I had gotten out of bed and gone downstairs for some coffee. Only my parents and I drank coffee. It was relaxing to feel the warm steam on my face and inhaling the sweet smell of Hazelnut that was filling the air. I coughed and took a sip. My throat was sore from coughing and the coffee soothed the burning. Suddenly Taylor appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. I almost choked on the coffee.
"What in the heck are you doing here!?!" I almost yelled, being extremely surprised.
"I knocked, but no one answered the door, so I let myself in," he said.
"Oh, I must have been distracted," I coughed again and looked at Taylor with wide surprised eyes.
"You're not even supposed to be here." I looked at what he was wearing. Jeans, t-shirt, a light windbreaker, and he had his hair pulled back in a nice ponytail. I was just wearing a light worn out t-shirt that had a lot of holes around the edges, and a pair of sweat pants with holes in the knees. Not to mention that I hadn't bothered to brush my hair today, leaving it tangled and hanging limply around my face. He grabbed one of the kitchen chairs and sat on it backwards, his chin and hands resting on the back of the chair.
"I couldn't stand being at home. Which is better? Being nice and visiting a sick person, or staying at home, feeling sorry for yourself while being surrounded by five screaming kids running haywire?" He made his hands into a scale,"Visit, screaming kids, visit, screaming kids, visit." He let the 'visit' side drop down.
"That was nice of you, but aren't you afraid of getting sick." I took another sip of my coffee.
"I wouldn't care."
"But the cough's the worst. My throat is so sore." I rubbed my neck as an example.
"Where are your parents?"
"They went shopping with Jewel. Sam's in the basement on the computer."
"You keep your computer in the basement?"
"Yeah, my mom can't stand them, so she wanted it out of her sight. She only goes downstairs to do laundry."
"What do your parents do?"
"My mom's a nurse and my dad's an engineer," Taylor nodded.
"Whatcha drinking?" I could tell he was desperate to keep a conversation going.
"Hazelnut coffee." We were quiet for a few seconds, but it seemed like minutes. I looked at the mug in my hands, and then at Taylor and met his eyes. He stared back. He had the bluest eyes I had ever seen. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't. I was trapped in Taylor's stare. I tried to hold it, but a loud cough emerged from my throat. Taylor's head snapped back, a little surprised. I took another sip from the mug.
"This is the worst," I said.
"What is?" Taylor asked.
"Being sick. The whole concept sucks."
"Yeah, but you could be better by tomorrow. People do recover fast sometimes."
"I doubt it, but I know I have to be better by Saturday when my cousin comes over."
"Oh," he looked at his watch,"OH!" he said loudly.
"What? What is it?"
"I have to get home! I'm probably going to be late for dinner!"
"Bye!" I yelled as he waved and ran out of the room, and out the door.
It was a three minute run from Kate's house to Taylor's. He got to his house out of breath. He walked inside ready to face his parents.
"Jordan Taylor Hanson! Where in the world were you?" We have been wondering where you were for over fifteen minutes!" Diana said rather loudly. She and the rest of the Hanson clan were almost finished dinner.
"I was visiting a sick friend," Taylor said, hoping that his parents would buy it, and sat down to eat his already cold dinner. Diana's face softened.
"Oh, it's okay to visit a sick friend but..."
Walked interrupted her,"But tell us where you're going and when you'll be back. We don't like to worry"
Taylor ate his dinner in silence. After dinner, he and his parents had a little talk about telling people where you're going, plus not going when some one tells you not to go, since they had found out that Isaac had told Taylor not to go. As a small punishment, Taylor had no tv for the rest of the night.
Taylor went to his room to find Isaac playing his acoustic guitar. Isaac, Taylor, and Zac were part of a town band called Hanson, hence their last name. They played gigs around town. They used to sing accapella, but soon picked up some instruments and started to playing them. They had also released two independent albums by themselves called Boomerang and MMMBop. They had yet to be signed up by a big record company, but they were hoping the chance would come up soon. Isaac played guitar, Taylor played keyboard, and Zac played drums.
"I told you not to go to Kate's, but did you listen? Did you? Nooo!" Isaac said mockingly.
"Shut up, I don't care," Taylor said and sat down on his bed. Isaac put the guitar against the wall and climbed up to the top bunk, where he slept.
"You're suddenly spending a lot of time at the Jones's house. May I ask why?" Isaac asked.
"I, uh, umm, I....."
"Like Kate?"
Taylor slumped over,"I'm not sure. I mean, she's nice, thoughtful, quiet...." Isaac began to laugh.
"Why won't you admit that you like her?" he chuckled.
"You're the reason!" Taylor pointed at his brother.
"Wha? Why me?" he asked.
"Cause I know you're gonna laugh at me!" This just sent Isaac into another laughing fit, but then he turned serious, "Maybe you should ask her out."
