It was about six am in the morning when my flight arrived at the Los Angeles International Airport. I was extremely exhausted from the flight I had taken earlier that morning from my home in Miami Florida. It was a Friday and this was going to be the best weekend of my life, and the worst.

*          *          *          *          *

I had been listening to my local radio station when I heard that Hanson had just started their US tour. They had just come out with a new album, "Middle of Everything." I was a little disappointed by the lack of originality of the title. After all, nearly everything now has that little 'MOE' logo on it. I guess they just thought it would be cute.

I had called sick for work that weekend, told them I had come down with a cold, and I had horrible pain in my chest. Which wasn't all that false. I did have a pain in my chest. I had an aching to see Taylor live in person! I had called up that Thursday afternoon to a friend in Los Angeles and she had mentioned that she was going and she had backstage passes. I was extremely jealous of her. She mentioned that she was expecting a phone call and that she would have to call me back.

I forgot much about that, knowing I could easily get tickets from Ticketmaster. I called them up and found that the concert was sold out. So I logged on to the Internet and went to the Official Hanson site. I thought maybe since they were going to be in LA there might be some hints or clues as to where they might be doing press conferences or radio gigs. I was in luck!

KBIG was having a Hanson 'listener appreciation' concert out side the Beverly Hills Planet Hollywood! All you had to do was win tickets by being the one hundredth caller to correctly answer any question about Hanson that the DJ asked you. I was convinced I could answer just about anything there was to know. I had in my collection thirty two books on Taylor, Isaac and Zac. Some I ordered from out of country shops in the UK and Europe. Some I got from my local shops. Most of them had repeated information, but each one did have something different in them. I called up Delta and found that they had an opening in the coach class of their next fight out early Friday morning that was headed directly to LA with no connections or cross-over's.

This was my chance, I grabbed my nearly maxed Visa from my pocket and gave them my account number. The round trip ticket was just over one thousand dollars! I gasped when she told me that she was validating my credit and to please hold.

I held my breath. Praying that all the little twenty five and fifty dollar deposits on my account had paid enough of the debt off to allow the flight fee to go through. The disgusting hold music didn't help matters either. My stomach was already queasy from the idea of getting to at least see Taylor in person. It didn't help matters when a really crummy remake of "Karma Chameleon" came on sung by some tone deaf artist no one had heard of, nor should. I nearly lost my cookies when the sales attendant clicked back on.

"Mr. Quest, I'm sorry to inform you," she began as I nearly groaned out loud.

"I'm sorry to inform you that the seat in coach is no longer available, but we do have one open in first class, I could try and get you that seat at the same price, would you like me to check," she asked happily.

I nearly screamed at her.

"YES PLEASE, um yeah I'd appreciate that, thanks," I tried not to yell into the phone.

The music came back on and I grimaced.

"I should get something for sitting through this music alone," I thought to myself as the song droned on.

The music clicked off again.

"I'll need to verify a few more things before I can process your request, your name address and account number as it appears on the card," she asked.

"Sure," I replied as I began to read it off the card I was holding. This was making me nervous. I wasn't committing fraud or anything, and it had never taken this long to process.

"Mr. Quest, are you aware that KBIG is working in conjunction with Delta, Planet Hollywood, and the Beverly Hills Hotel, in promotion of Hanson's new US Tour," she started.

"Um ok, no I didn't but how does that affect me," I asked slightly confused and excited that I might have won something.

"Well, there has been a bit of a contest, anyone who could get a flight booked before midnight tonight and stays in the Beverly Hills Hotel will get a free ticket and all access pass to the Hanson concert on Saturday, but you have to stay until Monday night at midnight.

"No way, well how much will all of this cost," I asked now excited but worried that I'd have to pass since I didn't have all that much money left.

"Your in a bit of luck, you see along with the fact that your booking your flight before midnight your also the millionth caller to Delta that's booked a flight in, so you get it all for free," she said happily.

"NO WAY, oh man that rocks," I screamed into the phone.

"A million people will be there," I asked in shock.

"Oh no, since the contest began a million people have flown in, you just happen to be going to this Hanson thing so you lucked out."

She giggled and punched in a few more things and then told me when to be at the airport. I thanked her a lot for her help and she hung up.

"I'm going to meet Taylor Hanson," I screamed as I jumped up and down in the middle of my one room apartment.

All my friends knew I had a crush on him. There were about three posters of him alone that I had a local poster shop print up for me from some negatives that I had bought, up all over the place. Along with Geri Halliwell posters and a bunch of other entertainment memorabilia.

My one room apartment, while small was quite unique. Even though it was only one room it was quite large. There were diving walls that didn't connect to anything. Like the kitchen wall and the bathroom and shower walls. But scattered around were neat photos and posters. Besides the Taylor, Geri, and movie posters were autographed photos of celebrities.

I was thrilled now. Now I would be able to add a photo of me with Taylor to my collection of memorabilia!

