I unlocked the door and trooped up the stairs to my room.
As I set my backpack down on the ground of my bedroom floor, I looked over at my answering machine, which was blinking furiously.
"If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again; if you need-"
Ugh, skip that.
"Kim, it's Jen, call me when you can. See ya!"
"Oh, good, she's back from Florida." I said out loud.
"Kim! We're back! Why don't you come over? See ya whenever!" said an all too familiar Isaac, or was it Taylor?.....
As I stood on the porch, waiting for a Hanson to answer, I stared at the "Welcome" mat that I was standing on. I soon heard a patter of feet coming closer and closer.
Then the door flings open, and I find Jessica standing in front of me.
"Kim!" she shreiks. "Hey, sweetie, how are you? Gimme a hug!" I say, leaning in for an embrace. "How was California?" I ask. "California was awesome, and warm." she replied.
Another Hanson came down from the stairs; it was Avery.
"Kimmie!" "Avie, come here!" I said, adrenaline rising. Avery jumped into my arms for a big bear hug, and held on to her for a minute.
Then Diana and Walker came in, and we said hello and stuff, with more embracing, yet ther were still more Hansons to come.
Out of nowhere, Zac zoomed down from the stairs, filled with excitement, and Isaac carrying Mackie followed him.
"Zac! Hey Squirt!" I said as he embraced me. "I'm not a squirt, I grew an inch and a half." he said a matter-of-factly.
I took one good look at him. "Yep, you're not a squirt anymore. You're a greenbean." "Thanks a lot." he said, smiling.
I went over to Isaac and took Mackie away from him.
"Hey Mac, how are ya?" I asked. "Fine, tank you." he said in his little sweet voice, squirming around. "I missed you." I said. "I missed you, too." he said. "Oh, you did?" I asked, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Eeew, now I got girlie cooties." he said. Isaac and I laughed.
"Where's my hug?" Isaac asked. "Hey! Right here," I said, embracing him, "How are you?" "Doing the same as always." he replied. "And what's that?" I asked. "Whatever I'm doing." "Great! Where's Tay?" I asked.
Before anyone could answer, a "right here" was heard. I turned around and found myself staring into a pair of blue eyes, eye to eye.
I just stared at him for a second, then a "Tay!" escaped my mouth, embracing him.
I started to pull away from his presence, but I felt him not let go. Then he let go, the room silent. I turned around and looked at everyone.
"Well, we have to help Mac, Avie, and Jess unpack. Come on, let's go." Diana said, picking up Mac. Walker took Jess and Avie to their room, with Diana following behind them.
"Wow, it's been awhile, even Zac isn't talking, as he usually is." I spoke up, taking a place on the loveseat.
I felt all their 6 eyes boring into me. "What?" I asked. "You've changed." Tay said. "What do you mean?" I asked again.
"You died your hair blonde." he said. "You got braces." spoke up Isaac. "You're taller." Zac said. "You just...look...more different." Tay said.
"Is it really that obvious?" I asked, vainly and defensively.
"No, we just happened to notice. I mean, we haven't been here for who knows how long. And if you don't mind me saying so, you have more of an attitude, which isn't bad." Isaac explained.
"I guess it has been too long. I mean, you've gotten taller, and you look older," I said to Isaac, "same with Zac, he's changed. And Taylor, look at him," I continued, now kind of talking to him, "I mean, he's changed the most. He's taller, as tall as me now, and, if you don't mind me pointing it out, his voice is so much deeper." I said.
"Not again, god, please don't discuss about my voice," he said, rubbing his hands up and down his face, falling back onto the loveseat.
"Why? What?" I asked. "He already got enough of it in California; people continually argue and bugged him about it." Isaac explained.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know." I said.
There was a pause. For once, again, we were speechless. It had been so long.
"Um, guys, someone say something." I said, starting to feel uncomfortable.
"Something." Zac said. I giggled. Isaac looked at Zac. "What? She said to say something." he explained.
"Well, I'm going to ask something. How was California?" I asked.
"Where do we start?" Isaac asked.
"Well, in the house that we stayed in, you could see the Hollywood sign from the backyard." Zac said.
"Wow, really? How awesome!," I said, "what about the record? How did it go?"
"It was a long process. I mean, we must have wrote 50 songs and only 13 were accepted." Taylor said.
"Yeah, but it was probably even longer recording the album. We had to go from studio to studio." Isaac said.
"So, would you say that all that work had paid off?" I asked.
"Definetly." they said.
Again, another pause rose among us, setting the tone in an uncomfortable silence. Over to my side, I noticed Taylor fidgeting.
"Well, I have to go do something in my room, so I'll be outta here." Isaac said, getting up.
Taylor and I looked at Zac. Then Isaac just stood there, looking at Zac too.
"Zac, you have to come and help me." Isaac said. "Why?" "Because, you just have to." he said more sternly.
Finally getting the message through his head, "Oh, okay." he said, and got up.
"I'm glad you're back." I said to them. "We are too." Zac said, then both of them headed upstairs.
"Well, um, are you doing anything else today?" I asked Taylor, seeing that we were the only ones in the living room.
"Do you want to take a walk, and talk, catch up on each other?" he asked.
I looked at him, a sly smile rising over my face. I quickly stood up, grabbed Taylor's hand, and said, "Come on, let's go." and helped him up, and we ran out the front door.
"So, what happened when we were gone?" Tay asked.
"Oh, you wouldn't believe what happened! So much happened, I don't know where to start. Well, here it goes," I said, getting all excited, "I went to school, came home, did homework, and went to sleep. Went to school, came home, did homework, and slept some more. Oh, did I forget to mention that I did some homework?" I said, sarcastically.
Taylor laughed. "You know, you've changed, but your still the same person." he stated, smiling at me.
But his smile was different, one that I couldn't recognize. I thought about this. He smiled like he was in love or something.
I was caught. "Hey, Kim, are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said dreamily, "I mean, yeah, of course, I'm fine." I said normally.
We got to talking again. Somehow, we came across relationships. I just couldn't keep it in when Tay took my hand.
"Tay? I have to tell you something." I said. "Anything." I took his hand into my hands, a smile rising upon his face.
"I have a boyfriend." I blurted. His face started to fall. "Who?" "Jeff." I said. There was a pause. "Cool, I'm happy for you."
But he wasn't all that happy.
