More Fan-Fic
8.
Ike finished his coffee and was about to go take a nap when Zac came back into the kitchen, looking around as though he were lost.
"Hey, Ike, have you seen my Gumby shirt?" he asked, lifting up one of the cushions at the table and peeking under it.
"Gumby?" Ike asked. He shook his head.
"Well dammit, Isaac, I can't find my fucking shirt!" Zac howled in frustration.
"And how the hell do you think I would know where your faggy Gumby shirt would be?" Ike demanded exasperatedly. Zac stopped searching and gave Ike an annoyed stare.
"You can be an incredible jerk sometimes, Ike," Zac said in disgust. He stormed back toward the bunks, and Ike sighed, annoyed. I'm not a jerk, he thought to himself huffily. Well, not most of the time, he added in second thought.
"Ike, glad you're on board. Kate!" Ash called, stepping into the kitchen. Kate reappeared momentarily into the kitchen, casting an irritated glare at Ike. "Gotta kick you out, Katie. Band meeting."
"Ah, no problem," Kate said, bounding off the bus. Taylor got on the bus and ignored Ike as he headed back to the lounge for the meeting. Ash raised his eyebrows at Ike.
"Is there something I need to know here?" he asked. Ike shrugged.
"Everyone's just tired and irritable, I think," Ike said. They went back to the lounge and found Taylor sitting in the arm chair with his legs draped over one arm, Zac sitting on the floor across the room, and Meg sitting at one end of the sofa accepting a powdered donut Taylor passed to her. Ash noticed the only two places left were on the sofa, next to Meg and one seat over. But before he could even move to intercept the awkward space between Ike and Meg, Ike spoke up. "Mind if I sit next to you?" Ash followed Ike's gaze to Meg, who smiled familiarly and patted the cushion next to her, her mouth too full to answer aloud. Ike took a seat next to her, and put his arm up on the back of the sofa behind her head. Zac and Taylor exchanged a brief and unreadable glance that they understood to mean, "Since when did he want to sit with her?" Ash moved hesitantly to the last spot available and smiled at the whole group, clearly as perplexed by the Ike-and-Meg phenomenon as the other two.
"So. We all need to have a chat about what we want out of this book. I know, Meg, you haven't seen our footage yet, but I still think we can get a good idea of what we expect and what we can expect for the time being," Ash said. Meg nodded and shifted to be more comfortable- all four guys noticed, a slight hair closer to Ike. His arm fell a couple of inches on the sofa. Taylor and Zac shared another look, slightly more alarmed. Ash stuttered, "Um... Ah... Zac? Why don't you go first."
Zac had to tear his eyes from watching Ike and Meg to nod at Ash, and he was obviously not pleased about it. "...Su-ure." He paused, trying to focus on the topic at hand. "Ah... The book. The book that goes with the documentary." He looked around. Taylor had a grim look on his face, Meg looked slightly confused at everyone's slowness of speech, Ash wasn't even paying attention, and Ike looked like the only one there who was just dandy. Zac was so fixated on this, in fact, that he didn't hear Meg question him- the first two times.
"Zac?" she finally snapped. "With all due respect, it's 5:30 a.m. I know you're tired, but come back to us for just a minute and tell us what's going on in your head." Zac met her eyes.
"Oh, I think some of us would like to hear the same from some of the other people in this room," he answered, staring pointedly at Ike. Ike raised his eyebrows innocently.
"Well, if you're not ready to voice your opinion on the matter at hand, Zac, why don't you go first Taylor?" Ash asked, steering the conversation back where it was supposed to be.
"Sure," Taylor said, giving Zac a wave of his hand as if to say cut it out. "As far as the book is concerned, Meg, and I'm sure we all agree on this, my first and foremost concern is that you make us look good."
Meg's jaw dropped. "What?" she gasped.
"Kidding," Taylor said with a grin. "No, what's most important is that you're honest. Yes, we're employing you, but we don't want this to look like the official Hanson self-righteous attack on the music industry. Your impartiality, your previous disassociation with our band is what is going to give this piece credibility."
"Of course," Meg said. She grabbed a notebook off the coffee table and made a quick note to herself.
"Another thing that's important," Zac jumped in, "is attention to detail. I'm sure this is obvious, but I just want to emphasize how incredibly important the details are in this story. We don't want some generalized Cliff's Notes guide to the documentary. It doesn't need that. We will need you to go behind the scenes of the documentary so to speak, interviewing us, the people who've worked with us- even the IDJ people."
"I see," Meg murmured. "And what exactly would you guys define as the ultimate goal of this book?"
Zac opened his mouth to answer, but Ike cut in. "I'd say the point of the book is to offer additional insight into the situation. Because of budget and everything, we're cutting the documentary to about 90 minutes. There will be a lot cut out. A lot of stuff that will offer some much-needed explanation to both sides of the situation. And I think that now that everything is passed, both parties should have the opportunity to explain their actions at the time, for better or worse." Tay and Zac stared at their older brother, but he just sat further back into the sofa and let his arm drop a little lower. Meg was note-taking furiously and didn't notice (or didn't let on that she did). Ash sighed loudly.
"There will be some obviously critical points of the documentary, and your personal reflection on those moments will also be appropriate," he filled in. "Also, a bit of history leading up to the documentary, and a lot of Since Then stuff. Give the broad picture. Tell the whole story."
