______________________________________________________ Journeys of A Small Town Journalist
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As a intern journalist for my local paper, I jumped at the chance to do any interviews I could. I normally don't like or have no opinion on the people I'm interviewing. But unlike some interviewers, I actually do my homework on who I'm interviewing, like them or not. Before a session I'll read a book on the subject or check out websites about them, or do something so I can have some insight to what I'm getting myself into. It's also so I can get decent answers out of my, well, victims as I call them. It makes me sound tough or something, ha. I'm now immune to stuck up stars, dumb jocks and druggy punk rockers, but once, just once, I'd like someone to surprise me and exchange intelligent sounding conversation with me. Hopefully this wish will come true at some point in my career, but for some reason, I seriously doubt any and all chances of civilized conversation. Anyway, this time, I got assigned yet another set of victims I seemingly disliked. Hanson. I don't compeletely despise the wretched, happy, singing bunch of family members, but I don't have a taste for them either. My little sister loves them and she drives me to the point of insanity listening to the cursed song a.k.a. MMMbop. I could care less, I'll just prepare for the interview like I have all the others.
"Hi guys, I'm Kendra, please start out by introducing yourselves," I practiced to myself. For some odd, unknown reason, I was nervous. I was sitting in my chair, reviewing my questions, setting my facts straight and suddenly, thoughts of my sister popped in my head. This morning, she'd begged to me, crying, to take her to work with me. She looked so pathetic I had to force myself to tell her she could meet Hanson under two conditions: the meeting had to occur after the interview AND only if they agreed to it. At that point she prayed to God, while she was on her knees, to let Hanson say yes. I rolled my eyes at her and left the house. Now, I was at the office and waiting for Hanson to arrive. My sister slipped some of her posters in my car, hoping for me to get them signed. I figured it was the least I could do for the teary-eyed beast of a human figure. My sister and I don't get along too well at home, or anywhere for that matter. As I was thinking of my sister's act this morning, a slight rap came on my door.
"Come on in." I took my feet off the extra chairs and invited the shadows on the door in. Three well known figures stepped into the compact room accompanied with a man holding a video camera. I assumed this was Mr. Hanson from what my sister had told me. I rose to their arrival and shook hands, introducing myself to each. My guess of who the cameraman really was, was confirmed in the handshake period. We sat down and I got right to the point. "My sister, Jamie, absolutely loves you guys and forced me by gunpoint," I smiled to let them know that was a joke, "to ask if you'd do two things for her. Number one, sign her favorite posters, which are on the desk right there, and number two, agree to meet her after the interview. I would not have even considered the idea if I thought your health or welfare would be impared at all by this. But, she's not lethal, unless you're afraid to be licked to death." I laughed at my joke of comparing my sister to a friendly dog.
"Sure, we'd love to," Taylor smiled. He was better looking in person, I noticed. Actually, all of them seemed a fair bit more attractive in person than on the cover of Jamie's magazines.
"How old is she?" Zac asked cautiously.
"She's fourteen."
"Oh, wow, I'm fourteen too," he informed me. I wrote that at the top of my paper. I took both notes and recorded the interviews I gave, it helped me write better articles.
"Great, thanks you guys, let me call her." I excused myself and got on the phone, calling direct to Jamie. "Jame, Hanson is sitting right here with me, and they agreed to meet you, have mom bring you up to the office," I told her.
"Okay, thanks Kendra, bye." That was it, she hung up. It was scary how calm she was. I had been prepared to hold my ear away from the phone, to avoid blown eardrums due to ear piercing screaming, but nothing came. I slipped the phone back into it's craddle and apologized for the length I was on the phone. Although it was only a minute or so, these young men were very busy in town, well, that's what I was told. I began to conduct the interview at this time.
"Okay, I actually did my homework on you guys, so I know the questions you are probably sick of," I attempted to lighten everything up with a little humor.
"Great! Sitting around answering the same questions over and over again gets very monotonous." Isaac was the first to engage in conversation with me. I smiled at him and nodded in agreement.
