"Where is he?" Jolene sighed, looking at her watch, then craning her neck to see if her boyfriend had arrived. We had sat down about a half hour ago, and Heath was supposed to have been here by now.
"Do you want to call him?" Aunt Lana asked, a concerned look sweeping her face.
"No, he probably just got stuck in traffic or something," Jolene sighed.
I looked up from my menu just as a dark, handsome man appeared from around the corner. He was tan, obviously a native to the Philippines, his dark hair tousled with gel, his eyes sparkling like two black diamonds, and he was impeccably dressed in khaki pants and a polo shirt. Damn he was hot.
"There he is!" Jolene grinned, pointing in the guy's direction. I tore my eyes away from him and looked around him.
"I don't see anyone," I frowned, straining to see.
"No, he's right- Hi Heath!" Jolene grinned.
My mouth must have dropped all the way to the ground. This was Heath? This man? Wow. And I thought Taylor was hot.
"Hey," he smiled back in his deep, lustrous voice. He made eye contact with me and smiled. "Hi, I'm Heath. You must be Corrine?"
I blushed and smiled shyly. "Yeah."
"It's nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you. And you must be Serena?" He charmed the others while Jolene and I stared at him. Wow. What a hunk of man.
"So?" Jolene whispered a few minutes later while Heath was conversing with Uncle Brian.
"I have only one word to say," I whispered back. "Damn."
Jolene laughed. "I know!"
The dinner progressed rapidly. Pretty soon, dinner was over and it was time to leave. We had spent the evening catching up, getting to know Heath (which was also my favorite part), and reminiscing about old family get-togethers and wacky sleepovers Jolene and I had had. And then there was the food. It was extremely delicious. I had had regular spaghetti, but they had turned regular spaghetti into a culinary phenomenon! Okay, so not exactly, but it was really good.
After leaving the restaurant, we parted ways at the corner of the Crystal Ballroom. The fans had all left, so Serena and I were home free. Jolene and I hugged.
"Oh! I don't want you to go!" Jolene exclaimed.
"I don't want to go either!"
"I'll miss you!"
"I'll miss you too!"
Basically, I did that with all 5 of my cousins and my aunt and uncle. And Heath actually hugged Serena, Anna and I good-bye! I was awe-struck by the hug. Not that I didn't love Taylor or his hugs. But Heath was like the god of all hot guys.
"Bye!" Serena, Anna and I called as we walked away.
"What a hunk of man!" Anna exclaimed.
"I know! Hubba hubba!" Serena grunted.
Anna and I laughed. "You're so weird, Serena," I laughed.
I knocked on the bus door and after checking who it was, the driver let us in. "I was instructed to tell you to be quiet. The little ones are in bed," the driver smiled.
We nodded and walked down the hallway of the bus. Isaac, Taylor, and Zac awaited us.
"Hey," all three said.
"Yo," I smiled.
"How was dinner?" Taylor asked. They were sitting on the couches in the very back of the bus, and he held his arms out to me. I walked over to him and sat on his lap, kissing his cheek.
"Yummy."
Anna, Serena, and I exchanged glances and started laughing at my answer. I wasn't just talking about the food, but about the eye-candy as well.
"What?" Zac asked as Serena sat next to him.
"Oh nothing," she sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. She yawned.
Anna yawned as she fell on Isaac. "I am so tired."
"Aren't we all!" Taylor exclaimed.
"So? How was the concert?" I asked, smiling.
"We did okay. The only reason it wasn't perfect was because I didn't have anyone to sing to," Taylor explained, pouting.
I laughed. "Yeah, well you'll have me for all the other concerts, so…"
Taylor smiled, sighing. He wrapped his arms around me and buried his face in my hair, inhaling. I closed my eyes and leaned back into him. The others were groaning and getting up, deciding they were ready for bed, but we remained seated.
After the others had left, Taylor picked me up and we laid down on the couch, facing each other.
"You're my good luck charm," Taylor whispered, chuckling a little and brushing a few strands of hair off my face.
I smiled.
"I messed up a lot tonight," he sighed. "Nobody noticed, not even Ike or Zac, but I couldn't stay focused."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I don't know why. I couldn't stop thinking about you."
I chuckled and sighed. I felt a little bad since I had spent the evening drooling over Heath, but I consoled myself with the fact that I had thought of Taylor frequently- even if I was just comparing.
"Same here," I sighed.
"Cory…" Taylor trailed off. His fingers were still combing my hair but his eyes wandered away.
"What?"
"Um… Well, never mind. Should we just sleep here tonight?"
I nodded, yawning, and snuggled deeper into his arms.
"Good night," he murmured.
"'Night."
Anna, Serena and I were rocking away to the sounds of "Runaway Run" at the LA concert. The guys were down on stage sweating like sumo wrestlers in the middle of a match, but I could tell they were having a blast.
