"Better live it up now, Tay." Isaac said walking in from his shower. His hair damp as he ran a towel over it. "We've got limited time here. Live it while you can." He advised.
Taylor watched his older brother throw the towel into the wash bucket and grab for a sweatshirt. Then left again. He sighed once more.
Zac walked in next. Intruding on the silence that Taylor had just made again.
"Get up and do something. We're not going to be here for long." Zac said as he grabbed for his rollerblades and street hockey stick.
Groaning, Taylor threw his covers over his head. "Why does everyone keep telling me that?" He asked harshly. "I know when we leave. I know when we come back. And I know when we have to leave again."
Zac laughed. "Calm down." He stated. "We think we have to remind you because you never do anything, and then when we leave you whine cause you didn't do anything."
Tugging the blanket down Taylor eyed him. "I only wished that we could stay home longer for a week sometimes, so that I CAN do something. So that I CAN be a normal teen again. Living in my house for longer than a week."
"That's a nice dream, Tay. But we live in reality here." Zac said grinning. "We're doing what we love. That's what matters. And we still love doing it, because it's us."
"You just had to be a prodigal child didn't you?" Taylor asked as he dragged himself out of his bed.
Zac started laughing again. "I only am, cause I know it bugs people."
"Especially you." He added as he left.
Laughing also, Taylor started to get his stuff ready to take a shower. "I can dream, can't I?" He asked himself as he grabbed his handful of clothes and towels.
He started whistling as he walked down to the bathroom. Planning his day out in his head.
"Zac, you're way flat." Isaac said as he stepped back away from the microphone.
Zac looked up at him and shrugged. "Go again?" He asked.
Taylor tapped his fingers impatiently on the side of his keyboards. "I need a drink." He stated as he went to go get his drink from off stage.
He came back a second after. "Hey, before we start again, where do we go after tonight's performance?"
Isaac was quiet for a moment. Then he counted his fingers. "Is today the fifteenth?" He asked.
"Yep, today's the fifteenth." Zac commented as he twirled around on his seat.
"Then we go to straight to Florida tomorrow morning for two days, then to Atlanta for two days, California for three days, and then I think back over to Europe for two weeks. Then home for a few weeks." Isaac said as he said the dates he had memorized.
"We don't see home for almost a month?" Taylor asked incredulously.
"Oh," Isaac said smiling, as he glanced over at Zac. "The boy can count. You've been teaching him math again, haven't you?"
Taylor tossed him an annoyed look. "I just thought we were doing the States. That's all."
"Well, we are doing what we want, Tay." Isaac reminded him.
Taylor smiled. "I know. I just miss home now and again." He said as he tapped out a small tune.
"Hey, what's that to?" Isaac asked curiously.
"Nothing." Taylor responded. "Just thought of it." He thought of more and added onto it.
Zac tapped out a steady rhythm on his drums, while Isaac came in on his guitar.
They jammed for a few minutes. Each taking lead on what was coming next.
They all laughed when they were done.
"That was way awesome." Isaac stated as he continued to laugh some more.
Nodding, Zac and Taylor agreed. Taylor smiling broadly again.
"Boys, I just got some news." Mr. Hanson said as he walked into their dressing room.
"What, Dad?" Isaac asked turning away form the mirror. His hairbrush still in his hand.
"There's been an addition to the plans. "We're going to Asia for a little bit and to England again." He took a breath and looked at Taylor. "Possibly Italy also."
"How long before we go home again?" Taylor questioned as he stared at his shoes.
"No more than two weeks into December, Tay." Was his answer.
Taylor nodded. He couldn't change the plans. Might as well accept them.
Isaac and Zac glanced at each other and Taylor before they shrugged. He would get over it. Besides they were spending a lot of time home, once they got there.
Lights beat down on them, screams engulfed them, and sweat poured off them. The bass was vibrating the stage. A familiar feel beneath Taylor's feet. He loved it. As much as he would get agitated and annoyed, he had to admit, there was nothing else out there like this. This moment.
'I can only dream, can't I?' Was his favorite saying when he was little.
Grownups and friends used to tease him, when he would say someday he was going to perform for thousands of people with his brothers. He couldn't help but smile out into the crowd and at his brothers. 'This is what dreams are made for.' He thought as he brought a beat out of his keyboards. 'For reality.'
Backstage he met fans that said they loved him and his music. He smiled appreciatively at them. Then he started talking to one of the company members. Their managers 'right hand man' as he calls him.
They started discussing the performing plans for the next few weeks until their next break when Zac brought over a fan with something for him to sign.
Without even thinking about it, he smiled and signed the picture quickly, shaking her hand and giving her shoulder a friendly squeeze. Then turned back around to his discussion with the man named Kirk. Not even thinking twice about the fan he just met briefly with.
"Taylor, no matter how much you push and shove the shows together you're still not going to be home until well into December." Kirk stated agitated by someone younger than him telling him how to do his job.
Taylor stalked away form him. "I can dream, can't I." He muttered under his breath before he started talking with a set of twin fans.
