Zac spralled out on the king size bed in his hotel room. He shoved an enormous handfull of peanuts into his mouth and continued to stare at the TV screen.

"Oh, Jake...I want you to love me. I love you!"

"Vicky, of course I love you and I want to marry you. But what about Bobby? How do I know that you still don't love him."

"I don't. You are the one I want, the one that I've been waiting for all my life!"

"Oh, Vicky!"

"Oh, Jake!"

"What in the world are you watching, Zac?" Taylor burst into the hotel room and plopped down at the edge of the bed.

"Uh, nothing. It's just on, that's all," Zac said with his mouth half full of nuts.

"This is a soap opera! You're watching a soap opera?" Taylor snickered under his breath.

"No...I mean yeah, but that's 'cause there's nothing else on." Zac pushed himself off of the bed. His leg knocked over the jar of nuts and they spilled over the side of the bed and onto the floor. "Great." Zac started to scoop up the peanuts. "You know, you could help me with this."

Zac looked up and saw his brother staring intensely at the TV.

"Grant is mayor! He's a killer! He killed Ryan. Bay City is going to suffer!"

"Hey, Zac, I thought that Grant was in jail or something."

"Nah, they let him go. They said that he was crazy and that then he got better so they kicked him out of this nuthouse that he was in."

"Oh, so now he's running for mayor?"

"He's already mayor. And he's married to that psycho chick. Um, the one that was a nurse."

Suddenly, the door opened again and Ike walked in carrying a pile of sheet music. "Yo, delivery."

"What's that?"

"This is just some stuff that I was working on in my room. I was just gonna play it for ya' but I got productive and actually wrote it out. Aren't you proud of me?" Isaac sat next to Tay on the bed and looked up at the TV.

"Zac, are you watching soaps again?"

"No...yes." Zac scooped up the last of the nuts and threw the closed jar on the bed. "But Tay was watching too!"

"Yeah, dream on, Zac," Tay laughed.

"Hey! You knew all the characters! You were talking about it."

Taylor leaned over to Isaac. "The kid's gone a little demented. Must be all those steamy love scenes he's watching." They both chuckled as Zac snarled at them.

"Oh, forget it. You guys are so immature. It's not my fault that Mom got me hooked. I didn't have a choice, it was just on."

"Whatever, Zac...so Ike, is it any good?"

"What?"

"The stuff you wrote." Tay snatched up one of the sheets and layed back on the bed. "Oooh. Lyrics."

"I was just fooling around."

"You're my sun and moon, my stars in the sky...kinda sappy." Tay threw down the sheet and picked up another. "You're the beat of my heart? My lovin' is all yours? Uh, this doesn't really sound like us, Ike."

"Why not?"

"Well, you're singing it, then. Not me, that's for sure. No way Mercury is gonna except this; it's so mushy."

Ike grabbed the music from Taylor's hand and gathered the papers together. "Well, whatever. I like it."

Taylor laughed. "Who in the world were you thinking about when you wrote that?"

"Nobody! I'm not dating anyone."

"I didn't say you were. I'm just saying that the song is way to love-sick to be made-up stuff." He continued to smirk.

"I think it's okay," Zac said as he once again opened the jar of peanuts.

"Thank you, Zac." Ike glared at Taylor who was by now rolling absent-mindedly on the bed making silly sounds and singing Ike's lyrics in a gushy tune.

"You are in one weird mood, bro. I'm glad we are going back to Tulsa tomorrow. I think you definately need a vacation."

Taylor could barely get out his words through his giggles. "No, I think you need a Ginger!"

Zac smiled at Tay's antics and joined his brother in a rowsing 'Ike and Ginger, sittin' in a tree.'

"Okay, that's it. I'm going back to my room. You know what the only thing bad about having this promo tour end is? That I won't have a private hotel room anymore. I'm gonna have to share again with you munchkins."

"Oh, yeah, Ike, you're a man..." Tay gasped in between laughs.

"What is wrong with you people? Fine, I'm gone. Goodbye!" Ike slammed the door shut.

"Well, he wasn't in a great mood, was he?" Tay said as he sat up.

