“See ya -” Zac began, but Tristan was already gone.
“I wonder how long we’ve been gone?” Taylor mused.
“Going on how the crowd sounds, not long,” Isaac replied.
“Hi guys, great show huh?” asked one of their backups.
“Yeah great,” Zac replied.
“You guys going to do an encore?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah… We should do that.”
The boys look at each other. It had been too long in subjective time and they were finding it a little tricky to pick up where they left off.
After the encore, they had not more time to talk about their unexpected travels until after the meet and greet was over. When at last they were making their way to rejoin the rest of their entourage for the next stage of their tour, Taylor heaved a huge sigh.
“No one’s going to believe us, are they?” he said.
“Jess might,” Zac agreed. “Of course, everyone else might just think she’s in on it.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Isaac, fishing a piece of paper out of his pocket. “They might give us some credence.”
He grinned broadly, showing them a small, magazine-sized Hanson poster.
“Is that us?” Taylor asked, peering at it. “We look older.”
“Hey, is that Jess?” Zac questioned, eyes wide.
“Yep.”
“You mean there’s actually a world out there where she joined the band after all?”
“Yep.”
“That’s awesome.”
“I thought so.”
“We should get this laminated. Y’know, because the likelihood of us getting another copy will be lousy at best,” Taylor observed.
“This is true,” Zac nodded.
“I just can’t wait to show it to Jess,” Isaac said gleefully.
The boys chuckled.