“What am I going to do?” She sighed, picking up an old magazine and deliriously flicking through the pages she’d read already read over and over.
A startled shriek came from Keryn as she heard a light tapping noise on the living room window. “What the hell?” She looked towards the white lace drapes to see someone’s shadow curiously peering in.
She saw the person’s lips move. They flicked their hair back in annoyance. They began madly tapping on the window again. “Let me in!” A voice, clearly female, could be heard muffling through the thick glass.
“Who is it?” Fans had never come so close to the house any of the times she’d been at the there.
“What... mean? ... Me you ... dumb... ass!” They were the only words Keryn heard. She walked over to the window and pulled back the curtains.
“Geez, Margo, can’t you use the front door like normal people?” Keryn swung the curtains closed and made her way to the hallway, thinking about whether to let Margo in, or just leave her to rot in the front garden.
Keryn swung the wooden door open and watched Margo come up the pathway, picking various nature items from her pants as she walked.
“Mrs Hanson will kill you!” Keryn greeted Margo. “Why were you standing in the front garden? I hope, for your sake, you didn’t tread on any of those plants! They took years to grow!”
Margo rolled her eyes and started smoothing out the black t-shirt she was wearing. “I was just peeking to see if Zac was home yet,” Margo stated, matter-of-factly.
Keryn’s eyes grew wide. “What? By stalking the poor boy?” Keryn was never really aware of the maniacal thoughts that travelled through Margo’s head. “Besides, they’re not expected until tomorrow.”
Margo’s face travelled so far up to the screen door she almost had dirt imprints on her nose. “Where’s that strange Kayla girl?”
“Your thought patterns are so intricate... don’t you know when to and when not to say certain things out loud?” Keryn raised an eyebrow at her.
“Fine, if I’ve bothered you!” Margo turned and started to walk down the path, her long hair fluttering in the light afternoon breeze.
Keryn was left in the doorstep of the house analysing her afternoon plans. Zilch, nonexistent, nil. “Margo?” She found herself calling, still not knowing if it was a wise move. “Margo, wait. Do you want to... come in?” Most bones in Keryn’s body wanted Margo to bluntly refuse, but there was a little of her that felt like company at the moment, even if it was from someone as cynical as Margo. Although, maybe she could use someone that could get her back into reality.
“Are you sure?” It seemed that Margo’s defenses dropped a little and she was being sincere about sharing some kind of social gathering with Keryn. Margo slowly made her way back up the path. “Really?”
“Really.” Keryn stated. “I’m sure we can find something to do to pass the time between now and when the boys come home. Would you like to stay for dinner?”
“Okay.” A smile crept to Margo’s lips and she quickly took it away again. “Thanks, I guess.”
“That’s okay, let’s go raid the Hanson’s video cupboard or something.” Keryn smiled and motioned for Margo to come in the door. The girls disappeared into the huge house.
“Recite the point of this little trip again,” Zac groaned as he got on the plane in New York. The airport had been classified as full even before the Hanson fans crammed all available space on the cold, tiled floor. Zac could’ve sworn the same girl yanked his hair twice, pulled on his new shirt, tried to get his shoelace and then attempted to rip a button off his favourite pants.
“You don’t want to go home for a few days?” Mr Hanson asked, slightly worried about his son.
“Yeah, I want to go home,” Zac buckled himself into a window seat and guided his attention back to his father. “It’s just that we’re going to settle down and have to get back up and going again straight away. I’d rather just keep on going without a break and have a longer break later, you know?”
“No way,” Taylor was kneeling on the seat in front of them, popping his head over the top. “A couple of days is enough replenishment for me. Longer would be nice... but a few days off would suit me okay right now.”
“Gee, wonder why,” Zac chuckled under his breath.
“Hey, no way... what about you and Margo? You just said that you didn’t want to go home... are you neglecting her this week or something?” Taylor eyed the stewardess that was walking down the plane. She seemed too alarmed at the fact Hanson were sitting there to bother about telling Taylor to sit correctly. “That annoys me, you know? For all she knows, I’m about to go hurtling to the front of the plane when it takes off because I’m not wearing a seatbelt.”
