'Damn her,' Tay thought, 'she didn't tell him.' Still, from the tone of voice they used with each other, and the body language and the million other little signs told him that they MORE than liked each other. They were in love and he HAD to talk to Emma ALONE, for his brother's sake. Taylor decided that he would find out, on the sly of course, from Zac when Emma worked at Danny's again. He'd go see her there, that way Zac wouldn't know. He listened as Zac told Emma gently to get some sleep and that he'd call her later, he could have sworn he heard him say the words and was hard pressed not to groan out loud. 'SHIT' he thought, 'now I DEFINATELY have to do something' He rolled over when Zac flipped his phone shut and put it on the charger. Zac fell into bed, the way he had the night before. 'OHHH GOD' he groaned to himself again. There could only be one reason Zac was trashed by the time he finally rolled in. The beach, needing to shower before he crashed...'FUCK...they're already sleeping together' Taylor sighed heavily and rolled over again. Zac never noticed though, he was already snoring. Emma woke when the heat in the car became unbearable. She was sweating and found it difficult to breathe. She threw the blanket off her, crawled over the seat and started the car, cranking the A/C. She wiped her sweaty face with both hands, raked them through her hair and then muttered 'fuck it'. She fastened her seatbelt, rolled her windows down and pulled out of the parking lot. She pulled through a drive-thru and got a large cup of coffee, then searched her glove compartment for something to take care of the pounding in her head. She found a small bottle, took two of them with her coffee then pitched the bottle out the window in a fit of anger. She was still kicking herself for drinking too much and letting Taylor needle her into that stupid display in the parking lot. Then she was pissed that he had the nerve to call her by her stage name. She got over that quickly, though. 'Put the blame square on the shoulders of the person to whom it belongs, dumbass....YOU' She punched the steering wheel and stepped on the gas, figuring she better get all the day's ugliness overwith at once. She parked her car out front of the apartment she shared with her mother, grabbed her bag full  of wet sandy clothes and went in the door. "Nice of you to call and let me know you were alright.." her mother said sarcastically, the second she walked through the door. "I was with Zac, Mother." she stated. "I was perfectly safe." "Till when? When the bar closed? Who were you with when you left him, huh, Emma? He's been calling here every hour for the last oh..I dunno...FOUR..four times in one day Emma..and he actually sounded worried about you. I almost like him. I KNOW you didn't meet HIM at work.." her mother folded her hands over her chest and waited, but Emma had nothing to say, she was shocked that he had called at all. She wondered why Taylor hadn't said anything. "EMMA? What do I tell the poor guy when he calls AGAIN? He will.." she pushed. Emma sighed heavily. "I went to a different club with Zac and his brothers, AND their dates after I finished up at Danny's, mom." she explained. "I had too much to drink, Zac drove me to the beach and back until I was good to drive, then I went back to the beach and slept in my car for a couple of hours because I did not want to have this conversation with you, NOW. Zac IS sweet mother. He's actually pushing to meet you, even though you are so RUDE to him when he calls. I told you he was different, but I haven't told him about Danny's, and I DON'T want him to know. I only have a couple of months left of school, then Danny can kiss my ass, okay? I won't bring him around unless you PROMISE, to be nice to him and don't mention the bar when he's here." Emma told her mother.  "He doesn't KNOW?! EMMA!!!" her mother roared. "Mother, please.." Emma said softly. "Emma...he has to KNOW..." her mother urged. "Mom, I can barely take the way you talk to me. I am almost out of there. I can't finish school, keep this roof over our heads and have any time left for study or sleep without the money I make on stage. Dad left me high and dry too you, know." Emma said angrily. Her mother's eyes filled with tears and Emma was instantly sorry. "Mom..." she said softly, "I'm sorry. Please. It's just a few more weeks...he doesn't ever have to know. You know I'm not proud of it. I don't wanna see it in his face too..please mom.." she urged. "Alright Emma. For now. But you need to TELL him. If it's REALLY not permanent, he should understand."  "Thanks, mom." Emma kissed her mother's cheek. "Don't thank me. I'm not happy about this Emma." she said and hugged her daughter. "Would you be happier having to work full time to live in a box?" Emma asked sarcastically.

Emma's mother remained silent after that last remark, realizing her daughter was exhausted and upset. She also felt bad because Emma DID take the brunt of supporting the two of them. But being a stay at home mom for the 24 years she had been married to Emma's father, having no high school diploma made it difficult for her to get ANY kind of job, let alone a good paying one, and she did not want that for Emma. So, she kept her mouth shut and didn't push, knowing that Emma could do something GREAT if she just finished her education. She silently cursed Emma's father for the millionth time that day. "Emma?"  Zac sounded relieved. "I was worried when your mom said she hadn't seen you..how come you let me think you were at Jenny's?" he asked. "Because you would have given me the same lecture my mother did for sleeping at the beach, Zac. I just didn't want to do any explaining. I was tired and feeling stupid for drinking that much, that's all." she told him, cursing herself for telling half truths again. "You shouldn't sleep out there alone, Em.." Zac began and then laughed. "Oh man...I am sounding like someone's mother.." her told her and she chuckled in response. "How's your brother feeling this morning?" Emma asked him, curious to know if they'd even spoken. "He was still awake when I got home. He just rolled out of bed, but he's not hungover or anything. Why?" he asked. "Just curious.." she answered. "He did have quite a few beers, and I had a KILLER headache when I woke up." It was Zac's turn to chuckle. "Umm...Em? there IS a big difference between drinking beer and CHASING SHOTS with them, baby.." Emma laughed out loud. "Okay, you win. So what are you up to today?" she asked, then listened contentedly to him talk about the family things that he was doing that afternoon. "You workin' tonight Em?" he asked her. "No.Thank god..." she said softly. "I'll pick you up then...okay?" he half-asked, half-told her. She sighed to herself. "Okay, Zac. What time?" she asked, trying to sound cheery. She was still nervous about how her mother would act when he came by. "Around five-thirty, six o'clock? We'll have to stop back here, though. My mother is giving me a REAL hard time now that Dad got to meet you and she hasn't yet. Okay Em?" he urged. Emma closed her eyes and gave herself a pep-talk. 'you have to do this Emma...you have to...he wants this...as long as Tay was willing to help her out till she could quit...and there's only one way to find out...you have to deal with Tay, too...suck it up Emma..for Zac..' "Alright Zac. I will see you then." she said. She could just see his wide, gorgeous smile and his sparkling warm brown eyes. "Thanks Em. I can't wait to see you..." he said, his voice low. "Me either, Zac." she answered, her heart pounding at the prospect of holding him close to her again, when she had been convinced that last night was the LAST night. She only hoped that she would not be ripped apart like that all over again tonight. "Em? Are you still there?" Zac was asking. "Oh ZAC! I'm sorry, baby..yes I'm here. I was just thinking about LAST night is all.." she smiled when he groaned out loud. "Damn.." he said and chuckled. "I haven't been able to get that out of my head since I woke up, Em. What are you trying to do to me?" he joked. He smiled warmly and could see her green eyes light up with her sexy laugh, "You mean WHAT am I planning to do to you, right?" she teased. "Emmm...god. Okay. I am gonna let you go so I can take a cold shower before my brothers come in here and give me some more crap..." he adjusted the growing bulge in his pants as he walked over to the phone charger, "I'll see you soon, baby." he told her. "Okay, Zac." she giggled. "Oh shit..an address Em?" he asked quickly, grabbing a pen off Taylor's computer desk.

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