"Taybear! Taylor! Where did you go? Ohmigod, Taybear, come here, baby." Taylor looked around Walmart, trying to find the girl who was screaming his name frantically.
There she was. She had long black hair and panicked brown eyes. "Taybear, where are you?" She swiped a hand over her eyes to wipe away the newly formed tears.
Isaac leaned over and nudged Taylor. "Tay, man, you better go calm your stalker down. She's having an anxiety attack because she can't find you." Tay ignored him. "Go over there and say hi. Just to shut her up. Zoe, put that down!"
Taylor grumbled and complained as Ike went chasing after Zoe, but he walked over to the girl anyway. "Excuse me, I think you were yelling for me?" It came out as more of a question than a statement.
The girl whipped around to face him, fire blazing in her eyes. Recognition flashed across her face. "No, actually I wasn't," she growled. "You may be the famous Taylor Hanson, but not every girl in the world worships you. I didn't even know you were here until you walked up with your stupid line."
"It wasn't a line," Taylor muttered before realizing that she was walking away from him. "Wait!" She turned back, ready to give him another dose of reality. "Who are you looking for then? My brothers and I can help you find them."
The anger melted into a smile, softening her face. "That would be great of you. I'm looking for my little sister, Taylor. She's about this tall," she held a hand by a hip to indicate how tall, "with curly blond hair to her chin, blue eyes, big dimples."
"My brother Zac is great at finding things. I'll go get him." Tay neglected to mention that Zac was even better at losing things. This girl didn't have to know about the time they lost their youngest sister, Zoe, in an airport.
"Thank you so much," she called behind him as he walked off.
He tapped Ike on the shoulder. "What's wrong? She didn't like you when she found out you were a conceited jerk?" Ike snickered as he pulled a silk flower out of Zoe's sticky hands. "Can't say I blame her."
Tay glared at him. "No, dipwad. She's looking for her little sister. I volunteered us to help her. You take the toys section. Zac, you...where is Zac?"
A blue head popped out from behind a rack of posters. "Right here, brother. I'll search Britney Spears. I think it may have to be a private strip search."
Ike looked at him. "Zac, number one, Christina Aguilera is so much hotter and her boobs are real. Two, help us find the kid."
"Alright, alright. But Britney's hotter." So they seperated to embark on their search for the girl's little sister, who shared Taylor's name.
Fifteen minutes later, Zac discovered a little blond cutie in the makeup section. Her lips, cheeks, and chin were covered in berry red lipstick.
He leaned over to speak to her. "Hi, is your name Taylor?"
She nodded. "Yes, mister man with pretty blue hair. What's your name?"
He smiled despite himself. "Zac. Zac Hanson."
"Oh." Her eyes opened wide. She put her mouth by his ear and whispered, "Did you know that you're famous?"
Any leftover annoyance he felt at being dragged away from the poster dissolved. "Yeah, I know," he whispered back. "But don't tell anyone. Now, your big sister is looking everywhere for you. What do you say we take you back to her?"
"Okay." She took his hand in her sticky one, just like Zoe always did. Then, in the tone of a freedom-craving teenager, she said, "Sharice is so overprotective." She giggled, switching back to her normal little kid voice. "At least, Sharice always says that about Ellen. Ellen's our fake mommy. Our real mommy doesn't like us anymore. She only likes our fake daddy now. Our real daddy says our fake daddy is a son of a bit- Sharice," she squealed, running toward a tall girl with long black hair.
"Taybear," the girl squealed almost identically, scooping Taylor up. "I thought I lost you forever!" She gave Zac a glowing smile. "Thank you so much, Mr. Hanson."
"It's Zac, actually." He held out his hand and they shook. "And you must be Sharice, the girl Taylor was talking about."
Sharice ran a hand through Taylor's loopy curls. "Taylor as in your brother, or as in my sister?"
They laughed together. "Um, your sister, I think. I found her in the makeup, but maybe you can tell that already."
"I made myself pretty, Sharice," Taylor said in a sing-song voice.
"You're already beautiful, Taybear." Sharice kissed her cheek.
"Just like her big sister," Zac added shyly, giving Sharice the most hopeful smile she had seen since the summer she was thirteen and Joey Ramsey from next door had asked her to go steady.
"Zac, you tore yourself away from Britney Spears," a voice interupted. They turned to see Ike and Taylor (the brother) approaching with Zoe.
"Yeah, well, anything to help two beautiful ladies," Zac replied, biting his tongue to keep from telling Taylor to disappear. "I found Taylor the sister for Sharice," he continued. "What did you do? Get lost?"
"Hi, I'm Isaac, but call me Ike," he cut Zac off.
"Hi, Ike. I'm Sharice. Nice to meet you." They shook hands.
"Nice to meet you too. Anyway Zac, I was busy," Ike protested, "trying to keep Zoe out of the candy. I thought that...shit! Sorry, I mean shoot." He took off running after a bouncy blond Zoe, riding on top of a plastic fire truck.
"Oh, fun," Taylor the sister exclaimed. "I wanna ride too!" Sharice set her down and she ran after Ike and Zoe, little legs pumping.
"She's cute," Taylor the brother commented. "But she doesn't look much like you. Oh, I didn't properly introduce myself. Taylor Hanson."
"Sharice Keitel. And I'm adopted. Can we call you JT? It's very confusing with two Taylors around, you know." She pushed her black hair behind her ears. "Wow, my best friend Kenya loves you guys. She'll never believe that I met the gods of music themselves, Hanson." She put a hand on her forehead and gasped dramatically.
"Don't you like our music?" Zac asked. Sharice snorted.
"Maybe we could come over and meet her sometime. Actually, I think Zoe would enjoy seeing Taylor again," JT suggested, gesturing to their little sisters, who were giggling loudly as they attacked Ike with stuffed frogs.
"Um...well, I'm taking Taylor to the Tulsa City Fair tonight. Kenya and her boyfriend are bringing her cousins, the Terrible Twins. Maybe you guys could bring Zoe?" Sharice glanced down at her watch. "Taylor, sweetie, we need to go." Ike trudged over with a little girl on each hip. Sharice took Taylor from him. "What do you say?"
"I'll be there," Zac answered sweetly before JT could open his mouth. "Me and Zoe both. Why don't you give me your number and I'll call later so we can make arrangements?"
"I'll be there too," JT chimed in. "And I speak for Isaac. We'll meet you at the entrance at six thirty. Okay?"
"Awesome. Thanks for your help JT, Ike, Zoe. Thanks so much, Zac." She gave Zac a peck on the cheek and slipped a piece of paper in his hand discreetly. "You're cute," she whispered. "Call me at four."
"Bye, Zoe," Taylor called as Sharice carried her to the checkout line.
Zac smirked at JT as Sharice disappeared into the crowd with her little sister. "I don't know about Christina Aguilera, but she's definitely hotter than Britney Spears."
JT looked at Zoe pleadingly. "Hit him, baby, one more time."
"Okay." She reached out and gave Zac a good whack upside the head. "Zac, Britney Spears sucks. Let's sing Mandy Moore." Ike sat her down and she took off across the store, singing "Candy".
"Taylor," Zac and Ike growned in unison as they chased Zoe down.
