I spent the rest of my weekend following Isaac’s birthday at the dorm working on homework and designing new clothes. The fun evening I had with Isaac, Zac, Taylor, and Natalie seemed to be exactly what I needed for my muse to return. I hadn’t designed anything new in weeks, but Saturday morning I woke up early and spent well into the afternoon working on sketches and deciding what kind of materials I needed to put them together. I even decided that I was going to bring my portable sewing machine back to the dorms with me after Thanksgiving, which was that coming Thursday.

When Shalee and Danny returned from their weekend getaway, both of them were in incredibly good moods. I guessed that whatever the problem Shalee had felt was there had been solved, but I decided against asking. I was afraid she might start giving me details, and I really didn’t want to hear them.

I already had a feeling that they had sex in the dorm when I was gone, but I tried not to think about it. My biggest fear was walking in on them someday. I had already had that experience once when I was younger. It was when I was ten, and it was one of the rare occasions when I rode the bus home after school. I went into the house. I knew Emmy was supposed to be there, and I ran up to her room to tell her about the fight I had witnessed on the playground during recess, and instead of just finding Emmy, I found her and Harris having sex.

I’d be scarred ever since. Just thinking about it embarrassed me, but I think Emmy and Harris were even more embarrassed. Emmy begged me not to tell our parents. Had she been thinking, I think she would have quickly realized that I had no intention of ever repeating what I had seen to anyone. Well, except Drea, of course, who teased me about it relentlessly for at least three months after the fact.

Either way Shalee didn’t get the chance to tell me about her weekend because I got a phone call from Fleur not long after Shalee and Danny returned. Fleur informed me that her family was flying in from France and would be arriving at the Oklahoma City airport on Wednesday afternoon, and her and my dad were going to pick them up. Originally, they were supposed to come and pick me up on Wednesday, but Fleur didn’t want to drive to Oklahoma City alone, and my dad didn’t want to go pick up Fleur’s family by himself while Fleur came to get me, so Fleur more or less was calling to tell me that I had to find a ride home on Wednesday.

At first I didn’t think much of it. I called Emmy on Monday to see if she could pick me up on Wednesday, and I’d just ride home with her, Harris, and the kids on Thursday when they went to the house for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, they were going out of town on Wednesday to celebrate Thanksgiving with Harris’ mom and stepdad and were staying overnight and going to Roland from there.

I tried calling Drea, but I kept getting her cell phone, so I finally called the salon and got a hold of Mia. Mia said she didn’t know where Drea was. She was supposed to be working, but she hadn’t showed up. This news concerned me, but Mia shrugged it off as Drea still being upset about Paul, which was understandable since it had only been a couple of weeks since he died.

Since I couldn’t get a hold of Drea, I asked Mia if she could possibly come and pick me up, but she was going to Vanessa’s for Thanksgiving that day. Vanessa was Mia’s oldest daughter and Drea’s oldest sibling. Mia also had three sons, Charlie, Simon, and Davis, and Drea was the baby of her family. With that option out, I told Mia that I’d hopefully see her at Thanksgiving, given I found a ride, and asked her to have Drea called me. But I figured if Mia was going to Vanessa’s on Wednesday, then Drea probably was too, so I didn’t get my hopes up about getting a ride from her.

I really didn’t know what I was going to do since all of my obvious options were gone. As luck would have it though I was telling Shalee about my problem when Zac showed up at the dorms.

“Hey, what’s up?” he asked as Shalee let him in.

Shalee dropped back down on her bed and Zac slid into the chair at my desk.

“Well, Jude is trying to find a way home for Thanksgiving,” Shalee replied.

“What do you mean? What’s going on?” he asked.

“Well, my dad and Fleur have to pick up Fleur’s parents at the airport. My sister’s going to her mother-in-law's house. Drea and her mom are going to my oldest cousin’s house, so I have no way of getting home,” I sighed.

“And you live in …?” Zac asked.

“Roland,” I replied, falling back against my pillows with a huff.

“Is that near Muldrow?” Zac asked.

I propped myself up on my elbows and nodded. Zac looked thoughtful a moment before he took out his cell phone and pressed a couple of buttons. He brought the phone up to his ear as Shalee asked, “Who are you calling?”

Zac held up his pointer finger and started to talk into the phone. “Hey, Ike? Is that radio interview in Muldrow still on for Wednesday?” he asked. “Okay, yeah, Jude needs a ride home. She lives in Roland. It’s not far,” he was saying. “It’s cool with you?” he paused. “Okay, great. I’ll let her know.”

