Diana wiggled around in her chair nervously. She was watching TV, but if someone asked, she couldn't tell them what show was on. She was too skittish-Paige and Sierra were bringing Taylor and Isaac Hanson to her house in...((she checked her watch))...exactly three minutes!
She jumped up and re-sorted some picture frames on the mantelpiece, then plopped back down in her chair, once again staring blindly at the television.
.::DingDong::. Diana peeked through the blinds. "Oh my gosh," she whispered, seeing Taylor and Ike on her doorstep.
Diana quickly turned towards a mirror on the opposite wall from the door and smoothed down her hair.
Okay, this is it. She pulled open the door.
"Hey guys, c'mon in," she said, grinning widely.
"Hey," Sierra replied.
"Hi Diana! Diana, this is Taylor. Taylor, Diana," Paige introduced them.
"Hey, Diana," Taylor said, stretching out a hand to shake hers. He smiled warmly.
"Hey," she replied, trying not to let his smile make her melt. Get ahold of yourself, Diana-he has a girlfriend! she thought to herself. After being introduced to Ike also, Diana said, "Y'all can have a seat. Go ahead and put on a movie. I'll go make some popcorn." With that, she left the room.
"Hey Diana...I didn't know you liked Barney!" Isaac called jokingly to Diana, who was in the other room.
"I was just flipping through the channels!" she replied, her face a fiery red.
"Uhh...guys-I gotta use the bathroom," Tay said. "Yeah, me, too," Ike commented, getting up to follow his brother, "'Be right back."
All of the doors down the hall were closed, so Tay tried a random door, looking for the bathroom. "Laundry room," he said.
Ike opened the next door down. "Woa..." was all he said.
Taylor, curious, followed his brother's gaze. "Oh...my...gosh."
The brothers were staring at a fairly large bedroom-Diana's-with a bed, a dresser-all the normal stuff. Only...this bedroom also had a lot of posters on its walls-it looked like somewhere around four hundred of them-and they were all of the brothers themselves.
They slowly and curiously walked in.
"Golly, Ike-this is creepy. It's like I have a million eyes, and they're all looking at...at ME!"
Isaac didnt' say anything. All he could do was look at the multiple pictures of himself and wonder, When did my left eye become so squinty?
He heard footsteps coming down the hall. "Hey, guys-what's taking so long?" It was Paige's voice.
She entered the bedroom and gasped.
Paige couldn't believe her "friend" would have pictures of her boyfriend all over her walls!
Wait, this is stupid, she thought, Diana is my friend-she's just a big Hanson fan, too. What's wrong with me? And with that she said, "Hey, guys-this is kind of invading Diana's privacy. She's going to wonder where we're at. Let's..." but she was interrupted by Diana walking into the room. "Uh-oh..." her voice trailed off.
Oh, man-she caught us in her bedroom. She must think we're really nosy. Nice first impression, Tay thought.
Ike, however, was worried about other things.Aww, Diana must be really embarassed we saw her room! And just 'cuz she has lots of posters of us doesn't make her an obsessive fan-she didn't scream when she met us or anything... He had to think fast.
"Hi, nice to meet you, Ike. My name is Ike," Isaac said, pretending to shake hands with a poster of himself. He was trying to lighten the situation a bit so Diana wouldn't be embarassed.
Tay quickly joined in, "Uhh...excuse me, Taylor. That turqoise shirt just totally does not match your skin tone." The four of them laughed, and Diana finally began to breathe easily.
"So, why don't we go watch that movie? I think Sierra put in My Girl," Paige said, changing the subject.
"Aww-my favorite!" Diana exclaimed, and they all retreated to the couch.
By the time Diana's guests had to leave, she had become pretty good of friends with Ike and Tay, plus she was beginning to like Paige and Sierra even more. All talk of Hanson posters was forgotten.
"Race you to the treehouse!" Zac yelled as he and Paige went out the back door.
"Beatcha!" Paige said, out of breath, when she reached the steps of the treehouse first.
"Aww...Dang it!" Zac said, frustrated.
"So, what do you wanna do?" Paige asked.
"I....," Zac started.
"Hey! Zac, right?" a voice from across the street yelled. It was Caley. "I found your soccer ball in the ditch by my house."
"Oh, cool, thanks!" Zac said, grinning. "So....do you like soccer?"
"I love it! My friends say that I'm pretty good at it."
"There's no way that you could be better then me!" Zac said, a little overly confident.