"You know how they get at that age...so moody!" Zac and Tay both started to laugh again. Tay's foot hit the jar of nuts and it flew off the bed and to the ground.

"Well, I'm definately not eating those now, Zac."

Zac just sighed.

By the following night, the family was arriving home after the month-long promo tour for the Christmas album. Waiting for them at the front entrance to the house was a pile of gifts, dead flowers and assorted cards left by fans.

"Hey, look at this one. It says, 'Ike, my hunka-hunka-lovin' man of steel.' Man of steel? She calls you a gentle giant! Ha ha ha ha!"

Ike grabbed the card out of Zac's hand. "Oh, come on, that's sweet."

"Boys, move for a second," their mom said as she pushed them out of the way carrying a sleeping Mackie in her arms.

"Help with the luggage, boys!" Their father motioned to them from the van. "And that means you too, Zac."

"Man, Tay, all of these are for you." Zac shoved a pile of cards and boxes into Tay's arms. "Not fair."

"Hey, I don't want 'em. You can have them."

"Oh, I want your love letters. I don't think so." Zac glanced down. "Yay! For me!" He grabbed a large box with the words 'I love Zac' scralled on the top.

"Zac, don't touch it. Remember what we told you about packages like that? We have to look inside first, okay," his father said as he passed by carrying a heap of carry-ons.

"Aw, no fair."

The boys dropped all of their stuff on the floor of their room. "Why does this place always look so small after we come back from somewhere?"

"Maybe it's because you're growing Zac...out," Ike smirked.

"Not! I'm slimming down!"

"Just kidding, bud. Don't get all offended."

Tay made a beeline for the phone. Just as he was about to pick up the reciever his mother slammed his hand and the reciever down. "Not tonight, Tay."

"Please?"

"No. It's too late and you are too tired."

"It's so amazing how you can know how tired I am even when I don't."

"Don't get sarcastic with me. I want you to get some rest. I want all of you to get some rest." She pointed her finger at Zac who was jumping up and down on his trundle bed.

"It's 8:00! We don't have bedtime!" Zac exclaimed.

"Tonight you do," she said as she left the room, shutting off the lights on her way out.

The three were motionless for a moment in the dark. Zac plopped down on his trundle. Ike stood in the middle of the room and Tay sat by the phone.

"I can't believe she just did that," Tay muttered.

"Nah, Ash, I don't think that's gonna work."

The following morning Ike watched his brother gabbing away on the phone. He spooned a bit of soggy Raison Bran into his mouth.

"I said no. I...Ashley...Ashley! Are you even listening to me...fine...fine...no...no way...what did she tell you? ... what?!" Tay slammed his hand down on the kitchen counter. "I can't believe she said that! Okay...no...Ash...don't call her. I said don't call her...I'm...I'm...I'm hanging up...yes...as in bye Ash." Taylor sighed and picked up the reciever and began to dial.

"What's up?"

"I'll tell you later," Tay said as he brushed off Ike.

"Yeah, hi, this is Taylor. Can I speak to Leigh-Ann please."

Ike continued to play with his cereal and listen discretely to his brothers broken phone conversation.

"Leigh-Ann. Yeah, it's Taylor...what? ... okay, bye." Taylor slammed the reciever down. "I need chocolate."

"It's 10:00am."

"So?" He stuck his head into the cabinet and began moving stuff around.

"Where is Leigh-Ann?"

"Her mom says that she can't talk right now." He pulled out a can of chocolate milk mix. "Ew, this stuff has been here forever." He opened it and took a whiff. "And it smells like it too."

"So, what was that stuff with Ashley all about?"

At this reminder Taylor looked up and suddenly got an intense look in his eyes. "Do you know what Leigh-Ann has been telling everyone?"

"No, actually I don't."

"That I'm completely depressed and psycho."

"Are you sure she said that Tay?"

"Pretty sure. Why would Ashley lie?"

"I'm not saying he's lying, just maybe exagerrating. Plus, you were very weird before we left. Even after we left," Ike mumbled.

