"My god. I'm still in shock. I can't believe I ran into you." Isaac grinned.

"Yeah, I was kind of surprised myself." Julie replied, looking away. She bit her lip, then remembered she had applied thick layers of blood red lipstick. She brushed back her dark hair, nervously tucking it behind her ears.

"Clarke Isaac Hanson. What did I say about picking up women from the street?" Taylor approached the two in the booth.

"What can I say. She was irresistible." Isaac grinned even wider across the table. Taylor slid into the seat next to Isaac.

"Taylor Hanson." He reached his hand across the table to shake her hand.

"Julie Mince." Julie responded, uneasily shaking his hand.

"Julie? From…" Taylor pretended to be confused.

Isaac shot him a glare.

"Oh, never mind. I'm probably just confused. Isaac brings home so many girls and all…" Taylor started to ramble, then felt a sharp pain in his shin as Isaac kicked him. "Oww!" He howled in pain.

Isaac pretended not to hear him. "So what are you doing here? Are Zac and Gillian done?"

"Last time I left, Lucy and Ricky were still bickering. The question is, what are you doing here? You said you'd be at the music store across the street." Taylor asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I was. But I ran into Julie. You remember her, don't you?" Isaac questioned, looking into Taylor's eyes. Taylor peered into the Isaac's eyes, and just like they've had since they were little, he knew just what Isaac was thinking.

"No, I don't. I'm sorry." Taylor replied. That was Isaac's cue to bring back old memories.

"She was my friend…from a long time ago." Isaac explained halfway.

"Oh right. Hey Julie." Taylor said hello cautiously, in the event that Isaac would find whatever he said to be painfully embarrassing, therefore warranting him another kick in the shin.

"Hello, Taylor." Julie smiled, then took a sip out of the mug of coffee she was nursing.

"Well, we have to go, we told management we'd be back by seven. We have a business dinner…" Taylor reminded Isaac.

"Oh that's right." Isaac started to get up. He started to take out his wallet when Julie held up a hand.

"No, it's alright. I've got it." Julie quickly pulled out a thick wad of twenty dollar bills and peeled one onto the table, as Taylor gawked. Where did she get all this money? "But the guy should always pay…" Isaac started, trying to gather himself from his own shock at Julie's fortune.

"On a date. We're not on a date, Mr. Isaac Hanson. So you can let your silly customs go just for once. Let's just say this is for old time's sake." Julie stood up.

"When can I see you again?" Isaac asked.

"Well…" Taylor could tell Julie was fishing for a response in her mind.

"Please." Isaac pressed, with hopeful eyes. He placed his hand on Julie's and she pulled away, as if his touch hurt.

Julie looked at him. She looked at his pleading eyes and felt her heart twist. He's supposed to be part of the past. I need to let him go. But I just can't. "Tonight. Around eleven. I'll be at the Vamp Room on Melrose."

"Great. I'll see you there." Isaac let go of her hand, smiling. Taylor almost felt sorry for him.

"I'll see you around." Julie nodded at both of them, and then turned around and walked out of the café.

Isaac was silent in awe. "Ike, we've really got go, or they'll have our heads on platters." Taylor nudged him with his foot.

"Yeah." Isaac answered nonchalantly, following Taylor out the door. He watched Julie get into a cab, and then watched the cab turn into nothing but a small black dot in the distance.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Taylor asked Zac one last time as he ran into the bathroom with Zac trailing behind him.

"Yeah, Gillian wanted to have a private dinner tonight. She said we haven't had a romantic date in a long time, so I had to pull out all the stops for her. Besides, if we all showed up at the club together I'm sure it'll attract too much attention…" Zac dragged on.

"I get it. So you're using Ike and me as a diversion so that you and Gillian can have your private date." Taylor teased Zac as he ran a comb through his hair.

"Yeah." Zac blushed.

Isaac entered the room that he and Taylor shared, "Here are the roses. You owe me now." He handed a big bouquet of fresh red roses to Zac.

"Alright, like we agreed. The next time we go out, I'll room with Taylor." Zac said as he took the roses from Isaac, holding them up to his nose.

"Hey!" Taylor protested loudly.

"Well, you have to admit. Whoever rooms with you doesn't get much bathroom time AND we have to listen to you snore." Isaac looked at him innocently. Taylor flung water from the sink at him.

"Hey! I was only telling the truth!" Isaac ran from the bathroom.

Taylor chased Isaac out of the bathroom, throwing shampoo bottles and towels at him. "What about your snoring and your tendency to leave the bathroom floor sopping wet after you take a shower?"

"Okay, okay I'm no picnic either. Will you stop throwing things at me now?" Isaac was hiding behind a fort of pillows he built on his bed.

"I'm done. I ran out of things to throw at you anyway," Taylor gestured at the room strewn with bathroom products as Isaac peeked over his pillows. "Are you ready to go?"

Isaac got out of his bed and stood up, brushing himself off. "Yeah."

"You're going dressed like that?" Taylor expressed his dislike for Isaac's casual attire.

"What do you mean, like that? What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Isaac looked at himself in the mirror, in his T-shirt and jeans. "It's what I wore this afternoon, what's the point of changing if I'm going to get all sweaty from the club again anyway?"

"What you're wearing is fine for going out in the afternoon, but going to a club is different. Do you want to deflect women?" Taylor asked, his face twisted in an expression of doubt.

"No, thanks for the vote of confidence, oh style guru brother of mine." Isaac rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry we can't all dress like Prince."

