**(June 20th)**
Everyone had until 3 p.m. off. After that they would begin the drive to DC. Their next concert was the 22nd. Bailey wanted to take the opportunity to sleep in, seeing as she was up late with Lana the night before. Max and Seth went to go do some last minute sight seeing while Taylor and Connor went swimming in the hotel pool. Around 10:00 Lana decided that it was time for Bailey to wake up.
“Bailey?” she whispered through the bed curtain. Nothing.
“Bailey!” she yelled. Bailey threw the curtain open.
“What?” she asked, her eyes wide open and looking slightly worried.
“Morning!” Lana said. Bailey laid back down.
“I hate you,” she said.
“No you don’t!” Lana called. After Bailey got out of bed and threw her hair up in a messy ponytail, there was a knock on the tour bus door. Bailey moseyed over to the door and opened it. Ike was standing there.
“Wow, don’t you look dashing,” he teased, smiling.
“You are no longer welcome on the bus,” Bailey said flatly, walking away. Ike stepped in anyway.
“I was just kidding,” he said.
“Oh, it doesn’t matter. I pick out your clothes.” Bailey smiled and went into the bathroom. She stepped out a few seconds later. “Dude, Ike, can I use the shower in your hotel room?”
“Oh, and ruin what you have going on here?” Ike asked, pointing to Bailey’s hair.
“Sadly, yes,” Bailey said.
“Sure, go ahead. Zac will let you in,” Ike said.
“Oh yeah, after last night, I’m sure,” Bailey replied. “Well, it never hurts to try.” She stepped out of the bus. Ike turned to Lana.
“I actually came to see you,” he said. Lana looked surprised.
“Really?” she questioned.
“No, I came over just to make fun of Bailey because I knew she would look like that… See you later.” Ike turned around as if he was about to leave.
“No wait,” Lana said, pulling him back by his shirt. “I know you were kidding.”
“Good,” Ike said, smiling. “Want to go out to brunch before we have to make a road trip?”
“Oh of course,” Lana replied, smiling. Bailey knocked on the Hansons’ hotel room door. Nothing. She knocked again. Zac threw the door open.
“I told you to bring the key!” he said, obviously not paying attention to who was actually at the door.
“Well I would have, sweetie, but I don’t have one,” Bailey said. Zac looked at the door.
“Oh… sorry. I thought you were Ike. What do you want?” he asked in a somewhat harsher tone.
“To apologize… and use the shower,” Bailey said. Zac moved aside and let her in. Bailey raised her eyebrows slightly. “Well, aren’t we in a forgiving mood?”
“I never said I forgave you,” Zac replied dryly. He pointed to a doorway across the room. “The bathroom is over there.”
Bailey didn’t move, trying to think of a way to approach the awkwardness between them. Zac, meanwhile, had gone back to lying stomach-down on the bed in front of the T.V. He glanced over at her after a second. “What? I’m not carrying you over there you know,” he stated. Bailey frowned.
“I know,” she replied. She walked across the room and went into the bathroom. All during her shower she tried to think of what she could say to him to make things okay again. Thinking of that made her frustrated because Zac was being so temperamental and moody, which made her angry. She shouldn’t have to apologize for something that she had enjoyed, just because an over-emotional boy got jealous. Bailey sighed a little as she brushed out her wet hair after having gotten dressed. When she was finished, she stepped out in the main room to find Zac in the same position on the bed. His eyes were glued to the T.V., as he was obviously ignoring her, and Bailey stood there for a moment, hesitating.
“What?” Zac asked blandly, not taking his eyes off of the T.V. Bailey shook her head a little.
“Nothing,” she said, taking a step towards the door. Then she paused. “No, wait. I want to apologize.”
She clenched her teeth a little after saying that, then looked over at Zac. He was still watching T.V. She frowned. “Zac, did you hear me?”
