the next morning, sutton dressed in khaki cargo shorts and a three-quarter length baby blue shirt, and met taylor downstairs for breakfast before they left. “hey,” she said to jessie, ike and taylor who were sitting at the kitchen table, as she routinely pulled out the juice from the fridge. she poured herself a glass and sat across the table from Ike with a bagel in hand and began to quickly eat. “so i heard today is taylor tuesday?” he comically asked her. “yeah, yeah.” sutton replied as she looked to her left at Taylor. “i have to find some way to entertain him today, i guess.” “yanno, and i’d already planned a bunch of nice things for sutton saturday. it would be a shame for you to bail on me now and miss a fun filled day with yours truly.” “i am sure Sutt is shaking in her boots,” Ike laughed. “What could you possibly have planned, five days in advance?” “he couldn’t possibly reveal his secrets to you, isaac. i guess i’ll have to take him out today and do something just so i can see what all he does have planned.” sutton grinned as she finished half of her bagel. isaac laughed and taylor kicked sutton from under the table. she looked over at him and shook her head as he stood. “i’ll go get dressed and then we can go, suttie,” he said and wandered down the hall. “what are you guys gonna do today?” sutton asked as she looked towards isaac. “where’s zac?” “i’ll probably succumb to driving everyone around town to wherever they feel like going, being the only one that has a drivers license and all.” isaac groaned. sutton laughed as he continued, “i don’t know where zac is.” “taylor has his permit, right?” “unfortunately. and unfortunately my parents kind of expect me to help him out, you know? driving and all? i had a hard enough time as it was to try to parallel park our station wagon. i don’t think that i am going to be able to teach him.” “i feel for you, isaac. i can only imagine aobut what kind of driver taylor is.” sutton finished her bagle and shared a laugh with isaac as taylor returned several minutes later, dressed in a long sleeved white shirt and baggy khakis, with his hair pulled back in a low ponytail. “are you ready yet, tay?” she asked as she pushed her empty glass towards the sink and brushed the crumbs off of her shirt. “yep, lets go,” he replied. “bye guys,” he and sutton said and wandered down the hallway. “see ya,” isaac called. the two teens stepped out into the rich, sunny day, and they both immediately squinted in the bright sunlight. they jogged down the hanson’s long driveway and out to the sidewalk that led to the elementary school which they could cut through. it was silent the first couple of minutes of their walk, and after taylor had followed sutton through the elementary school he finally asked where they were going. “you know me, i aim to please.” she grinned as she and taylor quickly crossed the street into the familiar large shopping strip mall. “laser quest?” he asked. “of course. i know if you don’t get your once a week dose of laser quest that you get cranky,” she laughed as they entered the building and waited a moment for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. taylor put his arms around her neck and chimed, “you’re the best!” as he and sutton went to the front desk and paid for two games. “you know where to go, taylor,” luke, the teenager behind the counter and friends with sutton and the hanson’s said. “we’ll probably start in a few, we need a couple more people to play.” “thanks luke,” sutton said as she and taylor made their way to the back of the building and entered a dark room illuminated with black lights. “do you want to play on the same team?” sutton asked as she noticed the several people already waiting to play. “nah,” taylor grinned as he went over to the green side and sutton to the red team. several minutes later an employee of Laser quest entered the room and said everyone could enter the next room to suit up with the chest pads and laser guns and go into the game room and the game would begin in ten minutes. sutton followed taylor into the room to get suited up and said, “i’m gonna get you a lot today.” “you wish,” he laughed as he suited up and they followed each other into the large room, dimly illuminated with black lights and glow in the dark craters and shields. “we’ll see,” she said as taylor wandered over to his side of the room and sutton met up with her team mates and they devised a strategy. there were five people on each team, which made an averaged size group. sutton’s team decided to have two people stay and guard their main power source and the other three would run around the room and try to shoot the opponents. sutton was one of them. they all gave each other high fives as the last of the players entered the room. the room became darker and loud techno music began and their guns and suits lit up, ready to shoot or be shot. sutton quickly wandered around the room ducking behind craters or rocks when she saw the light of a green player and aimed and hit their vests. having played the laser game so many times with taylor and her brothers made her quite a pro, and she knew tricks of how to stay hidden and be able to aim and hit her opponents. as sutton neared her opponents main power source she stuck to the side of the room where it was darkest, constantly checking her back as she peaked above a styrofoam object. suddenly she noticed taylor, who was easily noticeable in his white shirt that glowed from the black lights. she laughed to herself as she snuck around the wall that had hidden her, and aimed and hit taylor’s vest. “i got you!!” she screamed as she began running the opposite way as taylor’s vest began beeping “you’ve been hit!” and he ran after her, trying desperately to shoot her vest. sutton led him right back to her team’s power source, and he was instantly hit with several more lasers before he was able to try to hit their main power source. sutton