~"insomnia"~

Kayla felt drained from the flight. As the car pulled up in front of the Hanson house she pulled herself out and made her way up the path. She looked at Keryn and Taylor, they were talking to each other about silly little things. Keryn couldn’t stop laughing. Kayla usually joined in, but today she didn’t really seem to be herself.

"Hey, Kayla." Taylor shouted.

"Mmm.." she said, he interrupted her train of thought. "Yeah?"

"Do you want to just go in and open the door for me and then I can get all your luggage out of the car."

"Sure" Kayla walked towards the house. Taylor followed Kayla up the front path and after him was Keryn. She stood there holding the door and waited for Taylor to disappear before she called Keryn.

"Yeah?" Keryn said through her dissolving giggles.

"Now I see why you are always talking about your little Tay-babe"

"Huh?" Keryn now looked rather puzzled.

"Oh. Never mind." Kayla waved her off and went inside.

"Zac! Where’s Mom?" Taylor called into the house.

"She’s gone to the mall"

"When’s she coming back?"

"She only left five minutes ago." Now Zac was at the bottom of the stairs. "She was going to get some stuff for the trip."

The Hanson family had planned to go to Oklahoma City to stay with Walker’s sister for a few weeks. Plans were changed because Keryn was finishing school, and with serious persuading, Isaac, Zac and Taylor were able to stay home, rest and relax before they started the tour.

"Oh, ok then"

"Guess what?"

"What?" Taylor asked.

"Mom and Dad are leaving tonight" he answered. "That’s three days early."

"How come?"

"I think that they wanted to, and now Dad doesn’t have to go to the meeting on Friday so they decided to get ready."

"Oh, okay then" Taylor replied. Taylor looked towards the girls who were standing behind him. "Oh, Zac, hang on. This is Kayla" he said pointing in her direction.

"Hi" Zac said.

"Hello, it’s nice to meet you" Kayla said with a smile

Zac returned the smile "Same". Zac went up the stairs and headed for the bedroom that he shares with his brothers.



"Ike"

Isaac was lying on his bed. He looked up at Zac. "Yep?"

"Kayla has arrived. Go and say hello" Zac told his older brother.

"Yes Zac. Anything else Zac?" he laughed as he got off the bed and started to walk down to the kitchen.



"....Yeah, so I was in the shop and all of a sudden the lady comes up to me and she was full on laughing in my face. And I am like..." Keryn and Taylor were deep in conversation as Kayla looked on.

"Still catching up I see." Kayla heard behind her. It was a familiar voice. She turned around.

"Woah, you startled me." she smiled. "Hi"

Isaac looked down at her. He seemed much taller in real life. "Hello, it is nice to meet you"

Kayla beamed. She looked at Taylor and Keryn again. "Oh yes. Were they always like this?"

"Uh huh. Ever since they were little. It is really amazing, they have some weird kind of connection, they almost know what each other is thinking."



Taylor looked at Isaac and Kayla. They were talking about something. "Them to seem to be hitting it off" he grinned at Keryn. "You still like Isaac?"

"Oh God Taylor. Are you going to start laughing at me or something?"

"So, you like him?"

"No, not anymore. That kind of stopped before I went away." Keryn looked over at Isaac and Kayla. "Where is Kayla staying?"

"Hadn’t thought of that." Taylor drifted off for a moment. "Well, because everyone is going tonight, she can probably sleep in Jess and Avery’s room"

"Oh yeah, that’s logical."



Later on that day Kayla went for a little bit of a walk. She found herself circling the block, after three times she decided to stop and make her way back toward Taylor’s house.

"Hey!" she heard someone call. She turned around to see that Zac was standing there waving and trying to catch her attention.

"Hi!" she called back. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing much, I am just doing this" He came into her view with a skateboard.

"Cool. I have always wanted to learn how to do that."

"Wanna try?"

"Sure!"

About ten minutes later Kayla had almost mastered balancing on the board and not rolling away and into Zac. "You’re going great!" Zac said with a bit of sarcasm.

"Oh, come on, I am not that bad" she laughed back at him. Kayla looked at the time, it was noon. The bright sun was starting to get to her. "Oh well" she said jumping off the board. "I think I better get going in now."

"Why, what’s the time?" Zac asked.

"twelve."

"Oh no."

"What?"

"There are new tenants coming in here today and they are moving in at noon." Zac replied very unenthusiastically.

