"Hey chica," Ryan Hollowell said to his little sister. Hope smiled at sat down next to Ryan�s chair. He looked so innocent, why was it that everything had to happen to him? Ryan was always the good one, Hope was always the bad one. She deserved it more than he did.
"How ya feeling, bro?" Hope asked. She reached out and took his hand. His head turned.
"I�m O.K. How about you? Can I get you anything?" Hope asked. Ryan shook his head.. "You don�t have to move, you can just talk."
He was so gorgeous, he had everything going for him and then this happened. Hope looked up to her older brother with gawking eyes. Even with him like this she still envied him. He still seemed like the perfect guy.
"Ryan I wish I could be like you," Hope said. Ryan smiled.
"I wish I could be like you. You�re so free-spirited and you have that wit of yours. You do whatever you please whenever you want to. I�ve always envied you."
"Yeah but my wit gets me in trouble."
"You�re still a good girl, sweetie. I wish I could have that wit. Especially now."
"Ryan, you do. You have all you need in a personality. I love you." Ryan�s smile grew, it stretching almost ear to ear. It was all he could do to show affection.
"I love you too."
Hope woke up. She wasn�t with Ryan anymore. Ryan was at home in Trenton, home with dad. Dad loved him so much. Too bad he hated Hope like he did.
She glanced at the clock. Seven a.m., she could get up and talk to Taylor. She needed to tell someone about this and the only person she could trust was him. They were going to Trenton that morning for some interview. Even with Zac�s arm the way it was, they could still do interviews, just not performances. They were going to leave soon. Better get up.
Hope got up and ready quickly. She was antsy to go home. Maybe she could take the few hours of free time that they had to go and visit home. Maybe she could have Taylor come with her to visit Ryan. He missed her, she knew it.
But it all depended on what her father thought. If her father would let her in the house or not. She knew him way to well to expect much.
With a lot of help from Hope, everyone got into the cars and at the airport on time. Everything was fine until Hope got on the plane. Oh my God I�m gonna see Ryan! I haven�t seen Ryan in forever, it�s been at least a year and a half. Oh geez dad better let me in or I�ll shoot him.
"Hope, you�re actually antsy! What was in your tea this morning?" Taylor asked, taking his usual seat next to her. Hope smiled to him and didn�t say anything. "You gotta have something up your sleeve, what�s there?"
"Taylor you always ask me that question whenever I�m wearing a tank top!! Stop it!" Taylor rolled his eyes.
"It�s just an expression."
"Well duh it�s an expression but it�s stupid when you ask someone who doesn�t have any sleeves." Taylor shrugged. Hope gave him a look. "You�ll find out what�s wrong with me when we get to Trenton."
"What�s in Trenton?"
"You�ll find out when we get there."
Now Taylor was antsy and it got him annoyed. He wanted to know but Hope wouldn�t say anything. She totally ignored him to the point where he was almost sitting on top of her with his hand two inches from her nose and she didn�t even flinch.
"Hope, come on!" Taylor smacked her nose with his hand. "I ain�t gonna let you get away with this." Hope turned to him.
"Ain�t? I thought I was the one with little schooling."
"You had little schooling?"
"Hello, I�m fifteen and a bodyguard. Have you seen a tutor or something around at all?"
"Well it�s been summer ever since you came and it�s almost fall, school doesn�t start for a while�so no."
"I don�t. I haven�t been to school in years! I have my job and it requires very little education. I just need to know how to read and write and I�m pretty much O.K."
"What�s gonna happen when you�re not a bodyguard anymore?"
"By the time I�m not a bodyguard anymore I�ll be old enough to retire." Taylor gave her a look.
"What if you get hurt and you can�t be one anymore?" A little close to home, Taylor, Hope thought. Too close to home. Hope dismissed the question and went back to staring out the window. "Well?"
"Shut up."
"Fine. I won�t say anything the whole hour and a half it takes to get there because someone wants to be a snot."
"I thought I told you to shut up, Jordan."
"Ooh, and I get the notorious first name act. Someone�s really pissed." Hope turned to him. He was giving her a michevious smile. She slapped him across the face and then turned back to the window. She could hear him dealing with the pain. "Ah shit, that�s gonna leave a bruise!"
