Lipstick
by Nyssa Jayne

Taylor smeared the tinted lip gloss over his lips.  He pondered the habit for a quick moment, but figured his that his two brother didn't mind, Florance found it funny, it turned Riley on, and Taylor himself loved the smell of strawberry just below his nose, so it was all fine, really.
Taylor said it to himself in the mirror.
"It's fine, it's all going to be okay."
Taylor's reflection in the mirror didn't give him the reassurance he was looking for.
He made his way out of the trendy apartment he lived in, to a well-frequented bar by he and his friends.  A fairly subtle place, filled with kooky individuals, that had interest in important things, and not Taylor, his lipstick, and celebrity status.  Taylor the business man was someone to pay attention to, but Taylor the socialite you needn't worry about.
"Hey baby in pink," cooed Riley, standing up to greet his lover.  Taylor pouted his glossy lips for Riley to knock a kiss onto.
"Hey darling in blue."  Riley used to have to strain to hear Taylor's soft voice, but now he was accustomed to it.
"You guys need to get new lines," laughed Florance, as Riley poked his tongue out and Taylor kissed her on the cheek, taking a seat next to her on the couch.  Riley rushed to join him.
"Still on for pre-lecture coffee tomorrow?" smiled Taylor's younger brother Zachary.
"I sure am," nodded Taylor.  "Coffee with Zackie, babysitting with Isaac, meeting with Florance-" Taylor gestured to each person as he mentioned their name.
"Sex with me," grinned Riley.
"Too much!" the other three chanted, while Taylor blushed a firetruck shade of red, because he really was that shy.  They were complete opposites, Taylor the shy in seventies prints and jeans, and Riley the flamboyant, in whatever bright colour he could get his hands on, but they were the yang to each other's ying, perfectly completing the emptiness loneliness often creates.
"Y'all just jealous," giggled Riley.
"Ok, whatever..."
And so, the evening, while enjoyable, wasn't eventful.  At around the early hour of ten-thirty PM, Taylor and Riley left the bar arm in arm to the trendy apartment where they both lived.
"Smells like strawberry," whispered Riley, kissing Taylor.  Taylor knew the direction of that kiss, so he let Riley's lips take the lip gloss away, and all the rest came naturally.
Afterwards, they both sat up in bed, quietly talking.
"I tried to call my mum last night while you were at that meeting," mused Riley.  Taylor turned to look at him.
"What did she say?"
"She asked me what I was up to, so I told her I was still working as director at the museum, and I was still with you.  She lost it then, and hung up on me."  Riley sighed.  "Taylor, I miss my Mum."  Taylor pouted, and leaned over to hug his forlorn partner.  "She used to love it when I'd listen to Hanson records, when I'd go shopping with her, when I'd redecorate the living room with funky prints.  Now, she seems to be convinced that these are qualities she has to hate about me because society brainwashed her with a cliché."  Taylor gently stroked Riley's hair, just listening.  "She doesn't understand that I'm the same person she raised from childbirth, and that because I love art and you, doesn't mean I've changed.  I want her to know that, that, that..."
"That "gay" is only a label, and not a personality defect that should stop her from loving you."  Riley kissed Taylor.
"You're perfect; everything about you is perfect and I love you."  Taylor smiled and blushed once more.  He went to tell Riley what was troubling him, about his concerns over the future of his record company, but decided no, he'd comfort Riley first, and make sure his love was well, before seemingly dumping more concern onto the troubled boy.
So Taylor and Riley fell asleep, Riley consoled by the idea that perfection was in love with him, and Taylor consoled by the fact that he meant something to Riley.

* * * * *

The next morning, Taylor waited for Zackie in a cozy café.  Soon enough, his music student of a younger brother entered the café, with a textbook and a notepad, which had a pen attached to it.
"I must say Zackie, you look like a student," smiled Taylor, as the brothers shared a handshake, before sitting back down.  They both ordered lattés, as Zackie added onto Taylor's comment.
"I feel like a student," exclaimed Zackie in an exasperated voice.  "I have study and homework coming out of my ears, you have no idea."  Zackie produced some notes.  "This is really full on stuff, light years away from 'MMMBop'!"  Taylor laughed, but knew that under the jokes, Zackie obviously felt a bit stressed about the workload.
"Have you spoken to your teachers?"
"I had one of them pull me aside and tell me to pull up my socks, or else I was wasting money on the course.  And I'm thinking here, hey, I'm working my butt off, and I don't know how much harder I can work, unless I forgo sleeping and eating so I have enough time to pass."
"What part are you having problems with?" quizzed Taylor.
"Mainly the theory."
"Do you want me to get in touch with Florance?"  Zackie cocked his head.  "Florance didn't take the same course, but she raised money to record a demo by tutouring in classical music.  If she can't help you, she should know someone."  Zackie burst into a smile.
"That would help sooo much!  Tay, you are the man!"  Zackie peek a little look at his watch.  "Oh God, I'm gonna be running late if I don't skadaddle."  The brothers stood up, as Zackie left some money with Taylor for the latté.  "I owe you, okay?  Keep me posted!  And keep the lippy trend up!"  Taylor shook his head with a smile, watching his next of kin race away.  Then, he sat back down again, and sighed, finishing up his latté.  It wasn't Zackie's fault that he had to rush off to class.  Taylor didn't want to clutter his mind with worries of the record label, anyway.

