"One, two, three, four ... Daphne, move to the left a bit. Cristin, perfect! Perfect! Um, Amber, honey, don't look down. Focus on the words. Mind over matter, girls! Mind over matter!"

The phone began to ring, and I watched Monique debate over whether or not to answer it.

"Answer it, please," I thought.

"I'll be right back girls," she said finally walking out of the room.

As soon as she was out of sight and her footsteps had faded off down the hallway, all three of us collapsed to the floor.

"I am so sick of dancing..." I groaned.

"Daph, it will only be for a little while. We're going to make history with this concert tour," Amber smiled.

"No record executive is going to expect us to do half the set dancing and the other half of the set playing instruments! It will be a great way to show off our talent!"

We all heard the footsteps coming back towards us, and we all quickly scrambled to our feet. When Monique returned she couldn't even tell that the three of us had just two seconds ago sneaked a quick break into 'our time to work.'

Three hours later I tripped out of the dance studio. My legs hurt and I was sweating like a pig. Cristin walked out. I scrunched my nose.

"We stink," I cried.

She laughed nodding and Amber joined us.

"What? What's so funny?"

I motioned for her to lift up her arm, and she just sighed and nodded.

"The minute I get back to the hotel I'm taking a shower!"

"Ditto," Cristin replied. The three of us loaded into her '98 black Dodge Neon and took off for our hotel.

*          *          *          *          *

"Taylor ... " My eyes shot open and I looked around my dim living room. Daphne sat beside me her arms hugging her legs up to her chest.

"I'm sorry, did I fall asleep," I groaned.

She stifled a laugh and commented, "Geeze, never thought I'd see the day you'd fall asleep while watching Taylor perform."

"It's his voice. It's so soothing. Plus I'm so tired!"

A moan came from the TV and my eyes almost shot out of my head.

"Damn, what is he doing?"

She glanced at the TV and shrugged.

"He's doing what he does best. Having orgasms on stage when he's supposed to be singing."

"Oh shut-up you," I snapped hitting her with the pillow I had been resting on a few minutes before.

"Be nice. I ordered us a pizza while you were Tay-dreaming."

"Huh? Tay-dreaming, oh, like daydreaming! Ha! That's kind of cute in a corny teenie kind of way."

The doorbell rang.

"DAMN! How long was I asleep?"

She grinned.

"Oh you know that I think you're just adorable when you sleep. I like to listen to you breathing. It's so amazing. It's like the rain beating on the windows outside late at night when everything is supposed to be quiet... it's just one of those sounds I can't get enough of and every time I hear it, it, it's different…"

"Daphne, you're babbling."

She threw her hands up in the air and got up.

"Fine! Fine! But one day, I swear. You'll know what it's like to just be happy to listen to simple sounds like another person breathing while they..."

Her voice faded out as she made her way for the door. A few seconds later, she faded back in with the pizza.

"When the only thing you desire in the whole world is -"

"Pizza!" I interrupted as I grabbed the pizza box from her.

"Huh," she shot me a confused look.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Daph, not to walk off when you're talking to me? I couldn't understand a damn word you said until you said something about desiring."

I flipped back the cover of the pizza box and took a deep breath.

"Oh, Pepperoni, I love you."

Daphne got up and walked into the kitchen. Two seconds later a paper plate came flying at me like a Frisbee. I caught it and threw three pieces of pizza down onto it.

"Do you want anything to drink," she called from the kitchen.

"Uh, yeah, Dr. Pepper please."

She came out a Dr. Pepper can in each hand and a paper plate hanging from her mouth.

"Take," she mumbled to me teeth clenched on the dish as she held out her left hand. I grabbed the can and opened it. The soda made a loud fizzing sound and then the room suddenly got very quiet.

"How did practice go," I asked knowing that I had to say something before she started to think about him.

"Oh - huh?" She replied snapping back to reality. Too late, I guess.

"You're not thinking about that loser again, are you?"

"Well ... "

"Daph! What is your problem? The guy is obviously a complete idiot for not seeing how funny, sweet, and attractive you are! And if you really want my opinion he must be a blind gay idiot to not see all those things right off the bat!"

Her lips curled a bit forming a slight smile.

"Thanks, Tay, you're sweet."

Before I could reply the phone started to ring.

*          *          *          *          *

The phone rang for what seemed forever. I groaned.

"What are you doing over there?!? Pick up the phone!!!"

Finally, it stopped and I heard over the receiver.

"Hello?"

"HEY! It's Zac. Remember me?"

"Uh, yeah. Why the heck are you calling me?"

"Come on, I need a favor! I need to get in touch with a Tay -"

"Walk into the other room."

"Funny, but no, not my brother! Look, are you going to help me or not? I really need to know some information. If you can't help me get in touch with this guy than I'm just going to have to look elsewhere."

A sigh came from over the phone.

"Okay, give me all you know."

"His name is Taylor William Quest. He was born in nineteen seventy-nine, and he lives in the Florida area. I know this because he was at one of our gigs in Miami.

"WOAH! WOAH! You're looking for a fan?"

"He's more than a fan, okay? He's sort of a friend or close acquaintance to my family and I, and even more so to Tay."

"Well if he's so close to you guys why don't you have contact info?"

"Because, shit-head, we didn't know that Tay was going to be haunted with thoughts of him. God, are you going to do this for me or not? Because if not than I need to call someone else -"

"Zac, I already said I'd do it, but there is just one small stipulation..."

"What?"

"The first priceless item you own from this day on becomes my first priceless item ... "

"Huh?"

