It had taken a while, but Destiny's album was finally completed. In her list of dedications, the Hansons had been given major credit for all their support and help. It had taken her a while to figure out what to write, but she had finally decided: "I want to thank, most of all, the whole Hanson family... Walker, Diana, Isaac, Taylor, Zac, Jessica, Avery and Mackenzie, for taking care of me and helping me realize myself." It was short, but very to the point.
Her album was scheduled to be released in a few months. First, they had to decide on a single, that would hopefully launch her career. She had picked Cave of the Innocent to begin with. She didn't know why-- it just struck her as one of her best works, and she figured it would make sense to send that one out.
The single itself was going out in a week. Destiny was apprehensive and nervous, fearing the worst. Her life had been so haphazard that now, all the happiness that was coming to her made her feel like some big storm was supposed to come and rain on her hopes. But it wasn't. And that worried her more.
Two days dragged by, and they seemed like an eternity. Destiny had holed herself up in her room, reading. It passed the time, of which there was entirely too much. The book she was reading now was Queen of Sorcery, book two of David Eddings's Belgariad series. There were five of the series, and the other four books sat on the bookshelf downstairs. Then there was a sequel series which followed the first. It would, hopefully, keep her occupied for the rest of the week.
Destiny heard the phone ring in the room across the hall. She stuck her bookmark into the book, then pushed herself off her bed and walked into the opposite room. Taylor had gotten there before her, and he was already conversing with the person on the line. Destiny was about to leave, but Taylor motioned for her to stay.
"...When?... Hey, cool. But why.... It's not? How come?" He paused again as the caller spoke, and when he started to talk again, his voice was full of sympathy. "Oh, I'm so sorry. That's gotta suck. Do you want to talk to Des?... Okay, here."
Destiny took the phone and shot him a curious glance. In response to the unspoken question, Taylor mouthed, "Alyne."
Holding the phone to her ear, Destiny kept her eyes on Taylor. "Hello?"
"Hey, Destiny," came the sound of Alyne's voice. She was distinctly unhappy. "I'll cut to the chase, before you ask. I'm coming out. Sort of. To Stillwater, anyway. Daddy's found me, and he got mad at Mother and is asking for a divorce. Of course, I don't know why he didn't do that before, but he wasn't always the brightest person..."
"Yuck," Destiny said, for lack of anything better. "That's awful, Al. You're going to have to come visit us a lot, okay? Take my mind off this whole Arista deal..."
"Arista deal?" Alyne sounded excited. "As in, the music company?"
"Yeah, they signed me," Destiny said happily. "But it's still torture waiting for the single to come out. It's like... well, from what I remember, it's like after taking a test in math and you're waiting to see what grade you get." At that, Taylor looked confused. He didn't have to deal with that sort of thing. He didn't know the painful waiting and wondering involved.
"How cool! I'll definitely have to hear you play something when I get down there. I'm on the plane tomorrow morning to the Tulsa International Airport, terminal forty-two, so come visit, would you?"
Destiny knew Alyne didn't want to be left alone with her parents. Her father would over-coddle her, and her mother, if she even showed up, would be coldly indifferent. "I'll try. I'll talk to Diana and Walker tonight. What time?" Taylor looked thoroughly uncomfortable to the fact that he couldn't hear the whole conversation. Destiny knew how he felt, only hearing one side... it was nearly unbearable.
"Seven twenty nine," Alyne said, giggling. "No, seven o'clock... at night. You know how planes are always late, though."
"Of course," Destiny replied. "It's only natural, after all."
After a few more minutes, Destiny and Alyne hung up. Destiny turned to Taylor, sighing. She twirled her finger through her brown locks, the golden hilights shining iridescently in the light of the lamps. "Taylor?" she asked, looking at him square in the face. She tended to do that, when she wanted people to know she was being completely straightforward, with no nonsense, and was to be taken seriously.
"Hmm?" was his response.
"Can we go tomorrow night when Alyne flies in from Boston?"
"Of course. You didn't even have to ask... I was planning to go see her anyway."
"So she told you, huh?"
He nodded. "Yes, she did. I'm looking forward to seeing Al again." With that, he smiled, his eyes tender. She couldn't look away. Instead, she stepped forward and put her arms around his neck, and her head on his shoulder. He leaned over briefly, kissed the top of her head, and then put his arms around her waist. Destiny closed her eyes, sighing contentedly. Yes... it seemed like her life now was a small miracle... a present for living her life the way she did.
Alyne looked up from her spot on the floor. She was thinking. It was the next night, and something struck her as rather odd... why was the single coming out before she had heard the song on the radio? She posed the question to Destiny.
"Oh," the other girl said from her position on the bed. "It's not going out to stores, but those radio stations nationally... then, if it does well, internationally." She frowned. "And I do hope it does well."
"Of course it will," Taylor said confidently. He was sitting across the room in Destiny's armchair. It really was a comfortable thing... she loved it. Taylor had insisted that it be moved from the den into her room, and she used it quite frequently. Especially for when she was reading.
"That would've been my pick for a single, Des. I think you did just right." Zac was sitting next to Alyne on the floor, braiding her hair in little dreads, like his father did to his. The two had formed an understanding bond, much like Destiny and Zac's own. Except it wasn't quite so strong, seeing as they didn't live together.
