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the day passed quickly as sutton helped the boys unpack and listened to their stories of their time in new york and some stories of the past year. everyone retired to bed early, the boys happy to be home and sutton exhausted from planning for their arrival and worrying about what it would be like when they were indeed home. everyone slept in late the next morning, and soon it was night time. after supper, everyone had gathered in the large family room, scattered about on sofas and chairs in front of the television to watch “live at the ten spot.” “i’m not sure i really want to watch us,” taylor said bashfully as he stretched out in a leather recliner, avery atop his lap. “you’re just embarassed cos you took that carnation someone threw on the stage and hooked it to your microphone and don’t want everyone to make a big deal about it,” zac smirked from across the room. taylor rolled his eyes and flung a small pillow at him. sutton looked over to him; her brow creasing as she suddenly realized that she hadn’t been informed of many matters concerning the guy’s feelings towards girls they had met while promoting the past year. the faint blush on taylor’s cheeks sent her mixed signals, but she brushed her questions away, assuring herself it was none of her business. “okay, you two,” walker reprimanded. “its about to start.” as the television show started, sutton scooted up closer to the tv to watch her best friends perfom a concert that would be similar to how their tour concerts would be. she smiled as isaac, zac and taylor came out with silly string and sprayed the audience, and marvled at their energy and how well they sounded. taylor cautiously watched his performance, extremely critical whenever he saw himself perform live or whenever he and his brothers caught one of their tv performances. despite being in the lime light for the past year, he was still very bashful and shy when it came to evaluating his performances, as well as his brothers, and he often felt shy when complimented; always knowing there was something he could improve on or he should have done better. isaac and zac watched, with a little more ease, though they scattered off to the kitchen during a commercial and had to be called back into the living room to watch. taylor slowly walked back in the room, extremely embarassed from having to watch himself on tv. he slowly sat on the couch next to sutton, who supportively patted his leg. “i never would be able to watch myself on tv, either,” she softly said. “its awful, i hate it.” he said. “but dad always makes us watch our performances when we’re on tv to show us what to improve on and what to do better next time,” taylor said more loudly, so everyone in the room could hear. “i know,” isaac agreed. “sometimes we know we did awful and we’re embarassed, and don’t need to watch every single show. you guys already tape them, and i know you’ll probably show them to us when we’re 40 years old.” “okay, okay, sons. if you don’t care to watch, at least be quiet so sutton and your mother and siblings can watch.” walker said. after live at the ten spot was over, diana accompianed the younger kids up to bed with walker, followed by isaac and zac. sutton stretched and removed herself from the couch and into the kitchen, as she pulled out the orange juice from the fridge. “i know you probably don’t want to hear it from me, but that was really awesome taylor. i’m really proud of you guys,” sutton said as she poured herself a glass. “thank you,” taylor said sluggishly as he sat at the bar. “can you pour me some, too?” he asked. sutton nodded and looked back to him. “i don’t so much mind watching us perform if i’m just with ike and zac... but with the whole family i get really self conscious. not that they never have seen us perform before or anything...” “i think i know what you mean,” sutton said as she pushed a glass of orange juice towards taylor. “its different when they’re watching you perform live and in person, too, probably.” taylor nodded. sutton sensed he didn’t wish to elaborate about his feelings, or the subject of their tour, so she silently put the juice back in the fridge, and made her way to the hallway. “i’ll see you tomrrow, okay?” “yep,” taylor said into his glass. “night sutton.” \\ the next evening, sutton stood in front of her closet, knowing that she shouldn’t have had such a hard time determining what to wear to their simple dinner celebration. she pulled out a black skirt and several dresses and laid them out on her bad as she plopped onto her desk chair and sighed. as she sat trying to decide what to wear there was a knock at her door. “come in,” she called and twirled around in circles on her desk chair as zac entered her room. “hey, sutt. i need some scissors, my mom said you probably had some in here. “sure,” she smiled at zac who was holding the tag of his shirt up out of his collar. sutton twirled around to her desk and pulled out a pair of kids scissors and stood to clip off the tag from his shirt. “you sure look awfully nice.” “thanks. i try, you know. so why aren’t you dressed yet?” he asked as he fixed the collar of his shirt as sutton resumed the twirling in her desk chair. “i don’t know what to wear,” she leaned her head back and looked at zac who appeared upside down as he went over to her bed. “is this place really fancy or just kinda casual or what?” “here,” he said, and thrusted a short pink slip dress towards her. “wear this and come on. you know how my mom gets when we’re not all perfectly on time.” sutton took the dress from zac, and nodded her head in agreement as he jogged out of her room, closing the door behind him. she stared at the dress in her hands for a few seconds, and then slipped off her jeans and tee shirt and into the dress, and examined herself in the full sized mirror attached to the back of the closet door. the thin straps hung loosely on her shoulders as the dress came up barely above her knees; light pink in color with an invisible pale sheath covering the chiffon fabric. sutton slowly brought her hands up to her head and pulled out the messy ponytail her hair was always in as her long blonde wavy hair fell to below her shoulders as a few wisps framed her face. sutton looked at herself in the mirror and thought a moment about her appearance as she slipped her bare feet into a pair of white canvas shoes and rubbed clear lip gloss onto her lips. she looked at herself in the mirror once again and pulled her hair back into a high messy bun and applied a few rhinestone pins to the sides of her head. she pulled a light white cardigan out of her closet and pulled it over her arms, smiled, content, and quickly rushed out of her room, not wanting to have diana and the rest of the family have to wait for her. sutton jogged down the hallway and decided to take a quick stop at the bathroom after she had already passed it. she pivoted to go back towards the bathroom, and suddenly bumped into a figure who was exciting the bathroom as she tried entering. sutton looked up into taylor’s bright eyes and laughed as she put her hand on taylor’s shoulder and steadied herself and he clutched onto her arms before they both fell to the floor. “gosh, i’m sorry!” he laughed as he focused on sutton and let go of her arms. “my mom gets really antsy since there are so many people in our family and going anywhere is....” his voice trailed off as he looked again at sutton, and smiled, blushed, and rolled his eyes. “i’m trying to hurry, its almost 7.” sutton blushed and said, “its okay, i wasn’t watching where i was going,” as she gazed at taylor, dressed in black dress slacks and a dark navy dress shirt that was untucked with the top buttons unbuttoned. she gave another embarassed laugh as she looked back into taylor’s eyes and backed into the bathroom. “i’ll be sure to hurry,” she finished taylor’s thought and quickly closed the door behind her and slumped to the floor. “how am I going to spend the rest of the year living with him?” she silently asked herself.
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