"Mom! Let go of me!" Kris said, in the airport. "It's not going to be that long! I'll be back before you know it." Cynthia hadn't let go of her daughter yet. "Mom, we've gone through periods of not seeing each other that lasted longer than this. Remember a few years ago when we didn't see each other for almost two months because of conflicting schedules."
"But I still knew you were there."
"You'll know I'm gonna be right there with Taylor and his family. There's not much of a difference. Let me go!!!" Kris didn't know why Cynthia was acting like this. Sure, they'd never gone on a trip without each other before, and they spent all every day together lately, but she needed to let go. The boarding call was announced, and Cynthia just gripped her only child even tighter. "Let me go before I call security to pry you away from me!"
Cynthia let go, and quickly put her finger to her mouth. "Oh, alright. Go on. I love you." Kris rolled her eyes.
"I love you too. Now leave me alone." She turned and left, groaning. She met up with Taylor at the entrance to the terminal. "Dear God never let her come with us to the airport again. I didn't think I'd be able to get her off me."
"Hey, she's your mother. It's your fault you've never been on a trip without her before."
"I've never even been on a plane before," she said, handing her ticket to the stewardess at the door. "I haven't gone anywhere farther than Milwaukee." She walked with Taylor into the terminal, a fear welling inside of her. He grabbed her hand.
"It's not that long. It's a lot of fun, don't worry. You'll want to do it again before you know it." She looked at him blankly. "No, really. I thought I'd never like flying but I do it all the time now."
"Sure�" Kris followed Taylor to a seat.
"We always get the less crowded flights, so we can have the freedom of just sitting there and every once in a while we can get up and move to another seat for a better view or whatever."
"You're spoiled."
"I know." Taylor found their seats, and Kris found herself in between Taylor and Zac. She instantly grew afraid of her surroundings. She didn't want to know what was going to happen when the plane took off.
"Hi Zac." She hadn't seen him at all in person since they met the first time, but they had become rather good friends on the phone. He looked over and smiled.
"Hi Kris. Did you bring the baseball bat?" She shook her head. "You should have. I'm going bug you until there's nothing left for you to do expect want to go home. But you won't be able to! Ha!"
"You're mean," she said to him. "I'm gonna stay over here with Taylor now." She scooted over to Taylor, while gripping the arm rests.
"Kris, relax," Taylor said.
"Ooh! You've never flown before, have you?" Zac asked. Kris shook her head. "Well, first what happens is there's a lot of turbulence, and as the plane goes into the air, the oxygen masks come down and the plane blows up!"
"Zac!!"
"This would be so much more fun if we were flying over water," Zac said. "Don't worry, Kris, the pilots know when they're not going to have a good flight." Zac looked out the window. "But it does look like it's going to rain, that's not a good sign."
"Zac, stop scaring her."
"I just hope we don't get a bird stuck in an engine and the plane crashes�"
"Zac, I said stop."
"I'm just having fun with her, Taylor," Zac said, an evil grin on his face. "Just some harmless teasing."
"You call this harmless?" Taylor asked, pointing to Kris. She had her knees pulled up to her chest and her face hidden in her arms. "You're scaring her. Kris, nothing's going to happen, everything will be just fine. Zac doesn't know what he's talking about."
"I'm going to kill you," Kris said, her voice sounding muffled. "I'm going to fucking kill you Zac."
"You can't take me seriously, Kris," Zac said. He leaned over, trying to look for her eyes through her arms. "I'm just teasing. Nothing's going to happen." She turned her head and looked at him.
"I'm still going to kill you. I didn't want to be here in the first place, and you're just making it worse." Zac gave her a smile.
"I'll stop if you want me to." She sat back up and straightened herself out.
"Please, Zac, just stop." He nodded. The plane began to move, and Kris bit her lip.
"See, right now we're going up to the runway so we can takeoff. There's two planes ahead of us, so we have to wait," Taylor said. After a few minutes, the plane moved again, and stopped next to the runway. "And don't listen to anything Zac said, cause he's full of it." When it was their turn to take off, Taylor took Kris's hand.
She didn't like the take off as much as Taylor had expected she would. She grew panicky and he had her breathing into the airsick bag to keep her from hyperventilating. Zac found the whole situation amusing, only because he knew he was worse the first time he was on an airplane. He was rather shocked that she actually went through with it, though. If she was this bad at this age, she had enough control over the situation to get off the plane and just go home.
