"Hey, Taylor," he greeted Taylor, who was walking out of her room with a thoughtful look on her face.
"Morning. How come you're not asleep still?" She asked.
"I got lonely," He said with a shrug, "Mika left me."
"Ooh, she's outside giving Jupiter some food."
"Jupiter?"
"Her bird." She laughed at the confused look on JC's face, "she got him like two weeks ago from a friend of her's. He's so cute, you have to see him!"
"Okay." He answered, and went down the stairs to go and find her. "Hey there," he greeted her, leaning against the doorframe to watch her. Mikayla turned to him, a smile on her face. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she was wearing a white sleeveless shirt over khaki pants.
"Why are you up so early?" She asked.
"You left me," he accused teasingly.
"You were snoring very loudly when I left," She pointed out. The bird in the cage next to her let out a large squawk. "Come here and look at Jupiter." She beckoned, and he looked admiringly at the sun conure that eyed him curiously through the bars of the cage. It's green, violent and orange feathers were bright and gave it an exotic appeal.
"Cool. Why Jupiter?"
"Oh, that's what my friend named him. It's supposed to be after a classical piece by Gustav Holst." The bird squawked at hearing it's name. She gazed at it affectionately, "he can talk to!" She said to JC, who was more interested in looking at her than at the bird.
"Loser!" The bird squawked. JC turned his attention back the bird and raised an eyebrow.
"What'd he say?" He asked as Mikayla reached her hand in and Jupiter perched himself on it as he let her take him out of the cage.
"Loser." Mika confirmed, laughing, "he has an extensive vocabulary, don't you Jupi?" The bird rubbed it's head underneath her chin, making her laugh again. "Say hello." She commanded, pointing at JC.
"Hello, Loser." The bird squawk obediently. JC eyed the parrot, who stared right back at him.
"I don’t think he likes me very much," He said dryly.
"I don't think so either," Mikayla admitted, "but then again, he doesn't like Noah either. That's why he's out on the patio, Noah threatened to cook him for dinner if I let him stay in the house."
When Justin ended the call, he wondered if he should tell Taylor who Tracy was. Tracy was part of the new singing group they were touring with as their opening act. He knew that Taylor wasn't the kind of girl to have a fit over him touring with a couple of girls, but he knew that she'd be hesitant to accept it if she knew Tracy liked him. He didn't know if he should be honest on the subject, because it could end up being nothing to worry about.
He sighed, throwing the covers off and getting up. He noticed the pictures on Taylor's dresser and grinned when he saw the one of them at the park the day before he left. Both were grinning widely, cheesily he decided, at the camera. There were others of Mikayla and Noah, her parents, the rest of the guys, and a couple of other people that Justin didn't know.
"You finished snooping through my stuff?" Taylor teased from the doorway.
"Yup." He piped up, walking over to her and wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Who was she?" Taylor asked, trying to be casual, yet wanting to know.
"Oh, just part of that new girl group who's touring with us," Justin said with a shrug, silencing her with a kiss.
"Man, no concerts for the next week," Chris said happily, coming into the kitchen. Lance, who was reading the newspaper, eyed him.
"My, you're up pretty early considering it's the first day of our vacation," Lance commented.
"So are you," Chris retorted, "but I'm sure it's because of Elisa." He took Lance's blush as a confirmation, and nodded. Lance quickly hid his face with the newspaper, and went back to reading it.
"Hey, what's up guys?" Noah Watson said, coming into the kitchen. Noah was Taylor's older brother, who also lived in the house.
"Nothing much," Chris answered, "where you been?"
"I had a date last night," Noah said with a shrug, winking at Chris.
"You sly dog!" Chris said, slapping him on the shoulder, "was she hot?"
"Very." Noah answered, opening the refrigerator to look for something to drink.
"Ok, guys, cool the testosterone in here," Taylor said dryly, coming into the kitchen, Justin following closely.
"Hey, where's Mika?" Noah asked, slugging some orange juice down.
"Outside, with Jupiter," Taylor said teasingly, enjoying Noah's shudder.
"That bird is pure evil," He answered, shaking his head, "I don’t know why Mika bothers to keep the thing."
"Because I happen to think he's adorable!" Mikayla said, coming in from the patio. "And just because he doesn't like you doesn't mean he's evil, Noah."
"That bird has it in for me," Noah insisted. "You'll never believe me until it's too late, but oh well, I'm meeting Laura and the guys at the basketball courts in an hour."
"Ooh, Laura," Taylor teased, while Mikayla smirked.
"Cool it," Noah warned, his tone for once angry at his sister.
"Okay okay," Taylor agreed, "I know you like her though. She's really sweet too."
"I don't, I'm - I'm not her type," Noah answered, almost seeming to be disgusted with himself, "besides, I'm too much of a bad guy for her to ever be more interested in than as a friend." He took a breath, "so, I'll see y'all later alright?" He grinned and left the kitchen.
"Does he ever sleep?" Justin joked. Taylor shrugged. The phone rang and Mikayla answered it.
"Hello?"
"Did I get you in trouble last night?" Brian joked. Mikayla laughed.
"No, not really."
"Good, I didn't want to be the cause of anything there," he replied honestly.
"Believe me, you weren't," Mikayla assured him. "So, where are you?"
"We're in Los Angeles right now, Nick's being a real pain in the ass right now," Mikayla laughed when she heard Nick's protest in the background.
"How's your heart doing?" She asked, knowing that sometimes his heart acted strangely.
"Well, it's okay," Brian said, "I've had a couple of doctors look at it, and they can't seem to find anything seriously wrong with it."
"Thank God!" She said, letting out a whoosh of air. She glanced at the watch on her wrist, "I hate to do this to you, but I have to go and get ready before I leave for work."
"Alright, well I'll e-mail you tonight."
"Okay I'll do the same, bye!" She hung up the phone. JC had been looking at her curiously, trying to figure out who it was.
"Who was it?" Taylor asked, looking in the kitchen cabinets for her snack bars.
"Brian."
"Oh, where are they now?" Taylor asked, and JC noticed that she didn't seem surprised that Brian had called. He wondered exactly how close the two were.
"L.A." Mikayla answered, going back to stand next to JC. "I've got to run for the restaurant, I'll see you guys later okay?" She waved and left to go upstairs. JC followed her up, flopping onto the bed as he watched her search for her shoes.
"You and Littrell are pretty close now," He observed.
"Mm-hmm," Mikayla agreed distractedly, looking underneath the bed. "Where did my shoe go?" She asked to herself, digging around.
"How close?" He asked. This caught her attention because she raised her head back up to meet his.
"We're just friends, Josh." She assured him, then went back to look for her shoes. "Aha!" She said triumphantly, pulling out a pair of black boots. She put them on and kissed him gently. "I'll be back tonight," She yelled over her shoulder, heading downstairs.