Taylor
"So, will you come with me?"
Sure. Of course I'll come with you, Britt. But not that easily. I'm not going to fall at your feet and beg for you to take me.
"I don't know. Why don't you go alone again?"
"Because! Tay! Don't you wanna come with?"
"Fine."
"Oh good! People don't believe we are girlfriend/boyfriend. I have to show you off!"
"Show away."
Now, what to wear? Red, of course!
Taylor had chosen black pants. Hurridly, he put on the red shirt and frowned. Ew. It didn't look good. Back to the closet.
After about 15 minutes, Taylor emerged with his favorite blue, button-up short sleeved shirt.
"Gross. Somebody should really clean that hell hole," he muttered to himself. Shrugging, he ditched the red shirt, and put on the blue one over top of an ever present white t-shirt.
"Yup. Britt shall be knocked off her feet when she see's you! I love this shirt!"
Isaac
Ike knew it would happen sooner or later. It had him at his witt's end. It happened just after 4:00 pm. Well, to be more precise, it happened at 4 hours, two minutes, and 32 seconds.
"Isaac, can we talk?"
Ike calmly nodded. Mrs Hanson came in, bobbing Zoe. Mackenzie was holding onto her shirt sleeve.
"You gonna go play, Mackie?" she asked, ruffling his hair, "Where's Zac?"
"At Jared's," Ike volunteered.
"Oh. Go find Tay, then, okay?"
"Okay, Mommy," Mac agreed, skipping out of the room.
Mrs Hanson sat down by Ike.
"Isaac, you could have told me."
Nervously, Ike nodded. He was very aware of the power his parents had here. They could either make or break this relationship.
"Why didn't you?"
Why didn't he?
"I, uh, figured Shae should tell you guys with me."
Mrs Hanson nodded, a hint of understanding crossing her face, "Don't you think you put us on the spot just a tad?"
"I suppose." Okay. Mom's got a point here.
She smiled, "Be careful, dear."
"Can she still come with us to the zoo?"
"I suppose," Mrs Hanson said after a moment of hesitation, "Is she going to bring the twins?"
"I dunno. I'll ask her."
Mrs Hanson gave her son's hand a squeeze and stood up. Isaac could see past her smile, and he could tell that she didn't like this, and was very uncomfortable.
"It'll be okay, Mom."
"Be careful," she repeated, "Girls that get themselves into that kind of trouble are- well, Shae seemed nice enough. But, please be careful."
Isaac nodded and watched her leave. He shook his head. All her "be carefuls" were begining to make him feel like he was dating a serial killer.
Zac
"Jared, NO!" Zac cried, waving his hands around frantically.
"Zac, YES! Do it!"
Zac looked at the phone. It looked normal, but to Zac, it was an instrument of torture in disguise.
"NO! She'll say no, and I'll never be able to look at her again."
"Zac! Shut the hell up and phone her."
Sticking his tongue out, Zac picked up the phone and nervously punched the numbers. Ring one. Calm down. Ring two. Okay, you're fine. Ring three. Where the hell are they? Ring four. Pick up the da-
"Hello?"
"Uh, um, hi," Zac stammered, "Is Stephanie there?"
"Yeah. Hold on." Clunk went the phone,"STEPH! PHONE!"
There were more clucks as the phone was passed around.
"Got it, Bridgie! Hello, Cassie!" Stephanie exclaimed.
"Uh, hi."
"Zac! Sorry. I thought Cassie was on the phone."
Cassie? You? Same person? Huh?
"No, it's me. But, I see that you are expecting a phone call, so I'll let you go."
"No!" Jared mouthed to Zac, blocking the phone's cradle so he couldn't hang up.
"That's okay. Don't go," Stephanie said.
Jared smiled at the look of alarm on Zac's face. Good. He didn't have to go.
Zac's thoughts were slightly different. He had never been more nervous in his life. His hand was shaking and he felt faint. What if she said no?
"Okay. Good," Zac continued, "Doyouwanttogowithmeandmyfamilytothezooonfriday?"
"What? Too fast!"
Zac slowly repeated himself, "Do you want to go to the zoo with us on Friday?" He suddenly thought of a really corny preschool song. I'm going to the zoo, zoo, zoo. You can come too, too, too.
"Okay, sure," Stephanie's voice had a smile in it. Zac, well, Zac was giggling. The nervous tension had overcome him.
They talked awhile longer, before hanging up.
"Wanna go blading?" Jared asked Zac.
"Sure! Cool!"
As they were getting their blades on, the phone rang. Jared got it, answered small talk, and tossed the phone to Zac.
"Yoh!"
"Hi, dear. How many times have I told you not to answer the phone with, 'Yoh'?" his mom greeted, "I'm coming to pick you up. You need to practise. Tay and Ike have already. You can go back to Jared's after, but you need to practise."
Damn! Now I have to miss blading too. I hate practising!
Taylor
"Who's party is this again?"
"My friend, Susan's. Come on. Let's go in."
