CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
These Walls are too hard to climb
And that ladder is too hard to find
I don't want to be here anymore
These roads are too hard to walk
With the things you've been saying I don't even want to talk
I don't want to find you on the floor
I don't want to be here anymore
A fair amount of disbelief
These Walls are killing me
I don't want to be here anymore
Speak your mind or speak your peace
I swear we're sinking deep
Well I don't want to wind up on the floor
I don't want to be here anymore
The sky is falling all over again
Just another day's conclusion, another disillusional night
The sky is falling all over again
Am I losing my composure or way too much exposure to compromise?
Well I can't take all These Walls
You've been yelling up into the red
But you haven't heard a word I've said
I don't want to be here anymore
Giving all I've got can be bittersweet
When you think everyone's beneath your feet
I don't want to wind up on the floor
I don't want to be here anymore
ZAC
"So...I saw the article about the movie on Glamarazzi," Zac said to Drew over the phone.
"I thought you didn't read that shit?" she responded.
"Well I normally don't but Nikki texted me the link. Is any of it true? The director shows favoritism toward you? Is there something going on?"
"NO!" Drew sounded frustrated with the question. Zac silently kicked himself. Why the hell did he have to say such a dumbass thing? "The entire thing is lies," she continued. "All lies. Gerard nearly had an aneurism over it."
"All of it?"
"Zac. Seriously. What is with you? Why are you being so combative? Why do you suddenly question everything I say lately?"
Zac felt like an asshole. She was right, it was true. He questioned her constantly. He didn't really understand it. Ever since that night he sang to her over Skype and she disconnected the session so abruptly he didn't know what to think or even how to feel. It felt so obvious that he had messed up and he didn't know how to fix it--or even if he should. Things were feeling weird. Maybe it was the distance. Maybe it was the fact that he just wasn't used to Drew being as busy and out of touch like he had been over the years. Maybe he didn't like being on the other end of the spectrum for once, not knowing really what she was doing or who she was with.
Maybe he felt like Kate. He wasn't sure he liked it.
As if on cue, Drew's voice interrupted his thoughts. "I miss you."
"I miss you, too," he responded.
"No. I mean, I REALLY miss you. Really bad." Her voice began to crack and Zac was pretty sure she was crying.
'Goddammit,' he thought to himself. He could take arguing. He could take the screaming and the
cussing and the nasty name-calling. It could take it all. But he couldn't take the crying. And now was definitely not a good time to get emotional.
But still she cried. "I know we went ten years without seeing each other, but these past three months have seemed so much longer than those ten years were. And I know you're married and I sound selfish and I really don't care but dammit, I need you. I don't want to need you or miss you, but I do, Zac. I really and truly do."
Zac returned those sentiments whole-heartedly. He did. And honestly. But why the hell couldn't he get them out of his mouth? What was wrong with him? Why the hell was he freezing? It was just Drew!
But it felt different. And he didn't know why. He didn't know if it was good or bad. He didn't know if--"Things are lonely here without you," he said abruptly, interrupting his own thoughts this time.
"Really?" she squeaked out.
"Yes, really. I didn't realize how much I needed you until you weren't here. It's crazy. I'm crazy. I don't know..."
"I feel the same way. Don't get me wrong, I'm having a blast here, but I know I'd be having a much better time if you were here."
"You'd think by now they would have invented some sort of teleportation device or something for moments like these." He had tried to make light of the situation and it had worked. She was giggling. He smiled.
"I'm surprised YOU haven't invented one."
"Give me time, woman. We evil geniuses need time to do the impossible. I'll get right on it as soon as I'm out of this meeting."
"The sooner the better. What kind of meeting?"
"Mel has some kind of something going on with the label and a charity and she wants to go over that. I
don't know much about it but I'm sure it'll be cool."
"Well that's good. I wouldn't worry, she'll definitely steer you guys in the right direction."
"Nah, I'm not worried. Just worried she might say something Tay won't like and the possibility of having to sit through the millionth annual world war three."
"Still bad, huh?"
"No, actually, not really. Kind of the opposite. Between you and me, Tay has seen his attorney."
Drew gasped into the phone and Zac laughed and was almost surprised by the fact that she wasn't aware of this already.