“Yeah, you’re sorry. Whatever,” he mumbled. Bailey walked over and stood in front of the television, blocking his view. He looked up at her angrily. “Hey! You make a better door than a window, you know.”
Bailey ignored him. “Don’t you think that you’re being just a little bit selfish? I mean, just because I don’t return your little teenage crush, I’m not allowed to have any fun this summer?”
“Not with my brother!” Zac replied. Bailey made a face.
“Oh, grow up Zac! There are girls out there who like your brother more than you. There are a lot of them. Do you treat those girls this way?” Bailey demanded. Zac smirked.
“No, because I don’t know them all. But I’m sure I would if I did,” he retorted.
“You are such a child!” Bailey exclaimed. “You are an impossibly selfish little boy.”
“Yeah, and don’t you know it. I know you secretly want me, and this is all just outrage because you know you can’t have me,” Zac quipped, grinning smugly. Bailey narrowed her eyes at him.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” she seethed, then stormed out of the room. Zac sat up and looked over at the mirror on the wall, grinning at his reflection. His test had worked: she only got emotional because she cared.
“No, you’re a selfish little boy,” he mocked her, pointing at his reflection in the mirror. The he grinned and laid back down on the bed. “Oh yeah, she wants me.”
Ike and Lana left a note on the bus telling everyone that they had gone out for brunch before taking off to find a good place to eat. When they decided on a little café, they sat down and began to talk.
“So, how do you like this internship?” Ike asked, sipping his water.
“I am really pleased that I got it. It is a really great opportunity for me,” Lana replied.
“Yeah, it’s cool to be working with everyone. You get along with all the other interns?” he asked while looking over the menu as well.
“Oh yeah, I don’t think there will be any problems amongst the interns,” Lana said, smiling. “I’m really glad that there is another girl though.” The 2 paused their conversation to order two chicken Caesar salads, then continued talking.
“So, you and Bailey get along well I take it?” he inquired.
“Oh definitely. She is younger than me, but also so much like me,” she began. “I mean, she is very mature and interested in working. She knows this is serious even if she just picks out your clothes, you know?”
She paused, and Ike nodded in agreement. “But she knows how to have fun as well. We have a great time together,” Lana said with a smile.
“Oh really? Well I haven’t seen this ‘oh I love to have fun’ side of you yet,” he said in disbelief, looking slightly sad.
“Well, we have some time this afternoon. What do you want to do?” Lana asked.
“Have some fun, of course,” Ike said with a smile. Bailey went over to the tour bus and stormed in, hardly noticing that Taylor and Connor were back from swimming.
“Whoa, where’s the fire?” Taylor asked as Bailey rushed around the kitchen just to get a glass of water.
“Your brother is so childish,” she said. “And it is frustrating!”
She took a sip of her water. “All I wanted to do was apologize and he is being way selfish about the whole situation. It just pisses me off,” she said, sitting on the couch in the back of the tour bus. Taylor sat next to her.
“It will be fine, he is probably putting on a big act to make you feel bad,” he said. Bailey looked at him.
“Well it’s working,” she said, giving him a little sad face. Tay smiled and put his arm around her in a friendly hug.
“Aww, don’t let him get to you,” he said.
“Too late,” Bailey whined slightly, noticing that he had kept his arm around her. She gave him an uneasy look. “Umm, Tay? Should we talk about this whole ‘you and me’ thing?”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well, it’s cause quite a stir…” Bailey trailed off, shrugging a little. “I was just wondering if that kiss was a ‘spur of the moment’ kind of thing or whatever.”
“Well, I don’t know,” Taylor said awkwardly, taking his arm back from around her shoulders. “I mean, if it made you uncomfortable, I give you my word that I won’t do it again.”
“No, I liked it just fine,” Bailey admitted with a small smile. Tay smiled also.
“Good, because I did too,” he agreed. “And I would like to be able to do it again sometime, maybe.”