"I'm sure, and if you don't mind, some of my questions are, well, off the wall. I've discovered that asking some odd questions lightens the mood and also can set a new path for the interview to flow into, so, if it's too personal or you just don't want to answer me, tell me and I'll cut it out or won't pursue it. Is that okay?"
"Sounds like no interview we've ever been to before. And that, is a good thing," Taylor laughed. I'd known these three gentlemen for only about ten minutes and it seemed that maybe this interview could be my best yet.
"Start whenever you're ready," Zac fidgeted in his chair. I laughed again, that was already the most amusement I've experienced in work. I proceeded to asked my first question.
"Okay, if you could only meet one fan in the world, what would she be like. Zac, you go first please." I wanted an answer from each of them on this question.
"Well, they'd be nice," he closed his eyes, probably picturing this perfect meeting in his mind. "Yeah, and they wouldn't scream or cry or drop at our feet. They'd be able to hold a decent conversation for a long period of time and they wouldn't tell us how much they loved us or share their fantasies of us WITH us. It's kind of scary to know that people think they're in love with you. A normal conversation would be great, I would appreciate that so much. All the time we get the other types, but on occasion, we get the normal person that happens to force a few words out without stuttering or forgetting what they were going to say." I wanted to applaud him. It was an honest, and respectable answer. I'd have said the same thing.
"Taylor, care to comment or add to that?"
"Yeah, the greatest fan meeting would be a little different for me. The sweetest girl in the world would come up to me and she wouldn't say how much she liked me, or how good I looked, she'd tell me how much she admired the music, and how much she appreciates all we've done. She would thank us for making the music and I would thank her for listening to it. Then we'd hold a nice conversation about nothing in particular and maybe do something later that day."
"Are you sure you want that on record? That sounded kind of personal," I double checked. I really didn't feel like being sued for putting something like that in the paper.
"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do want that printed. And can you put it in bold letters?" He grinned.
"Sure," I couldn't help to laugh. This interview was becoming more and more exciting by the moment. "Isaac, want to add anything?"
"Um, nah, Zac's answer pretty much sums mine up, although Taylor's was pretty good."
"Okay, next question then." I continued asking them reasonable questions, and only once did they turn down going on record. It was when I asked them the girlfriends question. "So, do you guys really not have girlfriends?"
"Depends if this is on record or not," Isaac piped up. He'd been fairly quiet in the interview.
"Okay, off record. I have a feeling I'll get a more truthful answer, and you guys can sue me if I say anything," I smiled widely.
"We will," Isaac laughed.
"Well," Taylor took it upon himself to go first, "we've all had them. We just don't want to disappoint the really obsessed, crazy fans. We fear for the endangerment and health of not only our girlfriends, but ourselves as well. Who knows how they'd react. Plus the record company would kill us if we spoke a word about our girlfriends. They think we lose business that way."
"I understand, and I'm glad you are concerned about someone other than yourselves. I cannot tell you how many interviews I've done with conceited stars that think they are something real special. I was actually surprised that, so far, you guys have held the most reasonable conversation with me. So, do any of you have a girlfriend right now?" I asked that question more for myself than anything.
"I don't," Zac shook his head. He seemed slightly distraught admitting this. Maybe he'd like Jamie. I hoped so, not only for her sake, but his as well. Was I just hoping for something good to happen to Jamie? Well, she has been calm about this whole thing, and she did only annoy me this morning. I suddenly thought about how mean I was to my sister on a normal basis, her way of fightning back was being annoying. Maybe it's not her that needs to grow up, maybe it's me. I shook my head, quickly returning to the conversation and hoping that I didn't miss any important notes. My recorder got everything, but like I said, keeping notes helps me out more.
"I do, her name is Samantha." Isaac's face lit up as he spoke her name; his eyes twinkled and glistened just thinking of her. Now that's what a boyfriend should look like when he's head over heels.
"Wow, you really seem to like her," I pointed out.
"Yeah, I've been dating her for a year and a half now."
"She must be really special, and a lot of people would consider her lucky," I smiled.
"I consider myself the lucky one, but..." Isaac said coyly. How completely sweet!
"What about you Taylor, anyone special in your life now?"
