The next day went by in a flurry of activity, checking and double checking lights and sound, an army of fans already in line at noon, interview after interview. Finally, at 4:00, Lana managed to make her way to the dressing rooms to see Bailey for the first time since breakfast at 7:00 that morning.
“Hey stranger,” she greeted, ducking into the room. Bailey was standing by a clothes rack on the other side of the room. She smiled and waved.
“Hey, what’s up?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Lana replied. She threw herself down into a chair and sighed. “I finally was given a ‘lunch break,’ so I thought I’d come see what you were up to.”
“Just last minute outfit selections,” Bailey told her. Lana raised her eyebrows, and Bailey grinned sheepishly. “Well, I couldn’t make up my mind, and when the guys stepped in to OK everything, Isaac didn’t like his shirt and Tay had a few requests, so…”
“Geesh, who do they think they are, trying to configure their own outfits? You’re their stylist, you’re supposed to style them, meaning they don’t style themselves!” Lana exclaimed, exasperated. “I mean, come on…”
“Whoa, calm down a little there Lana. Don’t pop anything,” Bailey teased, giggled. Lana grinned.
“Boys… they are so…”
“Frustrating?” Bailey offered.
“Well, I was aiming more along the lines of bothersome, but frustrating works too,” Lana agreed. They giggled, then Lana put her hands over her stomach. “Man, I am starving.”
“They brought in a bunch of snacks and sandwiches earlier. Help yourself,” Bailey said, motioning to a little table with a sandwich and veggie platter on it, and a cheese and cracker assortment.
“So, did you meet BBMak today?” Lana asked as she munched on a celery stick.
“Yup. They seem pretty cool,” Bailey answered. “What about you?”
“Only for a second, I was on my way to prepare for another radio interview,” Lana told her. “They are much taller in person.”
“Um, okay,” Bailey said, giving Lana a strange look before bursting into giggles. Lana smiled.
“What? It’s true!” she insisted, giggling also.
“Okay ladies, calm down,” a voice said from the doorway. Lana and Bailey looked over to see Isaac, Taylor, and Zac entering the room along with their father, personal assistant, and a couple of bodyguards.
“Oh look, the Hanson posse,” Bailey quipped under her breath. Lana tried not to giggle as she stood up.
“Food!” Zac exclaimed, seeing the table behind Lana. She stepped out of his way, grinning. Isaac stepped over to Bailey with a smile, and she held up a hand to him.
“No more complaints, Isaac. I can’t handle them right now,” she explained. Ike’s smile widened.
“Thanks Bailey, you’re the best,” he said. Bailey sighed dramatically, sighing.
“I know,” she agreed. Ike laughed, then went to choose and shirt and get changed. Tay flashed Bailey a smile.
“Speaking of being the best, did you consider the suggestions I made earlier?” he asked. Bailey rolled her eyes.
“Yes, Taylor. Here.” She handed him a few clothes hangers with his outfit. Tay thanked her and went over behind a wall divider screen that was set up to make a changing area.
“Me next!” Zac shrieked. Lana grinned at his enthusiasm. Bailey gave him his clothes and he eyed her cautiously. “No skirts or dresses, right?”
“Right,” Bailey agreed, nodding. Zac went to change as Isaac stepped back into the room wearing brown chords and a short sleeve gold button-up shirt over a white t-shirt.
“You look good,” Lana commented, suppressing a smile. Ike raised an eyebrow.
“What? You don’t like this?” he asked.
“No, I like it,” Lana insisted, her smile showing through. “But we gotta talk to Bailey about getting some color on you, cause you are resembling a tree trunk right now.”
“Gee, thanks,” Ike quipped, sitting in a chair beside her. He reached over and grabbed a piece of cauliflower off the veggie tray and threw it at her. Lana giggled and threw it back at him. Taylor stepped out from behind the changing screen wearing black leather pants and a white tank top. In his hands he held a blue button-up shirt. It was all Bailey could do not to shudder at the sight of his pants.
“Please tell me that you only wear those to keep your voice high,” Bailey pleaded, only semi-joking. Taylor grinned and did a ‘model turn.’
“What, you don’t like them?” he asked. Bailey made a face.
“Not particularly, no,” she answered bluntly. Tay shrugged and stepped over to the food table. Zac came back in wearing baggy jeans and a large black t-shirt with an old guitar company logo on it.
"What, did you not have any Zildjan t-shirts?” he asked, looking down at his shirt.
“No, we had one. I just don’t promote segregation among musicians and their instruments,” Bailey replied casually. Zac rolled his eyes.
“Okay boys, all ready? You all need to relax before the show. Only 3 hours until the show starts,” Walker said, heading for the door.
“Good luck guys!” Lana said.
“You guys can watch the show if you want. There are always a few seats near the front row reserved for staff,” Ike said smiling.
“Ok,” Lana said while nodding her head.
