The sounds of Zac heaving in the bathroom made Mercy want to do the same thing. Their first real big show
was in about 20 minutes. They were just one of several bands that were playing that night, but it wasn't little bands.
Jeremy had gone to the bathroom to help Zac, who, whimpering the whole time, seemed to calm down just a little.
Mercy tapped her fingers.
Damnit! Taylor did that. She tried to stop it, but 30 seconds later she was tapping again.
"Mey you okay?"
Dorin sat next to his sister. Half empty water bottle in hand and a nervous look on his face.
She nodded at him.
"Dorin, those people are yelling, and screaming, and singing along, and they are loud and they like this stuff."
He shook his head.
They had specifically been put at the near end of the show, for the sole reason that they wanted people to stay and spend more money.
Zac stumbled from the bathroom, Jeremy allowing him to lean on his shoulder and stop to get a break.
"You okay dude?"
Zac nodded. Not feeling okay for sure, but getting less and less queasy.
The band on stage, ever clear to be precise, started wrapping up their last song of the set.
Tapping her fingers faster she stared at her brothers.
"Can't do it."
Shaking her head and nervously chattering, she continued to stare at them.
"Mey?"
"I just know I'm gonna mess up."
"Mey, it's live, don't worry about it."
Her foot tapped, shaking her leg."
Zac put a hand on her shoulder.
"We can be nervous together."
Looking into his eyes, he smiled back at her.
Taking a deep breath, and listening to the organizers instructions, they stood.
Stepping out onto the stage as a wave of sound rolled towards them.
Isaac stared at the numbers of people that had since entered the area.
"Tay, come check this out!"
Their friends sat on stage, looking more then uncomfortable, but pulling their first song out smoothly and calmly.
"Looks like they've got something there."
Taylor watched as Who's What strummed out their first song.
Zac giggled.
"What's so funny?"
Pointing at the screen, he laughed again.
"Look at Zac! He's like, white!"
Taylor rolled his eyes. Damnit! Mercy did that! He would have to break himself of that one.
"They look good, fashion and everything you know."
Isaac raised an eyebrow at taylor.
"Oh it's more then fashion."
Smirking, Isaac chuckled.
"Ike! She fell asleep!"
They had been mobbed by yelling fans, not just girls, like the hansons had, but every age, sex, and type you could think of, all yelling some strange worship thing.
The second his head hit the flat, not so soft pillow, his eyes closed and he fell asleep.
They would go home in the morning. All of them being too tired to even call for room service, and Zac being the only one tired enough to sleep.
"You kicked ass Mey."
Jeremy patted his sister on the shoulder.
"Thanks jem."
She watched her brother pass. He had changed so much. They had changed so much. Mercy was just begining to feel how much stress her brother's friends felt.
Vacantly watching a movie on television, the clock turned from 3 in the afternoon to 9 at night. Leaning back on her pillow and resting her head near Zac's, hers eye lids dropped and
she was soon asleep.
"We sorta talked."
Lissa grinned at Taylor.
"What'd she say?"
"Nothing much."
"Taylor Hanson!"
"What!"
"I think you like her more then you say you do."
"No."
"Liar!"
"He blushed."
"I think you like her way too much, and the fact that she has a hard time seeing you the same way right now, is bugging the hell out of you."
He jerked his head up.
A sound of irritance now understandable in his voice.
"Who said anything about her liking me? Who said that huh? Why'd you bring it up?"
Lissa paused.
"How would you know whether she likes me or not? It doesn't matter anymore! I just wish she would show some sort of positive emotion towards me."
She swallowed.
"I didn't mean it like that taylor, I..."
"Do you think I'm all ga ga over her?"
"I'm sure your not, I mean you wouldn't...."
"Damn straight I'm not!"
He inhaled deeply, shaking his head.
"I don't think she has a hard time understanding me. Matter of fact, I know she could care less. I know that she probably doesn't have the slightest idea about me, doesn't care either, but that doesn't change the way I feel about her."
He stood. Looking Lissa square in the face.
"If you don't want to show confidence, then leave me alone. This may just be a phase, but it means so much to me."
Walking out of the restraunt, leaving lissa by herself, he went to his car, started it and drove off.
Mercy was begingin to look better fit to home again.
Zac Hanson, for once had not been sitting on their doorstep waiting. He himself had been downtown with Isaac, working on various recordings.
