Isaac Hanson sat thoughtfully strumming his guitar, trying to crank out a new melody. Sometimes the only way for him to get through a problem was to write a song about it. He'd thought a lot about Andrew's words and was trying to take them to heart. Somehow, though, he still found it hard to see much honesty in his fans. He wanted to, but his cynical side just wouldn't allow it.
All he wanted was for people to love him for him - to appreciate him for doing what he enjoyed most: making music. If only they could see him for who he really was and not just want to around him because of the hype.
"Maybe I am asking for too much," he said allowed.
"You talking to yourself now?" a voice asked.
"Huh?" Isaac turned to find his brother, Taylor, exiting the elevator. He smiled and felt his face flush. "Yeah, I guess so."
"What's up with you, Ike?" Taylor asked, sitting down on the couch.
"What do you mean?"
Taylor rolled his eyes. "Come on, Isaac, you know you can't hide anything from me. Even Zac knows something is up."
"It's that obvious?"
Taylor nodded.
"I don't know, Tay," Ike began, "I've just been feeling kind of down lately."
"Would this have anything to do with those screaming girls from this morning?"
Isaac stared at his brother. How did he always know these things? He was never able to keep anything from Taylor. They were too close. One always seemed to know when the other was hurting.
"You're too smart to be fourteen," he replied with a smile.
"Yeah, I know. But I'm glad you're finally starting to realize it."
Isaac lightly punched his brother before taking a more serious tone. "I'm just so tired of it, Tay - it's so phony." He raised the pitch of his voice. "Oh, Isaac, I love you! Taylor, will you marry me?"
Taylor laughed and rolled his eyes. "And that horrible screaming! Why do they do that?"
"It's because you're so cute, stud-muffin. Come on over here and give me a big kiss."
The two busted out laughing and Taylor hit Isaac in the face with a pillow.
"Do you remember Callie Monahan?" Taylor finally managed to ask through stifled laughter.
"That was the girl from youth group, right?"
"Yeah, her. Remember how I used to be, like, crazy about her?"
"And she wouldn't give you the time of day?"
"Well, the first time we went back to church after MMMBop hit the charts, she was all over me."
"Jeez, how lame," Isaac responded. "How come you never told me about that?"
"It isn't exactly one of those things you want to brag about."
"I guess not. But didn't it hack you off that someone would do that to you?"
"Sure, it did." Taylor stopped and thought for a moment. "I mean, at first. But then I realized something."
"What?"
"I realized that it was her problem and not mine. If she chose to like me because I had a song on the radio, then she wasn't worth having around anyway."
"Oh, yeah," Isaac replied. "When did you realize that?"
Taylor smiled. "When dad told me."
That earned a chuckle from Isaac. "I thought that sounded familiar. He told me something similar the day Rudy Bartlett wouldn't let me into his clubhouse. Seems I was single-handedly responsible for the 'Great Tulsa Cootie Outbreak' of 1986."
"That was you, huh?" Taylor asked playfully. "I suppose they had to pin it on somebody."
"I was framed - I didn't do it!"
The two brothers laughed hysterically as Taylor leaned against his brothers side and draped his legs over the side of the couch.
"Do you remember what else dad told us, Ike? When we first started all this he said, 'boys, God gave you a gift. If you use that gift to please Him, then nothing else will matter.'"
"And we thought making millions of girls happy was hard."
"Come on, Ike, is it really that hard? Not a day goes by that I don't thank God for all of this. Those screaming girls paid for this hotel room, you know?"
Isaac nodded. "I know, Tay. I'm thankful, really I am. I just want to know that we're not doing all this for nothing."
Taylor thought for a moment before answering. "Ike, if you're doing it for God, then it's never for nothing."
Chapter Five
Chapter Three
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