"And while we're on the subject, if you want to know what's going on with your best friend, why don't YOU do some checking up on Glamarazzi yourself? Believe what you see, not what you read."
At this news, Drew ran off the phone rather quickly and Zac made his way into the boardroom, sitting at the
table beside Taylor and across from Mel. He looked around the room. You couldn't exactly call it a formal boardroom. It was just a room with a conference table in it. Nothing fancy. No typical bright fluorescent
lighting or dry erase boards covering the walls. Nope. Just a small room and a table.
"Okay, so we're looking at LA in about a month or two. Anyone got anything major going on in that time
that we need to possibly work around?" Mel was saying.
Zac was barely listening. He kept an ear out for the important information, but his mind was steady on Drew. She'd said she needed him. And missed him. Did that mean that things weren't as different as he thought they might be? That maybe the mere distance was just making it weird for him? That had to be it.
"In conjunction with 3CG, the foundation wants to throw a benefit party in LA. The list of possible invites is quite impressive but we need to get them out NOW if we want to do this in the amount of time the foundation is looking at. We're talking big names here. Big names and big money. The name of the game is get 3CG's name out there, which in turn would throw Hanson out there, and raise money for this charity. We're not in the market to USE this charity. We really do want to help them. We are agreed here, correct?"
Once again, Zac's mind drifted to Drew. She would be a big name soon. So would Jason. And Gerard Cline was a huge name. He should add them to the list. He could only imagine what Drew would wear. She looked fantastic in red. Where would the party be held? In a hotel maybe? A hotel...he could get a room...
He immediately shook himself out of his thoughts, but not before asking, "Where would this take place?"
"I don't know," Mel answered. "It would really depend on the RSVP's we get. But this foundation is a pretty huge foundation so we're likely looking at a large venue. I'm even thinking maybe you guys could play a couple of songs? Some live entertainment besides you guys, chosen by you guys of course, would be ideal..."
Zac had to admit, the idea of this benefit party appealed to him. He could definitely use the change in scenery. The idea of meeting up with people he hadn't seen in awhile wouldn't hurt either. And he was absolutely excited by the prospect of putting together a set and organizing the rest of the entertainment for the evening. Things like these were normally Taylor's thing, but he could definitely see himself getting into the party hosting aspect of the night. Lord knew he could use the distraction, as well. He needed a break from himself like nobody would believe. Maybe he would get himself purposely involved in the planning process with Mel and the foundation. The band needed a voice anyway. Might as well be him.
"I'll do it," Zac blurted out suddenly, now realizing that, once again, he hadn't been listening.
Ike, Tay, Mel, and the several other people in the room all looked at Zac. "Do what?" Mel asked.
"I'll, uh, I'll help plan the benefit. Hanson needs a face in this and I'm volunteering."
"Zac, where have you been?" Ike asked. "We already elected Tay for that."
"Nobody asked me!"
"We all asked you!" Ike, Tay, and Mel chorused.
Zac looked around, sheepishly. "Maybe you just weren't loud enough."
"You AGREED," Ike said.
"Well, maybe I'm un-agreeing," Zac said, defensively.
Tay scoffed. "You're 'un-agreeing?' You can't un-agree."
"I think he's actually disagreeing..." Ike jumped in.
"Whatever," Tay said. "Anyway, Zac, why do you want to do it all of a sudden? It's a lot of work."
"I know, I just--I'm really interested in this and I really wanna do it. Is that a crime?"
Tay raised an eyebrow at him, looking a bit taken aback. "No...I just figured since you and Ike had families and I didn't, it would only make sense for me to take on the extra work..."
"I can handle a little extra work, it's not a problem," Zac found himself snapping. God, what was wrong
with him all of a sudden?
"Well then if it means that much to you, you do it," Tay said, sounding snippy himself.
"Wow, I wasn't aware this project would be so popular," Mel said sarcastically.
Side glancing at her, Tay said, "I'm sure that's exactly what this is."
Ignoring his brother, Zac now chose to finally turn his full attention to Mel. "Okay, so what do we do first?"
