“Boys, if I have to tell you one more time, I’m gonna get the sleep squad up here and they’ll do the job for me. Now get up!” A now angered Mrs. Hanson said to her beloved sons.

“Yes ma’am,” they once again harmonized even in their sleepiness.

It seemed like everyday was like this, mom, dad, and kids yelling for someone to get up. And you just trying to enjoy the rock star life that was so meticulously given to you.

“Isaac, you better not get the shower before Taylor does, it could be a lethal smack down,” Zac said, by now, used to these kinds of things in the morning, even though it was going on eleven o’clock, which shouldn’t be considered morning.

“Yeah Ike, I call the shower!” Taylor basically yelled out.

“Fine asshole,” Isaac said being his normal wonderfully pleasant morning self.

I just stood at the door and laughed at the three of my boys, my best friends, my loves. There were definitely too many good adjectives for them, but I could seriously think of some bad ones too.

“God Emma, you scared the pants off of me,” Taylor said coming over to me and giving me a hug.

“Taylor, darling, you’re not wearing any pants,” I said pointing down to his favorite, worn pair of boxers that he would wear whenever they were clean, which when he was doing laundry was a lot.

“Oh right,” Taylor replied his normally flushed cheeks becoming a deep scarlet color.

“Baby, I’ve seen you in these plenty, don’t get all embarrassed on me. Go take your shower,” I said treating him like we were boyfriend and girlfriend. We had acted like that for a while and don’t get me wrong it’s something I’ve always wanted it’s just Taylor was very confused and somewhere in my selfish mind I wished he would get his priorities straight so that we could have a perfect relationship.

“Kay lovely, promise you’ll be here when I get back?” he asked engulfing me in a hug and resting his chin on the top of my head.

“Aren’t I always? Yes, I promise.” I told my love as he walked away from me.

I flopped down onto Taylor’s bed and buried my face in his pillow and breathed in deeply. His smell was enough to send me over the edge, not my crazy edge either.

When I raised my head up from his pillow I had two very strange looks coming from Ike and Zac. I could read them so well, but for some reason I always asked:

“What?”

“You’re completely infatuated!” Zac said disgusted.

“Am not!” I answered knowing I was going to start an argument where Isaac was going to leave the room never saying a word and then I would go looking for him and then I would break my promise to Taylor.

“Are so, you’re so in love with him you’re willing to wait until he’s over what’s her face,” Zac said hitting it on the head, even though I talked to him all the time it was like he was reading my mind.

“Ahh but he’s right,” Isaac said putting a word into this little argument.

“Whatever guys! Coming to the party tonight?” I asked changing the subject which I had become very good at over the years putting up with these guys all my life.

“What party?” Taylor asked coming out of the bathroom.

“Geez, Tay, you scared the shit out of me. I didn’t hear the water cut off,” I said wishing he was close enough to playfully hit him on the arm. I had thought this whole flirting thing through.

“Sorry Emblem. What party?” Taylor asked me along with calling me my most loathed nickname.

“You know the party Maddi McGrady is having at her house tonight,” Zac answered.

“Oh M&M, yeah I knew about that. You guys are going?” Taylor returned a question.

“Yeah, we figured we would. Old friends, good music, and booze,” Isaac answered.

“Ike, we’ve got all the friends we need right here, they’re gonna play MMMBop, and who can say no to booze,” Taylor told his older brother coming over and putting his arm around me.

“Taylor, legs closed,” I reminded him because he was still in his towel, “but I do agree about the booze. We’ll get wasted then come home and get busted by our parents. Sounds like a plan Taylor dearest,” I said, laying my head on Taylor’s shoulder where it had been many times before.

“Yeah, I agree. Let’s do it!” Zac intoned his opinion.

“Okay it’s all settled, day at the studio for us, Emma you’re welcome to come my dear. Back home to shower and change then off to Maddi’s. Sound like a plan guys?” Isaac said somehow always being like the father of our little group.

“Yeah,” we all sang happily together.

“Taylor get dressed,” I yelled at him since he was still sitting there and his breathing was slowly evening out, I didn’t want him to go to sleep on us.

“Yeah, yeah,” Tay said while slowly raising himself off the bed and going over to his dresser, but still for some reason finding his outfit scattered on the floor. He dropped his towel and changed right in front of me, that wasn’t the first time and for some reason I did the same thing when he was around, but I would only change like that in front of him. Never Isaac or Zac, I guess I just felt this closeness with Taylor that we had always felt; it was such a good thing that it made me love him.

As soon as Taylor was dressed in a simple wifebeater and faded jeans we all sauntered downstairs gradually letting the normal Hanson family noise filter into our ears as we made our way to the living room.

“Where are you four going?” Diana asked, receiving the kiss that Taylor administered to her cheek when he greeted her. He loved her and he could definitely fall under the category of mama’s boy, but Isaac wasn’t far behind and sure enough he was next giving his mom a hug and kiss.

“We’re off to the studio we’ll be back in about four hours,” Zac told his mother greeting her just like his brothers had.

“Emma, sweetheart, are you sure you want to go and endure through four hours of these guys fighting over who’s on key and which chord should be played where?” Diana asked me sweetly already knowing my answer.

