me get a word in edgewise.”
“He was probably hoping you wouldn’t start kissing him and distract him again,” Kinsey laughed. Brenna joined her for a moment before looking sadly down at her own bowl of cereal.
“I just wish he’d give me a chance.”
“He might someday. You never know,” Kinsey told her reassuringly. Brenna just nodded and took a big bite of her cereal. “Or, he might not and then you’ll know that it wasn’t meant to be.” They ate the rest of their meal chatting idly about family gossip and how Brenna’s classes were going and when Kinsey sat her bowl in the dishwasher, she felt her throat constrict. Now was the time to say goodbye to Brenna, and she knew she probably wouldn’t see her again until Christmas, which was a little over two months away.
“Well, have a good day at work,” Brenna said, forcing a smile onto her face. Kinsey didn’t say anything and just stepped forward and wrapped her little sister in a tight hug.
“I’m really glad you came to visit,” Kinsey told her honestly. Just as she’d felt when Tif had visited, Brenna’s presence had made her acutely aware of how much she missed another girl being around all the time. She lived in a non-stop testosterone factory and even though she’d always been a tomboy in most ways, she hadn’t realized how much she was going to miss having a female presence around until she’d moved in with the guys.
“I’m glad, too. I had a lot of fun despite the, you know, other stuff.”
“You can come visit whenever you want,” Kinsey said as she stepped back from their embrace.
“Like I can afford it,” Brenna laughed, “But, I’ll try to come sometime in February maybe.”
“That’d be good,” Kinsey said, “Give Mom and Dad a kiss for me, okay?”
“Oh god. I do not want to see them,” Brenna said, “I already have five texts from Mom asking me if you and Taylor are really dating.”
“Are you serious?! Why wouldn’t she just ask me?”
“Who knows…” Brenna said with a sigh. Kinsey stepped forward and gave Brenna another hug.
“Have a safe flight! Call me when you get home tonight,” Kinsey said as Brenna followed her to the front door so she could pull on her coat.
“I will. Bye, Kinsey.”
“Bye, Brenna,” Kinsey said and she left before the tears she could feeling coming actually fell.
As she stepped into her office thirty minutes later, her phone started to ring. She tossed her purse on the floor next to her desk and sat down to answer the call. A male voice came over the line immediately and the caller did not identify himself, but he didn’t need to. Kinsey knew exactly who it was.
“I thought you said there was nothing going on between you and Taylor,” Tyler accused over the line.
“Tyler, I meant what I said. TMZ can misconstrue what they saw all they want. But why do you even care? You ended things even when I said there was nothing going on.”
“I ended it because I knew that I wasn’t imagining things. Apparently, I was right.” And with that, the line went dead. Kinsey wanted to storm down the hallway and scream at him for being such an ass. He had no claims over her whatsoever. And what was he doing reading TMZ anyway? Kinsey hadn’t been identified by name in the article, so that meant that he was either an avid celebrity gossip reader or he had been searching the net for Hanson news. It didn’t really matter how he’d come across the information, though, because it was still ridiculous for him to call her up and bitch at her. They weren’t friends. They hadn’t even spoken since he blew up at her the day after their second date, so what was his deal?
Kinsey struggled through the day, trying her hardest to stay in her office to avoid another altercation with Tyler. She was not the type of person to hide from a fight, but she felt drained and was not in the mood to deal with him. When she got back to their condo, it was empty, and she knew that the guys were probably making their way back from the airport after dropping Brenna off and making sure she got to her gate safely. Even though she wanted to just go make herself some dinner and veg out in front of the TV, she went up to her room and completed a very important task instead.
Zac’s birthday was on Saturday and she had yet to buy him a present. She hadn’t discussed it with Taylor and Isaac yet, but that was nothing new. Zac had a tendency to ruin any birthday surprise anyone had ever attempted to plan for him. All of his presents were bought last minute because he would tear apart the house, or the Jackson’s house for that matter, until he found it. He would annoy people endlessly until they spilled the details of any parties being planned in his honor. Basically, he was a big, impatient kid who was completely incapable of just waiting until the moment arrived.
So, after surfing the web for almost a half hour, she finally decided to get him two tickets to see Dane Cook at Madison Square Garden that December, obviously intending for him to take her along. They had been wanting to see him for forever, and a MySpace update from Dane’s site let her know that tickets were available and she had purchased them as fast as she could dig her credit card out of her wallet. It was the perfect gift for Zac and it wasn’t something he could find by digging around in her room. Not unless he figured out her computer and e-mail’s passwords and not even he would stoop to that level just to find out his gift. She opted to print out the tickets herself at a later time, and was downstairs making dinner for herself when the guys returned.
