A Tulsa Kind Of Summer
Zac Hanson sighed as he walked through the music store, it had been almost six months since the last time he had really been able to shop there, too busy with his brothers working on their newest cd, thankfully they had finished almost a month early, but the store still had no good new cds.
Putting his hand in his pocket, Zac wondered what had possessed him to dress the way he had that morning.
He was wearing his blue pants that were made out of a plastic like material and had a ton of extra pockets with zippers all up and down the legs, along with his black shirt with the white hems and stripes down the sleeves, and to top it all off, he had borrowed his brother's black boots that buckled shut on the side.
"I guess I can't escape dressing weird even at home." Zac said to himself with a smile.
Working his way around the side of the isle he had just finished searching, Zac stopped about halfway around the corner while still in mid-step.
About fifteen feet away from him or so were two girls talking, smiling, and laughing about something.
Carefully, and quietly, Zac walked closer so that he could hear what they were saying, when he got about ten feet away from them he noticed the taller one was holding the debut album that he and his brothers had released two years ago, Middle Of Nowhere.
"Hey Hunni, look at this!" she said as held it out past the other girls light brown hair.
"What is it Kai?" Hunni answered turning back around to see what her friend was holding in her face, "It's MON, what about it?"
"Can you believe it's been about two and a half years since they first started working on it? And now they're working on another cd!"
"I know," Hunni said taking the cd from Kai, "I just wish we could of visited Tulsa while they were here instead of off recording at some exclusive, top-secret, who knows where, recording studio."
Zac laughed to himself as he listened in on their conversation, not alot of people knew that they had finished up the cd early and were back home already, which so far had been working to their advantage, not as many people staking out the house.
While Zac busied himself looking through the cds Hunni and Kai put back the ones they were looking through and began walking out of the store.
As they walked past Zac, Hunni stopped and gave the back of him a weird look.
"What is it Hunni?" Kai whispered when she noticed that her friend was intently studying the back of some kids head.
"Kai...that boy looks just like Zac Hanson...do you think it could be?" Hunni quietly said under her breath.
Just then Zac turned around with the cd he had just found and was heading to purchase, it wasn't new, but it would do for now.
"AHHHHH"
Zac jumped backwards at the sound of somebody screaming and almost tripped and fell backwards into the case of cds he had just been looking in.
"It's! You're! Him! Omigosh!" Hunni stuttered as she found herself face to face with her crush of the past two and a half years.
"No way..." Kai said in wide eyed amazement, "You're..."
"Zac Hanson," Zac cut in, "and you are?"
"Kai, and this is my friend Hunni."
"Where you from? Around here or no?" Zac asked as he regained his composure and stepped away from the cds.
Finally Hunni found her voice which had temporarily gone on vacation.
"Indiana...we just came down for a visit, you know, something to do for fun."
"Traveling for fun, yeah, I'd say I know alot about that." Zac replied with a grin.
"What cd are you buying?" Hunni asked while she tried to think of all the things she had always said she would say to him when she met him.
"Fastball. Taylor had it, but he lost it somewhere, so I figured I'd pick it up again." Zac said holding it up. "Well, I'd better get going, I told my mom I'd only be gone for an hour, and by the time I get home, that will of passed. You two going to be in town long?"
"Another week and a half." Kai told Zac hoping he'd suggest they could get together sometime.
"Kewl, feel free to drop on by anytime, I'm sure you know where we live...just make sure to say I told you to come on over, or they might shoo you away."
"Sure!" both girls answered at the same time.
"C-ya"
With that Zac walked away giving them a wave over his shoulder.
A few moments later found Kai and Hunni at the food court in the mall eating french fries and talking over what had just gone on in the music store.
"Kai, can you believe that just happened? That we just talked to Zac Hanson?" Hunni sighed as she absent mindedly ate some fries.
"It's hard to believe, but yeah, we just met Zac Hanson…and….he invited us over to his house!" Kai said as she reached for her soda.
"So, when are we going to go then Kai? Tomorrow afternoon?"
"Yeah, I think that would work."
"Omigosh!" Hunni quickly shouted.
"What is it?" Kai said thinking something was terribly wrong.
"What are we going to wear?" Hunni answered giving Kai a look of sheer distress.
Laughing, Kai answered by saying she had no idea.
"Then we need to get back to the hotel…I am not going to meet Hanson looking like I threw on the first thing in my closet!"
"Ok, ok already, let's get going."
The two girls cleaned up where they had eaten and soon returned to the hotel where they decided what they were going to wear the next day.