“Of course, who would they be if they didn’t do stuff like that. I wouldn’t know them any different way. I can put up with it. We’ll see you later,” I said giving her a kiss on the cheek because she was like my second mother and I loved her as much as the guys did.

“Well, okay. Have fun guys and don’t get into too much trouble.”

“We won’t mom, love you,” Isaac told her as we walked out of the door all of us having cups of coffee in our hands. Taylor wasn’t the only one who had made coffee his lifeline, we all had and that was how we chose to live each morning. Ahh, coffee.

So, we somehow ended up in my car and we traveled very carefully to the studio where we spent a day just as Diana had described.

But, it was okay I just laughed and had fun with it. Finally it was time to leave and the guys had at least written a new song I can’t say much for the recording part. So, honestly I have no idea why we went to the studio, but that was the wonderful mystery of the guys I called my best friends.

We all took about an hour to get ready for the party, princess Taylor took an hour and fifteen, but that’s a secret between you and me. We then headed out in Taylor’s black BMW, in our opinion that was a perfect way to arrive in style.

We got to Maddi’s about fifteen minutes early; parties were the only thing that we could be on time to, and headed to the front door. It was opened before we were even able to knock and we were greeted with a scream. We had known Maddi all of our lives, why in the world was she screaming like a fan. We soon figured that out.

“Hey guys,” Maddi said, pure defeat in her voice. “Meet my cousin Lauren,” at that this other girl let out a shrill scream, “big fan,” Maddi kind of whispered.

“Nice to meet you Lauren,” the guys said in unison, they had done that many times. I myself just brushed off this new girl and headed straight for Maddi.

“M! What’s up?” I asked kind of loudly.

“Em! Not much, you?” she replied to the greeting the way we both always have done. It caused us both to laugh and we ended up giving each other hugs.

“Ahh not much is going on, just busy seducing Taylor into my clutches,” I told Maddi trying not to have the guys overhear, but as my luck would have it:

“Ha, you’re seducing me. I think it’s more like I’m seducing you little E-e-envy,” Taylor said using another one of my hated nicknames even though envy had nothing to with the situation we were in right there.

“Oh yeah, well, who came down into my bed last night and said you just wanted to come down because you missed me,” I said immediately regretting sharing that moment between me and Taylor in front of everyone, but this little quarrel was probably gonna end kind of fun.

“Okay, so I ended up in your bed, but when I wanted to leave, who begged me to stay. Hmm?” Taylor retorted very nicely in my opinion.

I didn’t want to say what I said next, but for some reason it slipped out: “And who wanted to do a little something more than cuddle and when I played a little game called ‘abstinence is the key’ someone got a little mad and that’s the reason he wanted to leave, so the only reason I begged was because I knew I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep last night with you mad at me,” man the filter between my brain and mouth needed a tweaking because those are definitely not the things to say in front of people and obviously Taylor felt the same way.

“Emma!” he growled, “other room now! We have to have a little talk.” He grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the kitchen leaving all our friends standing around awe-struck at what we had just said to each other.

I was expecting a major verbal beating from Taylor, but instead he planted a kiss firmly on my lips and it was a kiss I couldn’t help but return and fully put myself into. In fact, it turned into a full-blown make-out session that was only interrupted when Lauren came in and cleared her throat.

I quickly pulled away and put my embarrassed and hot face against Taylor’s chest hoping he’d be my protector and hide me from this fan of him. Taylor was softly rubbing my back and each second he was coming closer and closer to the bottom of my shirt, finally he was rubbing the skin under my shirt which was causing goose bumps to rise on my skin. I somehow needed to say something to get Taylor out of this mood before I got into it and we went up into Maddi’s bedroom.

“We should definitely have more talks like that,” I said looking up into his eyes that were bluer than even mine.

“Definitely,” he said flashing me his beautiful, winning smile.

That night after all our childhood friends arrived and the music was turned up and the alcohol was pulled out, we started having fun.

They did indeed play MMMBop and we all got completely wasted except for Isaac. The four of us had an agreement; any party we went to the four of us would toss a coin. Well, two of us would toss and the loser would toss with the next person and the loser of that round would toss with the next person and whoever lost that round had to play the winner of the first round just to make it fair, somehow. Then whoever lost the fourth round had to stay sober so they could drive us home.

It just so happened that tonight Isaac lost, but might I also add that I never lose and probably won’t for a while. I’m on a coin toss winning streak. Whoo-hoo for me. But of course, don’t want to jinx that so… knock on wood!

So that night we got totally hammered and at about midnight he was tired of us being total jackasses. So he carted us away from Maddi and everyone else. The last thing I remember saying to Maddi is:

”M&M, the party’s at YOUR house! Rock on!” and then I fell into the back seat of Taylor’s car with Taylor.

I slept like I was in hibernation that night and woke up with a hangover that felt like a rock had fallen on my head.

The Hanson house is not a good place to be in the morning when you have a hangover especially when you wake up with a hung over naked Taylor laying next to you.

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Email: hshanson09@yahoo.com