____________________________________________________
MEL
"I'm so tired of hiding," Mel said to Zac as they sat on her patio in the adjoining chaise lounge chairs. They each had a laptop in their laps, milling around on them. Zac had asked her if he could come by after he left the studio claiming he needed somewhere to go because he wasn't ready to go home yet. She could sense something was bothering him but she didn't press the issue, giving him the chance to come around. She didn't mind, however, throwing her problems on him.
"It's not exactly something you and Tay are strangers to," Zac responded.
"Well I was tired of it back then, too."
"I know he's tired of it, too. Glamarazzi kinda provided proof of that."
"Uggh, don't remind me. Do you know if Natalie saw it yet? Cause he hasn't mentioned it."
"I have no idea. And I imagine if she'd seen it then I'd know about it by now," Zac said.
Mel sighed and they both went back to their laptops.
After a moment, Zac asked, "So does Jason know what's going on? With you and Tay?"
"He knows. I talked to him recently."
"How does he feel about it?"
"Um, well...I mean, we were never in a relationship."
"But you coulda been."
"Well, no...no, not as long as Tay is involved."
"But if he wasn't?"
"Then, yes, I'd follow Jason anywhere." Mel got to thinking about Zac's last question. 'But if he wasn't?' "Do you know something?" Mel asked Zac.
"About what?"
"About Tay. And Natalie. Do you know something?"
Zac looked surprised. "I told you what I knew. Tay's been talking to his attorney. What else is there?"
"Oh..." Mel sat back in her seat. "I'm sorry. I'm just afraid, I guess."
"You think he's not going to leave."
She looked over at Zac, helpless. "He's made so many promises..."
"Tay doesn't break a promise. You know that, I know that. Whatever promises he's made, he's going to keep them."
Accepting his answer, Mel sat back and went back to her laptop.
Suddenly, Zac piped up. "I'm sick of this."
"Oh. Well, we can watch a movie. Or maybe even get in the pool..."
"No. I mean THIS. All of this. You and Tay and me and Drew. All the uncertainty and the hiding and the guilt. Everything. It's exhausting and I've had enough of it. It's been ten years, Mel. Ten long years. Who
the hell are we to think that things wouldn't be that different ten years later? It's all different. Every single bit of it and every single bit of it complicated and I'm just done with it. I feel like I can't get out."
Mel looked over at Zac in thought. He was right but she knew that this sudden outburst had something to do with whatever was bothering him. And she was pretty sure she knew what was bothering him. She feared that of the four of them, Zac was probably having the worst time with his feelings because she was sure
that he, indeed, still loved his wife. The poor guy had to be so conflicted. She didn't know how he kept it together all this time already.
Suddenly, a light bulb went off in Mel's head, citing a conversation she recently had with Drew. "How
would you feel about going on a little vacation?"
"You have no idea," he answered. "I would love nothing more."
"So let's go," she said.
Zac looked at her skeptically. "Unlike you, I can't just drop everything and take off on a whim. Besides, we have that benefit coming up, too."
"The benefit will be fine. There are tons of other people working on it, too, and we can contribute via email or something. It'll be fine. And you can tell Kate it's business. After all, you're going with me and I'm part owner of 3CG, so..."
Zac looked back at her, long and hard. She could practically hear the wheels turning in his head. "Where are we going?"
"Well I have a house in Tuscany I still need to sell..."
"Yeah, that's a little more of a vacation than I was thinking. I was thinking Florida or California. Or even the World's Biggest Ball of Twine or something, but Italy? I don't think so..."
"And then I thought of hitting Ireland on the way back home." Mel winked at him.
"When do we leave?"
______________________________________________
After Zac left her house, Mel Skyped Drew, hoping she was there. She was.
"So I have some news for you," Mel said, smiling.
"Tay did it! He divorced Natalie!"
Mel laughed. "Uh, no. Actually, I've scheduled a little vacation."
A grin spread across Drew's face. "You have...?"
"I have. I still have to deal with that house in Tuscany. And then I thought I'd hit up Ireland on the way home?"
Drew squealed so loud, Mel half expected their session to be interrupted by a concerned bystander that may have heard her. "I am so excited, you have no idea!! When are you coming?"
Mel smiled. "Happy Birthday!"
