ISAAC
It didn't take a genious to figure out that Taylor was peed about something. It had gotten so bad that Zac and Ike avoided the Hanson household, solely because Taylor was so grouchy. Ike pitied his mom and dad. They were stuck with him.
But what surprised Ike the most, was that Taylor had so far refused to tell either him or Zac what was wrong. This was very unlike Taylor, who always felt better after telling somebody his problems.
"Zac!" Isaac cried.
Zac ran into the room.
"Huh?"
"Let's go to McDonalds."
"Okay. Let's hurry and leave."
Isaac nodded and the brothers went off to their room. To their horror, Taylor was sitting on his bed.
"Hey," he mumbled.
"Hi, Tay," Zac said, quietly, shooting a warning look in Ike's direction.
"Hey, Taylor," Ike replied, ignoring Zac's look.
"Where are you guys going?"
"McDonalds."
"And I wasn't invited? I get the funniest feeling that you two are avoiding me. Why do I get this feeling?"
"Because you're right," Zac said frankly.
It was Ike's turn to send Zac a warning look. He didn't want his two little brothers to get in an argument.
Taylor looked hurt and Zac looked sorry.
"I'm sorry, Tay," Zac replied, "But you've been acting really crappy."
"Well, I'm not mad at you!" Taylor exclaimed, crossing his arms and beginning to pout.
"Who the hell are you mad at, then?" Ike asked, sitting down by Taylor. Zac followed suit.
"Madeline," Taylor grumbled.
"Madeline? Does Rose know?"
"Rose? No! Zac Hanson, if you so much as breathe a word of this to her, I'll-"
"Calm down, Tay! I'm not going to tell her. But you are going to tell us why you are mad at Mad."
So he did. And the more he talked about Madeline's secret, the madder he got. But, at the end, he had calmed down a little bit.
"So, Tay," Ike said, "Wanna go to McDonalds with us?"
"I'd rather not. I have a headache."
TAYLOR
The phone was ringing. Taylor answered it.
"Hi, Hanson residence. Taylor speaking."
"Hey, Tay! It's Jake."
"Hi, Jake. What's up?"
"We're going to McDonalds. Wanna come?"
"Who's we?"
"Oh, everybody. Caroline, Shiela, Madeline, me, you."
"Couldn't just Carrie, Shiela, you, and me just go?"
"Why not Maddy? She dumped Matt, ya know."
"Oh."
"So, you aren't coming?"
"No, Jake, I can't."
ZAC
"Hey, Ike, look!" Zac said, pointing to another table in McDoanlds. There sat Taylor's friends. Zac and Ike waved and they waved back. Instants later, Madeline walked over.
"Hi," she greeted.
"Hi, Mad."
"Hi, Maddy."
"Uh, where's Tay?"
"Home," Zac replied.
"Oh. Uh, do you guys think he's mad at me?"
"We honestly couldn't say," Ike said smoothly.
"Oh, thanks."
Zac grabbed a napkin and dipped a fry in ketchup. Painstakingly, he wrote, "Hey, Rosie. You shoulda come to McDonalds. Remember, Z <3 R always!"
"Madeline!" he cried, "Wait!"
She turned around and looked hopeful.
"'Member something about Tay?"
Her voice sounded so hopeful, that Zac hated to tell her the truth.
"No."
Her face fell.
"But could you give this to Rosie?"
TAYLOR
He couldn't take it anymore. He needed to know. It was driving him insane! He glanced at his clock. 8:15pm. Not too late to phone her. He picked it up and dialed 747-3140.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Madeline."
"Tay! Are you-"
"Why didn't you tell me you took ballet?" he demanded.
There was a long silence. He heard Madeline sigh.
"You were never supposed to know," she sighed.
"Well, I know now. You can't change that. Besides, I didn't ask you if I was supposed to know. I asked why."
Madeline sighed again.
"Because I'm not supposed to like girly things. I figured you'd laugh."
"Do I sound like I'm laughing? And you never told me you dumped Matt either."
"Well, you never told me about Lacey."
"I had to hear it from Jake!!!" they cried in unison.
"Sorry. I didn't figure you'd care about Lacey."
"I didn't figure you'd care about Matt."
"Well, I do. Now I can-"
Ooops. Said to much.
"Yeah. Me too."
Silence again.
"If you hadn't have kissed me-"
"Madeline! You can't blame me for that!"
"Well, no-"
"It takes two to kiss!" he cried.
"Taylor, no-"
"Bye, Madeline."
He hung the phone up and fell back on the bed. His lip was quivering.
"Are you gonna cry over her, you baby?" he muttered to himself.