“That’s because you’re stupid enough to do it, Taylor,” Isaac gave his piece as he sat next to Taylor, flicking through a magazine. “You’ve been on enough planes to know these rules. She’s probably only staring at you strangely because last time we were on a plane you were sitting just like that and you were too busy listening to the sound of your own voice that you went hurtling into the toilet cabin during take off because you weren’t buckled in. They have a poster of you at the airport - warning stewards.”
“Oh, you’re so funny, Ike,” Taylor rolled his eyes. He silently slid back down into the seat and buckled up, just in case. “So, what’s with Margo?” Taylor continued the conversation with Zac through the seats.
“I don’t know... I just haven’t seen her for a while, so-”
“You lost interest.” Taylor cut him off.
“I have not lost interest!” Zac demanded. “I just haven’t talked to her in that long, that’s all...”
“Did you ever talk in the first place?” Isaac asked.
“And, what’s that supposed to mean?” Zac’s defenses grew.
“Please, boys. The last thing I want is for you to be all hostile when you go and see your mother, brother and sisters for the first time in a while.”
“Yes, dad,” Zac groaned, still stewing over his older brothers’ comments.
“Sorry,” Taylor and Isaac said in unison.
Zac placed his headphones into his ears and gave Taylor one last baneful stare through the seat before he closed his eyes. Taylor shuffled around in his seat. “So,” Taylor looked at Isaac. “What are you going to do when we get home?”
“Find a new girlfriend,” Isaac coughed.
“Are you serious?” Taylor looked at his older brother and wondered why he could act so childish at times.
“Why wouldn’t I be serious?” Isaac looked up from his magazine for the first time in a while.
“Nothing, Isaac. Just forget about it.” Taylor withdrew himself from the conversation by placing headphones in his ears and finding an appropriate station for his mood. The stewardess looked at him again as she walked down the isle. Taylor just gave her a huge, obvious wave and she quickly relocated the direction of her eyes. Taylor smiled, closed his eyes and sank back into the chair.
“I’m bored,” Margo sighed as she flicked through the collection of videos in the living room. They were all packed away in a box near the television.
“I know, so am I,” Keryn yawned and pressed stop after she’d watched the last of the credits on Star Wars. “That movie was okay I guess, did you find anything else we could watch?”
“I thought they didn’t like that music,” Margo grimaced, reading the spines of some of the videos.
“What are you talking about?” Keryn adjusted one of the cushions on the lounge to make it more comfortable.
“Taylor has both Time out with Britney Spears and Genie gets her wish here,” Margo pulled them out to show Keryn.
“Oh, he does that. I think he just goes to the music store, buys them and then comes back saying that he bought it by accident or something like that.”
“How do you buy a whole video buy accident?” Margo asked, confused.
“Oh, it’s impossible... but if Taylor tells me he did, I just nod and agree. Then he’ll say that he has to go and watch it, to at least get his moneys worth.” Keryn rolled her eyes and sat at the video collection with Margo.
“I’ve seen most of this,” Margo said, going through the last of the collection.
“Same here. Want to order a pizza or something?”
“Sure,” Margo laid back on the lounge and started pulling at the carpet. “Hey, can I talk to you?”
“Sure, Margs. What do you want to talk about?”
“Zac.” Margo said it bluntly, candidly and straight to the point.
“What about Zac?” Keryn asked, cautiously.
“It’s just that, well, he hasn’t rang me in a while, and I was just wondering it he’d said anything to you - you know?”
“Sorry, Margo, he hasn’t said anything to me,” Keryn told her. Even if he had said anything to Keryn, she probably wouldn’t have broken that confidentiality.
“Oh, not even a hint?” Margo seemed desperate for some inkling of information.
“Not a hint, Margo. He’s just busy, you know that.”