"Surprisingly, no. I actually just recovered from a rough break up." He seemed embarassed by answering this question.
"A pint of double chocolate chunk will take care of that." I offered a way out of his sudden awkwardness with a laugh. It seemed gratefully traded and I continued the interview.
"Okay, for the sake of the fans that think you are saints, spill some Hanson follies to me."
Isaac spoke first, "We do get in trouble. We've gotten kicked out of toy stores for having a little too much fun with trying the toys and we've gotten accidentally accused of a crime, but we really didn't do it. We almost got thrown in Juvie for the night." Taylor grinned mischeviously at Zac, Zac nodded and it seemed they were sharing some kind of mental agreement. Maybe they really weren't as innocent as they were portrayed.
"I'll go next," offered Zac. "I'll share a story. We were at this really fancy restaurant," I heard Mr. Hanson sigh and turn off the camera. This was gonna be good. "The waiter was real nice but the woman next to us was a biotch. She kept complaining about the smell of little kids to her husband. He told her to hush, but she just continued to direct insults to my family. I kept thinking that," he stopped suddenly, noticing my note taking. "Oh, sorry, this is off record." I rewound my tape to an earlier point, shut it off and scribbled out my notes. "Okay, I kept thinking how rude she was being. Finally I did something about her insults. I was eating shrimp and I pretended one slipped out of my hands, and right into her soup, splashing it all over her white dress. It was a thick, red, tomato lookin' soup too. I still hope it stained. The woman was horrified and our family was asked to leave. Of course, I was grounded for like a week, but because I really had done something decent, I only had to serve three days." The three boys were engrossed in laughter and I joined in. I even heard Mr. Hanson stifle a laugh after the recollection of that story. I was thoroughly surprised. I couldn't believe Zac had actually done that. I extened my hand for a five and he heartily slapped my hand in return.
"Any funny stories you want to share on record Zac?" I asked, hoping there was something he felt he could make known to the world.
"Let me think, ask Taylor while I'm thinking."
"Okay, Taylor? Got anything?"
"As a matter of fact, I have a small list. This can all go on record. Okay, starting now, everything can be written and recorded." I clicked my recorder on and prepared my pencil. "We are normal people. We eat, we drink, we pee, we crap, we fart, we sneeze, we breathe, we bathe, we beat each other up, we get mad, we fight, we tiff, we argue, we rebel, we talk back, we kiss, we hug, we swear - rarely, but it happens. We are living beings and living beings are capable of doing everything I just named, and we do. We are not saints, we are not Heaven sent angels and we are certainly not as people see us. See, we have what I consider a stage mask and a personal one. Our stage mask must stay polished and clean, because if it's not, it's like people would turn their backs on us because we're normal. But our personal masks are actually just the absence of a mask. Our true colors shine through once the stage mask is removed and you see what you get at that point. What we really are lies in the personal area of life, not our publicized one. People don't understand that they don't know us until they've seen us remove our masks and we show them our personal world." I was in awe. Never had anyone said anything near that intelligent in an interview conducted by me. I felt priveleged to be the one that got to interview these smart young fellows. Taylor must have noticed my look of astonishment because he asked me about it. "Are you okay? You seem a little spaced."
"I'm fine, but that answer was just....really good. Never in an interview has such a thought out answer appeared. I suddenly feel very privileged to be the one chosen to interview you guys. You see, I came in here dreading the fact that I was going to interview some teenybopper boys that are probably full of themselves. I figured you could probably care less about some stupid interviewer that actually took time to study up on you, so you wouldn't get a boring interview. But I'm actually taken aback how ironic this interview is. It's completely the opposite of what I expected. I guess I should appologize for jumping to conclusions, but it seems my sister saw something in you guys that I didn't." They accepted my apologies and soon the interview was finished. I had Melinda, the door woman, allow my sister in.
"Jamie, this is Tayl...well, you know them. Guys, this is my little sister Jamie."
Jamie was unbelielievebly more calm than I'd ever expected her to be. I was amazed at her reaction to meeting her absolute favorite band, the reaction was being normal. She'd politely shaken their hands and held a conversation that was more than what Zac wanted. He seemed enthralled by the words flowing from her mouth, as I'd been talking to him and his brothers. Twenty minutes into the conversation, Mr. Hanson mentioned hunger. We all realized we were a bit on the hungry side.
