Leaning over the back of the sofa and peering through the curtains, Brynn turned to Holly and grinned. "Hey Holly, when was the last time you saw a giant tour bus in my driveway?" She tried to hide her excitement. Her parents had come to Wilkes-Barre to pick up Brynn and Holly and to meet Diana and Walker. Then they drove them home and went out of town for the night. They wanted to cancel their plans but they couldn't find a way to do that. Walker told them they would be at their house by 9:00. It was 9:05.
"They're here?!" Holly jumped up from her position on the floor and looked frantically around the room. Grabbing her stack of Hanson cds that she had brought to Brynn's house, she frantically looked around for a place to hide them.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"You don't think it would be weird for them to come in your house and see themselves in a pile on the living room floor?"
Brynn's eyes widened as she opened the front door. She stared at Holly in horror. "Oh my god... I'm so stupid! MY ROOM! GO RIP DOWN ALL THE POSTERS!"
"RIGHT!" Holly jumped up and ran halfway up the stairs before Brynn screamed to her again.
"Take down the Moffatts stuff too!"
"Where do I put it all?" She asked, concerned about where to hide 4 bajillion posters and cds. She was relieved again that her bedroom only had one lone poster, autographed, in the corner.
"I don't know! Just put it somewhere!"
"RIGHT!" She yelled again and darted up the stairs.
Brynn smiled as she saw Diana, Walker, and Zoe come off of the bus. Diana had Zoe in her arms. Brynn could never get over how beautiful Diana was. Her hair was pulled into a long, low ponytail, and she wore a long blue skirt and a light blue blouse. Zoe had her hair in little pigtails and she was smiling from ear to ear. "HI BRYNN!" She yelled as she jumped down and ran to her.
Brynn laughed and held out her arms, lifting Zoe up. "Hi! And how are you?"
"Good."
"Can I help you carry anything? Brynn asked.
"I think you have your hands full already." Diana laughed as the rest of her family fell out of the bus.
Brynn slowly led them all into her house and explained to them again that her parents wouldn't be home that night. For some reason she was terrified that they would back out for lack of hosts and hostesses.
She looked around nervously as the entire Hanson family stood in her living room. Taylor wasn't there but she didn't feel like she had the right to ask where he was. She frowned. "Ok well, Diana, you and Walker can stay in my parents bedroom. And then there's my room, my brother's room, and the guest room that everybody else can divide up into. And I guess Tay, Zac, and Isaac will be downstairs with Holly and me?" She had remembered to call them "Walker and Diana" after they yelled at her earlier for calling them "Mr. and Mrs. Hanson". They said it made them feel too old.
Diana nodded and smiled. "Sounds great. But... where is Taylor?" She looked behind her and out the door to the bus. "He must be still getting his stuff together. You can go and find him if you'd like."
Brynn smiled but then her gaze went to the ceiling as she heard a loud thump and an "OUCH!"
Zac and Isaac both looked up, too and Zac asked, "What... was that?"
"Uhm. Holly probably just... was Holly." Brynn tried not to laugh as she pictured Holly falling off of her bed, trying to get the posters off of the ceiling.
Isaac laughed and dropped his backpack and sleeping bag onto the floor next to the other two sleeping bags that were already there. He was really looking forward to spending some time with some fun people.
His parents on the other hand yawned simultaneously. "Well, I hate to be a drag," Walker put his hand over his mouth for a moment and turned to Isaac and Zac, "But it's almost 9:30 and your mother and I are exhausted. And the rest of you kids have to go to bed."
Jessica and Avery nodded and Zoe rubbed her eyes, but Mackenzie put his hands on his hips and glared. "But I didn't even get to see Holly yet!"
Diana laughed. "Honey, Holly seems to be busy upstairs, you can see her tomorrow morning."
"But I want to see her now!"
"Tomorrow." She spoke sternly, but not menacingly and Mackie sighed and followed her upstairs.
Zac and Isaac both plopped onto the couch and yawned.
"Hey guys, no getting tired. We have a lot of stuff planned for tonight."
There was another thump as Holly came flying down the stairs, out of breath. She was wearing a bright pink, sleeveless shirt, with the words "Rock and Roll '82." written across the chest, and a pair of black shiny pants. She grinned as she entered the room and whispered into Brynn's ear. "Had a little difficulty with the osterspay."