"We'll just see about that," Callie said taking up the challenge.
Zac didn't even notice Paige going back inside. He was having way too much fun.
Several Hours Later...
"I'll be right back, Mom. I have to get out of these uncomfortable clothes." Paige could hear Tay yelling as she heard footsteps coming her way. After Zac had "ditched" her for that Caley girl, Paige had decided to try and get some sleep on the bottom bunk in the Hanson brothers' bedroom. Just then the door opened, and Tay came walking in. He hadn't even noticed her. He ripped off the shirt he had on, searching for another in his closet. Oh, this is going to get good, Paige thought to herself. He had found a shirt and was now starting to undo his pants. Paige moved slightly .::squeak::. "Paige!" Taylor said, surprised.
Dang it! Paige thought, disappointed.
"I didn't know you were here! I just got back from voice lessons with Robert. Nobody told me that you were here," Tay said.
"Yeah, I am," was all that Paige could say.
"Where's Ike?"
"Oh, he went over to Sierra's...but they're both going to come over later to go dirt biking....just lettin' ya know...you have to come!" Taylor grinned and continued on.
"I missed you," he said as he sat next to Paige on the bed.
"I missed you too," Paige said as Tay leaned over to kiss her. He threw the shirt he had in his hands down and layed next to Paige, still holding their passionate lip lock. Paige started rubbing Taylor's chest, and he moaned slightly. Tay started walking his fingers up Paige's stomach, tickling her as he went.
"Eeeewww!!!" Mackie yelled as he walked through the door. Taylor and Paige both sat up quickly, hitting their heads on the top bunk.
"Ouch! Mackie! Don't you know how to knock?" Tay asked, embarassed.
"I sorry. Mommy wanted me to come and see if you guys were hungwee. I sorry. I was just doing what Mommy said."
Tay smiled, "It's okay. Tell Mom 'Yes'! We are starving!"
"Okay; I'll let you guys get back to that grown-up stuff now. And don't worry. I won't tell Mommy nothing," Mackie said as he walked out the door.
"I love locks," Tay said as he turned the lock with a sly grin on his face. "Now, where were we?" He said as he hopped back onto the bed.
"Dinner's ready," Diana said through the locked door a little later.
"Uh, okay, Mom," Tay said. She could hear nervous rustling going on behind the door. "We'll be down in a sec."
"Hey, Taylor-Have you seen Zac?" Walker asked as everyone was sitting down to dinner.
"Oh, I know where he is," Paige said, "I'll go get him."
"Zaaaaaaaac?" Zac could hear Paige yelling his name. I wonder if she was jealous of me playing with Caley instead of her. Maybe she will want me if she knows that I'm a babe magnet,Zac thought as he looked at Caley slyly.
"Hey Zaaaa...oh, I'm so sorry," Paige said as she saw Zac and Caley mouth to mouth.
"Eeeeewwwww gross!" Caley said as she pushed Zac away. "Now I have to go home and wash my mouth out with soap! Bye Cootie Master!" Caley yelled as she ran off. Paige couldn't help from laughing.
"I'm so sorry, Zac. I didn't mean to interrupt."
"Oh, it's okay," Zac said as he looked toward the ground.
"She's pretty dumb for not liking a kiss coming from a guy like you."
"Really?" Zac's face lit up.
"Yeah, really," Paige said. Something about Zac liking another girl kind of got to Paige. He's supposed to only like me,Paige thought to herself sadly as they ran inside to eat.
"Mmm, that was good, Mom. I love your casseroles!" Taylor commented.
"Yeah, thanks," Paige mumbled to Mrs. Hanson.
"Uhhh...Paige? You've been really quiet tonight; is something bothering you?"
"Oh, sorry-I didn't mean to be unfriendly if I was...it's not a big deal, really. I just feel like I need to talk to Zac."
"Um, okay. Zac?" Taylor quizzically motioned for his brother to go talk to Paige.
"Hey, Paige, what's up?" Zac asked casually.
"What's up?!? Zac, don't give me that. You know what I'm going to say to you," Paige remarked.
"I do? Oh, uhh...okay," Zac said, pretending he had no clue.
"Yeah. You do. For starters, when you kissed Caley today. I know what you were trying to do."
"Yeah, I was trying to kiss her. She's cute. What do you mean?"
"Zac, stop playing games with me. Friends don't try to make friends jealous."
"Wha...?"
"Zac."