"It's over, Kris. We're in the air now. Everything went fine. It's pretty much nothing from here on," Taylor said, looking down at her. She dropped the bag and ran her hand over her forehead.
"You didn't puke, did you?" Zac asked, looking down at the discarded bag on the floor.
"No."
"I did the first time I was on a plane." Taylor looked over, smiling. "Taylor remembers that."
"Zac was so much worse," Taylor told Kris. "I didn't think he'd ever stop puking. He still does it sometimes." Zac gave a look to Taylor. "What? You did it the last time we were on the plane! I'm surprised you didn't this time."
"Well I had her to make fun of." Kris took out her ponytail and ran her fingers through her hair. "Look outside, Kris," Zac said. She sat up and looked outside. Immediately her eyes grew and she nearly pressed herself against the window.
"Wow."
"Good view, isn't it?" Zac asked, putting his arm around her. "That's why I still like to fly." The seat belt sign went off, so she removed her seat belt and sat on Zac's lap, trying to get a better look outside. The view was the most amazing she'd ever seen. Even from the top of the Sears Tower, looking out into a lit up Chicago wasn't as amazing as this. Kris was glad they got an early morning flight, so she could see the entire world lit up.
"Oh my God it's beautiful." She smiled, for the first time since she got on the flight. She got a bit antsy. "It's beautiful, Zac!" she turned to him, smiling wider.
"Ya think?" he asked, smiling back at her. "I had a feeling you'd like it."
"As long as the plane doesn't crash, this will be a pretty good flight." Zac gave her a look. "How's the landing go?"
"Pretty much like the take off, only backwards." She bit her lip. "I don't like landings either." She shrugged and looked back out the window. They were scheduled to land in Tulsa at 6:30, and it was five in the morning then. What was she going to do for an hour and a half? She surely couldn't sit on Zac's lap and look out the window the entire time, she'd probably kill him. She got off his lap and turned to Taylor.
"Stop bonding with my brother." She smiled and hugged him.
"I love you."
"Yeah, yeah," Taylor said. "You're just doing that so I don't think there's a little sumthin, sumthin going on between you and Zac."
"You know there is," Zac chirped up. He pinched Kris, causing her to jump. "She's my lover, you're just not supposed to know that." Kris smiled innocently to Taylor and with her free hand, trailed it up Zac's leg. Zac grabbed her hand and licked it.
"Oh my God, I don't know you people." He turned away.
"Come on Taylor, we'll let you in on the good stuff. You just have to ask, that's all." Taylor shook his head. While he continued to look away, Kris got back on Zac's lap. She took his hand and put it on her breast. He gave her a look but she smiled. He put his lips against her neck, the both of them just sitting there until Taylor turned back around. When he didn't, Kris got annoyed. "Zac that feels so good�"
Taylor immediately turned around. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Turn around, Taylor, you're not supposed to be seeing this," Kris said, then trailed her lips along Zac's cheek. They both held in their laughter as Taylor grew worried.
"Get off him!" Taylor took Kris's seat and pulled her off Zac. She took Taylor's seat. "I turn my back and you're all over each other."
"I don't mean to," Kris said, innocently. "It's just that he's so irresistible." She reached out to touch Zac, but Taylor held her back. "I'm just kidding, Taylor. You're so gullible." And Taylor, if she's cheating on Brian, how do you know she won't cheat on you? The thought immediately hit Taylor. He knew it was just a joke and all that, but she was taking it a bit too far. Taylor sighed and looked out the window, Zac giving him an odd look in the process.
"Taylor? Something wrong? It was just a joke, dude."
"Yeah whatever." Taylor got up and walked off. Zac turned to Kris, who was confused.
"What's up with him?" she asked. "He knows it's just a joke." Zac only shrugged.
"You were taking that a bit far, though."
"Me? You were making out with my neck."
"You put my hand on your boob and practically licked my cheek off." Taylor walked back.
"I can hear you all the way up there!" he said, pointing to the front of the plane. "Stop arguing! Remember, dad is on this flight. He's just sitting a few rows away, guys." Zac bit his lip and turned to the window. He was getting red.
"She started it."
"Shut up, Zac," Kris said. Taylor walked away again. When he came back, Zac and Kris were looking in different directions and not talking to each other.
"That's better. I like it when you can't handle each other." He took Kristina's hand. She turned to him and smiled. "How are you holding up?"
