It was the day before the Hanson family left Tulsa to go back to Los Angeles. Luckily, the album was just about halfway done and then, they could all go home until it was time for the tour. Tay wanted to straighten everything out for good with both Hallie and Victoria. Poor Taylor wasn’t exactly sure how he’d do it, though. All in the meanwhile, Zac and Chrissy still weren’t talking. Ever since that incident with Eric three days ago, they hadn’t spoken. Would the two of them end up like Tay and Hallie? There was no way to tell.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The phone rang as sixteen-year-old Taylor Hanson waited for Hallie to pick up the phone. He knew she had caller ID, so hopefully she wasn’t purposely avoiding him.
“Hello?!” Chrissy answered the phone, eagerly.
“Hey, Chrissy, girl,” Tay greeted her, “it’s me, Taylor.”
“Oh, hi.”
“Well, you don’t sound too excited to hear from me,” he pointed out.
“Sorry, Tayles,” Chrissy apologized, “it’s just, I thought you were Zac, that’s all.”
“Awww, I’m sorry, Chrissy. You two still aren’t talking?” Taylor asked her, remembering the antagonizing story that his little brother had described to him the other night.
“Nope.”
“Well,” he started, “I’m sure things will work out for the both of you. You guys were made for each other. Anyway, is Hal there?”
“Hallie?” Chrissy was surprised. Tay hadn’t called asking for Hallie specifically in a long time.
Tay repeated, “Yeah, Hallie.”
“Hold on, lemme get her,” Hallie’s younger sister said, before placing the receiver down.
Seconds later, the phone was picked up, again with Hallie’s voice, singing, “Taylor?!”
“Hey, girl!” he smiled.
“How are you?” Hallie asked.
“I’m doin’ great, and yourself?” Tay tried a very polite approach.
“Just great, thanks,” she responded. “Hey, our caller ID says, ‘Tulsa’, are you in town?”
“Yep, I wanted to check up on you before I left back for L.A.,” explained Tay.
“When do you go back?” questioned Hallie.
“Tomorrow.”
“Oh, that sucks,” she told him. “Wanna do something before you leave?”
Tay was in sheer shock. He couldn’t believe that Hallie had asked him to do something with her. He had to of been dreaming. The thought was so completely unreal.
“Could she actually be serious? Does she actually want me to do something with her?” thought Tay to himself.
“Sure, that would be fantastic,” he assured her. “What would you like to do?”
“Anything’s fine with me,” shrugged Hallie. “It’s your trip.”
“Well, you know me,” he reminded her. “I’m up for anything. I don’t want to do anything you don’t want to do.”
Hallie laughed, “You do realize that we go through this every time we try to get together, right?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I got an idea. How about we get a bite to eat at Rex’s, and then, we’ll go to the pool?” suggested Hallie.
Tay smiled, “Sounds like a plan, Hal.”
“That’s cool, have you done anything with Victoria, yet?” she asked, curiously.
Tay thought that was cute that she was still curious about Victoria, he answered, honestly, “No, not yet. I was thinking about doing something with her today, after I saw you, though. I’m not gonna lie this time.”
Hallie laughed, for some reason, talking to Tay lifted her anger about what had happened not so long ago, “Alright, tell her, I say, ‘Hi!’!”
“I will,” the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Hanson brother promised.
“Well, I gotta go,” Tay’s former girlfriend told him. “What time are you going to pick me up?”
“How’s 4:00 sound to you?”
“Great!”
“I’ll see you then, okay?”
“Gotcha, bye, Tayles!” she concluded.
“Bye…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, Tay did lie a little. Instead of seeing Hallie first, he saw Victoria. Think about it, how would it look if he showed up to Victoria’s house aall soaking wet from the pool? Exactly. Victoria and he were gonna go to Blockbuster and rent a movie, then go back to her house, and watch it. Tay knew he was starting to play games, again, but would this end up as a deja vous of what happened earlier? He hoped not.
“I don’t care what movie we rent,” he told Victoria. “It’s totally up to you, girl.”
“Hmm,” Victoria hummed, as she thought. “Ever seen ‘Pride and Prejudice’? You know, it’s based on Jane Austen’s book?”
Tay nearly dropped, “Isn’t that, that 6 series movie? It last like, 4 or 5 hours, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, I know,” she giggled. “I’m just kidding.”
“Phew, thought you were serious,” Taylor let out a sigh of relief.
“Nah,” she assured him, “I couldn’t do that to you. I know it’s your last day here. Oh! How about this?”