"Okay, okay-I was trying to make you jealous. I'm sorry. But did it work?"
"Well, actually Zac, it did. I was jealous there for a second."
Woa-Zac had not been expecting this.
"But I shouldn't have been. It was stupid."
"Oh...is that 'cuz I'm not 'boyfriend material'?"
"Zac! That's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm saying is that I shouldn't have been jealous because Taylor is my boyfriend-I shouldn't be jealous if you like another girl because you are my friend, not my boyfriend, and you should be free to have a girlfriend, too. That wouldn't get in the way of our friendship, and I was thinking it would."
"But I don't like Caley-"
"No buts, Zac. It's okay."
"No, it's not okay, Paige-I like you!" Zac burst out.
It was silent.
"Umm, sorry, Paige-that was rude."
"No, I'm sorry, Zac-I was being totally inconsiderate. It's just...I...I'm scared."
Scared? No, way-Paige never gets scared, Zac thought to himself.
"I'm scared because you're my best friend, and...and well, lately it seems like I don't feel comfortable talking to you. It's like...well, ever since that day at McDonald's, like two months ago or whatever, when you told me you liked me, I just haven't felt the same around you. I mean, you're still my friend and all...it's just, I don't know, weird I guess. I want to be able to talk to you again, like we used to...I want to be able to tell you everything, but...it's just gotten really hard, and I just..I just don't know..."
Paige began to cry, leaning her head on Zac's shoulder.
"Shh...it's okay," he said, patting her back, not exactly knowing what to say.
"I'm sorry, Zac," she cried, "I'm not trying to make you feel bad or anything-I just want everything to go back to normal between us," Paige said, sniffling. She sat up and looked into Zac's eyes, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. "Do...do you think things will get better?"
Zac smiled at Paige, his caramel-colored eyes shining as he spoke, "Of course they will. Starting now. Why don't we go in my room, just the two of us, and catch up on everything that's happened in the last two months that we haven't told each other about...no hiding anything, whether it's embarassing or not. Kaphese?"
"Kaphese," Paige agreed, standing up and walking with Zac down the hall to his room, arm locked through his. She was so thankful to have such a sweet friend.
Paige pulled on an old pair of jeans with holes in the knees and a plain white teeshirt. She had only been home for an hour, but she was already getting ready to go back to the Hansons'. Well, not really back to the Hansons'...They had recently boughten a new house that was a little further away, but it was definitely a good thing-this house was reeeaaaalllly BIG, and the house they were living in now was small-even for a four-person family, and the Hansons' had nine people in theirs. Plus, you couldn't even see their new home from the street because it was there was a forrest of trees all around...aaaand a gate with a code, so teenies wouldn't trespass. Paige was going to their *new* house. They hadn't moved in yet, but they were in the process to taking boxes of their stuff over there.
Taylor and Isaac had invited her and Sierra over to motorbike...there were trails all around their new house through the trees. Jessica and Zac would be there, too (Jessica rode on the back of Zac's dirtbike).
Uh-oh. It was 6:00 already, and the Hansons' were supposed to pick her up at 5:45...Paige quickly pulled her "brunetter" hair into a ponytail and pulled on her shoes.
Perfect timing.
The doorbell rang just then.
Paige walked to the door, thinking about the hour before. She and Zac had talked for over an hour. He had said he was sorry for making her feel uncomfortable, but that even though he still liked her alot he wanted to be her friend more than anything and he would never do anything to ruin her and Taylor's relationship-Paige was happy, as was his brother, and that was all that mattered.
Paige had agreed to try to forget about Zac liking her at his request, and he insisted that she needed someone to talk to about Taylor, and he was all-ears.
Paige admitted that she was dying to tell someone a few stories about her and Taylor's relationship, so she told Zac everything-he had assured her none of this would hurt his feelings, that he was her friend and it would be cool to talk about that kind of stuff.
There was also stories of Zac and Mackie locking their older brothers out of the house for "playing with Mackie's action figures without asking", of Paige and Sierra singing MMMBop karaoke, and more...
They had hugged and cried...this had actually brought them closer together as friends.
Paige snapped out of her thoughts when the doorbell rang again. She quickly ran outside to join everyone for a night full of vroom-vrooming.
"Slow down, Zac!" Jessica yelled as Zac zoomed by both Taylor and Ike on his dirtbike, dragging Jessica with him.
"Slow down?" Zac questioned. "I'm kicking their butts. I hafta beat them at something."