Margo’s face fell. “I’ve been reading interviews...”
“Margo? Again?” Keryn remembered the time Margo came to the house complaining about the fact that Zac said he didn’t have a girlfriend in one of the magazines.
“Yes... Zac’s been saying that he’s not even interested in having a girlfriend... I know you said that he wouldn’t want to release that information to the public anyway, but what if it’s true, Keryn? What if he doesn’t want a girlfriend?” Margo seemed worried, as if she just wanted to see Zac in real life again and cuddle him, just to know that she was living in reality.
“How close were you when he left? What kind of bond did you share?”
“Oh, we’ve never slept together,” Margo stated.
“Okay, Margo... too much information. That’s not what I meant. I mean, how did you talk to each other? Were you close?”
Margo thought for a moment. “Well, I’d imagined we were quite close. I seemed to tell him a lot, and he told me quite a bit.”
“Well, it seems to me you’re just a little too worried. He’ll be back soon and you can talk with him about it. But, I think that you’re just getting yourself all wrapped up over nothing.” Keryn gave her a reassuring smile and got up to use the hallway phone to dial a pizza.
“This plane ride’s so boring, so boring, so boring. This plane ride’s so boring, so boring, what a bore,” Taylor and Isaac harmonised from their seats, in the tune of the there’s a hole in my bucket song. “Do something about it, dear stewardess, dear stewardess, do something about it dear stewardess, right now.” Taylor seemed to have turned the stewardess that was previously giving them the stares from an admiring fan, to an anti-fan. After Isaac and Taylor had been making up songs for a large duration of the flight, one or two passengers had complained, and therefore the stewardess had to come down and tell them to stop. After about ten minutes, Taylor and Isaac found it was Zac who had complained and they continued their little episode of Sesame Street.
“Would the two of you just shut up?” Zac’s tone was annoyed as he tried to hush his brothers from the seat.
“Why?” Taylor unbuckled his seat and kneeled, popping his head over again. “Are you going to complain again, little brother? Because that is not going to work!”
“We’ll be landing soon, Mr Hanson,” the stewardess eyed Taylor again. “Please take your seat, or you’ll be landing in Oklahoma via the toilet cubicle, like last time.” She smiled smugly and walked away.
“Don’t fall off the plane!” Taylor called behind her.
That comment sent Zac into insane laughter. “That was the worst comeback I have ever heard in my entire life!” Zac could hardly contain his giggles.
Taylor rolled his eyes and sank back down into his seat. “Fine. Just get me off this stupid plane now.”
The afternoon had turned to night by the time the pizza guy had arrived and when Keryn went to the front door, she felt shivers from the slight wind that was still blowing. “Thank you,” Keryn closed the door and allowed the fresh aroma of warm pizza float through the cozy air of the house.
“Margo, pizza’s here!” Keryn sat down in the living room and waited for Margo to join her with the plates.
“Geez, I’ve never been this starved since I was pregnant!” Margo rushed into the room and lumped herself next to the pizza box.
“Oh, uh, cool,” Keryn felt speechless, uncomfortable with the situation. As much as she knew she was over it, it was still different to talk about the whole thing.
“Oh, sorry,” Margo said, taking a bite into the pizza. “Are you still angry about that whole Taylor thing?”
Keryn couldn’t really believe how at ease Margo felt about talking about it. “Um, not angry, just confused,” Keryn said, not realising it. She didn’t really feel like talking about the situation. But, from what she’d said, now she may have to.
“What do you mean?” Margo asked, right on cue.
“Oh, nothing really,” Keryn expressed. “It’s just that, I’ve never really understood why you told me in the store that it was Taylor’s baby, when you knew clearly that it wasn’t,” Keryn tried to step through the conversation cautiously.
“Oh, is that all?” Margo asked.
Keryn’s mouth dropped open and she placed the pizza back onto the box. “Is that all?”
“What do you want me to say?” Margo asked.