Drew squealed louder. "You're coming for my birthday??? That is so awesome, you're the bestest best friend ever!! And that's perfect because I only have, maybe, one day of filming scheduled that week! This is so perfect! You have no idea how you have made my day! Oh, and I saw that Glamarazzi thing..."
"Yeah, well I saw yours, too," Mel said.
The two best friends laughed and talked a little longer before Drew had to go. Mel was so excited to see her, she thought time wouldn't go by fast enough.
_____________________________________________
The next morning, Mel met Tay for coffee before heading to the studio. Lately they had been finding more
and more creative (and sometimes exhausting) ways to be together. Still no word on whether Natalie had seen the picture or not and at this point Mel decided it didn't even matter anymore.
"You're taking Zac to Tuscany?" Tay asked as he watched Mel dunk a doughnut into her coffee. "You took Jason to Cabo and now Zac to Tuscany--why won't you take me?"
Mel laughed. "First of all, if that little photo from Majestic freaks you out, then taking a plane ride to another country with me will NOT fare well in your home life. Trust me. But more importantly, Zac really needs this. I don't know if you know this or not, but he's struggling really hard with this Drew thing."
'Yeah..." Tay agreed. "I kind of figured he was, but we've all just been so busy lately we really haven't had a chance to talk."
"Well, I don't know what's really going on in his head. He only reveals a little bit at a time. And honestly I don't even think HE knows how he feels or what he thinks. We're going to Tuscany and then we're going to Ireland to visit Drew."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"I think they need to see each other. He isn't the only one struggling, you know."
"I know." Tay looked down at his coffee cup and began tracing the bottom of it with his finger. "You know, Jason's in Ireland."
"I'm aware."
"It seems like every time you and Jason get together--"
"Tay, I'm an adult. And Jason is my best friend. And things were different then. But, Tay--" She leaned over the table in a whisper. "I love you. You know I do. Please don't ever doubt that. And please don't worry."
Taylor smiled across the table at Mel. He seemed to accept her response. She was glad for it. The last thing she needed was to leave the country stressed about what Tay might have been feeling about her leaving. She was already carrying Zac's struggles with her. She didn't need to add her own to the mix.
__________________________________________________
These Walls are too hard to climb
And that ladder is too hard to find
I don't want to be here anymore
These roads are too hard to walk
With the things you've been saying I don't even want to talk
I don't want to find you on the floor
I don't want to be here anymore
A fair amount of disbelief
These Walls are killing me
I don't want to be here anymore
Speak your mind or speak your peace
I swear we're sinking deep
Well I don't want to wind up on the floor
I don't want to be here anymore
The sky is falling all over again
Just another day's conclusion, another disillusional night
The sky is falling all over again
Am I losing my composure or way too much exposure to compromise?
Well I can't take all These Walls
You've been yelling up into the red
But you haven't heard a word I've said
I don't want to be here anymore
Giving all I've got can be bittersweet
When you think everyone's beneath your feet
I don't want to wind up on the floor
I don't want to be here anymore
ZAC
"So...I saw the article about the movie on Glamarazzi," Zac said to Drew over the phone.
"I thought you didn't read that shit?" she responded.
"Well I normally don't but Nikki texted me the link. Is any of it true? The director shows favoritism toward you? Is there something going on?"
"NO!" Drew sounded frustrated with the question. Zac silently kicked himself. Why the hell did he have to say such a dumbass thing? "The entire thing is lies," she continued. "All lies. Gerard nearly had an aneurism over it."
"All of it?"
"Zac. Seriously. What is with you? Why are you being so combative? Why do you suddenly question everything I say lately?"
Zac felt like an asshole. She was right, it was true. He questioned her constantly. He didn't really understand it. Ever since that night he sang to her over Skype and she disconnected the session so abruptly he didn't know what to think or even how to feel. It felt so obvious that he had messed up and he didn't know how to fix it--or even if he should. Things were feeling weird. Maybe it was the distance. Maybe it was the fact that he just wasn't used to Drew being as busy and out of touch like he had been over the years. Maybe he didn't like being on the other end of the spectrum for once, not knowing really what she was doing or who she was with.
Maybe he felt like Kate. He wasn't sure he liked it.
As if on cue, Drew's voice interrupted his thoughts. "I miss you."