“Oh I see. You want to make a habit out of this kiss thing, huh?” Bailey teased. Taylor raised one eyebrow.
“You’re strange,” he joked, smiling. Bailey nodded, then stood up.
“I know,” she said. Then she turned serious suddenly. “For real, Tay, if we continue this, we have to be careful. No one knows, okay?”
“Agreed,” Taylor said, nodding. The two of them went back into the front of the bus and found a nervous looking Walker Hanson. Tay nodded at him. “What’s wrong dad?”
“Ike took off without a body guard,” he replied.
“He was with Lana, I’m sure they are fine,” Connor insisted. Walker did not look convinced.
“I can only imagine the trouble they might get into…” he trailed off, shaking his head.
“You look like such a dork,” Lana giggled at Isaac. He gave her a half smile.
“Oh, excuse me Ms. Fashion Queen, but you don’t look so adorable yourself,” he returned. Lana stuck her tongue out at him as the instructor-guy double checked the tightness of her harness. They had found a “fun center” and were now in harnesses, preparing to go wall rock climbing.
“I’ll race you to the top!” Lana stated, finding hand grips. Ike nodded.
“You’re on,” he stated. Lana counted to three out loud and they started to climb. They were going at the same pace at first, then Isaac broke ahead. Feeling competitive, Lana reached up and pushed his foot off its rock, causing Isaac to loose his footing.
“Hey! Cheater!” he called as Lana climbed up past him and to the top. She grinned down at him.
“Hey, I do what I have to,” she said simply. They belayed down together, then decided to race up again.
“No cheating this time,” Ike stated, and Lana gave him an angelic look. He counted to three this time, and they started up again. Lana started to get ahead, so Ike did the only thing he could. He climbed closer to her and gave her an evil look before giving her a gentle shove, enough to knock her off balance.
“No fair! You said no cheating!” she called as he climbed up to the top. Isaac grinned.
“I meant that for you!” he explained. They went down again and decided not to climb anymore. Instead, they went outside to the mini Nascar go-cart race track. Lana quickly scrambled into the #24 car, while Ike got into the #6 car.
“I feel the spirit of Jeff Gordon washing over me,” Lana joked. Ike shook his head.
“Whatever you say,” he laughed. They started the race and Lana shot up ahead. Isaac chased after her and caught up. They went around the track a few times and Ike was winning. As they were rounding a turn, Lana bumped her car into his lightly, and he scowled at her. “Now that’s just not nice!”
Lana laughed and pulled ahead, and ended up winning the race. They got out of the cars and Lana approached him with a grin. “What next?”
“God, have you always been this competitive?” he asked. Lana shrugged and looked around. Her eyes lit up when she saw a crane across the lot and she grabbed Isaac’s hand.
“Come on Ike,” she said, dragging him over to the base of the crane.
“No, no way!” he exclaimed. “I’m not bungee jumping. Are you crazy?”
“Maybe!” Lana giggled, getting strapped into a harness. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”
“I have no doubt. Now please, let’s go do something else,” Ike pleaded. Lana smiled a little.
“I’ve always been afraid to do this, but now… I feel different. I want to. I have to try this,” she said, then stepped onto the platform. It started to rise and she waved down at Isaac. He waved back a little. The platform stopped at about 70 feet up. The guy finished strapping Lana into the harness thing, and she stepped over to the edge of the platform. It looked much higher up, and she gulped a little.
“Don’t think too much about it,” the attendant guy said. Lana nodded, then turned around, keeping her heels at the edge of the platform. She took a deep breath and counted to 3 silently before leaning back and letting herself fall.
After much persuading, Bailey and Taylor convinced Walker that Lana and Ike would be smart, responsible, and home in time to leave for DC. After he left, there was a slight knock at the tour bus door. Seth and Max had come back from sight seeing.
“We wanted to make sure we wouldn’t be interrupting anything,” Max said, looking over at Bailey.
