Chapter 33
Christmas lights twinkled up and down the street. Marcy and Taylor walked, their breath leaving little clouds in the air behind them. "Where do you want to go?" she asked Taylor. He shrugged his shoulders. "So, anywhere but with your friends?" He looked at her. "Taylor, it's not going to go away. You can walk away from them all you want, but the next time you see them, it'll be the same. You're just gonna have to face them and deal with the looks and the awkwardness, eventually, it'll go away." He stuck his tongue out at her. "You big baby."
"Whatever." He said. They suddenly found themselves at the end of the street with nowhere to go. It was a dead end, dark woods sprung up in front of them.
"Whoa," she said, "that's a scary looking place!" He wrinkled up his nose and shook his head. "You don't think so?" She asked.
He took out his pad and wrote: I grew up here. Through there is my old backyard.
"Really? The famous Hanson house and the garage and stuff?" He nodded, raised his eyebrows and pointed to the dark pathway before them. "I don't know Taylor, it's kinda creepy looking." He put his arm around her shoulders and looked down at her. "Yeah, yeah. You're a big strong guy..." She thought for a moment, "oh, alright, but if you get us lost in there, you'll think our last altercation was a picnic."
He laughed and took her gloved hand in his and led her down the path into the woods.
~~~~
Zac and Shelly stepped up beside Lee and Isaac. "Hey, Ike, where's Tay?"
"Still out with Marcy, I guess." He answered.
"Well, it's kinda late, can we take Shelly home? I promised her mom."
"Sure. Let me tell Rob." Isaac made his way through the sea of bodies until he found the birthday boy. "Hey Rob," he said to his old friend. "We're gonna go take Shelly home. When Tay comes back, make him stay put, ok?"
"No problem. Ike, was Taylor alright? I mean, I know he's quieter now, but he was, like, QUIET. You know what I mean?" He shook his head feeling like an idiot. "I didn't want him to get bummed out by coming here..."
Isaac felt for him, even Taylor's own family sometimes found themselves feeling awkward around him. "Oh, don't feel bad Rob. Anytime we can get him out of the house, it's a step in the right direction. Plus, he played music in front of people. You can't imagine what it's been like, man. I mean, we used to play and sing constantly, but since it happened, we've all been avoiding it. But, in the last week or so, we've been able to get him to play with us..." Isaac stopped mid sentence, not wanting to let Rob see how emotional he'd gotten.
Rob smiled, "I'm glad, Ike. It's gotta be hard. When I see him, we'll tie him to a chair or somethin'." He realized too late what he'd said. "Oh God, Ike, I'm sorry."
"It's ok, man. It sucks, but what's done is done. We're surviving. We'll see you in a little bit." He made his way back through the crowd to Lee, Zac and Shelly. "Ready?" They nodded. "Let's hit it then."
~~~~
Though the woods were dark and Marcy didn't care for it, Taylor seemed to know where every tree root stuck up or dip in the path. He held her hand and would point or stop her if he was afraid she'd fall. Suddenly, they popped out into a large backyard. There she saw the famous treehouse, or what was left of it. Taylor couldn't help but feel a little disgusted at those "fans" who had the audacity to take, not only their privacy, but actual pieces of them, whether it be hair, a shirtsleeve, or boards from their precious treehouse. That, he supposed, was another of the downfalls of fame. "So, this is your old house? Do I get to see the famous garage?" He smiled at her and pulled her towards the comforting house he'd spent most of his life in.
~~~~
Zac and Shelly stood on her porch as Isaac and Lee watched. "I feel like an eavesdropper or something. I can tell 80% of what they're saying to each other." Isaac said to Lee.
"Well, stop looking then!" She said and she pulled his face over and kissed him. Though she was glad they'd begun to play music again, Lee had gotten used to having Isaac around a lot more than she'd gotten to see him the past week. The kiss lingered and once again she gave thanks to the DNA God who blessed the boys with those soft, full lips.
"Get a room!" Zac said as he opened the door and got in the backseat.
Startled, Lee and Isaac broke apart. "Sorry you had to see that, but it ain't easy getting time alone these days!" Lee joked.
"Isaac's never been alone in his life! At least not for the last sixteen years..." Zac exclaimed.
The ringing of Isaac's cell phone interrupted their chatter. It took a moment to locate it amongst the CD's and other things that had accumulated between the seats. He stopped and put the car back in park, "hello?"
He heard his father's voice on the other end, "Ike?"
"Yeah. What's up?"
"You guys need to come home..." he paused a moment and Isaac sensed an urgency he didn't like.
"What's wrong Dad?" Lee and Zac both listened now as well.
"They caught the guy, Ike... Don't tell Tay, ok? Just come home."
"Oh God." Isaac rubbed his forehead.
Zac was getting alarmed, "What is it, Ike?"
Lee could see his hands shake and she put her own hand on his shoulder. Isaac looked back at his little brother. "They got the guy Zac, they caught him."
Zac's mouth fell open in shock. "Ike..." his father spoke again, "Chris says the media is onto it, so don't turn on the radio or anything, alright? I don't know how Taylor is going to take this, so I want him here with us when he finds out."
"Ok, Dad. We'll be there." He said and turned the phone off and put his head on the steering wheel.
