"Hi," he whispered very quietly. "Um, we're, well I'm in a bit of trouble." We just stared at him. "Uh, my plan didn't exactly go how I planned..." He paused and looked at us, waiting for a reaction.
"What does that mean" I whispered nervously.
"Well... I thought we were staying in a hotel in Toronto but it turns out we're going straight to Montreal instead." He looked very worried.
"So now what?" Johanna asked, waiting desperately for the rest of the story.
"I don't really know, that's what I've been trying to figure out," he said scratching his forehead. Taylor appeared beside him.
"Hi" he whispered. He sounded tired and frustrated. "What's your names again?" I laughed to my-self. He didn't even say hi to us before, let alone ask for our names. Ike told him and he shook his head, biting his lower lip and rolling his eyes. "I'm going to wake up mom and dad" Taylor said to Ike.
"No, not yet" Ike replied frantic.
"We have to, they ARE going to find out that you friggen snuck fans on the bus, obviously, and it's better that they know now instead of waiting until the morning. You can't just keep them in there." He said waving his arm at us
"God Taylor, it's not like I was gonna make them stay in there all night! But we don't need to wake up mom and dad..." he said, losing his patience. Johanna and I looked back and forth as they spoke. There was a pause as Taylor tried to think up a come back.
"Ike, this is your problem" he said.
"Yes, I am quite aware of the fact that this is my problem, so will you please just let me deal with it" Ike retorted. I tried to decide whether or not to put my two cents worth in, then I realized I didn't know what I could possibly say. I was just amazed that they were actually having an argument.
"Fine, deal with it then. I'm going back to bed" Taylor started to stand up.
"No wait!" Isaac said grabbing his arm. "Yeah, go and get them."
"Oh my God" Taylor groaned and walked towards their parent's bunk.
"Oh man, they're gonna flip." Ike mumbled.
"Uh, we're not going to get in trouble are we?" I asked. Isaac looked at me and patted my head with a forced grin.
"No, but I am. Come on, you better get out of there." He laughed, "you guy's look really funny." We struggled to get up and he held out a hand for each of us, and pulled us up. My legs were extremely stiff. Ike turned on the light in the kitchen/living room area. I felt really dumb and I was absolutely terrified to see Walker again. He had already done us a huge favor by letting us back stage. I could only guess what his reaction was going to be when he saw us again, on the bus. Taylor stood on a step and was talking to his parents. I picked up words like 'Ike', 'fans' and 'I don't know, you'll have to ask him'. Ike looked very worried. He was pacing (in the limited space) nervously. Walker peaked his head out from behind the curtains. His eyes were still half closed. He saw us standing at the other end of the hall. His eyebrows raised and he frowned, confused. He had no idea what was going on. I looked to Taylor, standing in his boxers and a black T-shirt. He was looking at me with a fake sympathetic look. Walker and Diana poured out of their top bunks and walked sleepily towards us. Taylor followed close behind. Ike stopped pacing and looked at his parents.
"Well isn't this interesting, hello again girls" He said. We smiled innocently. We were, after all, very innocent. "Ike, I'm waiting, tell us your story."
Diana sat on the couch and patted the seat next to her. Ike sat down hesitantly. "Clarke Isaac Hanson what on earth were you thinking." She said with a rasp in her voice.
"Oooooh, she used the full name" Taylor said quietly, hiding behind Johanna and I.
"Taylor do us a favor and just stay out of it" Walker said, still looking at Isaac. Taylor slid into the kitchen table.
"I didn't even want to get involved in the first place" he grumbled, folding his hands on the table and looking straightforward. Diana glared at him.
"Well Isaac, lets hear it" she said turning her gaze to her oldest son.
"Mom I don't know!" Ike pleaded. Taylor took my arm and pulled me onto the bench gently. He looked at Johanna gesturing for her to sit across from us with his eyes. He leaned in toward us.
"This could take awhile" he whispered. He sat back in his seat and watched the scene. Ike explained in full detail to his annoyed parents what his plan was and how he thought they were staying in Toronto for the night and he was going to send us home in a taxi that night as soon as we all arrived at the hotel. He didn't include the prank he was planning, instead he told them he thought we were very nice and we didn't really get a chance to meet everyone and he wanted to introduce us to the rest of the family and he thought it would be funny just to sneak us on the bus as a joke. Then he started talking about how bad it is that no-one ever tells him the plans when they get changed and he would've liked to know earlier that they weren't staying in Toronto for the night and he thought it was very unfair to exclude him like that and he went on and on and I really had to go pee. The story was pretty unbelievable, but they bought it.
