"How much longer?" Randy complained, her voice stretching already taut nerves.
"About ten more minutes shorter than when you asked last." Dahven answered without looking up from her magazine.
Randy rolled her eyes. "So what are we going to do when we get there?" She asked, her voice muffled as she searched through her bag.
Stretching her neck, Dahven shrugged. "Well, I'm gonna drive us to my house and then we're gonna sleep and get rid of jet-lag."
"Are you sure that you will be capable of driving?" Randy questioned, unsure if she should really drive with jet lag. "Cause I really don't wanna die before I see Tulsa or meet Hanson."
Dahven nodded, "Yep. I will. I wanna get home, relax, and sleep. Then we can meet whoever and do whatever." She said confidently, giving a weak smile.
"Oh, okay." Randy said as she took out sheets of paper and a walkman.
"Reading, learning, or writing?" Dahven asked curiously, leaning over to get a good look at what she was going to be doing.
Randy looked at her with a confused expression. "Huh?"
"Are you learning it? Writing it? Or just reading it?" Dahven asked pointing to the paper.
"Oh." Randy said smiling sheepishly, then she looked down at the paper. "Learning it actually. I want to learn as much as I can about music."
"Cool." Dahven murmured. Her mind started to churn again as she settled back in her seat and watched as Randy settled in hers.
"Randy! We're here!" Dahven shouted at Randy after she removed one of her headphones from her ears.
"Ahh!" Randy screamed jumping. She would've jumped out of her chair if the seatbelt hadn't stopped her.
"What'd you do that for?" She groaned, turning her walkman off. She rubbed at her stomach, "That's gonna leave a mark."
"We're here. In Tulsa." Dahven explained happily. "Just thought that you might want to know that."
Starting to shove her papers and walkman into her bag Randy bobbed her head. "Okay, I understand, Charm. Thanks for explaining it to me."
"Let's get off now." Dahven said nudging Randy towards the exit.
"Can I call Kim and everyone when I get to your house? I won't stay on long." Randy asked as they got off the plane.
"Sure. Stay on as long as you like. Just not an hour with each friend." She shrugged as they went to the baggage claim.
"Cool, thanks." Randy said as she grabbed her suitcase, which had Hanson paraphernalia all over it.
Dahven grinned, "Not a problem."
Leading them to where her blue V.W. convertible was waiting for them, Dahven tried to explain as much as she could about Tulsa that her tired mind could remember.
"Cool car." Randy said as she put her bags in the backseat.
Getting in, Dahven put the top down and smiled at the compliment, "Thanks. Now we can go home, you can call Kim and everyone else, and then we're go to sleep for a very long time."
Randy nodded her head tiredly. "I like that plan." She said leaning her head on the headrest and closing her eyes. "I like it a lot."
Dahven nodded, "It's not gonna take us long to get to my place. But I'll point out as much as I can while we go by."
"This is your house?" Randy asked in awe before long, as the pulled up in front of the huge two story house.
Smirking at her enthusiasm, Dahven got out. "Yeah. It's mine. Well, technically Arie's and mine." Dahven said as she got out.
"Awesome." Randy said as she got out and grabbed her bags. She stared at the house greedily. "I need to get me one of these."
"C'mon." Dahven muttered when Randy kept looking up at her house. This was the part she hated about bringing friend's home with her. That was why she only had a few.
"Oh, okay." Randy said as she walked behind Dahven to the front door.
"Okay, we might have to move fast, 'cause I don't want to talk to Arie just yet. Okay?" Dahven asked abruptly. "But if you need something to eat or drink, I can get ya some with no problem."
Randy shook her head as she marveled at the interior as well. "No, I'm fine. We can just head up to your room." She answered slowly, only mildly curious as to why they were avoiding her brother.
Nodding, Dahven quickly led them up the stairs, and were about to go into her room when Arie walked out of his.
He smiled at them both. "Charm, may I have a word with you?" He asked politely.
Dahven opened her bedroom door and showed Randy inside. "I'll be back in a second, okay?" She asked making sure that she would be okay alone.
"Yeah. Go on." Randy said waving her hand.
"Okay." Dahven said slowly as she turned and followed Arie into his old room, which was now a small library.
"I talked to Essence yesterday." Arie said as he sat down, watching as his sister just stared out the window. "She told me that you know about the baby now." Arie continued.
When he got no answer he ran a hand through his short hair. "Charm, talk to me." He begged.
She turned around sharply, "Why should I?" She asked darkly, "Every time I forgive you for doing something you just go and do something twice as worse."
Arie hung his head. "I'm sorry, Charm." He whispered.
"Sorry?" She choked out. "You're sorry? You betrayed me, Arie. Twice!" She shouted frustratedly.
