When Taylor turned the light on in his room, Lee awoke to see him standing in all his glory minus Sailor Moon and butterflies. His back was to her and he was looking in the top drawer of the dresser. Sparky stood behind him watching his every move. He pulled out some article of clothing, then lay his arms on top and put his head down on them. She knew she needed to say something, but she wasn't sure if he was sick or upset or what. Besides, the view wasn't a bad one, she thought. "Um... Taylor?"
He jumped and spun around and
Sparky, startled as well, began to bark at her. She continued, "As
much as I'm
enjoying this, Isaac might
not understand."
He snapped his fingers at the dog and shushed him. It worked. He then hurriedly put on the red plaid boxers he'd gotten out of the drawer as his face turned a shade to match. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." He said.
"Taylor, it's ok. I've seen those things before. And, I'm sure you weren't expecting some strange girl to be in your bed. I was going to sleep in the basement but you'd already beat me to it. Isaac said I could sleep here. How about if I go back down there?" She said as she climbed from the bed. He still looked mortified and he had his hand on his chest. "Hey, are you ok? You're not gonna have a heart attack on me, are you?"
He took a deep breath and shook his head. He almost smiled.
"You know, Taylor..." She walked closer to him. "The other night when I was here, I wanted to tell you how sorry I am that this happened to you. I mean, I've never really been into pop music, but I'd be lying if I told you I didn't think you had an incredible voice and I really thought the new stuff was great."
"Thanks."
"When you mumble it's hard to tell what you're saying." She smiled at him.
He looked away from her and she thought she saw him blinking back tears. Sparky cocked his head.
"It's gonna get better." she said.
He looked at her then reached over on the desk and wrote, That's what you said last time.
"Yeah, well, I believe it." She smiled.
He snorted then reached up and rubbed his head and closed his eyes.
"Too much tequila?" He nodded. "Isaac was so worried about you, they all were." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I'll let you and your companion get back to bed."
He smiled now and reached down and picked up the little dog.
"Um, by the way, I thought you'd sworn off girls..." He looked at her with a puzzled expression on his face. "Good Night Taylor."
He waved and she shut the door behind her.
~~~~
"Hey, there's Bullwinkle!" Isaac exclaimed using the voice of the moose himself. The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade was on the television the next morning and all the Hanson kids minus the one getting lectured in the kitchen, were in the living room watching. In the basement, Lee could hear little snatches of the conversations from both rooms. "Man, if they don't let him out of there soon, he's gonna miss the Rockettes."
"Well, when you dance, you gotta pay the fiddler." Zac and Isaac.
"Taylor, I know you were upset, I don't blame you, but if you ever..." Etc. etc. Walker.
"Grrrrrrrrrrrr." Sparky.
She laughed to herself. That was the ugliest dog she'd ever seen in her life. She got up off the couch and headed up the stairs, still in yesterday's clothes. "Hey, Lee, you're up." Isaac saw her walk in.
"Yeah." She said sleepily.
Zac scooted over and she sat down on the couch between the two. "So,
is Taylor in
trouble?"
Isaac looked at her. "What do you think?" he asked. Just then a very tired looking Taylor stepped in the room and plopped down on the floor with his back to Isaac. "Hey man..." Isaac said.
Taylor turned and looked at
his brother.
"Grounded again?" He shook his head. "You got lucky."
He shrugged his shoulders. Zac bent down closer to Taylor. "I would have grounded him."
He gave Zac the finger without looking back. Zac stood up and slapped him on the head as he went by. Sparky had been watching and now stood in front of Zac growling furiously.
"What the heck?!" Zac backed up.
All the children now saw the dog and rushed towards him but he stood his ground baring his teeth at Zac.
Mackie asked, "What is it, Tay?"
Taylor looked at him as if it were the stupidest question he'd ever heard. He reached over and picked up the growling monster. Immediately, it's ears lay down and it's tail wagged and it licked him in the face.
"Oh my God." Jessica said and looked at Avery and they both started laughing. "Did Mom say you could keep it?" She asked. He nodded.