"Oh, well, do you think we had better get out of here soon?"

"Uh huh, I think that that would be a wise decision, considering it is their house".

With that the two crossed over the yards and went back into the Hanson house.



"Zac, is that you?" a woman’s voice called from somewhere in the house.

"Yeah Mom" Zac shouted. "Kayla is here"

Diana Hanson walked into the hallway where Kayla and Zac were standing. "Oh, hello" Diana said as she looked at Kayla. "It is great that you were able to come and stay for a while. I think that the boys need some girls around here, mainly to keep the place clean." Kayla laughed along with Diana.

"Mom...we keep the house clean" Zac said.

"Oh, I know you do Zac. I am just teasing." Diana looked at Kayla. "Keryn is in her room and the others are getting packed up and ready for us to leave".

"Oh, ok then I will get out of your way."

"Oh no, I didn’t mean it like that. You do whatever you want" Diana said with a smile. "Zac, can you go and check on Jess and Avie to see if they have all of their stuff together?"

"Sure Mom." Zac disappeared down the corridor.



"Damn" Keryn murmured as she tossed and turned in her bed. She looked up at the clock on the bed side table. 1:00am. She hated it when she woke up in the middle of the night. There was nothing to do. If she got up she would probably run into something and then the whole house would be angry with her the next day. So, she just lay there, thinking. "No, this is not going to work..." She rolled over and tried to get back to sleep, she realised that the last thing that she needed to do was fully wake herself up. Just as she was about to go to sleep she heard a noise out in the kitchen, the familiar tingle of the fridge. Her throat heard. I need a drink. She rolled out of her bed and her body floated out towards the hallway. The light that beamed from the kitchen hurt her eyes, then all of a sudden, darkness. She found herself standing there, in the hallway. She lifted her hair off her neck as the cool air came toward her. She closed her eyes for a split second to sooth them from the tiredness.

"Ouch!" was the next word she felt coming out of her mouth. Then there was a thump. She was now laying on the floor, it felt like she was the little red flag that had been freshly charged by the bull. She attempted to lift herself with her elbow as she looked at the dark figure that stood before her. "Who is it?"

"Me"

"Me who?"

"Taylor, stupid"

"Oh," she put out her hand and he pulled her up. "What the hell are you doing"

"I was thirsty"

"Oh. That was you" she thought for a moment to recall why she was standing in the hall. "Can I have a drink" she said taking the water from his hands. She walked back into her room and sat down on the bed.

Taylor followed her into the room. "Sorry"

"What for?" she replied

"Bashing into you like that"

"Oh, no, that’s fine, I shouldn’t have been standing there."

Taylor sat down on the bed. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing, I couldn’t sleep. I am awake now though." She rested her head down on the pillow. She looked over at him. "What?" she asked with a smile on her face.

"Oh, nothing." he moved back further on the bed and rested his head against the wall. "So, what have you been up to over the last few years?"

She closed her eyes again. "Ummm...I went to school. I think I got a bit of independence, made new friends."

"Ahhhh..Kayla." he said. "She’s funny".

"Yeah" Keryn said laughing. "She is a real character!"

"So, is she your best friend?" he asked. He seemed to go a little serious.

"Well, we are close friends."

"Oh."

"Don’t worry Tay. Don’t get like that. We are best friends and nothing is going to ever change that."

"It’s just that we never seem to talk anymore."

"Yeah, but I am back now" she said. "That is going to change." Taylor smiled and looked up at the roof. "What are you looking at?" Keryn moved over on the bed and Taylor laid next to her.

"Look at that" he said laughing. The moonlight shone onto the roof and it said ‘Keryn and Taylor’. They had done that when they painted the room.

"I remember that." she said. "I thought we were going to get into so much trouble!"

They both laughed together for a few hours. Talking about everything. The future, the past. Everything.

"Keryn, do you think we will ever change?"

"What do you mean?" Keryn asked, puzzled.

"Well, you and me.......Us."

"More than friends?" The words sounded weird when they came out of her mouth. She and Taylor had never thought about it before. At that moment they both felt some kind of connection, knowing neither would answer the question. There was an uncomfortable silence for about two minutes. "Taylor?"

"Yes?" he murmured.

"Kayla said she wants the jacket that you wore in the ‘Weird’ video".

He grinned, rolled over and fell asleep.

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