reach for the stars.

She knew she only had herself to blame for leaving for so many years to pursue her dreams of performing. She had always intended to be back. Joella imagined a big city but she also figured she could bring that to Merrock instead. And she was stubborn. Anything her mother said would include an ‘I told you so’. At least her siblings were much more forgiving and supportive. “I’ll cook for us, then. Shouldn’t be too hard anyway. Y’all eat up all my food anyway,” she chuckled.

At Joella's words, Tae tilted his head for a moment and glanced over in her direction. "Why do you need to cook for us?" he questioned, and it was a genuine question, a smile appearing on his features. He was trying to understand where this was suddenly coming from. "But I won't complain about it, obviously. You know I love food."

Darcy smiled as her friend opened the door and she giggled for a moment before she walked into Tae's place and smiled, "I am so excited. Mainly because I get to hear some of your work." She smiled looking over at him for a moment before putting the pizza down on a near table. 'Where's the best place to get comfortable?"

"I'm more excited about the pizza, I'll be honest," Tae said with a smile, but then gestured across the house and towards the main living room. "In here," he said simply, and then led her through. "Did you want something to drink? We have pretty much everything you can think of here." He chuckled, shaking his head. "Betweem the four of us I think we cater for every taste going."

"Hey, I'm sure people pay more attention than you think," Arturo defended. "It's just hard to fully pay attention in certain venues, especially when there's a few good drinks to be had."

"Good point," said Tae with a chuckle, reaching out for his drink once it was ready. "So what was your main reason for being here tonight?" He assumed the majority of people weren't there for them, so he found himself curious.

"Alright, then I'm going to spend the rest of this breakfast making little digs at you for oversleeping," she laughed, linking arms with him and beginning to lead the way into the little cafe. "Of course! I absolutely love making people sweets for their birthday, you're lucky I didn't show up with a whole cake, but... cupcakes are better. It's basically like eating a dozen little cakes all day, you know?" Pulling open the door, she gestured for him to step in first and raised her voice enough to draw some attention. "After the birthday boy!"

Tae laughed at that and rolled his eyes, but he did say, "That would only be fair." He shrugged, and then headed inside with her, stepping inside once she'd opened the door. "I do love cupcakes," he answered with a smile. "Big cakes are great and all, but only if you have a lot of people around to enjoy it. Kind of no point otherwise." At her announcement, he laughed, but headed straight for a table.

"Does that mean you're a frequent flyer when it comes to front page news?" she teased, a grin stretching across her face. He didn't seem like the type, but people could be surprising. Maybe he had a dark, sordid past that he was trying to keep hidden, or a life of crime everyone knew about. "I feel like going back in time and not forgetting my water bottle," she admitted before breaking out into a laugh, "but I'll climb, it's sort of like mounting a horse, right? And I'm good at that."

"In Texas, maybe..." There was no maybe about it really, Tae had featured in the local paper when he was only two —- not that it was for anything particularly important. A laugh escaped him a moment later, and he shrugged his shoulders very casually. It totally made sense what she'd said, though, and he didn't blame her. "Sort of..." he commented lightly, approaching the fence. "There's no way you can just come back tomorrow?"

"I'd be a pretty bad friend to be upset with you for sleeping in on your birthday," she said with a laugh as Tae hurried up to meet her, reaching out to pull him into a hug. "And I won't even lecture you on it, how's that?" Gesturing to her car, "I have freshly made cupcakes in there for you, just so you know. But I figured those come after we get some actual breakfast in you. They can be a good midnight snack."

"You would, but that doesn't mean I should get away with it," Tae answered with a smile and a shrug, even though he was glad she was being cool. As he reached her, he returned the hug without question, his smile brightening. "Cupcakes? You're amazing! Thank you!" he answered her, enthusiasm quite apparent. "But yeah, I think breakfast would be good, even if I wouldn't object to eating cake for it instead," he laughed.

"Of course!" Kennedy gave a nod in appreciation, always appreciating the local talent, even if it wasn't quite her taste. "I'm a big country gal! Dolly, The Chicks- all the icons, and everything in between. Maybe it's the Texan in me," even if she'd been in Merrock for the better part of the last decade, she still felt she had those roots. Giving a small tilt of her head, she sipped her drink. "Y'all perform here often?"