Zac turned off his phone and stuck it back in his pocket and turned to me. “You now have a ride. Just be ready to go by seven o’clock.”

“What? Are you serious?” I asked.

Zac nodded. “We have an interview in Muldrow, so we’ll just take you home after the interview’s over,” he shrugged.

“Oh my god, thank you so much,” I said, sighing with relief.

“No problemo,” he grinned. “So, what’s on the agenda for tonight?”

Wednesday morning I was up by five-thirty, showered by six, and ready to go by six-thirty. Shalee was still fast asleep when Zac arrived to help me carry my things down to the car, so I shook her awake and told her a quick goodbye and told I’d see her the following Monday before she promptly passed back out.

When we got down the car, we loaded my bags into the trunk, and Zac and I climbed into the back seat. Before leaving town, we went through a McDonald’s drive-thru for breakfast, and the first half of the ride was pretty quiet except for the music coming from the radio, but the time we reached the radio station, we were all awake and talking quite amicably.

During their radio interview, I sat in the lobby and started to reread Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire came out over the weekend and I had yet to see it. I was planning to see if Drea wanted to go see it while I was home over the holiday. I thought it might cheer her up. Besides, we always went to see Harry Potter together. I was the avid fan while she was still in the closet, but she read the books too. She just never admitted it to anyone. She especially liked the movies though. She had a crush on Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy. I liked to tease her about it, but I thought he was cute too – for a twitchy, little ferret, that is.

The lobby of the building was rather quiet, which surprised me at first, but Zac explained that since it was a short, last minute interview, it was unlikely that any fans would know about it, which meant that none of them would probably be there. I was grateful for that. Despite the fact that I knew they were famous, I liked keeping the illusion of them as being normal guys with normal jobs – mostly because of all the stories I’d heard about their insane fans from Shalee. I just wasn’t ready to be thrown into that type of setting.

After the interview, they came down to the lobby. Taylor was talking on the phone and Isaac was talking to Taylor, telling him to relay messages to whoever was on the other end of the phone, and Zac was rolling his eyes at the backs of his brothers’ heads. I fell in step beside him as we walked out to the car.

“What’s up?” I asked, sensing something was wrong.

“Nothing, not really. Ike and Tay just had this brilliant idea that they’d go see their friend Dylan. Apparently, he lives in Roland now,” Zac shrugged. “Anyway, I don’t really like the guy much, so hanging out at his place all day doesn’t sound that great.”

“Oh,” I frowned. “Well, you can hang out at my place if you want,” I said.

“Won’t your parents mind?” he asked.

I shrugged. “They probably won’t be back until later this afternoon, and I don’t think they’d care anyway – especially since you gave me a ride home,” I smiled.

“You really don’t mind?” Zac asked.

“No, it’s cool,” I said.

“Okay,” Zac agreed. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” I nodded.

After Taylor got off the phone, Zac told them of our plans and we hit the road. We arrived in Roland not long after and I quickly gave them directions to my house. Unfortunately, they were still doing road construction on the main road, so we had to take the detour past my old neighborhood. I’d learned to just avoid looking at my old house altogether though, so it wasn’t really a problem.

Emmy and my dad had both watched me pretty carefully every time we drove past it though, acting as if I were going to break at the mere sight of it. Thankfully, I was able to keep myself from having another zoning out episode in front of either one of them, and Drea had kept her word and not said anything to anyone else about my prior episode.

When we pulled into my driveway, Isaac, Taylor, and Zac stared up at my house in awe. “Wow, you didn’t mention you’re new friend was rich, Zac,” Isaac laughed.

“I didn’t know,” Zac chuckled.

I rolled my eyes and laughed. “I’m not rich,” I said.

“Right,” Taylor laughed. “Neither are we.”

I rolled my eyes and opened the car door. “Thanks for the ride,” I said before I got out of the car. Zac got out on his side and we got my bags out of the trunk. Zac quickly told his brothers to give him a call when they were on their way back to get him and we headed up to the front door.

I dug my keys out of my purse and unlocked and it let Zac step in before me. I then stepped inside and shut the door. I dropped my bags to the floor with a sigh and took off my coat and offered to take Zac’s as well. I hung them up in the front closet and slipped my shoes off while Zac looked around.

“So, do I get the grand tour?” he asked.

“Of course,” I nodded. “I don’t know how grand it is though.”

