The alarm the next morning jolted me from my sleep; and when my body jerked from surprise it also woke Taylor up. He had been sleeping with me curled up in his arms, so the shock that passed through my body also passed through his.

I reached over and fumbled for a button, hitting several of them until it shut off. I rubbed my eyes a bit and heard Taylor fall back asleep. I saw some of our clothes – rather, what had remained of them when we had ventured into his bedroom the night before – strewn on the floor. My overnight bag was nearby, open with some clothes peeking out of it.

I looked at the clock; it was 8:55 AM. Taylor had probably set it to go off everyday because I sure as hell did not set it for that insane time in the morning, especially on a weekend.

I felt my eyes close again, ready to go back to sleep. But right as I was on the brink of consciousness and dreamland, the alarm went off again. My eyes opened again and this time I sat off, searching for the button to turn it off. I hit it rather violently and rubbed my eyes again, the blanket that Taylor and I were sharing being held up to my chest by one of my arms.

My sleeping boyfriend let out a small groan, opening one eye slowly and peering at me. “What are you doing?” he asked hoarsely.

“Your alarm came on so I turned it off,” I replied, yawning lightly.

“So come back to sleep.” He gave me a sleepy grin before closing his eyes again. He was back asleep in a matter of seconds; he probably wouldn’t even remember that little conversation we just had.

I sighed and got out of bed, grabbing the towel that I had used the day before and picking out some clean clothes before stepping out into the hall, peeking around to see if anyone else was awake. Okay, so two-thirds of Hanson had seen me in my birthday suit. Still, I didn’t want any of the non-boyfriends to catch me in just a towel.

Of course, that didn’t happen. I was just going to slip into the bathroom when Isaac came strolling into the hall, a cup of coffee in his hands. He startled me and I yelped, jumping back a little and causing him to step back in surprise. It wasn’t even ten o’clock yet and already the morning had been full of surprises.

“Shit!” he cursed loudly, as some coffee splashed over the side. “Trish – what the hell!”

“Sorry!” I apologized, gripping the towel against my body. “I was going to take a shower and you just walked into the hall!”

He shook his head. “It’s okay, I didn’t expect anyone to be awake, that’s all. Usually I’m the only one awake at this time; the other two are snoozing if we have nothing to do.”

I was about to say something before he interrupted me. “So – Jenn today, huh?”

“Yup. At about noon, I think. I have to call her around that time and we’re going to Citywalk to eat.”

“Cool, cool.”

A door opened and revealed an annoyed looking Zac. He looked at Isaac first before looking at me, his eyes widening a bit as if he had forgotten that I was there. “What … is going on?” he questioned, his eyes going from Isaac to me. “And … why is Trish in a towel?”

I felt an embarrassed grin on my face as I tightened the towel around my body. “I was going to shower, but I ran into Ike,” I replied.

“Scared the hell out of me, she did,” Isaac nodded.

Zac shook his head. “You people are so strange.”

“Okay, I’m going to go shower now,” I said. “See you guys in a bit.” I went into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind me.

“Trish!”

I turned around from my position in the kitchen to see Jenn coming in through the door, which had been opened by Zac. She looked wonderful and so happy; I felt a great big smile on my face as my female confidante and I let out girly squeals and hugged each other tightly, with variations of “You look great!” and “It’s been too long!” being exchanged.

“Where are the rest of the guys?” Jenn asked, after we had hugged and were at the kitchen counter, where I had been before, snacking on some grapes.

I shrugged, popping another grape into my mouth. “Mm, I think Isaac went out to get something for his guitar; Taylor’s still sleeping, I believe. And well, you saw Zac.” I turned around to see Zac walking towards us in the kitchen, all fresh and clean looking. “Speak of the devil, here he is now.”

Zac beamed at us. “Hey girls,” he greeted us, coming up next to me at the counter and grabbing some grapes. “What’s up?”

“Killin’ some time before we go to lunch. What are you up to?” I asked.

“Tay wanted to go check out the studio that we’re going to be recording at today, so we’ll probably do that.”

