“Tay! Come on, man! What’s keepin?” Zac Hanson shouted to his older brother at the end of the busy street. “If he doesn’t shut up...” Taylor muttered under his breath, quickening his pace to meet up with his brother. The boys were coming back from a roller-blading trip to the Starplex movie theater. It had been awhile since they had had time to see a movie without the constant supervision of bodyguards hovering around them, so they decided to take advantage of the situation. Taylor was all up for the opportunity...at first. Ten miles, two hot dogs, and a mob of screaming fans later, he wasn’t so sure.
Finally coming to the end of the sidewalk, Taylor stopped, placed his hands on his knees, and rolled his head down, gasping for the much needed air to reach his lungs. Zac was leaning against a telephone pole, mockingly looking at his watch. “Wow, Tay, where have you been? I’ve been waiting forever!” he said sarcastically. Sweat trickled down Taylor’s forehead as he raised it up. “Why...” he started, still air deprived, “did you tell me the theater was only two blocks away?” Zac grinned. “Just to make you mad of course!” he replied devilishly. Taylor’s eyes narrowed. “You better thank God that I’m too exhausted to kill you right now!” Zac just laughed. “ You know, you would think that you would be in shape the way you jump up and down when you play the keyboards, dude.” he teased. Taylor straightened up immediately. “You know, I think I might actually have some energy back, Zac. I’ll give you a ten second head start...1...2...” he counted. Zac stopped his laughing and pushed himself off of the pole. He knew his brother too well to think that he was joking. After looking for oncoming traffic, he made a beeline for their hotel across the street. Taylor chuckled, and stretched his legs. “How does that boy have so much energy ALL the time?” he thought to himself. Momentarily looking for traffic himself, he trailed after his brother, but taking his time as he went. *************************************************************************************
Finally reaching his hotel suite, Taylor took his key out of his pocket, and stuck it in the door. Cautiously stepping inside, he made sure Zac wasn’t in sight. In the other room, he could hear his mother talking to someone. He smiled. “Haha, this is going to be good,” he thought to himself, thinking that his mom was talking to Zac. He crept up to the door, planning on throwing it open and strangling Zac, but his plan was quickly diminished. Out of nowhere, Zac appeared behind Taylor from a closet, and proceeded to jump on Taylor’s back, and strangle his neck. Taylor pushed him off and pretended to punch him mercifully. Zac fell on the bed, pretending to be hurt. He put his hands up in mock surrender. “Don’t hurt me man! I give up! Your in shape! Your in shape!” he screamed. Taylor stood up straighter. “I thought so!” he replied. “For a girl...” Zac added under his breath. Zac quickly sprang up from the bed, and went into a karate stance. “Say your prayers Zac,” Taylor retorted, and pulled back his fist for a mock punch. He was stopped suddenly by a familiar noise. He turned his head around to look at the room his mom was in. “What?” Zac asked him. Taylor walked to the door and opened it. Sure enough, the sound he heard was the modem being turned on in his laptop. Two small blonde heads were looking at the screen, but turned around when Taylor came in. Jessie and Avery quickly snapped the lid down, and looked at Taylor guiltily. Taylor narrowed his eyes. “What did you guys just do?” he asked, and walked over to the bed where they were. He took the computer out of Jessie’s hands, and opened the top. YOUR MESSAGE WAS SENT were the only words staring back at him. “Taybear? Who’s Jessica?” Avery asked, using his nickname to seem innocent. Taylor sent the computer down on the bed again, and used the mouse to click the BACK button. His eyes widened when he saw what was on the screen. “You guys wrote to Jessica?” he asked, slowly, trying not to lose his temper. His sisters looked at his mother, who was sitting by the open window, ending a conversation she was having on the phone. “Mom told us we could, Tay,” Jessica replied. As Diana Hanson hung up the phone, she noticed her son’s angry glare staring back at her. “What’s the matter, Tay?” she asked him. “How could you let them use my computer, mom? They just messed everything up!” he practically shouted. “Taylor, calm down! It was just one message. I mean, they just wanted to know who this Jessica was. I mean, she did write you over 700 e-mails, right?” Diana crossed her arms over her chest and looked at her son. “Who is this Jessica, Tay?” she asked him quietly. Taylor closed his eyes. He had never told his family about Jessica. For one, Mercury records had asked him to never come into contact with people on the Internet. Second, his family would probably never understand why he needed her so much.
