"OH Say can you seee!!!........If the bathroom is free!" I sang "NO! Adrian! Thats not how it goes!!" Zac yelped. We were in my room, and Zac was trying to teach me to "be an American". I didn't see why I needed to know how to sing the national anthem, since I don't even remember the Canadian one and I'd lived there all my life. But for some reason, this was really important to him. Oh well, I just couldn't wait till we got to the fashion part of this lesson, so I could take my first visit to Abercrombie and Fitch and spend, spend, spend. "So, ok, Ads, this is ery important! You gotta learnn how to talk with a southern drawl" Zac said, talking slowly. "But Zac.....this is the mid-west...And YOU don't even have an accent." I inquired.
"Yea....but.....Oh, forget it! I'm bored, wanna go swimming?" He asked. "Sure Zac..You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were using me for my pool!" I teased. "I am, lets go!" Zac said, already out the door. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Mom, this is Adrian, she lives next door, Adrian, my mom" Zac said as if introducing the two of us was a chore. It was weird that we had know each other for about three weeks now and I had never met the boys' mother. She was always busy with the kids, and normally when I had gone to their place she was shopping or dropping somebody off at a friends house. "Hello Adrian, nice to meet you" Mrs. Hanson said pleasantly. "Hi, you too!" I said. As Mrs. Hanson was about to say something, Zac grabbed me by the arm and pulled me upstairs.
Upon entering the boys room, I noticed Taylor and Isaac (whom I had not yet had the pleasure of meeting" sitting on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed. As soon as we entered, they looked over at us. "Everybody..OUT!" Taylor said "Except Adrian, I need to talk to you." I smiled shyly, mostly because I felt a little uncomfortable around Isaac, I didn't know him and I still had that fan feeling towards him. Isaac and Zac obeyed Taylor, exiting the room while muttering something about "Sure, Taylor, whatever you say."
I cleared my throat and stood in the doorway watching Taylor sitting on the bed trying to collect his thoughts. He looked at me. "Her parents...they hit her." He said "Omygod, who??" I said, taking a seat beside him on the bed. "Katarina, the girl I went out with yesterday. I mean, what can I do? I can't just ignore that, but what can I do because we're going on tour soon" "You are?" I asked. "Yea, in a month.." He said, excited for a moment, but then returned to a sader state, and said "But thats not the point, what do i do?" He asked. "Well, ummmmmm...." I said, deep in thought. "I think the best thing to do would be to get her out of there, either living with a friend or in a home of some sort, and then just give her some way to stay in contact with you while youre on tour." I said, then added "Thats about the only think you CAN do." He thought about what I said for a moment and then smiled, aparently pleased with my advice. "Thanks Ads, you should come on tour with us, I don't know what I'd do with you to give in advice." I giggled. Jeez, if he only knew how long i'd wanted THAT to happen. Just then, Zac apeared in the doorway "Lunch!" He said in a funny voice. Taylor smiled, and I immediately felt uncomfortable again, was this my cue to leave? I hadn't been invited to stay. Zac noticed the vacant expression on my face and, grabbing me by the arm said, "come on, you". It was amazing how he always seemed to be able to read my mind.
Once I got downstairs I was handed a plate (with a delicious looking sandwich on it) and sad down between Zac and another of the Hanson children. It was a girl. She appeared to be young. Now, I've always considered myself a fan of the Hansons "and a big one at that) but I've never found much interest in keeping up with the rest of the clan. I watched the young girl as she amused herself by looking through the hole of a tiny black olive. She looked back at me curiously. Dropping the olive on her plate, she asked loudly "Who are you??" I smiled shyly and replied "I'm Adrian, and you are...?"
"Do you know my name?" She asked, seemingly not understanding my question "No, I don't." I said "Do you want me to tell you it?" she asked.
"Ok"
"Its Avery" she said, smiling (she was missing nearly half her teeth) "Nice to meet you Avery" I said, smiling at her cuteness. I ate my lunch while Avery explained to me about how old everybody in the family was, and how Jessica thought that Brian from the Backstreet Boys was just so cute. This caused Jessica (who was sitting on the other side of Avery) to join in, and we had a lovely conversation about what band boys were the cutest, and Jessica even provided a speech about why her brothers were NOT as cute as some girls made them out to be, while Zac peered around me making funny faces at her. I decided this family was going to make living in Oklahoma awesome! But what would I do when they went on tour?