"Oh come on! All the rock stars eventually buy something or obtain something that is at least priceless in their eyes, and the first thing that you get from this day on that is priceless to you and can't be replaced be it award, gift, whatever - I get it." I bit my lower lip. Tay is more important than any award or gift.

"Deal."

"Awesome. Now, details?"

"Okay, Taylor William Quest born sometime in seventy-nine. He lives in Florida area, probably somewhere near Miami. He's got long dark hair, brown eyes. He's about six feet four inches tall, and I think he said something once about wanting to be a singer or performer or something like that. If that helps."

"You never know. Give me a second and let me see if I can pull anything up... Okay, I have six matches in the Florida area. Ok, I found a few. Taylor Quest, T.

"Quest and T.W. Quest, two in Miami. You're sure he's born in seventy-nine?"

"Pretty sure. He's definitely in his early twenties."

"Okay, hold on then. Let me see if I can pull any other information up on these six. Driver's licenses, birth certificates, jail records...Okay, I got their ages. Hmm, that narrows it down a bit. Let me see if I can get driver's license pictures for these guys... BINGO! Taylor W. Quest, 1009 South Crescent Drive, Miami, Florida... Born in seventy-nine, and he's six foot four, one hundred fifty pounds with long brown hair and green eyes... Give me just two more seconds, and I'll get you his number."

*          *          *          *          *

Daphne returned to the room. "Who was it?" I asked

"Huh? Oh, uh, wrong number…" I nodded. That's when I noticed a piece of paper hanging from her hand.

"What's that?"

"Oh just the band's schedule for this week…"

"Can I see?"

"Sure." She handed it to me and then grabbed another slice of pizza to eat while I looked it over.

"Damn, this is a lot."

"Yeah, but after this week then we are ready to plan our touring! Still not sure if we are going to do our own shows or just open for other people because in some places we do have a large enough fan base to do a show, but I don't know…"

"Maybe you could do a combination of both."

"Yeah ... maybe. Of course I'm not sure who we're going to try to open for…"

"Well how is the search for a management team?"

"I don't know. Slow, I guess. We sent out our demos yesterday, and we do have one show that is going to be promoted heavily on the radio. That is the show we are hoping some of management will come by for. If not, than…screw it. We'll make a fake management company name and have a friend act as our representative, and we'll mail our demo to the record companies..."

I began to zone out my eyes moving back to the muted television set where I could see

Taylor crooning on the microphone. When did we mute the TV? It must have been when

I went to get the pizza or maybe sometime while we were talking? Daphne probably figured that if Tay started moaning in the middle of our conversation, I wouldn't really care about our conversation anymore. The phone began to ring again. Daph growled and walked into the other room to pick up the phone.

I gazed at the TV again. My mind flashed back to the last time I had seen his face in person. Those gorgeous blue eyes. That smile. I remembered the pain in my chest as the bus rolled away in the back parking lot of the mall. A tear dropped from my eye. My appetite gone, I put the pizza back on the box and shoved it across the sofa.

"Why is this tearing me up so bad," I asked myself.

It had been eight months since that hot August day, and every day since then had only served to make me even more depressed. I rested my head back on the sofa. Trying to forget how amazing he had been. How sweet and kind, the way he smiled at me. Them way his arms felt around my neck when we hugged. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly.

*          *          *          *          *

I listened to the phone ringing. Why in the hell does everyone take forever to answer the damn phone? I sighed.

"Once again, I am stuck sitting here wait for someone to pick up the -"

"Hello?"

"Friggin' phone!"

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry, um, is Taylor there?"

"Uh, who's calling?"

"This is Zac."

Silence.

"Uh, is this the wrong number or something? If this is Taylor William Quest's number it is very, important that I speak to him immediately!"

"Right, hold on."

*          *          *          *          *

I put down the phone and walked into the other room.

"Hey, Tay," he looked up.

"There is some guy on the phone who says his name is Zac, and it's very important that he speak to you IMMEDIATELY."

*          *          *          *          *

"What," I gasped.

"Is it-"

Just by the look in her eye, I knew exactly who it was.

"How the heck did they get my number?"

"I don't know! Maybe they bought our telephone company or something!"

I walked into the small office that Daphne had help me set up in the condo. The phone rested on the left end of the desk. The red light above the words 'Line 1' was illuminated. It was the only light, save a dim lamp by the bookshelf that was on. I swallowed hard and picked up the phone. My head spinning as once again my reality seemed to be crashing into a dream world.

"Hello?"

"Uh, hi. Is this Taylor?"

"Yes, who's this?"

"This is Zac Hanson. Um, we've met before at that signing, at the mall, we ate lunch and all and I was wondering if…well, you wouldn't mind, um, coming to hang with us?"

"Is this some kind of mean joke?"

"No, we'd really like to meet up with you again. You know so we can all just chill like normal guys because the last time was so great. We're going to be in Miami, next week mixing the new album, so. Can we all hang?"

"HELL YE -" I paused then continued calmly.

"Yes, that would kick ass."

"AWESOME! See you next week ... "

"Uh, Zac?"

"Yeah?"

"Mind telling me where we're going to meet up?"

He laughed.

"Oh sorry about that. How 'bout your place?"

"Do you need my address?"

"No, I got it. Don't worry. If we have any trouble finding your place we'll call. Later."

"Okay, later ... " I hung up the phone and looked at a quizzical Daphne.

"What happened," She asked in an excited tone.

"Honey, you won't believe me if I tell you."


On to Chapter Four

Back to Chapter Two

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Memories ... Of A Forgotten Past 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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