A week had past and Tay and Lacey were in the Hanson's living room playing Monopoly. Isaac, Tay, Zac, and Lacey hadn't been able to go out many places without getting mobbed, so basically the Hanson's were spending their time off over friends and family's houses. But now everyone but Tay and Lacey had gone out to the ice skating rink, and they sat on the floor with fake money spread all around them.
"Tay, this is getting boring. Let's.....go somewhere," Lacey suggested while letting out a yawn and sitting up to stretch. "We've been inside all day. Look, it's snowing..."
Taylor sat up and stared outside. "Yeah, I'm getting sick of this too."
Tay looked at Lacey and smiled. "You know what?"
"What?" Lacey asked, without even looking up from the mess of game pieces she was putting back in the box.
"We haven't actually sat down yet and just talked. I mean, like, caught up."
Lacey stopped what she was doing and looked and watched Taylor walk to the kitchen. "I know...but where do we really start?"
"I don't know," Tay shouted from the other room with his head in the refrigerator. "Well do want anything while I'm in here?"
"Whatever!" she yelled back. Taylor came bck in the room with his arms full of food. "Are you gonna eat all that?"
"No, WE'RE gonna eat all of it!" Taylor answered with a laugh, dropping everything on the table.
"Well at least I know your eating habits haven't changed!" Lacey laughed.
After Taylor had settled down on the other side of the couch from Lacey and opened a bag of popcorn, he looked around trying to think of a question to ask Lacey. "OK, I got one. What did you do to those old muddy overalls you wore everyday, and when did you start wearing eyeshadow?" Tay asked teasingly, throwing popcorn into the air and catching it with his mouth.
Lacey smiled. "Hmmm...those overalls are in my bottom left-hand drawer, and I started wearing eyeshadow when...um..." she laughed a little. "...When I started going out with Andy." she finished her sentence and waited for Taylor to react. She knew he'd have something to say about it, since as kids he was always asking her if she'd ever get married, and Lacey, in complete disgust, would always say she'd never even date a boy. Taylor would roll his eyes and tell her she'd change her mind while Lacey would just make faces back.
Taylor stopped and a grin spread across his face. "So guys still have cooties, do they?" Tay laughed then realized what this meant. Lacey, his best friend, had grown up without him there. He wanted to know more about this Andy guy, so Lacey spent the next half-hour telling Tay the story of her first boyfriend. As she told him everything she began to remember how they used to talk like this. Not necessarily about boyfriends and girlfriends...but other stuff that little girls would only talk about to other little girls. Taylor sat through her whole story of Andy, then Lacey got a knot in her stomache. She knew he'd want to know why they broke up.
"So why did you break up?" Tay asked. He had stopped eating awhile ago.
"Well..." Lacey didn't know how to put it. "You were coming home and..." she drifted off.
Taylor almost realized what she was saying...it was what he had hoped she would say. "You knew I'd come home, see that some punk was with my girl, and you knew I'd rough him up?" Tay said laughing, but inside he was serious.
Lacey started laughing too. Over the next hour they caught up on the time they'd lost. Taylor told Lacey about all the places they'd seen and the fans they'd met. Before they knew it Diana, Walker, and Tay's brothers and sisters were walking in the front door.
"Hey Taylor and Lacey, we're only home for a few minutes. We're all going out for dinner and figured we should stop home and pick up you two..." Diana said as she followed Jessie and Avie down the hall to change.
Ike and Zac ran right for the kitchen before Diana could remind them not to go spoil their dinner. Mackie had brought in a snow ball from outside, and before Taylor knew it, it was smashed into his face. Taylor jumped up from the couch and started chasing Mackie around the house. Within a matter of 30 seconds, the house had gone from quiet and peaceful to loud and commotional. Lacey watched Taylor run around with Mackenzie on his back and smiled to herself.
Lacey called her mom to tell her she was going out with the Hansons for dinner and within 3 minuted they were all packed in the minivan. They went to Nino's, a popular Italian restaurant in Tulsa and got a table for eight. After they had ordered their food, Ike started telling Jessie a joke, Zac started playing tic-tac-toe with Avie, and Walker and Diana were helping Mackie color on his napkin. Lacey watched them all then without looking at Taylor, said, "You're so lucky. You must never get lonely."
Taylor gave her a strange look. "What do you mean? Why would you be lonely?"
Lacey paused, then deciding not to get into it, shrugged her shoulders. Instead she picked up one of the flowers sitting in the vase on the table and looked at it. "This is really pretty. Do you know what kind of flower it is?" she asked Taylor. He didn't have a clue.
After they ate their dinner and were ready to leave, happy that they'd only been interrupted twice by fans, the Hansons got up and left the restaurant.
The next day was a Monday, and Lacey had to go to school despite the snowy weather. She'd had an extremely bad day and wanted to just go home and curl up in her room. When she finally got home and went upstairs, she felt like she'd had the worst day in her whole life. When she opened her bedroom door all she saw was a bouquet of flowers. They were the same exact ones that had been at the restaurant the night before. She picked up the little card that was attached but layed down on her bed and closed her eyes. She didn't even have to read it...she knew who they were from.
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Chapter 4
