Ike leaned his head against the back of his seat. All he could about was how much he missed Jen already. He glanced over at Tay who was obviously thinking about Alex because he had a pained expression on his face. Even Zac seemed to be sulking. But Zac didn't hurt as much as Ike or Tay, how could he? He was only 12.
Eventually Ike fell asleep. He woke up to the flight attendant's voice over the intercom. Zac was still sulking and Tay was now wearing his sunglasses reading a magazine, trying to hide the pain. As the three brother exited the plane, Ike thought to himself, come on, you can do this, you do it all the time, wave at the fans and smile.
A reporter met them at the gate and asked them if they were currently available, and forcing smiles, they all answered, "Yes, we're single, but seriously, we don't have time to date." The reporter scribbled on her notepad, thanked them, and walked away. Dozens of fans awaited them at the gate, holding signs reading, 'Hanson - Welcome Home,' 'We love you guys!' and 'The Tulsa Trio's back in Tulsa.' Ike smiled, and despite the pit in his stomach from how much he missed her, he thought to himself, it's good to be home.
Ike and his brothers sprinted past the fans after signing a few autographs, and made their way to one of the three cabs waiting for them and their family. When the cabs dropped the Hanson family off at their house and had unloaded their bags, they drove away.
Zac seemed really happy to be back, so he ran towards the house, but on the way, tripped and fell flat on his face. "Ow!" he wailed. But he picked himself up, and still inspecting his scraped elbow, walked in and plopped down on the couch.
"Finally!" he said, sighing.
"Not so fast, mister," said Mrs. hanson firmly, "you've got to help your brothers unpack." So Zac reluctantly followed Ike upstairs with a suitcase in hand. When the brothers entered their room, all three seemed to cheer up a bit. Zac opened up his suitcase, dove in, and snatched up stuff to put away, while humming a song loudly.
"Well," said Taylor, "you seem to be back to your regular hyper self."
"Yep," was all Zac had to say.
Ike sighed and plopped down on Taylor's bed, mumbling, "God, I miss Jen."
Taylor put on a determined smile and told Ike that he had better cheer up fast since they have a concert tomorrow.
"I'll try," Ike answered doubtfully.
"Okay, I will too," Taylor said, trying to put aside all the sadness he was experiencing, knowing that it could be weeks until he'd see Alexandra again. Suddenly Zac squealed and dropped down on the floor.
"What's wrong?" Ike asked, looking concerned. Zac sat up.
"I miss Allison, that's what's wrong!"
"Well damn it Zac, you didn't have to scare the crap out of us like that!" Taylor said, surprising both Ike and Zac with this sharp remark to Zac's playfulness, as Tay threw a pillow at Zac's head.
"Okay, that's it," said Zac, "you asked for it -- PILLOW FIGHT!!" He gave a war whoop and whacked his pillow into Taylor's face, but missed and smacked Ike.
"ZAC!!" Ike yelled, "Can't you tell I'm not in the mood?! You're gonna get it now!" Ike jumped off the bed and tackled Zac to the ground. The door opened and Mrs. Hanson came in.
"Boys, could you please try to be more quiet? It's late and your little sisters and brother are trying to sleep, not to mention that you'll wake the baby. So why don't you try to sleep...you've got to perform tomorrow, so get some rest."
"Yeah," said Zac, "Ike REALLY needs his beauty sleep, I can tell." Diana gave Zac a look and left the room. Ike smacked the pillow into Zac hard, knocking him down. Zac pretended to be dead, and Taylor laughed.
A few minutes later Ike, Tay, and Zac climbed into bed. Silence. Even though they didn't say anything, Ike knew that Taylor and Zac were thinking about Alex and Allison.
Then he heard Zac snore loudly, followed by the sound of Taylor whacking him with a pillow, telling him to shut up. Okay, so maybe Zac's not thinking about Allison, but Tay was definitely thinking about Alex, that's why he was in such a bad mood, he was trying to forget his sadness. Well, one thing's for sure, Ike thought, I'm definitely thinking about Jenn, and I definitely miss her.
And he drifted off to sleep.
All The Way To Albertane
You Are My Hope
Next
Back to chapter 16
