“She’s here!” Taylor grinned, bouncing up and down backstage after the concert.
“Are you sure? How could you have possibly seen her in the crowd?” Isaac asked, leading the way back to the dressing rooms.
“She was there, standing at the edge of the balcony looking perfect,” Taylor said matter-of-factly.
“Perfect?” Zac questioned, only asking because he had nothing better to do at the moment.
“Sexy and drunk. The perfect combination,” Taylor said, “Do you think she’ll come find me?”
“I doubt it,” Isaac said, ducking out of the way before Taylor could smack him in the arm, “What?! She’s not a groupie, Taylor. She was here to see the concert.”
“Don’t be stupid. Of course she was here to see me.” Taylor rolled his eyes before going into his dressing room and slamming the door shut. He did his usual celebratory shot of vodka before stripping and getting in the shower to wash away the sweat the heat of the stage and the rigors of performing had caused all over his body. All he could think about the entire time was how he was lucky enough to get a second chance to bed Quin Harper. It took Taylor a surprisingly short amount of time to get his things packed up and out to the van, and there was a big crowd of girls standing there waiting for the guys to emerge. As soon as they were in sight of the fans, they shifted into false chipper moods. Of course they were genuinely happy to meet fans and to take pictures, but at this point in the night, Taylor was usually either ready to go out and party and Isaac and Zac were ready to go home and pass out.
He didn’t see her at first and busied himself taking pictures and signing CD booklets and shirts, basically anything to keep himself from searching the crowd for her face. After a half hour of meeting fans, Taylor was feeling almost depressed. He had been positive it was her standing there in that short green dress, staring at him while he did his thing on stage. She had come to his concert. She had found him. Or so he had thought. Only a few fans remained and as Taylor forced a smile for a picture with an over-exuberant fan, he heard someone yell out at them.
“Woo! Hanson!” All three of them stopped what they were doing to follow the source of the incredibly loud shouting, and Taylor’s mouth turned into a grin at the sight of a very drunk Quin wearing a Hanson tour shirt over her dress and walking over to them, the friend following and looking both amused and embarrassed. Taylor tried to get away from the girl he had been talking to as fast as possible so he could make his way over to her.
“I didn’t think you’d come out here,” he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
“Well, I bought this new shirt. I had to get it signed, didn’t I?” she asked. Taylor smiled at pulled a Sharpie out of his back pocket, taking off the cap with his teeth and signing the chest of her shirt, putting his hands dangerously close to the breasts he noticed were being pushed towards him ever so slightly.
“There you go. It looks good on you,” he told her.
“It’d better. It cost $25, which is ridiculous, just so you know,” she informed him, pulling out the fabric to see if he had written anything other than his name. He had scrawled So glad you came above his name in bright red marker and she smiled up at him once she’d managed to read it upside down. “How old are these girls, eighteen? Being here makes me feel old.”
“Maybe that’s because you are old,” a snotty girl next to her said. Quin turned to look at her, disgust written all over her face. Taylor found himself frozen in place, afraid of what the girl would say next, but mostly afraid that Quin would turn around and walk away.
“What did you just say?” Quin demanded.
“I said that you’re old. You look pathetic,” the girl said. Taylor watched as Quin turned around and walked away, his worst fear realized.
“What’s the matter with you?” Taylor asked the girl.
“What? I just did you a favor. Like you need old ladies hanging out around here,” the girl shrugged. Taylor wanted to yell at the girl, to shake her for making his second chance with Quin disappear but he knew that he couldn’t do that. He turned and watched Quin and Magda walk down the street, Quin gesturing wildly and turning to look around frequently, obviously ranting to Magda about what had just happened.
“I’m out of here,” Taylor said to Isaac and Zac. Isaac looked at him incredulously.
“Taylor, there are a lot of fans here who still want to meet us,” Isaac said, obviously trying to keep himself from getting mad at Taylor in front of the crowd.
“Quin left, I have to go,” Taylor said.
“Are you honestly going to take off and ignore all of these fans because you want to get laid tonight?” Zac whispered roughly in Taylor’s ear.
“No, I’m leaving because one of these fans was really rude to her and I want to go make sure she’s okay,” Taylor said, loud enough for the entire group to hear him. The girl in question rolled her eyes and continued to stand in line to meet Zac. She would be a Zac fan, Taylor thought to himself before turning on his heels and walking away, hoping he could find the direction she’d gone in and that she was okay.