"Awww! C'mon! I barely know her, I can't ask her out!" Taylor stated,"She barely knows me. How old is she anyway? I don't even know that!"
"She's thirteen. Turned thirteen in August. Sam told me."
"Geeze Ike! You know more about her then I do!"
"You are a bunch of months older then her. You're gonna be fourteen in March."
"So what? I happen to know my own birthday, loser!"
"I dunno, it was just something to say. You don't have to get all mean!"
Taylor walked over to the dresser and pulled out some clothes, "Since I can't do anything fun tonight, I think I'll just go to bed early. I'll get more sleep." he headed for the bathroom.
Taylor woke up early the next morning, at about 9:00 AM, considering her had gome to sleep at 9:30 the night before. Isaac was sleeping soundly on the top bunk, while Zac was lightly snoring on the trundle bed on the floor. Taylor tried to go back to sleep, but the sunlight seeping past the window shades had already gotten to him and completely woken him up. He dragged himself out of bed and went downstairs to eat something. He grabbed a bown of cereal and ate it while watching dumb weekday morning television. An hour later, Zac came down the stairs, grabbed some breakfast, and watched Jenny Joned with Taylor.
"Ewwwwww! I can't believe that guy fell in love with his daughter! That is so gross!" Zac said, clutching his throat.
"There are a lot of twisted people out there Zac, just don't become one of them."
Zac saluted Taylor,"Yes sir! I mean, no sir! I mean uh, yes, no! Awwwwww, forget it!"
"Whatever Zac," Taylor shrugged, rolled his eyes, and started channel surfing. Diana came into the room with Mackenzie, the youngest Hanson at two, in her arms.
"Oh what a lovely Tuesday morning it is." she said in a sing-song voice.
"Blah!" Taylor and Zac said in usion.
"Is Ike awake yet?" she asked.
"Nope."
"Okay, well, anyway, you guys need to do your laundry."
Taylor and Zac groaned, still mad that they had been deemed old enough to do their own laundry.
Diana left the room, whistling 'Pop Goes the Weasle'.
Feeling a little groggy, I dragged myself down the stairs. It was about 7:00 in the morning. I was feeling a little better, but the side effects from the medicine Mom gave me, made me feel like a vegetable. I slumped down on the couch, covering myself with the afgan we usually but on the back of it. I situated one of the small decorative pillows under my head, and flipped on the tv.
"Daytime tv sucks." I mumbled.
"No it doesn't! I like Nick Jr!" Jewel whined, who had ran into the room. She had a bad habit of waking up really early, and waking up everyone else in house. She grabbed the remote from my hand and changed it to Nickelodeon. I was too tired to try and get the remote back.
"Oooo! Rugrats!" she sqealed. I grinned, remembering that Rurats used to be my favorite cartoon, but now I didn't watch it as much. Jewel left the room for a second and came back with a jar of black olives. She offered me some and I grabbed a few. My friend Sarah had told me that if you eat a lot of olives, you'll make out good with guys. She was a little strange and I didn't know where she got those stupid stories. I only ate them because they tasted good. Jewel sat in front of the tv, laughing at the babies on the tv screen and eating olives.
By late afternoon I was feeling more awake and a lot better then I had earlier. I decided to get dressed and go out on the front porch to get some fresh air. It was incredibly humid outside, so I sat on the porch swing in the shade. I wore a pair of worn out jean shorts and a regular, light red, cotton t-shirt. I closed my eyes, thinking about random things when I heard a voice saying "Hey."
I opened my eyes and looked up to find two boys standing in front of me. One was Taylor, the other one, a smaller version of Taylor with brown eyes.
"Hey Taylor." I glanced at the other boy with raised eyebrows. He stepped forward,"I'm Zac! Nice to meetcha!" he shook my hand.
I stood up, and look up at Taylor, he seemed so much taller sincer I had last seen him. I blushed when I relized that the two really had rollerblades on. Taylor lightly laughed, noticing how I had looked surprised at how tall they were. Taylor elbowed Zac in the arm.
"Um, yeah. We were skating by, saw you and decided to say hi." Zac said.
"That was nice of you" I said. Personally, Taylor had been making many appearances at my house lately. I sat back down on the swing. Taylor sat on one side, Zac on the other.
"So how are you feeling?" Taylor asked.
"A little better then I did before" I answered, speaking the truth. I glanced at my hands, which were folded in my lap. I looked at Taylor's hand, his fingers were drumming against his leg. Zac stood up.
"I can't stand sitting down. I have to go somewhere. See ya later Tay" he said. With that, he carefully climbed down the porch steps and skated down the driveway.
"So what's up?" I asked, talking to Taylor.
"Nothing much. How about you?"