“We’re going to Tulsa on Friday!” Zac exclaimed as he practically bounded in the room.
“We are?” Kinsey asked as she dumped her pasta into a colander in the sink.
“Mom and Dad got us four tickets so we can go home for the weekend. For my birthday,” he added for good measure.
“I haven’t forgotten it’s your birthday this weekend,” she told him with a smile.
“Well, it wouldn’t hurt you guys to talk about it a little bit,” Zac said, sounding slightly disappointed as he sat down at the table.
“Forgive us for not wasting our time planning something you’re just going to ruin anyway,” Isaac rolled his eyes before plopping down as well. Zac just flipped him off.
“Did you guys get Brenna on her plane okay?” Kinsey asked.
“Yep,” Isaac replied, “Her flight left on time and everything. I went with her to do a few more things around the city she wanted to do today.”
“That’s good,” Kinsey smiled, thankful that Isaac was willing to step in and keep her sister company while she’d been forced to go to work.
“You need anything for your pasta while I’m in here?” Taylor asked suddenly from his position in front of the fridge, beer in hand. Kinsey blanched slightly at his random kind inquiry, something she was definitely not used to hearing from him, especially in front of his brothers.
“Um, the parmesan cheese, please,” she managed. Taylor seemed to catch himself then and tossed the cylindrical container to her instead of walking over and handing it to her, and Kinsey felt herself fight against a sigh of relief. That action would have undoubtedly drawn Isaac and Zac’s attention. Taylor never went out of his way to help her, not even when it was easy to do so. Kinsey wasn’t sure why this little action had made her panic so much. Isaac and Zac hadn’t even looked over in their direction, but for some reason, it felt so different between them in those seconds that had passed while he looked expectantly at her as the cold air from the refrigerator poured out into the room that she couldn’t shake the strange feeling in her stomach. It was scary and the fear of putting themselves in a position to garner Isaac and Zac’s suspicion was terrifying, but the fact that they had completely missed it also made her feel something different. It made her feel… excited. She hated that it made her feel that way and she had to force herself not to look irritated as she made her way over to the table.
“So, what time’s our flight on Friday?” she asked Zac.
“7am. Bright and early so I can have the whole afternoon to shop with Mom. Apparently she has the whole day all planned out,” Zac said with a laugh, “You know how she gets.”
“Zac… I can’t take Friday off work,” Kinsey told him hesitantly. Her words seemed to punch him in the stomach as she spoke them and he looked at her with a mixture of panic and intense disappointment.
“Are you sure? I mean, you can ask, can’t you?”
“I have two sick days until after the first of the year and no vacation days until then either. After that, I’ll be up for my initial review and will get more time, but until then, I really can’t even ask.” Zac sighed.
“Well shit. Um, I guess we’ll have to see if we can get our flight changed. Man, Mom’s going to be bummed…”
“Tif, too,” Isaac said, “She took the day off so we could spend it together.”
“There’s no reason for you three to leave later just to wait around for me. We’ll just get my ticket changed and I can meet you guys in Tulsa Friday night. No biggie,” Kinsey said.
“Are you sure you don’t mind coming by yourself?” Zac asked, reaching over to squeeze her hand in his. Kinsey noticed that Taylor chose that exact moment to get up so he could throw away the discarded cap from his bottle of beer. She laughed and shook her head.
“I’m a big girl, Zac. I can take care of myself and can definitely entertain myself for a four hour flight.”
“Okay, I’ll call Mom and see if they can get it changed,” he said, immediately pulling his phone from his pocket to make the call. Kinsey smiled as she watched him, so excited about his pending birthday. She hoped that he never lost the youthful exuberance that made him Zac. The other three occupants of the table sat there and listened as Zac explained the situation and then as he became increasingly frustrated.
“Mom, Kinsey can fly by herself. No… Mom, I have explained this to you a dozen times now. Just change her flight to sometime after six, please. Mom! Damn it, Taylor and Kinsey are not dating!” Zac exclaimed, prompting Isaac to crack up and Taylor and Kinsey to share a look that on the surface showed annoyance but that was laced just under the surface with a bit of something else.
“What’s going on?” Taylor asked Zac.
“Mom, hold on a second,” he said before covering the mouthpiece with his hand, “Mom wants you to stay and take the later flight with Kinsey so she doesn’t have to travel by herself. And she still thinks you two are dating.”
“Yeah, I caught that,” Taylor rolled his eyes, “Let me talk to her.” Zac shrugged and passed the phone to Taylor who tried, in vain, to explain things.
“Why won’t they believe us?” Kinsey groaned.
“I have no idea, but it’s hilarious,” Zac laughed, “I think they have baby names picked out and everything.”