"I do not look like Prince!" Taylor defended. He looked at his own outfit, which contained black boots, black leather pants, and a red shirt he found at a thrift shop that he was pretty proud of.

"What's that on your shirt? Ruffles?" Isaac picked at Taylor's sleeves.

"Yes, they are ruffles. A dress shirt. A retro dress shirt. At least I'm not dressed like I'm gardening."

"Fine, fine, I get your point." Isaac sighed resignedly, opening the dresser drawers and fumbling through them. "But I'm not going to wear leather pants."

"I didn't say you had to!"

"Hmm." Isaac replied. "I still don't understand why I should get dressed up to go out and get sweaty and gross…"

"Fine. I'll dress you." Taylor pushed Isaac aside and started pulling out clothes from the drawer and tossing it over his shoulder. "Here." He pushed a pair of pressed black dress pants and a black V-neck cashmere sweater into Isaac's arms.

Isaac grudgedly went into the bathroom and changed, ushering Zac out of the bathroom with his bouquet.

"Mind if I hang in your room for awhile? Gillian kicked me out of our room until 'she's ready'" Zac rolled his eyes as he plopped himself down on the overstuffed couch facing the television.

"Go ahead. Ike and I are going to leave as soon as he's ready and decent." Taylor checked his reflection one more time. He grinned at himself. Then he practiced his shy grin, as he grinned, and then looked down shyly, then looked back up again.

"Oh you're disgusting." Zac groaned as he flipped through the channels.

"Stop checking yourself out in the mirror, I'm ready to go." Isaac emerged from the bathroom, looking pretty good if he did say so himself.

"Alright then. Don't wait up for us," He raised his eyebrow teasingly at Zac as he grabbed his keys and his wallet. Isaac watched Taylor closely, watching where he could possibly put his keys and his wallet in those tight leather pants. Isaac checked his watch. Ten o'clock, on the dot.

"Don't worry, I won't." Zac replied, barely looking away from the television.

Taylor paid the cab driver as Isaac got out of the car and surveyed the scene. The Vamp Room was a two story building with sparse windows and a neon sign flashing "The Vamp Room". The velvet rope stretched all the way around the block, lined with people. All sorts of people. Dangerous ones. Beautiful ones. Dangerously beautiful ones.

"C'mon," Taylor nudged Isaac as they stepped onto the curb. Taylor seemed to belong in the scene, with his leather pants and his shiny, purposely tousled hair. He led Isaac to the head of the line, where the big tattooed bouncer lifted the red velvet rope and allowed them to pass.

They were used to the routine. They discovered they could get into any club they wanted and do anything they wanted since they were 14 and 16, and no one would be the wiser. Along with pitfalls, being famous brought on many rewards.

As they entered the club, Isaac could detect the faint aroma of marijuana. He glanced down one hallway, noticing the risqué women and the incorrigible men standing outside the bathrooms lighting up. He, Taylor, and Zac had tried marijuana before, just like they've tried ecstasy and dropped acid. All part of the experience of growing up in the business. None of the drugs stuck to them and they knew better than to try anything harder.

Isaac quickly lost sight of Taylor as he slipped into the throbbing crowd. The bass from the speakers was making the ground vibrate. Isaac felt dizzy and out of control, being pushed around in the floor. He made his way to the bar and quickly plopped himself down. He ordered a shot of rum, and then sat there surveying the crowd. Several women made their way over to him and licked their lips and danced seductively for him. Isaac just grinned, but made no effort to join any of them on the dance floor.

He sat there for what seemed like hours. "What's a handsome man like you doing at the bar, honey?" He turned to face the voice and saw the innocent-looking vixen grinning back at him.

"Julie." He got up and hugged her.

"Hey Ike. How are you doing?" Julie brushed away her carefully tended dark curls. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Well…I kind of lost Taylor as soon as we got in…"

"You mean that hot brother of yours? He's over there…" One of Julie's friends pointed to the middle of the dance floor where Taylor was grinding with three girls.

"Well he seems to be doing okay by himself," Isaac grinned sheepishly, feeling like a major loser.

"Yeah, why aren't you on the dance floor?" Julie fingered the collar of his sweater, which made Isaac blush deeply.

"I'm not a very good dancer…" He started, and before he knew it Julie and her friends were pulling him and cajoling him onto the dance floor.

He laughed as he tried to dance, even though he knew he looked like an idiot. But that was the freeing thing about being on the dance floor, lost among all the other bodies. It didn't matter what he looked like and he felt so free of judgement, free of restrictions, free of circumstance. He watched Julie dance so freely and beautifully next to him, he couldn't take his eyes off of her. He couldn't stop grinning.

Before long, Julie and her friends were pulling him out of the crowd.

"We're heading back home, before the tough crowd gets here." Julie shouted into his ear. He nodded, turning to back to get Taylor.

Julie grabbed his shoulder with a surprisingly strong grip. "He knows." She shouted again.

Isaac looked slightly perturbed, but followed Julie out.

"He'll catch a cab home. My friend talked to him." Julie explained as they walked towards her friend's red Mustang convertible.

"Julie…I had so much fun with you tonight…" Isaac started as they ambled over to the car.

"I know." Julie replied simply.

"Like old times…"

"Don't."

"Like how we used to be…"

"Stop."

"Before you left…"

"Stop it. Right now. Isaac…please…"

"Julie. Please come back to me."