Taylor walked into the Hanson's kitchen, and plopped down onto a chair at the kitchen table. He was feeling extremely bored and had absolutely nothing to do. Everyone else seemed to have something to do; Isaac was out with some friends, Zac was outside with Lucy, Jessica and Avery were playing at a friend's house, and Mackenzie was taking a nap. Everyone was busy doing something they enjoyed -- well, except for Taylor.
Diana was standing over the kitchen sink, washing the dirty dishes Zac and Lucy had left from their lunch. She looked over at Taylor as he sat down at the table.
"Hi honey. Do you want something to eat?" Diana asked her son.
"No thanks. I'm good," Taylor mumbled.
Diana raised her eyebrows. "I don't believe this. The first time you're not hungry?" she joked.
"Mooooooommm," Taylor groaned irritably. He put his elbows on the table, and covered his face with his hands.
Diana held up her hands. "All right, all right; calm down. I'm just kidding."
"Well, does it look like I'm in the mood to kid around??" Taylor demanded crabbily.
"Taylor, it's a bright and sunny Saturday afternoon. Why don't you go out and do something fun?" Diana suggested.
"Like what?" Taylor asked dully.
Diana looked at Taylor, as she tried her hands with a towel. "Well, for starters, you could go out with some of your friends."
Taylor made a face. "No thanks."
"You could call some of your friends and get together; maybe see a movie or ask them to come over," Diana continued.
"And do what?" Taylor asked uninterestingly.
Diana sighed. "Taylor, I'm just trying to help you figure out something to do."
"Well, maybe I don't want to do anything!" Taylor snapped crankily.
Diana gave Taylor a hard look. "If that were true, then you wouldn't be as bored as you are right now."
"Maybe I like it this way!" Taylor retorted. He put his head down on the table.
Diana put her right hand on her chin, and looked thoughtfully at her son. "Why do I doubt that...." she mused.
"Well, how should I know??" Taylor said peevishly.
Diana rolled her eyes. "It was a rhetorical question."
Taylor sat up and sighed. "Whatever," he grumbled sulkily.
Diana cocked her head to one side, as she continued to gaze at Taylor. "Are you feeling all right?"
Taylor rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just dandy," he said sarcastically.
Diana put her right hand on Taylor's forehead. "Maybe you're coming down with something...."
"Mom, I'm fine!" Taylor said impatiently, removing his mother's hand from his forehead. He let out an annoyed sigh.
"Taylor...." Diana began.
"Mom, can't you just leave me alone??" Taylor demanded cantankerously.
Diana gave Taylor a stern look. "Watch your tone, young man. Who do you think you're talking to? This is your mother you're speaking to."
Taylor sighed again. "Sorry," he mumbled.
"Honestly, Taylor. What has gotten into you today? You're not acting like yourself." Diana shook her head disapprovingly. "I am very surprised at you. This isn't like you. Not at all."
Taylor didn't say anything. He figured it would be better to use his better judgement and be tactful in a situation like this. Plus, he didn't feel like listening to his mother reprimand him any longer.
Just then, the phone rang. Diana took one last look at her son, before walking over to pick up the phone.
"Hello?" Diana answered.
Taylor sat back in his chair. He slouched down, as he crossed his arms in front of his chest, and sighed again.
Great, Taylor thought grumpily. What an oh-so-wonderful day.
"Yes, he's right here," Diana was saying into the phone. "Hold on a second." She turned to Taylor.
"Taylor, someone's on the phone for you," Diana told him.
Taylor sighed for the umpteenth time. "Tell them I'm not here."
Diana gave Taylor an austere look. "Taylor, I'm not going to lie for you, all right? Just answer the phone, and get it over with."
Taylor shook his head. "Mom...."
"Taylor, just answer the phone already!" Diana exclaimed exasperatedly.
Taylor let out an aggravated huff. "Fine!" He shoved back his chair with a loud thud, stood up, and stomped over to Diana. He glared at Diana, as he took the phone from her.
Diana just shook her head. She gave Taylor one last look, before leaving the kitchen.
Taylor rolled his eyes and sighed yet again. He brought the phone up to his right ear.
"Yeah, what?" Taylor said grouchily.
"Hey, Taylor? It's Lee," Lee Doherty greeted him. Lee was Taylor's best friend.
"Okay, so? What do you want?" Taylor demanded petulantly.
"Listen, Casper, Jakob, and I are heading out to the mall. Do you wanna come with us?" Lee asked. Casper Marsden and Jakob Sanders were two of Taylor's other friends.
"Not really," Taylor said flatly.
"Come on, Tay," Lee urged. "It'll be fun."
"Fun?" Taylor repeated huffily. "I don't think so."
Lee sighed. "Tay, the guys are waiting. So are you gonna come or not?"
"Not," Taylor said laconically.
