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Beautiful Day The heart is a bloom You thought you'd found a friend
You love this town It was a beautiful day What you don't have
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The
rest of the trip to New York was mostly uneventful. Mac did manage to dump a Coke on Loveboat, which caused an
awful lot of activity, including a whole lot of ice somehow getting flung down
my shirt. Zoë realized she had
left Zubbie at home and was in the middle of a major crying jag when the
landing announcement came over the first class speakers. We somehow managed to get out of the plane with all of our
bags and security whisked us away on two golf carts to the baggage claim area.
We had gotten all of the suitcases when we heard a familiar voice
calling to us. I turned to see
Emory standing at a baggage carousel about four down from ours.
“Em!!”
I said as I threw my arms around her neck.
“Are you just arriving?”
“Yes,
my flight out of Dublin was cancelled twice and then when I finally got one,
it was delayed 4 hours.” She
said her accent thicker than I remember.
“But I’ve gotten all of my affairs in order in Ireland, so now
it’s full steam ahead!”
“Wow,
this is really going to happen and in only about 6 weeks!”
I said as Diana and each of the kids hugged Emory.
“So, do you think they’re going to meet us here?”
“Of
course!” A deep voice said
behind us. I turned to see Walker
striding quickly towards us. “Or
at least I’m coming to meet you. The
guys are at a photo shoot.”
“That
must be making them happy.” I
mumbled under my breath.
“Oh
yeah, you should have heard the fit Zac threw when they were trying to do his
hair.” Walker said shaking his
head after he’d hugged all of us. He
picked up Zoë and then pulled Diana in close again, snuffling his nose into
her hair, kissing her forehead. “Lord,
I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve
missed you too, honey.” Diana
said into Walkers chest where he had her face pressed.
“How are the boys?”
“Good…
or pretty good.” Walker said finally releasing Diana from a bone-crunching
hug. “I’m sure glad to see
Emory and Cleo. I thought I was
going to have to kill Tay and Ike if they didn’t stop moping around.”
“They’ve
been moping?” I asked.
“I thought it sounded like they were having fun…”
“Oh,
they’ve been entertaining themselves, but you should hear the song they’ve
been working on.” Walker said
slinging bags onto the cart he’d brought with him.
“Zac refuses to have anything to do with it, he says it’s just too
maudlin to be believed.”
“My
poor babies.” Diana said
shaking her head ruefully. The
driver of the van jumped out when he saw us exit the busy JFK airport. Then another flurry of activity suddenly kicked into high
gear. Soon, I found myself
sitting in the very back of the van sandwiched between Emory and Loveboat.
The Queens scenery streamed past the windows as each kid talked at once
to their father, filling him in on the smallest details of the last 3 weeks.
Once everyone was fairly sure their father had heard them, the
roughhousing began again in earnest. I
mean, how can anyone expect young kids to spend that much time holding still?
“Mac,
leave your sister alone.” Diana
sighed as Mac and Avery started fighting over the controls to the Playstation
game.
“But
Mom…” Mac whined.
“I
think that Avery had it first.” Diana
reasoned. At this Avery stuck her
tongue out at Mac.
“Mom,
Avery stuck her tongue out at me!!” Mac
yelled way too loudly for the small space we were in.
“Kids.”
Walker said in his best dad voice.
They stopped immediately.
“I
cannot wait to get to the hotel.” Diana
said as she smoothed back a sleeping Zoë’s hair. “Throw the kids in the pool, so they can expend some of
their extra energy…”
“Umm…
We aren’t going straight to the hotel.”
Walker said quietly.
“We’re
not?” Emory asked from next to
me.
“No,
we’re going to go pick up the guys.”
Walker explained as the driver moved smoothly through the traffic.
“Now?”
Both Emory and I asked.
“Yes.”
Walker said a puzzled look on his face.
“They made me promise to bring you right back.”
“But,
I need to shower before I see Ike.” Emory
said smoothing back her curly red hair. “I’ve been up for 36 hours…”
“I’m
wearing Taylor’s boxers.” I
said looking down at what I was wearing.
Why don’t I ever learn?
“Cleo,
Tay is going to be so happy to see you, you could be n…” Walker stopped
before he said naked. “Well,
you get my meaning.”
“Unfortunately,
we do.” Diana said.