Mackie inched up a little closer, still afraid. "Can I pet it?" Taylor held the dog out to him but when he put his hand near him the dog showed it's teeth. "Uh, that's ok, Tay. Maybe later."
Zac looked at the dog and it returned his stare. "I'm sorry Tay," Zac said, "but that is just creepy. Where'd you get it?" Taylor thought for a moment then shrugged his shoulders. "You don't know." Zac said. Taylor shrugged again. "Whatever." He said and he headed up the stairs.
Lee whispered to Isaac, "What's up with him?"
He whispered back, "He was
worried. After that whole thing in New York, Zac's been real protective
of him or
somethin'. Y'know, they
made him put the cuffs on him."
Lee put her hand to her mouth. "Oh no, that's so awful. Poor Zac."
Taylor now laid back on the floor and closed his eyes. Diana walked in and sat Zoe, who'd just finished her breakfast, down on the floor and she promptly walked over to Taylor and stooped down and kissed his forehead. He smiled and opened his eyes to see the big blue eyes of his almost two year old little sister looking back at him. He reached up and wiped the milky kiss away. Now, she saw the little mongrel dog he was holding. "Doggie." She said. She reached over and Sparky let out a low growl and to everyone's horror she grabbed him by the hair sticking up on his head.
"Taylor!" His mother shouted.
But, though he continued to growl, the little dog didn't snap or bite. Taylor gently pried Zoe's little fingers from the dog's hair and took her hand and stroked Sparky's fur. "Doggie."
"Taylor, does that thing bite?" Isaac asked.
Taylor shook his head while still watching Zoe. She put her face against it for a hug and the dog complained louder. Taylor stretched, picked up Zoe and went to the kitchen with the dog hot on his heels. Everyone in the room just watched it all, then laughed.
"I wonder what it's like to be normal?" Walker asked.
"We'll never know, honey." Diana replied.
~~~~
Lee had been invited to Thanksgiving dinner at Diana's sister's house but had declined in order to spend it with her own family. Isaac, Zac and Taylor had taken her home and on the way back had gotten into a little discussion about Taylor's predicament. Zac and Isaac were trying to convince him that it didn't matter now about the media finding out and that if he'd read the article, he'd know that many of the "facts" were untrue and that it wasn't such a big deal.
Taylor, on the other hand, knew it was just the tip of the iceberg. Getting nowhere in trying to make him not worry, they turned to what had happened the night before. Isaac apologized for not "listening" to him and things were smoothed over between the two, but Zac was still upset that Taylor had "taken off" and stayed out all night long doing "God knows what."
Isaac knew what, but he just didn't know how much business it was of his.
Taylor just tuned them out and looked out the window. He was tired of lectures this morning and besides, he was feeling pretty sick right about now, but he refused to give them the satisfaction of losing his breakfast in front of them. Zac would never let that go.
As they went through the gate to their neighborhood, the man in the booth waved at them to stop. Isaac rolled down his window. "Hey, some girls dropped this off for Taylor a few minutes ago."
He handed Isaac a shirt and a pair of boots. He gave them to Taylor. Zac was watching from the backseat. "Thanks man."
"No problem. Happy Thanksgiving."
"You too." He replied and they drove on past to their own driveway. Taylor was relieved to get out of the moving car and into the crisp, fresh air. He leaned against the car with his head on his arms. Isaac came around. "You ok?" Taylor raised his head and nodded. "Don't stay out here too long, we gotta get ready to go to Aunt Sandy's." He turned and went in the house.
Zac stood watching his brother.
"Where'd you go last night?" He asked. Taylor looked at him
with tired eyes but didn't attempt to answer. "Did you have to walk
home with no shoes?" He asked and gestured towards the boots now
sitting on top of the car. Still no response. "Do you even
know how you got home? God Taylor! If you don't give a crap
about yourself that's your business, but don't forget about the rest of
us!" Zac reached over and grabbed something out of one of the boots
and tossed it in his brother's face. Green and blue plaid boxers.
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