“I will castrate you with this,” Kinsey threatened him, holding up her fork and making a jabbing motion at him with it. He just snorted and turned his attention back to the increasingly frustrated Taylor.
“Mom, why won’t you believe us when Kinsey and I tell you that we aren’t dating?” he asked before making a horrified face, “Mom, never ever say the words sexual chemistry to me ever again, okay?” And with that, he passed the phone back to Zac and shuddered.
“Do I even want to know?” Kinsey asked him. He just shook his head and took a long sip of his beer before passing it across the table to her.
“Trust me, you need it, too,” he said. The tone of his voice was joking, but it was as if he couldn’t force his face to take on the same emotion.
“Okay, fine. Just get two tickets changed to Friday night. Let us know when the flight is. E-mail it to me. I love you, too,” Zac said before hanging up and dropping the phone to the table, “Oh. My. God.”
“You just had to give in, didn’t you?” Taylor asked, snatching his beer back from Kinsey.
“I couldn’t listen to it any more, I’m sorry. That and they’re paying for the tickets, so they get to call the shots, I guess,” Zac said, “It’s not really that big of a deal for you to wait, is it?”
“Of course not, it’s just the principle of the matter. That and it’s obnoxious that they refuse to believe that Kinsey and I aren’t in a fucking relationship with each other.” Isaac shrugged.
“There could be worse things,” he said.
“Like what?” Taylor retorted. Isaac pretended to ponder that for a moment before responding.
“You could have syphilis,” he suggested.
“I’ve seen the penicillin in the medicine cabinet. Don’t be so sure he doesn’t,” Kinsey teased, feeling Taylor’s retaliatory kick under the table, one that was much softer than usual. And, after the toe of his shoe had made a brief and light contact with her shin, it stayed there, pressed against the fabric of her dress pants for a moment too long before retreating to the rungs of his chair.
Friday morning, Kinsey had said goodbye to Zac and Isaac before they left for the airport, assuring them that yes, her bag was already packed and that yes, Taylor was going to meet her at Macy’s with a cab ready to take them to the airport. She made it through the day, just barely, finding herself oddly excited to go home. She knew that she was going to be questioned endlessly by her parents about her supposed relationship with Taylor, but she was still excited to go see them and also to give Zac his present. For the first time in years she felt like she had gotten him the perfect present and she couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when he opened the card and saw the neatly folded tickets inside.
But when she got off work and climbed into the backseat of the cab beside Taylor, she found that he had a strange smile on his face.
“What?” she asked, unable to stop herself from returning his grin, infectious as it was, “Excited to go home?”
“We’re not going home,” he informed her, “A freak rain system has been going through there all afternoon and there’s massive flash flooding.”
“Are you kidding me?” she asked.
“All flights into and out of Tulsa are cancelled indefinitely. Apparently all of the runways are completely under water.” Kinsey took her cell out of her purse and found that while it had been on silent mode all afternoon, she had missed ten calls, most of them from Zac and her mother. She listened to her messages while the cab driver took them back to their condo and the last one made her roll her eyes. She pressed the button to play it again and put it on speakerphone so Taylor could hear it as well.
“Kinsey, we’ve talked it over and instead of you two stressing out about finding a way to get here for two days, why don’t you two just stay there in New York and have a nice weekend together. Zac doesn’t mind if you miss his birthday because of bad weather and some reason Zac and Isaac think that letting you two spend the weekend together would be a great idea. And you two keep trying to convince us you aren’t dating… We’ll see you at Thanksgiving. We love you!” her mom said before hanging up.
“We’re going to kill those two, right?” Kinsey asked him, but Taylor just started laughing, “What is so funny?”
“They think we’re going to be miserable all weekend stuck together.”
“But our parents-“
“Who cares what our parents think, Kinsey? They’re obviously not going to be swayed, and guess what? My mom was right. There is sexual chemistry between us and it’s probably always been there. Parents, though usually annoying about it, are usually right about pretty much everything. So just let them think that we’re together. Who cares?”
“So, our parents think we’re dating. And, the entire world thinks we’re dating. Our best friend and your brothers think that it’s all hilarious. And we’re spending almost every night in each other’s beds.”
“Fucked up, huh?” Taylor laughed.
“That’s putting it very nicely,” Kinsey sighed.
“Are you ready to spend a miserable weekend together or what?” he asked, smiling at her again. That damned half smile. Kinsey felt something warm start to coil at the pit of her stomach. She wanted to tell him that she wasn’t because part of her was nervous as to what it would be like and she also wanted to tell him that she was because the thought of not having to sneak around for two days was wonderful. But instead of answering him, she just leaned over and kissed him hard on the mouth, shoving to the back of her mind the hysterical thoughts demanding to know what the hell she was doing.