Mena Pardoe pulled her sunglasses down a bit and glared at the boys sitting in the booth across from her. She thought of them all as boys; the ones who stared at her while she was in her disguise, trying to figure out why she looked so familiar. She sighed and took a bite of her thirty five dollar salad. Mena's mother sat beside her eating a plate full of lasagne with garlic bread. She'd rather eat alone, but in most cases it was either her mother or her bodyguard sitting next to her. "I hate this place." She sighed taking a sip from her water. "Why did we have to come here?" She asked, referring to the small restaurant in Tulsa Oklahoma where they were stuck filming Mena's latest movie.
"Because last week this was your favorite restaurant." Her mother, Denise, sighed back, exhausted by her daughter's attitude. Sometimes it seemed as though she wasn't the same teenager she used to be. Now 18 years old, she was an adult, but still lacked social grace. Unless of course, there was a camera on her. Then she knew how to behave because she had to.
"Everybody stares at me here. Can't I go anywhere without people staring?"
"Honey, they're staring because you're wearing sunglasses, a sweatshirt, and a baseball hat in a fancy restaurant. It has nothing to do with who you are."
"Whatever." She glared again. "And those boys keep looking at me and talking. Why won't they stop? Can't you go over there and tell them to mind their own business?"
Mena's mother turned around casually pretending to see if the bathroom was occupied, and glanced at whom Mena was referring to. She looked back and smiled. "Mena, do you know who that is?"
"No? Why should I?"
"That's Hanson."
Mena raised an eyebrow. "Whom?"
"You know, that band you used to listen to all the time. You have all of their albums?"
Mena grabbed Denise's shirt sleeve and pulled her down slightly. "Mother, don't say that outloud. I've grown out of them. Besides... I only have 3 albums... I stopped collected 2 years ago..." She paused. "Wait, that's them?"
"Yes. They were on t.v. not too long ago. You should go over and get their autograph."
"I don't ask for autographs. People would laugh if I did that."
"Take your head out of your ass, Mena. You're a human being. Stop acting above it."
Mena glared. At least three times a day her mother would have to tell her something like that. Honestly, she didn't understand why. She wasn't like everybody else. There was a big difference between a person in the movie, and a person watching the movie. She'd starred with men like Tom Hanks, Ryan Phillipe, and Tyson Beckford. People ran to her for autographs and she would smile and sign, sometimes she would ask their name and talk to them for a minute.
"Whatever, mom. I'm going to the bathroom. I'll be back." She rolled her eyes and left the table. After five minutes, she came out and the bathroom door opened with a thud as it ran into something. She looked behind the door to see Taylor Hanson, holding his arm.
"Ouch he muttered as he stared at her."
"Excuse me! Can't you watch where you're going?"
"Uhm. Sorry." He sighed and walked past her.
"Wait! Aren't you going to say hello?"
"I uhm... just wanted to go to the bathroom."
"Don't you know who I am?!"
Taylor looked closely at her. "Yes."
"So?"
"So. I just wanted to go to the bathroom."
"If you know who I am, then what's my name?"
"Mena Pardoe."
Mena blushed. "Oh. Well... of course you know who I am."
"Ok well, it's been a nice conversation and all but I really have to get back to my brothers."
"I thought you had to go to the bathroom."
"I changed my mind." He muttered, scampering off to his table, trying to find anyway to get away from Mena. He'd heard too much about her. Of course, he hated reading tabloids and he never believed anything he'd heard about actors, actresses, and musicians such as himself. But ever since he and his brothers got their record deal, he'd heard nothing but bad things about Mena Pardoe.
Once he'd seen her in L.A. while recording This Time Around. He and his brothers were walking on the beach and somehow managed to find a movie set. Mena was there, filming an independant flick to raise her ratings among critics. However, she was throwing a fit about getting in the ocean because she'd heard rumors about the water in L.A. "I will NOT be swimming in medical waste!" She screamed as Taylor, Isaac, and Zac took off their t-shirts and jumped into the water.
Taylor sat down with his brothers and watched as Mena slumped down into her booth, thoroughly humiliated. "You were right, Zac. It is her."
"See, I know what I'm talking about. I'd recognize her anywhere."
Isaac nodded. "See how she's trying really hard to hide who she is? I hate it when celebrities do that. I can understand wearing glasses and a hat, but inside?"
"She didn't try to hide herself very hard with me." Taylor glared right back at her. "It was like she needed me to know that she was famous. What a snob."
Zac smiled.
"What?"
He smiled again.
"Dammit Zac. I hate it when you do that."
"You think she's hot."
"You need to bite me." Taylor grumbled and finished the last of his water. "Besides. I don't think she's hot. She's not even pretty. You have to have somewhat of a nice person to be pretty."
Zac shrugged. "Well, I think she's hot."
"I heard her mom tried putting her into a mental institute once." Taylor glanced over at her. She still had her sunglasses and hat on. He felt she looked like a bum trying to be cool.
Isaac rolled his eyes. "You know what I heard? I heard that Taylor Hanson had sex with Ozzy Osbourne's daughter. And Zac is dating Marion Raven."
Taylor glared and bit into his bread. "Yeah but her's is probably true."