"Alright. I just hope the plane doesn't land any time soon." Taylor looked at his watch.
"We still have another hour." He put his arm around her as Walker came up. "Hey dad."
"How you guys holding up back here?" he asked. He took an unoccupied seat across the aisle.
"Good, Dad." Walker raised an eyebrow. "Kris and Zac had a fight, but that's pretty much it."
"We were messing around with Taylor's mind and we argued over who started it first," Kris informed. "I still think it was Zac."
"No, Kris, it was all you. You had your hand on my thigh�"
"But you pinched my butt first!" Zac thought about it.
"Ah hell, yeah I started it." He looked to Kris. "I'm sorry, Kris."
"I'm sorry too." She tried to climb over Taylor, once again getting him upset.
"Kris, that's enough." Kris smiled and sat back down. "It's getting old."
"Old?" Kris asked. "You've got three weeks of this. Hey Zac, you and me, tonight, meet me in the backyard." Zac nodded and gave her a thumbs up sign. She turned to Taylor. "And you, I'll get to you."
"You better," he said. "I'll start thinking that you're seeing Zac behind my back." He held up three fingers. That's three guys, hun, Taylor thought. Kris remembered Walker was behind him and quickly grabbed his hand.
"You're quite a character," Walker said, as Kris turned to him. "Where do you pick this stuff up?"
"I don't know, actually. The only other people in my family that act like I do is my sister and her children."
"So you have an older sister?" Kris nodded, a bit eager to express her family joy with someone who didn't know it yet. She went into the vivid tale of her family and listed off the names of her sisters, their husbands, and the ten children. Taylor had met them all, and was still haven't a bit of a hard time remembering all their names. He had a feeling that he'd be quizzed soon.
"Taylor's met all of them, haven't you Taylor?" Kris asked, turning back to him. He nodded. "Let me guess, you don't know any of their names."
"I know your oldest nephew is Donnie," Taylor said. "You mentioned there was eighteen of them, how am I supposed to remember that after spending a few hours with them?"
"I know all the names of your siblings."
"Yeah because mine are actually important." She smacked him. "I'm kidding. There's just too many of them!"
"Wait until you people start having kids, then tell me when there's too many." Kris turned back to Walker, continuing to talk about her family. She spoke for nearly an hour with the man, mostly her talking. The flight went by quickly for Kris, and she lost track of the time. Taylor noticed the seat-belt sign went back on, and pulled Kris from her position of sitting on her legs. "Hey!"
"Time to go back to your seat, dad," Taylor said. Walker smiled to Kris and went back to his seat. "I didn't know you could talk someone's head off like that."
"Well it's about my family, I know a lot about my family. I can talk when it's something I happen to know a lot about."
"You don't talk to me like that," Taylor said, pouting. "I'm starting to think that you like my family more than me�"
"You're a jealous little boy," Kris said, putting her head on his shoulder. "It's just that I know you, Taylor, I don't know your family. I'm just trying to get it out of the way so I can spend more time with you."
"We're going to be landing soon�watch out," Zac said, deciding to interrupt. "The landing's always worse than the take off." Kris cringed, fearing the landing. She may have survived the take off, but she didn't think by much. Kris and Taylor traded seats quickly, so she was back in her original seat. She buckled herself in. Zac noticed how worried she was, which only made him regret what he'd said. Quickly he rummaged through his bag and pulled out a notebook.
"What's that?"
"I wanna show you something." He flipped through the pages. "This is a song me and Taylor wrote for the album. It's done and has been done for a while now but I think you might like to look over it. He kinda wrote it with you in mind. He started right after he met you and before he thought he'd have the chance to get you. But we didn't finish it until we went to Detroit." Kris smiled and blushed.
Zac put his arm around Kris and lightly began to sing the song. Her eyes followed along with the lyrics. And I waited for you, And I waited for you�just a picture and a feeling and a face� The plane began to descend through the air, but Kris didn't even notice because of the soft singing that began to fill her ears. How could I forget your touch your warm embrace�And the shoes you wore with long black satin lace as you walked into my mind� Kris smiled. Even though she didn't have any long black satin lace, she'd compromise for the sake of rhyme. As I walked into this old forgotten hall�just one look and I began to fall� That was true. Wish I could frame you and this feeling on the wall�to stare at until there is no time.