"Dang, Ike, did you see that?" Sierra asked as Isaac came to a stop with Sierra. "Your little brother was driving like a maniac!"
"Yeah, I guess he thinks he has to prove something," Isaac said laughing.
"Hey guys,"Tay said when him and Paige came to a stop beside Isaac and Sierra. "Did you see....."
"Yes!" Ike and Sierra said in unison.
"Well, excuse me! I was just wondering." Tay said, offended.
"It was so nice of your mom to pack us a picnic dinner before you guys hafta go away tomorrow," Paige said, trying to lighten everyone's bad moods.
"Yeah, she packed our fave, pbj's," Tay said.
"Okay," Isaac said. "How about you guys take your food that way, and Sierra and I will head that way with ours? I want to spend some time alone with my baby."
"Sure!" Tay said, grinning, wanting some time alone with his girl also. "Let's go," Tay said as he grabbed their food and took Paige's hand in his.
"Alone at last," Isaac said with a sly grin on his face.
"You wish," Zac said as he and Jessica rode up to them.
"Zac! Can't you see that I'm trying to spend some quality time with Sierra before we have to go to New York tomorrow?" Isaac griped, annoyed.
"Sorry, I was just going to get me and Jessica's food. You know, we are hungry, too."
"K, just make it quick."
"Alright," Zac said, and in five minutes they were gone.
"Are you Hanson brothers always in a bad mood the night before you have to leave town?" Sierra asked smiling.
"Sometimes. We hate having to leave our nice peaceful hometown."
"Oh, that's understandable," Sierra agreed.
"So......" Isaac continued.
"I wish that this moment would never end, Taylor," Paige said sadly, thinking about her boyfriend leaving town tomorrow. "I'm going to miss you so much!"
"I know, I'm gonna miss you too," Tay said sadly as he bit into a homemade chocolate chip cookie, getting a kind of cheesy mental image in his head. "I've got an idea," Tay said, kind of shyly.
"What is it, Taylor?" Paige asked curiously.
"You said that you didn't want this moment to end, right?"
"Yes, Taylor, I did say that. But it's not like you could just stop time," Paige said, confused.
"I know, but right when you said that, I was taking a bite of one of my mom's delicious cookies." Paige gave Taylor a blank stare. "So......," Taylor continued, "When I'm in New York doing Live @ the 10 Spot, when the camera is on me, I will take a bite of a chocolate chip cookie so that you will know that I'm thinking of you."
"That's so sweet, Taylor, that you'd do that for me. You know that's going to be the new gossip on the internet, though, 'Why Taylor ate a cookie during a live performance'," Paige said, laughing.
"Yeah, I will look kinda dumb, but it's worth it to make you feel better."
"Thanks, Tay," Paige said, kissing him on the cheek.
"Oh, that's all I get for being such a sweetheart?" Tay said jokingly.
"Nope; there's more to come," Paige said with a sly grin.
"Oh baby, I like the sound of that," Tay said as Paige started leaning towards him.
"I'm so glad that you came to see us off," Zac said to Paige when they were loading their bags on their own private plane at Tulsair.
"Yeah, Zac, I'm going to miss you guys so much," Paige said, giving Zac a big hug.
"Hey, watch it," Tay said jokingly to Zac, "She's mine." Tay said, grinning.
"I know, Tay.....I was just, um, just......chill out, Tay! We are friends, okay?" Zac said, running into the plane.
"I wonder what's wrong with him," Tay said.
"Yeah, I wonder too, " Paige said, trying to act clueless. "Oh, here you go Tay, I almost forgot. I baked you some chocolate chip cookies," Paige said.
"Wow, thanks so much, Sweetie!" Tay said, "I'll be sure to save one for tomorrow night. Well, I better go now, it looks like Sierra and Ike have already said their goodbyes, and everyone is waiting on me now," Tay said sadly.
"Okay," Paige said as Taylor started walking up the steps to the plane. "Taylor!" Paige shouted. Right then Taylor dropped his carry-on, and ran toward Paige, wrapping his arms around her in a forceful lip lock. Paige could feel Taylor lifting her off the ground. "I'm gonna miss you," Tay whispered into her ear.
"Me, too," Paige whispered back. And then Taylor was gone.
The door to the plane closed, and it started moving down the runway. The last thing Paige saw before the plane took off was Zac waving...she was glad things were back to normal between the two of them.