*          *          *          *          *

From the flight indicator screen I had to pickup my baggage on the other end of the airport. So I trudged along, kind of annoyed at how far away my stuff was from my plane. I hadn't gotten more than ten feet when I glanced up and saw a man in a black suit holding a sign with my name on it.

"I'm Taylor Quest," I said as I walked up looking a bit confused.

"Mr. Quest, my name is Edward Smithé I am with the Beverly Hills Hotel, your car is waiting out front, do you have any luggage, if so would you like me to get you a sky cap?"

"Wow, my own car, uh yeah I've got two suit cases, they are at baggage claim F 7," I replied as he took the carry on from my hand and carried it for me.

We walked through the airport down to baggage and he got an attendant to collect my luggage, from there I followed him out to the front of the airport where a nice six passenger limo sat waiting for me!

"My own limo," I nearly yelled out loud.

Mr. Smithé smiled and opened the door, my baggage was loaded into the trunk and soon after we pulled away. The limo was gorgeous. It had a bar with ice and cokes in it, a small television sat on the other side and there was a CD player above my head. I took this opportunity to pop my 'Middle of Nowhere' CD into the player and blast 'MmmBop.' At first I thought to turn it down then I saw that there was a glass divider between me and the driver.

I opened the moon roof and stuck my head out, 'MmmBop' blasted and the warm California wind whipped at my long brown hair. The sun felt good, after being in an airplane all night the warm breeze and sunlight was great. The smog wasn't as thick yet, it being only a little after seven in the morning. It took a while to get to the Beverly Hills Hotel. Beverly Hills is on the opposite side of the mountain range facing Hollywood. Los Angeles is in the valley behind Beverly Hills. So many people think they are all piled into one spot.

We curved and climbed through the hills and soon rolled up in the front of the Beverly Hills hotel. The press was already scattered around the area since Hanson was going to be doing conferences in the next few days. I was curious as to where they were staying. I had remembered hearing that during the filming of the video for "MmmBop" they had an apartment in the Hollywood Hills but I wasn't sure if they still had it.

The limo rolled up and I waited to see exactly what was going to happen. Outside the reporters started to gather with their cameras held up. They thought I was some celebrity! Mr. Smithé opened the door and they all relaxed as I got out. I was slightly disappointed that they hadn't started snapping photos but, heck I'm no star. I walked into the hotel past a mob of reporters and yelling people. Someone was in the hotel, someone of importance.

I walked up and stood behind a strawberry blond wearing a black pants suite at the counter.

"Oh don't mind me, I'm just waiting for my key," she said as she turned around and smiled.

I was slightly taken back, she looked strangely familiar. Then she introduced herself.

"Hi, my name is Geri," she said with a big smile and shook my hand!

I was shaking the hand of Geri 'Ginger Spice' Halliwell. I hadn't recognized her out of the spice getup.

"Oh, hey yeah I know you, used to be 'Ginger'," I said calmly, trying to seem cool.

"Ah ha! You recognized me, congratulations," she said as she leaned in and pecked me on the cheek.

"My name is Taylor, Taylor Quest."

"Oh Taylor, like the singer," she asked.

"Yeah, I'm here to see the concert tomorrow," I replied happily.

"Yeah? Well it's been moved up to this afternoon, they're playing the Hollywood Bowl tomorrow night instead," she said as she pointed out the schedule in her hand.

"You're here to see Hanson too," I asked.

"Actually no, I've got a lot to do in town in relation to the UN so I decided to stop by and catch a show. Look I've gotta split, see you later," she said as she turned around and walked to a door marked stairs.

"Geri, that's the stairs," I called out to her.

"Yeah I know, I don't use the lift, I use the stairs, besides this is California, and I get a work out," she said with a wink.

I got my room key and was taken to my room. It was truly a gorgeous one too. I couldn't imagine having to pay for it, I would have been broke in thirty minutes! The schedule, along with a large manila envelope sat on the table in the middle of the entry way. I opened the envelope with the KBIG logo and dumped out the contents.

In it was a letter and a laminated tag on a string. It was the all access pass, it had the 'MOE' logo on it and the words "All Access Pass" and there was a hologram of all three of them on it if you turned it in the light. A barcode on back with my name printed under the plastic! This was too cool. But there was no ticket. I read the letter and it stated that with the pass I wouldn't need a ticket that I would be allowed in anywhere on the venues. I looked at the schedule and saw that in five minutes there was to be a press conference right down stairs in the grand ball room!

I pulled the pass over my head and trotted out the door and down toward the elevator. I pressed the button and it 'donged' at me. The doors rolled opened and I dropped my teeth. Taylor Isaac Zac and their manager were in the elevator. The manager looked at me and hit the close door button and the door's started to push shut! I was so shocked that he had done that. But relieved when Taylor put his hand up and set off the sensors and the doors opened again.

"Chris, he's got a pass, we'll be seeing him a lot I would imagine," he said as he smiled at me.

