Colleen stepped off the plane and into the heated airport. She adjusted her backpack and scanned the crowd. She was nervous. What if they don't recognize me? Can't see me? Aren't here yet? She searched the crowd again, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw Taylor waving at her and trying to push through a crowd of screaming girls. Colleen smiled and waved back. The Scream Squad. She thought, remembering what Zac had told her when she had talked to him last night. "Just follow your ears... wherever the Scream Squad is, we're right in the middle." Colleen walked cautiously towards the crowd, flinching from the noise. As she approached the edge, Taylor burst through and grabbed her hand. They started running through the airport, the crowd streaming along behind them. "Where are Ike and Zac?" Colleen asked as the ran towards the baggage claim.
"In the limo... they saw the crowd." Taylor pulled her to the front of the baggaga claim. "Do you see your bag?"
"Yeah, it's right over there." Colleen pointed to the light blue duffel bag coming towards them. They ran over and grabbed it, then raced for the exit. They paused outside the doors as Taylor scanned the parked cars for the Hanson limo. He hadn't let go of Colleen's hand the whole time. Smiling inwardly at the thought, Colleen followed Taylor to the limo and they both jumped in. They were followed by Jason, the boy's bodyguard, whom Colleen realized had been with them the whole time. Jason made sure they were okay then went up front to sit with the driver. Colleen found herself sitting between the door and Taylor, across from Ike and Zac.
"Okay, let's GO!" Zac shouted to the driver. "Hey, Collie, how ya doin'?" He asked with a grin.
"A little tired." Colleen responded, laughing. "Sitting on an airplane for 2 hours then running through an airport is really not very good for your muscles!!" Zac laughed and was about to say more, but he was cut off by something hitting the windows and doors of the limo repeatedly. "What is that?" Colleen asked, sliding away from the door, and coliding with Taylor halfway, who was sliding away from the door on his side.
"Oh, don't worry, it's just our adoring fans." Ike laughed.
"Yeah, they're trying to kidnap us then tell their parents we followed them home!!" Zac raised his voice a few octaves. "Mommy, honest he just followed me home! Can I keep him? Pleeeeease?" Taylor leaned over and smacked Zac on the head.
"At least the parents are smart enough not to let their kids keep something like you around, Zac!" He said. Turning to Colleen, he told her, "Don't worry, the doors are locked."
"Hmmm, but are the windows breakable?" She asked. "With all that pounding they must get pretty worn down."
"Ya know, that's not something we've thought of..." Ike said thoughtfully.
"Oh shut up Ike!" Zac yelled. "There's no way they'd break the windows at risk of hurting their beloved ME!!!"
"Ya know Zac, there's more danger of you busting the roof off then them breaking the windows!!" Ike said.
"Really? How?" Zac said, now interested.
"Well pretty soon your head is going to grow too big to-" Ike was cut off when Zac punched him in the arm. Colleen eyed the fighting brothers and laughed. She scooted back to avoid injury and turned to Tay.
"How far is it to the hotel?" She asked.
"Just a couple blocks." He responded.
"Yeah, but in New York that'll take about 15 minutes to get there!" Zac said, trying to pull his head out of the headlock Ike had him in. "C'mon, lemme go!! Ow!!" He protested, trying to slug Ike in the stomach and hitting his hand on the door instead. Ike finally released his brother and looked over at Colleen.
"The traffic here is awful, we'd get there faster walking, but it's not safe." He said.
"So I see..." Colleen looked out the window at the girls that were walking along the sidewalk, still screaming at the limo.
"You brought your rollerblades, didn't you?" Zac asked anxiously.
"Yeah, but I don't know why. Remind me, please, why the heck I was supposed to lug these things along?!?"
"Good, you brought them." Taylor said, ignoring her question.
Colleen was growing frusterated with them. She leaned over and put Zac in a headlock. "Tell me why or the drummer gets it!" She said, preparing to give Zac a noogie.
"It's a surprise!" Ike said. "We'll tell you when we get upstairs!"
"Now lemme go!" Zac said. "Twice in 15 minutes!! This is not my day!! Besides, we're here!" Colleen laughed and let Zac go, looking at the hotel the limo had driven up to.
"Wow, fancy..." She murmered. They ran through more screamers and into the lobby. Zac led them to the elevators.
"We're on the top." He said, grinning up at Colleen. "Floor 70."
"Great.. what's my room?" She asked as the elevator rose.
"You're in 792" Ike said, handing her the key. "Zac, Tay and I are in 790, and Jason's in 710. We have the entire floor to ourselves." All three grinned devilishly as they stepped off the elevator. Jason headed down to his room and Colleen headed down the hall after the boys.
"Don't worry about Jason." Tay said, seeing her watch the bodyguard go in the opposite direction. "We're pretty safe in the hotel, there's lots of security downstairs."
"Besides," Zac added. "He needs his sleep! The man has a very difficult job!!"