Finally both of them were happy with what they had picked, Kai had decided on a short sleeved black shirt with white hems and red stitching along the sleeves and collar, along with a pair of baggy black carpenter jeans with off white contrast stitching, to match her black combat style boots. Hunni had picked out a black long sleeved shirt with white bands that had a maroon stripe in the middle of it around the arms, boot-leg cut blue jeans, and yellow Doc Martins like Zac's.
Around midnight they finally collapsed into their beds and fell asleep dreaming of the day to come, which came sooner, and held more, than they expected.
Early the next afternoon Kai and Hunni pulled up the Hanson driveway in Kai's black Jimmy, each not quite sure what they were going to experience once they made it to the house itself.
Slowly they walked up the tree shaded walkway as they talked to each other in low tones.
Getting to the door they both looked at each other for a moment before Kai reached out and softly knocked on the door.
Holding their breath they both watched as the door swung open.
"Hello?" Avery Hanson held the door open as she stared at the two strange girls standing in the doorway who were staring right back at her.
Hunni was the first to speak up, "Hi, are your brothers home?"
"Yeah, but um…" Avery paused as she tried to figure out what to say.
Just then Isaac, Taylor, and Zac came running up the stairs.
Zac was in the lead with both of his brothers in hot pursuit.
"Tell us where you put it Zac!" Isaac yelled slightly out of breath, "Or we'll tell Mom that you're hiding it from us!"
Just as Taylor was about to add his own out of breath comments, he noticed his sister along with two girls he didn't recognize watching them from the doorway with amused looks on their faces.
Slowing to a walk Taylor went over and protectively put his hand on Avie's shoulder.
"Hi," he said with a certain degree of wariness to his voice, "I can't really say I know you, and that could be a problem, so…who are you?"
"Well, my name is Kai…"
"Nice to meet you Kai…" Taylor said extending his hand that had been on Avie's shoulder as his voice faded to almost a whisper.
It took Kai a moment to tear herself away from gazing into his clear blue eyes that had been returning her intense look.
"And um…this is my friend…" Kai finally managed to get out without choking.
"Hunni!" came a voice from behind Taylor, "It's ok Tay, I met them yesterday at the music store and invited them to come on over."
"Oh," Taylor said dropping all concern from his voice, "It that case, come right on in."
Stepping in through the door frame Kai and Hunni both took 'inventory' of how the three brothers looked.
Isaac was in a semi-tight, navy blue tank top and matching warm-up pants with a white stripe running down the side of it.
Taylor was dressed in a short sleeved green shirt that had a blue and white stripe running around it paired with some medium brown cords.
Zac was wearing a white short sleeve shirt to go along with the pair of khaki dungaree's that he had on.
All three had their hair down and were going barefoot.
Finally curiosity got the best of Hunni and she asked why Isaac and Taylor had both been chasing and yelling after Zac.
"Oh that," Isaac said sounding as though he had forgotten about the whole thing already, "We just finished up practicing and he had hidden our mom's brownies and wouldn't tell us where he had put them."
Zac flashed a sheepish grin as Isaac recounted the story.
"You know," Zac said when Ike had finished, "I don't know about you two," he said referring to his brothers, "but I am soaked in sweat. I'm going upstairs to change. Kai, Hunni, you guys want to come upstairs and wait?"
Kai politely declined the offer while Hunni eagerly accepted it.
Just as Hunni left to follow Zac up the stair case someone rang the doorbell.
Isaac answered the front door as Kai and Taylor observed from across the room.
Standing on the other side of the door was a girl of about 17. She was outfitted in a baby blue, off the shoulder shirt that had a black butterfly on it, cutoff indigo shorts, and a pair of platform sandals.
Before Kai could ask Taylor who she was, Isaac had already grabbed her by around the waist and swept her in through the door.
"Sierra," Isaac said addressing the girl, "this is Kai, she just met Zac yesterday. Kai, this is Sierra, my not quite girlfriend.
"Isaac!" Sierra shouted with a twinkle in her forest green eyes.
Pretending to push away from Isaac, Sierra laughed when she noticed that Taylor was rolling his eyes at them.
"You guys are so immature, I'm leaving." Taylor said a mock exasperated voice.
"Fine," Isaac replied, "I know where we aren't wanted. Come on Sierra, let's go someplace we can be alone."
"Then fine," Tay said now using a mock arguementive voice, "we were leaving anyway, weren't we Kai."
Before Kai had a chance to respond Isaac was already arguing back with Taylor in their little 'fight'.
"Fine, come on Sierra." Isaac said as he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door.
