"What! How'd you know!" Isaac had a pained
look on his face. "Taylor. Every time mom gets pregnant, dad always
acted like you. Always. You are just like him. Especially when they had Mack.
Just like him." Taylor sighed. "Is it that obvious? Like could you really
really tell? I don't think I'm going home tonight. God!" "How far is
she?" "5 weeks." "That's it?" "That's enough. That means 7 months
three weeks to go and quite frankly I wish it was never happening." "Oh
come on Tay." Taylor shrugged. "I don't want kids right now. Definitely
not right now." "You always said when you grew up you wanted a lot of
kids. Now's a good time to start." "Bad way to put it Ike. I'm not grown up
yet." Isaac smiled. "You should be happy. Not moping." "I am
moping. I have to tell mom. The rest of the Dentras are going to have to
know. What are they going to do to me? What am I going to do? Mom and
dad are going to flip. It's going to be all over the news the second she starts
to show, and then what! I'm only just 18! I don’t want kids!" "Sorry to say it
Tay, but you got 'em." "No shit." "Be happy about it. Don't tell mom
and dad until it gets to hard to hide it. That's what I'd do." "Oh yeah. Be
Zac-like. Hide it till someone decides to find out." Isaac winced. "Lets
not bring up Zac in this conversation." "Why not. He's your brother. He's
there to discuss." "He's your brother too, but that doesn't mean your going
to name your kid Zac." "Very funny Isaac." "What." "What do you
think." "I don't think." "Can we just drop Zac right now. We can talk
about him at lunch." "Oh so now you've decided you want to
go?" Taylor shrugged. "Guess so." Zac Dentra turned to look at his friend. "No it hasn't.
Just a couple months ago." "That's a while in my book." The two
laughed. Roller blading and skateboarding to the mall. The mall was a
ways away, far enough away that they should be having a sibling cater them
there. Then again it's hard to have a catering service when the manager is
out to kill you. "Do I look okay to you? Like…not an attention attracter…no
one is going to scream to me…." They looked at Zac Hanson's
wardrobe. "Where did you get that stuff anyway? You are totally…not you.
But it's cool." "D man, I have oodles of clothing that haven't been worn
since I was a toddler." "You still fit in those??" "No. But when I was a
toddler Ike was my age." "Ahh. Okay. Whatever." The two of them
headed foreward. Screwing off and joking. "I just now look pale? You mean I haven't looked pale since the
moment I pulled up at your place? I haven't looked sick since then? What's
wrong with me!" Isaac reached across the table and patted his brother on
the shoulder. "Tay. Take it easy, this is a good thing. Don't panick. Wait till
her water breaks to do that." Taylor rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah. You can
be assured and easy and happy and great but I can't. You don't have a kid on
the way." Isaac shook his head. "Maybe I can find you some valium, I
think you need it." "Very funny." "Anyway. How's life treating my blue
eyed heartthrob brother?" "Same as always. Except the obvious baby
thing." "Oh. Nothing exciting since last week?" "Oh I forgot. Zac literally
picked up everything on his side of the room that was mine and deposited it
in a neat little pile on top of my bed." "At least it was a neat little pile, he
could have just thrown it." "You just crack me up Ike." "I'm glad. Some
one has to make light this whole 'terrible baby situation'." "I didn't say it
was terrible." "Well you make it sound that way. And about Zac. I can't
handle him any better then you can. The last person I would tell was mom
and dad, but I think it may come down to that. And I still don't know what his
problem is." "Who knows what his problem is. All I know is that instead of
throwing me nasty looks and insulting me under his breath there's nothing
there. He doesn't even stare blankly. It's weird." "He's playing mind
games." "Zac? Mind games? I don't think so. I think he's simply through
with it. We'll release another album in the fall, maybe tour next summer. He'll
be the same Zac everyone paints 'I love you' for across their faces and that'll
be the end." "You can't honestly think that's how it all works." "Wouldn't
life be so much more simple if it did. Like things were back to normal and
none of this mess even started." "I don’t know. If this hadn't happened
then something else would have. I spose we'll get over it." "There goes
that 'don't care' sound again." Isaac looked up from his lunch. "What
do you expect Tay. I already told you we can't do a thing about him. He's
above us right now, sort of in this fight with authority but I think it goes way
further then that. And I think what's already happened is going to stay that
way. I don't think we're going to have the same Zac no matter what we do, we
might get close, but close isn't the same." Taylor swirled his straw around
in his drink. "I don't know. I just wish we could get away from it all and just
sort of…know the new us." "What do you mean." "Just the three of us.
No Zac Dentra. No Mercy. No Dorin, or Jeremy. No mom dad, jess or Mack.