"Not a lot either." Silence. I had nothing else to say. Taylor seemed like a pretty quiet guy. Unlike other guys I knew. I turned my head and was met by the blueness of his eyes once more. He stared at me for a second.
"You know? You have the greenest eyes I've ever seen," he said.
"Um, thank you," was all I could say. No one had ever really said that to me before. I knew my eyes were green, but that was all I thought about them. I always thought my eyes were dull looking. Taylor's eyes would always be more beautiful, compared to mine. We remained quiet for a few more minutes, not knowing what to say. The porch swing began to rock slowly back and forth. I turned my eyes to Taylor. He was looking at his feet as he used his legs to push the swing back. I planted my feet on the ground and helped him push the swing. He looked up at me, surprised. I grinned back. We sat there on the swing in silence.
"So," I finally said,"How's your family,"
"Fine, a little hectic though."
"I could imagine." I laughed.
"Yeah, having five brothers and sisters is no picnic," he looked at me again.
"This boy is big on eye contact, isn't he?" I thought to myself. I dipped my head down and ran my hand through my hair. I heard the phone ringing inside. I didn't want to answer it. I was perfectly comfortable sitting here, in the shade, on the swing, with Taylor.
"What am I talking about?" I continued to think,"I'm acting like I'm in love with him! I've only known him a few days." Taylor apparantly noticed the phone.
"The phone's ringing" he said. My head shot up.
"Oh, yeah, it is. I, uh, didn't notice it." I lied. That was stupid. Any idiot could have been able to hear it. I stood up and opened the front door, stepping into the front hallway. I picked up the portable phone that was standing on a small on a small table in the foyer.
"Hello?" I said.
"Hi, is Bob there?" the voice on the other line asked.
"This is she."
"Hi Bob, this is Katrina."
"Hi Katrina! Why you calling?"
"Well, Daddy has a BIG meeting on Saturday, so I have to come to Tulsa a day or two early." I noticed that she didn't seem all that enthusiastic.
"So when are you supposed to be here?"
"Either Thurday or Friday."
"Oh, okay! I'll tell my parents."
"I have to go, See ya later. Bye."
"Bye," I hung up the phone. I sat there with a confused look on my face. Katrina was usually excited when she talked to me. I shrugged it off when there was a knock on the door, it opened. Taylor stepped inside, still wearing his rollerblades.
"I have to go, okay. I'll see you later?" he said, his eyebrows raised.
"Um, sure. Okay, bye."
He walked out the door and closed the door behind him. I quickly walked to the window and watched Taylor skate down the street and dissappear around the corner.
Later that night, I was feeling even better. I was happier and had more energy. I secretly hoped that my mom wouldn't give me anymore of that aweful tasting medicine, that made me sleepy. Mom said that I could be completely cured in a few days, as long as I took that yucky medicine.
I was laying on my stomach in the living room, watching some cheesy show on tv, when Sam and a bunch of his friends came into the room.
"Hey Scooter, give up the tv," Sam ordered. I couldn't compete with him and his friends which were Steven, Josh, Tyler, Isaac, Adam, Ben, Doug and Joey. I tossed the remote to Sam and walked out of the living room. I guess that they had persueded my parents to order Pay-Per-View so that they could watch a movie. I climbed the stairs and went to my room. I felt like listening to some music. I hit the 'play' button on my cd player. Some music floated through the air.......
"I'm a fuckin' dick!..." I slammed my hand down on the 'stop' button. Not the kinda music I liked. I found my brother's Adam Sandler cd case right next to the cd player. I guess for some reason, he had come into my room to listen to the vulgar music. I took the Adam Sandler cd out and put in Alanis Morissette. I switched it to number eight,"Head Over Feet". As I was listning to it, I grabbed a peice of paper off of my desk and began to doodle on it. Jewel suddenly burst into the room and jumped on the bed beside me.
"Whatcha doing Katie?" she asked.
"Nothing," I said. My pencil scratched across the paper. "Don't call me Katie." I listened to the music, not really paying attention to what I was drawing. People said that I had a real talent for art. Books said that left handed people had a very good eye for art. I was left handed, like my mom. Jewel, Sam, and Dad were all right handed.
"Who's that?" Jewel questioned, giggling.
"Huh?" I looked down at the paper. There was a little picture of a boy with long hair and big eyes. "What?" I was surprised. The picture had a very close resemblance to Taylor. I crumpled up the paper and threw it across the room to the trash can. It bounced off the rim and fell onto the floor.
"Was that who I thought it was?" Jewel giggled again.
"No, it wasn't," I said,"You had better get ready for bed, it's almost 9:30."
Jewel frowned and jumped off the bed. She softly closed the door behind her. I carefully climbed off my bed and walked over to the peice of paper on the floor. I unfolded the paper and studied it. It really did look like Taylor. I suddenly began to feel embrarassed and placed the paper in a drawer in my desk.