I walked into the elevator weak kneed. I was so shocked by this. Without even preparing I was standing right there with Hanson. Seeing the three faces I had watched on TV for what seemed like ages in person was mind blowing. They looked identical in person. Taylor was even more gorgeous in person.

"So what's your name," Zac asked with an outstretched hand.

"Oh, sorry, Taylor," I said as I extended my hand.

"No dude, my name is Zac, that's Taylor," he said as he pointed at Taylor.

"No, duh I know you're Zac, my name is Taylor," I said with a snicker.

"Oh man, this is going to get confusing, I can already see it," Zac said shaking his head.

"Hi, Isaac, nice to meet you," he said as I shook his hand.

"Well I think it would be kinda silly to tell you my name, I mean you already know it," Tay said with a big grin as I shook his hand.

I always pay attention to the little things people do. If I was reading it right, Taylor was flirting with me. But I was unsure so I didn't make an obvious return of it. But I did notice that when I shook his hand he did hold on to it a bit longer than his brothers. In fact the door opened to the hallway and he suddenly dropped my hand as if he realized he had been holding it a bit too long.

In the hall way it was a bit slower than I had thought, but I didn't know that right around the corner was the press and the fans. Ike and Zac waved and started to head out to the stage where the table was set up. Tay leaned back and whispered to me.

"Try to meet me after the meeting back up at our room, ok," he asked without waiting for a reply from me.

He trotted off and rounded the corner where flashes of light burst out. I was dazed, had he just asked me to meet him back at his room? I was positive I had heard him wrong.

I walked up behind them as they went in. A guard looked like he was about to push me back and I flashed my pass at him, he backed off.

They ran the usual press gamut. Same old questions, some new ones about the tour and what song's they would play. That sort of thing. I watched as Tay looked across the crowd, he looked like he was looking for someone. Then our eyes met and he smiled. I smiled back and took a sip from the Dr. Pepper I had picked up from an ice tray. He looked a bit annoyed. I knew he must have wanted one himself.

I went out to the restaurant connected to the side of the building and got two bottles and headed back to the ball room. The conference was over but it would have been impossible to make it through the crowd to see him. It was then I remembered what he had said. I walked to the back hall and went up to my floor. It was then I remembered that I didn't know where their room was. A short lady with brown hair walked past me with a head set on talking to someone I took a chance.

"Hey, Tay want's these in his room, I just got back and heard they had changed rooms," I said like I knew what I was doing.

"Oh no he's still in room thirty six thirty one," she said as she looked at me for a second then went back over her head set about something as she walked away. Thirty six thirty one was one floor up! I was proud that I had worked a way to find out what room he was in. Then I realized I was wearing an all access pass.

I got in the elevator and went up. The hall was empty, and there was no noise. I walked down to the right and passed two rooms before I got to the door marked thirty six thirty one. It was quiet, I stopped for a second before I knocked. There was no answer, I thought I had head a noise inside, it sounded like a moan or a grunt. I wasn't sure. I knocked again. I heard a voice in the distance. It sounded a bit pained, or out of breath.

"I'll be right there, geeze we still have thirty minutes," I recognized Taylor's voice. Soon the door rattled open and Taylor peeked his head out. His cheeks flushed, sweat on his upper lip.

"Oh Taylor hey, uh gimme a second," he said with a smile when he saw me and pushed the door shut again.

A moment later he opened the door up. He still looked flushed, and he was sweating slightly. I ventured to guess what he had been doing but it left my mind quickly as he began to spoke.

"You wanna come in for a little bit and chill?"

"Um dude, are you sure it's ok, I mean this is your hotel room, don't you think," I asked thinking of how it might look to someone else.

"Oh, well I was going to walk down to the pool, oh you brought Dr. Pepper, " he said a bit surprised.

"Spit in it," he asked with a smirk.

"Well I don't see how unless I was there when it was bottled, it's unopened see?"

He giggled and closed the door behind him.

"So how did you manage to get the pass," he asked as he took the Dr. Pepper. I noticed that his hand lightly brushed over mine when he did this but I didn't see him make any indications further.

"Actually I'm not really sure, it's kind a weird," I said as we got onto the elevator. He punched the main floor and the elevator started with a jerk.

Both of us looked up at the lights above us. We were both kind of taken back by the jolt we just got. The elevator car rocked slightly as it continued down ward. Taylor looked at me with an expression of fear. He was trembling slightly.

"Dude, it's ok just the elevator, see, were only one floor away-" I started as the entire car lurched downward under us slamming six feet to the bottom. When we landed both of us hit the floor.

"Now I know why Geri doesn't ride elevators," I exclaimed as I started to help Tay up, who had dumped his soda on himself.

It was then that suddenly a rumbling hit both our ears and everything started to tremble and jerk beneath us.


On to Chapter Two

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The Day the Earth Moved is Copyright © 2000 by Taylor W. Quest.
This work may not be duplicated in any form – physical, electronic, audio, or otherwise – without the author's written permission.
All applicable copyright laws apply. All individuals depicted are fictional with any resemblance to real persons being purely coincidental.

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