Taylor opened his eyes and felt his whole family staring at him. Even Zoë, who was in her baby swing in the corner. “She’s um...” he started, not quite sure how to tell this. “700 e-mails?” Zac asked from the doorway, “you must of been talking to her for like 10 years!” Taylor sat down on the bed. “No, just two,” he answered. “Taylor, why didn’t you tell us about this?” Diana asked him. “I don’t know mom! Would you have let me keep talking to her?” Diana seemed to be thinking about this. Taylor sighed heavily. “Mom, look, it’s not that big of a deal. She’s just a girl,” he said. “Who you are in love with...” came a voice in side of him. Diana looked at her son. “Okay, everybody, out. I need to talk with Tay,” she said. “Aw, man! We always miss the good stuff!” Zac complained. Taylor shot him a look, and with that, Zac disappeared into the other room. As soon as everybody was out, Taylor began to read the e-mail his sisters had sent to Jessica...
Hi Jessica. This is Taylor’s sisters. Our names are Jessica and Avery. Are you in love with our brother? He doesn’t know we are writing this, cause he is out playing. He is not supposed to have a girlfriend. The people said so. So do you love him? Have you kissed him? Cause if you did, that’s gross. By the way, who are you? ---Love, Jessie, and Avery
Taylor groaned loudly and threw himself face down on the bed. Jessica was going to get this and lose total trust in him. What kind of person said I love you, but never told anyone about them? And what kind of person couldn’t ever have a girlfriend because “the people” said so? He groaned again. Or what if she thought this was really him playing a stupid joke on her?
Diana came and sat on the bed by her son. “Taylor, does she know?” she asked. “No, mom, I’m not that stupid,” Taylor replied, his voice muffled by the comforter. Diana grabbed Taylor’s shirt collar and dragged him to a sitting position beside her. “What?” she asked. Taylor ran his hands through his blonde hair. “No, mom, I didn’t tell her. How could I possibly talk to her if she knew who I really was?” he argued, more with himself than with his mom. Diana sighed. “Okay, Tay. Obviously she means a lot to you. I don’t know why, and I’m not going to ask. That’s private. All I ask is that you don’t get too attached,” she said. “Too attached? Mom, I’ve been talking to her for two years! Every night!” he replied. Diana’s eyebrows shot up. “Every night?” “Yeah...” Taylor admitted, embarrassed. Diana continued to look at him. “Mom, stop looking at me like that. It’s not like I’m ever going to meet her, you don’t have to worry. I know what I’m doing,” Taylor said, staring at the computer screen. “You do, huh?” Diana asked, amused. Taylor grinned. He hated when his mom did that. “Okay, Tay, we’ll leave it at that,” she ended, patting him on the leg, “just don’t tell your father,” she warned. “Why not?” Taylor asked confused. “Because he’ll probably throw you a party,” she giggled, “he’s been waiting a long time for a chance to upset Mercury a little for all those rules they put on us.” Taylor laughed. “Yeah, maybe it isn’t a good idea to tell him,” he agreed. Diana stood up to leave the room. “Hey, mom?” Taylor said. “Yeah?” she replied. “Why aren’t you pissed off at me?” he asked with a guarded look. Diana smiled. “Because I know what that look on your face means,” she answered, “ it took you long enough, Tay!” Taylor lifted his eyebrows. “What?” “Nothing,” she replied secretly, and left the room quickly. Taylor shook his head. He swore his mother talked in another language.
He looked down at his laptop. “What am I going to do?” he thought to himself. He clicked the bottom of the screen so his pager would come up. He couldn’t believe what he saw. Jessica was online. He took a deep breath. “Right now is as good as ever...” he said to himself. He pressed the SEND INSTANT MESSAGE button, and began to write...
****I am in no way associated with Hanson or Mercury Records. What you are reading is purely fiction. F-I-C-T-I-O-N.****
