It turned out that what Taylor had said he had to "go get" was Jessie and Avie. He had promised to walk them over to the corner drugstore to buy some candy. Well, I certainly couldn't stop him from being a sweet big brother. Bored, I flipped on my computer.
I realized that I hadn't been on for two days straight. That may not seem like such a big deal, but when you run a Hanson page on the internet, you'd better be prepared for tons of emails each day. I entered the check mail command.
'YOU HAVE 476 NEW MESSAGES' popped up on the screen. I groaned. Just what I needed. I skimmed the subjects to see if there was anything interesting for me. It was all the usual. Newsletters and comments. Nothing interesting. I clicked on "Compose."
Hey Alex!
What's cooking? Hanson's here. I'm having a great time! How in
the world did you convince Taylor to call me in the first
place? I can't wait until the concert. I won't be able to wait
patiently to hear them sing. You won't believe the things that
have happened in the past few days! W/B.
___Jennifer___
I got an instant reply back.
Hey Girl!
That's sooooo cool. Are they behaving for you? J/K. Meet me in
chat immediately.
___Alex___
I clicked on the bookmarked private chat room set aside for my friends and I. Alex was already waiting for me.
Alex: Hey there!
Jen: I'm here
Alex: So, get on with the story! Tell me what I've missed!
Jen: I asked Tay out!
Alex: You WHAT?
Jen: He said YES!
Alex: Wow, you've got guts
Jen: Tommorow
Alex: the day your dreams come true
Jen: So, how did he find out about me?
Alex: I was talking with them one day while I was over at their
house getting ready to go for a game of Laser Tag. I
started telling them about my "cool pal" named Jennifer.
Then I started blabbering on about how your town is always
ignored...
Jen: Uh-huh...
Alex: So... I sort of suggested that maybe they should visit.
They told me they didn't have the time and that their
schedule was all filled up already.
Jen: Well then why did they come?
Alex: I covinced them. Well, I started with Tay since I now you
like him. I told him you were nice, but he just shrugged.
Then I had to show him your picture that you sent to me.
Jen: You showed Taylor my school picture??? I look crappy in
that!
Alex: He didn't think so! LOL! He sort of went "Whoah!" and he
was convinced he had to meet you
Jen: I look so crappy in that picture. Man, Tay's weird.
That's, like, the first boy who's done that.
Alex: After that it was all up to him to convince everyone.
I couldn't believe it. What had Tay been thinking? And why did it have to be my school picture?? Alex and I chatted a little longer and I filled her in on details. She's so lucky that she lives only a few houses down from them in Tulsa. They had been friends for a long time.
I updated my page and read a few messages. As I typed away one of my newsletters I heard a voice from behind me.
"The computer nerd strikes again!"
I turned around and looked up at Ike. Of course, the one who already knows half of my life secrets. It's a good thing he doesn't know about the date yet.
"Hey Isaac. Anything interesting happening today?"
"Na. Not much. We're just relaxing today. Tommorow is going to be filled up and then the concert's the next day," he said and pulled up a chair beside me.
"What's up tommorow?"
"Sound check and rehearsal. We'll be gone when you get back from school. We'll get back around dinner time."
"Is the concert sold out?" I asked while typing.
"As filled as a small town like this could hold," he replied and watched the monitor.
'Click, click, click, click.' He was silent for a second as he concentrated on the computer. The annoying sound of my typing filled the room. "Ugh!" I said as I found a small bug in my HTML code. 'Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak.' I looked over at Ike as he rocked the computer chair back and forth. I hated when people did that. That chair was so annoying.
"Um, could you stop?" I asked him.
"Huh? Oh, sure." I don't think he'd realized what he was doing.
"Where is everyone? It really quiet."
"It's just you and me right now. Everyone else is out grocery shopping and Tay's just down the street. I think Zac and your sister went to the music shop to buy a new pair of drumsticks."
"So they left you here to baby-sit me, huh?" I said sarcastically.
He smiled. "What, do you still need someone to look after you? No, I just didn't feel like going anywhere."
I flipped the switch off and got up. Ike followed me up the stairs. He blabbered on about this and that while I nodded my head. Most of the lights were turned off upstairs. The house sure was quiet. It was kinda strange being alone with a 17-year- old. Especially one who's famous and cute. Most of the kids on the block his age have these awsome cars that they drive by my house with. They also love to flirt.
Isaac was nothing like that as far as I could tell. He was just... well... different. More determined. Much more fun too! I poured myself a glass of orange juice. "Want some?" I asked Ike.
"No thanks," he said and started up with the story of how they almost got lost on the way to my house.
I sat down on the couch and flipped on the TV. I flipped though the channels just to see what was on. I never really watched TV anymore. Ike stopped talking and started watching.
"No, no, no! Go back to that channel," he said as I pased a game show.
I got up to MTV and what would you know? I Will Come To You was on. I smiled. Ike laughed to himself when it got to his quick solo part.
I watched for a little longer until Taylor came home.
"Hey Tay," I greeted him as he came in. The dogs began barking like they usually do when someone walks through the door. Buttercup (one of the dogs) ran up to Taylor and sniffed his hand to see where he'd been.
"Look what Tay bought us!" Jessica and Avery yelled in unison.
They ran up the stairs and showed me their Hershey Kisses and Peanut Butter Cups. I gave them the remote and they switched to Nickelodeon.
"Hi Jennifer," said Taylor and he smiled.
"That was nice of you to buy them something," I told him.
"Yea, well, I do that a lot. Do you ever buy your brother and sister stuff?"
"Umm... I bought my sister a hamster once. I also brought home a dog for them too, but I got in trouble for that."
Taylor laughed. "Jennifer, you're the strangest person I've ever met!"
"I know," I told him and smiled to myself.