The brothers were having the time of their lives in Los Angeles. They were recording another album that they knew their fans deserved. Their fans had been patient, waiting for three years, since Middle Of Nowhere, for a new album to be released. It had been a week since their day off, and during a break in recording, it was announced that they would be granted to visit Tulsa in four to five weeks. That sort of news had the Hanson family pumped, and counting the days until their first arrival back to Tulsa. Going back to Tulsa could be a refreshing experience for the family, or it could turn out to be worse than any nightmare a person had ever had. But, why worry about the future, now? They should be worrying about what was going to happen today, with their music, with their recording…and with their lives. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The door slammed behind Zac, as he was the last to enter the studio, “What’s up for today, Chris? Isaac was tellin’ me we’d be doing vocals for ‘This Time Around’. Yes, no, maybe so?”
“Yeah, we are, Zac,” Christopher Sabec informed not-so-little-anymore Zac Hanson. “But, before we do anything, shut that door like a normal human being.”
Tay saw his chance to jump in, “He’s not normal, though, Chris. Remember, this is Zachary Hanson, you are talking about.”
After shutting the studio door, a grouchy Zac Hanson punched Tay in the shoulder. He made sure not to hit him hard enough to actually hurt him, though. Today, Hanson was a band. They had work together, not fight, more importantly, though they had o be brothers.
“Let’s both act mature, now,” Chris eyed both Tay and Zac. “We got a lot of work to do for today.”
Isaac had his head on a table, exhausted. He was definitely worn out. For the past week and a half, he had been getting up at 7 o’clock for 8 o’clock callings to record. Just like everyone else, he was really tired.
“Get up, Ike. This isn’t any time to sleep right, now,” demanded Christopher, kicking the table Ike was resting at. “Did all of you warm up before coming over?”
“Yeah,” assured Taylor.
Slowly, Ike stood up, and nodded, “Yeah, we warmed up. We are all ready, tired but ready.
“I’m going to go into the backroom, then,” Chris told them. “Isaac…Taylor…I want you guys to sing your two main solos on ‘This Time Around’, but this won’t go on tape. I just want to see how beautifully the both of you sound this morning considering the both of you are dead tired.
“Excuse me, Chris,” Taylor caught Mr. Sabec, as he opened the door. “Are you talking about the first or the third verse for me?”
“First.”
“Okay, thanks,” nodded Tay.
“Taylor, you’re first.”
Tay headed for the microphone, and patiently awaited his ‘go’. This was a brand new song that they just wrote, but it was extremely sentimental and had a powerful meaning. It was about breaking free of a depression, and becoming a new person. The three boys felt the song was another step toward what they wanted to achieve in this new album.
“Tay, go,” Chris commanded.
The music to the first verse began, and Taylor timed to where he began, “It’s getting colder, in this ditch where I lie…I’m feelin’ older, and I’m wonderin’ why …I heard they told her it was tell and live or die…I didn’t know her, but I know why she lied…I didn’t know her, but I know why she died!”
The music stopped, as Taylor opened his eyes. The song moved him, and made him think about how lucky he was to be blessed with the things and people he had in his life. He felt special that his family had pulled together to have such a strong family bond, and that he had never felt the way that the song proclaimed.
“Good job, Taylor. Ike, your turn,” called Chris.
Ike stood in front of the microphone, and waited for the music to be turned back on. He, like Tay, really liked the meaning of this song and hoped it reached the hearts of many people, even if they weren’t Hanson fans.
“Okay, Ike we’re ready when you are,” Ike was told.
Isaac cleared his throat, and spoke into the microphone, “Let’s go.”
The music began, and Isaac sang one of the most touching parts of the song, “Well, I heard them say that dreams belong in your head…Well, I feel ashamed of the things that I’ve said!…We’ll put on these chains, and live on and have a free life …Well, I’d rather be dust, to know why I died…yea-ah!”
The music instantly slammed off, “Beautiful, guys. I’m sorry I doubted you because of your being tired. I thought you couldn’t pull it off, but I was wrong…” Christopher was clapping while praising the brothers who definitely took him by surprise in their state of condition.
Zac whined, twirling his drumsticks, “Are we going to record, now? This is really boring.”
Tay looked at his brother, over his shoulder, “Hey, enjoy the peace while you can, Zaccie. It usually doesn’t last long around here when we record.”