A smile crossed Tae's features at Kennedy's response and he nodded in understanding. He'd never been a country fan himself, but he could understand how others enjoyed it. There was something joyful about it, very heartfelt and honest. "I could see that being a big influence," he answered with a chuckle. "I was born in Texas, I should be saying the same, but I guess being only four when I moved, it didn't really have too much of an impact on me." He shrugged lightly. "Every now and again, we get gigs wherever we can in town."

"Nah man, I've never heard you sound bad," though he didn't have any background in music, he knew what sounded and what didn't. "Of course," he grinned and patted his friend on the shoulder, "I mean it. And hey there's always a next time for sure so yeah a couple of more songs for the next time sounds good."

Tae chuckled and realised he was going to have to relent and accept what the other man was saying. He appreciated the positive vibes, though, as did the whole band when it came to gigs. "Definitely. Going to consider it for sure," he responded. "Got a couple of things in the works, too, so that's a possibility."

Jo watched him for a moment, before just simply nodding. She understood. As big sister, she could tell when her siblings had something on their minds, and also when they didn't want to share what was on their minds. Jo gave his arm a silent squeeze before grinning. "I know. I probably should have had my babysitter privileges taken away when we were growing up," she chuckled. "I'd really like that, though," she said. "We've all been busy, I think we need a bit of a break sometimes."

A bark of laughter escaped him at her words and he nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, you should have," he agreed quite simply. All the same, it was an amusing memory, even if it had pretty much scarred him for life. It was almost as bad as when a friend had forced him to watch all three Terrifier films back to back only last year. He liked horror, but only to a certain degree. He had his limits... and very much so. "You're not wrong there. Sometimes real life gets a little bit too much," he said.

"I think there's people who like to flirt but have to pretend that's not what they're here for," he commented with a playful shrug. "But you know, maybe in nine months there will be a few babies named after you because they remembered tonight."

"Well... maybe." Tae's comment was said with a curious tone, his expression thoughtful, clearly not all that taken with the idea. "I'm just gonna go with the good and focus on the fact they were paying attention for once," he said with a laugh.

Will offered him a sincere smile, chuckling alongside him. "A man after my own heart; I knew you were one of the good ones." He mused lightly, signalling over to the bartender that he needed his attention when he had a moment. After ordering four premium tequila shots with lime for them between his friend's words, he turned his attention back to him. "I think you were a huge hit, everyone seemed really into your entire set. I know I was, and I'm not just saying all this to boost your ego. If I do that, the next time you won't be able to make it through the door, we'll have to roll you in sideways." Will drummed his fingers along the wooden counter top, nodding. "I mean, I imagine you're pretty focused up there, it might be hard to look out and really gauge how everyone is feeling but from the crowd, I can confirm that they really liked you. Are you working on any new songs other than the ones you played tonight?"

Tae had to laugh at Will's words and shrugged them off quite quickly. He'd never been one to say to a drink at all, really, and that wasn't about to change any time soon. Especially when it came in response to a performance with the band. "Yeah, I mean, I don't need anyone else boosting my ego... let's be honest here," he commented with a chuckle. He'd always had a bit of an ego, although in comparison to Suki's, it was absolutely nothing. "Could be dangerous," he added, nose wrinkling for a moment in amusement. "I'll have to hire you to keep tabs on the crowd at all of our gigs." More laughter. "But yeah, there are some new ones in the works. I'm feeling like it's time to add some new stuff to the set."

"And then we'll end up on the front page of the Merrock Times -- surprise!" she held up both hands in a 'jazz hands' kind of motion before letting out a laugh. Hopefully, it wouldn't be that dramatic. She didn't think that either one of the deserved that and… truthfully, wasn't too sure anyone else would think that it was news. Thankfully. "I'm thinking we either have to scale it, or one of us can give the other one a boost up and in?" she looked from Tae to the fence, as though trying to decide how much of a good -- or bad -- idea this really was. "It's not very high, thankfully."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Tae murmured with a light laugh, shaking his head a moment later. He was pretty sure it didn't take much to get onto the front page of the local paper really, but he didn't actually want to end up there. "Either works, I guess." He nodded, taking in the fence himself, his expression becoming thoughtful. "Do you feel much like climbing?"