Tears of hurt and anger pricked her eyes sharply behind her lids. "You let Syrus and Kasha almost run my life. You married Essence then divorced her. Now you and her are going to have a baby and you're only going to pay child support!"
She stalked to the door, but suddenly stopped and began to talk calmly. "I thought that family stuck together. I thought when you make a promise that it was unbreakable. I thought that we loved and respected each other." Then she shook her head sadly. "I guess I was wrong again." She whispered before she left.
Quickly, Dahven ran into her bedroom. Randy was sitting on her bed. Her hands were neatly folded in her lap, and she was staring at them.
"You okay?" Dahven questioned, as she tried to control the emotions in her voice.
"You'd be amazed at how well this house echoes." Randy murmured.
Her breath got caught in her throat. "Oh. So sorry that you had to hear that." She apologized quietly. "It's just… we never seem to talk anymore without fighting."
Randy shook her head. "Never mind it." She said waving her hand. The she pointed to the picture on her nightstand. "Who's all in this?" She inquired.
Getting up for a closer look at the one she was pointing at, Dahven forced a smile. "Oh, that's just my best guy friends' family." She said staring at the picture of her and Hanson from a few years ago.
"That boy there looks kinda cute for his age." Randy said pointing to a small boy sticking his tongue out at the camera and giving his little brother bunny ears.
Dahven laughed lightly because she'd just picked out Taylor without even knowing it. She went and grabbed a pair of her pj's. "I have a bed under mine and you can stay in here. Or if you want to, you can stay in another room if you like." She suggested.
Randy shook her head and took the bed out from under Dahven's. "I'll stay in here." She said smiling.
Nodding Dahven went into her bathroom and changed into her pj's and brushed her teeth. When she walked out Randy was talking on her phone.
"It's Kim. She wants to talk to you." Randy said as she handed Dahven her phone and grabbed her pj's and went into Dahven's bathroom.
"Hello?" Dahven said cautiously.
"So when can everyone come down to Tulsa?" Kim asked excitedly.
"Kim, I think that you'd be able to come and a few friends but only for about a day." Dahven said as she put the rest of her pictures on her nightstand in her dresser drawer. "But that's up to y'all. Do you think you can handle the jetlag?"
"Sounds fine to me." Kim said before Dahven could say anything else. "I'll bring a few people down tomorrow." She stated before she hung up.
When Dahven started to put the phone in it's cradle Randy came out and saw her staring at it. "Trying to make it ring?" Randy asked smiling.
"No." Dahven said slowly. "But it looks like we're having company tomorrow already."
"Oh, who?" Randy asked as they both got into their beds.
Dahven laughed. "Evidently Kim and whoever she brings." She answered before yawning and closing her eyes.
"Cool." Randy mumbled before her eyelids fell and didn't re-open.
"Hmm." Dahven said as she rolled over in her bed. The shrilling sound of her telephone ringing woke her up. “‘Ello?" She said groggily as she reluctantly placed the phone next to her ear.
"Hey!" She said loudly as her eyes flew open, carefully surveying her room looking for Randy.
"Okay, she's not around. So what's up? Yeah, of course I miss you!" Dahven said smiling. "I think she's in my bathroom taking a shower. Well, if she's not, then some stranger is. I don't know who else it would be if it wasn't Randy." She said laughing.
"Great. Isaac, I have a great plan that I need to put into play. And I want to tell you about it. But you can't tell anyone just yet, and no before you ask I don't need help. Well, I do. Just from an old client's of my parents." Dahven said as she made sure Randy wasn't around again.
"Morning, Miss Sunshine." Isaac said when Dahven picked up the phone. I must've woken her up. He thought guiltily.
"Can you talk? I mean is Randy around?" He asked, praying that she wasn't so that he could talk to her. "Do you miss me?" He asked smiling to himself.
Just then a strange thought gnawed at his brain. "What's Randy doing if she's not in your room?"
"Are you sure it's her in the shower? It could be some strange weirded out psycho freak." Isaac said laughing.
He watched as Taylor and Zac rolled their eyes at each other.
"Okay, tell me about this great plan that you have." Isaac said as he got through listening to her telling him about what he can and can’t do. He smiled as she told him her plan.
Zac and Taylor now started getting interested in the conversation that they had thought was lame and gross at first.
"I think it's a great idea. She'll love it. Do you need any help on with it?" Isaac asked wanting to help out. He frowned. "I can't. Well, okay I guess." He said a little disappointed by the fact that Dahven didn't need his help with the plan.
He perked up though. "Well, Zac, Tay, and I can help with that part!" He stated confidently.
Zac looked at Taylor questioning, and Taylor just shrugged his shoulders. Then they both turned their attentions back on Isaac and his phone conversation with Dahven.
