We were sitting in the Dust Brothers' backyard, taking a break from shooting the video. Becca and I were sitting indian-style on the patio, eating pizza. Zac, surprise surprise, was in the pool. Taylor was in a lounge chair with his eyes closed, no doubt dreaming of Lisa. My little brother has become quite smitten with Becca's best friend. "You know, your best friend cast a spell over my little brother. He's got a crush on her."
Rebecca snorted. "Yeah, him and half the male population of my high school. Don't worry, though. He'll get over it. You guys will become famous, thousands of girls will throw themselves at you, rip off your shirts, and he'll think 'Lisa who?'"
"You really think so?"
"What? That Taylor will forget about Lisa, or that girls will try to rip off your clothing?"
I smiled. "Both."
"Women's intuition tells me that both will be inevitable." She smiled and then took a bite of her pizza. "So, where are you guys from anyway?"
"Oklahoma."
"Oklahoma!?! No way!"
"Surprised?"
"Well... YEAH. I always thought people from the south were... well... were rednecks."
I smiled. "Some are, but we aren't. Our family tree forks. And our cars are mobile, not our home."
Rebecca spit out the pizza she had been chewing on. "Don't do that when I'm eating," she laughed.
I laughed, too. "Sorry."
"Sure you are. Are you guys gonna get a tutor for when you travel?"
"Don't need to. We home-school. Our parents teach us."
"Your parents? God bless. My parents could never teach me. We'd end up killing each other."
"Well, there's been no blood shed yet," I said, taking a bite of my pizza.
"Got a girlfriend?"
I shook my head no.
"Why not? Wait a minute! That's none of my business. You don't have to answer that."
"No, it's okay. I don't know, really. I've just been so wrapped up in the album and all..."
"Ah, a workaholic..." Becca smiled. "Be careful. All work and no play could make Ike a dull boy."
"Me? Dull?" I shook my head. "Never. What about you? How's your boyfriend?"
"Steve? He's fine. I still can't believe it'll be a year next month. Never thought I was one for the whole long-term relationship thing but," she shrugged while wiping her fingers with a napkin, "I guess something just clicked."
"Guess so."
"Name one thing that you want," Rebecca instructed, changing the subject.
"One thing that I want?"
"Yeah. Not in that whole world-peace-Miss-America sorta way. Just be selfish. Name one thing you want for yourself."
"Hmm... my own room," was my response.
"You share?"
"Yeah, with Zac and Tay."
"Whoa. Cramped much?"
"It's not the lack of physical space. It's the emotional space I crave sometimes. There... sometimes... I just want to be alone, ya know? It's hard to be alone with five brothers and sisters." I paused. "What about you? What do you want?"
"Geez, now I feel so shallow. I want my bellybutton pierced," said Becca matter-of-factly.
"Your bellybutton pierced!?! Why?"
She shrugged. "Why not? I was gonna get it done for my birthday last month, but you have to be eighteen. Looks like I'm gonna have to cross the border."
"Please, tell me you're joking."
Rebecca giggled. "Yeah, I'm joking. I'm not running off to Mexico anytime soon. My mom said Danielle could sign the papers so I could get it done, but..." Her voice trailed off.
"But what?"
"I don't know if I've got the guts."
"I think you do. You had enough guts to call us yokels yesterday morning," I reminded her.
She frowned. "That wasn't guts. It was stupidity. My dad's always saying, 'think before you speak, Rebecca.' Maybe one day I'll listen to him."
"Hey! Don't be so hard on yourself. I was only joking." I felt bad that I had made her feel bad. "Really Bec, don't worry about it."
She smiled. "You're too nice to be in this business. I'm gonna have to toughen you up. Get you a groupie or something."
"Hmm... I don't think my parents would approve of a groupie. Besides, she'd probably trip over Zac's Power Rangers."
"Oooh... So the Hanson brothers are slobs, huh?"
"Very much so, unlike YOUR neat room."
Rebecca snorted. "Yeah, right. While you were busy getting kicked off the bus, I was cleaning my room. Only took about three hours."
"Aww... you cleaned for me! I feel so special." I flashed her a smile.
"No, I cleaned to shut my mom up. Sorry." She returned the smile. "Hey Ike?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't forget me."
I smiled. "No problem."