TAYLOR: I looked from Watts to Jess, and then in the direction my brother just stomped off. "Is someone gonna tell me?" I waited for an answer. Jessie looked at Watts, giving her first opportunity. Watts looked at me and opened her mouth, then closed it quickly, shaking her head. "Want me to?" Jess asked her hand on her friend's shoulder. Watts nodded and Jess turned to me. "Watts was offered only THE most popular daily workout show on ESPN, but it shoots in Hawaii. Starting in 3 months?" she looked at Watts for confirmation. Watts nodded her head again. "And you'd be gone how long?" Jess asked. "Three or four months.." Watts almost whispered. "He said he was okay with it." she looked at Jess again her eyes sad. "Well, do YOU WANT to do it?" Jess asked. Wattley nodded and she looked like she was about to cry. "He said we could manage..I wouldn't be there PERMANENTLY.." she told Jess. "UGH! You can't pass it up Wattley..damn! When is ESPN gonna offer you something like that again? God! Once you finished that you could negotiate anything you wanted..and Jake would too, he so freaking good... I don't think I'd be able to turn that down.." Jess babbled, obviously torn by being excited for her friend and feeling bad for Zac, who would finally be home and able to spend plenty of time with Wattley, but she'd be gone...I groaned out loud without realizing it. "What?" they asked in unison. "I AM NOT getting in the middle of this." I stated firmly. "But I will say that if it was YOU, Jess...I would be feeling about as pissy as Zac does right now. I wouldn't tell you not to go, but knowing that I'd be missing you like that again would drive me nuts. I wouldn't be happy about it, but I wouldn't ask you to pass it up." I said and kissed her cheek, then went to find my brother. |
ZAC: "Tay's on his way back here, Mom. Leigh's busy breaking the big news to Jess." I sighed and opened the fridge, grabbing a couple of beers. "I gathered that, with all the squealing coming from in there.." she smiled as I took a long pull off my beer to avoid saying anything else that could be taken as me being an asshole. "It'll work out honey," she said and patted my arm as I set my beer down on the counter. "You'll make it work." "Hey man, I had no idea.." Taylor said as he srode into the kitchen and kissed our mother on the cheek. "Hi mom.." "Hello, son. Glad to see that you and Jess are still alive.." she teased. "Sorry mom. I'll explain later." "Jess better today?" she asked him. "Much, thanks. She's in the other room with Watts.." he told her. "I heard." she answered and went into the other room. "Dude...Hawaii? It's nice there when it's cold here." Tay told me trying to lighten me up. "Woo fucking hoo.." I said flatly and handed him his beer. "Man!" he grinned, "It's not that bad, you can get on a plane." "I know Tay. But how would you feel if it was Jess?" I asked, aggravated. "Exactly like you do, but I wouldn't tell her not to do it. She doesn't pout and whine when I have to go on the road, she's better about it than I am. Come to think of it, I haven't heard Watts complain either." he said and I let out another huge sigh. "I KNOW. But it doesn't change the way I feel." I said and took another swig. "I didn't say it had to. Just chill or you'll be fighting when she does leave and that would be worse. And slow down on that beer before Mom says something." he said. "Okay yeah. But I can't wait to see how you act when she's got Jess signed to tape episodes with her." I told him, and grinned behind my beer can when I saw his face drop. He quickly shook himself out of it, and gripped my shoulder. "I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it." "Hey, you guys never sleep THAT late. What happened?" I asked changing the subject before my brother's level-headedness pissed me off enough to make me wanna hit him. "Nightmare, do I need to say more?" he asked. "No. Damn. Someone should shove him in with Eric the moron and let them kill each other." I said and followed my brother back into the room where the girls were talking with our mother. |
ZAC: When Tay and I joined my mother and the girls they were all chatting excitedly, but I felt bad when Leigh looked up at me and the smile left her face. I went to her and put my hand on her shoulder and tried to smile, as I sat on the am of the couch next to her. She covered my hand with hers and stroked it lightly, then quickly changed the subject. "So Jess?" she asked, "Do you need me to cover you with your clients next week, or do you have them rearranged already?" Jess looked at Leigh like she had lost her mind."What in the world are you talking about, Watts? I'm all set, I'm not going anywhere until we do our next shoot..thats' not for.." Jess stopped when Leigh pressed her lips together and tried not to laugh. "What?!" she giggled, and even my mother had to laugh. "I swear to GOD you'd forget your head lately if it wasn't attached Jess.." Leigh told her. "What did I forget?" Jess sighed and put her face in her hands. "You and Jake have to go do that radio interview with Drew, dork. You promised..it's the least you could do after he came all this way to DJ your wedding." "Oh man! Watts...yeah, I guess I do need you to cover for me..but we can work it out later." Taylor chuckled and pushed the lock of hair out of Jess' eyes. "don't say it, Tay.." she giggled. "What? What did I do?" he asked pointing at his chest, which made my mother laugh. "Jessie you have been running at full steam for months, something's got to give. Apparently it's your memory. It's also why you have your brother. He would have reminded you, but there were more pressing matters at the moment." my mother laughed again. "Take it easy honey." she said and stood up. The girls followed my mom in to the kitchen while Tay and I went looking for our dad. We figured we might as well get a little work done while they were visiting and I kew jess would want to play with the kids for a while. Ike and Lacey showed up not long after that and the house was as loud and noisy as usual. My father, brothers and I went over a few more things then Jake came by looking for Jess, so my mother decided it was family dinner night again, except we ordered pizza delivered. |