"I miss you, too," he responded.
"No. I mean, I REALLY miss you. Really bad." Her voice began to crack and Zac was pretty sure she was crying.
'Goddammit,' he thought to himself. He could take arguing. He could take the screaming and the
cussing and the nasty name-calling. It could take it all. But he couldn't take the crying. And now was definitely not a good time to get emotional.
But still she cried. "I know we went ten years without seeing each other, but these past three months have seemed so much longer than those ten years were. And I know you're married and I sound selfish and I really don't care but dammit, I need you. I don't want to need you or miss you, but I do, Zac. I really and truly do."
Zac returned those sentiments whole-heartedly. He did. And honestly. But why the hell couldn't he get them out of his mouth? What was wrong with him? Why the hell was he freezing? It was just Drew!
But it felt different. And he didn't know why. He didn't know if it was good or bad. He didn't know if--"Things are lonely here without you," he said abruptly, interrupting his own thoughts this time.
"Really?" she squeaked out.
"Yes, really. I didn't realize how much I needed you until you weren't here. It's crazy. I'm crazy. I don't know..."
"I feel the same way. Don't get me wrong, I'm having a blast here, but I know I'd be having a much better time if you were here."
"You'd think by now they would have invented some sort of teleportation device or something for moments like these." He had tried to make light of the situation and it had worked. She was giggling. He smiled.
"I'm surprised YOU haven't invented one."
"Give me time, woman. We evil geniuses need time to do the impossible. I'll get right on it as soon as I'm out of this meeting."
"The sooner the better. What kind of meeting?"
"Mel has some kind of something going on with the label and a charity and she wants to go over that. I
don't know much about it but I'm sure it'll be cool."
"Well that's good. I wouldn't worry, she'll definitely steer you guys in the right direction."
"Nah, I'm not worried. Just worried she might say something Tay won't like and the possibility of having to sit through the millionth annual world war three."
"Still bad, huh?"
"No, actually, not really. Kind of the opposite. Between you and me, Tay has seen his attorney."
Drew gasped into the phone and Zac laughed and was almost surprised by the fact that she wasn't aware of this already.
"And while we're on the subject, if you want to know what's going on with your best friend, why don't YOU do some checking up on Glamarazzi yourself? Believe what you see, not what you read."
At this news, Drew ran off the phone rather quickly and Zac made his way into the boardroom, sitting at the
table beside Taylor and across from Mel. He looked around the room. You couldn't exactly call it a formal boardroom. It was just a room with a conference table in it. Nothing fancy. No typical bright fluorescent
lighting or dry erase boards covering the walls. Nope. Just a small room and a table.
"Okay, so we're looking at LA in about a month or two. Anyone got anything major going on in that time
that we need to possibly work around?" Mel was saying.
Zac was barely listening. He kept an ear out for the important information, but his mind was steady on Drew. She'd said she needed him. And missed him. Did that mean that things weren't as different as he thought they might be? That maybe the mere distance was just making it weird for him? That had to be it.
"In conjunction with 3CG, the foundation wants to throw a benefit party in LA. The list of possible invites is quite impressive but we need to get them out NOW if we want to do this in the amount of time the foundation is looking at. We're talking big names here. Big names and big money. The name of the game is get 3CG's name out there, which in turn would throw Hanson out there, and raise money for this charity. We're not in the market to USE this charity. We really do want to help them. We are agreed here, correct?"
Once again, Zac's mind drifted to Drew. She would be a big name soon. So would Jason. And Gerard Cline was a huge name. He should add them to the list. He could only imagine what Drew would wear. She looked fantastic in red. Where would the party be held? In a hotel maybe? A hotel...he could get a room...
He immediately shook himself out of his thoughts, but not before asking, "Where would this take place?"
"I don't know," Mel answered. "It would really depend on the RSVP's we get. But this foundation is a pretty huge foundation so we're likely looking at a large venue. I'm even thinking maybe you guys could play a couple of songs? Some live entertainment besides you guys, chosen by you guys of course, would be ideal..."