"Fine!" Taylor shouted as he put his arm over Kai's shoulder and pulled her towards the other door.
"Fine!"
"FINE!"
Both brothers continued to yell until they could no longer hear one another.
Laughing Taylor opened the back door and led Kai through the frame and into the spacious backyard.
"Taylor, before we go any further…what just happened?" Kai said as she carefully pulled away from under his arm.
"Sierra and Isaac are sort of going out, he says the only reason they aren't together is because he always forgets to ask her out. They really like each other though"
"Would you ever do that to a girl especially if you really liked her a lot and she was someone you really cared about?" Kai asked as she found herself once again being drawn into his crystal clear blue eyes.
"No, yeah, maybe. It depends. I guess if she was really special, I'd never get around to it because as soon as I got near her I'd forget everything else." Taylor softly answered as he pushed back a stray strand of Kai's dark brown hair.
Kai cautiously reached up and lightly grabbed Taylor's hand as it brushed against the side of her face.
Just when she was about to whisper his name, Taylor pulled his hand away from hers as he added an afterthought to his comments.
"Or…maybe I'd just get amnesia every time she got close, so I'd always be saying, 'Hi, who are you? You're pretty.' or something silly like that." Taylor said flashing her a goofy grin.
"Omigosh," Kai said breaking into laughter, "you guys are nuts!"
"Only the finest quality nuts though!" Tay responded trying to keep a straight face.
Resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at him Kai instead gave him a light shove in the stomach.
Taylor, not expecting that began to lose his balance, so he grabbed Kai's arm which caused her to fall with him.
Hitting the ground, Taylor still hadn't let go of her arm, which caused her to fall to her knees and then land on top of him.
Laying there for just a moment, Kai paused to catch her breath, she could hear Taylor's slightly ragged breath along with his heart beating.
Carefully pushing herself up off the ground she collapsed to the left of him onto her back and just stayed there as she tried to calm down.
As both teens laid on the ground side by side, Kai's heart began to beat even faster than it had been as Taylor rolled over on to his side and placed his right hand over her stomach and lightly tugged down her shirt which had come up slightly when they had fallen.
Leaving his hand resting on her stomach, he propping his head up with his other hand, Taylor sat up a little bit and paused before he finally spoke up and broke the near silence that had only been broken by the sounds of both of them breathing.
"Ok," Taylor said in a low voice still a little bit out of breath, "it looks like we've been left by my brothers, so if you want to stay, you'll have to hang with me. Is that alright with you?"
Not being able to say anything in-between trying to catch her breath and the feel of Taylor laying right next to her, touching her, she chose to just simply nod her head and return the gentle gaze that he was giving her.
"Treehouse?" he asked her in a soft voice.
"Wha?" Kai said not quite getting what Taylor meant by that.
"Do you want to go to the treehouse? We can get away from the house that way. You know, so we can talk and stuff."
"Oh, sure."
Pulling his hand away from her and rolling over, Taylor slowly got to his feet and brushed some grass and leaves off of his pants before he offered his hand to Kai as she sat up.
Taking his outstretched hand once more, Kai shivered as a sudden chill went worked its way down her back.
"Are you cold?" Tay asked as he pulled her to her feet and carefully brushed some grass out of her hair and off her shoulders.
"No, I'm fine." Kai said avoiding his concerned look, "I just got a chill out of nowhere. It was nothing, really."
"Good…I was about to say, cold in the middle of June?" Taylor joked trying to lighten the mood.
Kai just laughed as Taylor put his arm back around her shoulder and walked out to the treehouse which was at the border of their property.
Meanwhile, Hunni was waiting in the room that the three oldest Hanson siblings shared, for Zac to get back from trying to find a clean shirt.
As he had said, 'hurricane mom stopped by when we were gone and took our clothes'.
Hunni wasn't surprised to hear that, because the room was looking oddly clean for a room shared by boys who were 18, 16, and 13.
She had just begun to look around the room when Zac reappeared now sporting a blue schemed camouflage shirt to match his dungaree's.
"Sorry it took so long, I had to go all the way back downstairs to the laundry room before I found any of my clothes." Zac apologized as he laid down on Taylor's bed.
"Tired?" Hunni asked sitting in a chair at the edge of the bed.
"A lil bit, but keep talking, I'm listening." Zac said as he closed his eyes and rolled onto his side.
"You look more to me like you're sleeping." Hunni giggled.
"Naw, just thinking about something." Zac answered slightly muffled now that a pillow was covering half of his face.
"And what would that be?" Hunni asked not sure what to expect from him.
