Daphne and I sat on the stairway of the Ambassador hotel. We figured it would be the only place we could find complete privacy.

"You know that journalist that came to interview us asked if we were dating," Daph said breaking the silence.

"What did you say?" I asked.

"That we were just really good friends because truthfully that's all we really are right now."

"Yeah," I agreed.

We sat there in an awkward silence.

"Do you want to be more?" I asked.

"I don't know. I mean I like you, but ... "

"It's weird," I finished.

"Yeah, at least it'd be weird if we just decided to go out right now. I think if we are meant to be together than there will be some kind of event or moment or whatever that will make us realize that," she explained.

"I agree. So we'll just continue to be just close friends until that moment comes," I said.

"Right," she agreed.

"What if that moment is now though?" I asked quietly.

I leaned in to kiss her just as our lips began to brush against each other's, my cell phone went off. We both jumped back startled. I looked down to see who it was.

"Crap, it's Taylor. I got to go. He's in the car wondering what's taking me so long," I told her as we stood up.

"You left Taylor out in the car," she laughed.

"Well, yeah, actually I did," I replied.

We just stood there looking at each other.

"I really have to go," I told her.

"Yeah, me too," she replied.

"Later."

"Yeah, later."

I rushed down the stairs heading for the lobby.

*          *          *          *          *

Zac got in the car in complete silence.

"What the heck took you so long?" I asked.

"I'd rather not talk about it," he mumbled.

"You sure?" I asked as I drove us back to our house.

"Taylor, do you think it's possible for me to truly love someone at this age?"

"Yes, why? Do you love Daphne?"

"Do you love Will?" he asked ignoring my question.

"Yes," I replied, "I do."

The silence that filled the car lasted for several minutes, it started to make me a little uncomfortable.

"How do you know?" he finally asked breaking the silence.

"I don't know exactly. You just feel it. It feels right. You feel -"

"Safe and warm. Like nothing could ever be that bad when you're with that person. That you can truly share everything you are with this one person because in all truth they are your second half. They complete you," he interrupted.

"That's exactly it, Zac," I whispered.

"Oh," he said snapping back to reality, "I was just guessing."

"Sure, Zac," I replied with a knowing smile as I pulled into our driveway.

"Um, Tay," Zac began.

"Yeah," I answered turning off the car.

"Have you shared everything with Will?"

Flashes of Will revolved in my mind. A warm sensation spread out from my heart and flooded my whole entire body. I closed my eyes envisioning and feeling everything we had shared... everything.

"I'd love him even if he hadn't saved my life back in California," I whispered.

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry I must have zoned out there or something."

I shook my head the visions of the 'Big One' slowly fading away.

"Zac," I continued, "I've shared everything I am, everything I was, and everything I ever will be with Will."

"I don't know if I'm ready to share," he confessed.

"Zac, if Daphne's the one then you have a whole lifetime to share with her. Don't rush it or you'll ruin it, and whatever you do don't push her or the feelings away. Don't lose her, Zac. Trust me it will be the biggest mistake in your life if you do. I would be lost without Will."

Zac nodded and got out of the car.

*          *          *          *          *

Daphne entered the hotel room with a dumbfounded look on her face.

"Daph, you okay?" I asked her.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm okay," she replied laying down on her bed, and letting out a huge sigh.

Amber shot me a confused look, and I shrugged.

*          *          *          *          *

I ran into the house.

"Is she coming, honey?" my mom asked as I passed by her.

"Is who coming?" I said playing dumb.

"The little drummer girl," my mother replied.

"Little drummer girl? What the heck? Is that some kind of messed up Christmas carol for feminists," I teased.

"Zac, you know who I meant. Daphne, the girl -"

"Who shares a name with a girl on Scooby Doo?" Jess snapped as she walked past me into the living room.

"Shut-up," I yelled.

"Zac, don't tell your sister to shut-up, and Jess, don't make fun of your brothers girlfriend. Now, is Daphne coming?" she asked again.

"Yeah, she's coming with her other two bandmates," I answered.

"That's good," my mom commented.

"Right," I said running up the stairs to my room.

*          *          *          *          *

"Okay, so what are we wearing," Amber asked as Cristin and she went through the closet searching for outfits.