“I don’t know. But, Margo... I was devastated and you held the key to fixing that devastation. For all you knew, I could’ve been suicidal!”
“Keryn, that’s going a bit far. I was the pregnant one!” Margo just kept eating her pizza.
“I know that, and I felt bad for you because of that whole situation. But, right now you don’t seem to care that you could’ve radically changed my life. I was about to move countries!”
“No, you’re the one that made Taylor cheat on me when you were on that stupid boat!” Margo fought, finally placing her pizza back down on the box.
“I made Taylor cheat on you? You guys weren’t even going out properly then!” Keryn stood in the middle of the living room and placed her hands on her hips.
“Well, then why didn’t he make that little fact clear to me?” Margo joined Keryn standing up on the floor.
“Because he was spending quality time with me!” Keryn argued.
“Oh, that’s mature. You’re so self centred. I’m sick of hearing about the stupid, little twisted relationship that you have with Taylor! Did you even stop to think about the fact that not everyone that lives in Tulsa cares about your screwed up little lives? Best friends getting together - it’s so Dawson’s Creek!”
“Oh, you’re too much, Margo,” Keryn turned and walked out of the room.
Margo sighed and fell back on the lounge. “I wonder what the guys are doing now?”
“Just leave me the hell alone!” Taylor screeched in the back of the cab. Zac was constantly flicking Taylor in the back of the head with the complimentary headphones he’d picked up from the plane.
“Oh, it’s alright for you to sing annoying songs on the plane, but the minute I start getting on your nerves-”
“Just shut up, alright?” Taylor folded his arms and stared out the window.
The three older Hanson boys were crammed into the back of a taxi, while their dad was sitting in the front directing the driver to the house so they could say hello to their mother before they went back to stay at the house where Keryn was.
“Ike, he’s getting all angsty!” Zac whispered to his brother, loud enough for Taylor to hear.
“It’s because she’s so close!” Isaac joined in, smiling genuinely for the first time in a while. Isaac looked out the window and admired the twinkling lights that were whizzing by outside within the blackness of the night. “It’s kinda nice to be back here, in Tulsa,” Isaac felt himself sighing.
“I actually agree with you now,” Zac said, looking out the front of the car from his position in the middle seat.
“Good to hear, Zac. Good to hear,” Isaac started to get his things organised as the cab pulled up in front of the house and his father paid. “Thanks,” he called into the driver, out of habit as he stepped onto the curb. Isaac took in the scent of the fresh air and green grass. He hadn’t smelled that scent in a while. It was so fresh and crisp.
“Margo, get out of the kitchen, I don’t want to look at you!” Keryn expressed as Margo came in to rinse her plate.
“Just get over it, Keryn. Dwelling on things is just waste of life.”
Keryn was just about ready to throttle Margo when the phone rang.
“Hello?” She asked, happy for someone else to talk to.
“What’s up?” Kayla asked, sensing tension in her friends voice.
“Margo’s here,” Keryn stated, giving Margo a knowing glance and then turning around to face the kitchen window.
“I’m guessing that has developed into a bad thing?” Kayla asked, almost giggling at the situation Keryn had gotten herself into.
“I’ll talk to you about it later,” Keryn said. “So, how was the flight?”
“Same old,” Kayla said. The television could be heard in the background. Keryn silently wished she was there with her and Charlie, just having a decent time.
“How’s Charlie?”
“He seems good,” Kayla said. Keryn could tell that she was smiling.
“Look, Kayl? I have to go. Can I call you later? Margo is staring at me and she won’t stop.”
Keryn heard Kayla laughing. “Good luck! I’ll seeya soon.”
“Bye, Kayla!” Keryn clicked the phone back onto the receiver and looked across the room at Margo. “What do you want?”
“I’m bored.”
“No way... you can’t say stuff like that to me and then expect me to plan some great randomly significant social activity for us to do. I’m not your babysitter,” Keryn turned and filled a plastic bottle with water and started drinking from it.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Margo asked, with a harshness in her tone.
