Being friends with the Hansons never offered a dull moment. The years sped by with the boys recording, writing, singing, and being full-out rockstars. I watched as girls my age would freak out and cry over them, never fully understanding why. To me they were just Isaac, Taylor, and Zac – three guys who burped and passed gas with the best of them, despite my obvious disgust when such a display was done in front of me.

The Hansons moved into a new house a few years after becoming famous, to accommodate their family. With seven children plus two adults, their house across the street had become smaller. Though I was sad to see them go, I wasn’t too devastated – I had my license and would visit when I could.

Out of all the Hansons, I became really close to Taylor. Isaac was always off with a girlfriend or friends, or had locked himself in his room. Zac and I were close as well, with me going over to pick him up so we could talk. But Taylor and I had a different kind of connection, one that made fans jealous and girlfriends of his feel threatened. Often, I would be greeted with a scowl and nose in the air by Taylor’s gorgeous girlfriends when I was introduced. Needless to say, I wouldn’t stay long when one was over.

The time finally came when I would hit eighteen, about to graduate high school. The Hanson clan was home for the moment, working on some kinks for their new album and getting ready to do a mini-tour around the U.S. I was excited for them to be home, excited to be able to see Taylor and his brothers.

With a new cell phone in hand, I called up Taylor after pulling out from the grocery store, where I had been sent to get some milk for my family. “Hello?” he answered.

“Hey, guess who?” I asked, stopping at a red light.

“The Queen of England?” came the smart-ass reply.

“Very good. Now go get me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on white with a glass of milk, peon.”

Taylor let out a laugh. “What’s up, buttercup?” he asked. I could hear a guitar in the background – probably Isaac.

“Nothing, I bought milk for the family. Listen, you busy later?”

There was a slight, millisecond hesitation. “Actually –“ he started.

“Let me guess. Miranda’s coming over?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s okay then, I’ll come see you another time.” I tried not to let the disappointment show in my voice, but Taylor picked up on it right away. He’s usually the only person to do that. I was good at hiding my feelings from everyone else, except Taylor.

“Trish, Miry and I haven’t seen each other since I came back from the last tour. I miss her.”

I had heard this a million times before, except the name was different each time. “I know Tay, it’s okay, okay? We’ll just see each other another time,” I told him, as I drove back to my house and went past the turn to get to the Hanson’s.

“I know you’re upset babe, but please don’t be. You know that you’ll always be my number one girl; no girlfriend could ever come close to you.”

“Uh huh. Give me a call when you’re free again, Taylor.”

A defeated sigh came from him. “Alright. I love you, Swishy.”

I felt a guilty stab at my heart. “I love you, Teddybear.”

“Please lock me away, and don’t allow the day, here inside, where I hide, with my loneliness …” sang Peter and Gordon on my stereo. I was in my room, cleaning up before I settled down to do some weekend homework. I hummed along to the tune, stashing some papers into my desk and neatening up the phone on my desk. My cell phone stood by idly, waiting for the moment it could light up to notify me that I had a call.

The moment came. My cell phone lit up proudly, blaring out “(Let Me Be Your) Teddybear” by Elvis Presley. Taylor. I contemplated not picking it up, fearing it might be his jealous girlfriend “Miry” calling up to tell me to stay away from Taylor. Hey, it was possible. It had happened before.

I answered anyway. “Hello?”

“Swishy, you busy?”

This “Swishy” nickname was being used by him more often. He had come up with it one night while we were on the phone and he was drunk. He thought it was cute, I thought it made me sound like a toilet cleaner or something. “Um, nope, what’s up?”

“Miry’s not coming over, so you can stop by if you want.”

Oh, I see how it is, I wanted to say, but stopped myself. “Maybe in a little bit, okay Taylor?”

“I thought you said you weren’t busy.”

“I’ve got some things to clean up and –“

“I miss you, Swishy,” he said softly. The guilty feelings started to seep in.

“Okay, okay, I’ll come over.”

“Awesome. I’ll let know Jason you’re coming by, even though he’d let you in anyway.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Can’t wait. See ya, babydoll.”

“’Bye, Taytay.”

I pulled up to the Hanson household an hour later after greeting Jason at the gate. I was nervous – I hadn’t seen Taylor in over three months because of him promoting the new album and touring around the world. I missed him and our late night talks, and I missed snuggling with him on his ridiculously comfortable bed, trying not to fall asleep. Though he called frequently while on tour, it wasn’t the same as talking to him in person.

I walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. It rang the tune that the main clock in house rang out. The door was swung open by Mrs. Hanson, who had Zoe next to her.