“Their
shoot is down in the village and them made me promise I’d bring you STRAIGHT
there.” Walker said as the
driver maneuvered through the traffic in the Queens Midtown Tunnel.
Silence again descended on the van as Emory and I both began to fuss
over how we looked. Emory, God
bless her, had an entire makeup kit in her carry on bag.
I was busily trying to braid my hair and not really succeeding.
Mostly what I was doing was knocking both Emory and Loveboat in the
head with my elbows. I both loved
and hated New York. It’s an
amazing and alive city, but it’s very, very humid.
And as soon as the plane landed, I could feel my hair growing not in
length, but by volume. I’m sure
Ike had the exact same problem. As
we moved through the heavy midtown traffic, I wished that Emory had a change
of clothes in her carry on.
Soon,
the van pulled up next to Washington Square Park. Immediately, I could see the whirl of insanity next to the
fountain. They had huge
reflectors set up and a wind machine blowing.
I climbed out of the van and watched Taylor.
He was a vision dressed in baggy, battered jeans.
He had a white button down shirt on over a white t-shirt, the sleeves
rolled to just below his elbows. He
was sitting patiently while a woman reapplied powder to his forehead.
When I saw him, I felt instant butterflies, tears sprang to my eyes.
A sob of pure relief ripped out of my chest.
I had missed him like oxygen. I
felt every synapse in my body snap to attention.
It was all I could do to keep myself from running to him and tackling
him. The woman said something
that made him laugh. He threw his
head back and laughed, a real honest, belly laugh.
And I fell in love with him all over again.
“Emory?”
I heard Ike yell. “Emory!!” He
yelled as he ran across the park and swept his girlfriend up into his arms.
When
Ike yelled, Taylor’s head snapped up. And
from across the park, I could feel his blue eyes fall on me.
His gaze warmed my skin like the sunshine coming out from behind the
clouds. Like warm water smoothing
gently over my body. Like the
rush of pleasure immediately after sex. “Cleo…”
he breathed almost silently and yet, I heard it.
I took first one step towards him and then another.
But as he stood up, suddenly, I needed to be in his arms. I broke out into a run.
When
his hands touched me, I leapt into his arms wrapping my legs around his waist.
“Oh Tay…” I sighed as I locked my lips onto his.
Suddenly, we were completely immersed in the most sensual kiss I’d
ever felt before. As his lips
moved across my jaw, I closed my eyes as a wave of pure pleasure ripped
through my body. “Tay, I have
missed you so badly… I thought
I’d die before I’d see you again.”
“And
I thought you said it would be no big deal.”
Taylor whispered in my ear, his tongue snaking along the outside of my
ear.
“Don’t
ever go anywhere without me again.” I
said tears streaming down my cheeks.
“I
promise, I won’t.” He said
kissing my cheeks, smearing the wetness across my cheeks.
Our mouths connected again. And
again, I felt the heat of the kiss rush over every inch of my body.
Slowly, I slid my legs from around his waist until I was standing in
front of him. As soon as his
hands were no longer holding me up, I felt them travel from my waist to my
breasts. A moan escaped from the
back of his throat.
“Ahem…”
A voice intoned behind us. “You
are in public.”
I
pulled back to see a highly amused Zac watching us. “Oh, so we are… What’s
up?”
“Nothing,”
he said kicking at the ground. “They
made me wear makeup. I told them
that I was a natural beauty and that I didn’t need any sort of makeup, but
they wouldn’t listen to me.”
“Aww…
Poor Zac!” I said as I
grabbed him in a huge bear hug. “There’s no one here to make out with you!”
“Well,
you could give me a kiss.” He
said wiggling his eyebrows at me. “I
seem to remember something about you saying I was the best kisser ever.”
Behind
me, Taylor cleared his throat. “I
never said that.” I said
smiling at Taylor. “Would I
ever say something like that?”
“Actually,
it sounds a lot like something you’d say.”
Zac said leaning down and catching me behind my knees, picking me up,
again. “Cleo, you’ve
lost a lot of weight since the last tour!”
“Zac,
I don’t know if you should be carrying her.”
Loveboat said as I tried to wrest myself from Zac’s arms.
But he was so strong.
“But,
I love to carry Cleo!” Zac said
walking towards the van where everyone else was unloading still.
Suddenly, Zac stopped short and let out a bloodcurdling wail, letting
go of me. I dropped hard to the
ground.
“Ow!