“What about Ike?” Jenn asked, as she took some more grapes.

“What do you care what Ike’s doing?” Zac asked teasingly, reaching behind me and lightly pushing Jenn. “Are you like, in love with him or something still?”

I looked over at Jenn, who had averted her eyes towards the counter top as if it were the most fascinating thing in the world. “Of course not,” she said, a light blush on her cheeks.

“Mmhmm, and I just became king of the world!” Zac grinned, popping a grape in his mouth.

Jenn reached behind me and gave him a shove, causing Zac to laugh and almost choke on the grape. After making sure that he was okay and after him promising he’d be more careful with the grapes, Jenn and I decided that it was time to get going to lunch. I went into Taylor’s room and saw he was still sleeping, so I scampered in, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and scampered back out, threading my arm through Jenn’s and heading out to her car.

We got to Citywalk, which was quiet and not as full of tourists as it usually was. Few people were milling around, going in and out of shops or staring in awe at everything in front of them. Jenn and I decided to eat at the Olive Garden there, quickly getting seated and opening the menu in front of us. I had just eaten grapes, but my stomach acted as if I hadn’t eaten in a few days.

“So, Jenn,” I began, as I glanced over the menu. “Tell me. What’s been up in your life? I haven’t talked to you in so long.”

“Well, as you could probably tell, Robin and I are here in L.A. He got traded to a local team out here so we moved; and it was really convenient since the guys were out here looking for an apartment. Been working on upcoming things for the boys … spending time with Robin …making new friends and what not,” she answered.

I smiled. “That’s great. How’s Robin doing in L.A.?”

“Eh, he’s fine. He says it’s taking him a while to get used to the people here, but he’s slowly getting used to it. And he loves going to Dodgers games; he wants to play for them one day. So we’ve been going to those.”

“Awesome.”

The waitress came up to us then and took our drink orders, then left us for a few minutes to decide on what we wanted to eat. Jenn and I chitchatted more, catching up on the basics that we missed out on (school, work, etc. etc.) before getting down to the nitty-gritty of our relationships. We’d be talking between bites of our dishes (we both ordered a chicken dish), chuckling quietly at some points and shrieking with laughter at others. Jenn told me that she believed that Robin was going to propose to her soon, and when I asked how she knew she shrugged and replied, “It’s just a feeling that I have.”

And then she wanted to move onto the topic of Taylor and Zac, seeing as how she got to witness all of the debauchery that went on that infamous summer. She wanted to know how we were doing, (“Fine” I replied) and if anything “interesting” had been going on. I shrugged and told her not really. Then, of course, she asked about Zac and what was going on with us.

“Well,” I said slowly, after swallowing what I could of my platter, “I hadn’t gotten to talk to him for like, a year. I saw him a bit at concerts but Tay was always taking me away for one reason or another. Didn’t really get to see him until yesterday …”

Jenn nodded. “And let me guess – something happened between you two.”

I groaned. “Is it really that obvious?”

Jenn laughed. “Nah … I could just tell by the way you two looked at each other in the kitchen.”

I shook my head. “Oh God, we should just stop looking at each other.”

Jenn smiled. “No need to do that,” she told me. “You just need to hide it better, that’s all.”

We split the bill and high-tailed it out of there, suddenly deciding that we needed to hit up Sephora. So we hopped into Jenn’s car and drove to our favorite spot in all of Southern California: Hollywood and Highland.

Jenn and I spent a long time in Sephora; so long that we lost track of time and Robin called her wondering where she was. She checked her watch and said, “Oh shit, I’m sorry hon, I’ll be there in like a half-hour okay?” before hanging up the phone. She looked down at her basket full of goodies and then back up at me. “I think we need to go check out.”

I grinned and nodded, glancing at my basket of goodies and following her to check-out. We spent a little more than we probably should have but hey, everyone needs to indulge once in a while, right? She dropped me off at the boys’ house and got out to hug me, telling me to call her if I needed her. I nodded, promising that I’d stop by to see her once more before Tay took me back to Santa Barbara. She drove off in a hurry, her cell phone ringing as she shut the door.