"Run, run, runaway run, maybe some day I will find someone too, run, run runaway, maybe some day, maybe some day," I sung along. "From a distance watched the flowers brush your cheek, as you read the words I wrote I couldn't speak, but now I lay here broken heart and blistered feet, as you're spinning round my mind."
Taylor caught my eye and grinned, winking. Serena saw and we turned to each other and squealed. This was part of our teenybopper act we put on every show so the fans wouldn't know we were girlfriends. Actually, part of it was real. I really did get a rush when Taylor glanced up at me, and I knew Anna and Serena got a rush when the guys looked at them, too.
The song ended and Taylor backed away from his keyboard, wiping his forehead with his infamous white towel. Zac leaned down, grabbed his water bottle, and took a swig. Isaac, on the other hand, had his goofy grin pasted on his face as he adjusted his mic.
"Well," Isaac grinned. Anna, Serena, and I laughed, rolling our eyes. "You guys sure know how to make a song rock!" The audience exploded into screams, and I screamed right along. "The next song," Isaac started once the screaming had quieted. "Is called Save Me…" Isaac trailed off, and started looking at Taylor expectantly.
"Um," Taylor said, his eyes jumping from one place to another. He wrung his hands and chewed on his lip. I wondered what he was so nervous about. Suddenly Taylor got a burst of confidence and looked up at me. "I would like to dedicate this to a very special girl. You know who you are baby, and I just want to let you know how much I love you."
Tears silently streamed down my face as I watched Taylor. Anna and Serena giggled and grabbed each one of my hands, squealing.
"God damn it!" a girl behind me stomped. "I knew he was taken."
Everybody around us began laughing at her, but quieted as the song began. Taylor and I couldn't tear our eyes away from each other for the whole song. At the lyrics, "Suddenly the sky is falling," Taylor grabbed his mic off of its holder and walked across the stage in my direction. He walked around Ike, who I could tell was trying very hard not to crack up, and went as far to the edge as he could without being grabbed.
"Won't you save me…" Taylor trailed off. Tears were running down my face as fast as possible. I was in awe. During that whole song, I felt like a connection had been made between us. Like we had a signed a contract and were now bound to each other for life. Like we had made the eternal connection that soul mates do.
I felt a pull on my arm, but I didn't turn around. Taylor and I weren't finished! Even though the song had ended, we were still staring at each other. Isaac tugged on Taylor, and finally we broke away. When I turned around, I found Jessie tugging at my arm.
"Hey Jess," I smiled, sniffing and wiping my eyes.
"Hi. They need you back stage. I don't know what for, but they do," Jessie explained.
I nodded and left the balcony with her. "Who told you to get me?"
"Chris. Taylor forgot to pack his clothes and we're heading out tonight. Mom is in the bus with Zoë and Dad knows nothing, I refuse to touch Taylor's underwear, so you're left."
"I feel so… privileged," I smirked.
"You should," Jessie joked. "You get to touch the sexiest male's boxers."
"Who ever called him the sexiest male?" I laughed.
"Well you did, and Alloy's pole did."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. They have some serious problems if that's what they think," Jessie snorted.
I just laughed. We walked into the guys' dressing room to find Walker and Chris standing in the middle chatting.
"Hey," I smiled.
"Hey Cory," Walker smiled back. His smile dissolved into a worried look and asked me if I had been crying.
"Yeah," I laughed. "Taylor dedicated a song to me and I started crying."
Walker, Chris, and Jessie laughed, rolling their eyes right along with me.
"Well," Walker started. He pointed at Taylor's suitcase that had been dragged in, which contained an assortment of shirts, pants, wife beaters, boxers, a toothbrush, shampoo, soap, a hairdryer, socks, good luck charms, and other stuff that he might need. "Have at it!"
Walker and Chris moseyed out of the room and Jessie and I were left to our own devices. We stood, staring blankly at the suitcase, with our arms crossed. I looked around at the room. Taylor's stuff was spread throughout the room. A shirt on the desk, toothpaste on the food table, even a pair of his pants were on one of the lamps.
"Well this is just great," I smirked. I walked over, picked the suitcase up, and dumped the remaining contents on the floor.
Jessie stared, open-mouthed. "Why did you do that?"
"Because your brother has no sense of neatness or organization. What we are going to do is put everything in piles. Pants in one, shirts- including wife beaters- in one, boxers in another, which I'll deal with, and then like, bathroom stuff in one. Oh, and then anything that doesn't fit into any of those piles goes in a miscellaneous pile."
Jessie nodded, agreeing, and we set to work. Jessie started on the shirts and I started on the boxers. While I was sorting through them and folding, I found a pair that were red silk with white polka dots. I frowned, holding them up. "Taylor has such good boxer tastes, doesn't he?"