Taylor was hesitant. He didn't know why. Frowning, Taylor took Britt's outstretched hand.
"What's wrong? Do I look bad?"
Taylor sighed, "No. You look.....beautiful."
She did. She was wearing a black mini skirt and a long sleeved, lacey loose shirt over a black tank top.
"Good," she giggled, "Now come on!"
Taylor allowed Britt to drag him in. Parties were not Taylor's thing. Especially ones where he didn't know anybody, so he'd be totally dependent on Britt for company. Not his cup of tea.
The music was loud, and not his favorite type of music. People were dancing, and there was a punch bowl that more kids were swarming around. He made a mental note not to drink out of it.
Britt, though, had turned into a social butterfly. Taylor gulped. He did not know any of her friends, with the exception of Alicia.
"Susan, this is a total kick ass party! Have you met my boyfriend? Mary, meet my boyfriend, Taylor Hanson! Laura, do you know my boyfriend, Taylor? I'm sure you've seen him on TV, heard him on the radio, seen him in magazines. You have? Well, he's my boyfriend."
And on and on and on and on. His head was spinning. This was harder than meeting hyperventalating fans. He actually had to remember these peoples' names.
"Okay, Tay. I'll introduce you to Erin, Cara, Kelsie, and Sara later. Let's dance."
"Okay," Taylor said, all though he didn't want to. He hated dancing to this sort of music. If one could call what they did dancing.
After about 4 songs of bad music, the music slowed down and, ironically, it slowed down to I Will Come To You. Taylor rolled his eyes. Bad music to his music.
Shaking his head, Taylor wrapped his arms around Britt's waist and pulled her closer. She put her head on his shoulder and they danced.
For the first time, Taylor examined the group of people. None of them looked familar, except for one.
His mall girl! She was sitting in the corner, not dancing, and looking uncomfortable and out of place. Her long hair was down again.
The song ended.
"Tay, I'll be right back."
"Okay, Britty. Don't be too long."
It sounded good. Sorta romantic. Be what he was really thinking was, "Don't leave me here too long with a bunch of strangers who won't stop staring."
Britt smiled and glanced around. She leaned in and planted a kiss, smack on the lips. With that, she departed in the direction of the bathroom.
Taylor knew he was blushing. He glanced at the room, and realized that most of them had seen. He nervously looked in the direction of No Name.
She was gone. Taylor scanned the crowd and saw her hurrying to the door. Deciding to seize the oppurtunity, Tay hurried after her.
"No Name!" Oh yeah. Like you'd answer to that!
"You!" Better yet.
Taylor was now about a foot behind her.
"Girl leaving the party!"
That got her attention. She stopped and turned around. Unfortunately, Taylor did not, and slammed into her. This would not have been so bad, with the exception of embarrassment, but she was holding a glass of Pepsi. Or, rather, the remanants of a glass of Pepsi.
"Oh! Your shirt! I'm sorry. It was an accident. I had no idea that you were that close behind me!"
"That's okay, it was my fault," Taylor mumbled. My shirt! My beautiful favorite blue shirt! Ruined! No! I love this shirt. Ooo! My poor blue shirt!
"Sorry," she continued, glancing from his shirt to his face and back again, "It's ruined. And it was so nice."
"That's fine." Fine? No, it's awful!
She looked again at the shirt, which Taylor was unbuttoning (Thank goodness for clean, dry white t-shirts) to her half empty glass and back again.
"Would you like some ice with that?" she asked, feebly.
Taylor, who was still moping, actually had to laugh. She looked relieved.
"How was your report?" she asked, her voice returning to normal.
"Good. A-. Couldn't have done it without you."
"Good job!"
Awkward silences. Gawd, he hated those!
"So, do you need help with anything? I'd like to return the favor."
She looked surprised.
"Well........ah, I have an Algebra test coming up."
Taylor made a face.
"Okay. I have a French exam, literature report, music tests-"
"Need help on that?" he cut her off.
"Yeah. It's my exam."
"Cool! Do you have a piano?"
Yes."
"Could I come over and help."
"No."
Taylor's face must have fell, because she added, "Dad works during the day, and he wouldn't like it if I had a guy over when he wasn't there."
"Okay. Do you want to come over to my house?"
"All right. When?"
"How about Friday? My family's going to the zoo, but I don't want to go."
"Sure. Britt's coming. Probably wants to give you, uh, another present like she did on the dance floor. Bye!" No Name replied, slyly, and wittly.
Oh. So it was noticeable. Great.
"Haha, funny. Bye, then."
Before leaving, she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and smiled at him. As she was going, Taylor called out, "How old are you?"
She looked confused, but said, "15."
Taylor waved and went to meet Britt, shaking his head. 15 and her dad didn't let her alone with a guy. Sad.
"What were you doing talking to her?" Britt asked.
"I bumped into her and she spilt pop on me."
"Figures. Your ugly blue one?"
Ugly? His favorite blue shirt? Dammit! What was so bad about his shirt?
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