A white neon pulled up the street and stopped in front of the house.
Taylor's car.
Stepping out briskly and shutting the door, he walked up to Dorin and began talking so rapidly he couldn't be understood.
"Whoa whoa tay! Take it easy!"
Taylor stopped.
Grabbing him by the shoulders, Dorin led Taylor around to the side of the house, so they could talk in privacy.
"Kay man, what's up?"
Taylor sighed.
"It's all mey. Door, you don't get it."
Dorin frowned.
"Dorin. I know I probably can't say this, and I probably shouldn't, but ever since day one with your sister, ever since I saw her, I've been completely twitterpated."
Dorin smiled inside. This was some big mushy plot to a love story.
"And so let me guess, She doesn't want you, and so...?"
"No! It's not like that! I could care less if she liked me. I could care less if she never talks to me again, I just wish she would be nice about it. Not so nasty."
Taylor sighed again.
"Taylor..."
Jeremy came around the side of the house.
"174 messages in 5 days. 146 of them are all hang ups."
"Shit."
Momentarily forgetting Taylor's heart spill, Dorin directed Jeremy to call up the phone company.
Spining back around, Jeremy disappeared around the corner of the house.
"Taylor, I have no idea what's going on in her head right now. I wish I did. It would make life easy. But I don't...after Eric..."
A slight tremor shivered through taylor's body. Just the sound of his name made taylor squirm.
"Dorin! Get your butt over here!"
Zac stood at the front of the house as Dorin walked up.
"What?"
"Jeremy said the phone company can't get another phone line for a long time, and they wanted to know if we wanted like, caller ID."
Dorin walked past Zac into the house, yelling his okay to Jeremy, who sat on the phone.
Taylor walked up next to him.
"Any ideas?"
Dorin shrugged.
Leaving taylor on the steps with Zac, he walked back to the car.
"Ideas about what?"
"Never mind."
"Of course I would be the one to never know what you are all saying."
"Never mind Zac."
"I know what it's about anyway. So it doesn't matter now."
Taylor's eyes drew tight.
"What do you mean."
"Mercy was talking about you. And you were just talking to Dorin. I'm assuming you were talking about Mercy."
"Where do you come up with this logic?"
"Simple."
"Then tell me."
"You drool over her like a dog over a bone. It's not hard to notice that you are like....dumb founded."
"I still don't understand what your getting at."
"Taylor. Just be yourself."
Zac turned around to walk into the house.
"Wait a minute then Zac."
He stopped, looking back at taylor.
"What."
"What do you propose I do about the situation then?"
Zac thought for a moment.
"Taylor, you can't win her over really, she's not like, some prize. She tells me all the time how pissed she gets at you. So obviously your doing something right. Don't be the type to buy her a puppy. Be creative man."
Shaking his head as he walked into the house, Zac chuckled to himself. Taylor knew not a thing about Mercy did he.
He couldn't decide if what Zac had really hit home or not.
"Don't buy her a puppy."
He said it to himself.
Then what the hell was he supposed to do?
"Taylor?"
He looked up as his mother stepped into the room.
"Hey mom."
She looked at him thoughtfully.
"You don't look all perky and happy. What's the matter?"
Taylor sighed, resting his book open on his leg, he leaned back into the chair.
"There's just this girl."
"Mercy, uh huh."
Taylor stared at her, allowing his mouth to drop.
"Isaac told me all about your little attraction."
"He doesn't even know I have a little attraction."
"Oh yeah he does."
"He's just saying that. He doesn't know for sure."
"You talk in your sleep taylor."
Taylor sighed.
Damnit!
"Anyway."
He looked at his mother.
"She's like, completely ignoring me."
His mother paused.
"I don't know. Do something that proves to her your not a complete idiot."
That was a mom for you. Someone to tell you just what you already knew.
"Yeah mom, I spose."
He stood up.
"I'm tired."
"Okay. See you in the morning."
He walked up the stairs to his room, opening the door and seeing Zac asleep, and Isaac gone.
Now to decide what to do in the morning.
"This is a lot of people!"
Zac had never needed sleep so bad in his life. This was tough work. Those screaming people made his headache much worse then it had been.
"Well?"
Dorin and Jeremy carried Zac's heavy body into the house. He had been so tired, and hit by fatigue, he had slept most of the way home too.
Taylor sat, reading a novel he had just decided to pick up, not really reading it, but acting like it.