Just the three of us. We need to do something together that makes us see
the way things are now and not see the way things were." The two sat in
silence. "Any ideas." Taylor shrugged. "Not yet." "Thanks asshole." Jeremy frowned. "Sorry. Not
like I meant for you to retaliate so violently." "You haven't had my day. So
shut up and leave me alone." Jeremy sighed. "Ooo..kay." Mercy
walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge door. Maybe this is a mind
thing. She stood up and thought. Maybe the only reason I went to the fridge
to get some yogurt was cause I always hear that when your pregnant you eat
a lot. So maybe I just think I'm like that and I'm going to eat a whole
bunch. She looked down at her
stomach. Nagh. Zac Hanson clapped his hand
over Zac Dentra's mouth. "That chick. She like, stared right at you! Shut
up and stop making cow sounds!" They both giggled. The mall bench
they had been sitting on had grown irritable and uncomfortable, so they had
moved to the food court. Metal chairs with no padding weren't exactly better
then wooden benches, but they got to eat at the same time as watching
girls. "One of these times I'm just going to jump up on the table, sing a
couple chords of Mmmbop, yell 'Here's a Hanson!!' Jump down and run while
you sit with a chinese noodle hangin' out of your mouth, trying to swallow it
while your shortly surrounded by a group of young teenieboppers that only
want to strip you and tie you to a wall in their basement." Zac Hanson
grinned. "Are any of them Model material…Could they pass for Pamela
Anderson, could they play a lead roll in baywatch?" "You sleaze." They
both went back to their eggrolls and Dr. Pepper. "Oh my." Zac Dentra
pointed as a girl walked by. "Mmm….yummy." "Han you don't
even." "What! I was just saying this chinese is 'Mmm yummy.'!!" They
rolled their eyes. "Oh look! Twins!" Zac Hanson spun
around. "Twisted. Do you know what they could do to us! Look at their
legs!" "Say it a little louder Han." They went back once again to
eating. "We need to spot one and follow it." "Oh yes. 'No ma'am! We
weren't following your daughter! Wow! That's a mighty large purse you got
there!" "Just eat so we can go." They shoveled. "Well you don't look so good." "Thanks. I love it when
people tell me that." Diana frowned. "I'm your mother, I'm supposed to
tell you if your losing weight, you look like you haven't showered in a while,
you stink. Anything like that." "Oh, well trust me it's nothing like
that." She smiled, allowing him to sit on the sofa in peace. The days
events went by slowly, not much talk around the house, and when there was,
it was brief and collected. His sisters ran from one room to the next, arguing
at eachother for taking the others things, Mackenzie had managed to crash
on the floor in front of the kitchen table, despite the coldness of the floor, and
Zoe, had for once been a quiet baby. As of now, Zac either remained in
his room, completely alone, or with his best friend. In either relevancy, Taylor
didn't like the way he was cutting off from his family, or his life. "You going
to have dinner with us tonight?" "Of course mom. I always have dinner
with you guys." "Want to call Isaac and see if he wants to come
over?" Taylor smiled lightly. "Mom. If you want Isaac to come over, his
number is on the fridge. However, he's been working on a song he pulled out
lately and I think he's real busy. Nothing but take out chinese and a coke for
him." She let out a sigh and turned back into the hallway, standing at the
doorway of the girls bedroom and scolding them. "When is Zac going to
be home?" Taylor shrugged, then turned his head towards his
mother. "He went to the mall." Diana's eyes grew wide. "He went to
the mall? What's gotten into that boy?" Taylor shrugged again. "He's
got 'D' with him. He should be fine. Anyway, he's a big boy according to his
imagination." Diana frowned. "I still don't know what's up with you
three." "Mom. It's a long tiring story that I'd rather not breach. Can we drop
it." She sighed. "I'll find out." "On VH1's storytellers mom, wait till
we're thirty." She pointed a finger at him. "Mom's know
everything." "Well, mom, when you know, tell me about it." As she
walked from the room she mumbled to herself. Zac Dentra shoved a shoe into his friend. "The whole point of
this is to pull it off, not make fools of ourselves. See that group of girls over
there. I bet they hate Hanson but will still giggle if you talk to them." Zac
Hanson smiled sheepishly. "So what about you?" "Han han han…..I
didn't say I was going over, I said YOU were going over." They chuckled
quietly. "Me, in the middle of some girls, by myself? They don't like
me." "Get out there dipstick." Zac Dentra pushed his friend from the
store where they were 'shopping' and watched as his friend walked to the
window beside the girls. Non chalantly he pointed to a pair of
shoes. "Do you like those? I like those. Wow." The look on his face
remained constant, and the three girls frowned and watched him. "What
about those?" He turned to one of them while pointing to a platform
shoe. Two of the girls smiled and whispered to eachother. He looked
thoughtfully at another pair then turned to the same girl. "Oh my, those are
very very nice." Looking back at her she smiled uneasily, nodding while he
inquired her yet again. Zac Dentra stood by a shoe rack and watched his
friend. Laughing he couldn't help himself. Walking quickly over to Zac he
rested his hands on his shoulders. Turning to the three girls Zac Dentra
put on a half smile and sighed. "I'm really sorry ladies, my friend here, he's
just hit his 'shoe' phase. He's in love with anything leather." Still holding
Zac Hanson by the shoulders, he began to turn him away. "Wait a
minute." Both of them paused, looking back at the three girls questioningly
with a hint of sarcasm. "Yes?" The girl that had spoken up fiddled with
her pockets. "Aren't you a Hanson?"
"Been a long time since
we've done this."
"You feeling alright. You
look pale."
"You
don't look so good."
"SSSHHHH!"
"Just stress.
That's all."
"Shut up already
Han!!"