"I'll get it!" Ike yelled from downstairs. Zac looked at himself in the mirror. He never thought he would use his tux after the Grammy Awards last year. Thinking of the Grammys brought more memories from the past. Zac put them in the back of his mind, vowwing that tonight he would concentrate on having fun.
"Zac! Cory's here!" Ike yelled.
"I'm coming! Hold up." Zac yelled as he ran down the stairs. He walked to the kitchen, where he got Cory's corsage out of the refridgerater, and walked to the entry way.
He gasped at what he saw. Cory stood there, looking simply breathtaking. She had worn a long black velvet dress that fell on her just right, turning her okay figure into a curvy one. Her hair was swept up, with little tendrils hanging down. Her make-up was lightly and naturally applied, with slightly more than she normally wore around her eyes.
"What? Is it my hair?" Cory asked as he stood there, taking her in.
"Oh, no. It's not that. You just look so nice. I don't think I've ever seen you quite like this." Zac admitted.
"Oh, here. Your tie's crooked." she reached forward and straightened it.
"Thanks." he said, breathing in the scent of her perfume, one that he had grown up with. "Oh, here! I forgot to give you this!" he took the corsage and gave it to her, suddenly remembering that he had it.
"Oh! Thank you!" she looked at it. "Pin it on me!" he took it out of it's container and pinned it on her dress.
"Oh, you two just look so cute together!" Ike gushed.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Zac regained his composure."Ready to go?" he asked Cory.
"Sure. Where's your car?" she asked. Cory loved his car, a '58 Chevy.
He led her up to it and opened the door for her. "Why, thank you." she said in a fake-British accent.
Zac escorted Cory into the gym. When they got there, some of they guys started eyeing Cory.
"Hey, Hanson, is she yours?" one asked, after a few minutes.
"Nope, we're just friends." Zac replied.
"Well then you won't mind if I ask her to dance?" he pressed on.
"Nope." Zac said.
The guy walked up to Cory, who was talking to some friends, and asked her to dance. Cory looked over at Zac, with a "can I?" look.
He nodded, and decided to go over to the bleachers. He hated looking over at Cory, who was having a blast out on the dance floor. Instead, he began thinking about happier times, when his group was still big. It wasn't that they didn't still get recognized, just that he had had so much fun when he and his brothers had been younger.
"Hey, why the long face?" Tarin came up to him.
"Oh, I'm just kinda depressed." Zac replied.
"I'll make you feel better." Tarin said with her throaty, flirty voice.
"No, I don't think it's that easy." Zac responded.
"Try me." she said, coyly, running her fingers down his chest.
"No, Tarin, not now." Zac said, remembering a few months back when he would have given anything to kiss her. He got up and walked over to a little corner, and as he did, the DJ introduced a song called 'The Rose'.
"Hey, here's one from a few years ago, it's called 'The Rose'." she said, "So get close to the one you love, it's a slow dance."
Zac listened to the song-
"Some say love it is a river
that drowns the tender reed.
Some say love it is a razor
that leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love it is a hunger
an end less aching need."
Zac couldn't help it, he felt a tear slowly fall down his face, his mother loved this song, and he could just see her, in her cold hard hospital bed, losing her hair from her Kemo treatments.
"I say love it is a flower
and you it's only seed.
It's the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance."
Just then he felt a hand on his shoulder. Zac looked up, to find Cory. She wrapped her arms around him and held him.
"It's the dream afraid of waking
that never takes the chance.
It's the one who won't be taken
who cannot seen to give
and the soul afraid of dyin'
that never learns to live.
When the night has been to lonely
and the road has been too long
and you think that love is only
for the lucky and the strong
just remember in the winter
far beneath the winter snows
lies the seed that with the sun's love
in the spring becomes the rose."
Cory didn't let go. She just kept right on holding him as a fast paced song came on. After another minute or so, she pulled back, putting one hand on each of his shoulders. She gave him a pleading look. He guessed it was about why he had been crying.
"That, that song. It's one of my mom's favorite's." he told her.
"Oh, Zac!" she hugged him again.
They hugged, rocking back and forth, until a slow song, another oldy, came on. This one was "All My Life" by K-Ci and JoJo.
They began to slowly rock to the music, hugging eachother tightly. Zac put his hands on her waist, and breathed in the scent of her shampoo. A scent that he recognized from the summer's he spent with Cory when they were younger, about six or seven.
At the end of the song, they broke apart.
"Thank you." he said.
"Oh, you just looked so lonely, and I couldn't leave my friend here, crying in a corner by himself." she said. "So I did the most natural thing I could, I came and I gave you a hug."
Zac smiled, wiping his eyes, hoping that no one had seen him crying.
"I love guys that show their emotions like that." Cory gushed. "But, I think we should cut this formal short. I want to take you out somewhere where we can be alone and talk normally, not shout over music." she grabbed his wrist and led him to the door, where they picked up their coats and the picture that they took when they had first come in.
"Okay, how's about we go to Denny's?" asked Cory. "They are the only restaurant decent enough that is open 24 hours a day."
"Sure." Zac said, not wanting to argue.
They arrived at Denny's, Cory putting down her hair, complaining that it was falling out anyways, and she liked it better down.
Zac didn't argue, it reminded him of them when they were little...
(FlAsHbAcK)
A nine year old Zac knocked on the door.
"Hello." Cory's dad said, as he opened the door."Cory'll be down in a second. Hold on."
"Okay!" Zac yelled, hyper after having two Jolts.
Cory ran down the stairs.
"Ugh. I absolutely HATE it when my hair is up." she said, as she closed the door. Cory glanced back at her house as they walked the two blocks over to Zac's house. When it was out of sight, she pulled the rubber-bands out of her french braided hair.