Hope shook her head. She couldn�t believe he was actually that much of a dork. She barely even hit him and he�s still going on. Finally she got annoyed and turned to the boy.
"Why don�t you just shut up, Taylor?" she asked. "It�s really getting annoying. I didn�t hit you that hard."
"Yes you did." She looked over him. He wasn�t that much younger than she was�only a few weeks�and yet he acted like a two year old. He was looking away, rubbing his cheek.
"Do you want me to kiss it and make it feel better?" she asked. A smile came over Taylor�s face and he looked at her.
"It wouldn�t bother me," he said. She gently kissed his sore cheek, then slapped it again. "Hey!"
"That�s for being fresh with me, Taylor." Hope gave him a smile and turned away once more, and this time she didn�t bother looking back.
"Hope, this doesn�t become you, why are you so nervous?" Taylor asked. She almost ran to the bus stop. Taylor still couldn�t believe they were taking public transportation to get wherever they were going.
"You�ll find out when we get there." The bus came up to the curb and stopped for them. They both stuck their change in the meter and took a seat. Hope wouldn�t stop fidgeting.
"Hope, will ya stop it?"
"No!" Hope said louder than she should, her legs bouncing up and down as she spoke. Taylor had never seen her like this, he�d never even seen her close to this.
"Could you at least tell me where we�re going?" Taylor asked.
"No."
"Why not?" Taylor asked.
"Because it�s a surprise. It�s a big surprise, Taylor. I just pray you like it." Taylor gave her a strange look. It wasn�t a long trip until they needed to get off, but it would of taken forever to walk there.
When they got off they were at the entrance to a beautiful neighborhood. Since it was autumn, the leaves had turn multiple colors and hung from the trees�they were beautiful. Hope ran into the street, Taylor lagging behind.
"Come on Taylor, it�s not far now." She darted onto another street, then another. Taylor found it hard to follow her since she was going so fast. She was too antsy to get there and Taylor hated it.
When he finally caught up and was right behind her, she stopped abruptly and he ran into her. Luckily neither of them fell to the ground. Hope stared into the house, not being able to take her eyes away from it. Tay decided to ruin the moment.
"Is this it?" he asked. She looked at him and nodded. "Then why are we just looking at it?" Hope walked up to the front door, and motioned for Taylor to stick with her.
Taking a deep breath, she rang the doorbell. Absently she scratched her knee as she waited. Right when she was about to ring the doorbell again, the door opened and a tired-looking man in his mid 50�s stood there. He recognized her immediately.
"Why are you here?" he asked.
"I want to see Ryan." The man noticed Taylor standing behind Hope. He motioned to him.
"Is this your new object now?" Hope shook her head.
"Will you let me see Ryan or do I have to come back in another year and try again?"
"No. You�re not coming in this house. I told you never to come back again!"
"You can stop me from coming back. I thought this was supposed to be the one place where I shouldn�t have any problem coming back to."
"You thought wrong, Hope."
"Some father you are," she muttered. Her head picked up when she heard a familiar voice in the background.
"Dad, who�s at the door?" It was Ryan�s voice. Hope, with all her strength, pushed her father aside. Him being older and her being as strong as she was, he was out of the way in a flash. Hope grabbed Taylor and took him inside.
"I figure that�s your father," Taylor said. Hope nodded.
"Unfortunately," she retorted. He followed her through a few rooms until they entered a room with another person. Taylor held back his gasp. He figured this was Ryan by the way Hope immediately was by his side.
Ryan was in a wheelchair, with an IV and a few tubes coming out of him. He couldn�t move anything from the chest down, including his arms. Taylor felt out of place as Hope started talking to him.
"Hey!" she said, taking his hand. He couldn�t feel it but she felt security with it. He looked to me.
"Chica! Why are you here?" he asked. Hope smiled.
"I came to see you. We�re in Trenton for a few days and I had to come. I brought a friend. Taylor come over here!" Taylor walked over, not knowing exactly how to act. Ryan looked up at him. "Ryan, this is Taylor. I�m working for him and his brothers now. Taylor, this is my brother Ryan."
"Hi," Taylor said. Ryan smiled.
"Hey. So my sister�s working for you? Don�t get her anywhere near caramel or she�ll go an a rampage!" Taylor laughed, feeling a little more comfortable.