"Ike, what did he say?" Zac asked.
"He just said to come home and don't tell Tay, the news is out and he doesn't want him finding out like he did the last time."
Zac didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He wanted the guy punished more than anything, and yet, he wasn't sure Taylor would ever be able to face the man that had altered his life so drastically. Though he'd done a good job concealing it, Zac knew Taylor was still haunted by it all. He still had nightmares about it, sometimes bizarre, sometimes re-living the experience exactly as it had happened. He'd caught him in the bathroom, more than once, sweating and looking like he'd just run a race. Zac couldn't imagine how many times it had probably happened. It wasn't like anyone would hear him if he'd cried out in his sleep. Zac was pulled from his thoughts when they parked back in Rick and Rob's driveway.
"You guys wait here... I'll be right back." Isaac said as he stepped out of the car.
For a moment, Zac and Lee sat in silence. "You ok, Zac?" She asked.
He sighed "No." He said quietly, looking out the window at the brightly colored lights decorating the houses. He looked back at Lee then. "You know, just when I think, ok, this is how it is, we're coping, maybe everything's gonna be alright.... then something else happens. I just want it all to be over."
~~~~
Isaac went down the steps once more into the basement where his friends, and hopefully, his brother, would be. He didn't see Taylor anywhere, but that wasn't unusual. Taylor was a bit like an angelfish, shiny and flashy, but at just the right angle, he could disappear. He spotted Rick at the food table chatting with friends, so he made his way over to him.
"Ike, you're back! Where's Zac?" Rick asked.
"He's in the car. Um... is Tay back?"
His friend shook his head. "Nope, haven't seen him." He said, noticing Isaac's serious expression. "What's up?"
Isaac looked around, there were way too many eyes and ears aimed his way. "Can you come upstairs for a minute?" He asked.
"Sure." Rick said and he sat his drink on the table and followed Isaac up the steps.
In the quiet of the living room, Isaac told Rick what his father had told him on the phone. "Rick, I don't know how Tay will react to this, he might jump for joy or he might freak, I have no idea. So, if he comes back, please call me right away, alright? And, don't let on about anything, ok?"
"Sure man." Rick said. "I got your cell phone number."
"Great." Isaac sighed, "I'm gonna check out the neighborhood and see if I can find them. They were walking, right?"
Rick nodded. "Yeah, at least when they left here, they were."
"Ok, well, I'm heading out."
"Good luck, Ike."
"Thanks man." He said and he went out the front door to the car. A very light snow had begun to fall and he would've enjoyed it if he'd been at home in front of the fire.
"Well?" Zac questioned when he got in.
"He's not back yet."
"Damn." Zac muttered. "Where would he take Marcy around here?"
"Hey!" exclaimed Isaac, "Maybe they're at the house!"
"Yeah! I'll bet they are!" Relief flooded Zac, but he wouldn't be happy 'til he saw Taylor standing in front of him.
~~~~
As Taylor and Marcy stepped onto the grass to begin their trek to the house, they noticed snowflakes falling around them, barely visible in the moonlight. Taylor looked down at Marcy, smiling, then lifted his face to the sky allowing the flakes to melt when they hit his warm skin. The closer they got to the treehouse, Marcy could see that people had written notes, names and phone numbers on the old wooden boards. They stopped at the base of the tree.
"So, Taylor, carved any girls' names on this thing?" She asked.
He grinned and made a sweeping gesture with his arms. "All of them." He said.
"Oh, so these are all ex-girlfriends, eh?"
He moved his eyebrows suggestively, took his pen out of his pocket and scribbled MARCY on the bark of the tree.
"Very funny." She said, smiling back at him. He stepped closer to her and kissed her for the second time that evening. In the cold night, his lips felt warm and his breath was sweet from the candy cane he'd grabbed from the Christmas tree as they'd snuck out of the party. Just as the kiss started to become more passionate, much to Marcy's dismay, Taylor jerked his face away from hers. A car was pulling into the driveway.
"Damn!" He said and he grabbed her and pushed himself against her making sure the tree was between them and what he was certain was the prying eyes of over zealous fans.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Shhhh…" He shushed her. Marcy thought it strange, it was maybe the only time she could think of that a sound had come out of his mouth in her presence. Pressed so close to him, she could also hear him breathing and feel the beat of his heart. As they heard the car pull back out of the driveway, she felt his grasp on her loosen. He sighed and she turned to look at him.
"You doing ok?" She asked, concerned. He nodded. "Who was it?"
He shrugged. "Probably fans." He said.
"Oh. That's kinda freaky." She said. He nodded and they began again to walk towards the house.
~~~~
When Isaac had pulled up to their old house, Zac jumped out and ran up to the front door. Noticing the alarm was still set, his heart sunk. He turned back towards the car and shook his head. As he got back in, Isaac asked, "Why didn't you go in?"
He answered glumly, "Ike, the alarm's on, he's not there."
"Oh. Crap. Where do we go now?" He was getting frustrated.
Lee spoke up, "you should probably tell your folks, they're probably expecting you any minute."
He looked over at her. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Man, I hate to have to tell them I lost him again."
"Ike," Zac said, "you
didn't lose him. He took off, who knew he'd disappear into thin air."
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