He blinked hard and got up. Grabbing his coat, he ran out of the house. Quickly, he got on his pedal bike.
He didn't know where he was going. Somewhere. Anywhere. He biked until he was out of breath, but kept going. He saw the tipped over garbage can before he hit it. He knew he was going to.
"Be nice to go unconscience, wouldn't it?" he thought, "Give your poor brain a rest."
He hit it and his bike tipped, skidding across the sidewalk. Taylor lay under his bike, willing himself to go unconscience. When it didn't come, he kicked his bike off and sat up.
He wrinkled his nose and inspected his arm and right knee, the only two body parts that hurt. Taylor's right arm had a scrape that went from his elbow halfway down to his wrist. His knee hadn't been scraped, but it had taken a pretty hard bang on the sidewalk when his bike had tipped. Groaning, he sat up and dragged his bike onto the lawn.
IKE
Daringly, Brianne insisted on holding Ike's hand all the way to the ice cream parlor. It cut down on talking seriously; Brianne needed both hands to conduct a conversation.
Ike was proud. He was almost fluent in sign language. Sure, it had taken a toll on his social life. But what did that matter?
He held the door open for Brianne and ordered the ice cream.
This wasn't a date. Isaac didn't know exactly why it wasn't, but it wasn't. Brianne hadn't asked to be his girlfriend, and he hadn't asked her to be. But, oh, how he wished that fantasy would become reality. Heaven!
"Brianne?" he ventured.
"What?" she signed, sticking the spoon of ice cream in her mouth before putting the spoon down. Isaac was glad that she ordered a sundae. He imagined putting down a cone everytime you had to talk.
"Aah," Say it. Say it!,"Don't talk with your mouth full."
Brianne raised an eyebrow, an smiled an odd, crooked smile.
What a corny thing to say! She doesn't even talk with her mouth! I am SO stupid. I deserve an award for the dumbest way to ask a girl out.
He licked his cone and stalled. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Would you go out with me?"
Brianne wrinkled her nose and frowned. "Too fast, Ike," she signed, "I can't lip read at that speed."
"Bri," he repeated, slower, "Would you go out with me?"
She nodded, giggled, and blushed. Ike kissed her. He truly didn't know why. He honestly thought that she wouldn't like it. But she smiled and giggled again.
ZAC
Whistling happily, Zac bladed circles around Rose, literally.
"Zac, stop it!" Rose cried, "You're making me dizzy!"
Rose hit a crack in the sidewalk and stumbled. She grabbed Zac's arm and saved herself from her fall.
Frankly, Rose wasn't the best blader. She was too tense. Zac tried not to be too critical because she'd only had them for a week.
"Bend your knees, Rose. It's easier. Give me your hands."
Willingly, she did. Turning around, he began to pull her.
"Zac, what are you doing? You're going to fast! SLOW DOWN!"
"Sheesh, Rose! I won't hurt ya, promise. Would I lie?" he turned his head and smiled at her, to emphasize his innocence. Ironically, just as they were coming to a hill, it was Zac who hit a bump funny. He dropped Rose's hands and fell over. Poor Rose, who couldn't stop if her life depended on it, kept on going.
"Rose!" he cried, getting up and going down the hill. Rose was at the end, a little pale, but unhurt.
"Zac!"
He hugged her and she gasped.
"I....I....I......bent........m-my.......knees."
TAYLOR
He'd been laying on that patch of grass for 45 minutes, lost in thought. It was interrupted suddenly when he heard the whizzing of wheels. Not car wheels, but much, much smaller. Without bothering to sit up, he watched the blader come closer.
Madeline realised that the pathetic heap of a boy by a bent up bike was Taylor at the exact same time Taylor realised the blader who was going uncontrollably fast was Madeline.
"Taylor."
It was all she said. The words were needy and a plee and lingered above their heads.
Taylor gasped. Madeline was crying. He knew she was trying hard to stop, but she was crying too hard to just stop. Taylor had never seen her cry before. It was a little bit shocking.
"Huh?" he asked, feeling slightly guilty, but not wanting to let it show.
"I'm sorry," she sobbed, "It wasn't your fault."
Taylor groaned, "I'm sorry too. And, Maddy, it sorta was my fault. I mean, you never asked for me to kiss you. I just wanted to."
Madeline hiccupped and sniffed and wiped fiercely at her tears.
"That's not true.......hiccup........I wouldn't have.........hiccup........let you......hiccup..........if I wouldn't have........hiccup.......wanted it........hiccup.........so was unfair to blame.........hiccup....you."