“Nope, just walking to Walker about how Ike wandered away without protection. He may have been abducted by kidnappers or something. We convinced him that everything would be ok, and if Ike was sold to a traveling circus we would be able to buy him back.” Bailey said all of this with a completely straight face.
“Did anyone ever tell you that you have something wrong with you?” Max questioned.
“Yeah,” Bailey said, smiling. “But I decided to have nothing don’t about it, it keeps me amused.” She smiled and went back towards her bunk.
“Oh my God!!!” Lana screamed as she fell towards the big mat below her. She bungeed up and down for a few seconds and then was lowered to the ground. After she was unhooked from the harness, she ran over to Ike and hugged him.
“That was amazing!” she said with a huge smile on her face. He smiled back, then leaned down and quickly kissed her lips. She didn’t say anything, but just looked up at him and smiled. Ike looked at his watch.
“We should probably get back… we are leaving in about an hour,” he said. Lana nodded. “Maybe you can ride with us on our bus to DC.”
“Yeah, pawn Zac and Taylor off on Bailey, tell them to sort out their differences,” Lana suggested, laughing.
“Good plan!” Ike agreed with her. When they got back to the busses they talked to everyone about it. There didn’t seem to be any problems with it. The Hansons checked out of their hotel room, and Lana joined Ike and the rest of the Hanson clan on their bus while Tay and Zac were to travel with the interns.
“On the road again…” Zac sang. “Blah blah blah blah blah… On the road again.” Bailey threw a pillow at him.
“For a famous singer, you sure do sing badly,” she commented. Zac ignored her and continued to hum the song to himself, accepting a Playstation 2 controller from Seth. The 2 of them started to play a karate game and Bailey turned away, uninterested. She looked over and saw that Max, Taylor, and Connor were playing a card game at the table. She watched for a while and when the game was over she suggested that they play BS. She won easily.
“Something tells me you planned that,” Max stated, shuffling the cards. Bailey just grinned and stood up.
“Maybe I did,” she said. She left them to play another card game and headed into the back lounge to lie down and watch T.V. After channel surfing to find a decent show, which turned out to be old reruns of MTV’s Real World, Bailey settled down into the round couch. Ten minutes later there was a soft knock on the door. Bailey called the person in and Taylor poked his head into the room.
“Hey, want some company?” he asked. Bailey nodded and moved over on the couch, making room for him. He came in and stretched out beside her, then looked at the T.V. “Oh, this is a good one. That girl freaks out on that guy for opening her mail.
“No,” Bailey disagreed. Taylor gave her a confused look, and Bailey laughed. “He freaks out on her.”
“Well, whatever!” Taylor laughed. They watched the show for a little while longer, and Tay started to rub her back a little. Bailey grinned at him.
“You know, if music doesn’t work out, you always could always get a job as a masseuse,” she told him.
“I know, that’s what they all say,” Tay joked. Bailey raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. A few minutes later Zac, Connor, Seth, and Max came into the T.V. room.
“Hey guys, want to do something fun?” Seth asked with a childish grin on his face. Taylor and Bailey turned to face the group.
"What did you have in mind?” Bailey asked, not knowing if she wanted to know what it was.
“Truth or Dare,” Zac said, grinning.
“I’m outnumbered in the girls to guys ratio. Wait ‘til the next pit stop and get Lana and Ike to join in,” Bailey said as the 4 guys gave her disappointed looks. “Hey, sorry. I will not play that game being the only female!”
“Fine, fine,” Zac said. Lana and Ike were on the other bus playing Pretty Pretty Princess with Avery and Jessica, Avery’s choice.
“Ike, you did not put on the ring!” Avie argued.
“It doesn’t fit. It is made for a female child,” Ike argued back. Even though it was, Ike shoved it on his pinky and it fit halfway up. Lana smiled and him. A few minutes later Ike’s cell phone rang. He answered it and was on it for about 2 minutes.