* * * * *

Isaac was sitting on the front porch of his rental home, looking a little frazzled when Taylor arrived.
"Did the Daycare kids come early?" quizzed Taylor, sitting down next to his oldest brother.
"No, and my two are sleeping soundly.  Natalie and I had another fight."
"Is there a reason why you're still both fighting?"
"It seems for any reason she can find.  She asked me who I was asking over to help out with the Daycare kids today while she was working at the hospital, and I said you, and she cracked it bad."  Taylor looked hurt, so Isaac wrapped a friendly arm around his shoulder.  "So I said, would you rather me shoot all the Daycare kids and our twins in frustration, or have the all-conquering Taylor, with his lipstick and compassion, cause the kids to be little angels.  She slapped me and left for work early."
"If you want me to find another babysitter for the one day a week you need help, I'm sure one of Zackie's friends need some cash to put towards tuition payments-"
"But on a normal day, Nat has no problems with you.  The kids have noticed that we don't get along anymore.  One of the other Daycare kids told our twins what divorce meant, that it meant mummy and daddy don't love each other anymore.  The kids asked me if Nat and I were getting divorced."
"Have you and Nat been talking about that?"
"We still love each other," said Isaac simply.
"Then... I think you have to pull together for the twins.  You have to sit down with Nat, and both realise that this is happening."  Isaac nodded.
"You're always right, Tay."  Taylor grinned weakly, well, not always right...
That's when the first of the Daycare kids arrived.  Of course.

* * * * *

Taylor entered into his office, to find Florance sitting across from his desk.  He sat at his desk, leaned forward, and asked her how she was doing.
"I thought being a pop-star was about either acing an audition, or sleeping with an exec.  I didn't think there'd be any actual work involved."  Taylor chuckled lightly.  "Ya gotta help me, Tay, I'm going crazy!"
"Why's that?"
"Well... this is going to sound like I'm bragging and being unappreciative, but no one can deny that a good portion of the population know who I am.  I can't go out without a crowd.  I mean, when they stay small and quiet and calm, it's easy to deal with, but when they all scream and run and chase, it's like, argh, stop!  Stop!  I can't treat you like humans unless you treat me like one!"  Taylor took her hand from across the desk.  "What advice can Taylor Hanson give me?"
"Find a new crowd," he shrugged.  "You're running when they chase you, aren't you?  You've got to catch them off guard, and that moment when they're in shock is when you find your escape, or talk to them and tell them to calm down.  If they scream, scream back, if they run for you, run for them."
"I won't ever have any privacy again, will I?"
"You will," assured Taylor.  "People will forget about you as a girl, as Florance.  They won't forget your music, though, and that's when you have the perfect balance.  It takes some work, but surely my two other brothers are living proof there is a life after pop music."
"I don't know if I can handle this for much longer."  Taylor stepped out from his desk, and gave the poor Florance a hug.  His next words could've been, "Maybe you won't have to," and then he could launch into his worries about the label she was signed to, but he decided against it.  No need to spook Florance anymore.

* * * * *

Riley noticed that Taylor was very quiet at dinner that night.  It wasn't that Taylor was normally a chatterbox, but the boy was just picking at his food, looking very unenthusiastic indeed.  Riley scooted his chair closer.
"Are you okay?"  Upon closer inspection, Taylor wasn't wearing his normal coating of lip gloss on his lips.  Taylor gave Riley a kiss.  He really didn't feel too well, his stomach was a mess, it was almost as messed up as his head felt.  He was going crazy.
"I'm just going to go to bed... I don't feel very well."  Riley watched with concern Taylor scuffle off to bed, before putting a plan into action...

* * * * *

"Happy birthday, Taylor!" cried all of Taylor's friends.  The boy blushed, because he really was that shy.  Riley stepped forward.
"What do you think?"  Riley gestured all around the trendy apartment that they both owned, showing off the metallic balloons and ribbon that made it look like a birthday party.  Isaac's Daycare kids had put together a banner that read 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR!' and Florance had stolen, sorry, borrowed Taylor's address book, and invited everyone Taylor knew.  It was a birthday party to beat all birthday parties.
"I love it!  Thank you so much!"
Later on that evening, Taylor sat with Riley, Zackie, Isaac and Florance.
"Taylor... we know that something is on your mind.  Now, it is your final decision on whether you tell us or not, but you've listened to all our problems, and told us exactly the perfect thing," started Riley.  "It struck me that I never give you much of a chance to talk back.  This is your moment, as is any other moment."
"Don't ever feel you can't talk to us," smiled Isaac.
Taylor was speechless!
"Thank you guys so much...!"
"Do you have anything on your mind?"  Taylor bowed his head.
"My record label is having financial troubles.  It's no great drama, just the first year of operation blues.  I don't have enough artists, because I don't have the money to employ staff to find them, and I can't always do it myself."
"This is the part where it gets easy," cried Zackie.  "There's plenty of bands and artists in my music course that are looking for a label to sign them.  You should come to the open night and hear them play.  And if you don't want them all from the same town, you can always ask lecturers from the other campuses across the country to send you demo tapes and the like."
"We're always here to help," assured Florance.  Taylor smiled, taking out his pot of lip gloss, smearing it on his lips.  Not only did Taylor's friends accept the lip gloss, but Taylor himself as well.  All he had to do was remember that.

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