Colleen laughed and went into her room. She stopped short in the doorway and looked around in amazement. This place is huge! And fancy... She thought as she looked around. There was a king-sized bed, a big-screen TV opposite it, a couch, glass coffee table and two over-stuffed chairs were placed in front of 2 large french doors that led onto a balcony. There were two doors on the right side of the room, and one on the left. Colleen dropped her bag on the bed and walked over the the first door on the right. It was a large walk-in closet, with millions of hangers and a full-length mirror on the back of the door. Colleen opened the second door and found the bathroom just as fancy as the room. It had a large tub/jacuzzi, a shower, a toilet, two sinks, a phone and a smaller TV. A TV?? Colleen thought. In a BATHROOM??? She raised her eyebrows and shut the door. She walked over to the one on the left and pulled it open, to find herself face-to-face with Zac, who had opened the adjoining door at the same time. "Isn't this place awesome?" He asked, running into her room and jumping on her bed. He grabbed the remote and flipped channels as he hopped up and down.
Colleen looked at him and laughed. "Hey Zac, go destroy your own room!!" She protested.
"Already took care of that ma'am." Zac saluted and continued channel surfing. Colleen turned around and walked into the boys' room. Ike looked up from the TV in there and smiled.
"Hey, have you seen Zac?" He asked.
"Yeah he's working on my room. I see he's already been here." she laughed, looking around. The couch was pulled out into a bed for... Zac? Colleen guessed. There were half-open suitcases spilling out of the closet. Backpacks, clothes, and music folders were scattered around, and sheets of music and lyrics were spread on the floor, coffee table, and both chairs.
"Uh, oh, I better go get him." Ike stood up and ran into Colleen's room. "Hey!" He called back. "Your room is bigger than ours!!"
"No, it just looks bigger, Ike." Taylor said, walking (***AUTHOR'S NOTE: WALKING, not coming, WALKING***) out of the closet. "Remember, we're not the neatest people." He walked up to Colleen and smiled. "Like your room?"
"Yeah, it's really...big. How much stuff do you guys need? Isn't this a 5-day trip?"
"Yeah, but we're supposed to bring a big selection of clothes to wear, something we like and VH1 approves of." Tay smiled, shrugged and followed his brothers into Colleen's room. Colleen followed him after a minute. She found Ike and Zac, now sitting on the floor in front of her bed, totally engrossed in the TV, and Tay with his head stuck in the mini-fridge. "You guys want something to drink?" He called.
"Sprite." Ike said.
"Coke." said Zac, not looking up.
"Dr.Pepper." Colleen said, walking over to rescue her duffel bag. She sat down on the bed and looked at the TV. Tay tossed a Sprite and a Coke in the general direction of his brothers and walked over to Colleen with her Dr. Pepper and one for himself. Sitting down beside her, and put his finger on his lips, telling her to be quiet. He picked up the remote, which was laying in front of them at the foot of the bed and silently clicked off the TV.
"Hey!" Zac said, coming out of his trance. "The power went off!!!" Colleen and Tay burst out laughing as the indignant Ike and Zac looked on. Finally, they started laughing, too. Colleen grabbed the remote and they watched TV until they had finished their sodas.
"So," she said, "Now do you guys wanna tell me why I brought my rollerblades?"
"Zac grinned. "Put them on and meet us in the hall in 5 minutes." All three ran back into their room and shut the door behind them. Colleen stared after them and shook her head wonderingly. She pulled out her rollerblades and put them on. She asked the guys again why she needed them when she met them in the hall.
"Well," Zac began. "We have the whole floor to ourselves..."
"We're 70 floors away from the lobby and security...." Ike grinned.
"And we love to rollerblade..." Tay looked at her and smiled.
"Oh, okay, I get it.. rollerblading in the halls... sounds like fun..." Colleen skated a few circles around them. Zac took off down the hall and tried to turn around halfway, but tripped and fell. Colleen started to skate over to help him, but was stopped by Tay.
"Don't worry about him." He said. "He falls a lot, but he never gets hurt." Sure enough, in a few seconds Zac was back up and racing towards them. He skidded to a stop.
"This is great!" He said. "We have four people now, so we can have a 3-skated race! Ya know, like a 3-legged race with wheels!! Ike, you're with me, dude, c'mon!" Zac grabbed Ike by the arm and started pulling him down the hall.
"Zac, slow down!" Ike complained. "You're going to fast!"
"I'm trying to keep up with you!!" Zac protested. "You're taking longer strides than me!!"
"Alright, alright." Ike sighed. "I'll take shorter strides if you slow down."
Taylor laughed and looked at Colleen. "I think we're going to win." He whispered. "We have the height advantage." Colleen laughed softly. The two teams did a few practices runs up and down the hall, skates tied together by some rope Zac had found in his backpack. As they were headed to the starting line, Colleen's blades slid out from under her.
"Hey!!" She protested as she fell and Taylor crashed down beside her. Colleen looked up to see Zac standing over them, smiling angelically.
"Would you two mind getting up?" He said in an exageratedly polite tone. "We would like to start the race, if you please." Taylor glared up at his younger brother and smacked him in the leg. He untied the rope and rose awkwardly to his blades, then reached his hand down to help Colleen up. They retied their blades and went down to join Ike and Zac at the starting line. They raced down the hall, with Tay and Colleen finishing first, easily.
1998 by Hanson Lovers
Chapter 11
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