"I don't know. You tell me," I mumbled.

They looked back at me very confused.

"Daphne, what's wrong? You love picking out something to wear. Ever since we got more money for clothes you've took such care in picking out the most kick-ass outfits for all of us," Amber said sitting down on the bed with me.

Cristin joined her, and I looked at them biting my lower lip.

"Tell us sweetie. What's the matter? We're sisters. You can tell us anything, Daph, and we won't tell a soul," Cristin whispered.

"I want to look really nice tonight," I replied.

They exchanged weird looks.

"Okay, any particular reason," Cristin asked.

I shrugged.

"Any particular boy," Amber added with a smile.

"I just want to look nice," I stated firmly.

"Okay, well I was thinking we could just go simple, yet elegant. Have any ideas of what we could scrounge up, Daph?"

I sat up.

"Uh, Amber wear the short black dress with the red roses on it. Pull your hair back into a bun."

I turned to my left.

"Cristin wear the knee length tight crimson skirt with the black halter-top, and let's put your hair into spiral curls and put some crimson ribbon in. "

I turned to my rack of cloths.

"I'll wear the short aqua blue-green dress with the spaghetti straps. Half of my hair will be pulled back and the rest will be left to hang down, and I will let it dry naturally so my natural curls come out. Um, ok then I'll put matching aquamarine beads into my hair that will fall down among my curls. What do you think?"

They stood there silent their mouths kinda open.

"You've been hanging out with Will a lot," Amber teased breaking the silence.

"You're going to look amazing," Cristin replied.

"Huh? We're all going to look amazing."

Amber interrupted, "That dress makes your chest look huge, and aquamarine is your birthstone so of course your karma is going to be phenomenal tonight. We're all going to look amazing, but let's face it - guys go for the hour glass figure. You're the only one Zac's going to care is there. That's cool though. I don't think Cristin and I really care about winning of any Hanson hearts, and even if we did, well, one's into men, one's married, and you know we both hate men with longer hair then us."

"He's going to pass out when he sees you dressed up though because I don't think Zac has ever seen you dressed up," Cristin added.

"Yeah, well, it was never a big thing for Michael," I whispered.

"Michael was a prick. Zac comes off as a prick at times, but deep down inside he's a sweetheart. A sweetheart that likes you," Amber assured me.

"Thanks guys," I whispered giving them both a quick hug.

*          *          *          *          *

I knocked on the door to their room. Cristin opened the door.

"Hey guys. Come on in," she said.

"NO! Don't let them in! My hair isn't done," Amber screeched from inside.

"Amber, no one cares what your hair looks like! Okay," I heard Daphne reply from the bathroom.

"Fine. Fine. Let them in," Amber mumbled as she fought with her hair.

Tay, Zac, and I exchanged looks as we walked in. We sat down on the bed as they finished primping. At one point all three of them were in the bathroom together with the door closed.

"I'd love to be in that bathroom," Zac said with a smirk.

A crash shattered the murmur of female voices as the sound of compacts and brushes hit the floor, suddenly accompanied by a burst of screams.

"Then again," Zac laughed.

The door opened and Daphne came out shaking her head. Taylor and I looked and saw Zac's eyes light up and a small smile come to his face. He jumped up and took Daphne's arm.

"Zac," she asked confused.

"I just wanted to escort you to the car. If that's okay," he whispered.

"Yeah, it's okay," Daph laughed.

*          *          *          *          *

Escort her to the car? What the hell was I talking about? Amber, Cristin, Tay, and Will followed us. Though I did notice that they kept their distance.

"You look really nice," I mumbled.

"Thanks. You look good too. Did you get dressed all by yourself," she teased.

"Yeah, but I think I'm going to need help getting undressed," I replied.

"I'm sure Chelsea would love to help. Unless you lost her number again," she laughed.

I rolled my eyes as we got on the elevator. The rest of our group joined us and we went downstairs. We crossed the silent lobby. The people around us said absolutely nothing. All they did was stare.

"It's so quiet," Daphne mumbled.

"Savor it while it lasts. One day you'll forget what silence sounds like."

"When will that be? When I start dating you?"