Victoria reached for a tape, and handed it to Taylor. It was “Titanic.”
“’Titanic’?” Tay raised his eyebrows, then chuckled to himself. “Oh, I get it! You are one of those ‘Oh-My-Gosh-Leo-Is-So-Hot’ people, right?”
“How could you think so low of me?” she joked, knowing it was the truth. “Yeah, I think he’s hot, but I’m not going to flaunt it.”
Tay tried to contain his laughter, “Yeah, that’s what most of our obsessive fans say, too.”
“Oh, shutup!” smiled Victoria. “Are we getting it, or not?”
“Why not?” he shrugged. “I’m always up for a mushy tearjerker.”
“Thanks, Tay.”
“Anytime.”
The two teenagers walked up to the counter and waited in line to pay for the movie. When it came to their turn, the cashier told him, “It’s a great movie, don’t worry. Also, it has to be back tomorrow.”
“Gotcha,” he said, as he took the movie.
Walking out of Blockbuster, Tay felt sort of awkward. All of a sudden, it seemed really awkward to be around Victoria only as friends. He got a knot in his stomach, and felt weak. Taylor only prayed that Victoria wouldn’t notice the affect that she had on him, suddenly.
Taylor opened the door to his car for Victoria, “There ya go.”
“Thanks,” Victoria was grateful, “what a gentleman.”
Tay blushed, slightly and made his way over to the driver’s side. After shutting the car door, he looked over his shoulder, and slowly backed out of the parking space.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at Victoria’s house, Tay and Victoria were sitting on the couch in her living room, watching “Titanic.” Personally, Tay didn’t care for a girl who was on a huge sinking ship, and cheating on her boyfriend with a pauper. He just wanted to clear things with Victoria.
“This is my favorite part,” Victoria whispered to Tay.
They were at the scene when Jack and Rose are running throughout the ship, trying to escape Rose’s boyfriend. To Taylor, this was the most interesting part of the movie. He had seen “Titanic” once before, and was unmoved by the fact that Jack sank to the bottom of the ocean at the end, or that Rose changed her last name to “Dawson” when she got off the ship. Tay felt pretty heartless knowing that soon, Victoria would be bawling her eyes out.
“Enjoy you’re time together!” yelled Rose’s boyfriend from the TV screen, in an English accent. “You don’t have much left…”
Tay turned to Victoria, “I can’t believe he stopped chasing them. Even after my gun ran out of bullets, I still would’ve ran and tackled him.”
“Oh, geez, Tay…,” rolling her eyes, Victoria sighed, “think about it. You’re on a ship in the middle of the ocean, it’s sinking, and filling up with ice cold water. Do you think you’d really have time to chase after your girlfriend and some total stranger?”
Taylor smiled, “Yes.”
“Oh, be quiet,” she shoved Tay, playfully.
The two of them turned back to the movie. For the first time in a long while, Tay carefully put his arm around her shoulder. He was surprised beyond belief when she automatically placed her head on his shoulder. Taylor wasn’t exactly sure how to react or what she was implying. Poor Tay was quite lost.
“I love you, Jack,” whispered Rose on the TV screen.
In unison with Rose’s words, Victoria whispered, “I love you, Tay…”
That definitely took him by surprise. He didn’t know to say. Did she actually mean to say that…aloud? Should he say it back? Was she implying something? It was all too confusing for Tay.
“Tay?” spoke Victoria.
“Hm?” he looked over to her.
“Did you hear me?” she asked, quietly.
“She meant to say it! Oh my gosh, I better say it back!” Tay thought in a panic, before saying, “I heard you, sorry. I love you, too, Victoria.”
Victoria looked into Taylor’s eyes, and Taylor looked into her’s. Though the moment was somewhat awkward…it was a moment of magic. The two of them shut their eyes tight and leaned closer together. As their lips pressed against each other’s, it sent a chill up Tay’s spine. There was hope for his and Victoria’s relationship, that was lost so long ago, to rekindle. When they pulled away from each other, Tay held her tight. This time, he was going to make sure never to let her go, and to screw up things, again.
Suddenly, Tay realized something, though. After this movie was over, he was going to go see Hallie. How could he face her with just pulling a stunt like this? What if he started to like her, again? Tay could only hope that nothing of the sort would happen. He would just have to suck in his gut, and prepare for the best, and the worst. He couldn’t love her, again. He had to concentrate on Victoria…only Victoria.
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Chapter 16- Blow Out The Candles, Make A Wish...
Chapter 18- Starting All Over Again
Tulsa's Long Road Home
I Thought I Could Trust You