“Oh, don’t try to down play it,” he grinned. “This is house is huge.”

I shrugged and motioned for him to follow me. I showed him all of the downstairs, and we stopped to get drinks while we were in the kitchen before we started the tour of the upstairs.

I showed him every room except for mine. I thought about avoiding it altogether, but Zac asked about my room before I could usher him back to the stairs, so I had no choice but to show him. I didn’t know why it mattered to me. I guess I should have been used to having guys in my room since they were in and out of my room at the dorms, but that was a different setting. The dorm served several purposes – bedroom, living room, and kitchen. However, my room at home was different. It was my own place that no one except for Drea ever went in.

Emmy only entered my room on rare occasions. I think she had a bit of a phobia about it, but I couldn’t really blame her. Not after what happened back in March. I knew it was probably just as traumatizing to her as it was to me. We just never talked about it though.

I pushed the door to my room open and was delighted to find Lily curled up at the foot of my bed while Malfoy was stretched out across my window seat, bathing in the sun, and Minnie and Pansy were at snoozing at the head of my bed on top of the pillows.

“Is there some kind of a kitty convention going on in here?” Zac laughed.

I laughed and shrugged. “I guess so,” I replied. “For some reason the cats love my room.”

“Well, it’s a nice room,” Zac said, looking around. He walked over to my desk and examined the pictures on the corkboard above it. I mentally cringed. I couldn’t even remember what pictures I had on it, but I was sure they were probably pretty embarrassing. Zac didn’t say anything though. He turned and looked around at the rest of the room.

“So, do I get to hang out on your bed now since you’ve already hung out on mine?” Zac asked, grinning.

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, but you have to sing,” I replied.

“What would you like me to sing?” Zac asked as he walked over and sat down on my bed. He reached over and petted Lily, who purred happily, while he waited for me to answer.

I picked up some papers that were lying across my overstuffed chair in the corner and threw them on the floor before I sat down. “Hmm … do you have a favorite song? Like that you cover live?” I asked curiously as I curled my feet up under my body.

“Well … we have been talking about covering Change In My Life,” Zac commented.

“I don’t think I’ve heard that,” I replied. “Sing it for me?”

Zac sighed. “Fine,” he said. He cleared his throat as he sat up, and then he started singing.

When he stopped singing, he turned and looked at me expectantly. I smiled in reply, playing the words he had sang over in my mind. I could relate to the lyrics in so many ways. It seemed so odd that Zac would choose such a fitting song to sing. “Wow, you can really sing,” I commented after a moment. “And that song … wow.”

“It’s one of my favorites,” Zac commented.

“I like it,” I nodded.

“So, are you gonna serenade me again?” Zac grinned.

“No, wasn’t it evident before when you caught me that I couldn’t sing?” I laughed.

“Oh, you weren’t so bad,” Zac shrugged.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Zac, I couldn't carry a tune even if it had handles!” I cried, trying to suppress a laugh.

Zac laughed and shook his head. “I am not even going to answer that because I’ll just end up in trouble either way,” he said.

“Oh, what’s the worse that I could do to you?” I asked as Zac kicked off his green chucks and leaned back on his elbows on my bed.

“I don’t know. Shalee chased me around her house with a meat cleaver after I made fun of her when she got her first training bra,” Zac laughed. “I’m scared to piss off girls now.”

“Well, I got yelled at by my dad and put in time out for running with scissors, so I don’t think you’ll see me brandishing a meat cleaver anytime soon,” I snorted. “You and Shalee are something else though,” I said, shaking my head.

“What can I say? She’s my best friend,” he shrugged. “Drives me insane, but I love her anyway.”

“I can tell,” I nodded.

“I’m lucky to have her too,” Zac added. “After we got our record deal, me and my brothers really found out who our real friends were. Shalee was one of the few real ones who stuck with us even through the hard times.”

“Well, I don’t see her as the type to abandon people she cares about,” I commented.

“No, definitely not,” Zac agreed as he looked over at my nightstand. He looked at it curiously for a moment, and I followed his eyes and realized he was looking at a picture of Emmy, mom, and me.

“That’s my mom and sister,” I said. Zac looked up, startled by my words and I nodded toward the picture he was looking at.

“You look like her,” Zac commented after a minute.

“Who? My sister?” I asked.

“Well, yeah, you look like her, but I meant your mom,” he clarified.