"Isaac," Walker said shaking his head, "this is by far THE most irresponsible thing you have ever done. You are 19 and I think it's time you grew out of playing stunts like this. And I would highly suggest you not bring up how unfair we can be, because you have not seen the beginning of it yet son"
"Dad, please don't get me into trouble in-front of them." Again I felt like an out of place object. Walker ignored the plea from his son and turned to face us.
"Girls, I am very sorry about this mess my son has got you into... I really don't know what we can do." He paused and looked at each of us for a second. He looked at Taylor and Taylor grinned pleasantly. Walker frowned at him and shook his head. "Okay, we're going to call your parents right now and explain it to them, I guess the only thing we can do is wait until we get to the hotel and call the train stations for tickets." He turned back to Ike. "Isaac, you will be apologizing to them as well. And the money for the tickets will be coming out of your pocket." He turned back to us. "Your parents must be worried sick." We didn't bother explaining to him that we were staying with Johanna's aunt, who didn't really care how late we were, and I live in British Columbia. He asked Taylor to get his cell phone for him. When Taylor refused Walker gave him a look that would make anybody obey him. Taylor asked me to move so I did and he got out of the booth and retrieved his phone. When Johanna was talking on the phone I leaned on the kitchen table beside Taylor. Isaac and Diana were talking quietly between each other. When it was my turn on the phone, my mom sounded tired and confused, but she was overly happy about the whole situation. Isaac and Taylor both stared at me while I talked to her. It made me feel uncomfortable. Walker was showing Johanna to an empty bunk and Diana was tending to Avery who had woken up at the end of the commotion. Isaac made a sincere apology to my mom and handed the phone back to me. I finished talking to and handed the phone to Taylor. He smiled quickly and mumbled something that I think meant goodnight. I decided not to respond. Diana came back into the kitchen flustered. I sat at the table again and she looked at me funny. Then she asked if I would like something to drink. I chose a bottle of water.
"Christa, you can sleep in this bunk okay?" Walker said from behind me as he pulled the suitcases from the bunk Johanna and I had hid in earlier. I nodded and said thank-you. I put my knees up to rest on the table edge and took a sip of my water. Ike slid in the seat across from me.
"Diana, dear, are you coming to bed?" He asked.
"Yes, I am. You two don't stay up late okay. It's been a long day." She said to Ike and I.
"We won't" Isaac replied sweetly. When his parents were out range Isaac groaned, and rolled his eyes.
"Hey, you got off pretty easy" I said smiling.
"Yeah, for now. But my mom said the punishment will become in affect when we get home." He said, mocking his mothers’ voice. I smiled and took a sip of my water.
"Hey, can I have a sip of that? I don't really wanna open a whole bottle when I'm gonna be going to bed soon". I said sure and passed the bottle across the table.
"What time is it?" I asked him as he gulped my water down. He took a breath and looked at his watch.
"Um, it is now 3:11"
"Oh wow." I said in pure disbelief. "I still can't believe this is happening." He chuckled and then got horribly serious.
"I am really sorry though Christa, I didn't mean for this to happen. Sometimes I just act on my impulses, and I should really learn to stop doing it. Cause now I'm bring other people down with Me."
I looked at him, while he waited for a response. All I could think to say was, "Do realize how many people would... well KILL to be in my position right now. Trust me, I'm not angry with you. I just didn't want you to get into trouble that’s all."
He relaxed again. "Well they bought it so, I was pretty lucky I guess."
"I'd say! What was that all about, 'I just wanted them to meet everyone, they seemed nice..." I said, imitating him poorly. He dropped his head and grinned.
"I didn’t know what to say to them. I was so worried about trying to figure out what to do with you two, that I didn't get a chance to make up a story. I wasn't about to tell them what I was really planning to do."
"What WERE you going to do anyway?"
