Finally, the day came when we left for home! I can't tell you how happy I was, no more screaming girls, and no more sleepless nights on the road. And most of all, no more busses! We flew from Orlando into Arkansas to meet our busses again. They had left the day before to get a headstart home. My family were all happy to be leaving as well, and let me tell you, we didn't agree on things that much, but this was a mutual thing! 5 months on the road was begining to take its toll on me. Kim was going to meet us in Tulsa, which I was grateful for. I had called her with her flight information, and she sounded happy to be coming down. We would end up meeting her at the airport, because she didn't know how to get to our house in the first place, so it was a little out of the way. But that didn't matter, because she was worth it! She was seriously becoming one of my best friends, and it was nice to have a girl as a friend.
My thoughts were broken as I heard my mom yelling at someone. Probably Taylor and Jessica, they had been arguing for the past 10 minutes about who would be the first one in the shower when we got home. Now, to you this might seem like a stupid thing to fight about. But when you live with 8 other people, and there's only 2 bathrooms, you'd be fighting over it too! I didn't really care about a shower right now, I had taken one before we left, which was good enough for me.
I climbed out of my bunk and went into the entertainment room. I plopped down on one of the sofas and flipped on the Playstation. I was bored out of my mind, and I was getting anxious about getting home. I must have drifted off to sleep between games, because Taylor was shaking me and calling my name.
"Zac, wake up." He was saying over and over.
"What Tay?" I mumbled.
"We're almost home."
"Really?" That snapped me out of it. I was wide awake and looking out the nearest window. Sure enough, the familiar sights of Tulsa were rolling by. I sighed happily and turned back towards Taylor. He nodded, knowing exactly what I was thinking.
The busses pulled into the airport, and of course that would bring attention to us, but at that point, I really didn't care! I was just happy that I would get to see Kim again. Mom and I walked off the bus with Taylor following close behind. We walked quickly to gate 31-A and waited patiently. Or, as the case may be, as patient as I could be. I had a serious problem with standing in one place for long periods of time.
"Flight 321 from New York City will be landing in gate 31-A in about 2 minutes. Again, flight 321 from New York will be landing in 2 minutes." A voice over the loud speaker announced.
I was getting nervous again, people were watching me. That meant Taylor and I were going to be bombarded with questions as to why we were there. I really hated being asked questions about my personal life! I forgot all about that as I saw the door to the terminal open and people started to walk out. I nervously tugged on my shirt, watching for her to come out of that hallway. Then, there she was! I smiled brightly at her and walked towards her. She smiled back at me and dropped her carry on bag. I wrapped my arms around her tightly and held her against me. She breathed into my ear lightly, and I could feel her laughing.
"I missed you so much." She had said.
"I missed you, too. Let's get out of here." I told her and picked up her bag. "Do you have more bags?"
"Yeah, just one." She answered. We walked over to the baggage claim and waited.
"Oh my God, you're 2 of the Hanson's right?" A girl asked Taylor.
"Yeah, we are." He put on his smile. I was used to seeing that smile.
"Can I please have an autograph?" She asked, thrusting a piece of paper at my brother.
"Sure." He took the paper and signed it then passed it to me. I signed it quickly and passed it back to the girl.
"Oh, Thank you so much! So what brings you to the airport?" She asked.
I knew that was coming. I shook my head and watched Kim as she waited for her bag, acting as if nothing was happening.
"We're picking up a friend." My mother answered for us. I was grateful for my mother, she always helped us out.
"Oh, that's cool. Well, it was nice to meet you guys." The girl smiled again and walked off. I said goodbye to her and watched as Kim picked her bag off the rotating belt and we walked out of the airport as fast as we could before Taylor and I were recognized again. We made it safely back to the busses and jumped on. Once we were situated, introductions were made.
"Hi, I'm Kim."
"I'm Diana, Zac's mother." My mother smiled at her.
"I'm Walker." Dad said.
"It's nice to meet you all. You could never get bored with all these people around." She laughed.
"That's for sure." Taylor smiled at her.
"It's good to see you again." She smiled at Taylor and hugged him. "And you as well. How are you Isaac?" She asked him and pulled him into a hug as well.
"Oh, you know. Same 'ole, same 'ole." He laughed.
The younger kids came up front and looked at Kim. Probably wondering who she was. I smiled at them and pulled Zoe into my lap.
"Who's that?" She asked me pointing at Kim.
"Her name is Kim, she's my friend."
"Hi Kim, I'm Zoe." My little sister smiled at Kim brightly. She had the same charm as Taylor. It was infectious, no one could resist her.
"Well hello there Zoe. It's nice to meet you."
"I'm Jessica, and this is Mackenzie. We all just call him Mackie."
"Hello Jessica, and hello Mackie." Kim smiled at them.
"And I'm Avery."
"Hi Avery. That's a very pretty name." Kim told her. I smiled at her and put Zoe back down.
"Thank you." Avery smiled.
Things were going great so far, and my family all seemed to like her. The busses continued towards our house and we all made idol conversation. My parents asked her about what she did in her spare time. She of course told them about school, and that she liked to travel alot.
"Well, you're friends with the right people then. That's all we do." Mom laughed.
"Yes, I guess so. I really like Zac alot. He's a wonderful person." She had told my mother.
"Well, thank you. That's very sweet of you. Too bad you didn't meet him a few years ago." She laughed. "He was a terror! I honestly thought I'd have to kill him a few times. But he's grown up into a wonderful young man."
"God mom, stop it." I groaned. I could feel the heat rising up in my cheeks. She was always saying stuff like that. I suppose it could be worse, atleast she didn't have my naked baby pictures or something!
"All three of them have grown up so much. It's crazy. You take a look at them and it seems as if they've sprouted up over night."
"I know what you mean. I look at my brothers and sisters now. They're all grown up. My sister, Leslie is 24. She's married and has a baby. It seems like just yesterday that we were taking baths together." Kim smiled.
"How many brothers and sisters do you have?" My dad asked her.
"Well, I have my sister Leslie, like I said. I have a younger sister, Ashley. She's 14. And I have 2 brothers, Eric, he's 26, and Ryan, he's 10. And then there's me, I'm 21. So I come from a pretty big family also."
"Yes, so it would seem." My mom laughed. "Gotta love it around the holidays though. There's nothing like a big holiday get together."
"I agree. I used to love sitting around the Christmas tree in my pajamas with my brothers and sisters. I assume that you all used to do that too?" She looked over at me and winked.
"They still do that. Well, not so much the older ones, but the younger ones still do." My dad smiled.
Oh Lord, this was going to be a long visit! I could just picture it, my mom would break out the old pictures of us sitting around the Christmas tree with my Spiderman pajamas on and then go through our baby books or something. I wasn't so sure if I could handle that. I was actually pretty sure I'd die of embarrassment. Oh well, I guess I could live with it! We arrived at the venue and I showed Kim around a bit before soundcheck. Our show went the same as usual, but we were home! I loved these shows, when most of the faces in the crowd I could recognize. I was Home!
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