“You think so?” I asked. “Everyone usually says I look like my dad. I can’t really say that I think I look like either of them though …”

“You have her nose,” Zac decided. “People say that me and Taylor have the same nose too. I’m not sure if I agree, but I’m more apt to agree with that than when people say I look like Ike and Tay.”

“I see a resemblance between the three of you,” I commented.

“I guess I can agree to that,” Zac nodded. “So, where’s you mom?” he asked. “You talk about your dad and Fleur, who I’m assuming is your stepmom, but you don’t really talk about your mom.”

“She died when I was twelve,” I replied. For some reason I thought I had told him, but then I realized that it was Shalee who I had told.

“Sorry to hear that,” Zac said. “I didn’t mean to pry … I didn’t know …”

“It’s okay,” I shrugged. “I don’t mind talking about her. I actually like talking about her. She was such an amazing person. It would be a shame not to talk about her,” I smiled.

“You’re right. I think a lot of people do that,” Zac said.

“Yeah, it took a while to get to point where I could talk about her, but now I’m okay with it,” I nodded. “I hope at some point I’ll feel the same way about Paul.”

“How are you handling that?” Zac asked.

“Surprisingly well,” I answered honestly.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Zac smiled. “So how do you get along with your stepmom – Fleur, right?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “We get along really well. I mean, she’s not my mom, but she’s there for me, and I love her.”

“That’s good,” Zac smiled. “Does your sister like her?”

“Yeah, her and Emmy are friends,” I smiled. “It seems kind of weird to say that, but Fleur’s only ten years older than Em.”

“Wow, that is weird, but that’s good,” Zac said. “I know Danny doesn’t get along with his stepdad at all,” Zac commented. “I’d hate to be in that kind of situation. I think that the whole stepparent thing actually working it pretty rare. I mean, I don’t know from experience since my parents are still together, but I know Shalee got really lucky.”

“Shalee?” I asked. “What do you mean?”

“She didn’t tell you?” he replied. “Glynnis isn’t her real mom.”

Shalee had talked about Glynnis on several occasions, but she always called her mom. Glynnis called Shalee often to check up on her and sent care packages nearly every week. I’d talked to her on the phone on a few occasions when she’d called when Shalee was out. She seemed really nice and had told me that I’d have to come home with Shalee sometime so that we could meet.

“No, Shalee didn’t tell me that,” I answered.

“Well, I guess that’s not a huge surprise,” Zac said. “I mean, as far as Shal’s concerned, Glynnis is her mom even though she didn’t give birth to her. She’s been raising Shalee and her brothers since Shalee was two,” he commented.

“What happened to her real mom?” I asked curiously.

Zac sighed. “She walked out on Shalee’s dad and left the kids with him. She only called once after she left to tell him she wanted a divorce,” he explained. “Luckily, Gerard – Shalee’s dad – met Glynnis through my mom, mind you, and they really hit it off. They were married within six months and have been together ever since.”

“Well, that’s good,” I smiled. “But I don’t understand how parents can just walk out on their kids like that. It’s just insane.”

“Yeah, I know,” Zac nodded. “That’s probably why Shalee’s not the type to abandon anyone.”

“Well, sorry that happened to her, but maybe since Glynnis’ so good to her and loves her so much, it was for the best,” I commented.

“Yeah, I’ll agree to that,” he nodded. “I know when I have kids, I’d never even think about leaving them. I see how Taylor is with Ezra and Ellie, and I can’t wait to be a dad.”

I smiled. “I’m the same way when I see my sister with my nieces,” I nodded. “I know I’m not ready, but someday I know I definitely want that.”

Zac and I were quiet for a moment, but the silence wasn’t awkward. It was just thoughtful.

“Ya know, we both have nieces named Penelope,” I commented after a moment.

Zac looked up from petting Pansy and raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, she was named after my mom, but she goes by her middle name. Well, part of it anyway. It’s Tallulah, but we just call her Lula,” I explained.

“Did you know I wrote song called Lulla Belle?” Zac grinned.

“That I did not know,” I smiled.

“Ya know, I think we’re just destined to be friends because we’re so cool,” Zac grinned.

I grinned back at him and rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t deny that it made my heart swell to hear Zac call me his friend. Up until that point I had still considered him Shalee’s friend, not mine, but hearing him say it, confirmed that we really were friends, and I was definitely okay with that.

I bit at my lip for a moment before I decided to ask a question that had been weighing on my mind for quite some time. “Hey, Zac?” I asked. “Since you’ve known Shalee and her family for so long, you might be able to answer this for me …”

“What is it?” Zac asked as he moved around until he was stretched out on his stomach across my bed with his feet hanging off the edge. He propped himself up on one elbow and waited for my question.

