capitulo tres:
It was the night of the long-awaited Hanson concert. Liz went over to Graven's house to get ready. Graven opened the door in a short, tight, black dress
"Wow Grave, you look great...as usual!" Liz exclaimed breathlessly.
"You too Lizzie, now let's go see Hanson!"
The stage was ‘dressed', as they say in show biz; the lights were set, the Hansons...gobbling down pasta salad backstage. Taylor was quieter than usual and his father picked it up immediately. Of all his sons, Tay was usually the most pumped to perform.
"Is something wrong Taylor?"
"I thought she'd change her mind."
"Graven? Listen Tay, I think you should just let this one go. She's never missed a concert and she's not missing this one either son. She's just gonna be sitting in the audience this time. It's not a big deal. She'll still be there."
Taylor, realizing his father was right, brightened almost immediately and yelled at his brothers to finish eating so they could do their warm-up scales. Pretty soon it was time to go on. They could hear the screams in the theatre.
"It's showtime!" Yelled Zac shivering in anticipation, running down the corridor to take his place in the wings.
Liz was screaming her head off beside her, and suddenly Graven got a severe case of the giggles. This was going to be such a blast! She looked around at the sea of Hanson fans, now individuals with faces and names instead of a screaming mass that was hidden in the darkness and sighed contentedly. She would have rather died than scream like everyone around her seemed to be doing, but it was getting increasingly difficult not to! Instead, she occupied herself by reading the various signs people were carrying: I love Taylor; Sammy wants Hanson; Zac I'm here!; Hanson Forever and a Day and others. This was so ridiculous!
Suddenly the thick red curtain parted for a silverish see-through screen and everyone went crazy. Zac's voice echoed through the theatre:
"Hey guys, why are there people in the theatre? Could it be they want us?"
The audience went wild and Graven joined in this time. The concert was about to begin!
Liz screamed after Zac's announcement wondering if she were dreaming, but as the first notes of "Where's The Love" started, Liz knew that it was reality and concentrated on the perfect guy standing by the keyboard, unaware that Graven was doing very much the same with a deep longing in her blue eyes.
Only when Hanson had moved on to "Speechless", did Liz sneak a peek at Graven who was standing, not clapping, not screaming, not singing, but smiling at Taylor Hanson. He was smiling right back at her and Liz suddenly had a feeling that an unspoken conversation was taking place.
Taylor looked at Graven and smiled. He then looked at the girl next to her who he assumed to be Liz. He saw her look at him and smile, so he winked at her. Liz turned to Graven obviously a little excited.
"Did you SEE that, Graven, DID YOU SEE THAT?!"
"What? I can't hear you!" Graven tried to yell over a combination on the girls screaming, the loud speakers, and the teenybopper behind her that wouldn't stop crying and ranting "Tay! I LOVE YOU!"
"HE winked at me! Taylor HANSON winked at ME!"
"Oh..." Graven hadn't heard a word she said, but decided to forget it.
Hanson left the stage. Liz looked around her at all the people who were filing out to beat the crowd at in the parking lot. She began to walk out, also, when Graven stopped her. "No! They come back."
"They do? Great! Let's start a chat!"
"Liz...no..." But it was too late.
"HANSON! HANSON! HANSON! HANSON!" Soon Liz had the immediate group around her doing the same, and soon after that, almost half of the Maybee Center had taken part in Liz's screaming. After a minute or two, the flashlights that were used to bring Hanson to the stage were seen. Screams were heard in every direction, louder even then at the beginning.
Taylor looked at Isaac and Zac. "You guys ready to get back out there?"
"Yeah, let's rock," Zac said heading for the stage. He then decided to yell something that would be familiar to the fans that owned the second home video. He flicked his microphone on and yelled, "Should we come back? Are you sure?"
Liz and Graven heard the sound of Zac's cracking voice fill the large place and got ready, once again, to give all of their energy to the three guys up at the stage. Meanwhile, Isaac, Taylor, and Zac were ready to give their's to the audience.
As the lyrics of MMMBop echoed through the large Tulsa building, Graven and Liz bounced repeatedly up and down lipping every word. Taylor, again glanced over at them. He wished that Graven would let him meet Liz, but he knew that her mind was set. When Graven set her mind to something, she didn't budge.
"If not tomorrow, then maybe today..." The last chords of Man From Milkwaukee filtered through thousands of ears as Hanson walked up to take a bow. Taylor looked down and decided to shake Graven and Liz's hands.
"Hey, thanks for coming, guys," he flashed a killer smile to Graven, who thought she might die right there.
Graven looked around at all the people climbing into vans being driven by their mothers. All decked out in Hanson shirts, with declarations of "I love Isaac" and "Here's the love" written with ballpoint pens throughout their bodies. She laughed a little at the fact that if these people knew that she knew Hanson, she might not still be standing.
"Graven, can you believe it? We touched Taylor Hanson! Oh my god, I think I need to change my pants..."
Graven laughed, "Yeah, yeah..." she smiled, "It was pretty cool."
Liz began to sense that Graven may not have been as big of a fan as she thought that she was. Liz sighed and sat down on the pavement outside the entrance doors.
"So, what time were our parents supposed to be here?" The two couples had gone out together for the night.
Liz looked up from her Tour Program. "Um," she glanced at her watch and rolled her eyes, "10 minutes ago."
Graven grinned. "Ah, it's okay." She was actually rather nervous. She just prayed that Hanson wouldn't come outside.
"Yeah, hey, maybe we'll catch a glimpse of them leaving..."
"Yeah that'd be cool."
Liz chuckled a little, "I wouldn't know what to say. I'd probably be like, 'You guys are the neatest!'"
They both laughed.
"Haha, Liz, I think you'd be okay once you actually met them and started talking to 'em."
"Yeah, I guess so."
Liz had never been obsessed with the band, but there was something that happened to her at the concert - the rush she felt when they were 5 feet away from her was incredible.
The two girls stared into the cool night air. No one around - and no cars, either, except a few which they assumed to be workers at the venue.
"God, Graven, it's 5 till 12:00, they were supposed to be here over an hour ago!"
"I know... that's so strange. Maybe they got stuck in traffic."
"Yeah, maybe... but for an hour?"
"I don't know. I'm sure everything's fine." She gave Liz a reassuring smile, although, she, too, was a little uneasy. Her parents weren't the types to be late. Ever.
"Okay, let's tell jokes."
"What?" Graven looked at Liz like she was crazy.
"It'll pass the time!"
"Mmmkay... you first."
"Well, I don't know any."
"Well great idea, Einstein!" Graven laughed a little. Then a little more. Liz joined in, and then and they couldn't control themselves. They just couldn't stop laughing...
"HAHAHAHA! You're such a loser!" Graven laughed so hard, she almost couldn't breathe. She smacked the pavement to get out a little bit the humor.
"Why are we laughing?!" Liz then started laughing as hard a Graven.
"I have no clue!"
Just then, the door opened. Graven looked up to see three very familiar faces looking back at her...
*capitulo cuatro
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