“Meet us back here at 11. After concert party!” Taylor whispered into Bailey’s ear. She smiled then nodded. The 3 boys left.
“Well I better get going back. I’ll see you at 7 when the show starts,” Lana said.
“Ok. Oh yeah, Taylor said that we should meet them back here at 11 for an after concert party,” Bailey said.
“Ok! See you later!” Lana said, closing the door to the dressing room. Seeing as how her work for the day was done, Bailey decided to take a walk around the venue and check out the crowd of fans that were already lined up outside. She was amused by their energy and anticipation at getting into the concert. They were all on the other side of a metal gate, with security there to keep things in check. Bailey, wearing her all access pass, was on the security side of the fence.
“Are you Jessica Hanson?” one fan asked, and suddenly a bunch of voices were talking at once. Bailey shook her head.
“No, I’m part of the tour crew,” she answered. She hung around and talked to the fans until the gates opened at 6:00. Around 6:55, she made her way to the extra staff seating area inside the venue and found Lana, and the show began. BBMak played first, and the crowd was receptive. When it was Hanson’s turn, Bailey and Lana nearly went deaf. The show went very well, and after a 20 minute intermission, they came back on. Taylor did his usual ‘mini strip-tease’ by taking off his blue button up shirt. All the girls in the audience screamed, and he grinned.
“You guys think we look good tonight?” he asked. The crowd screamed. “Well, we have a new stylist to thank for that. She’s one of several new interns who are on tour with us this summer.”
“They’re doing a great job,” Isaac agreed. Lana and Bailey looked at each other and grinned. The rest of the concert went smoothly, and when it was over Bailey and Lana headed backstage to hang out until meeting the Hansons at 11:00.
While waiting, Lana had gone back to the tour bus to change into less “business like” clothing. She came back in jeans and a baby blue t-shirt. Bailey had changed into shorts and a black t-shirt. They both decided to hang out in the Hanson’s lounge area while they waited for the boys.
“Do you think they will clean themselves up before coming back here?” Lana asked.
“Eew, I hope so. Although, I wouldn’t be opposed to helping them get cleaned up,” Bailey said seductively, raising her eyebrows at Lana.
“Oh my God…” Lana said, resting her hand on her forehead. “Need I remind you of the rule of inter… tour people dating!”
At this point Zac, Taylor, and Isaac had come to the door but decided to spy on them first. Neither Bailey nor Lana noticed.
“Oh yeah, no dating!” Bailey exclaimed. “That’s too bad because I am so with Taylor. He is so cute and hot and…” Bailey began fanning herself off while giving an exasperated sigh. Lana laughed. Zac, on the other side of the door, turned around and stormed away.
“Have the party without me,” he called.
“Zac!” Ike yelled. Bailey and Lana looked towards the door. Taylor stood in the doorway with Ike next to him.
“Uhh… No offense, I was kidding,” Bailey said.
“Umm, none taken… By me, at least,” Taylor replied, looking in the direction that Zac ran.
“Oh shit,” Bailey breathed. “Be right back.” Bailey got up and left Tay, Ike, and Lana to wait for the other interns.
“Zac!” Bailey called, running down the hall after him. He paused for a second, and she ran up to him. “Where are you going?”
“I’m not up for partying tonight, I’m not in a partying mood,” he replied in a flat voice. Bailey gave him a concerned look.
“Is it because of what you heard?” she asked. Zac refused to look her in the eyes. “Look, Zac, that was…”
“No, I understand. I get it, okay? You like Taylor,” Zac said. He turned and started to walk away, but Bailey reached out and touched his shoulder.
“No Zac, I was kidding. We knew you guys were listening,” she lied. He stopped and looked at her. “It was just a joke.”
Zac hesitated before finally looking in her eyes. “It wasn’t funny.”
“I know, I’m sorry,” Bailey said. She knew that things would be screwed up if Bailey didn’t go out of her way to be extra nice to Zac. She smiled a little and offered him her hand. “Come on, Zac, please? Come hang out with us.”
“Well, if you really want me to…” Zac trailed off, a small smile playing on his lips. He took her hand and they went back down the hall to the lounge area, where Taylor, Lana, and Isaac were hanging out. Seth, Max, and Connor had just gotten there.
“Is everything okay?” Lana asked quietly when Bailey sat beside her on the couch. She shrugged a little and smiled.
“We ordered pizza… one pepperoni, one cheese, and one veggie,” Taylor told them.
“Grand Theft Auto anyone?” Seth asked, holding up the game. He and Zac sat in front of the TV to play the game while Lana, Connor, and Isaac argued over what music to play. Max and Bailey were sitting together on the couch, exchanging stories about the fans they’d encountered that evening.
“Yeah, so apparently I’m Jessica Hanson,” Bailey told him, laughing. Max grinned.