Zac had to admit, the idea of this benefit party appealed to him. He could definitely use the change in scenery. The idea of meeting up with people he hadn't seen in awhile wouldn't hurt either. And he was absolutely excited by the prospect of putting together a set and organizing the rest of the entertainment for the evening. Things like these were normally Taylor's thing, but he could definitely see himself getting into the party hosting aspect of the night. Lord knew he could use the distraction, as well. He needed a break from himself like nobody would believe. Maybe he would get himself purposely involved in the planning process with Mel and the foundation. The band needed a voice anyway. Might as well be him.
"I'll do it," Zac blurted out suddenly, now realizing that, once again, he hadn't been listening.
Ike, Tay, Mel, and the several other people in the room all looked at Zac. "Do what?" Mel asked.
"I'll, uh, I'll help plan the benefit. Hanson needs a face in this and I'm volunteering."
"Zac, where have you been?" Ike asked. "We already elected Tay for that."
"Nobody asked me!"
"We all asked you!" Ike, Tay, and Mel chorused.
Zac looked around, sheepishly. "Maybe you just weren't loud enough."
"You AGREED," Ike said.
"Well, maybe I'm un-agreeing," Zac said, defensively.
Tay scoffed. "You're 'un-agreeing?' You can't un-agree."
"I think he's actually disagreeing..." Ike jumped in.
"Whatever," Tay said. "Anyway, Zac, why do you want to do it all of a sudden? It's a lot of work."
"I know, I just--I'm really interested in this and I really wanna do it. Is that a crime?"
Tay raised an eyebrow at him, looking a bit taken aback. "No...I just figured since you and Ike had families and I didn't, it would only make sense for me to take on the extra work..."
"I can handle a little extra work, it's not a problem," Zac found himself snapping. God, what was wrong
with him all of a sudden?
"Well then if it means that much to you, you do it," Tay said, sounding snippy himself.
"Wow, I wasn't aware this project would be so popular," Mel said sarcastically.
Side glancing at her, Tay said, "I'm sure that's exactly what this is."
Ignoring his brother, Zac now chose to finally turn his full attention to Mel. "Okay, so what do we do first?"
____________________________________________________
MEL
"I'm so tired of hiding," Mel said to Zac as they sat on her patio in the adjoining chaise lounge chairs. They each had a laptop in their laps, milling around on them. Zac had asked her if he could come by after he left the studio claiming he needed somewhere to go because he wasn't ready to go home yet. She could sense something was bothering him but she didn't press the issue, giving him the chance to come around. She didn't mind, however, throwing her problems on him.
"It's not exactly something you and Tay are strangers to," Zac responded.
"Well I was tired of it back then, too."
"I know he's tired of it, too. Glamarazzi kinda provided proof of that."
"Uggh, don't remind me. Do you know if Natalie saw it yet? Cause he hasn't mentioned it."
"I have no idea. And I imagine if she'd seen it then I'd know about it by now," Zac said.
Mel sighed and they both went back to their laptops.
After a moment, Zac asked, "So does Jason know what's going on? With you and Tay?"
"He knows. I talked to him recently."
"How does he feel about it?"
"Um, well...I mean, we were never in a relationship."
"But you coulda been."
"Well, no...no, not as long as Tay is involved."
"But if he wasn't?"
"Then, yes, I'd follow Jason anywhere." Mel got to thinking about Zac's last question. 'But if he wasn't?' "Do you know something?" Mel asked Zac.
"About what?"
"About Tay. And Natalie. Do you know something?"
Zac looked surprised. "I told you what I knew. Tay's been talking to his attorney. What else is there?"
"Oh..." Mel sat back in her seat. "I'm sorry. I'm just afraid, I guess."
"You think he's not going to leave."
She looked over at Zac, helpless. "He's made so many promises..."
"Tay doesn't break a promise. You know that, I know that. Whatever promises he's made, he's going to keep them."
Accepting his answer, Mel sat back and went back to her laptop.
Suddenly, Zac piped up. "I'm sick of this."
"Oh. Well, we can watch a movie. Or maybe even get in the pool..."
"No. I mean THIS. All of this. You and Tay and me and Drew. All the uncertainty and the hiding and the guilt. Everything. It's exhausting and I've had enough of it. It's been ten years, Mel. Ten long years. Who
the hell are we to think that things wouldn't be that different ten years later? It's all different. Every single bit of it and every single bit of it complicated and I'm just done with it. I feel like I can't get out."