“When I went to that barbeque at Taylor and Natalie’s, Preston was there with Phil, and Danny kept making … insinuations that Preston’s …” I tried to find the right way to ask. I had seen how upset Shalee had been with Danny about it, and I didn’t want to take a chance of saying something offensive to Zac. “Well, he was kind of hinting that Preston’s … not straight,” I finally rambled. I looked up and watched Zac’s facial expression to make sure he wasn’t upset by my question.

He was just staring at me uncertainly, almost as if he was waiting for me to say more. I sighed. “Shalee was really upset with Danny afterward and they got into an argument, so I didn’t want to ask her, but is it true? Is he?”

“Well …” Zac began. “to tell you the truth, no one really knows. Preston’s never really said, and I don’t think anyone’s ever really asked,” Zac explained. “But Preston got made fun of a lot when he was in school, and I think Shalee’s just sensitive about people making fun of him.”

“Well, that’s understandable,” I nodded. “And sorry for asking. It’s none of my business. I was just wondering, but I didn’t want to upset her.”

“It’s cool,” Zac shrugged.

“Can I ask you a personal question?” I asked.

“Sure, go for it. I’m an open book,” he grinned.

“Okay,” I nodded. “Why do you want to get married right now?” I asked. “I mean, I understand that you love Kate, but you’re so young …”

Zac looked a little surprised by my question. He looked down, studying the pattern of my comforter for a moment before he finally looked up at me. “I guess I just felt like it was the right time,” Zac began. “Kate and I have been together for four years. I love her, so I guess marriage just seemed like the next logical step.”

I nodded. “Do you ever have second thoughts?” I asked without thinking. As soon as the words slipped out of my mouth, I wanted to take them back. When I looked at Zac, he didn’t look upset, but I was scared that I had offended him, but if I did, he wasn’t letting on. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that,” I said quickly.

“No, it’s okay,” Zac said quickly. “I don’t know that it’s necessarily having second thoughts so much as it is wondering if I jumped the gun and asked because I felt like it was what I should do rather than what I wanted to do,” he answered. “Does that make any sense?”

“Yeah, it does,” I nodded.

“We’re supposed to be getting married next April,” Zac commented. “We haven’t even started planning the wedding though,” he sighed. “I dread what it’s going to be like with Kate and Shalee after we’re married and she lives here.”

I frowned. “Well, Shalee said she’d try harder,” I pointed out.

“Yeah,” he nearly snorted. “Probably about as hard as Kate will try.” He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I’m in for a long, painful road ahead of me. And I thought dealing with a shitty A&R guy was bad.”

My heart went out to him. I couldn’t even imagine his predicament. I was always lucky because Drea and Paul were friends as well, so I always knew that if things between Paul and I turned serious, Drea would be supportive. Of course that was over now, so it was possible that someday I could be in the same situation as Zac. However, I knew that I would choose Drea over any guy any day of the week. My friendship with her meant the world to me.

After watching Zac for a moment, I felt bad for even bringing it up, so I suggested we go find something to eat, which Zac readily agreed to. Once in the kitchen, we settled for pizza rolls, and then afterward, we opened the new box of strawberry cheesecake Häagen-Dazs ice-cream.

At first we started eating out of bowls, but after one bowl, we both wanted more, so we abandoned the bowls and went to the living room and passed the carton back and forth and ate directly from it, and before long it was all gone. I really hoped that Fleur or dad hadn’t been saving it for a special occasion, but I decided that if they were, then they would just have to get over it.

Zac and I watched television and made small talk until Taylor called and said that they were on their way to get him. Part of me hated to see him go because it had turned out to be such a nice day with us just hanging out and talking, but I knew that he had to go, so when his brothers pulled up into the driveway, Zac ran upstairs to get his shoes and I got his jacket out of the closet.

He pulled his jacket on as he slipped into his shoes and we stood there awkwardly for a moment before he gave me a hug and we wished each other a happy Thanksgiving before he ran out to the car. I stood at the door and waved goodbye to Isaac and Taylor and watched them pull out of the driveway before I shut the door and went to the kitchen to put the dishes Zac and I had dirtied into the dishwasher. Then I returned to the living room and watched some more television until Fleur and dad returned home with Fleur’s parents and Fleur’s youngest sister, Chantel.