Madeline was shaking, crying, hiccuping and trying her best to explain the situation. Taylor patted the ground beside him and Madeline sat down. She cried in silence for awhile. Taylor debated whether or not to put his arm around her and comfort her.
"I'm sorry about Lacey. I would have told you if things would have been different. I didn't think you'd care. I mean, well, I don't know what I mean!" he was getting frustrated.
Madeline sniffed loudly and swiped at her nose with the back of her hand.
"I'm sorry about Matt, too," she said. Taylor began to wonder if she'd ever stop crying, because he felt guilty. But at least she'd stopped hiccupping, "I didn't really like him. So, it was no big deal that I was going out with him."
Smiling slightly, Madeline tugged at a curl. Taylor frowned. He was still upset about something. There was still something he had to know.
"Maddy, if you didn't like him, why'd you go out with him?"
She blushed and hid her face behind her hand for a moment and then looked at Taylor, straight in the eyes.
"Cause I liked you and I wanted to make you jealous. Did it work?"
It was Taylor's turn to blush, "Well, yeah."
"Besides-"
"You don't like your friends," Taylor trailed.
"Yeah," Madeline whispered. She smiled. Her hysterical sobs had stopped, but tears were still gliding down her cheeks.
"Don't cry anymore," Taylor whispered, gently wiping at a tear on Madeline's cheek. She glanced up at him, and Taylor almost kissed her. The only thing that stopped him was the memory of what happened last time. Sighing, he took his hand of her cheek. Madeline dug the brake of her rollerblade into the ground and continued, "It sucks."
"Uh huh."
Taylor glanced around. The sun was setting, so Taylor guessed that it was late. He was cold.
"Maddy," he said softly, "I like you more than a friend, and I can't help it."
"I know."
And she kissed him. Crossing over to a state of stupidity, Taylor just sat there.
It was unbelievable, really. She was kissing him because she wanted to, because she liked him. Wow. Very cool. He smiled, an odd thing to do when you are being kissed. Oh no! He was going to laugh!
Madeline must have sensed that, toom because she elbowed him in the ribs, good and hard. Even though Taylor thought that being elbowed was far less romantic than laughing, he got his butt in gear and kissed her back.
"Even now," Madeline said, referring to the kiss that Taylor had given her earlier, "You kissed me-"
"And you didn't kiss back."
"As I was saying," she continued, "I kissed you-"
"And I didn't kiss back."
"Well, I don't know what came over you," Madeline replied, hugging her knees to her chest and trying to look annoyed, but failing entirely. Taylor laughed and so did Madeline. He reached over and entwined his finers with her's. Madeline smiled and sighed. Thinking, Taylor frowned and gently with drew his fingers from her's.
"I want to still be your friend, Maddy. And friends don't do this."
Madeline frowned, too. Suddenly, she grinned.
"Tay, look at the big picture. Look at this as a milestone, if you will. The milestone'll be crossed, and hopefully it'll make our friendship stronger. See what I'm saying?"
"Yeah. 'The river just might flow to you and me.'"
"Yeah."
Madeline grinned and shivered.
"I'm cold, Tay. Let's go home."
Taylor stood up, helped Maddy up, grabbed his bent up bike, and began to walk beside it. Madeline bladed slowly behind him. Taylor reached over and put his arm around her. He sighed happily and giggled. He was in an awfully giggly mood. Madeline squeezed his shoulders.
ISAAC
"Psst, Ike."
Ike had humored Taylor. He had watched Taylor come in the door and crawl all the way to the living room.
"Do you think that Mom and Dad saw me?" he whispered.
"Oh no, Tay. They expected you to come crawling in at 11:00 on a school night.
"No! They saw me!"
"Lucky for you, they aren't home."
"What? You let me crawl all the way to the living room, just to tell me they weren't home? Why the hell did you do that?"
Unconcerned, Ike replied, "Because it was very amusing watching you."
"Where's Zac?"
"Sleeping."
"Not for much longer, he won't be!"
With that, Taylor left the room, muttering about typical older brothers. Chuckling, Isaac paid attention to the TV program on MTV. What a stupid video! Isaac didn't dwell on that long, because Taylor came stomping in, dragging a sleepy Zac.
"Ok, guys, listen to this!" Taylor announced, dying to tell somebody about Madeline.
"No, Tay! You listen!"
"Ok, Ike," Taylor agreed, too happy to start an argument.
"Dad took Mom to the hospital!! She's gonna have the baby any ol' time now! Or, Ike, has she already had it? Did I sleep through it? I hope not!" Zac blurted.
"Mom's gonna have the baby?!? Cool!!" Taylor practically shouted.
"Ssh, Tay, you wanna wake up the whole neighborhood?" Ike scolded, "You didn't miss it, Zac. Mom and Dad didn't call."