"Ryan! You dork don�t tell him that! No, Taylor. I won�t go on a rampage." Ryan nodded to Hope then turned to Taylor again.
"Yes she will," he whispered.
"Well I found out the hard way about her and Jolly Ranchers." Ryan laughed. Once a bag of Jolly Ranchers is discovered by Hope the bag is gone in an hour.
"That�s why we don�t keep them here anymore. She�d probably fly all the way from China to here if she found out we had some in the house." Ryan seemed happy, and it made Taylor feel right at home.
They stayed there for hours upon hours. It was late at night before they even stopped to see what the time was. Taylor and Ryan hit it off pretty well. Ryan liked him for some reason, and Hope thought it was just because she was such good friends with him.
"Taylor I want you to know that you better take care of my sister. She may be your bodyguard but I don�t want her ending up like me. And if she does I�ll kick your butt from here to Mars."
"I�ll take care of her, don�t worry." Ryan smiled.
"You�re a good kid." Even though Ryan was in a wheelchair, Taylor still feared him. He would and he could kick his butt if he tried. Anything�s possible through brother/sister love. Taylor knew it, he vowed the minute Jessica was born that if any dork decided to treat his sister the wrong way he would kill them. And then again with Avery, and a final time with Zoe. He had a lot of whoop ass in his system.
"Hey, I got three little sisters, I know where you�re coming from," Taylor said. Ryan nodded.
"So you know I�ll do it?" Taylor nodded. "Good. I may be in a wheelchair but I got something up my sleeve that�ll help." Hope proceeded to look up his sleeves. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"I�m looking up your sleeves and I don�t see much." Ryan rolled his eyes. "What time is it?" Hope asked. Taylor glanced at his watch.
"One a.m."
"Um, I think it�s time we go back," Hope said. Taylor nodded. "I�ll be back, Ryan. I love ya," she said, giving her big brother a hug.
"Love ya too." He turned to Taylor. "Taylor, take care of her." Taylor saluted him, and they left.
Once they were out of the house, Hope turned to Taylor, resisting the urge to crack her knuckles. "So, whaddya think of my deranged family?" she asked.
"I don�t know about your dad, but Ryan is like the coolest guy I�ve ever met!" Hope had to smile. She was happy that Taylor liked her brother, even the way he was. He didn�t even seem to notice it.
Well the ride back to the hotel was uneventful, until they got into the hotel. Diana was fuming. She sent Taylor in his room and pulled Hope into her own.
"Do you have any idea what time it is, Hope?" she yelled. "Do you know that I had no clue where you two were? You�re supposed to be the one protecting my child and yet I worried about him from this morning until I saw you two walking back into the hotel!"
"With all do respect ma�am, the reason I�m here is so your son can go out and you not have to worry about him."
"Don�t even think about saying that to me. You are still younger than he is. We all know why you were hired here, because no one else was available. You of all people should know your background. I don�t trust you with my children out of my care. History repeats itself, Hope."
"I cannot believe you. You would actually think I would make that mistake again? You actually think I don�t have the brains to know what I did was wrong and that I would never even think about doing that again?"
"Actually, I think you would. You�re getting a little close to Taylor." Hope�s mouth dropped. She couldn�t believe it, that woman actually had the nerve to think that? "Don�t look so surprised."
"I am so not getting close to him! I would never�ew! How could you think something like that? I would never want to do anything like that with him, he acts too much of a brother to me."
"I don�t think so Hope, I�ve seen the way he looks at you."
"If he looks at me that way then why are you blaming me and not him?"
"Because, Hope, you are the responsible one here." She had to laugh.
"Well ma�am, if you trust me that much then I�m sorry. I should of told you where we were going and when we would be back. I just wanted him to meet my brother."
"You�re brother? You took him to meet your brother?" Hope nodded, and Diana smiled. "Well then I guess it was O.K., as long as you weren�t out and about."
"I wouldn�t let him be out and about, ma�am."
"Stop calling me ma�am, it makes me feel old." Hope dodged the chance to make a comment about Diana�s age. She knew she�d get in a heap of trouble if she did.
"You don�t look it, that�s all I can say."
"I know you, Hope. You couldn�t make me sound old because you�re deep enough so you compliment me." Hope laughed.
"You know me too well."