“That’s true.”
“That’s right, boys. It’s actually ending, now. Are you all ready to record for real this time? We can start now and get today’s work done by 4 PM, and then you’d have the rest of the day to do whatever you wanted. The other option is to rest until 3 PM, and not be finished until 11 PM. Those are the only two free slots for today. We either start now, or not,” explained Christopher, giving the brothers some kind of direction in their decision making.
All the brothers looked at each other, then back at Mr. Sabec, saying, in unison, “”Let’s do it.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was 4:30 PM, and the band finally got out of the studio and was free. They all felt like they had made the right decision in starting early because now, they were free to go to sleep, feeling like they never wanted to wake up until four weeks from now, only to go back to Tulsa. Isaac, Taylor, and Zac were all at their rented “second home”, trying to decide what to do with the rest of their day.
Zac was sitting on his bed, drumsticks in his hands, throwing suggestions at his two older brothers on how the could finish their day, “We could always drive down to San Diego and go to the zoo.”
“Zac,” Taylor tucked his blonde locks behind his ears, “I’m going to be very honest with you. That was the lamest attempt in the world to get us out of here to do something.”
“I know,” he admitted, “but still, I don’t want to be trapped in here all day! Especially with you two! Also, at least I’m trying to think of some stuff to do. You two are just sitting here on your butts waiting for me to think of somethin’!”
Isaac put a comforting arm around his younger brother, “Because you usually have the best ideas, little Zaccie. We depend on your ideas to keep us busy.”
“That’s it, I’m outta here,” Taylor got up off the floor, and reached for his shoes. “You people are boring me to tears, and Zac isn’t coming up with anything cool to do, so I’ll go search for something myself.”
Both Isaac and Zac laughed at Tay’s remark, Isaac commented, sarcastically, “Tay, that’s really smart. We’re smack in the middle of Los Angeles, summer’s approaching, and it’s broad daylight. Yeah, I’m positive you won’t be noticed by any fans whatsoever.”
“Shut up,” Tay glared at his brother, as he tied his shoes.
Before either of Taylor’s brothers could get a word in, they saw the door slam, with Taylor gone.
“It’s confirmed,” Zac turned to Isaac, “our brother has severe mental problems.”
“To be very honest with you,” Ike said, to his younger brother, “I actually can relate to his insanity.”
While his brothers remained back at the house, Tay was wandering the streets of Los Angeles, alone. He didn’t care what fan, what maniac, what producer, what interviewer, what alien approached him. Taylor just wanted to be Taylor for a day, to actually have some fun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Taylor walked down another windy street of L.A with the windy rustling his hair, the lines that he sang earlier in the day, were repetitive in his own mind, “
It’s getting colder, in this ditch where I lie…I’m feelin’ older, and not knowin’ why…I heard him tell her it was still live or die…I didn’t know her, but I know why she lied…I didn’t know her, but I know why she died!”
Part of that song stuck with him, Taylor definitely did feel older since he got to L.A. There were more worries than ever since he arrived. He wished he could just take it all, and throw it out a window that would swallow it up, and he would never have to see it, or feel it, again.
Taylor stopped walking to look around, and find out where he had been walking. He looked to the right of him, to see across the street a new video arcade. It sparked his interest, but he wasn’t totally in the mood to play video games, maybe later. He looked to the left of him, to see a music store. He remembered the music store quite well, too. In front of it used to be a huge poster of the "Middle Of Nowhere" cover, now only a poster saying, “Here Is Where The Music’s At” was left hanging. Tay remembered this was the first place they distributed "Middle Of Nowhere", and now the store hasn’t even given them a thought.
Leaning against the glass, Tay sighed, mumbling to himself, “I’ve got to get out of this mess. I’m above ears in trouble, and there’s no way out. There’s absolutely no way out…”
Just as he thought things couldn’t get worse, they did. Taylor heard a way too familiar voice calling his name, “Hey, Tay!”
Slowly, he tilted his head only to see Heather, “Great…just great!”
“Hi, Heather.”
“What’s wrong? You look really sad, and depressed. Everything okay?” she questioned.
“Thanks, that’s just the compliment I needed, Heather,” Taylor sarcastically thanked her.
“I’m just trying to help, jeez. You don’t have to be so sensitive,” Heather was irritated.