"Taylor."
Taylor turned around, to find Diana standing by the doorway of the kitchen. She was frowning and shaking her head disapprovingly.
Taylor covered the mouth piece of the phone with his left hand, and looked at his mother. "What?"
"Taylor, I think you should go with them," Diana said.
"Yeah, but I don't want to!" Taylor protested.
"Taylor," Diana said in a warning tone of voice. "I don't want you to sit around the house, doing nothing all day except feel sorry for yourself and wallow in your own misery. You need to get out and get some fresh air."
Taylor rolled his eyes. "So I'll open up a window."
"Taylor!" Diana scolded. "You're going to go with Lee, and that's final! Now tell him that you're going!"
Taylor rolled his eyes again, and let out a huge sigh. Reluctantly, he raised the phone back up to his right ear.
"Yeah, Lee; I'm still here." Taylor looked over at his mother again, and let out another sigh. "All right, I'll come with you guys to the mall......I guess. Yeah, yeah. I'll meet you guys there. Yeah, okay." With that, Taylor hung up the phone.
"Well?" Diana asked. "So are you going?"
"Well, obviously," Taylor muttered. "I mean, after all, you made me."
Diana smiled. "Well! I'm glad you're going. I think you need to get out more."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Taylor grumbled. He stalked out of the kitchen, past his mother.
"Wait. Do you want me to drive you there?" Diana called after Taylor.
Taylor grabbed his coat. "Nah, I'll walk." With that, he opened the front door and stepped outside, slamming the door shut behind him.
Taylor made his way down the front steps, and onto the driveway. Zac and Lucy were sitting on the grass by the driveway. Zac had his rollerblades strapped to his feet, while Lucy had her feet resting on top of Zac's skateboard. Taylor walked past them, without so much as giving them a brief glance.
"Hey Tay!" Zac called out. "Guess what?"
Taylor stopped walking. He rolled his eyes for what seemed like the umpteenth time that day, and turned around to face his younger brother.
"What?" Taylor said unexcitingly.
Zac gave Taylor a smug look. "The ice cream truck came by a few minutes ago. And ha ha, you missed it." He gave Taylor a satisfied smirk.
Taylor looked over at Zac and Lucy. In Zac's left hand, he held an orange popsicle, while Lucy held a snow cone in her left hand. He made a face and rolled his eyes again.
"Oh, how terrible. Really," Taylor said sardonically, his voice edged with cynicism. "Gee, I missed out on something really big."
"Yeah, you did," Zac replied sneeringly. "Too bad."
Taylor rolled his eyes once more. "Whatever, Zac. I don't need you to get on my case, too." He turned and started to leave.
"Wait, Tay," Zac called.
Taylor let out an annoyed sigh, before turning around again. "What, Zac?"
Zac held out his orange popsicle, and smiled up at Taylor. "You want a bite?" he asked innocently.
Taylor looked over at Zac bemusedly. "You're letting me have a bite of your popsicle??" he repeated in disbelief.
"Yeah, sure. Why not? After all, what are brothers for?" Zac said ingenuously, grinning up at Taylor.
Lucy let out a suppressed snicker. Zac gave Lucy a sideways glance, and winked at her.
Taylor felt his brows furrow as he frowned slightly. He looked over at Zac, studying his brother's seemingly innocent face inquisitively.
What is Zac up to? Why would he want to share his popsicle with me? Taylor wondered. He would never do that. He's definitely up to something; I know it. He shifted his gaze over to Zac's orange popsicle, which was almost gone; more than half of it was already gone.
And besides, there isn't much left of his popsicle, Taylor observed. So why would he want to share it with me?
All of a sudden, Taylor got an idea -- a wicked idea. A mischievous smile played at the corners of Taylor's lips.
If Zac thinks I can fall for his trap, well, we'll just see about that. I'm just going to have to outsmart him, Taylor thought. We'll see who's the REAL naive loser.
Lucy watched Taylor curiously. She looked at him weirdly, as she noticed the devilish smile that appeared on Taylor's face. She leaned over to Zac and nudged him with her right elbow.
"Zac, what's up with him?" Lucy whispered.
"What do you mean?" Zac whispered back.
"Look at his face. He's thinking of something," Lucy informed him. "And look at that weird smile on his face. What's up with that?"
Zac glanced back up at Taylor. He frowned a little as he surveyed Taylor's evil smile.
What IS up with that? Zac thought questioningly. Hmmm.......weird. I'd better find out what he's up to -- and fast.
"Uhhh........Tay? Are you there?" Zac asked uncertainly. He slowly waved his right hand from side to side. "Hello......?"
"Huh?" Taylor snapped out of his trail of scheming thoughts. He looked back at Zac, and put on an innocent smile.
"Yep, I'm here. You called?" Taylor smiled brightly at Zac.