He paused. I could tell by the look on his face that he didn't really want to tell me what the plan was. "Um, I was gonna sneak you two into Taylor and Zacs bed's". He said slowly.
my eyes widened and I almost spit my water out. I could not respond.
"Well, no, there's more to it than that" He looked at me again and I nodded at him to finish. "Well, see, Tay and Zac and I had to share a room at the last venue, and we started joking around and talking about practical joke's we could play on each other during the tour."
"Yeah..."
"Okay, I said I was going to sneak fans in their beds and they didn't believe I would actually do it; so, when I saw you guy's sitting there I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to prove them wrong. So I tried."
"And it didn't work"
"Nope"
"You were really going to do that?"
"Yep"
"Oh God"
"I know". There was silence. He looked deeper into my eyes like he was trying to figure something out. In a sudden feeling of awkwardness I turned my eyes away. He got up quickly and held the table for support. The moving bus made it difficult to do anything but sit.
"We should get to sleep. It's really late" he said. I grinned up at him and stood up cautiously. I was now face to face with him. I was waiting for the bus to make a sudden turn, making us fall on each other, but luckily it didn't. I held my hand out and he smiled.
"Good-night" I said as he shook my hand.
"Yep, good-night" he responded. I began to pull my hand away but he held onto it. "I kind of hope you guy's don't have to go in the morning" He said, "I mean, cause, it would just be nice to have some new faces with us." He's trying to pick me up I thought. Isaac Hanson is putting the moves on me. Then I killed that thought. Yeah right, Isaac could point his finger at any girl and they would come running to him. He would not like me. Wishful thinking. Stupid conclusion. He is just a nice guy. That's it. That's all there is to it. I climbed into my bed. The one Johanna and I had hid in earlier, scared out of our minds. I curled up under the soft covers. That's when it hit me. I met Hanson, FINALLY! I am lying in a bunk on their tour bus. Hanson is real, and they know I exist. I am no longer another face in the crowd. They are no longer the celebrities who are seemingly impossible to reach. Then I remembered that, whether Ike wanted it or not, we were going home the next day. It would all be over. We would get an autograph, well if we were lucky, and we would never see them again. I suddenly remembered that I had to go to the bathroom. I quietly got out and made my way slowly to where I had seen the bathroom. It was dark, and hard to move. I tried hard not to fall into a bunk. After all, as of now, only Ike, Walker, Diana, and Taylor knew the situation. When I was finished I opened the door, and there was Zac. He looked much more shocked then I did. He looked at me standing half way out of the bathroom on his bus, and God only knows what was going through the poor guy's mind.
"Um, hi" I said, I still hadn't moved from the doorway. He just looked at me, almost in disgust. "Okay, yeah, listen, we didn't sneak on your bus like you're probably thinking."
"Then how... what... you scared the crap out of me, you know this right."
"Sorry, uh, Ike. It was him." I said. I started to become very conscious. This guy was 4 years younger than me, and I was looking way up to him, and trying not to get into trouble or say the wrong thing. "He, um, well he was trying to do something, and it didn't really work, so now we are stuck with you. Just until tomorrow though, so don't worry."
"I'm not worried. Christa, that's your name right?" I said yes, thrilled that he actually remembered. "Now, I need you to listen to me very carefully, was Ike going to try and sneak you two in our beds?" I nodded. "Do my parents know?" I nodded again.
"Well, no, they don't know about that part of it, but they know we're here. Why?"
"Oh nothing, I just would've liked to see that. The things you miss when you're sleeping on this bus." I finally stepped out of the way. He walked passed me and into the washroom. He began to shut the door and I turned away. "Hey Christa," I turned around quickly, almost losing my balance as we hit a bump. "Good-night" He whispered. I said goodnight back to him. "Hey, and don't sleep with your head to close to the wall. You know, pot holes, speed bumps, it can get dangerous.
"Thanks for the advice." He nodded at me and shut the door. Well that didn't go too badly, I thought to my-self as I headed towards Johanna's bunk. He let his guards down a bit. Probably cause I'm like 5 inches shorter than he is. I shook Johanna awake. She rolled over sleepily.
"Hey babe, Zac's in the bathroom" I said. She grinned mischievously.
"I suddenly need to go pee" She whispered.
"Good luck" I said. I retrieved back to my cave and slowly drifted off to sleep.