"Oh, I know a great place if you guys like Mexican food. Please, join my sister and I for lunch, my treat. You guys have been the best interviewees," I offered.
"Is it a really busy place?" Mr. Hanson asked. I could see the reason why he questioned it. They probably have never eaten a hot meal at a restaurant where fans were.
"No, it's a quiet, unknown, hole in the wall, kind of place. I know the people that own it; their food is terrific."
"Great, who's hungry?"
"Wow, that was excellent. Tell your friends that they have great food. Thanks so much for treating us." During the meal, I'd introduced the owners to the four Hanson men present. I told her to put everything on my tab and I'd pay it off my check. She added that dessert was on her.
"You're welcome. I figured you guys are probably the ones that treat most of the time."
"Yeah, we are," Isaac retorted.
"It's like people think we're made of money or something." Zac stole himself away from my sister long enough to join in our conversation.
"What's it like to be famous?" Jamie asked suddenly. The table immediately went quiet and the three guys looked between each other and at their father. He nodded. Isaac looked at me and confirmed this was off record.
"It sucks," Zac confessed.
"Lack of sleep," Taylor began.
"No personal life at all," Isaac continued.
"Not able to tell the truth to your fans for fear of what they might say or do," Zac was the one to finish off their list.
"It's like living in a house of glass. No matter how hard you try, there's no privacy, no matter what you say, it echos loud enough to be heard everywhere and no matter what happens, people, as a whole, don't understand why. Plus, there is never enough time in the day. Well, that last part is regardless of the glass house or not, but, the logical thing is to do to when running out of hours in the day is work in the night. Serious side effects build up such as fatigue, hunger, stress, not being able to sleep even though you are incredibly tired. Things like that."
"But the money's good," Zac flashed a smile at my sister.
When the boys left I had a better respect for them. I got home and actually took the time to listen to their music. Maybe it wasn't as bad as I'd originally thought.
Surprisingly, I actually heard from Hanson again. Zac called me at work.
"Hey, this is Zac Hanson."
"Hi Zac! How have you been?" Mind you this was only about two weeks after we'd seen each other.
"Great! Okay, I have some news and I have to ask you a qustion. The news is that we are going to start recording our new record. We decided your paper can be the first of the news/media to find out. Now, don't say this part, but the recording studio is in your town. Okay, now that that's over with, can I have your home phone number? I miss talking to your sister," he said sincerely. I wanted to laugh. She'll die.
"Yeah, it's area code 7-3-6, then 4-4-7-5-3-6-2."
"Okay, great, thanks. Oh, and please don't tell her I'll be calling, I want to surprise her."
"No problem, bye Zac." I hung up the phone feeling as if the world had been presented to me in a new way. Zac Hanson liked my sister; anything IS possible. I can't remember how many times she was like "It could happen, I could one day date Zachary Walker Hanson," but I never believed her. I knew only so much could actually occur and to prevent myself from getting hurt, I always kept my dreams within an arms length. I decided right then to start extending my dreams at least a little out of my reach, because dreams aren't something kept within arms reach, that's a goal. Dreams are creations that are suppose to be to the point of being almost inconceivable. They are the imaginations creation of how life should be, and if they aren't out far enough, you're limiting your creative continuity. Not to mention they are the single most important quality of a lively imagination. It seems Hanson have been a grand influence on me so far. They've helped me to realize you can't judge a band by their music, maybe I'm that one that should grow up a little, and that you have to have dreams that are out of reach, otherwise you'll never know if they can come true, not to mention that I really can serve a good interview with famous people.
I walked in my house to see my sister talking on the phone. She certainly couldn't still be talking to Zac, he'd called my work over four hours ago. I listened to her side of the conversation as I set off to the kitchen for a muffin.
