As We Know It
Chapter 1Zac was running late.
Zac was running late and he was running low on caffeine - a dangerous combination, even on a good day. According to his own internal map of coffee places in the city - something that took up the space in his mind of approximately two years worth of school, and his ability to remember phone numbers - the nearest Starbucks was nearly ten miles out of his way. And he was late.
He swerved his car into the nearest gas station and figured that he'd have to choke down the coffee there to give himself a boost before he hit the studio that day.
Running late, caffeine-free, and in a terrible mood, Zac took up two spaces when he parked his car and felt no remorse for it. He hopped out of his car and took several large strides towards the door. The phone buried in his pocket started to buzz. It was Taylor - he probably wanted to know what the hold up was, he was probably on time - hell, he probably had a Starbucks coffee in his hand at that very moment.
Zac ignored the call.
The scent was the first thing that hit Zac as he stepped inside; the affront to his senses woke him almost immediately. A sketchy rest stop was able to garner a distinctive essence about it in the way that no other establishment really could. Even if it was a strange mix of motor oil, day old hot dogs, and body odor. He already felt more awake. He drifted towards the coffee gratefully.
The boy that was working behind the counter nodded at him in a decidedly unfriendly sort of greeting. The store was practically empty - as far as Zac could gather, the gawky boy behind the counter, and one other man who sat hunched over at the one table set against the storefront window, were the only two besides himself. The man glanced at Zac and his body jolted upright, as though startled by his presence there. His eyes shifted around the room, wandering aimlessly before zeroing in on Zac once again.
A hand shot out and gripped his arm. Zac jumped, startled, and looked back at the source; the man sitting at the table had reached out for him, his eyes wide and glazed over.
"I... Is everything ok?
"It's coming, you know," the man said, showing no sign of having heard Zac's question at all.
"What's coming?" Zac asked, pulling his arm back, a strange chill running up his back.
"The end," the man said simply. Zac felt a bit disappointed at the response and raised an eyebrow at the boy behind the counter, who shrugged.
"Don't ask me, he's always like this."
"That's great," Zac sighed. "Well, as long as they have coffee there when the end comes."
He walked away, making note to himself that Taylor was almost certainly not accosted by a crazy person that morning - shit like this just did not happen to him.
After mixing in six spoons of sugar, Zac took a long, thoughtful sip of his coffee. He paused, then added in another spoonful of sugar. His pocket buzzed again; Zac rubbed his temples in annoyance.
A loud popping sound shot out behind him. Zac spun around, alarmed. The man sitting at the table was gone. Zac raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"He was in a hurry," Zac muttered to himself. He topped off his coffee with some cream and headed towards the counter to pay. Nobody was standing there. Zac tapped on the counter, impatient.
"Hello? Is anybody here? Look, I'm kind of in a hurry now..." he craned his neck and glanced behind the counter to see where the boy went. In the exact spot that he had been standing, a pair of shoes were sitting, unoccupied. The air smelled vaguely singed.
He knew he should have gone to Starbucks instead.
"Fuck it," Zac said. He pulled two dollars out of his wallet and set it on the counter before grabbing his coffee and running out.
As soon as he was back in his car, he took a deep, satisfying swig of coffee. Behind him, someone coughed. In the rearview mirror, he noticed a woman sitting in the backseat. Zac promptly choked on his coffee.
The woman didn't make a sound, but smiled in a rather knowing way, her teeth gleaming bright against her red lips, her dark features pinpointed on Zac. Zac knew it was best not to panic, but he threw open the car door and jumped outside regardless.
"You're a jumpy one," a voice came from behind him. When Zac turned around, the woman was already out of the car, her body leaning up against the rough brick wall of the building, her arms crossed. It looked as though she had been waiting there for hours.
Everything about her seemed dark - she had pitch black hair and eyes, and skin so pale that she seemed little more than an apparition. Her body leaned gracefully against the wall, and she stood at least an inch taller than Zac. She was quite pretty, in the sense that "pretty" could also stand for "terrifying." Zac approached with caution, attempting to collect his thoughts into something coherent.
"Who the hell are you?" is what came out of his mouth instead.
"Lilly," the woman said. She did not seem interested in elaborating.
"Ok then," Zac said. He watched the spot on the wall that Lilly-the-voyeur was leaning against as though she might burn a hole through it. "What were you doing in my car?"
"Oh. I was working."
It occurred to Zac that this could mean one of two things: she was either an overzealous paparazzi with nobody better to follow, or he had a hit out on him. Lilly examined his face, a jovial grin spreading over her face.
"You don't even know, poor kid." She took a step towards Zac and continued until she stood barely an inch away from him, her face in uncomfortable proximity to his. She reached up and placed her hands on his cheeks, tilting his head back as though she was inspecting him; she tugged on a strand of his hair, and just as she was about to check his teeth, he pushed backwards.
"A little touchy feely, aren't we?"
"Hair's a bit long, but I suppose I've had worse to work with," she said, raising her eyebrow. "Image is everything, you know."
"Right. Where did you say you worked again?"
"I'm in the music department, and you have no idea how excited I am to get this case. I've got a lot of experience, mind you. Not to brag, but I've worked with Zeppelin, Hendrix... Tchaikovsky," she finished, as though that answered everything.
"And you're interested in Hanson?"
"Not Hanson, just you. You're the one, Zac."
"The one?" Zac glanced back at his car, vaguely considering how long it would take him to run there, and if she would body slam him before he reached it.
"The chosen one," she said dismissively, waving a hand in front of her. Zac blinked.
"Look, I get that record labels can be kiss ass when they want something, but this is getting pretty fucking ridiculous."
"Oh, this isn't about a record label, this is a lot more exciting than that."
"Then what? You're here, popping up in my car and saying I'm the ‘chosen one.' And what the hell are you saying that I'm chosen for? The blah blah sweepstakes? You'd better be hiding a giant check somewhere, or I'm calling the cops."
Lilly sighed. "You're not gonna like it."
"Humor me," Zac said, his mouth turned down into an irritated scowl and his arms crossed. Lilly smiled again, which only served to irritate Zac even further.
"What are you laughing at? Is this some kind of prank? Tay and Ike sure have a weird sense of humor..."
"No, I've just forgotten how precious humans can be," Lilly said airily. Zac opened his mouth to speak, then stopped himself.
"Wait, humans?"
"Anyway, aren't you running late?"
Zac looked down at his watched and groaned.
"Shit, they're going to kill me. Can I-"
When Zac looked back up, there was no trace of the woman. He spun around slowly, scanning the immediate area for good measure. She was gone.
"Huh," he said, to apparently no one.
He walked back to his car, feeling vaguely dazed. After a brief glance into the backseat of his car, just to be sure, he got back into the driver's seat. Suddenly coffee didn't seem quite strong enough.
This kind of shit never happened to Taylor.