"Tay," Nicole said, "what are you talking about? What did you want to tell me?"

Taylor slowly turned around and looked deeply into Nicole's eyes. He took a deep breath and placed his hand on top of hers on the couch. Then his eyes flooded with tears.

"Nic," Taylor whispered softly, "I've been in love with you for years. Even when we were little kids, you meant the world to me. You were my life. Then as we got older, my feelings kept growing and growing, until I couldn't take it any longer. I ached to kiss you, to touch you, to hold you - and I finally decided to tell you that a few months ago. When I found out about you and Ike, my life was shattered. And now I'll probably never have you. I'm sorry Nic. I can't help it. I love you."

Nicole felt as if someone had poured a bucket of ice cold water over her head at that moment. Somehow, now, she could tell that she had always known this. But the new feeling and realization were just arriving.

"I....I can't believe....Taylor...this is....," Nicole stuttered, not able to find the words to match Taylor's heartfelt confession.

"Shhh....," Taylor said, running his fingertip down her cheek. "You don't have to say anything. Nothing is going to change. I just had to get that out in the open. You and Ike can go on with your relationship, and I'll leave you alone. Not another word about this."

"But Taylor," Nicole said, shocked at his downplay of emotions. "How can you just let this go? You just drop all of this that you've been holding in for almost your whole life, and then you just ignore it? You can't do that Taylor...I can't do it either. We can't just push this aside."

"But what about Ike?" Taylor asked, lowering his voice. "You can't dump him Nic. He'll be crushed."

"I'm not going to dump Isaac!" Nicole cried in a hushed whisper. "But look at the factors Tay. You guys are always on tour. You have millions of screaming, female fans. Which first of all leads me to wonder why you still want me, but that's another problem. We all know that Ike's got raging hormones, and it's probably almost impossible for him to stay away from all of those little flirts when you guys get to meet your fans. He's almost seventeen, and I'm his first girlfriend. I bet he'll drop me as soon as he gets a better offer."

"Nic!" Taylor said. "You know Ike would never cheat on you."

"I know, I know," Nicole said. "I don't want him to. But I think that things will just naturally happen. You know, he'll lose interest in me or something."

"I don't know....," Taylor said with a sigh. "Hey Nic, how come you're going along with this so easily?"

"I don't know," Nicole said, leaning back on the couch. "This just happened, but it seems so....so right. Like it was meant to happen. We were meant to be together."

"I just wish that Ike had never gotten involved with all of this," Taylor said. "I should have told him from the beginning that I had feelings for you, but I don't know why I didn't. Probably because he would have stepped aside and hurt you, then I would hurt you more by being to afraid to ask you out."

"Hey guys," a familiar voice called from down the hallway. "Where are you at?" Isaac stepped through the door to the living room at that time, looking barely awake. "There you are," he said, his voice thick with sleep.

"Hey Ike," Taylor said, his voice squeaking. Isaac sat down on the couch between Taylor and Nicole and wrapped his arms around her, lying his head on her shoulder.

"I missed you," he whispered to Nicole, "so I came to find you guys."

"Well...you found us!" Nicole cried, a little too loud. Isaac gave her a strange look and then dismissed it.

"Yeah," Taylor said, "we were just um...watching Mtv. The video came on. Nicole forced me to watch it," he continued, his words fast and eager. But they hung in mid-air as he and Nicole realized that Isaac had fallen asleep again, his head still on Nicole's shoulder. Taylor looked over at Nicole slowly, not wanting to see her expression, but afraid to turn away. She sat there, one hand over her mouth and the other resting on her neck. Her eyes grew wide as she turned to face Taylor.

"I...I can't do this!" she whispered shrilly. "Taylor....what am I going to do?"

"Nicole, shhh....," Taylor said. "Don't wake him up. Just be calm."

"I can't hide this Tay!" Nicole said in a loud whisper. "A few minutes ago, I thought I could. But now I can't even look him in the eye. He's going to find out! I just know he is!"

"Nic! Please calm down," Taylor shushed. When Nicole began breathing normally again, Taylor continued speaking. "Now I see what we have to do."

"What?" Nicole asked weakly.

"Nic, go back to Isaac. Forget about everything we've said tonight. Please, for everyone's sake. Just ignore me, okay?"

"I can't do that," Nicole said. "Taylor, you know I can't. But I can't hurt Isaac either. What am I going to do?"

Taylor turned away at that moment, staring absently at the television, obviously not watching it. He stayed in thought deep into the night, and seemed to be in the same trance as Nicole felt herself falling asleep. He seemed to be thinking very hard, so Nicole prayed that he would think of an answer.

He slapped himself in the forehead on reflex, and then turned around to see if anyone had noticed. Nope, nobody had. Isaac was oblivious, sleeping with his head on Nic's shoulder. Nic was sleeping restlessly, tossing and turning as much as she could on the cramped couch. Taylor sighed and slumped down onto the floor. Looking up at the couch, he realized something.

This is how it should be, he thought. Isaac and Nicole together, and me somewhere else. Somewhere close, but somewhere else. But he knew that he couldn't let that happen. He had always dreamed of the day that he and Nicole would be together, as a couple. It had to happen. Soon.