Back at my house that night, I thought about how much I loved Ike. How I loved being with him, how I loved the feeling of his arms around me. I fell asleep instantly, exhausted.
I woke up to the phone ringing. "Hello?" I said groggily.
"Hi Jen! It's Zac, my brothers are eating now, and they asked me to call you. If it's okay with you, Ike and Taylor can come pick you and Alex up at your house and bring you back to the hotel with them. We have an interview first, but I'm sure you two can come with."
"Cool!" I said, "can you pick us up in an hour?"
"Okay, we'll be there, bye!"
I called Alex and told her what Zac had said. She said she'd be over in half an hour. After we hung up, I showered, blow-dried my hair, dressed in boot-cut khakis, Skechers and a CK shirt, put on make-up, and pulled my shoulder-length blond-brown hair (Ike's hair color) up into a high ponytail.
Alex arrived dressed similar to me, except she had a Tommy Hilfiger shirt on and her long strawberry blond hair was down. We each ate a bowl of cereal after I had told my mom where I was going, and waited outside to be picked up.
A red car pulled up in my driveway, and we stood up, walked to the car, saw that Tay and Ike were inside, so we hopped in. I sat in front with Ike, who was driving, and Alex sat in the back with Tay.
I kissed Ike on the cheek, and he started the car. We drove to the Chicago Tribune building, where they were going to have an interview and some pictures taken.
We walked into the building laughing because Ike had done an impression of how Zac acted around Allison. We found Zac waiting for us in an armchair. He came over, and we looked around. A man walked up to us, holding out his hand.
"Hello, I'm Robert Williamson, journalist for the Tribune, and you must be Hanson. May I ask who these two young ladies are?"
"We're their cousins," I said innocently.
"All right," he said, "follow me."
The five of us followed him up two flights of stairs. We were brought into a room. Mr. Williamson asked about 20 questions, which the boys answered eagerly and honestly. Except when he asked them if they had any girlfriends, all three said, "not right now, we're very busy." "And you said these two girls were your cousins?" he asked suspiciously.
"Yes, we're their cousins," Alex said.
"Well then," Mr. Williamson said, "you have a 20 minute break before we take a few pictures." He left the room, leaving us.
"I'm going to pee," Zac declared.
"That's nice Zac, I'm so proud of you, being potty-trained and all," I said with a laugh.
"Yup," Zac said with a grin, "it took me 12 years, but I finally did it, I don't need diapers anymore mommy, because I can use a potty!"
We all laughed and Zac said, with his grin disappearing, "but seriously, I gotta pee--really bad, so if you don't mind, I have an appointment with Mr. Toilet." He left the room with us laughing behind him.
Ike and I left, and found a dark, empty room, entering it. "Can I kiss you?" he asked. "Ike, you don't have to ask, I order you to kiss me," I answered yanking him to me.
He pressed his lips against mine, and soon I felt his tongue in my mouth and his hand up my shirt. "Ike," I said, "once I read an article where they described you as a hot teen heartthrob."
"Ugh," he said disgusted, "I really hate that word--heartthrob."
"Well I don't care if you are or not, but you're my heartthrob," I said as I wrapped my arms around his neck. "Uh-oh," I continued, "excuse me for being like Zac, but I have a sudden urge to meet Mr. Toilet." Ike laughed, and I left the room to find the restroom.
When I had finished my business I went back to the dark room, and I couldn't see anything. I walked in and felt Ike's arms aroud me.
"Hey you," I said playfully, kissing him deeply. There was something different about his kiss, something sweet, but different.
"Ike..." I began.
"I'm not Ike," he said.
"Then who are you?" I asked, alarmed.
"I'm Taylor, aren't you Alex?"
"No! I'm Jen! Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I thought you were Ike!"
We walked out of the room, and Taylor was bright red. I bit my lip, trying to think of what to say.
"We can't tell anybody," he said, "I don't want to hurt Alex, and it was an accident."
"Right," I agreed,"I just can't hurt Ike and it was a mistake." We walked back into the interview room as if nothing had happened.
"Where were you two?" Ike asked.
"Yeah," Alex added,"where were you guys?"
"Um...uh..we were..." Taylor stammered.
"We were trying to find you guys," I said, and Taylor gave me a grateful look.
"Oh, sorry Jen," Ike explained, "Mr. Williamson came looking for me while you were in the bathroom, so I had to go back. I knew you'd find me eventually."
"And Taylor," Alex said,"I left the interview room to get a drink of water, and you told me something, but I couldn't hear you, then you left, so I just stayed here."
"Oh," Taylor said,"I had told you to meet me in this empty dark room I had found, but you didn't come so I went to find you, and I found Jen, so we came here. That's what happened."
"When I went back to the room and you weren't there," I said,"I looked for you and found Taylor, and like he said, "we came here."
Zac came back from wandering around the building then, and so did Mr. Williamson. He led us to a giant room where there were 5 photographers, so Ike, Tay, and Zac posed for a few pictures.
While they were doing that, I thought to myself, How could this haave happened? Taylor's kiss felt...good somehow, different good.
But nothing was like Ike's kiss, and nothing felt as good as being in his arms, kissing his lips, that safe feeling. I love Ike. I love being with him. And that's all that matters.
All The Way To Albertane
You Are My Hope
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