"No kidding." Brynn looked at her again. "Why did you change your shirt?"
"Because I ripped it in half when I fell off of your bed."
She laughed. "Okay. Well you tell Isaac and Zac about our plans. I'm going to go out and see if I can find Taylor."
Holly grinned and sat down between Isaac and Zac. "You do that." She leaned over to Isaac and whispered into his ears. "We can't let her play strip poker tonight."
Brynn glared as she almost knew for sure what Holly had said, and went outside to find Taylor. She opened the door to the bus and knocked on it before actually going inside. When there was no reply she walked up the stairs and went behind the curtain to find Taylor sitting on the couch staring down into his backpack. "Hey." She smiled sitting next to him. "Being shy?"
Taylor looked up at her. "I'm just trying to decide whether or not I'm going to need my leather jacket."
Brynn gave him a strange look. "Probably not. My house is one of those modern kinds. We have heat."
He laughed. "Right. Sorry, I've just never spent the night at a fans house before."
"Oh." Brynn suddenly felt weird because called "a fan". She for some reason hoped he thought of her as more than that.
Taylor stood up and grabbed his backpack and sleeping bag. Silently he told himself to calm down and that Brynn was "just a girl" but in his heart he knew that she was more than that.
Two hours later, Brynn and Holly had changed into their pajamas and were laying on the floor in a circle with Isaac, Taylor, and Zac. Isaac was laying on his stomach next to Holly, laughing with her about things Brynn, Taylor, and Zac never really heard. Zac was sitting indian style, and Taylor was sitting with his legs stretched out toward the middle of the circle.
"We got lucky. We were just going to play 'truth' since we were afraid there were going to be two sets of parental units here." Holly yawned and then shook her head to fight off the exhaustion from the concert the night before. "But we can actually play truth or dare now. Who wants to start."
Everybody looked at eachother nervously and Holly rolled her eyes. "Ok fine, I will. We'll start off easy so you guys don't fear us too much." She grinned at Brynn.
"Why does that scare me?" Zac looked at his brothers and bit his lip.
"Ok, Zac, truth or dare."
Zac shrugged. "Truth."
"Wuss." She laughed. "Ok fine..."
Before she had a chance to ask him anything Brynn spoke up. "Make sure we ask stuff that they haven't been asked five million times in the past week."
"I know, I know. Ok, out of all the interviewers you've had, who was one person that you just wanted beat severely with a meat mallot."
Taylor and Isaac laughed and Zac sighed. "Kathy Freakin Lee Freakin Gifford, man."
"I KNEW IT!" Holly laughed. "Ok your turn."
Zac thought for a moment and then turned to Brynn. "Brynn, truth or dare."
"Truth."
Holly threw her arms out in front of her and laid her face on the floor. "Come on people! BE BRAVE!"
Zac laughed. "Ok, who's your favorite Hanson." He asked, half joking.
"Don't have one. Never have, never will."
"Ok that was boring." Zac sighed.
Brynn laughed also. "Ok... Isaac. Truth or dare."
"Well, just so that Holly doesn't pop a fuse... dare."
"WOO!" Holly almost jumped up.
"Geez, Holly. This is my dare. You wait your turn." Brynn laughed and thought for a moment. "Ok, I dare you to call this girl." She pulled a piece of paper out of the pocket of her jeans with intentional holes cut into the knees. "Call this number, ask for Katyee... and tell her who you are. Then just hold a conversation for five minutes."
Isaac looked down at the piece of paper and looked nervous. "You planned this, didn't you?"
"Of course not."
Isaac sighed and reached for the cordless phone that Brynn handed him. Carefully, he dialed and held the phone up to his ear. While he waited for it to ring, Taylor leaned over toward Brynn.
"Who is he calling?"
"This girl named Kaytee. She's the most annoying fan I've ever met."
"Great." He grinned as Isaac grew even more nervous.
"Hi, is Kaytee home?" He asked, choking on his own words. He waited a few seconds, taping the floor. Holly put her hand on his shoulder and grinned. "Hi, Kaytee? This is uhm, Isaac Hanson." He almost dropped the phone as a high pitched screech came from it. After a minute of continuous screaming, he was able to talk. "How are you?" There was another scream and then all anybody could here was muffled conversation coming from one end of the phone. Isaac's eyes widened as he gave Brynn numerous dirty looks. Then, he looked at his watch, relieved that five minutes had gone by. "Well, it's been great talking to you, Kaytee, but I have to get going. No, I really have to go. No. Well, no. No. Well, OH MY GOD MY BROTHER IS ON FIRE!" And then, he turned the phone off and threw it at Brynn. "And that, is why one day, I will go insane."