giggled and wondered why he was letting his guard down so easily. taylor kicked himself as he desperately tried to make it back to his side of the large room so he wouldn’t continually be hit, and marveled at how sneaky sutton was. he was convinced that he was just a tad bit rusty for not have been able to play for several months, and hit behind a wall as he tried to hit an opponents vest. the game ended several minutes later, and sutton met up with taylor as they were exiting the large room to put their vests and laser guns back. “god, i can’t believe i was hit so many times,” taylor whined. “you shouldn’t have worn white taylor.” sutton grinned as they took off their vests and made their way out into the cool lobby to wait for their scores. they looked up to the large score board and saw that the red team, sutton’s team, had won. “look, i won.” “yes, you one for once. don’t think it will happen again,” he couldn’t help but smile, seeing how much fun sutton had had and he had had as well. he stuck his hands in his pockets and he and sutton wandered over to the arcade. he pulled several quarters out of his pocket and handed a couple to sutton as they began to play pin ball. “ah, that was fun,” sutton smiled as she pushed up her sleeves, tired and hot. “it was,” taylor agreed, eyes on the current game in front of him. “i haven’t played laser quest with you in forever. but it looks like i’ll always be better at pin ball than you,” he grinned as sutton leaned against her pin ball machine, done playing. “yeah, yeah.” she said as her number was called and she went to receive her score card. she returned to taylor and exclaimed, “ah, i got top gun!!” she laughed. “what number were you?” “14,” he answered. “i hit you seven times, taylor. you hit me twice.” taylor went to receive his own score card, and looked at it in disgust and put it in his pocket. “you know i should have won, this is supposed to be taylor tuesday,” he put his arm around sutton’s shoulder as they said goodbye to luke and left laser quest. “i know, i’m sorry.” she grinned. “wanna go eat? i’m suddenly hungry.” “yes, definitely,” taylor agreed as he shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand. “where are we going?” he asked as they started walking to the end of the shopping center. “taco bueno, of course,” sutton said in a mock spanish accent. taylor clapped his hands and he began jogging down the street, as sutton called from behind him, “quit it taylor, wait for me,” and began running after him. she quickly caught up to him, and jumped on his back. “whoa, watch out, sutton. you almost made me fall over that time,” he laughed as he grabbed on to her legs and she put her arms around his neck and he continued running, sutton squealing all the way. “okay, okay!!” she cried. “slow down,” she said as they neared the fast food restaurant. taylor spun around in the parking lot and let her jump off his back as they entered the air conditioned dining area. “you want the usual?” sutton asked as she pulled ten bucks out from her pocket and they got in line together. “a soft taco, a beef burrito and a medium dr pepper?” taylor laughed as they neared the register. “you know me too well. but that’s what you always get, too.” “yeah, i know.” sutton laughed as she relayed his order and hers and paid for their lunch and moved to the side and waited for their food. they took their cups and filled them up with dr pepper, and took their food to a large booth in the corner of the restaurant and sat across from each other. “mmm,” taylor grinned as he began to eat a soft taco. “this is the best food in the world, i swear.” “you know what i’ve noticed about you?” sutton asked as she bit into her own taco. “hmm?” “when you find something you like you never stop liking it and you can never get enough of it. laser quest. soft tacos. dr pepper.” “music. you.” taylor added. sutton blushed and took a sip of her pop. “me?” she asked. “yes, you!” he grinned as he finished eating his soft taco and took a large gulp of dr pepper. “i like you and i’ll never stop liking you or get sick of spending time with you,” he added. “likewise,” sutton grinned. “hey, i’m going to get to go on the whole tour with you guys and all, right? is everyone in the family going?” “yeah, you’re definitely coming with us. for as long as you can handle it,” taylor laughed. “my mom might stop off at home for a little while once we get to the states, just cos with all the kids it might get kind of hard. but everyone is definitely planning on going on the whole tour with us.” sutton nodded and began her second soft taco. “you remember what it was like when you and your brothers were watching mtv all day and night now in hopes to see ‘mmmbop’ when you guys first started out?” taylor grinned and nodded. “yeah...it was so hard just waiting. that was the worst. and now everyone is pretty much waiting for us, to prove to the world that this band that came from the middle of nowhere can last and produce a huge tour.” taylor paused. “i remember we were all so naive then, didn’t know that all of the radio stations would have to get the singles and listen to them and find out who ‘hanson’ was before they played anything, and the same with mtv. no one knew who we were and suddenly - poof!” “ah, and who exactly is hanson?” sutton joked. “a wonderfully talented trio of brothers from tulsa, oklahoma through which much hard work and determination success finally came.” taylor rattled off. “oh, so that’s what it says in your bio,” sutton chuckled. “something like that,” taylor grinned, sipping his drink. “you’re too much,” sutton laughed as she threw a crumpled up soft taco wrapper at taylor and finished up her burrito as he sat, waiting for her to finish eating. “alright, alright. i’m done now,” she said and stood as they began gathering up all their trash. they quickly refilled their drinks and headed back out into town. chapter eleven