“That’s nothing,” he stated, pulling out a piece of notebook paper covered in writing. “I got like, 20 phone numbers. This tour thing is gonna be so cool.”
Bailey rolled her eyes. “You’re such a typical boy.”
“And you were expecting what, exactly?” he asked with a grin.
“A mutated boy in the form of maybe a ‘nice guy’,” Bailey said smiling, then getting up and getting a soda.
“Does that mean you don’t want to add your number to the list, sweet thing?” Max joked.
“We live in the same tour bus, sweetie,” Bailey said in a sarcastic tone.
“Even better!” Max said, rubbing his hands together evilly.
“Oh God, I am not sitting next to you anymore,” Bailey said, sitting on the floor. A few minutes later the pizza arrived. They all sat around eating pizza and playing video games until about 12 am, which was fun yet they weren’t really “partying.”
“Oh my God I have a cool idea!” Bailey said. Everyone stopped and looked at her. “Ok, who is here now?” she asked. Seth gave her a weird look.
“You, me, Lana…” he began, but Bailey cut him off.
“No no, I mean in the venue!” she said as if everyone was supposed to know what she was thinking.
“Um, just us and probably security outside… Why?” Ike answered, then questioned.
“Ok, this may just be because I’m tired or because I’m majorly bored but I think we should play Hide and Go Seek in the dark!” she said happily. Although no one said anything for a moment, Bailey was relieved that no one laughed.
“That’s actually a cool idea,” Max agreed. Everyone else agreed as well.
“And since this place is huge I was thinking it could be just in the main stage room… I mean, lots of places to hide seeing as part of the stage is still up, plus box seating and everything,” Bailey said, extremely excited. “And we could do teams!”
“Sounds like a plan,” Ike said. So everyone cleaned up the lounge room which would be the “counting room.” Then everyone teamed up: Max and Zac, Seth and Connor, Ike and Lana, and Taylor and Bailey. Once everyone was in a team, they decided to count until 200 seeing as it may take them a little while to get to the room and hide. The only logical way they chose to figure out who would be counting first was to draw straws.
“Ok, the one with the shortest straw counts, got it?” Seth asked, holding out a handful of straws that had been altered. As it turned out, Connor and Seth would be counting first.
“Ok, no cheating. Count to 200 and you know what room we will be in!” Bailey said before she closed the door and ran to catch up with everyone else to head to the stage room. When they walked in, they all stood for a moment before splitting up. Max and Zac went over toward the stage and hid underneath the stairs that were “back stage.” Lana and Isaac decided to stay close to the door and hid in a row of seats.
“I think they will overlook this area, figuring we would have been more creative,” Ike said, crouching next to Lana in row F of the section.
“Yeah, well, we aren’t that creative!” Lana said, quietly laughing. Taylor and Bailey went over toward the stage.
“Go away, you’ll bust our cover!” Zac called.
“No we won’t!” Taylor yelled back as he and Bailey ducked behind a curtain that was once blocking off some sound equipment. About 15 seconds later, Seth and Connor burst into the room.
“We will find you!” Seth yelled in a manly voice. “It is inevitable!”
Ike had to cover Lana’s mouth so she wouldn’t laugh because they could kinda see Seth and heard him. After searching for about 5 minutes, Seth and Connor found everyone. They found Zac and Max first because they could see their feet when they went to go up on the stage. Bailey and Taylor were second because they were close to Zac and Max. Lana and Ike were only found because Lana began to laugh.
“Good team, best hiding spot,” Ike said as he and Lana slapped high fives. Now it was Zac and Max’s turn to count. So everyone stayed in the stage room while Zac and Max went back to the lounge room. Bailey and Tay decided to go upstairs to the box seating and lay on the floor so no one would see them. Seth and Connor went over and hid in a little crawl hole under the stage. Lana and Ike went with their “hide in the seats” method heading to the center stage section, last row.
“How long do you think it will take them to find us?” Bailey asked, propping up on her elbows beside Taylor on the floor.
“Long enough so we don’t have to count next time,” Taylor said, smiling. They both got quiet when they heard Zac and Max make their entrance. Bailey laughed quietly.
“This was the coolest spot!” she exclaimed quietly.
“Oh yeah it was,” Taylor agreed. Bailey adjusted her arms and then leaned on her elbows again. She looked up at Taylor who brushed a piece of hair out of her face to prevent it from getting in her mouth. Bailey laughed a little.
“Thanks,” she whispered. Then she listened for a minute and put her finger to Taylor’s lips. “Shh, I think they are coming.” Taylor moved her hand away and quickly moved forward and pressed his lips against Bailey’s just as the box curtain was pushed aside.
“Totally found…!” Zac shouted. Bailey and Taylor quickly looked at Zac. “You…” he finished softly, then threw the curtain back into place.
“Shit,” Tay breathed, scrambling to stand up. He held his hand down to Bailey and helped her up too.