“Lana, we have been summoned to the other bus at the next pit stop to play Truth or Dare… Bailey refused to be the only girl,” he explained to her.
“Sounds fine to me,” she laughed.
“Zac is obsessed with that game,” Ike commented, sitting back on the floor beside Lana. Aver rolled the dice and moved her piece, then let out a little shriek and grabbed the plastic crown.
“Much like Avery is with this game?” Lana asked, amused. Isaac laughed, then went up to ask the bus driver when the next stop would be. About 20 minutes later, the busses pulled into a rest stop and stopped to let everyone out and get some fresh air. Isaac and Lana switched busses and sat in the back lounge with everyone else.
“I still feel outnumbered,” Bailey whined.
“Get over it,” Zac said in a sing-songy voice. Bailey made a face at him and sat down between Seth and Taylor.
“Ok, who goes first?” Max asked.
“You,” Zac replied. “Truth or dare?”
“Truth,” Max replied. Zac thought for a minute.
“Ok, have you ever done anything illegal?” he asked.
“Yeah.” Max grinned. “Senior year, the day before our homecoming football game, my friends and I stole our school mascot, a fat little bulldog, and dyed his fur blue. Our school colors were blue and silver, our rival school’s colors were yellow and white. You do the math.”
“Did you get caught?” Connor asked.
“Oh yeah, and suspended,” Max laughed. He looked around. “Ok, Bailey. You’re next. Truth or dare?”
“Mmm…. Truth,” she answered.
“Have you ever done anything illegal?” Max asked. Bailey grinned secretly.
“Mmmmmaybe,” she said slowly.
“Not fair! That answer is unacceptable,” Zac announced.
“No way, we never declared any rules!” Bailey shot back. “Lana: truth or dare?”
Lana looked hesitant for a moment, then made a choice. “Dare,” she said, hoping that Bailey wouldn’t make her do anything too outrageous. Bailey thought for a moment, then got her dare idea from a game she used to play with her cousins when she was younger.
“Ok, I got one.” She paused for a moment. “I decided on something original, you know, save of all those kissy dares to be formed in the horny boy mind… Maybe I shouldn’t do that, actually.”
She paused again. “Anyway, I dare you to take a sip of a mystery drink that I make,” she said.
“Um… sure. Nothing really gross, right?” Lana questioned.
“I’ll do my best!” Bailey said, then went into the kitchen area. She made a beverage mixture of water, chocolate milk powder, salt, and pickle juice. It didn’t look nasty, but boy did it smell!
“Here you go,” Bailey said, handing Lana the cup. “I’ll tell you what it is after you drink it.”
Lana brought the cup to her nose as the group watched her. “My God this smells!” she commented.
“Yeah, I noticed that too…” Bailey said. “Just try it.” Lana took the smallest sip possible and swallowed the liquid. Right when she did she looked like she was about to gag.
“Eww!” she exclaimed with a disgusted look on her face. “What was that?”
“Water, Ovaltine, salt, and pickle juice,” Bailey told her, disposing of the cup.
“Good choice,” Zac said, giving her a high five.
“I’ll get you back!” Lana said to Bailey. “But for now, Taylor: truth or dare?”
The game continued all the way to DC with the 8 of them doing such things as more mystery drinks, mooning other cars (courtesy of Taylor’s twisted mind), and other interesting questions. When they got to DC it was 8:30 and they all went straight to the Hard Rock Café for dinner. After dinner, the Hansons went to their hotel for the evening. Bailey, Lana, Max, Seth, and Connor did some sight seeing.
“Forrest!” Max shrieked, preparing to throw himself into the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
“Jenny! Run, Jenny, run!” Seth yelled back, impersonating Forrest Gump dead on. Lana and Bailey giggled as they walked beside the pool.
“Eww, that water is nasty,” Lana commented. They walked around until 11 p.m. before heading back to the tour bus and gong to bed.
<--<-- Contents
<-- Installment Four
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