"Yeah, that's really cool, I'm really excited that I'm goiing to see you again." Maybe it is still Zac. We live in Chase, Oklahoma, which is like 45 minutes where Hanson lives (they told us). So Zac and Jamie weren't talking long distance, they could actually have been on the phone four hours. I let them be and retrieved my muffin. I soon heard Jamie call my name. What does she want? Maybe she's going to ask me to take her and Zac somewhere, I'll do that. She called my name more loudly, this time standing at the kitchen doorway, phone in hand.
"Yeah?" I asked, trailing over to her slowly.
"Phone," she handed me the phone and I covered the mouthpiece.
"Why didn't they call my room?" She shrugged. "Hello?"
"Hey, it's Taylor." My stomach dropped and for a split second I thought I may have even developed a crush. I had been listening to their music, actually enjoying it, and looking through Jamie's magazines. I watched her tapes too, but it passed as he began talking. "We need your help. Since we don't know our way around your town, and we know you fairly well, could you help me and the guys get around? We really don't want to ride in the limo all over town, but we don't want to be a bother either."
"Sure, um, I might hit you guys up for gas money for takin' you all over town, but I'll drive you guys around, yeah. My windows are tinted, and they're the kind where you can see out, but not much can be seen inside. It's weird, you have to experience it. My friends and I take advantage of it and goof off all the time."
"Okay, great, thanks. Uh, I gotta go now. Bye," he hurriedly ended the conversation.
"Bye." I heard a click before I even said it. For some reason, the wave of "crush" surged through me again.
As the weeks past, my sister and I bonded. We became closer through Hanson as we counted the days until they arrived. I could ask her the most trivial things about them and she could answer like she had it written down right in front of her. On a normal basis we spent half the night up, talking about how nice they were and how nice it would be to have some guy friends around again. We also listened to their music constantly and even made up silly dances for the songs when we were hyper. I'd never felt this close to Jamie before. I mean, with her being three years younger than me, she always wanted to be apart of my life, even if I didn't want her to be. Before, when she wanted to hang out with my friends, I'd always slammed my bedroom door on her face. She told me she'd only wanted to know what we talked about, and would never had overstayed her welcome. She use to always follow me around, but now that I've willingly let her into a piece of my personal life, it seemed she wanted to be apart of it less and less. She was just curious about what surged through the mind of a seventeen year old, she would be there herself soon and was just trying to get a sneak peek. If only I'd actually tried involving her before, she wouldn't have been so annoying, and now that we were closer, she knew when to and when not to want to join in. We'd discovered a deep respect for one another.
Finally the day came when Hanson would arrive. Jamie was so excited, she was going to see Zac again. I told her I'd drive them around anytime pretty much. She became ecstatic. We loaded into the car and drove to the way-the-heck-out-in-the-country recording studio. Apparently they believed succlussion and serenity was the key for good recording.
We saw the white van pull up. Jamie lept from my Blazer when Zac bounded out of the van and they met half way, embracing in a hug. I smiled; she looked so happy at that very second. I briskly gathered my belongings and escaped the sudden heat of my vehicle. They'd asked me to come and interview them about their new album, and Jamie had come along for the ride. We'd talked to the Hanson's numerous times over the phone from the day Zac first called me, until four weeks later - yesterday. Taylor only talked to me once after the time in the kitchen, he wanted to know the hot spots of course. Slowly I'd felt my non-existent crush diminish. I greeted everyone, introducing myself to Mrs. Hanson, who I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting before. Isaac introduced me to all the sprites, as I referred to them now. Mrs. Hanson and the sprites would only appear every once in awhile, but the men had a hotel room back in town. I was glad this town was, for the most part, not Hanson fans. I warned them, and they said it was probably better that way as well.
After the interview, Jamie and I had to leave because they had to discuss business, but before I left, Taylor pulled me aside.
"Hey, I just wanted to ask you if you could take me somewhere tonight."
"Um...." I thought about it, checking to make sure that I didn't have anything planned. "Sure, I don't have anything else to do." I realized that didn't sound as nicely as I'd wanted it to.
"Well, you don't have to if you don't want to," he turned his head and glanced at the floor. I sighed.
"I'm sorry, that came out worse than I expected it to. I just meant that I don't have anything planned, so sure I can take you."