I knocked on the door, my Sephora bag holding all of my goodies. There was no answer for a while, so I knocked again. This time, Isaac opened the door, looking all irritated.

“Where the hell have you been?” he asked, as I waltzed in the door.

“Out. With Jenn. You remember her, don’t you? That girl that you’re in love with, she has a boyfriend …” I answered nonchalantly. I should’ve known that Isaac is in no joking mood when he’s annoyed, because he did what he used to do when we were younger and he was pissed at me: he grabbed some of my hair and gave it a slight tug, jerking my head back and making me exclaim, “SHIT!”

I turned around, rubbing the back of my head and scowling. “I was just kidding, good God!”

“I’m in no mood to be fucked with.”

“What’s wrong with you, Grumpy Gus?”

He shot me a look that let me know that I should shut my mouth. “Sorry.”

Isaac sighed. “The recording studio just fucked something up, so we got delayed a few weeks and that just pushes everything back.”

I felt bad for joking with him. “I’m sorry Ike, that sucks.”

“No kidding. So now we have to rearrange stuff and change appointments and all of this shit, and it looks like we’re going to be out here longer than planned.”

I put down my Sephora bag and held out my arms to Isaac, something he had done for me many a time. At first he hesitated; why, I’m not sure. But he let me hug him, and hug him tightly. “Everything will work out in the end,” I tried to reassure him. “It always does.”

“I know but … this is just so frustrating.”

I rubbed him on the back and let go of him. “I know. But hey; the longer you’re here in California, the more I get to see you.”

Isaac gave me a small smile. “Eh, I guess that’s one good thing that’s come out of this.”

The couch was becoming my new favorite place of the house. It was big and comfortable and it always made me want to nap on it or something. The fact that there were several pillows and a fleece throw on it didn’t make it any easier to resist. So while I was watching TV or reading for school, I was also constantly fighting the urge to just fall asleep.

It was later that night, while Jenn and Robin were enjoying some play and the boys were out, trying to do something with the recording studio. I opted to stay home and Taylor let me, saying that I’d probably be bored anyway. So I stayed home and opened a textbook, only to find the words blurring together and the couch becoming more and more comfortable. So I ended up tossing the book on the floor and grabbing a pillow, hugging it to my chest. The front door opened as I was about to fall asleep, jarring me from my cloud of near unconsciousness and bringing me back to earth.

I heard the boys talking as they filed in, one of them shutting the door behind them with a loud ‘bang’. They were using their angry voices and talking so quickly that I had trouble following their chatter. I know Isaac announced that he needed to shower and that Zac said something about needing to go to his room. More door slamming; I felt awkward just laying there.

“Swishy?” a tired but sweet voice call out. “Where are you?”

“The couch,” I answered. I heard Taylor’s footsteps come close to the couch and pretty soon he appeared in front of me. He gave me a tired smile, those eyes of his dull.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” he said. He leaned down and picked up the pillow, tossing it aside, then lay on the couch with me, picking up my arm and placing it around his body. “I hate this.” He threw his leg across mine.

“Well, if you don’t want me taking up space on the couch …” I started jokingly.

“Babe, don’t be silly.” He snuggled closer against me and kissed my nose. “I’m just so sick of this recording stuff sometimes. Makes me want to quit the business and say ‘Fuck it’.”

“But we all know that you won’t,” I said.

“’Course not. It’s just … y’know, fuckin’ frustrating, that’s all. Been screwed over several times already and this doesn’t help.”

“I’m sure it doesn’t.” I rubbed his back lightly.

Taylor let out a small sigh. “Oh well. I guess what happens, happens for a reason.” He smiled at me. “And at least I’ll have you there with me through every step of the way. Right?”

I smiled back. “Of course, baby.”

He gave me a soft kiss. “I can’t wait until we’re married, you know that?”

For some reason, my heart skipped a beat – and not in a good way, either. “Me either,” I choked out, hoping that he didn’t notice my momentarily freak out. “Me either.”