"You'll want to look at it especially from a fan's perspective," Taylor advised. "They're the ones who are going to be watching it, and I think that watching from that perspective will raise the right questions for you to answer. What would fans want to know beyond what they see in the video? That's what we want you to tell them." Zac nodded, and Ike gave a brief nod, lost again in his own world of thought. Meg sat back for the first time and felt Ike's arm drop to her shoulders, and she chanced a glance at him, but he seemed unaware of her presence. Which, in her rationale, negated the arm-around-shoulders thing because he wasn't actually aware of it.
"So," she said. "Anything else?" Zac shook his head, as did Taylor and Ash. Ike chewed on his bottom lip.
"No, I think that's all we can go over for now," Ash said. "Why doesn't everyone try to get some sleep?" Zac nodded and Taylor said "Yeah" around a yawn. Ash gave Meg and Ike another glance.
"I've given up trying to sleep on the bus for now, " Meg explained. Ash glanced at Ike, who seemed to know he was being questioned.
"I'm fine," he said vaguely.
"...Okay. Just make sure you get some sleep sometime before the show," Ash cautioned him. "And not during the meet-n-greet, Ike."
"Don't know how anyone could sleep through one of those things," Ike said, finally meeting his eyes and giving him a broad smile. "I'll get some sleep before we get to Boise. Even better, right?"
"Good deal," Ash said. He left the lounge and shut the door after himself. Ike finally looked at Meg, and she met his eyes.
"So..." Ike began. Meg licked her lips and glanced down, before shifting so she was facing him.
"So." She raised her eyes to meet his, and was taken aback to see the richness and depth of brown in his eyes. There wasn't a spot of gold or even lighter brown in his eyes. He smiled slightly.
"Do you, ah-" he was cut off by Zac poking his head back into the room.
"Hey, Ike, have you seen my-"
"Screw off, Zac," Ike said through clenched teeth. Zac looked like a reproached puppy. Meg clenched her jaw and turned away from Ike. Zac closed the door without another word, and Ike turned back to Meg. "Sorry... He doesn't understand knocking yet, but we're working on training him."
"That was a terrible thing to say," she said with hurt. Her throat felt tight and she couldn't understand why she felt like crying.
"I.. Oh." Ike pulled his arm away, and turned forward. "Sorry."
"You don't owe me the apology," Meg said sadly. She stood and tossed the notebook on the table. "I have to go call home," she said.
9.
“The thing is,” Isaac said, leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom in the hotel suite Meg was sharing with Kate and Jessica, “I don’t try to be rude to Zac. Or Taylor. I just react, and…”
“And hurt their feelings and come off like a big prick, I know, I’ve noticed,” Meg said dryly, piecing her hair into shape and hair spraying it. Ike sighed. He was beginning to realize that the more time he spent with Meg- even if it was just 24 hours- the prettier he thought she was.
Ugh, he thought. I’m getting a crush on our employee. Bad, Hanson, bad.
“Why don’t you just try being nice to them for a change?” Meg asked, turning to him with her hands on her hips and her feet shoulder-width apart. She looked like Peter Pan.
“Because,” Ike said, adopting a pathetic sort of whine and letting Meg step past him back into the room. “If I’m nice, I have to apologize. And if I apologize, I’m wrong. And I can’t be wrong. That would mean… Taylor and Zac are right.”
“Ye-es… And?”
“Mr. I-Got-Married-So-I-Can-Dress-Like-An-Okie-Redneck-Now, and Mr. Never-Quite-Outgrew-Being-a-Psychotic-Eleven-Year-Old-In-the-Public-Eye? Right? You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m the mature one. I’m the grown up. I’m right, they’re wrong, so there.” Meg snorted as she pawed through her suitcase, and Ike flopped on the bed next to her bag. “I mean it. And it’s not like I’m the only bad guy here.”
“There are no bad guys,” Meg said tiredly, finally looking at him. “Look. If you’re supposedly the mature one, why don’t you actually act like it and be the first to apologize? Besides,” she added, half under her breath, “it’s not like they were originally mad at you because of how you treated them.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ike propped himself up on one elbow. Jessica let herself back into the room at that moment, and Meg only shook her head.
“Sorry, was I interrupting something?” Jessica asked, catching the look on Isaac’s face, and the blank stare on Meg’s.
“No,” Meg said. All three were quiet, and Jessica shot them several glances as she put some lip-gloss on and brushed her hair. After one final glance, she grabbed her purse and left the room again.
“So, what were you talking about?” Ike asked as soon as the door shut. Meg shrugged. “No, you don’t get away with it that easily.”
“From what I’ve heard, they were more angry with you about, um…” Meg sighed. Ike raised his eyebrows as if to say, Yes? Go on! “They were angry about the way you were treating some of the girls you met on tour.”
Ike fell back against the pillows. “Ah,” he said. Both were silent. “And did you hear about how I was ‘treating some of the girls,’ so to speak?” Meg nodded. “Ah,” he said again. Meg finally met his eyes, and couldn’t tell what he was thinking. So, she asked.
“What are you thinking right now?” she asked.
“That I fucked up,” he said. She leaned against the headboard next to him.
“Well, they’re your brothers. I’m sure they’ll forgive you,” she said. He looked over at her.
“I wasn’t talking about my brothers,” he said quietly. Her eyes widened, and he leaned closer to her.
“Ash wanted me to go with the girls to meet the fans,” Meg said quickly. “So I’d better go now.” She jumped off the bed and finished grabbing her shoes and sweater and purse. “I’ll see you at the show.” She left the room, and Ike banged his head back against the headboard.
“Yeah,” he muttered. “At the show.”