Avery, who was sitting on Taylor's lap, started bouncing up and down, much to Taylor's dismay. He looked quite uncomfortable. "Don't worry, Dessie!" She had picked up the name from Zac recently. "If they don't play it, I'll get really mad at them. They don't want that!" Taylor then put his hands on Avery's hips and stopped her bouncing.
Isaac and Jessica had gone miniature golfing, for reasons unknown to Destiny. She had never known either had such a flair for the not-quite-sport, but according to the other Hansons, it was something they tried to do as often as they could. Apparently, this was not often, seeing as Destiny hadn't known anything about it in the half year or so she had lived with them.
Mackenzie walked into the room then, and looked at Alyne and Zac sitting on the floor together. He stepped over to Alyne and deftly placed himself in her lap. He looked up at her with startling blue eyes, then said, "Are you Zac's girlfriend?"
Zac felt himself turning beet red. Wasn't this the sort of thing that was supposed to happen to Taylor? It wasn't any better to realize that Alyne was laughing at the question. With a pang, he realized that he really did like her, even if she was two years older. (**Note: I'll be honest... I have absolutely no idea of what day, week, month, or even year it is in my story anymore. I forgot to keep track. Oops. I'll just pretend that it's sometime in January, okay?) Well, there was nothing he could do about it, he thought with a mental sigh. She would never like him that way, and it was better for him not to like her, anyway.
"No," Alyne said, smiling at the four year old in her lap. "No, I'm not his girlfriend..." Then she tickled Mackenzie, causing him to laugh helplessly. His sweet innocence made him absolutely adorable, and he was completely trusting of anyone around him.
"Three days," groaned Destiny, once again the center of attention. "Ohh..."
Much to Destiny's surprise, the three days went fairly quickly. Alyne, Taylor and Zac kept her mind off the dread worry, while Jessica, Avery, Mackenzie and Isaac stayed out of her way. They were a bit baffled by her moodiness, which was nothing like any of the other family members had been.
On the morning of the song's release, Alyne switched on the radio, hoping to pry Destiny from her bleak mood. Hopefully, the song would play, and Destiny would cheer up. However, Destiny knew what she was trying to do, and instantly flicked the radio off with a sharp twist.
"Don't, please! If they don't play it, I'll be totally upset. Let's just pretend it's a possibility for now, okay?"
Alyne sighed. "Fine," she said, giving up.
Then Taylor's voice rang from the other room. "Hey Destiny, they're playing our new single, Madeline, on 104.3! Switch it on!" Destiny blinked suspiciously, but put on the station. Indeed, Madeline broke out clearly from the speakers. It was midsong, but Destiny immediately recognized it in three beats. Alyne smiled.
Destiny flopped herself on her bed to listen to the song. It had always been one of her favorites, but she didn't tell the boys that... They didn't really believe in favorite songs. After it faded out, the DJ came on. Destiny was too lazy to switch it off, so she endured some songs by Alanis Morissette, Vanessa Williams, Madonna, and Michael Jackson. She was about to switch it off when Alyne shushed her. The DJ's voice was there again.
"I want to play one of my favorite new songs now, folks. This is its debut on this station, and I have a feeling we'll be playing it a lot... this is Cave of the Innocent by Destiny." Destiny's eyes bulged as she heard the opening chords of her twelve string flow from the speakers. She turned slowly to Alyne, whose mouth was open just slightly as she gaped at the radio.
"How... ironic," Alyne commented, as she continued to stare.
Taylor dashed into the room. "Hey Des, they're--" he stopped, finally realizing that they were still listening to the same radio station he had been. He grinned, then swooped grabbed Destiny and Alyne in a huge bear hug, spinning them around in circles.
Destiny sat alone on her star watching rock, staring into the brilliant night sky. Four years had passed since that day that she first heard herself on the radio, and two albums had been released since. She no longer had need to worry. The world had welcomed her with open arms, and she had had that silly happily ever after ending. But there was still more of her life to live... Sure, she was happy, but she didn't know what was in store for her yet.
She was eighteen now. She and Taylor had stayed together through the years, but now that she was old enough, she had moved into her own home. This time it wasn't a shack with a bedroom and a miniature kitchen. It was a normal, average house, four miles out of Tulsa. She had bought herself a few companions... two dogs, Hark and Erasine, and four rabbits, Misty, Tiger, Sephiroth, and, of course, Jordan, whose color held the exact golden glow of Taylor's own.
Alyne was living happily with her aunt and uncle again. After her parent's divorce, she had complained to her father that she wasn't happy with him anymore. He had become very uncomfortable living with her like that, and less than two months later, she went back to the family that loved her. Destiny and Alyne kept in touch and visited each other more than often.
Destiny still felt a very strong connection with the Hanson family, and frequently made trips to stay at their house, or visit them on tour. They were still going strong in the music business, and though girls tended not to shriek quite as loud, they still had the firm conviction of when they were younger. Avery had joined the trio, actually, though Jessica preferred to stay away from the spotlight of fame.
Destiny shifted silently, still watching the stars. A gentle wind brushed by her face, sending the now knee-length hair billowing. Erasine and Hark had come with her that night, and lay to either side of her, quietly accepting the serenity of the night. Destiny's hands found Hark's ear, and she began to scratch the German shepherd affectionately.
Life, she reflected, had been good to her... She had been put through many trials, but in the end, she was rewarded. The broad expanse of stars twinkled at her, hiding from her the secrets of the future.