"Yeah, so? That doesn't give her the right to go around talking about me. I bet she told everybody everything about the treehouse and the funeral..." Taylor trailed off, realizing his brother didn't know about the treehouse or what happened at the funeral. He didn't particularly want to explain how he had basically sobbed on Leigh-Ann's shoulder up in the treehouse, or how he made-out with her at Rebecca's funeral -- something which he wasn't very proud of.

"What about the treehouse?"

"Nothing." Taylor grabbed a Snickers bar that he managed to find under some licoriche whips in the cabinet.

"Yeah, right. What happened?"

"You are way too nosy for your own good. Haven't we talked about this before?"

"Come on Tay. It'll make you feel good to let it all out."

"Nice try." Tay shoved the last peice of the half-melted candy bar into his mouth.

"You sure scarfed that down. Come on. What is such the big deal? What about the treehouse?"

"Ike!? Can't you mind your own business?" Taylor wiped the chocolate off his mouth and grabbed the box of cereal on the counter. He rummaged through it looking for the prize.

"Tay..."

"Fine. We just talked about stuff, okay, about...Rebecca...and stuff." Taylor's voice got softer and he seemed to enter into a daze for a moment. He quickly snapped out of it and stuffed dry cereal flakes into his mouth.

"That's all?"

"Yup."

"And the funeral?"

"What?"

Ike was getting frustrated at his brothers avoidance of all his questions. "You said something about what happened at the funeral."

"Ike...that's personal." Taylor got up and walked out of the kitchen with the box of cereal.

"Oooookay..." Ike mumbled.

The doorbell rang. Taylor sprang up from the couch and ran to get it. He almost tripped over a decapitated Barbie head left on the floor. "What the? Avery, pick up your dead Barbie, will ya?"

Avery sat on the floor gently brushing the hair of one of her bigger dolls. "I can't. She's been bad so she needs to be punished."

"You are getting stranger by the day, Avie." Tay kicked the head towards his little sister and opened the front door.

Leigh-Ann stood at the entrance wearing the shortest skirt Taylor had ever seen her, or any girl his age, wear. "Uh, hi Leigh-Ann. Nice...outfit?" Tay shifted his eyes to the ceiling, trying to avoid looking at her.

"Oh my gosh, it's too short isn't it? Wait, where's a mirror?" Leigh-Ann pushed her way in and ran to the bathroom. "Yup! For once my mom was actually right! I look like a...okay, I'm going home to change."

"Why are you wearing that?" Taylor stood outside the bathroom, straining to see her reflection in the mirror.

"It's stupid."

"What?"

"One of my friends from school, you don't know her, she said that I dressed like a boy and she lent me this skirt and...I swear it looked better on her."

"How tall was she?"

"Four foot, 9 inches."

"That would explain it, then." Tay started to laugh at Leigh-Ann's nervous fidgeting in the mirror. That was until he remembered what Ashley had told him. He leaned into the doorway of the bathroom. "Hey, I need to talk to you about something."

"Can it wait? I really want to change. I am feeling so uncomfortable in this."

"No, it actually can't." Tay grabbed her arm and pulled her into his room. "Have you been telling everyone that I went psycho?"

"Huh?"

"Ashley said that you have been talking about me and..."

"I only said that you were a little depressed about Rebecca, I mean I told Jamie that you were getting better."

"Did you tell them about the treehouse?"

"What? Oh, the treehouse. I mean, maybe I mentioned it to Jamie..."

Taylor let go of his grasp on her arm. "What? Jamie? I don't even know her."

"Him."

"Him? Leigh-Ann, that was private!"

"Hey, come on. I needed to talk to somebody too, you know. It's not like it was so easy for me either."

"But that doesn't mean you go around telling people about my private things! It's not your place to tell." Taylor couldn't believe how inconsiderate Leigh-Ann could be.

"It's not like we talked about you. It just came up when I was talking about stuff. We didn't have a whole conversation about you."

"Did you tell him about the funeral too?"

"I...well..." She looked down in shame and started fiddling with a tassle on her shirt.

"Leigh-Ann! Oh my God! Who is this guy?"

"Just a friend. I swear."

"He can be your freakin' boyfriend for all I care," Tay muttered as he shoved passed her and left the room.