"All right, can you pick me up here about eight? We should be done with business and maybe even a little recording."
"Okay, sounds good. See ya later."
"Thank you, bye." I waved and managed to pry Jamie away from Zac.
"BYE ZAC! GOOD LUCK!" Jamie waved by thrashing her hand around wildly to him.
"Bye Jamie," Zac snickered. Jamie sighed and whispered something. I'm still not sure what she said, but I heard "I love you Zac," which is something Jamie would say. I drove home, dropping Jamie off, then returned to interview them about the album. That went just as smoothly as the first and I was home as quickly as I'd arrived.
At eight I was waiting for Taylor in the conference room. In a quick phone call when I got home, Taylor asked me to wait here for him, so I am, and he's still not here. I finally heard the door creak.
"Well, it's about time mister, you're ten minutes late," I laughed. He walked in looking particularly good in his white t-shirt, baggy jeans and blue button up shirt that was unbuttoned. I canned my opinion and kept my emotions from showing on my face. Seems the non-existent crush was at it again.
"Sorry, I had to change. You think I'll pick up girls in this?" he spun around, holding his arms out.
"Taylor, I'm sorry to break this to you mister big-time-pop-star, but you'd probably pick up a lot of girls if you were even wearing rags and a faded trench coat."
"Well hey, I seemed to have left my rags and trench coat at home, so do you think this will work," he laughed. I couldn't help to laugh, but I also shook my head at him, grabbing his arm and leading him to my Blazer outside. I was quiet the whole ride, which is surprising for me. I dropped Taylor off outside a big hang out and pulled in around the back of a building across the street to be kind of a body guard. He'd told me to pick him back up around ten or eleven, but he'd page me if it was earlier. I knew there could be trouble with some of the people in this town and figuring that I could probably prevent it if I was around, I stayed near him all night. Luckily nothing happened and at ten til ten, he paged me. I drove around and came off another street and down to where he was waiting outside. A little girl was standing there with a pen and a napkin holding them up to him. She was so little compared to him and he bent down on one knee to sign it for her. My heart would have melted if I didn't almost hit that trash can. Taylor patted the girls head and she ran off happily. I pulled up.
"That was cute," I complimented as he stepped in.
"Well, what can I say," he laughed.
"That's not funny." Even though I had the urge to smile, I resisted. I really can't have a crush on him, no way.
"So, I have about an hour to be out still, wanna do something?"
"Like what?"
"I don't know, you're the expert in this town, what's there to do?" I drove carefully manuvering around the strategically placed signs in the middle of the road and thought for a moment.
"Like bowling?" I asked.
"Love it, and I'm good too," he grinned. Of course, I was the queen of bowling, so I expected to kick his butt.
"Beware."
"I dare you to beat me, I could whoop you by fifty points."
"You wanna put your money where your mouth is Hanson?"
"Sure, I bet you fifty dollars that I can beat you by fifty points."
"No, see, I don't have that much money. How about, if you win, I have to do anything you want and pay you ten bucks, and vice versa." I was willing enough for that.
"Deal," he said taking my hand in his. We'd officially shaken on it now and I became nervous. What if he IS as good as he says? I shook the thoughts from my mind as I pulled in to the bowling alley parking lot. Luckily it wasn't a busy night.
"Worried?" he asked, reading my mind.
"Not a bit," I pasted on a falsely assurred smile and pulled into a space.
"Let's rock and roll," Taylor hopped out.
It was almost weird the way the game ended. Taylor and I, out of every score in the world we could get, tied with a score of 124. I almost couldn't believe it.
"Okay, now what do we do?" I asked him after throwing a fit that someone didn't win.
"We could either null and void the bet or we could both keep our ends of it and keep our ten bucks. That would mean that we'd each have to do something for each other whenever asked."
"Does me driving you around count?"
"No."
"Dang...okay, okay, we'll do that." I knew that something would come along that I would need Taylor for.