Zac sighed. "I dunno who ever starts those stupid rumors. Marion and I hold hands outsite of a concert for 2 seconds to freak out some teenyboppers and all of a sudden we're a couple. She doesn't even think I'm boyfriend material. As her yourself."
Taylor peered across the restaurant at Mena, trying not to be too obvious. To him, she looked lonely. It wasn't every day he got to see one of the most famous celebrities in the world eating lunch without a boyfriend or a posse of bodyguards by her side. If it was anybody else, anybody but Mena Pardoe, he'd have been nicer to her. But it was her. And nobody else knew the story of why he disliked her so much.
It had been about a year since he ran into her last. Actually, it was the first time he'd ever seen her. In L.A., shortly after the scene on the beach, Taylor found himself wandering the halls of their hotel, searching for the ice machine. He was exhausted from a long day. They were actually almost finished mixing the album. Taylor sighed when he noticed a girl standing at the ice machine with her hands on her hips. Her long blonde hair was hanging down to the middle of her back and she was wearing a pair of black leather pants and a hot pink, tight, t-shirt. "Come on!" She yelled at it, waiting impatiently for the ice to fall magically into her bucket.
Taylor stood silently for a moment before speaking up. "Excuse me, do you need some help?"
"No." She muttered and slapped the side of the machine.
"You have to push the button." He said softly and politely, pushing the red button for her.
"Oh. Well that's just stupid." She turned around and Taylor was face to face with Mena Pardoe, a girl he'd seen in Teen Magazine an hour earlier. "At the last hotel I was at, the people brought ice right to your room."
"Well, it's nice to come to the smaller hotels."
"Yeah. Sure." She sighed lifting her ice bucket and turned to him. She blushed lightly, a sign that she knew who he was. But if she did, she sure didn't let him know it. "Well it was nice talking to you... "
"Taylor." He held out his hand, polite as usual.
"I don't need to make aquaintance with one of the girly Hanson boys." Mena nodded in his general direction, took her ice, and left.
Between that encounter, and the encounter from a few minutes ago, Taylor had absolutely no intentions of being nice to her. He was a celebrity and he hated when people like himself treated others like dirt.
"Yo Tay. You're about a million miles away." Isaac snapped his fingers infront of Taylor's face. "What were you thinking about?"
"Uhm. That time I peed on the roof at Sundance."
Zac and Isaac both laughed and Isaac stood up and dropped their tip onto the table. "Ok well, let's get out of here. The lovely Mena is burning holes into Taylor's forehead with her eyes."
"I'll meet you guys at home." Taylor stood and stretched. Glancing over at a booth that accompanied a man in a baseball hat and dark clothes, he had something else in mind before leaving. Luckily they had brought two cars.
"Alright, see ya."
Taylor put his napkin down and walked politely to Mena's table. "Excuse me, Ms. Pardoe..."
Denise turned around and smiled. "Why, hello." She held out her hand and Taylor shook it like a gentleman.
"Taylor Hanson." He nodded and smiled at Mena. "I just wanted to let you know that you have a lovely daughter."
Denise Pardoe smiled. "Why, thank you, Taylor." He couldn't help but notice her use of the word 'why'.
"How long will you be in Tulsa?"
"Too long." Mena grumbled and popped a crouton into her mouth.
Denise kicked her daughter under the table. "A few months, most likely. It's a lovely city."
"We like it." He smiled and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from his pocket. After scribbling on it for a moment he handed it to Denise. "If you ever want a tour or need to know where the good hotels and restaurants are, give me a call on my cell phone." Then, he handed it to Mena's mother.
"Why thank you." She smiled and took it graciously.
Taylor took hold of Mena's hand and kissed it softly before leaving.
"Such a handsome young man." She turned to Mena as Taylor left the restaurant.
Mena glared out the window and dropped her napkin. "I'll be right back."
Mumbling to herself, she shoved the large glass doors open and stormed out of the restaurant. Taylor was standing by his car getting ready to get in. "Taylor! She helled and ran over to him.
"You remember my name." He stared into her eyes.
"Yeah well... why did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Why did you suck up to my mom like that?"
"I just figured you might need an escort somewhere..."
Mena laughed. "Right. An escort. Do you do this often?"
"Do what?"
"Suck up to celebrities so you can go out with them?"
"Go out with you?" He shook his head. "I don't think so."
"Then what was that scene for inside?"
"You really don't get it, do you?"
"What?"
"You didn't see the photographer?"
"Huh?"
Taylor laughed again. "There was a guy in the booth next to you. He was taking pictures of you and your mother with a small camera."
"So you figured you'd butt in on the publicity?"
"Not exactly."
Mena thought for a moment before widening her eyes.
"Aha. See there ya go. Camera men see things the way they want to see them. So me, slipping you my phone number and kissing your hand... might come off the wrong way. I could care less what the paparazzi think about me. But you... I know it drives you crazy everytime the Star or Equireror says you have a new boyfriend." He smiled a huge smile. "Just think of it as a present from one of the girly Hanson boys." Taylor patted her on the shoulder, got into his car, and left leaving Mena standing by herself with her mouth wide open.