"Very funny. I'm not that loud."

"Who's van is this," she asked as we jumped in.

"Isaac's. I really don't know why he insists on keeping this hunk of junk, since he has his SUV now, which he wont let anyone drive, anyway we wouldn't all be able to fit in Tay's car so we had to borrow this."

Tay grimaced as he climbed into the driver's seat.

"What's wrong," Cristin asked Taylor as she saw the look on his face.

"Nothing, I just don't dig driving this van," he frowned.

"Yeah, it is kinda," Amber started when Daph smacked her in the arm.

"OUCH," she yelped.

"It crimps his style," I laughed.

"It's brown with an orange stripe," Tay defended himself. Cristin covered her mouth and stifled a snicker.

*          *          *          *          *

We sat around the table laughing.

"We're visiting some of Daphne's family in Thornwood, New York. It's her little cousin Ann's birthday, and she invited us all over so her friends could meet us. The minute we walk in the door we have all these little kids jumping all over us asking us to sing to them. Our site is up on the computer. They are playing our music, and now of course they all want to hear us sing. So we go outside and as we are singing more and more kids start showing up. We ended up having this weird little mini concert in the back of her Aunt and Uncle's house. It was so cool, and her Aunt tells us that as soon as we get big we're going to do it all over again only this time she's going to make the neighbors pay," Cristin recalled.

"Oh, we used to have the name Mystique, but we dropped that as soon as Amber's little sister started to call us Mistake," I confessed. Amber spoke up, "I remember when we first met you guys, and afterwards you guys kept calling our room and prank calling us until finally we switched rooms, and then you were prank calling some poor old lady."

"Actually Zac was the one prank calling you guys. Tay and I were little angels," Ike began.

"OH WHATEVER," Zac interrupted throwing a French fry at Ike's head.

"Don't throw your food," Diana said.

"Yeah, Zac, how immature," Tay teased.

"He's the baby of your group. Cut him some slack," Amber said.

"Speaking of baby's, let's raise a small toast to Shiye and Isaac," Tay commented with a smile.

"Oh yes, congratulations. Do you know if it's going to be a boy or a girl, yet?"

"Um, actually, we've decided we want it to be a surprise," Ike replied squeezing Shiye's hand slightly.

"Oh, okay," I said with a smile, "do you have any names picked out?"

"Um, Alexandria Landon if it's a girl, and Walker Caleb if it's a boy," Shiye answered.

"Awe, I can't wait until I have children," Cristin commented.

"Oh, I can wait," Amber exclaimed with a laugh.

"What kind of families does everyone want to have?" Shiye asked noticing a sudden interest from everyone.

"I was the oldest child so I'll be happy with just one or two children," Isaac said.

"I want a big family," I confessed.

"Me too," Zac added with a smile and a wink.

"Eventually," I snapped.

"I definitely want a big family," Cristin said.

"I want one, maybe two kids. I really don't want little girls though. I want two little boys. Little boys are cuter and cooler than little girls," Amber stated.

"Yeah, we are," Mackie exclaimed.

We all burst out into another fit of laughter. I glanced over at Taylor and Will.

Neither one of them had even mentioned children. I mean sure I know it's impossible for them. But I wondered. I noticed Taylor had pulled away from the conversation and was murmuring things to Will behind a glass of wine. I decided not to say anything.

*          *          *          *          *

Will drove us back to the Ambassador, and dropped us off in the front.

"We'll see you tomorrow," Zac said.

"Later you guys," Tay yawned.

"Bye," Cristin, Daph, and Amber replied before getting out of the car.

*          *          *          *          *

I pulled out of the parking lot of the hotel and headed back for their house. I clutched Taylor's hand. He smiled at me weakly, but I could tell he was really tired.

Taylor fell asleep just before we reached the house. I turned off the van and going over to his side lifted him out and carried him into the house. Zac didn't say anything. He locked up, and then followed us inside. I did notice the lonely look in his eye though. He kept staring down at his cell phone almost as if he were begging someone to call, and I was pretty sure that someone was Daphne.


On to Chapter Twenty-Six

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Memories ... Of A Forgotten Past is Copyright © 2000 by Taylor W. Quest.
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