Damn it Zac!” I said from where I laid on the ground.
“It’s…
you.” He said pointing
towards Loveboat, stepping over me. “You
brought the she-demon with you!”
“Nice
to see you too, Hanson.” Loveboat
said a smirk on her lips. “Good
to see you’re charming as ever.”
“Back,
get back demon!” He yelled
stepping back and stepping right on my calf.
He fell down hard next to me.
“My
hell Zac, just kiss her and get it over with.”
Taylor said coming over and grabbing my hand, pulling me back up to my
feet.
“Bite
me Taylor.” Zac said getting up
and watching Loveboat warily. “Why
is she here?”
“Zachary
Walker Hanson.” Diana said in a
way that only a mother who gave that name could.
“I cannot believe how completely rude you are being!”
“But
Mom, she’s EVIL!” Zac said
hugging his mother.
“Good,
then she can teach her evil ways to your younger brother and sisters.”
Diana said as she hugged Taylor. “Honey,
you are too skinny! Have you been
eating?”
“Of
course I have Mom.” He said
picking Zoë up and smothering her face with kisses.
“Don’t
let him fool you Mom, he hasn’t been eating very much.”
Isaac said as he wandered over to where the family was gathered.
“Hey beautiful…”
“Hi
Ike.” Avery said smiling at her
brother. Ike and Avery had such
an amazing connection. “Guess
what? Jessica kissed a boy.”
“What?”
All three of the boys demanded at the same time.
“Avery,
I swear I’m going to kill you!” Jessica
said turning on her heel and stomping back towards the van.
“Avery
that wasn’t very nice.” Walker
began.
I didn’t hear what else he had to say, cause I followed Jess, climbing in the van behind her. She had climbed all the way to the back seat and had her head down. I sat in the seat in front of her and looked down at her. “Jess, are you okay?”
“Yes.”
She said, but I could tell she was crying.
“Can
I come and sit by you?” I
asked.
“Sure.”
She said sitting up. Her
blonde hair was sticking to her red face.
“I don’t care.”
“Are
you sure you’re okay?” I
asked sliding in next to her. I
put my arm around her shoulder, but she resisted.
“Is there anything you want to talk about?”
“No.”
She said shaking her head wildly.
“Cause,
you know, I grew up with Zac and Tay and Ike, and I often got pretty tired of
the teasing.” I said hoping
that was what was wrong.
“I
don’t care about the teasing.” She
said softening a little. “I
grew up with them too.”
“That’s
true.” I said smoothing her
hair back off her face. “There
is something bothering you, I’ve known you your whole life, I can tell.
Do you regret kissing Marcus?”
“No.”
She said a fresh wave of tears making her voice break.
“What
is it then?” I asked as she
finally gave in and leaned against me, burying her head into my shoulder.
I looked up and saw Taylor standing in the door of the van.
I smiled at him as he settled into the seat in front of us.
“You know, you can tell me, don’t you?”
“It’s
just… I really, really liked
Marcus.” Jessica said.
“Liked?”
I asked as tears overwhelmed her again.
“Y..
yes…” She sobbed. “He broke
up with me. He likes Mindy Exeter
better.”
“Aww…”
I said wrapping her in a tight hug. As
I held her, it occurred to me that I was probably the only “older” sister
she had ever known. “Well, if
he does, he’s an idiot. Cause
you are the most beautiful girl in the world.”
“No,
I’m not.” Jessica wailed.
“Oh,
yes you are.” Taylor said his
hand reaching out for Jessica. “And
anyone who can’t see that is an idiot and definitely not worth liking.”
“But,
he’s the cutest boy at church.” Jessica
sniffed sitting up and looking at her brother.
“Well,
he’s still totally stupid.” Taylor
said cracking his knuckles. “Ike,
Zac and I could rough him up if you want?”
“NO!”
She said sitting up.
“We
will, just give us the word.” Taylor
said cupping her chin. “I would
do anything you ever asked.”
“I
just don’t want to be teased anymore.”
Jessica whispered.
“Done
baby.” He said smiling at her.
She watched him dubiously, but something about his smile was
contagious. Soon, she was smiling
back him, ducking her head. “What
are you smiling at?”
“You.”
She said, a tiny giggle breaking through.
“Me?”
He asked. “What’s so
funny?”
“You
have on more makeup than I’ve ever seen on one face.” Jessica said bursting into a full on laugh.