Leigh-Ann sighed and rolled her eyes. Taylor was finally acting halfway normal and now was the time he decides to get mad at her. "Fabulous. So moody...so very moody."

"You know that talking to yourself is a sure sign of looniness."

Leigh-Ann looked up and saw Zac standing by the doorway munching on a bag of popcorn. Jessica was standing behind him gazing at Leigh-Ann's skirt. "Nice outfit."

"Aaaaaagh!" Leigh-Ann threw her hands in the air and stormed out of the house.

"She was in a hurry," Jessica said as she snatched Zac's bag of popcorn and darted for her room.

"Hey..."

Isaac took aim and shot the basketball in the air, and air was all it saw. It hit the grass with a thud and rolled towards the park fence. He leaned down to pick it up when two hands grasped the ball and lifted it up. Ike followed the hands with his eyes and ended up face to face with Ginger. She gave him a shy grin.

"Hi Ike."

"Hey Ginger." He slyly smiled and took the basketball from her. He looked her up and down. She was covered from head to toe with a huge overcoat. "Were you at church or something?"

"Yeah, Wednesday service. Sometimes I don't go, but I think my mom wants me to get more involved with the youth groups and stuff. I don't know, sometimes I think Sunday service is long enough."

"I know what you mean." They stood for a moment saying nothing. Ginger swayed back and forth nervously.

"So...I thought you had a basketball hoop at your house. I mean...that's what I heard."

"Oh, we do. But Zac and his friend, Kevin were using it and I didn't feel like playing with twelve year olds today. You wanna play?"

"Sure! Wait." She giggled and looked down at her outfit. "I'm wearing a dress and heels under this coat."

"So? I'll give you two points, 'kay?"

"No way, Isaac Hanson. I don't take freebies." She smiled and grabbed the ball from his hands. She dribbled it to the free throw line and took a shot. The ball swooshed through the net with ease.

"Nice shot!" Ike picked up the ball and took his place on the free throw line. He aimed and shot. The ball bounced of the rim and landed in a puddle of soaking grass and mud. "And that...wasn't."

"Don't feel bad. I was on my school's JV Basketball team. I think I could've made Varsity too. I wanted to do drama instead though."

"Wow, so you're athletic and creative. What don't you do?" Ike smiled at the tiny girl, who looked nothing like a basketball player.

The two stared at eachother for what seemed like forever. But this silence wasn't an uncomfortable quiet. Ginger finally broke the silence. "So, Ike, did you hear about Amy and James?"

"Nah, well, I guess I would have but I just got back yesterday. What about them?"

"They are hot and heavy."

At this comment Ike nearly choked on his own breath. Just the way she put it: hot and heavy. He couldn't imagine Amy shutting up long enough for it to get that far. "That's quite...interesting."

"Yeah, I know! Finally, she found herself a guy that didn't mind hearing her voice 24/7."

Ike couldn't help laughing at this comment. "I thought she was your best friend."

"Don't get me wrong. I love her to death, but she can get a bit overwhelming at times."

"To put it lightly." Isaac stared at her for a moment. He knew that this would be the perfect moment to ask her out. She certainly looked interested. After all, she called him before he left for the trip. She had to be interested, right? "So, Ginger..."

"So...Ike..."

He looked around the park for some kind of moral support, but all he saw was two old people on a bench feeding the birds. He hadn't been out with a girl in such a long time. With the touring and the promotion he just didn't have time. Now that he found someone he wanted to spend time with, he couldn't remember how to act. "Do you think you might want to..."

"Yeah?"

"Play some more?" The moment he said it, he inwardly slapped himself. Why was this so difficult?

She looked down in dissapointment. "Actually, I should be going. My mom's probably wondering where I am."

"Oh, okay."

She turned and started to walk away. Isaac watched her leave. "You jerk!" he muttered to himself. "What are you? Twelve years old? It's not like you haven't been out on a date before." Ike took one more stab at his free throw. The ball flew up into the air and swoooosh; nothing but net. "Now that's perfect timing."