Lucy gave Taylor a weird look. "What are you so happy about??" she asked curiously.
Taylor shrugged. "What can I say; it's not every day that Zac's feeling generous and offers to share anything with me. It's a moment to savor." He turned back to Zac and put on a fake smile.
"Wow, that's really nice of you, Zac. I'm so flattered," Taylor said in a sickeningly sweet voice.
Zac looked surprised. "Uhhhh........" He exchanged uneasy glances with Lucy.
"It's so touching that you want to share your popsicle with me. Your older brother," Taylor went on.
Zac bit his lip. "Ummm.........."
"I can still have a bite of your popsicle, can't I?" Taylor asked innocently.
"Ummmm.......yeah....." Zac said slowly. "Sure......"
Taylor smiled brightly. "Great! I haven't had anything to eat all day since breakfast, so I'm hungry." He held out his right hand. "Well? Can I take a bite of your popsicle?" He gave Zac a pointed look.
"Ummmmm........" Zac stuttered. "Uhh, on second thought, well, if you wanna have a bite of it, you gotta come over here. I hafta hold the popsicle," he explained.
Taylor shrugged. "All right, fair enough. Whatever you say, little bro." With that, Taylor walked over to Zac, and knelt down beside Zac. He started to lean over to take his bite.
"Uhhh.......just remember that it's a bite. Only one bite and no more. Okay?" Zac said nervously.
Taylor smirked at his brother. "Sure, I remember."
With that, Taylor leaned over and bit off what was left of the entire orange popsicle, cleanly off the popsicle stick. He smiled up at Zac as he chewed the orange popsicle in his mouth. Melted orange popsicle dripped down off his lips, trickling down his chin as he chewed.
Zac's mouth fell open. He stared at Taylor in disbelief.
"HEY!!" Zac cried angrily. "You ate my whole popsicle!"
"By George, I think he's got it," Taylor said sneeringly, as he continued to chew the piece of popsicle in his mouth.
"No fair!" Zac yelled. "It was supposed to be only one bite! One bite! Just one! ONE!!"
"And need I remind you, that's exactly what it was. Just one bite," Taylor replied.
Zac was seething. He threw down the popsicle stick, and scrambled up to his feet. He lunged at Taylor, grabbing Taylor's face with his hands, and shaking it furiously.
"Spit it out! Spit it out! Spit it out NOW!!" Zac screamed.
Taylor pulled his hysterically frantic brother off of him. "No can do; it's a tad bit too late for that now." He smirked at Zac. "As you can see, I already ate it. See?" He stuck out his orange-colored tongue for Zac to see.
"Gimme my popsicle back!!" Zac shouted.
Taylor gave Zac a blank look. "Didn't you just hear a word I just said? I ate it already. As in, I swallowed it. It's eaten. Gone. In my stomach now." He patted his flat stomach, and licked his lips. "Man, that popsicle was mmmm good. I wish I had another." He looked over at Zac and leered. "Well, that's what you're here for. If I ever want another popsicle, I can just swipe one from you." He patted Zac on the head with his right hand. "It's amazing how much you come in handy sometimes, ya know that?"
Zac was breathing hard. He glowered at Taylor; a look that could kill flashed in his brown eyes.
"You," Zac said indignantly, "will buy me another popsicle. You owe me one, now that you've eaten all of mine!"
Taylor shook his head. "Sorry, no can do. After all, you said that I could have a bite of your popsicle. And that's exactly what I did -- I had a bite of your popsicle."
"Yeah, but I never said you could bite off the whole darn thing!" Zac yelled. "It was mine!" He stamped his left rollerblade against the pavement. "MINE!!"
Taylor shrugged. "Well, you never specified how big the bite could be, so I figured it didn't matter." He shrugged again. "Oh well. Your loss. Not my fault." He picked up the popsicle stick lying on the ground. "Here, you can have the stick." He tossed the popsicle stick at Zac.
Zac glared at Taylor. He was completely vexed, shaking with rage.
"You are so dead," Zac growled.
Taylor raised his eyebrows. "Oh yeah? And just what are you gonna do about it? Beat the popsicle out of me?" He sneered. "Right. And besides," he continued. "You can't beat me up. I'm bigger than you, stronger than you, faster than you." He smirked. "And smarter than you."
Zac crossed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "ARRGGHHH!! You suck!" he screamed.
Taylor laughed. "Me? Look who lost his itty-bitty popsicle to his smarter, wiser older brother!"
Zac advanced on Taylor. He tried to make another grab for Taylor, but Taylor quickly dodged out of harm's way, and ran down the driveway and onto the sidewalk, laughing all the way.
Zac glowered after his brother, fuming. "Runaway, Tay," he muttered. "Run, runaway. You can run, but you can't hide."
..>x<.. Chapter 21 ..>x<..
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