"I gotta phone Madeline!" Taylor cried, at the exact same time Zac said, "I gotta phone Rose!"
They both eyed eachother and made a dive for the phone. Zac got it first, but Taylor grabbed and pulled.
"Hey! I had it first!"
"So? I said that I got it first!"
Isaac laughed.
"Don't you guys think that it's a bit too late to phone? It's 11:15, you know."
"I know for a matter of fact that Maddy's been home just as long as I have!"
Ike raised his eyebrows.
"Taylor, what were you and Maddy doing so late at night?"
"Hanging around."
"In the dark?" Ike pushed. It was so fun being annoying!
"We weren't doing that!!" Taylor cried, chucking a pillow at Ike.
"Sure!"
Taylor stuck his tongue out. Sticking his nose high in the air, Taylor made his phone call.
"Ring, ring!"
Isaac blinked awake and yawned. Zac had fallen asleep on the floor and Taylor was using his back as a pillow. One of them was snoring. The TV was still blaring MTV. Then, Ike realised that the annoying ringing was the phone.
"Hello?"
"Ike, did I wake ya up?"
"Dad! Did Mom have the baby?"
"Mom? Yeah! Zoe! Girl!"
"Girl? Zoe? Cool!!"
"Yeah! Can you get everybody up and to the hospital?"
"Sure. How's Mom?"
"Great!"
ZAC
"Come on, Ike! Mom wouldn't mind! They're practically our sisters!"
"Zac!" Taylor cried, "Don't say that!"
"Sorry! IKE, COME ON!"
"Sheesh, Zac! Fine!"
Smiling, Zac waited while Ike drove to the Harrisons'. He and Taylor got out of the car and ran to the door. Eagerly, Zac rang the bell.
Madeline answered. Her hair was a mess, she was wearing Scooby Doo pajamas, a pink robe, and pink bunny slippers.
"Hello, beautiful," Taylor said, sarcastically. He might have said it that way, but he didn't mean it that way.
"Hi," she yawned.
To Zac's surprise, Taylor proceeded in giving her a kiss on the cheek. Madeline patted his back and yawned.
"Where's Rose?"
"In bed. It's only 7:30, you know. What are you guys doing here?"
"Mom had the baby!" Zac said, "You and Rose wanna come see it?"
"Sure! Hold on, I'll go and wake up Rose."
Madeline scurried away.
"OK, Tay, what the hell was that?"
"Was what?"
"This."
Zac leaned forward and kissed Taylor on the cheek.
"Uh, guys?" Rose interupted, "That didn't look that great."
"No kidding! Zac, get the hell away from me!"
"No, Tay. I'll love you forever!" Zac said, in a stupid voice.
"Uh, Zac, you are freaking me out."
"So like you, Tay, to see it like that! I was simply demonstrating what you did to Maddy."
"Still freaky."
"He kissed you?" Rose squealed, staring at Madeline, who had just come to the door.
"Sheesh! Tay, let's go and get in the car!"
Taylor eyed Zac suspiciously before taking Madeline's outstrecthed hand and leaving. Zac snorted and reached for Rose.
"What was it?"
"What?"
"The baby, you dodo!"
"A girl! Her name is Zoe!"
"Zoe? That's just darling!"
TAYLOR
"See, Madeline? Hello there, Zoe. How are you?"
"She is so small," Madeline whispered, stroking one tiny, little hand, "Can I keep her?"
"No. You can have Zac, though. I don't mind."
"I don't want Zac! Can I hold her?"
"Uh huh. Here."
Carefully, Taylor slid Zoe into Madeline's arms. Both girls cooed. Taylor slipped his arm around Madeline, and she leaned against him. Things were OK, life was great.
Both were unaware of Mrs Hanson, who's matchmaking skills were ticking and working over time. They looked so angelic, holding Zoe. Sure, they were young. But maybe someday....
ZAC
"Dumb old thing! Give me my candy!" Zac ordered the vending machine. His Cheesies were caught on the ring, "Oh! Come on!"
Rose snorted and slapped the machine. The Cheesies fell down and Zac was happy. He and Rose went to the bench and began to eat his Cheesies. Rose helped herself. Soon, the pathetic little bag was empty, and the two linked orange, cheese covered fingers and headed back to the Maternity Ward.
IKE
Ike stared at Zoe and stroked her satiny cheek. He thought happily of Brianne.
Tomorrow, he'd tell her all about Zoe. She'd like that. Then, when his mom left the hospital, Brianne could see Zoe. Brianne loved kids.
Smiling, Ike made the sign for love.