"Taylor, come back, please?" Leigh-Ann tried to run to catch up with Tay who was halfway down the block. Her skirt restricted her leg movement but she finally managed to waddle up to him. "Don't be mad, please?"

"Auuugh! Leigh-Ann, why do you always feel you have to follow me everywhere I go?" He turned around and started walking back to the house.

"I do not!"

"Sure you do. I'm not some fragile thing that always has to be comforted by you. I can deal with things. That may come as a surprise, but I can." He picked up his pace and she followed.

Leigh-Ann moved in front of him. He swerved to try and get around. She moved in front again. They continued to swerve back and forth until Taylor once again turned around and started walking in the other direction. Leigh-Ann continued to follow him.

"Leigh-Ann, I don't think you're getting the hint." He stopped and stared her in the face. "I want to get away from you." He exagerrated the words for effect.

"Okay, I was stupid. I shouldn't have told Jamie all that stuff. It was a mean, aweful, horrible, unforgivable thing to do."

"Yup, it was," Taylor said as he once again started moving away from her.

"But, friendship is about forgiveness, right?" She yelled as he continued to walk.

He stopped and turned to face her. "Yeah, but not right after the crime has been committed. Can't you at least give me a week or two to be completely hateful towards you?"

She didn't know why but she found his statement amusing and began to giggle. He didn't find it so funny, though.

"I am leaving now, Leigh-Ann, and I expect to be leaving alone. Just in case you get the urge to follow me, I will be at Stone's Arcade...or maybe I won't be there. Maybe I'll be somewhere completely different and you will have to search the entire city for me."

"Well, not really. If you plan on walking there is only so many places you can go."

"That's not the point Leigh-Ann." He dug his fingers into his scalp in frustration. "I'm trying to get across to you that I don't really want to be around you right now."

"That's a rude thing to say!"

Taylor walked up to her and looked her right in the eye. "Go home, Leigh-Ann and stare at your JTT and Dawson's Creek posters. Keep yourself busy. Talk to Jamie and have a blast. Maybe, and I mean maybe, in the future, I might decide that I want to forgive you. Then we can be friends again. Until then, I want to get back to something halfway normal. I just want to have fun okay? And I can't when seeing you reminds me of..." He stopped in mid sentence.

"Wait a minute. That's it, isn't it. You're not all mad at me because of what I told Jamie."

"Believe me, I am."

"Okay, but that's not the whole thing is it. Great, Tay. I'm the friend to get all weepy with during bad times, but that's all I'm good for?"

"No, I didn't say that. You always over-think things."

"So? I think a lot. That's not a bad thing." She took a step away from him. "I remind you of Rebecca don't I? You're finally starting to deal with it and feel better so now I'm of no use, right? Right?"

"No, that's not what I said."

"You didn't have to." She shot him an accusing look.

"Wait a minute! I'm supposed to be mad at you."

"Taylor! Hey, man!"

Taylor and Leigh-Ann both turned to see Ashley rollerblading down the hilly street towards them. He managed to stop himself right before crashing into the two. "Woah, that was close. Hey, Leigh-Anny-Anny! What are you two kids up to?"

"Hey, Ash. I thought I was meeting you up at Stone's?"

"Yeah, you were, but that was about a half an hour ago, so..."

"Oh, gawd, sorry."

"Got anything to eat at your house? I am staaarving." Ashley looked at Leigh-Ann who seemed to be ready to burst into screams. "Did I interrupt something? You two weren't about to go have one of your make-out sessions were you?"

Taylor shot Leigh-Ann a harsh glare.

"Oh, she didn't tell me Tay. John did. I think he heard it from Jake who heard it from...Cathy, who I think heard it from Kevin..."

"Zac's friend?"

"Yeah! That's him. His cousin's name is Jamie. And I think Jamie probably did hear it from Leigh-Ann, though. Sorry, Leigh."

"Wait...Zac's friend knows, which means that...oh, gosh!" He covered his face with his hands. "I'll never live this down!"

Leigh-Ann didn't dare say a word for fear it would make him burst. Taylor could only think of one thing to do: get back to his house before his indescretions were revealed to the entire family. And if his parents found out then it wouldn't be a Merry Christmas break at all.