Taylor noticed that Zac was singing, and realized that he was doing it so she couldn't get worried over the fact that they were descending quickly. He decided to join in. And I waited for you�just hoping that you'd come back to me�And I waited for you Kris looked over, a bit surprised by the sound of another voice singing to her. She smiled at Taylor and gripped his hand. Run, Run, runaway run, run�maybe someday I will find someone too�Run, run, runaway�maybe someday, maybe someday�
She looked over the lyrics, surprised how deeply personal and true they were. From a distance I watched the flowers brush your cheek�As you read the words I wrote I couldn't speak�But now I lay here broken heart and blistered feet�as you're spinning round my mind.
Suddenly the singing stopped. Kris looked to the both of them. "What? Why'd you stop? That was pretty�"
"Look outside Kris." She looked out the window and they were on the ground. Her eyes widened.
"I did it! I survived my first time on plane!" She suddenly realized why she was looking at these lyrics. "You two did this on purpose, didn't you?" Zac nodded.
"I knew you were worried about the landing, so I just decided to distract you. And you didn't even notice it." Kris continued to read over the lyrics, smiling brightly now. The rest of them were so strangely familiar.
"Taylor, what's up with this?" Kris asked him, holding up the notebook.
"What?"
"This song is like a replay of our relationship." He just shrugged. "Everything, everything in this song happened between us. Except that I don't have anything in black satin lace."
"Yes you do." She gave him a look.
"What?" He whispered it in her ear. Immediately her cheeks grew red. "You're not supposed to know that!" He smiled and winked at her. "Taylor!" She started smacking him.
"Hey! Hey! Stop it!" Zac looked over, confused.
"What?" he asked. Kris blew it off. "No, I wanna know."
"No, Zac, you don't," Kris said.
"I'll tell you."
"Oh no you won't. You're not even supposed to know." Despite that, Taylor leaned over and whispered it to Zac. Zac looked at Kris skeptically. She put her face in her hands.
"Why?"
"I got it as a gag gift from Brian a few years ago."
"Brian got that for you?" Taylor asked. "Please tell me you never modeled it for him�"
"Hell no! He would cover his eyes and hide in a corner if I ever thought of putting lingerie on in front of him." Taylor let out a breath. "And how would you know that anyway, Taylor? Have you been looking through my drawers?" Taylor looked away. "You are a pervert. I really don't know if I should be spending three weeks with you�you'd probably come in and rape me during the night or something."
"No, he'll just lock you out of the house during a thunderstorm," Zac said. Kris looked to Zac. "I talk from personal experience."
"Taylor, you're horrible! You lock him in the bathroom, you lock him out of the house during thunderstorms. I'm surprised you haven't left him on the corner of the road for the vultures." They both remained silent. "No. Don't tell me�"
"I was six, I did not know what I was doing, okay" Taylor said. Kris burst out laughing.
"Hey! Don't laugh!" Zac piped in. "I still have the scar, thankyouverymuch!" Taylor got up then, followed by Kris and Zac. When they got off the plane, Taylor was surprised that Kris didn't bend over and kiss the ground.
"Happy to be back on the ground, Kris?" Taylor asked. She nodded. Taylor noticed Walker who had stopped in front of them. He didn't look too happy. "What's up, Dad?"
"There's fans here. Lots of them."
"How?"
"Taylor, they're fans. They find out everything," Kris said. "It's not that hard to understand." Walker took Kristina ahead while Taylor and Zac stayed behind, waiting for an escort. They knew better than to walk through a bunch of screaming fans alone. The worst part about everything was the new single had just been released to airwaves, and the fans were getting more and more anxious to hear the new album. It helped that there was only two out of the trio, in a way.
Kris and Walker were exposed to the crowd first. They went quickly through, Kris a bit stunned by the whole experience. Pictures snapped and the crowd screamed as they passed. The only thing between her and the crowd was a few feet and some cops with security. She couldn't believe some of the looks that she received as she passed with the famous father.
In a separate room, Kris met up with Taylor a few minutes later. "Shocked?" Taylor asked.
"Yeah. Does this happen often?"
"All the time," Zac said. "The best thing to do is find the humor in it all. That's what I try to do."
"And you wonder why you're considered the funny one," Taylor said. Zac gave him a look. Zac flopped into a chair.
"What do we do now?"
"Wait."
Musical Credit goes to Hanson (Runaway Run)