"Thanks for picking me up Ike," she said to Isaac. She smiled at him in the rearview mirror.

"Sure Nic," Isaac replied, sounding as if he had a stuffed up nose. "I needed to get out of the house anyway. Mom is treating Jessie and me like we're invalids or something."

Nicole settled back into her seat, barely aware of Taylor's arm stretched across the back of her seat. She had chalked up her thoughts about yesterday as being excited that Taylor was home, not a romantic feeling.

A few minutes later, they reached the mall. Taylor, Nicole, and Zac got out and sat down on a low stone wall while Isaac went to park the van.

"Tay," Zac said as they were sitting there, "what is today?"

"Um, it's the ninth of May, I think," Taylor answered him. "Why?" But Zac didn't answer him at first. He jumped off the wall, ran around in a couple of circles, and pumped his fist in the air, screaming like a maniac.

"Aaaaaah! Taylor! Don't you know what today is?" he yelled, stopping to catch his breath. When Taylor didn't answer within a split-second, Zac continued. "Middle of Nowhere comes out today! Our CD! Let's go see if anyone is buying it!" he said, tugging on Taylor's arm.

"Zac, wait," Taylor said, even though he looked as excited as Zac was acting. Nicole stood up too, pulling Taylor to his feet.

"I am SO proud of you guys," she said, throwing her arms around them and pulling them into a group hug. "I'm going to go in there right now and buy your CD! I can't wait to hear the new songs!"

Isaac walked up right then, looking amusedly at his brothers and Nicole, dancing around like idiots in front of the mall.

"You guys remembered, didn't you," he asked them. "Our CD is coming out today." Zac nodded excitedly, pulling Isaac into the hug, and finally they split apart.

"Well what are we waiting for," Nicole said. "I want to get a copy of Middle of Nowhere while they last!" They walked through the tinted doors of the mall entrance, noticing how packed the mall was. "I bet all of these people are here just to buy it!"

"Come on Nicole," Taylor said. "We're far from famous or anything. A few people in Tulsa may buy it, like our friends and family, but we're not expecting a platinum record or anything."

"Oh yeah? Well, I bet girls are going to buy our CDs just so that they can look at our pictures on the cover book," Zac said sarcastically.

"That's why I'm buying it," Isaac joked, putting Zac into a head-lock. Zac squirmed away, taking shelter between Nicole and Taylor. They turned the corner, expecting to see the red flashing sign on the music store, but instead all they saw was people. At least a hundred teenagers, children, and even adults were lined up outside the music store, and the inside looked as if there were even more people.

Isaac, Taylor, Zac, and Nicole walked through the opposite door, where there was no line to get in, and stopped abruptly as they saw what the line was for.

There was a huge picture of the Hanson brothers on the wall, and several shelves of their CDs below it. And the line lead right up to it. As soon as they were noticed by the people in line, the boys were greeted with applause, and a few shrill screams.

"Th....thi....this is all for US?" Taylor asked, looking around. "No way!'

"You're right son," the manager of the store replied, putting a hand on Taylor's shoulder. "All of these people have come here to buy your CD! Isn't it great?"

"Great?" Taylor said, snapping back into reality, "This is AWESOME!"

"Would the three of you mind signing some autographs?" the man asked Isaac. They quickly agreed to stay around for a while and hang out with their fans.

Nicole saw Zac lean over and whisper to Isaac, who looked at her strangely and then began to laugh, trying to hide it. Isaac shot Taylor a glance, pointing at his nose and then looking over at Nicole. He began to laugh too, covering his mouth with his hand.

"What?" Nicole asked, self-conciously picking up her napkin. "Do I have something on my face?" Taylor merely shrugged, sending Zac and Isaac into a giggling fit. Nicole grabbed Taylor by the front of his collar. "Tell me!" she said, frantically wiping her face.

"Nicole," Taylor said, trying to stop laughing, "you have the cutest little blob of pizza sauce on your nose. No big deal," he told her, reaching out his hand. He proceded to wipe the sauce from her nose, and as he did, a charge went through her body, like she had just kissed a guy that she liked or something.

No, she thought, Taylor and I are just friends. It's pretty cold in here, that was probably just a shiver. That's it, I was just cold, she decided to herself. Nothing more.

She looked over at Taylor, only to find him looking at her, a thoughtful expression on his face. She wondered what he was thinking.

"Okay guys, let's go," Isaac said, sliding out of the booth. Zac followed, and then Nicole and Taylor. As Taylor stood up, he brushed Nicole's arm gently with his hand, and she saw his face flush out of the corner of her eye. She decided not to say anything to him, since Isaac and Zac were already halfway out of the pizza place. She figured he was just yawning or something, because he did look kind of tired. Then she turned and followed them out the door.