"Ike are you NUTS?" Taylor asked his brother as soon as they were all awake and showered. "I heard you on the phone with Jade last night." Taylor lowered his voice just a bit so his parents wouldn't overhear the conversation. "So? I felt bad for her and you were out with her best friend.." Ike tried to explain, knowing that it wouldn't hold water with either one of his brothers, they knew him too well. "You said she was upset and Jaimie was already at work, so I thought she might wanna talk. THAT'S ALL." he said. "Uh-huh." Taylor said flatly. "Listen bro. At least wait for her to give Josh the boot before you make any moves. And if Josh keeps treating her the way he did last night, she WILL." he said and added quickly, "It's embarrassing. She's too sweet and he should just make up his mind.." Ike stared at Taylor questioningly. "What do you mean, 'he should make up his mind'?" Isaac asked. "Whether or not he wants to go out with her.." Taylor covered himself quickly, not wanting to make any accusations before he knew what was up for sure. "One minutes he says 'she's the one' then he stands her up?" Taylor shrugged. "If I was her.. nevermind. Just be cool, okay?" Taylor gripped Ike's shoulder and then dug through the fridge, he was starving, and he'd slept better last night than he had in months. He gathered the things he needed to make himself a huge sandwich and got to work. As he fixed himself something to eat, his mind wandered to Jaimie. 'What was she doing now?' he wondered, then looked at the clock. 11:30. She was probably out cold. He smiled to himself, remembering the afternoon and evening they'd spent together. The diner they'd had lunch at was really cool, not a bare spot on the walls anywhere, there were even antique toys and hunting implements hanging from the ceiling. The decor consisted of antique EVERYTHING and off to the side of the main dining room, there was a small bandstand and dancefloor, and the next room, between the entertainment area and the kitchen, was a room with a couple of pool tables. Jaimie had slaughtered him, though he liked to think he'd lost so badly because he let himself get a little buzzed. She'd talked a little about her brother while they played, and wasn't surprised to her that the place had been one of their favorite hangouts. "Jimmy taught me to play pool, so look out bud.." she'd grinned wickedly at him and he'd wanted to take her right there on the pool table. He grinned to himself, that was his best show of self-control EVER. Especially after catching one too many glimpses of her mouthwatering rear end in those faded jeans, bent over to make a shot. He already couldn't wait to see her again. Jaimie woke to the sound of her phone ringing right by her head. She reached up and fumbled for it, swearing as she finally got it to her ear. "WHAT?" she snapped, and pulled the covers over her head. "Not ready to get up yet? I can call you back in half an hour.." Taylor chuckled. "Oh god...Taylor I'm sorry. I was dead to the world." Jaimie apologized, yawning. "That's alright. You wanna sleep longer? I can call you later." he offered. "No. No, thank you for waking me up. I need to drink a gallon of coffee before everyone starts showing up." she yawned again and stretched, and Taylor could picture her running her and through her hair and pulling herself up to sitting. "How was work?" he asked. "It was work. We unloaded more stuff than usual though. How was your night, Tay? Did you sleep?" she giggled. "Probably not with Ike and Jade yakking all night huh?" she asked. "I was just about to ask you how she was doing." he chuckled. "Did you get enough breakfast?" he asked. "Stuffed myself like a thanksgiving turkey. Glad you missed it. It wasn't very ladylike.." she laughed. "I can't imagine.." he teased. "I don't wanna be a huge pest Jame, " she could feel his warm smile as he talked. "But I'd really like to know when I can see you again. I know you're busy tonight but.." she cut him off. "Taylor. If you were being a huge pest, believe me, I'd let you know. I wanna see you too. How 'bout pizza or something after band practice, before I go to work?" she asked. "Okay, cool. What time?" he asked. "Umm...8:30? 9? You can come over earlier than that if you wanna brave rehearsal." she giggled. "Okay. I'll bring the pizza." he smiled. "See you around 8:30, Jame." "Kay, jumping in the shower now. See you soon." she said and laughed when he groaned. "What?" she asked. "How am I supposed to function the rest of the afternoon with the visual of you all wet in nothing but a towel in my head?" he half-whined, half-growled. Jaimie laughed out loud. "Find a way, stud." she purred into the phone, making him groan again. "See you soon, Taylor." she giggled. "Bye Jame." he chuckled and hung up. The swore when he felt the tightness in the crotch of his jeans. He closed his eyes and silently willed his hardening member to behave, but all that flashed before his eyes were visions of himself, making love to Jaimie all evening. He gulped a cup of coffee, went in to the piano and sat down to play, hoping that would help.

"What? You're not running right over to Jaimie's as soon as she's awake?" Zac asked, sarcastically. Taylor looked at his brother, stunned. "She has a life, Zac. And who pissed in your cheerios anyway?" Taylor snapped back. "I was sitting here minding my own buisness." he said, and waited for Zac to answer him. "Nevermind, Tay. It's just the way shit goes around here, as usual. What are we gonna do about Ike and Josh? It could get ugly." Zac grinned conspiratorily at Taylor. "Dude. Josh is diggin' his own grave, from the few comments I'vee heard from Jame.." Taylor started, and Zac squinted at him. "DAMMIT!" Zac snapped. "ALREADY? You are already...you know?" he said in not quite a shout, but close enough. "ZAC!" Taylor snapped gritting his teeth and looking around for his parents or younger siblings. "SHUT UP." he growled. "Why should you care, anyway?" he asked softly. "Yeah why should I? Why can't I ever get the first shot a cool girl like that without you stepping in my way golden boy?" Zac snapped. "Zac what are you talking about?" Taylor was totally confused. "Did it ever occur to you that I" Zac pointed at his chest, "would have liked to ask her out?" Zac brown eyes flashed angrily. "Dude. I...she...well we talked while you were snoring in the recliner...and when I saw her yesterday things just clicked. It was MUTUAL, Zac. It's not like I forced myself on her." Taylor said and found himself grinning back at Zac. "What's so funny?" Taylor asked. "The thought of her beating the shit outta you just makes me wanna fucking giggle, okay?" Zac laughed. "'Cause you know she could." he shook his head and left the room, leaving Taylor confused and unsure whether or not to be angry. "Hey Tay.." Ike came into the room a little later. "Hey man. What's up?" Taylor asked. "Nothing. You going to Jaimie's tonight?" Ike asked. "Yeah, but not till after her band rehearsal. Why?" Tay asked. "Well..Josh says he can't get Jade to return his phone calls OR his e-mails..so he wanted to know if.." Ike began. "NOT." Taylor held his hand up. "No freakin' way. Jaimie is more pissed than Jade, I think, and if he shows up when Jade has made it clear that she's not speaking to him, Jaimie will kick his ass and then start on the rest of us. She's like a mother bear when it comes to Jade." Taylor chuckled. "Wonder if we ALL showed up, though? Then Zac could take his pick from the rest of the band members, since you got to Jaimie first, you evil scumbag." Ike grinned. "Don't worry Tay. I think about five minutes with the red-headed base player..what was her name? Oh yeah, Patti..he'll forget it." Ike laughed and Taylor had to join him. "Duude.." Tay laughed. "So what you're saying is, you three stooges are gonna tag along on MY date? And will YOU be able to stand it when Jade and Josh kiss and make up?" he asked softly. "No idea what you're talking about, but yeah. Can we come hang out? He says he just wants to explain." Ike told him. "Yeah.." Taylor finally sighed, "but take Josh's car. I'm not leaving just cause she boots you goons out." he told his brother. "Thanks man." Ike smiled and left the room.

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