Once I got home, I went inside nervously. After much thought, I had decided that I really wanted to go on tour with Hanson. But I was not at all sure that my parents would approve. I went to find them apprehensively, hoping that I could convince them to let me go.
After an unsuccessful search, I found Anne listening to music in her room. "Hey Anne, where are Mom and Dad?" I asked.
"Mom's out riding, and Dad went to run some errands. Where have you been?" Then she said, "Oh, of course. You were at Taylor's, right?" When I nodded, she demanded, "Then why didn't you take me with you? I haven't seen Zac since last night!"
I laughed. "Taylor called this morning. You weren't up yet. They were discussing their tour schedule."
"When are they coming back here?" she said immediately.
"They haven't even left yet, and you're already thinking that far ahead?" Then I got the most brilliant idea I'd had that day. But I'd have to talk to Taylor and to my parents before discussing it with Anne. Unfortunately, I never was very good at hiding things from her.
"What are you thinking?" she demanded.
"What are you talking about?" I asked innocently.
"You have that look on your face. You're thinking of something!"
I couldn't resist. "Okay, you win...sort of. I'll tell you part of what I was thinking."
"What??" she demanded.
"Well, Taylor asked me if I wanted to come on tour with them!"
"No fair!!!!" Anne yelled. "I wanna go!!!"
"Well, that's the other part. I just thought of asking Taylor to see if you could go, too. But there's just one problem."
"Mom and Dad," Anne said immediately.
"Well, yeah, but that actually wasn't what I was thinking of. I'm not so sure it would be a good idea to go."
"What!?!?!?!" Anne shrieked. "You're not sure!?!? How can you not be sure?? It would be the best experience we'd ever have!!"
"What about school?" I retorted. "I know we're about to be off for the summer, but we wouldn't be back before school started again. Taylor did say that we could homeschool with them, but then what would happen when we came back? And what about all our extracurricular activities? I have gymnastics, plus I'm coaching now. We both have dance, and we're going back to Hawaii this summer. We'd miss out on all that. I know it would be fun," I finished, "but I'm not sure it would be a good idea."
"I think it would work out fine," Anne insisted. "And you know it would be fun! I don't care about missing Hawaii; we'll be seeing Europe instead. And you've already been to Hawaii. Would you really rather go back there than go to Europe? And be with Taylor? You'll be with Taylor nonstop for six months, at least. And I think the homeschooling thing would work just fine. Please, Monica," she begged. "Please don't give up on this."
Despite my words, I felt myself wavering. After all, I asked myself, hadn't I already decided that I wanted to go? Why was I trying to convince everyone that it wasn't a good idea? Was it that I was just a little scared, of leaving everything behind, and having a whole new lifestyle? Was that it? Yes, I decided, that was it. I was scared. So I told myself once again that it would be fun, and I decided once and for all that I did want to go.
"Yes," I said finally, "I do want to go." As Anne started to get excited, I warned her, "Don't get excited yet. I still have to ask Taylor if you can come..."
"So go call," she interrupted.
"...And then we still have to convince Mom and Dad," I finished. "But yes, I'll go call now."
I picked up the phone and dialed the all-too-familiar number. After two rings, someone picked up. "Hello?"
"Hi, Zac. It's Monica. Is Tay around?"
"Nope," he said.
"What? Where is he?"
"He ran away. He caught a plane back to Tulsa."
I groaned. I should have known it was a joke. "Zac, please go get Taylor. I know he's there."
He laughed. "Okay, you win." He put the phone down and I heard him yell, "Taylor! It's your girlfriend!"
"Hey, Moni," Taylor said after a minute or so.
"Hey, Tay. I made up my mind about your offer."
"And?"
"I want to go."
"Yeah!" Taylor exclaimed. "So, what did your parents say?"
"I actually haven't gotten to ask them yet...they're not home. But I did tell Anne...actually, she dragged it out of me...but she wants to go, too, and I told her I'd ask you."
"Well, I don't see why it would be a problem. Let me go ask Mom, okay?"
After a few minutes, Taylor returned. "Just as I thought...she can come, as long as it's okay with your parents."
"Okay, thanks." Just then, I heard the door open. "Tay, I think Mom just got home. I'm gonna go talk to her now, okay?"
"Okay. I'll see you later! Good luck!"
"Thanks," I laughed. "I'll probably need it."
After I hung up, I went out to talk to Mom. I found her putting away her "horse stuff."
"Hey Mom," I said, "I have a very important question."
"Okay, just a minute; I need to finish putting this stuff away, and then I want to take a shower. Can it wait that long?"
"Yeah." I ran back into the house and sat down on the couch to wait.
After a few minutes, Mom came back out of her room. "Okay, now what was your very important question?"
"Well," I began cautiously, "I was over at Taylor's earlier, and he..." I paused, then finished, "...he asked me to come on tour with him, and Anne, too."
Mom's eyes grew wide in surprise. Whatever it was she was expecting, it was apparently not this. "Well, Monica, you know I can't say yes or no right now. I have to talk to Dad first."
"I know," I sighed.
Mom continued, "And that is a pretty big deal, you know. You'll be gone all summer; you won't be back till after school starts again."
"We can homeschool with them," I said. "And I know about all the other stuff, the extracurricular activities we'll miss and all that. I've thought it all through."
"Well, it does sound like you have given it a lot of thought. But there is one thing that bothers me. You'll be spending most of your time, including sleeping, on the same bus as your boyfriend."
"Mom," I groaned, "you know I wouldn't do anything like that!"
"Yes, I know. It's just...you're growing up, Monica, and that's never easy for a parent. I guess I'm just worried you're growing too much in the wrong ways. I know you wouldn't; I'm just a mom. That's what we moms do, you know. We worry."
"I know, Mom. But will you talk to Dad when he gets home? Please?"
"Well...I guess I don't see any reason why you couldn't go. So I will talk to Dad when he gets back, to see what he thinks."
"Thanks a lot," I said sincerely. Then I remembered something. "Mom...what about Anne? Will she be able to come, too?"
Mom was silent for a moment. Finally, she said, "I'm really not sure. She's even younger than you are...I'm just not sure how well you'd both handle it. I'm pretty sure you could, but I'm not sure about her. But, like I said, I'll have to talk to Dad before I can give any kind of definite answer."
"Okay. Thanks."
Chapter 47
Love Takes Time
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