EPISODE THIRTEEN – Good Morning, Sunshine ("Good Morning, Sunshine", Aqua)

Taylor awoke around nine am the next morning, he stumbled out of bed wearily, grabbed some clean clothes and headed for to take a shower, wash his hair and brush his teeth. He looked in the full length mirror on the wall in the shower stall. Despite his lack of sleep last night his face looked clear, and his eyes were bright, although he had to admit, his body looked worn, and his skin looked pale, he was too thin, and he was beginning to realise it was becoming more and more noticeable.

Sighing, he turned on the shower, wincing at the cold sting of the water that woke him up fully. Then his body relaxed as the water began to warm, and soon he was enjoying the massage like feel of the spray on his back. He washed his hair quickly, rinsed it, then squirted some shower gel into his hand and began lathering his body over, he stood under the hot water for some time, closed his eyes and thought about a lot, the shower was a good place for thinking, Taylor decided. It was the only room in this house he could be by himself totally, the only privacy he supposed he had. He looked in the mirror at his soaking wet body, his skin red from the water. He looked himself in the eyes.

Tay, are you into Lauren? He looked into the mirror, directing his thoughts at the reflection there, as if he were talking to one of his brothers and expected an answer immediately.

The reflection Taylor just stood there, soaking and naked, and had this look on his face as if he was asking Are you talking to me?

Taylor turned away from the reflection shaking his head, this was stupid, he was actually considering a relationship with Lauren, however, his situation with the band wouldn’t allow it to be official, and his manager might go ballistic if he asked her out. And his family would make a big deal out of it. And besides, Lauren had just broken up with Jon, she was still very vulnerable. He couldn’t go around acting too fast on this and end up hurting her more. She didn’t need his affection anyway. He wasn’t sure if he could love her, and love was what she was looking for.

I want love too, but I don’t know if I can give it, he thought unsure and confused. He stepped out of the shower, and he pulled a towel around his waist, and he walked over to the sink and took his toothbrush out and put some toothpaste on it. He rubbed the steam off of the mirror above the sink, and began brushing his teeth.

You can give love, you just don’t know how, his thoughts responded with him. Isaac is good at giving love, look at the way he acts with Ashley, ask Ike, he’ll know how.

Taylor wasn’t sure about asking Isaac anything at the moment, the guy was so vulnerable from being rejected too many times he probably wanted to avoid the thought of love altogether.

There was a knock at the door that disturbed her thoughts, he turned, "Who’s there?"

Lauren’s voice corresponded. "Its me! Open the door! I gotta pee!" she whined.

"I’m not even dressed!" he whined back.

"Hurry up!" she groaned.

Taylor finished brushing his teeth, by this time his body was dry, so he sprayed on some deodorant and he pulled on the T-shirt and loose-fit jeans he’d picked to wear. He swept his hair back and he opened the door, "good morning, sunshine," he said in an overly exaggerated happy tone, he stepped out of the bathroom, "its all yours…"

Lauren dashed in there, "Thanks!" she closed the door.

Taylor laughed and headed back to his bedroom and pulled on a pair of socks and sneakers, and he grabbed his brush and pulled it through his hair quickly, and tied it back. He stepped out into the hall again, just as Lauren was coming out of the bathroom, she was wearing her usual baggy pants and extremely tight shirts which made Taylor kind of smile at the sight of her.

Lauren looked at him, "Whoah, you’re clean for a change," she joked.

"Hey, I shower every day," he responded, he grabbed her face and pushed it under his arm, "Can’t detect a whiff of sweat, can you?"

"You’d be lucky to break a sweat," she pulled away, rubbing her nose, "what the hell is that you’re wearing?" she demanded.

"Linx," he answered.

"Oh, the commercials where the guy sprays on Linx deodorant and women just savagely jump all over him and start kissin’ him and stuff," Lauren rolled her eyes at the thought of those commercials

"Hold back, I know you want me too," Taylor laughed and walked down the hall with her.

"You have no idea," she giggled.

Taylor headed down the stairs with her behind him, "what do you want for breakfast?"

"You’re not cooking it, are you?"

"Yep, why?"

"When you made me breakfast yesterday at my house it tasted like burnt shit."

"I won’t burn it today, I promise," Taylor smiled. "Anyway, you have no choice, my mom doesn’t get up til like, twelve on a Sunday.

Lauren looked at the Calendar on the kitchen wall as Taylor changed it. "Isaac’s birthday is on Thursday," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but the party isn’t until Friday now," Taylor said.

"I’m not even GOING to the party," came a voice from the corner.

Taylor and Lauren turned and looked, Isaac was in a chair in the corner, his feet up on the kitchen table, he looked absolutely exhausted as if he hadn’t slept all night. Taylor hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t in bed when he’d woken up.

"Have you been up all night?" Taylor questioned, frowning.

"Yes, and I’m not gonna sleep until she at least calls me and says hi," he pouted.

Taylor rolled his eyes, "You are so immature! She’s not gonna call you! She doesn’t even like you!"

Lauren paused, "hold on, hold on, that’s not entirely true," she admitted

"What?" Isaac asked, his eyes full of hope.

"I mean, like, when me and you were…y’know, seeing each other, she was like…always staring at you, she never used to shut up about how good a guitar player you were and stuff…I know she likes you, she’s just going through this phase…she has family problems…"

"Because of Nicole…"

"How’d you know?!" Lauren suddenly demanded, Ashley wouldn’t even admit these things to her, Lauren didn’t understand why Ashley would tell Isaac.

"She told me when I called her once, she said that Nicole’s mom died and that her own mom was fighting for custody, but now, like, they can’t get custody straight away so they’re moving back there to fight the case and be nearby in case something goes wrong, ‘cos apparently Nicole’s dad is a real hot head or something."

"Yeah, I know…Nicky said he used to beat her mom up all the time," Lauren admitted after a moment.

"Oh," Taylor said, "so…maybe, like you should see it was for a good cause, you can’t blame her, I mean…maybe she didn’t wanna be with you because she didn’t wanna hurt you," Taylor explained.

"But this hurts! It hurts a hell of a lot. She wouldn’t even grant me ONE DATE!" Isaac almost yelled, then he quietened down. "God, why didn’t I listen to you?! I could have had her when I had the chance…now I’ll never know if we were right for each other, when I know she was right for me," he sighed miserably and got up, "I’m going to bed," he mumbled and left the room.

Taylor turned and looked at Lauren, "is he like clinically depressed or what?" he asked.

"Wouldn’t you be if the girl you loved wasn’t here anymore?" she asked.

Taylor looked at her, "Yeah…yeah it would."

She shrugged, "Okay, lets make breakfast."

"Okay," he agreed and so they set to work.