Cory ran her fingers through the braids, pulling them apart. Zac could smell the shampoo from her hair.
"There. When will she learn that I hate my hair up? It's so uncomfortable!" she yelled in the direction of her house.
(EnD FlAsHbAcK)
"Remember when your mom used to put your hair up in a french braid every day when we went to my house?" asked Zac.
"Yeah, those were the days, weren't they?" responded Cory.
"Everything was different. I mean, we were only nine." Zac realized.
They walked into the restaurant.
"How many?" the hostess asked.
"Just two." Cory replied for them.
"Right this way." she replied, noting the clothes that the couple was wearing.
They sat at a booth and looked at their menus.
"Zac?" Cory asked.
"Yeah?" he answered.
"What happened at the hospital with your mom today?" she asked.
He looked down, not wanting her to notice the fresh tears getting ready to fall from his eyes. "She said that she was coming home in a week."
"Zac, that's great!" she smiled.
"Yeah, but we talked about alot of ather stuff, too." he said.
"Like what?" she asked.
"I don't know if I want to tell you." he answered.
"Oh come on Zac, I'm not going to tell!" she laughed at his suspicion.
"It's not th-"
Zac was interupted by the sound of his pager going off.
"It's Tay, and he says that it's an emergency." Zac said, looking at the codes on his numeric pager that read, "69-" which stood for Taylor, followed by "555-6745" which was Tay's number at his apartment, and at last, "-911" which stood for 'It's an Emergency'.
"Okay. But we aren't done with this conversation yet." she reminded him as he walked off, looking for a pay-phone.
"Tay, what is it?" Zac asked as Taylor answered the phone.
"It's Lauren. She left me because we got in a fight." Taylor said, speaking with a stuffy nose, like he had been crying.
"What happened?" asked Zac. He could not believe that Lauren had left, let alone got in a fight with Taylor. She was as sweet as an angel.
"Well, promise you won't tell mom or dad, or anyone else?" Taylor asked.
"Yeah, I guess." Zac said.
"No, I'm serious, if you tell, I will never talk to you again." Tay pressed on.
"Okay, okay! I won't tell, I promise." Zac answered.
"Well, Lauren kinda has this thing in her." he said.
"Oh, she's sick? What sort of thing?" Zac asked.
"Well, it's more of an it." Taylor responded.
"An it? What in the lord are you talking about?" he asked again.
"God, Zac! Do I have to spell it out for you? She's pregnant!" he yelled.
"What?!" screamed Zac.
"You heard me! She's pregnant." he said.
"Oh, my gosh, Tay. How did that happen?" Zac asked.
"Zac, are you six again? How do you think she got pregnant?" he asked, somewhat sarcastically.
"What I meant was, did you do it?" Zac asked.
"I don't know. I mean, I think so. I really don't want to think about the other possibility." Tay revealed.
"Gosh, Tay." Zac took a deep breath.
"I know. She told me, and I was, like, happy and sad and confused and angry all at the same time. I kinda yelled at her, telling her that she'd ruined everything." Tay stopped.
"Why did you do that? It was as much you as her!" Zac said.
"I know. It's just that I had just got back from visiting mom, and she had told me that she hoped that I was being careful with Laura. I get home, and she tells me this, and mom's words just echo in my mind." Tay sighed. "I've really screwed up now."
"You really should talk to Ike about this. He always gives the best advice. I, well, I am kinda an ammature at this sort of thing." Zac suggested.
"Ike would just tell on me, besides, you understand more, I think. He doesn't really know how the real world works. We all were raised in such a sheltered environment. You, on the other hand, are in a public high school now. You know about the real world." Tay told him.
Just then, Cory walked down the hallway, looking for Zac.
"Zac, what happened? It can't possibley be that important that-"
"Shhhh!" Zac hushed her.
"Is it your mom?" Cory tried.
Zac looked over at Cory with a dirty look on his face. "Look, Tay, can I call you later, when I'm home?" he asked.
"Sure," Tay said, "and Zac?"
"What?" Zac asked.
"Thank you." Taylor said, as Cory stood in front of Zac with her hands on her hips.
"For what?" Zac asked.
"Well, I guess, just for being there."
"Look, Tay, I really have to go. Cory is about to ring my neck." Zac said.
"Ohhhh, Cory. I heard about your little date from mom today." Taylor teased.
"Oh, come on Tay! You know that we are just friends!" Zac said.
"Sure. Well, bye!" Tay said.
"Bye." Zac hung up the phone.
"What is it?" asked Cory.
"Nothing. Come on, lets go back to the table. Hey Cory?" Zac asked, stopping.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"Well, um, lets say you were living with your boyfriend, and you get pregnant."
"Zac, what's this all about?" she asked.
"It's just a hypothetical question. Just listen. And your boyfriend gets all mad at you and you leave. What would you do?" he asked.
"Zac, this is about Tay, isn't it?" she asked.
"No" he answered.
"Well, something about that phone call was important. Now tell me." she said again.
"I really don't think I should, or can." he admitted.
"No, Zac. Tell me what was so important! I heard you yell all the way from in here!" she said, as they walked back to their booth.
"Well, I'm not really allowed to." he said.
"Zac, do I have to tell you yet again?" Cory asked.
"I know, I know. I can trust you." he recited as if he were learning from a grammar book.
"That's right. You can. Now tell me." she demanded.
"Oh, all right. But promise you won't tell. I will get busted big time if Tay finds out." Zac said, giving in.
"Okay, I won't tell." she said.
"It's true." he admitted.
"What?" she asked, her eyes getting even bigger than usual.
"It's true. His girlfriend's pregnant." he said, sighing.
"Your family is just going through too much!" she said, placing her hand on top of his, just as their food arrived. "I ordered that usual for you, I hope it was what you wanted."