“Hey Zac, did you find them?” Max asked as Zac approached him. Zac pushed past him without answering, and Max gave him a confused look. “Zac?”
“Zac wait!” Tay called, trying to catch up with him.
“What happened?” Max asked. Taylor shook his head and ran down to the section of club seats.
“Ike! Game’s up, we have a crisis!” he yelled, his voice echoing slightly.
“Okay, who got hurt?” Ike asked, standing up. Lana stood up beside him.
“No one. Zac’s in a mood though,” Tay answered. The 7 of them all met up by the lounge room and gathered their personal things, then headed out to the busses, saying goodbye to security. Max, Seth, and Connor all went on the intern’s tour bus. Lana gave Isaac and Taylor a nervous look.
“Will Zac be okay?” she asked. Ike nodded.
“Yeah, he just does this for the attention,” he answered. Bailey gave them a guilty look.
“I’m sorry,” she said. Ike looked confused, seeing as he and Lana didn’t know about what had happened, exactly.
“It’s okay,” Taylor said quickly. “It’s not your fault.”
“We’ll see you ladies tomorrow,” Ike said, putting his hand on the middle of Lana’s back and leaning down to kiss her cheek. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” Lana replied. Bailey gave Taylor a little hug goodnight.
“Good luck,” she whispered. He nodded and followed Ike onto the bus. Once he was on, their bus driver headed toward the hotel. Ike and Tay found Zac lying on a couch in the back lounge. They sat down across from him and he opened his eyes.
“What’s up?” Ike asked. “Something bothering you?”
“Ask Taylor,” Zac sneered, looking away from them. Ike looked at Tay, confused, and Tay blushed a little.
“I kind of kissed Bailey a little,” he admitted. Ike nodded.
“Okay, and Zac is going schizo why, exactly?” he asked, still confused.
“Dude, you know I like her!” Zac exclaimed, sitting up suddenly. Ike sat back, looking back and forth between his younger brothers, letting everything play out.
“I’m sorry Zac! Bailey doesn’t like you like that! She thinks you’re too young for her,” Tay explained.
“Oh, so what? That gives you the O.K. to move in on her?” Zac demanded. Tay gave him a blank look.
“Well, yeah!” he said. Zac rolled his eyes and turned away from them. “Well, if I hadn’t, I’m sure Max probably would have. He likes her too.”
“Oh well, gee Taylor. He’s an intern; we could have just fired him!” Zac stated. Taylor’s eyebrows furrowed.
“Zac! That’s a ‘conceited rock star’ type thing to say,” he commented. Zac’s eyes widened.
“Taylor! Newsflash: we are rock stars! Which means that I unfortunately can’t fire you,” Zac ended in a grumble. He paused, and then looked slowly over at his brothers. “I’m telling. I’ll tell Dad, I’ll tell Jeff, I’ll tell everybody.
“Ok ok Zac, take a chill pill,” Ike said, putting a hand on Zac’s shoulder. “You don’t need to run off telling anyone. That wouldn’t be a mature thing to do.” Zac scowled, but nodded.
“Yeah, I know. I won’t tell anyone as long as someone doesn’t do anything else,” he said, staring directly at Taylor.
“Geez, don’t bite!” Tay said, turning around and getting off the bus. The 3 of them walked past the intern’s tour bus parked in the hotel parking lot and then went into their hotel to go up to their room.
“He did what?” Lana exclaimed, half excited, half very surprised.
“We were just hiding. I mean, I saw it coming, but I didn’t think he would, so I didn’t stop him. Then Zac walked in and flipped,” Bailey said, throwing her hands up in frustration. The 3 boys were off doing… well, boy stuff. Lana and Bailey sat in the back lounge of the tour bus. Lana was dying to know what was up with Zac.
“Well apparently Zac likes you,” she said.
“Well thank you, Captain Obvious! But I’ve know that for a while,” Bailey said, rolling her eyes and smiling.
“Why not like him back?” Lana asked. “Other than the fact that he is younger than you and not by that much.” Bailey shrugged.
“I don’t know. It’s not like I hate the kid, and the younger thing really does weird me out,” Bailey said. “I mean, it’s not that I don’t want to chill with him and have fun. I just don’t want to ‘be’ with him the way he wants to be with me, you know?”
“Well, I can see where you’re coming from. Don’t get yourself in too much trouble though,” Lana said with a sympathetic look in her eyes.
“Do you think I’m already in too much trouble?” Bailey questioned.
“Just hope Zac isn’t a blabber mouth,” Lana said.
“Man! Too many boys, too little time!” Bailey laughed. “I’m going to bed, I need some sleep!” Bailey went into her bunk and went to sleep. Lana went into hers as well but read for a little bit, then turned her light off and went to sleep.
<--<-- Contents
<-- Installment Three
--> Installment Five