"Do you believe in love at first sight? Someone brought it up earlier and I've been thinking about it ever since." Zac asked rolling back over to face Hunni.
"Not really, 'first sight' implies that you fell for their looks, and there's a lot more to it than that." Hunni replied leaning forward in her chair.
"Ok then…" Zac said giving it another shot, "What about if you had this mental image of what you wanted them to be like, not just looks wise, but their personality, and more, and then you met this person, and you could just tell that they were like you dreamed."
"How would you tell what they were like just by seeing them?" Hunni challenged.
"I don't know…maybe you just had this feeling, you could be right, or you could be wrong, but you hope they feel the same way." Zac answered sitting up.
"Well…has this 'love at first sight' ever happened to you Zac?" Hunni said leaning against the frame of the bed.
"Yeah, actually I think it has." Zac sighed as he laid back down.
"Oh." Hunni said trying hard to keep the disappointment out of her voice.
Zac sat back up when he heard the tone in Hunni's voice.
"Hey Hunni, come over here. I wanna show you something." Zac said pulling himself off the bed and walking over to a desk that was covered in papers and some notebooks.
Very slowly Hunni got up and walked over to where Zac had just cleared off the edge of the desk and had sat down on it.
"Climb on up." Zac said pointing to a space next to him on the desk..
Reluctantly Hunni sat down in such a way that she almost had her back to him.
"Oh come on." Zac sighed as he reached out and forced her to turn back around.
Hunni started to argue against him before she noticed the look he was giving her.
It was almost a quizzical, hopeful, unsure look, she had no idea what he was thinking.
For some reason Hunni felt herself being drawn towards him, slowly she began to lean it to him.
Zac tenderly turned her face so that she was looking him right in the eye.
Cautiously he began to bring them closer together until she could feel his warm breath blowing across her cheek.
Just as his lips brushed hers both of them were startled by the sound of Mackie calling for Zac from the doorway.
"Zaccy, mom wants you downstairs." Mackie said not realizing what he had just walked in on.
"Oh…sure, I'll be done in a second Mac." Zac answered sliding off the desk.
After Mackie had left Zac turned to Hunni and apologized for the sudden eruption, but he'd be right back.
Hunni just sort of wandered around the room in a daze until Zac got back and told her to go ahead and come on back down with him, his mom wanted him to organize the kitchen.
Neither of them said anything until they were downstairs and Hunni happened to look out the window and saw Taylor and Kai sitting on the edge of the treehouse very close to each other, and she commented on it to Zac.
Glancing out the window Zac had to agree that they did look rather cozy.
Eventually they settled into a conversation that both of them were comfortable with.
About an hour and a half later Zac and Hunni were sitting at the table finishing up some ice cream as Taylor and Kai walked in laughing about something.
After they had all exchanged hello's Taylor reminded Zac that they had a press conference so they had to start getting ready.
"I guess we'd better get going then," Kai said as she glanced at Hunni.
"Um…yeah," Hunni echoed, "thanks for having us over. It was a lot of fun."
"No problem, feel free to drop on by anytime. Maybe all four, or five depending on Ike, can do something together tomorrow."
Getting up from the table Zac and Hunni joined Taylor and Kai in walking to the front door.
Zac and Hunni walked out to the Jimmy while Taylor and Kai lingered in the doorway talking.
"So, you going to come back tomorrow?" Taylor asked with a shy grin.
"Yeah, you better believe we are. I had a really nice time Tay, thanks again." Kai said smiling at Taylor's sudden shyness.
"It was nothing, I really liked talking to you. I'll be waiting for you tomorrow ok?"
"Sure thing, I'll see you then." Kai replied as she started to walk out the door.
"Wait." Taylor said grabbing her hand, "One more thing before you go."
"What?"
Taylor pulled her back in the door and very softly gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Something for you to remember, just so you won't forget to come back tomorrow." Taylor grinned with a now mischievous grin.
Kai just smiled in return and gave his hand a light squeeze before turning to head down the walkway.
Taylor watched her walking away and suddenly realized that his heart was beating faster, harder, and just a little bit louder than usual.
As Kai walked towards the Jimmy, Zac and Hunni were wrapping up their good-byes for the day.
"Can't wait to come back tomorrow Zac, it was great." Hunni told him as she climbed in the door of the Jimmy.
"It was, and maybe tomorrow Mackie will wait a minute or two before barging in." Zac said referring to earlier when they were about to kiss.
"Yeah." Was all that Hunni answered as she felt herself starting to blush.
Just as they said bye to each other Kai reached the driver side door and got in.
"Bye Zac." She said waving to him.
