Meanwhile, in the van still, Taylor was trying to say goodbye.
"So um..." He began.
"Coral, say hi to the fluoro man for me if you see him ok?" Zac yelled over the top.
"Ok!!" Coralee laughed.
"Hey, you know..." Taylor tried again.
"And tell him that he's cool!!" Zac interrupted.
Coralee laughed.
"Maybe..." Taylor began once more.
"Hey, why is he calling you Coral now?" Isaac asked curiously, pointing across at Zac.
"Cos that's my name." Coralee stated matter of factly.
"Yeah!!" Zac yelled triumphantly.
"Hey Coral..." Taylor tried, interested by this new version of her name.
"Hey look, our Dad's talking to your Mum!!" Isaac said, and suddenly switched to beavis and butthead mode. "That's, like, cool!!"
Coralee was aware of Taylor's attempts to say something to her, and found it incredibly cute.
"Coral?" He asked softly, hoping dejectedly for an answer.
"Yeah Taylor?"
Taylor smiled.
"Oh, you can call me Tay by the way. And call him Ike. But anyway, are you going anywhere these holidays?"
"Um I don't think so."
"Ok, cool. So maybe we could see you again." Taylor suggested hopefully.
Coralee's heart began to race at his words, and shivers raced up and down her spine.
"Yeah, I wanna see Godzilla!!" Zac announced, and proceeded to thump around the car, making an impression.
Taylor rolled his eyes slightly. Coralee grinned, and Taylor smiled back at her.
"No, that's cool. It'd be great to see you guys again." Coralee smiled.
Taylor let out his breath in satisfaction.
"Ok, cool."
Coralee glanced outside, and her mother smiled and waved at her a little.
"I'd better go guys." She said, getting up.
"Ok, let us meet your Mum first." Isaac said, opening the door.
Coralee grinned, her mother looked so shocked!!
"And here they come." Walker smiled, as he saw his three oldest children trooping out of the car.
Marissa turned and drew in her breath as she saw the three familiar faces. They were much taller then she had expected.
"Hey Mum?" Coralee said. "This is Isaac, Taylor, and Zac. Guys, this is my Mum, Marissa."
The boys proceeded to shake hands with Marissa and say their greetings. Walker looked on proudly.
"Nice to meet you." Taylor said politely, displaying his charming smile.
"Marissa went to the Tulsa concert." Walker said, smiling.
"Oh really?" Isaac said.
"Did you like it?" Zac asked.
"Guys it was great, it really was!! Haven't had that much fun in a while."
"We're glad you liked it." Taylor smiled.
"Well, we'd better get going!!" Walker said.
Hanson said goodbye to Marissa again, and told Coralee that they'd see her again soon.
Taylor was last into the car, and he waved at Coralee one more time before getting in.
"See ya." He smiled.
"Bye Tay." She grinned.
With that, Taylor slammed close the sliding door, and Walker drove them off. Marissa turned to her grinning daughter with a shocked look on her face.
"Wow!!" She exclaimed.
Coralee giggled.
"Yeah, wow!!"
Taylor turned in his seat, and stared at Coralee as they drove off. She was smiling, and talking to her Mum. He felt incredibly depressed that he probably wouldn't see her for a while now. He could feel his mind wondering to other downhearted subjects already.
"Uh guys?" Walker said.
"Hmm?" Isaac answered.
"Have you realised just how close Coralee lives to us?"
Taylor turned in his seat.
"How close?" He asked.
"You just watch. Let's see how long it takes you to work out where we are."
Taylor stared out the window, scanning the streets for anything familiar.
"Oh my gosh." Isaac muttered suddenly, as they rounded another corner. He glanced at Taylor, who was still searching outside with desperate eyes. "Oh my gosh TAY!! Don't you know what street we're in?"
Taylor glanced at him strangely.
"No!! Where?!"
Zac suddenly drew in his breath with realisation.
"Tay, we're in Randy Street!!" He exclaimed.
Taylor's mouth dropped open.
"Yeah, that's right." Walker grinned.
Taylor lent back in his seat, and ran his hand through his hair, his mouth still open. He felt scared, incredibly excited, and shocked all at once.
"Coralee lives five minutes from us, guys." Walker exclaimed.
Taylor closed his eyes for a second. This was it. Everything was so perfect. At that moment Taylor realised that he was going to have to ask that girl out. He didn't know how or when, and the thought of it was scaring him out of his mind. But he had to find a way. Destiny was telling him to.