“It’s supposed to mean nothing Margo. You’re getting the wrong signals.”
“Yeah, you’re good at giving the wrong signals, aren’t you? Look at how you twisted Taylor up for all those months,” Margo sneered.
“I’ll just pretend you didn’t say that,” Keryn turned around and took another sip of her water.
“Why? It’s true!” Margo felt like a fight. Perhaps it was a way to release her emotions.
“Look, there are many things that I could say about you, but I’m going to hold them in, why can’t you just do the same?” Keryn tried to remain calm.
“What things do you want to say to me?” Margo asked.
“I’m not about to get into that now!” Keryn was starting to lose her patience already.
“Well, we have all night, so you may as well start,” Margo a grimace on her face. “It’s about me getting pregnant, isn’t it?”
“Just shut up, Margo. I really am not in the mood at the moment.”
“Sure,” Margo snickered. “Thinking about lover-boy, are you?”
Keryn slowly turned around to Margo. “Why are you out looking for some kind of fight or argument, Margo? Because it’s really, really starting to annoy me.”
“Don’t give me tha-”
“What’s going on in here?” Zac appeared in the doorway and Margo nearly died of fright.
“Pfft. I wish I had’ve left her to rot in the garden,” Keryn walked towards Zac. “Hey, babe,” Keryn reached out and gave him a hug. “I thought you guys were coming in tomorrow?”
Zac smiled. “Well, we wanted to surprise mom and you guys... so we came in earlier.”
“Oh, you guys are so sweet. It’s been so lonely here without you,” Keryn glared at Margo.
“Well, I hope we can make up for all the time we’ve been away.”
“So do I,” Keryn grinned. “Where are Ike and Taylor?”
“Well, being the baby that he is,” Zac chuckled “Taylor has fallen asleep in the car on the way over here-”
Keryn giggled, “How cute.”
“-and dear brother Isaac is trying to get him up.”
“Should I go and help?” Keryn nudged her head towards Margo and tried to send Zac some telepathic messages about her stress of late.
“Oh,” Zac realised. “Oh, oh, yeah. Go help.”
“’Night Zac, if I don’t see you. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Good night,” Zac patted Keryn on the shoulder as he walked towards Margo, who was sitting at the kitchen table.
“Ike! How are you?” Keryn saw Isaac’s behind hanging out of the car as she walked out into the darkness. “How was the flight?”
“It ended up being pretty boring. I think we were all pretty anxious about getting back home.”
“It’s good that you’re back, I must say. How is everything?” Keryn asked, trying to sneak a look at Taylor in the car.
“It’s going good at the moment, but I tend to think we’ve deserved this break,” Isaac yawned and eyed his bedroom window. “Do you want to take over here?” Isaac slammed the door shut and walked up the path. “Good night, Keryn.”
“’Night, Ike.” Keryn bent down to look into the car, wondering why Isaac shut the door.
Keryn felt someone tap her back, “Eek!” She took a deep breath and turned around.
“Oh, my God. I’m so glad you’re back!” Keryn threw herself at the Taylor figure that had been standing behind her the whole time she’d been talking to Isaac.
“You don’t know how much I’m glad to be back,” Taylor nestled in as they both tried to get warm. “How have you been?” Taylor stroked some stray hairs away from her eyes.
“I could’ve been better,” Keryn looked up into his eyes. “Let’s get inside,” Keryn hurried up the path. “It’s freezing.”
Taylor grabbed onto her right hand, following behind. “It’s so good to be back. I just want to sleep in my own bed,” Taylor bounced along, starting to feel the tiredness.
The two of them got into the warmth of the house. “Ahh, it’s so good to actually see you now,” Keryn smiled warmly and took both of his hands in hers. “You have to tell me everything about every country and state you went to.”
Taylor smiled at her excitement and rested his head on hers as they walked up the hallway, towards the ray of light coming from the kitchen. Home, sweet home.
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