Taylor was waiting for Zac outside the hotel in El Paso, Arizona that night. They had just driven for 13 hours straight with only two bathroom breaks and one lunch stop. They had finally decided to call it a night and stop off at a hotel. Zac came outside, along with Isaac and the three brothers stood in a circle deciding what to do.
"You know, I slept all the way in the car, I just can't go to bed now," Taylor said.
"Yeah, I'm wide a-WAKE now," Zac added, his voice cracking. "Oh man, how long does this last?"
Ike and Tay laughed at their poor brother. "Well, your 14th birthday is coming up next month, so you should be okay in about three months," said Ike.
"Three months!" cried Zac. "I can't last that long!"
"Well, you better get used to it," Ike said.
"But how am I gonna be able to record the new album?" asked Zac.
"Well, Taylor's voice changed in the middle of recording Middle of Nowhere, so you should be okay."
"Hey guys," Taylor said distractedly. "You ever want to get your ear pierced?" he said looking across the street at a Cynthia's Beauty Salon. "You get the piercing done free if you just buy the earring!"
"Wow, Taylor, you've lost it. Mom and day would kILL you!" Zac said.
"Yeah, plus with an earring you'd look even more girlish!" said Isaac.
"Shut up. Tons of guys have earrings. Look at N Sync. I wanna get one up here," he said, pointing to the top of his ear, at the cartilage.
"Well, I'll go with you," sighed Ike. "But I'm not getting anything pierced. I'll just watch you."
"Yeah, I'll go t-UOO!" Zac said. "I mean, I'll go too," he said talking in a forced low voice.
"Okay, cool," Tay said excitedly. They crossed the street and entered the salon. It turned out Cynthia was a guy and a, uh, gay guy at that.
"Well, well, what do we have here," said Cynthia. "Three very handsome boys, I must say."
The Hanson's looked at each other nervously. "Are you sure you still want to, Tay?" whispered Ike.
Taylor paused. "Yeah, I'm sure. I want to get my ear pierced up here," he proclaimed, holding the tip of his ear.
"Simply wonderful!" said Cynthia. "Oh, stop it, that's just a fantastic choice!"
Zac stifiled a laugh. "Yessss, ssssimply ssstunning," he said.
Cynthia looked at Ike, Tay and Zac. "You know, you boys would do just fabulous with a little haircut. Your hair is simply beautiful, but this long, boring style is just going out. I can give you a real up-to-date look that will have everyone simply swooning over you. What do you say?" he said.
Ike spoke first. "Well, what would you have in mind for me?" he asked.
"Well, if you'll step in to my office, I'll show you a picture," Cynthia said, leading Ike over to a salon chair. He showed Ike a picture and Ike seemed to like it, nodding at Cynthia.
"Hey, what about my earring?" Taylor whined.
Another employee of the salon came over. It was a girl in her early twenties. "I can do that for you, hun."
Tay grinned at Zac. "Okay, cool." They walked over to the piercing corner and Taylor sat on a stool. The girl put a dot on his ear where she would pierce it and then put ice on his ear to numb the feeling. Taylor picked out a stud that he would wear for the first couple of weeks and the girl held the piercing gun to his head.
"Now, this shouldn't hurt too much, hun," she said. In an instant, his ear was pierced and all Tay felt was a sharp prick in his ear.
"Are you done?" he asked, looking in the mirror at his ear. She nodded. "Thanks!" he hopped off the stool and went over to Zac, who was standing with his mouth open.
"What is it?" asked Taylor. Zac pointed over to Isaac.
"Look at Ike!" he said.
Ike walked over to them like he was still the same, but the fact was, his hair was cut off short and close around his head. "Hey guys, you like it?" he asked, grinning.
"Who are you?" asked Taylor.
"Wow," whispered Zac. "You look great!"
"You think so?" asked Ike. "Not too shocking?"
"You look totally different," said Tay. "But in a good way- you look a lot better!"
"Ah, he looks simply stunning, doesn't he?" said Cynthia, walking over to them. "I must say, I do wonders!" He looked at Taylor. "And you are my next magic trick."
"Uh, I don't know," he said nervously. "What do you want to do?"
"I'm getting out of here!" yelled Zac, running out the door.
"Go for it, Tay," encouraged Ike. "I bet you'll like it. And your hair is gross anyway, you need a change."
"Well....alright. Just don't change it as much as Ike's," he said, giving in. "I still want it to be long."
"I think I have just the thing for you. Step in."
Fifteen minutes later, Taylor was a brand new guy, complete with a different style hairstyle and an earring. "Wait till Mom and Dad sees us," Ike said. "We look so different!"
"But we still look like us," Tay said. "But maybe no one will reconize us for a while!"
"Yeah! This could be a good thing while we're in California."
"Too bad Zac didn't get anything done," Taylor said.
"Yeah, well, he's getting a whole new voice. That's enough for him."
"True. Well, we better get back to the hotel. They might be getting worried about us."
They crossed the street and went back to their hotel room. Their parents were watching a movie on HBO and looked up when they saw the boys come in. They were speechless for a moment and then Diana spoke.
"Well, Zac said that you were getting your hair cut," she said.
"Well, it looks like you got them all cut!" laughed Walker.
"You look wonderful boys. I just wished you would have consulted me before you went and did that," Diana said.
"Well, it was kinda a last minute thing," said Ike. "A spur of the moment thing."
"I see. Well, you look, well, awesome dude!" she said.
"Don't even try to talk like that, Mom," Taylor groaned. "I'm going to bed."
"We'll see you bright and early tommorrow to hit the road," said Walker.
"Night."