"Dad!! Dad!!" Coralee yelled as her father, John, walked in the front door. "I went to the movies with Hanson, and they said that they'll see me again soon!!"
John laughed, and shook his head in amazement.
"My gosh girl, how on earth did you manage that? Why would they be interested in you?" He finished with a twinkle in his eye.
"Dad!!" Coralee exclaimed, shoving him.
At that moment Lleyton rushed in, wrapping himself around his father's legs.
"Hey, little guy. How are you going?" John said, ruffling his son's hair.
"Good."
"They met Mum too." Coralee continued.
"Oh really?"
"Uh huh!! She talked to Walker!!"
"Who's Walker?" John asked, furrowing his brow.
Coralee sighed.
"Hanson's Dad."
"Oh. Whoops, thought I had heard that name before."
"Oh no, not Hanson again!!" Lleyton yelled, and stormed out of the room.
Coralee shook her head and went back to the kitchen with her Mum.
"So are you meeting them again soon?" Marissa asked.
"I don't know. They'll probably E-mail me."
"Taylor's gorgeous, isn't he?" Marissa exclaimed. She hated to admit it, but she was falling for a 15-year-old. His charm had completely won her over.
Coralee grinned.
"Yeah, he's pretty sweet."
"I mean, with that gorgeous voice, that beautiful blond hair, those blue eyes…what more could you want?"
"I don't know!!" Coralee smiled. "But we're just friends. I'm not going to ruin that by doing anything stupid."
"Smart girl." Marissa said, smiling at her daughter.
Coralee and her mother had a close relationship. They always had. Sure, they sometimes had fights, but apart from that, everything was great. Coralee sighed as all her senses recalled memories of Taylor. These were turning out to be the best holidays ever.
Taylor turned the taps until the right temperature of water came out. He was running a bath for Mackie, but had more important things on his mind. Taylor left the bath, and went in search of his brother.
"Isaac?" Taylor asked nervously.
"Hmm?" He replied, not looking up from his guitar.
"I need your help."
"With what?"
"I need you to help me to ask Coralee to go to see a movie with me."
Isaac's head flicked up, and his eyes met with Taylor's. A cheeky smile crept onto his face.
"You mean, you want to ask Coralee out on a date?!"
Taylor felt his cheeks flush.
"Well, um, yeah, I guess."
"Oh YES!! Let's go get you a girlfriend!!" Isaac announced, and flicked on the computer. Taylor rolled his eyes. Isaac loved all this romance stuff.
"Ike, I just want to go to the movies with her." Taylor muttered, smiling a little.
"But you like her, don't you?"
Taylor looked bashfully down at his feet.
"Well, yeah."
"Ok, that's all we need."
Isaac opened up their E-mail, and went to 'compose'."
"Ok Tay, write."
"But I don't know what to say!! Ike, that's the whole reason I asked you for help!!"
"No Tay, It has to be you. If I tell you what to write, then I'm asking her out, not you. I'll just read it when you're finished and tell you if you made any major mistakes."
Taylor sighed, and wrote Coralee's E-mail address in.
"And what makes you such an expert? I demand details. What experience have you had? Hmm, let's see, a girlfriend who you broke up with after, like, a week. Yeah, that's a great start!!" Taylor exclaimed sarcastically, glancing at Isaac.
He shrugged.
"Well, that's a lot more then you've ever had!!"
Taylor sighed. He couldn't deny that.
Coralee,
Hi, this is Tay. I was wondering if you'd like to go and see a movie with me some time. I'm free tomorrow and probably the next few days too. I'll see you then, hopefully, ok?
Taylor
Taylor glanced up questioningly at Isaac, and watched as his brother read the E-mail.
"See Tay!? You don't need anyone to help you. Just one little thing…"
Isaac lent into the computer and added something onto the bottom of Taylor's E-mail.
PS. Our phone number is 6876-1349
"Ike, are you sure we should be giving that out?" Taylor said.
"Tay, do you trust her."
"Well yeah, of course."
"Yeah, so do I. What is your problem?"
Taylor sighed. He was so used to being secretive that it was strange giving things away. He took a deep breath, and clicked 'send'. Taylor's heart was pounding, and he felt a bit distant, like everything was a dream. Shaking his head, he left the computer to Isaac, and walked deliriously out of the room.
© 1997 imaginehanson@hotmail.com
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