"Bye." Zac said backing up as Kai started the Jimmy.
Pulling out of the driveway Kai waved goodbye to Taylor who was still standing in the doorway watching them leave.
As they drove back to the hotel both of the girls told one another some of what had happened while they were there.
By the time they got back they were so exhausted from staying up late the night before that they both decided to rest before going out for dinner.
For the rest of their stay in Tulsa, Kai and Hunni spent most it hanging out with Isaac, Taylor, and Zac.
The three brothers had insisted on giving them a tour of Tulsa, so also spent a lot of time in Isaac's Volkswagen beetle, checking out the sights.
Nothing like what happened between Zac and Hunni the first time she came over had taken place, Zac basically treated her like his best friend ever since that little incident, but Hunni wasn't about to complain, because he had been as sweet as you could ever want someone to be.
Taylor also had been a total sweetheart, but it was a little more evident with him that Kai was becoming more than just a friend. There was a lot of holding her hand, putting his arm around her shoulder, and just a lot of overall teasing.
But, all good things must come to an end, and for the four of them, it seemed that Kai and Hunni's visit had ended all too soon.
It was a couple hours before they had to leave, and everyone was feeling a bit sad, it was easy to tell that no one wanted them to have to leave.
Taylor had just left with Kai to go on a short walk around the neighborhood, leaving Zac and Hunni at the house to savor what little time they had left.
Zac was stretched out across the couch and Hunni was sitting indian style on the floor on the end of the couch that Zac had laid his head on.
"Wow, it doesn't seem like two weeks are over already." Hunni sighed as she leaned back against the couch.
"I know," Zac replied, "I wish it wasn't over. I don't want you to have to go back home yet. I mean, we just met, and you're leaving already."
"Well, maybe we can come back and visit sometime soon." Hunni said with a hopeful tone to her voice.
"Maybe." Zac said smiling. "I know that everyone really enjoyed having you and Kai around the house as much as you were. It's not often our family gets to know our fans as well as they got to know you."
"Well, I loved getting to know them, all of them are so nice. But I think it took Avie a couple of days to get over our first meeting." Hunni said smiling up at Zac in memory of that day.
"Ah, she thinks you guys are great. She said both of you are nothing like most of our fans." Zac answered reaching down so that his hand was resting of her shoulder.
"What are 'most' fans like?"
"Obsessed, crazy, fanatical, wacky, out of control, emotionally overloaded teens. In her words of course." Zac laughed as he watched the expressions that came across Hunni's face as he was talking.
"Then what would me and Kai be like?" she asked not quite sure if she wanted to know the answer.
"Crazy, wacky, out of control, sweet, funny, incredibly nice girls."
Hunni just blushed as she flashed him a embarrassed smile.
"Hunni…come upstairs with me real quick, I have something I want to give you before you leave."
"Ok…" Hunni answered as she got up and waited for Zac before heading up the stairs.
Once they had reached his room, Hunni was getting a little anxious to find out what Zac had in store for her.
Zac disappeared into the closet and reappeared a few moments later holding something behind his back.
"I noticed how much you seem to like our style of dress, so I thought I'd give you the genuine article." Zac said holding out whatever he was holding to Hunni.
Cautiously taking it from Zac, Hunni gave it a light shake to unfold it and held it out in order to see what it was..
Zac just smiled as Hunni let out a small gasp when she realized it was the shirt he had been wearing the first time they had ever met.
Before Hunni got a chance to say anything about him giving her the shirt, Zac started talking again.
"That's not really the thing I wanted to give you, I just thought you might like it. Now this…is what I came up here to give you."
Hunni looked up at Zac as he slowly pushed her arms to her side and stepped right up next to her.
Once again Hunni could feel his breath blowing across her face, only this time, Hunni was also leaning in towards him.
Hunni had no idea what to think when they finally kissed, it was short and sweet, but it was still a kiss, and she had just shared it with Zac Hanson.
Finally Hunni found her voice, "Ok, who are you and what did you do with Zac?"
Zac laughed as he replied by saying that he hadn't done anything, it was still him.
"Ok, then why did you just do that?" Hunni asked curious as to the answer even though she could pretty much guess the answer.
"Cause you're cute, and I like you." Zac answered as he grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards the door, "Time is short, and we can't waste it all by arguing."
Thinking it would probably be easier to just go along with him, Hunni allowed herself to be taken back downstairs where they proceeded to grab some food and talk while they waited for Kai to tell them it was time to leave.
Once again, click here to continue the story
Email: kai_yuria@hotmail.com