The room was filled with laughter as they tried to compose themselves and move onto the next dare. Isaac took a few deep breaths and turned to Holly. "Truth or dare?" He asked with a smile that revealed his perfect white, shiny, teeth.
"Truth."
Isaac laughed again. "And you called Zac a wuss."
"No, I just really don't trust you after that last dare." She grinned.
"Ok. Holly, what is your favorite childhood memory?"
Holly looked suddenly at Brynn and blinked with a blank expression. Brynn nodded at her with a motion that seemed to tell her to go ahead. Isaac suddenly felt bad for asking.
"Uhm." She swallowed hard and had to think for longer than anybody expected. Usually when people answer that question it's immediate, and with a smile. "Well, I know this will sound weird but, when I moved in fifth grade, I was really happy to get away from this one girl. So it was probably my happiest moment."
Isaac nodded. "But you don't seem very happy about it."
"She ended up moving that summer too. And went to the same school as me, again."
"Oh." Without another word, he shook his head. "Ok, your turn."
Holly nodded. "Brynn, truth or dare."
"Truth."
"Ok, why do you think we get along the way we do?" Holly asked the question she'd always wanted to know. Brynn never seemed like the kind of girl who would want to be her friend. But, she somehow managed to bring out the best in her.
Brynn shrugged. "I don't know. You make me laugh. You always know how to make people laugh, even when you don't try. And we have a lot of the same feelings towards the same things."
Isaac smiled at Holly and poked her on the shoulder. He wasn't sure why he got along so well with her either.
"Alright, now it's time to kick this puppy into gear." Brynn grinned. "Taylor, truth or dare."
"Dare." He smiled back.
"Good. Ok. I dare you... to put on my new shiny bathing suit and go to my neighbors house and ask if youcan borrow her pool."
Holly looked at Brynn. "Your neighbor doesn't have a pool."
"So?"
Taylor stood up, more than willing to do the dare. "Ok where's the bathing suit?"
"It's upstairs hanging in the shower. Have fun." She smiled.
Holly's eyes widened and she shook her head abruptly at Brynn.
"What?" She asked, staring back.
Holly shook her head again and Brynn just nodded in response. She shrugged. "Ok then. Whatever."
In 10 minutes, Taylor came down the stairs. He was still in his clothes.
"What's up?" Zac asked. "It didn't fit?"
"No... it fits... I'm wearing it underneathe." He took off his shirt to reveal a maroon string bikini. Then, he slid off his pants and blushed. "Ok, point me in the right direction."
Brynn, trying not to laugh, opened the front door and pushed Taylor outside.
Taylor turned to her for a moment. "By the way, there's about 40 thousand posters and cds in your bathtub. Then he disappeared into the darkness.
Brynn turned around and glared at Holly.
"Dude, don't look at me. I tried to warn you."
"Well you could have found a better place to hide them!"
"Hey you're the one with the posters."
Isaac and Zac looked at eachother and burst out in laughter as they watched Brynn and Holly argue about posters... posters of themselves.
After a few moments Taylor came inside and ran straight to the bathroom. After changing into his clothes, he came downstairs. "You didn't tell me that they had kids."
"Three kids to be exact." Brynn smiled. "Three girls."
"You... are evil." He laughed and sat back down next to her.
After a few more hours of truth or dare, Zac fell asleep on the couch, Isaac and Holly were asleep on the floor, and Taylor and Brynn were laying next to eachother on the floor. They were on their stomachs, facing eachother, staring. Finally, Taylor spoke. "I'm glad you invited us." He whispered in a breathy voice.
Brynn smiled. "I'm glad you actually came. I've had a lot of fun."
"Me too." Taylor smiled back and reached forward, pushing a strand of blonde hair out of Brynn's eyes. Then, he blushed and pulled his hand back.
Brynn shivered with surprise and closed her eyes. She smiled to herself and then opened her eyes again. "I wish you could stay longer than 2 days."
"Well..." He whispered back. "I'm sure we'll get to see eachother often."
Brynn nodded. "I agree."
Hearts of Fate
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