“I gotta go,” Tay started to stand up.
“Ugh!” Heather rolled her eyes, you could hear the frustration in her voice. “You are always running away from me!”
“I’ve only met you twice!” Taylor corrected her, it wasn’t exactly ‘always’, yet.
“So? Both times you were off in a rush! Tay, you don’t want to hang with me just tell me,” she looked sternly, directly into his eyes.
“That’s not it, Heather,” Tay tried to sound more relaxed, and calm. “We just catch each other at really bad times. I like chillin’ with you. You’re cool.”
He received no kind of response from Heather other then a heavy sigh. She was disappointed, and Tay didn’t want to hurt her, but his gut feeling was telling him to run for his life and get away from her…and fast!
“Look, I gotta go,” Tay dropped his arms to his sides. “I’ll see ya around later, okay?”
Heather made no eye contact with Tay, “Fine, bye.”
“Bye,” Tay waved her good-bye, and smiled at her.
Walking away from her wasn’t as hard as he thought it would be. Taylor thought he would feel majorly guilty afterwards, and go running back to her, but he didn’t. Taylor knew that she was just getting him into deeper trouble than he already was in. He figured it was time to relax, now. It was time for some video games. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the new arcade, Tay felt completely relieved. He was playing game after game after game, and winning most of the time. He had already set three new record scores in the arcade. Now, it was time for him to play some real games.
“Hey, buddy, wassup?” a boy around Taylor’s age walked up to Taylor.
“Hey, just chillin’ here, you?” asked Taylor.
“Same, but I’m not playin’ any of these kiddie games,” the boy explained, referring to the game that Taylor was playing.
Taylor smirked, “’Kiddie games’, huh? And what kind of games do you play, smart-ass? ‘Big Boy’ games?”
The boy just rolled his eyes, jerking Taylor up by his wrist, “Just come on…”
Andy, Taylor had found out his name on the way, had led Tay to a completely different arcade on the other side of town. The other arcade looked harmless compared to this one. This arcade had people smoking cigars on the inside, girls who wore nothing more than sleeveless, jean cut-off tops, and leather skirts that looked like they were found in the toddler size section of Target.
“What’s this place called?” asked Tay, innocently.
The boy smiled, proudly, “’Andy’s Place’. I own it. Isn’t it great?”
“You?” Tay was in disbelief. “You own this place?”
“I worked all summer to buy the games, and to rent this place out,” explained Andy.
“This is insane,” thought Taylor, then speaking a loud, “What types of games do you have here…or do I not wanna know?”
“Taylor,” inquired Andy, “where are you from? I mean, I’ve been around for only three months and everyone here knows about ‘Andy’s Place’.”
“Oklahoma,” Taylor said, quietly.
Andy nodded, as if he understood, “You country rednecks miss out on a lot of fun. Believe me, you do…”
“Anyway,” Taylor continued, “tell me about the games in here, Andy.”
Strobe lights began as Andy got an ear-to-ear smile on his face, “This place is actually registered under my dad’s name. See those hot chicks, Taylor? They’re the games…”
As Taylor listened to the words come from Andy’s lips, a disgusted look came over his face, “You’re sick.”
“Oh, c’mon, Taylor,” egged Andy. “This place is cool.”
“Andy, this is the most defiling, and repulsive place I’ve ever come across,” Tay honestly spit out. “You’re using other people, who should be respected, for your toys? You’re disgusting.”
“Taylor…”
“Andy, I don’t wanna hear it,” Tay interrupted, as he began to walk away.
Before Andy could say anything else, Taylor was disappearing down the street, thinking, “Man, this day totally sucked!”
Taylor was definitely at a down point today. His day had not only been hectic, but horrible. He recorded a song about depression for eight hours, which got him feeling down. The line, “Well, I’ve started feelin’ like I don’t want to fight…Give in to the given and turn out the light” from “This Time Around”, he started to totally relate to. After he recorded, he just had to run into Heather, didn’t he? Seeing Heather reminded him of Hallie and Victoria. The whole situation was getting too crazy, and he knew it. And then, there were Andy and “Big Boy” games. All of this hurt, confusion, and craziness made Tay just want to go into a dark, empty room and just…just be. Taylor, for once, just wanted to be Taylor. But, was that even possible anymore?
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