In my pocket, among the things I carry of course, is the weight of expectation of wanting everything when I know I can’t take it.” - Jackopierce
“We were all sitting legs crossed ‘round the fire, my yellow flame she dances...” Mira sang along to Dave Matthews in her room. She had just gotten out of the shower and was wrapped in a navy blue towel, looking through her closet.
The phone rang,interrupting her performance.
“Hello?”
“Mira?”
“Taylor, hey! What’s going on?”
“We were just wondering what time you were gonna pick us up."
“I guess around 9," Mira said. "The club’s not too far from your hotel.”
“Cool. So what should we wear?” Taylor asked, looking toward his closet.
“Wear something weird - something you wouldn’t normally wear just walking around at home,” Mira suggested.
Taylor smiled. “Can I wear my leather pants?"
“Go for it...that doesn’t mean I won’t laugh at you though,” Mira warned Taylor.
“Alright, well I’m gonna go get ready. So I’ll see you at 9?” Taylor asked.
“Yeah, I’ll come up to your room. See ya.”
“Bye.”
Taylor hung up the phone, grinning.
On the other side of town, Mira danced around in the privacy of her own room singing to the rest of her CD.
“What to wear, what to wear," she pondered, staring at her closet.
She finally decided on a pair of dark jeans and a black camisole with a baby blue cardigan and her black boots.
“Hey Tay, which shirt?” Zac stood in the doorway of Taylor’s room in his yellow pants with a black stripe down the side holding up two different shirts.
“Um.. the short-sleeved black one. But wear something over it. It’s freezing out there, man,” Taylor told his brother.
“Kay.” Zac went back to his room as Taylor finished getting ready.
Later, Taylor heard a knock at the door. He opened his hotel room door and Mira smiled when she saw him in his leather pants and a black button-up shirt. His hair was down and he wore his black Doc Martens.
“Hey, Taylor, you look good...nice pants,” she grinned.
“Thanks,” Taylor looked down at himself and then back up at Mira.“You don’t look so bad yourself.”
Taylor remembered his manners.
“Come on in," he said. "Zac and Ike are still getting ready. Let’s go in the living room.”
Mira and Taylor sat down on the couch. “Guys come on, Mira’s here!” Taylor shouted.
“So, how was school?” Taylor asked.
“Oh, just a typical day of high school,” Mira said airily.
“I wouldn’t know,” Taylor said.
“Oh that’s right," Mira remembered. "You’re homeschooled. That’s gotta be cool - school whenever it’s convenient while traveling around the world.”
Taylor nodded. “Yeah it’s great, a lot less formal. But sometimes I wish we could be in a normal school so we could experience the real world, and go to basketball games, and have lockers and stuff.”
Mira had to laugh at the lockers comment, “Well lockers aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Besides, who would want to trade in their amazing life doing what they love for public high school?”
“I guess you have a point,” Taylor said as Isaac and Zac walked in the room.
“You kids ready to go?” Isaac asked. “Hey you look nice, Mira.”
“Thanks, you too. I like that leather coat,” Mira told Isaac.
“Come on! Let’s shake it!” Zac motioned for the door.
Isaac smiled. “Yeah, there are ladies out there just waiting for my phone number,” he said as they walked out the door.
“Hey Mira, I know I look so manly and all...but I’m only 12. How are we gonna get in here?" Zac asked nervously as the group approached the club.
“Relax, I know the doorman," Mira said confidently. "He’s cool."
Once they were in, they surveyed the crowd dancing carelessly to“Love Shack” by the B52s.
“You guys want anything to drink?” Mira asked.
“I’m gonna go grab a table. Could you get me a water, please?” Isaac asked.
They gathered at a high table with four stools and Isaac laid his coat down.
“Come on! Are we sitting or dancing?” Taylor asked. “Let’s get out there.”
The four of them joined the rest of the dancing crowd.
“TIIIIINNN ROOF! RUSTED!” Everybody sang along to the song and jumped up and down, dancing with no one in particular.
“Hey where’s Zac?” Mira screamed over the music about a half hour later.
“I don’t know,” Taylor shouted back looking around. Mira took off her cardigan and tied it around her waist.
“Oh my God,look!” She pointed to a group of girls with Zac in the middle.
“Holy shit, Zac you pimp!” Taylor shouted in Zac’s direction. “He’s the ladies man of the group.”
“I don’t know, look at Isaac over there getting pretty cozy with thatblonde,” Mira observed.
“Will you show me your hotel room? I bet it’s big,” the blonde, whose name was Kim, said in Isaac’s ear.
“Um... I don’t know...I’m here with friends so...” Isaac said nervously.He had no intentions to go any further with this girl.
“Oh..okay. I have to go to the restroom.” Kim shouted before walking away.