Jessie and I cracked up. "I think our aunt gave those to him for Christmas one year or something," Jessie explained, still laughing.
I folded them and went back to work. By the time we were done, I could tell the concert was almost over. "Okay," I sighed, standing up. I looked over our piles. "Now what we need to do are set out the stuff he'll need to shower and then we can pack it all up."
"Do you want to pull a practical joke on Taylor?" Jessie grinned.
I laughed. "You mean give him mismatching stuff?"
"Yeah!"
"Good idea. Let's do it."
We picked out a brown and orange striped button up that looked like it belonged in the 70's, and some red pants Taylor had bought on impulse in Seattle. And to match the pants, I pulled out the silk boxers. Jessie and I looked at each other with evil grins flickering on our faces.
"We're so nice," I laughed. "I don't know. Maybe we shouldn't do this. He did dedicate a song to me tonight…" I trailed off.
"So?" Jessie asked plainly.
I shrugged. "What the heck?"
Jessie and I laughed and finished packing for Taylor.
I walked back stage, wiping my face with my towel and swigging water all at the same time. Isaac and Zac were discussing one of the songs that we had messed up on, but all I could think about was Corrine. Isaac had suggested I do that ten minutes before the concert, and I hadn't known for sure I was going to do it until I did it. That was perhaps the most nerve-wracking thing I had ever done. Sure, I had performed in front of millions of people, met other famous people, and ridden some of the scariest rides out there, but nothing was more nerve-wracking then dedicating a song to Corrine. I don't know exactly why. Maybe it was because I was declaring my love in front of hundreds of fans in which claimed they were in love with me. A number of things could have happened: they could have figured out who Corrine was and attacked her, get up on stage and attack me, or they could all start crying. I hate it when one girl cries, let alone over 500!
Cory ran up to me and grabbed me in a tight hug, and I hugged her back. Now I knew why I had dedicated the song to her.
"I love you so much!" she whispered in my ear. "You are the greatest guy!"
She leaned back and planted one on me. I could feel everybody watching us, but I didn't care. We pulled away and hugged again. After a few more minutes of hugging, we grabbed hands and walked in the direction of the dressing room.
"Now, I packed your suitcase for you and I set out the stuff you would need to shower."
I smiled. She was so cute when she was being authoritative.
"What are you staring at?" she frowned, checking herself over.
"Oh, nothing. You're just being cute."
"What are you talking about?"
"You're cute."
Corrine rolled her eyes and sighed. "Anyway, get in that shower before one of your brothers gets it first."
I grabbed my clothing, towel, shampoo, etc., and marched into the bathroom before Ike and Zac had time to get their stuff.
"Have fun!" I heard Cory yell after me. "And don't hurt yourself!"
I rolled my eyes and shut the door.
"CORRINE BECKER!" I heard Taylor yell from the bathroom. Cory and Jessie cracked up, while the rest of us (Zac, Isaac, and Anna) looked at them. The door to the bathroom flew open and out walked Taylor Hanson dressed in what looked like a costume from "That Seventies Show".
"What is this?" Taylor yelped, gesturing to the clothing.
Cory put on her innocent look. "Oops."
The bunch of us cracked up at this. "You guys!" Taylor whined. "You guys, it isn't funny!"
I stopped laughing. "Yes, it is Taylor. This is classic. Go Cory and Jessie!"
Taylor scowled, stomping over to his suitcase and opening it. All of his movements were sharp and angry, and he looked like he had to struggle to lift his legs. I wondered how he had even fit into those pants.
"You," Taylor said, pointing at Corrine after he had gotten different clothing. "Suck."
"I don't want to know," Zac grimaced, sticking out his tongue. I laughed.
The bathroom door slammed and the rest of us rolled our eyes, still laughing. Corrine got up, sighing, looking guilty, and I knew she was going to go in there. (Dun dun dun!) She walked over to the door and knocked gently. "Taylor?"
"Go away!" Taylor shouted. "Aww, come on TayTay." Zac and I exchanged a disgusted look. "Please let me in?" Corrine leaned her cheek on the door, trying to hear what he was saying. All of a sudden the door cracked open just enough for Cory to get in, and an arm reached out and grabbed my sister.
"She's been abducted," I stated plainly.
Zac laughed. "I wouldn't mind abducting you much myself." He wrapped his other arm around my front and pulled me to him. I squealed and tried to push away, but I wasn't successful. Jessie, Anna, and Isaac were telling us to stop, but Zac and I ignored them.
"Zac!" I squealed. "Jess! Anna! Isaac! HELP ME!"
Everybody laughed and Zac finally stopped. "You should consider yourself lucky," he informed me. I swung my legs up on the couch so my feet were on Zac's lap.
"Oh… oh now this won't do!" Zac picked my feet up and put them back down on the floor.
I laughed, and I rested my head on Zac's shoulder.