“Hey, Trish sweetheart!” she said warmly, embracing me tightly. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been great, what about you?” I asked, stepping into the house. Zoe smiled up at me before running off.

“Just great. Busy with the kids and things. How’s school going? I heard from Taylor that you’re going to California for school?”

“School’s fine, graduating in a few weeks. Yeah, I’m going to UCSB!”

“Aw, your parents must be so proud! I’m so proud of you.” Mrs. Hanson hugged me again and I smiled.

“Thank you, Mrs. Hanson,” I said, blushing a little.

“I’ll have to give your mom a call so we could all get together one day. We haven’t had one of those gatherings in a while.”

Ah, the Hanson-Mac gatherings. How I fondly remembered those. “You should! She’d love to have another one,” I smiled.

“I shall give her a call tonight then. We should have one while the boys are still in town.”

I nodded. “Sounds good!”

“SWISHY!” a voice called out excitedly. The feet came thundering down the stairs and I turned to see Taylor coming at me full speed. Mrs. Hanson ducked into the kitchen and Taylor tackled me onto the couch. “Swishy, Swishy, Swishy, Swishy!” he cried out excitedly, kissing my cheek and wrapping his arms around me.

For a twenty year old, he was acting a bit immature. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. Do you know how many girls would have killed to be me at that moment, having Taylor Hanson tackle you onto the couch and cover you with kisses? I don’t have an exact number, but many would have killed to be me.

“Oh, I missed you,” he grinned, his arms wrapped around me tightly as I squirmed under him. “Hi Swishy!”

I laughed, looking into those warm blue eyes of his. “Hi, you! I missed you too!” I said, hugging him to me tightly.

“I thought you were mad at me,” he pouted. Oh, mother of God, that face …

“I was, kind of, but only because I felt like a back-up date,” I said, as he nuzzled my neck affectionately.

“You’re never a back-up. Miry was a back-up, I wanted to see you first.”

“Yet you blew me off to see her.”

“Only so she wouldn’t bitch at me.”

“Uh huh.”

“Babyyy, you know that you’re the only one for me, always and forever.”

“Don’t do that.”

Taylor grinned, kissing my neck and pulling me off the couch with him. “Come on, I have gifts for you,” he said, pulling me along. “Oh, but we have to say hi to Isaac and Zac first.”

We went up the stairs, stopping by Isaac’s room first. He was on the bed, reading a Dan Brown novel. “Isaac smells like cat pee,” I announced, when he hadn’t looked up. That caused him to snap the book down to see who had accused him of such a horrifying thing, but when he saw it was just me, he smiled widely and jumped up.

“Long time no see!” he exclaimed, as he hugged me tightly. “What’s up?”

“School and things, you know. What’s up with you?” I asked. As a sidenote, Isaac has the best smelling cologne ever. Sometimes I would find reasons to sit next to him, or I would lean on him so I could smell him. He thought that I was being affectionate; I was, in reality, just enjoying his cologne.

“Everything and nothing. I see Taylor here is being selfish with you, as usual.”

I laughed, noticing the hand around my waist. “Yeah, well. He’s possessive.”

“I can see that. Well, stop by sometime when Taylor isn’t around – I miss our talks!”

“Me too! And I definitely will!”

I hugged Isaac one more time before we went to Zac’s room, right next door. The door was wide open and Zac was sitting on the floor, going through magazines and singing under his breath. I did not make some kind of insulting remark; this time, I said, “That’s a beautiful voice ya got there, cutie.”

He turned around, closing the magazine. “HEY!” he yelled, getting to his feet and giving me a huge bear hug. “What’s up, sugar?”

“Zac, jeezums, you’ve gotten so much more … mature,” I said in awe, as I held him arm’s length away. Every time I saw him, he seemed to have gotten cuter and cuter, and stronger, too. The last time he grabbed me in a hug and swung me around, almost throwing me, which scared me.

Zac puffed out his manly chest proudly. “’Mature’ as in ‘hotter’?” he queried, lifting his chin high in the air and smiling.

“Sure, if that’s what you want it to mean,” I giggled. “God, baby, you’re growing up so quickly!”

Zac tickled me lightly before giving me another hug. “I’m not a baby, I’m a man, man!”

“Okay, okay, enough of this,” Taylor said from behind me. “I’ve gotta show Trish some things, she’ll be back later, okay?”

“God, no need to be all selfish and shit,” Zac frowned, still hugging me tightly. “I’m a friend of hers too, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll bring her back, I promise,” Taylor said. Zac released me, grinning widely at me before I followed Taylor back to his room. It was messy, with a suitcase on the floor, clothes creeping out of it and the bed not made. “I know it’s messy, but we just got back a few days ago … I haven’t really had any time to unpack and clean,” he said sheepishly, shoving things on the bed to the side. I sat down as he rummaged through his suitcase. “I got you a few things while we were touring, I hope you like them.”