Isaac turned and walked through the crowd to their table.
“Hmm...I wonder what that was about,” Mira wondered, looking at Taylor.
She continued to dance to the music which was now Ton Loc’s “Wild Thing.” Her long dark hair swayed across her back. Taylor took the elastic from his wrist and tied his hair back, and slowly made his way closer to Mira.Even though he didn’t think she noticed, she did and responded by moving in a little closer.
“YO VIP......LET’S KICK IT!” Both Mira and Taylor looked at each other and smiled.
“Hell yeah!” Taylor shouted and started dancing to the beat of Vanilla Ice.
“Ike!” Taylor shouted to his brother. Isaac made his way over to the dancing couple and started to rap the song with the other two.
“Alright STOP, collaborate and listen, Ice is back with a brand newinvention SOMETHING grabs a hold of me tightly, flow like a harpoon dailyand nightly.”
Zac found his brothers and Mira and joined them.
“Will it ever stop, YO I don’t know, turn off the lights - and I glow...” they all shouted. Mira couldn’t help laughing at the sight of the three brothers of Hanson dancing and rapping to “Ice Ice Baby.”
Taylor noticed Mira laughing and smiled at the sight. “Come on, you’re not singing, Mira.” Taylor went behind her, grabbed her by the waist and started dancing with her.
“I know you know the words!” Taylor insisted. Mira kept on laughing. They were all having so much fun.
“Cooking MCs like a pound of bacon,” Mira joined back in. They finished the song dancing with each other. Zac and Isaac made their way over to their table after the song for some water.
The next song to play was Blackstreet’s“I Like The Way You Work It.” Taylor remained behind Mira with his arms around her waist after he took off his black shirt to reveal his white undershirt.
“Oh, these songs are so bad,” Mira said, turning around to face Taylor and laying her arms across his shoulders.
“I know, isn’t it great?” Taylor said as he moved in closer. “I can’t get her outta my mind, I think about the girl all the time,” Taylor sang.
Mira giggled as they swayed in time to the music. “You know what I like about you, Taylor?” Mira asked.
“What’s that?”
“You’re a good dancer.”
“Thanks...is that it?”
“No,” Mira giggled, “I also think you have very impressive eyes.”
“Impressive, huh?” Taylor said, smiling.
“Yeah, they say a lot about you.”
“Oh yeah? What are they tellin’ you?”
“Well,” Mira started, getting lost in his crystal blue eyes,“They say that you care a lot about other people and you have a lot to offer.”
Mira began to move in closer, brushing the back of Taylor's neck with her hands.
“You have all these emotions that have yet to be expressed, and whatever you devote yourself to, you give your whole self. You’re very passionate.”
“You got all of that from my eyes?” Taylor asked, quietly but still audible.
A warm feeling overcame Taylor as he realized how close he was to this girl, and that they were caught up in their own world.
“Hey Ike, check out Tay and Mira,” Zac pointed out.
“Welll... get 'em Tay. I saw it coming," Isaac said. "Last night during her dance class he was practically drooling and they kept looking at each other.”
On the dance floor, Taylor decided to make some confessions to Mira.
“Well you know what I like about you?” he asked her with a smile.
“My ... knowledge of the entire song Ice Ice Baby?” Mira guessed with a wide grin.
“Well that,” Taylor laughed, “And I like what your eyes say about you.”
Mira smiled. “What do my eyes say, Taylor?”
“Hmm," Taylor started, studying her eyes. “They say you’re a very intelligent, generous, and extremely attractive person," he said slowly. He couldn’t believe he was saying these things out loud. He had never talked like this to a girl before, and for a brief moment he feared she would laugh in his face.
But instead, Mira smiled genuinely.
“I like youa lot, Mira.” he finished.
“You’re not so bad yourself, Hanson,” Mira said, grinning. She had no idea what was going on. They had practically stopped dancing to the beat. What was she doing? She had known this guy for two days and she felt like she really knew him. She didn’t like him, she tried to convince herself. The atmosphere must have made her light headed or something.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a pair of moist lips on hers. Her eyes closed and everything around her stopped except the kiss. At that moment all her thoughts jumbled in her head and she didn’t know what else to do but respond by kissing him back.
“What the,” Isaac said to Zac.
“What? Oh my God...Is he supposed to be doing that?” Zac asked.
“Okay they stopped...where did that come from?” Isaac asked, shocked by his brother’s action.
When Mira and Taylor pulled apart, their eyes searched each other's for an explanation.
“I..I didn’t...” Taylor broke the silence, “I’m.."
This time Mira interrupted him by briefly kissing him again, and Taylor was suprised this time. When she pulled back she looked into his eyes, her face still close to his.
“Taylor ... it’s okay,” she smiled.
“Yeah. It is,” Taylor nodded.
