I woke up somewhere cold. All I really knew was that it wasen't home. Glancing around, I saw my room of the suite.

Zac was laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He glanced at me and jumped when he saw I was awake.

"Meg.." he whispered, slipping down to the floor and coming over to me on his knees, "I'm so sorry..."

"Why?" I asked, "What's wrong?"

He sighed, dropping his head onto the bed.

"I'm so insensitive..." he groaned into my mattress.

"What, since when?!" I must have sounded like I thought he was crazy because he picked his head up and gave me such an incredulous look, "No, Zac...it was my blood sugar."

He shook his head.

"That made you pass out, yeah. But I made you run."

I sighed. My Zac. I slid over in the bed and he climbed in next to me.

"Zac." I said, laying my head down on his chest. He wrapped his arms around me, "Listen. I know I'm not always as, well...fun..as I use to be, but it's a lot different when you're on your own. You've got to kinda take on all the responsibilities."

"You're not on your own, Meg." Zac cut in.

I smiled at him and sighed at the same time.

"Zac, I do love you. And I love Tay and Ike, Mack, Zoe, Jess, Avie, your parents, my parents, Josh, Matt, Lennon, Kody....I love you all. Really. But, God forbid, you lost Ike and Tay. Think about it." I felt him wince. "You'd still have all of us, but what you've got between the three of you..that can't be measured up to."

Zac was quiet for a minute and I looked up to see his eyes were over bright.

"You're right." he said, quietly, "I'm sorry if I'm pushing you." his tone brightened up, "Tell you what, I'm gonna take you to the mall and replace your cell phone, cause when you took off running, I jumped up and stepped on it." I laughed into his shirt. "And I'll buy you, um...something."

"No presents." I protested. I can dish it out but I can't take it, "You can buy me dinner."

"Deal! Anywhere you wanna go."

He crawled out of my bed, taking all his Zac warmth with him.

"I'm gonna change." he said. In my opinion, he looked fine. He was wearing a black ZZ-Top t-shirt and cargo pants.

"Don't." I complained.

"Yes." he said back, mimicing my whigne.

"Then can I wear those clothes?"

He sighed.

"Alright." he said, "You win, lets just go."

"When are you gonna learn?" I asked, climbing out of the bed, "I always win."

He rolled his eyes and slung his arm so heavily over my shoulders that my knees almost buckled. I would deffinately need to grab a granola bar before we left.

"Go get the elevator." I instructed, "I'll be right there."

Zac nodded and left while I headed for the kitchen.

Taylor was in there, getting a glass of water, while listening to someone talk on the other end of his cell phone.

I smiled at him and opened one of the many boxes of non-perishable snack foods that I had been sent to get when we had first gotten to Malibu.

"Hang on a second." Taylor said into the phone, before pulling it away from his ear and looking to me.

"Natalie?" I asked. He nodded. She and Ezra had stayed in Tulsa, but would be coming to visit us once we got to Seattle.

"Are you and Zac leaving?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah, we're going to the mall."

"The mall?" he asked, "Number one hang-out of teenage girls?" Taylor always made me feel like whatever I was about to do was the most heinous crime concievable.

"Listen." I said, probably bordering on evident irritability in my voice, "There's not going to be a problem. We're just going to go and get a new cell phone, get dinner, then we'll be back."

Taylor sighed and I immediately felt bad for talking to him that way. Sometimes I just don't think.

"It's starting to look bad." he said, "How you guys are always together. People think there's something going on with you two. It would be alright, I mean, if there was...but there's not, so it's not worth the risk of some rabid little girls cornering you somewhere."

It felt even worse to think he was just worried about me. But there was nothing but the purest of friendship between Zac and I.

And he had a girlfriend, Kate, whom I loved to death.

And I was involved, however unoficially, with the guys' cousin, Cyris.

"Just...be careful." Tay insisted, shooing me off with his hand.

When I got into the hallway, Zac was standing in the elevator door, holding it open with one hand, fingers tapping impatiently.

He raised his eyebrows at me.

"What's going on, Meggin?" he asked, slowly.

"Sorry." I muttered, stepping into the elevator, "I got pulled over by Taylor."

"Did you get a ticket?" he asked, letting the door go.

"No, I managed to talk my way out of this one."

It was a little inside joke we had about Tay being the traffic police. It drove him crazy, because he didn't know the joke and never understood what we were talking about. But he was always shutting down our adventures. Not as much anymore, but when we were insane twelve-year-olds and he was fifteen and trying to prove his maturity, he more than earned that title.

When we got to the bottom floor, I could see the mass of teenage girls outside. They screamed when they caught sight of Zac.

"Going out?" the desk clerk asked.

"Yeah." I confirmed, then breifly wondered why I can't be more articulate.

"Okay." he picked up the phone and called for security to clear a path through the screaming teeny boppers.

Zac had to call for the taxi, being as I was currently without a cell phone.

And by the time our cab pulled up outside, they had blocked the girls off and we were able to head out.

It felt like a long walk from the hotel to the cab. Zac waved at them all as we went, but didn't stop to talk to anyone. I grabbed his hand tightly. The crowds really freaked me out.

Then it hit me that this was probably the exact thing Taylor had been talking about. At that thought, I wretched my hand out of Zac's and hurried forwards into the taxi.

Zac stopped walking for a second in confusion, then sped up after me.

"What now?" he asked, as the car pulled away.

"Nothing." I shrugged, "I just didn't want to be standing around in that crowd."

"Right." he laughed, obviously understanding exactly what I was not saying, "I've read all the webpage rumors too, Meggie. We're a pretty hot couple."

"I'm sure Cyris and Kate just love that." I muttered.

"What? Cy and Kate know about the internet? Who told them?!" Zac exclaimed. He pushed my shoulder, playfully. "Cyris and Kate know that you are my best friend and that alone."

"You're right." I agreed, "Why should we care?! It's okay if I hold your hand!" I grabbed his hand, "And if I sit on your lap."

Zac let out a spurt of laughter as I jumped over so I was sitting across his lap. I ignored him and went on.

"It's okay if we're seen together. It's okay if we sleep in the same damn bed!"

He was still laughing, though quietly and the driver was glancing frequently at me in this rearview mirror. I half expected him to put up the divider.

"Right..." I squinted at his nametag, "Bob? You wouldn't think anything of it if I held my best friend's hand, would you?"

"No, ma'am." he laughed.

"And if I kissed my best friend?" I kissed Zac, square on the mouth.

"Nope, miss, I can't say I mind that either." Bob chuckled.

"Can't say I mind much either." Zac laughed, "Are you finished?"

"Oh, but I might never finish!" I exclaimed, "Because I don't care how it looks. I don't care what they think!"

We pulled up outside the mall and Bob turned in his seat to look at us.

"This has been a most amusing ride." he said.

"And it was great for me too." I answered, happily.

Zac just laughed, payed Bob, and climbed out of the taxi.

I hung back to add to the tip. It was huge, even by my standards, but Bob deserved it.

"Thank you very much!" He said, as Zac reached in and yanked me out of the taxi, "You feel free to kiss your best friend in my cab anytime."

As we walked in the enterance of the mall, Zac threw that arm over my shoulders again.

"Thank you." he said, quietly.

"For what?" I asked.

"For bringing my Meg back."