It was now almost May. I was soon to be released from the iron bars of high school.......forever. Taylor and I were actually getting along nicely and I enjoyed my hour of bowling every Friday night with him, it was now ritual. Of course, I'd known him now a few months and the album was coming along very slowly. The guys were disappointed that so many problems were arising. Taylor was normally a lively ball of stress; I was his friendly release. I'd let him yell at me or whatever he needed to get out of his system. He called me his "emotional translator." Other than that there were no problems with him. My sister and Zac had been "going out", but they had conflicting personalities so it didn't work out. They were still really good friends. As for me, I wasn't doing too bad. My only real problem was prom, it was two weeks away and I didn't have a date, a dress, or any plans at all.
"Taylor, what am I suppose to do? I mean, geez, I'll be the only senior that isn't going to prom."
"Not true, I'm not going and I'd be a senior."
"Taylor...you don't even go to my school...." a light suddenly went on in my head, "...that's it.....Taylor you are absolutely brilliant!" I squealed.
"Why thank you, but, what'd I do?"
"Taylor, would you accompany me to prom?" I asked quickly.
"Well," he spoke, but I cut him off.
"Great, you still owe me a favor from the first time we bowled and we tied. You used your's so quickly, probably worth while, but mine, I held on to it and now I'm in dire need Taylor, please."
"Okay, okay, give me the details..."
I told him all the little offs and ons about prom and fine tuned all the details for him over the period of two weeks. I bought my prom dress, which was a blue lavender, silver shoes and of course, sparkly accessories. Taylor rented a tux and got a limo for the night of prom. Prom didn't come soon enough, but when it did, I was so excited.
"Mom, does my hair look okay? Are my earring straight? Is my dress bunched in the back? Is my make-up okay?"
"Honey, honey, slow down, you look....perfect," she smiled wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Oh mom..." I hugged her, then the doorbell rang and I was there in a millisecond. I swung the door opened and threw myself on the visitor at the door. "TAYLOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I flung my arms around him and grinned as if I'd been handed a million dollars.
"Hey.....I see you're happy to see me!"
"I can say the same for you," I jokingly gestured to his pants.
"What can I say?" he laughed.
"How about you say that we're ready to go!"
"Sounds good, after your mom takes like a bazillion pics of us, we'll be on the road."
"Yeah, you forgot that my dad has a video camera." Like clockwork my parents came out with the camera flashing and camcorder with the little red light signaling "record" glowing brightly.
"Oh you two look so cute together, why haven't you already coalesced? You guys would make beautiful children."
"Moooooooooooom!"
"Your mother's right dear, with your brown hair and his sandy blond, your kids would have gorgeous locks and their eyes would be beautiful mixing the green blue and crystal blue."
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!"
"Yeah Kendra, beautiful kids," Taylor joined in the fun.
"Tayyyyyyyyyyyylor!"
"Well, don't deny it, it's soooooooo obvious you've had a crush on him since you met him, plus you told me," Jamie came out from the woodwork and smiled. She knew I'd be happier if he knew, she also knew from Zac that Taylor liked me, but I never felt the need to believe it. It's just one of those things that you keep in the back of your head and it makes you smile just thinking about it. My non-existent crush was full blown now and Taylor was fully aware. I didn't know what to do or say now, so I just kind of pulled Taylor out the door. In the limo, his curiosity got the best of him and he asked about the crush thing.
"Have you really had a crush on me?"
"Do you want the long answer, the short answer or the lie?"
"The long answer."
"Okay, before I met you, I didn't like your band, your music, and especially you, because you were the "most loved" and had the most fans. Then, we met as I was doing the interview and you had me fully intrigued, but I refused myself to like a guy in a boyband because number one, you had about ten million other girls that liked you, number two, I didn't know you very well, and number three, I didn't want to admit to myself that I had a crush on you; I hate being one of millions, I like being one of a kind. Then the crush feeling went away until the day Zac called my sister and you talked to me, even though you didn't say anything about me, I felt like I was sitting on top of the world just hearing your voice. Again I denied myself any feelings felt about you. Finally you came here for the album and as I got to know you more and more, and as our friendship blossomed, and as of right now, I know that I like you more than any large crush I ever had. Which means that I really, really, really wanna..." I was forced to become quiet as his soft lips pressed against my own. Exhilerated by the feeling of him kissing me and knowing that he was kissing made me feel like a princess. I felt that out of a million people, Taylor chose to kiss me. I knew for a fact this was his first kiss, because - like I said - we'd bonded a lot since he'd been here for the album. My thoughts slowed to a trickle and we pulled back.