Mel looked over at Zac in thought. He was right but she knew that this sudden outburst had something to do with whatever was bothering him. And she was pretty sure she knew what was bothering him. She feared that of the four of them, Zac was probably having the worst time with his feelings because she was sure
that he, indeed, still loved his wife. The poor guy had to be so conflicted. She didn't know how he kept it together all this time already.
Suddenly, a light bulb went off in Mel's head, citing a conversation she recently had with Drew. "How
would you feel about going on a little vacation?"
"You have no idea," he answered. "I would love nothing more."
"So let's go," she said.
Zac looked at her skeptically. "Unlike you, I can't just drop everything and take off on a whim. Besides, we have that benefit coming up, too."
"The benefit will be fine. There are tons of other people working on it, too, and we can contribute via email or something. It'll be fine. And you can tell Kate it's business. After all, you're going with me and I'm part owner of 3CG, so..."
Zac looked back at her, long and hard. She could practically hear the wheels turning in his head. "Where are we going?"
"Well I have a house in Tuscany I still need to sell..."
"Yeah, that's a little more of a vacation than I was thinking. I was thinking Florida or California. Or even the World's Biggest Ball of Twine or something, but Italy? I don't think so..."
"And then I thought of hitting Ireland on the way back home." Mel winked at him.
"When do we leave?"
______________________________________________
After Zac left her house, Mel Skyped Drew, hoping she was there. She was.
"So I have some news for you," Mel said, smiling.
"Tay did it! He divorced Natalie!"
Mel laughed. "Uh, no. Actually, I've scheduled a little vacation."
A grin spread across Drew's face. "You have...?"
"I have. I still have to deal with that house in Tuscany. And then I thought I'd hit up Ireland on the way home?"
Drew squealed so loud, Mel half expected their session to be interrupted by a concerned bystander that may have heard her. "I am so excited, you have no idea!! When are you coming?"
Mel smiled. "Happy Birthday!"
Drew squealed louder. "You're coming for my birthday??? That is so awesome, you're the bestest best friend ever!! And that's perfect because I only have, maybe, one day of filming scheduled that week! This is so perfect! You have no idea how you have made my day! Oh, and I saw that Glamarazzi thing..."
"Yeah, well I saw yours, too," Mel said.
The two best friends laughed and talked a little longer before Drew had to go. Mel was so excited to see her, she thought time wouldn't go by fast enough.
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The next morning, Mel met Tay for coffee before heading to the studio. Lately they had been finding more
and more creative (and sometimes exhausting) ways to be together. Still no word on whether Natalie had seen the picture or not and at this point Mel decided it didn't even matter anymore.
"You're taking Zac to Tuscany?" Tay asked as he watched Mel dunk a doughnut into her coffee. "You took Jason to Cabo and now Zac to Tuscany--why won't you take me?"
Mel laughed. "First of all, if that little photo from Majestic freaks you out, then taking a plane ride to another country with me will NOT fare well in your home life. Trust me. But more importantly, Zac really needs this. I don't know if you know this or not, but he's struggling really hard with this Drew thing."
'Yeah..." Tay agreed. "I kind of figured he was, but we've all just been so busy lately we really haven't had a chance to talk."
"Well, I don't know what's really going on in his head. He only reveals a little bit at a time. And honestly I don't even think HE knows how he feels or what he thinks. We're going to Tuscany and then we're going to Ireland to visit Drew."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"I think they need to see each other. He isn't the only one struggling, you know."
"I know." Tay looked down at his coffee cup and began tracing the bottom of it with his finger. "You know, Jason's in Ireland."
"I'm aware."
"It seems like every time you and Jason get together--"
"Tay, I'm an adult. And Jason is my best friend. And things were different then. But, Tay--" She leaned over the table in a whisper. "I love you. You know I do. Please don't ever doubt that. And please don't worry."
Taylor smiled across the table at Mel. He seemed to accept her response. She was glad for it. The last thing she needed was to leave the country stressed about what Tay might have been feeling about her leaving. She was already carrying Zac's struggles with her. She didn't need to add her own to the mix.
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