“You didn’t have to buy me anything, you know that,” I said, feeling embarrassed and flattered at the same time.

“I know, I know. But you’re my girl, I had to buy you a few things. Besides, I felt like a jerk for not calling you as much.”

“Taylor, you’re way too sweet, but I didn’t mind at all!”

He pulled out a bag and turned to me, waving his free hand as if to say, “It was nothing.” “Here you go, your little bag o’goodies,” he smiled, handing it to me. “The other two helped me pick out some things, but I bought them, so they’re mainly from me.” He sat next to me, looking at me.

“So, they’re like, ninety percent from you?” I asked, opening the bag slowly.

“More like ninety-eight percent,” Taylor replied. “Could you hurry up? Miss Slow Poke.” He rolled those blue eyes towards the ceiling in mock annoyance.

I shot him a look. “You know, I don’t have to accept these gifts of attempting to buy back the love I lost for you while you were gone,” I told him teasingly, holding out the bag to him.

“I’m offended! Buy your love back? Why would I do that? Miss Trish, I know that your love for me grows and grows every day!”

I laughed, opening the bag at a quicker pace to see what goodies he had gotten me. “Aww, Tay!” I cried out, pulling out a small box and opening it, finding a necklace with a guitar pick charm – a charm which had my name neatly printed on it. “How cute!I” I turned the guitar pick over and saw the infamous Hanson symbol – it was one of the boys’ guitar picks! “Aww, Tay!” I cried out again.

“You like it? I had it custom made at a shop in Japan.”

“It’s awesome!” I grinned, putting it on. “I love it!”

“I’m glad! But you’re not done, there’s more stuff, so open open open!”

I chuckled, reaching in and pulling out a small photo album covered in a red velvety material. “Qu’est-ce que c’est?” I queried, holding it up and looking at him.

“Just open it.”

I opened it and was greeted with a photo of Taylor – rather, a photo of Taylor’s face, taken at a very close range. Behind him was the tour bus. I turned the page and saw a picture of the boys in front of a statue. On the bottom, it read, “Sydney, Australia.”

“Since you couldn’t go on tour with us, I took pictures of things. It’s like you went with us, but you didn’t – but you did, through pictures,” he explained. Wasn’t he adorable?

After uncovering two more gifts (a tiny wallet with my name inscribed on the front and a coin with Elvis on it), I threw my arms around him and hugged him tightly. “You’re the best; so thoughtful,” I whispered. Whatever annoyance I had with him from earlier had quickly dissipated, as it tended to do. “Thank you, Tay.”

He snaked his arms around me to hug me back. “You’re welcome, Swishy,” he said against my ear. We sat there embracing each other for a while before he let go, due to his cell phone ringing.

“It’s Miry,” he said, looking at me as he picked it up. “Hello? … Hey baby! … Right now?” He continued to look at me. “Um, isn’t there some other ti-- … You can’t? Then I guess right now is okay … Yeah … Yeah … Uh huh … Okay, well, I’ll see you in a bit then, sweets … ‘Bye.” He hung up and gave me a look. I knew I had to leave. I stood up with the bag in my hand.

“Well, I guess I should go now,” I said, not wanting to stick around to see Miranda. I had met her before and she had snidely commented on my shirt, saying it wasn’t too nice looking. “I’ll give you a call … soon.”

“Trish, don’t leave me,” Taylor said softly, pleading me with his eyes. “Just stick around for a bit – maybe you’ll like her.”

I shook my head, edging out of his room. “I can’t. I’ve uh, got things to do,” I told him, going into the hallway. “I’ll just call you soon and maybe we can hang out.” I started walking down the stairs, only to have my arm caught by Taylor.

“Trish, don’t do this,” he said, looking me straight in the eye. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“How am I being ridiculous?” I asked incredulously. “I’ve got homework to finish up.”

“I know that you don’t like Miry, but I don’t know why you don’t. She’s beautiful and sweet and I think that I could spend the rest of my life with her. I don’t know why you act like such a bitch towards her.”

“We’re not talking about this here, okay? I’m going.”

“Trish –“

I kissed his cheek quickly, yanking my arm away. “’Bye, Taylor. I’ll call you later,” I said curtly. I rushed back down the stairs, waving goodbye to a confused Zac and Isaac, and got into my car, driving away as quickly as I could, but not quick enough to see Taylor run out onto his lawn, waving frantically at me. I diverted my eyes away, drove out of the gated community, and headed back to my home, where I could be alone with my thoughts – and possibly tears.