"Well, I'll see ya tomorrow then. You have how many friends coming over? You don't know. I feel sorry for you now." Isaac said laughing lightly.
"Yes, I love you too." He returned sweetly. "Okay, buh bye." He said as he hung up the phone. He had this weird smile plastered on his face.
"So, Ike..." Taylor started nonchalantly. "What's this great plan all about?"
"Forget that!" Zac interrupted. "What are you going to be making us do?" He questioned eyeing his oldest brother suspiciously.
Isaac's smile grew. "I can't tell you just yet. D is working on all the details, and when everything is ready, then I can tell. And then I can make you do what I need for us to do."
Zac and Taylor looked at each other uneasily. A little nervous at the thought about what kind of tricks Dahven and Isaac had up their sleeves for them.
"Kim and whoever is coming should be almost here by now." Dahven said looking at her clock. Isaac had called her at nine and they had gone to sleep at five. She had taken a shower after Randy got out.
Randy nodded her. Then she smiled brightly. "So is your best guy friends coming over?" She asked slyly.
Dahven shook her head sadly. "Nope. They're kinda busy right now." She wrinkled her nose, "Well, they're always busy actually."
"Do you see each other a lot?" Randy asked as she lay at the foot of Dahven's bed.
"Occasionally. We meet on and off I guess you can say. Sometimes he's around. Other times he isn't. But when he's not around I usually go and visit him." Dahven said shrugging.
"Well, what does he do?" Randy asked as she started to put her hair into a high ponytail.
Dahven smiled at this. "He's… in his family business." She replied, not wanting to get too far into the conversation.
Randy shrugged her shoulders. "Hey, I bet Kim has her laptop on the plane with her. And when she does, she's on-line, and so is everyone else." She said eyeing Dahven's computer with hungry eyes.
Dahven laughed and went over to her computer. Clicking it on, she let everything boot up. "So is there a special chat room she goes into?" She asked as she started to dial up her connection on-line.
Randy gave an evil grin. "Guess."
"No, just tell me. I suck bad at guessing games." Dahven said laughing.
"Duh, sometimes she's at Hanson's chat room on Hansonline-dot-com." Randy said in a southern drawl.
She laughed, "That's not funny."
Quickly she entered the address, and soon logged into the chat room as DizzyDiva.
"Hmm, looks like she's on in a private room." Randy said sitting down next to Dahven.
She looked at Randy and saw that she was sitting in Isaac's chair. She quickly turned back to the screen. "Well, let's see if she'll let us in." She said clicking on 1Kim. Immediately she was allowed in the private chat.
1Kim: About time you 2 showed
TinkRBell: So what's up?
JabbRJet: Yeah, wuz up U 2
DizzyDiva: Will U let us answer
DizzyDiva: Sheez!!
JabbRJet: NO!!
JabbRJet: j/k
TinkRBell: *LOL*
1Kim: K, so answer already
DizzyDiva: Nothin's up
DizzyDiva: We were talking
DizzyDiva: That's why we R late
1Kim: Good, we should B there in a few min.
JabbRJet: This ride is soooooo long
TinkRBell: We all have our laptops out
TinkRBell: People are giving us weird looks
DizzyDiva: *LOL*
1Kim: ppl always give us weird looks
TinkRBell: Only when Linz is around
JabbRJet: Hey!!! What about me?
DizzyDiva: Hehe, so what R we gonna do?
DizzyDiva: N E thing U wanna do
JabbRJet: *S* Let's go find Hanson
JabbRJet: I wanna meet Zac *G*
TinkRBell: No Linz U wanna marry Zac
1Kim: It doesn't matter
1Kim: It's your place
DizzyDiva: Then we'll just hang out
DizzyDiva: cause U all will have jet lag
TinkRBell: Great, my dream come true, jetlag
JabbRJet: Hey, is there going to be any sugar???
1Kim: NO!!!! NO WAY IN HELL!!!!!!
DizzyDiva: No!!!!!! NO NO :::shaking head::::
TinkRBell: No!!!! NU UH!!
JabbRJet: *FOTFLMAO* j/k
1Kim: The plane is getting ready 2 land
TinkRBell: R U gonna pick us up?
DizzyDiva: Yeah, B right there
1Kim: K, c-ya in a few
They each signed off and Dahven went and grabbed her shoes. "C'mon we're already a little late." She called to Randy.
Randy nodded and ran after Dahven to her car. "Is this gonna fit three other people?" She questioned looking at the small backseat.
"Yep, they can put their luggage in the trunk. It'll be a tight squeeze. But it'll work." Dahven said as she got behind the wheel.
Randy slid into the passenger’s seat. "Only if you say so." She replied as she buckled her seatbelt tightly.
She grinned, "I do."