"I have wanted to do that since the day we entered the office to get an interview. Once I started talking to you in the interview, I liked you more. You didn't give us a boring, regular interview, you were straight with us and you made the interview interesting. You weren't afraid to be bold and ask questions that would have answers we'd surpass...you were like the fan I always wanted to meet, minus the fan part obviously."
"But you know I like the music now, once I gave it a fair chance, it was actually pretty good."
"Well, I'm so glad. Maybe we should get out of the limo now princess."
"Yeah, we're here." I felt like I was walking down a red carpet as the limo driver held the door opened and allowed me out, followed by Taylor. I had his hand and I felt as if I was a star just being with him.....a princess in the making. Taylor and I grinned widely at each other and walked in. My dainty hand rested quite invisibly in Taylor's large one; it was as if mine was engulfed in a sea of palm. Immediately my friends began coming up to me and gawking at my date, I hadn't told any of them about Taylor, none of my friends were close enough. The only close friend I had, that I told things like that to, lived in Pennsylvania, and she was the only one who knew besides my immediate family (and his). People began snapping pictures and some were even gutsy enough to ask Taylor for his autograph. He happily obliged and stood in a few pictures with a couple girls that liked him and his brothers. A few asked if I was his girlfriend and he looked over at me; I shrugged. He wasn't a boyfriend of mine, at least to my knowledge. He explained us as "privileged friends" and I laughed. It was actually quite humorous, but the girl was a flake so she smiled and went off, probably to start rumors. After the "new" of Taylor wore off, and everyone returned to where they were suppose to be, Taylor and I settled down at a table.
"Would you like to dance?" Taylor asked, after eyeing the candle in the middle of the table for a minute.
"Me, dance with TAYLOR HANSON?" I quietly squealed, mimicking some of the girls and their tone.
"Yes, you, you of all people.
"Well, I do declare," I placed my hand on my chest in a prissy, old fashioned way. "You really want to dance with lil' ole me?" I continued with the old fashioned southern belle talk.
"Lil old you, ain't that the truth? Yes, I want to dance with you, preferably before the song ends," Taylor smiled.
"All right, lets go." He grabbed my hand and lead me to the middle of the dance floor where a slow song I hadn't heard before was on. We swayed to the rhythm of the new tune and talked quietly when not just enjoying the moment of being so close.
"So, are you having a good time?" Taylor asked me.
"Of course, why do you ask?"
"Because you're awfully quiet. I was just wondering what was on your mind."
"Ask and you shall, most likely, receive. I was thinking about how nice this is, and how there are at least a couple thousand girls that would absolutely die to be in my spot and how special I feel; not because I'm somewhere a million girls want to be, but because I'm with you. Just being with you makes me feel like I'm a princess, like I'm sitting on top of the world, or that I'm in some way luckier than everyone else, and just because I have you. Now don't go getting a boosted ego about that, you asked what was on my mind and I told you," I could feel him smiling by the way his muscles moved and the way he stood just a little bit taller after that. I didn't need to look at his face, I was happy right where I was.
"Know what's funny?"
"Hmm?" I asked, eyes shut.
"I was thinking the same thing."
"Haha, liar," I pulled back from him, looking into his eyes. The way the light was shining directly on him, I'd have sworn he was an angel. I didn't care about anyone else at that point, I leaned in to kiss him. The kiss was only a few seconds long, but it felt like an eternity. I knew that this was it, this was what I had made my journey through life for; to fall in love with Taylor Hanson. Love works in mysterious ways. I went from disliking Taylor, to crushing on him, to what I figured must be love. And in the end, everything works out for a purpose. Maybe Taylor and I will get married and have a kid that becomes the president, or maybe we'll break up and he'll move somewhere and meet the girl he's suppose to marry. I don't know, and I won't until the time is right. But for now, these have been the journeys of a small town journalist.
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