“Hey you two, don’t you think it’s time to get outta here?” Isaac interrupted, shouting over the music.
“Yeah, it’s getting late. Let’s go.” Mira directed them out of the club.
The short car ride to the Hanson’s hotel was basically silent, except for the sounds of REM coming from the CD player in Mira’s car.
“Home sweet home,” Mira said as she put the car in park.
“Are you coming up?” Taylor asked with hopeful eyes.
“Sure,” she smiled.
“I’m exhausted, but I had a lot of fun tonight,” Zac said in the elevator.
“Me too,” Isaac said.
“Me too,” Taylor and Mira said at the same time. They looked at each other then down at the floor.
Isaac noticed the silence and broke it, “81 A...”
“BEACHFRONT AVENUE!” Everyone exclaimed. Everyone laughed as they exited the elevator.
“I think you guys should do some dancing in your video,” Mira joked.
“Oh definitely,” Taylor said, “Especially Zac the ladies' man over there.”
“Hey man, if you got it,” Zac laughed. “I mean look at all these numbers,” he said,pulling about six matchbooks out of his pockets.
“That’s scary man,” Isaac said, “You beat me by 2 phone numbers,” he pulled out his three matchbooks and one cocktail napkin with numbers on them. They all entered the living room and flipped the light on.
"What about you, Tay?” Zac asked, referring to any phone numbers.
“No phone numbers for me tonight,” Taylor answered.
“Ah it’s okay, bro,” Isaac patted Taylor on the shoulder, “I guess it just wasn’t your night.”
“I don’t know about that,” Taylor murmurred, looking at Mira.
Mira blushed and smiled back. What am I doing? she thought. This is crazy. He’s 14!
“Well, guys, bedtime for Zac ... see you punks later. Thanks for the wild night, Mira. I had fun,” Zac announced.
“I’m sure you did, Zac. Good night," Mira said.
“Yeah me too," Isaac said, stifiling a yawn. "I had a good time tonight. I’ll talk to you later,Mira."
"‘Night guys.”
Mira and Taylor stood for a moment in tense silence.
“Well, I guess I’d better go,” Mira said.
“Oh, I’ll walk you to your car,” Taylor offered.
“I had fun tonight, Taylor,” Mira said.
“Yeah, me too. I never would have guessed I’d be going to a dance club that played Tone Loc while I was here,” he laughed. “You’re pretty crazy.”
“Nah, I don’t do that very often but it was cool," Mira said. "We should definitely go again sometime.”
“Definitely,” Taylor nodded in agreement.
“I should go," Mira said. "I have dance in the morning and I’m not looking forward to it.”
“Oh gosh, I’m sorry.” Taylor felt bad for keeping her out late.
“No, don’t be. I don’t regret this night at all,” Mira said looking into Taylor’s eyes.
“Good. Cause I don’t either,” Taylor smiled.“I’ll call you tomorrow?”
“'Kay. Night, Taylor.”
“Come here,” Taylor said as he stepped in to give Mira a hug.
“Goodnight,” Mira said as she hugged him back. He was a little sweaty, but so was she, so it was okay.
They pulled away looking at each other. “Talk to you tomorrow then,” Mira said.
“Yeah...tomorrow. Be careful, lock your doors," Taylor instructed.
Mira smiled, “I always do.”
Taylor stood back as she pulled away. He turned around when she was out of sight and murmurred to himself.
“What are you doing, Tay? You don’tknow this girl. What if her dad finds out and gets pissed and refuses to do our video?" Taylor pondered his question to himself and decided it wouldn't happen.
He decided that the evening's events called for a brother conference. He hurried up to the hotel room and knocked on Isaac’s door.
“Ike, you awake?”
Isaac opened the door, “You weren’t out there very long,pal," Ike told him. “I thought there’d be more action in light of whatwent on in the club.”
“You saw us in the club?”
“Yep. Good pick. Mira’s cool.”
“Well I need to talk to you.”
“Come on in. My little bro gettin’ his first kiss,” Ike teased, rubbing Taylor’s shoulders.
“Okay,” Taylor started as he situated himself on Ike’s bed. “I don’tknow what the hell happened in there...but I liked it. I know you guys’ll think I’m crazy because we just met this girl, but I don’t know...I thinks he’s cool.”
“Yes, ‘cool’ would be a plus for someone you’re looking to date,” Isaac said.
“I mean I’m interested in her. I wanna hang out with her and have fun while I’m here, ya know?” Taylor said.
“Of course.”
“Well what do I say when I call her tomorrow?” Taylor wanted to know.
“Just ask her to go do something, like dinner or whatever," Isaac suggested.
“What if she says no?”
Isaac smiled. “Taylor, she didn’t say ‘no’ tonight now did she?” he said.
