My name is Taylor.
You'll never believe this story when I tell you, but I promise you, it's all true.
It all began when my brothers Isaac and Zac and I decided to take four years off recording and go to Houghton College in New York. We figured that we needed time out of each others space too, so we opted not to room together.
In the words of, uhh, someone, this should be a novel experience. Little did I know just how novel.
So on the miserably rainy day that we had to arrive on, I trudged up to my new dorm in soaked shoes that insisted on making squeaking and sloshing noises all the way [thank you Zac, for pushing me into that puddle]. I opened the door only to find it empty - my roommate obviously hadn't arrived yet. It was great by me, it meant I got to stake out the best spots! Whoo hoo!
After rubbing my hands together gleefully, I started unpacking. I was in the midst of deciding whether I should put the photo of my family next to the photo of the band or the photo of my friends pulling faces at the camera when the door opened and in came a guy with dirty-blonde hair and a small suitcase. Good, if he has only one, it means there's that much room for my five.
"Hey," I said.
"Hi," he replied quietly.
"I'm Taylor. And you?"
"Tobias."
"Looks like we're roomies, huh?"
"Yeah."
We just looked at each other. I wasn't sure what to say now - not that Tobias seemed capable of stringing more than one word into a sentence. Maybe he was just shy.
"Well, uhh, I'd better unpack," Tobias said, breaking the silence.
So, he can string more than one word together in a sentence!
"Right," I answered, and went back to my photo dilemma.
There was a rap at the door.
"Hey Tay, aren't you done yet?" Zac asked, walking in.
"Not quite. Which photo do you think should go next to which?"
Zac rolled his eyes.
"Oh man, and I thought Ike was pedantic!"
"Pedantic?" I repeated. "Zac, have you been eating the dictionary again?"
"Moron."
"Geek."
"Turd-face."
"Monkey-brain."
"Fungus-feces."
I had been about to reply when I noticed the strange look Tobias was giving us.
"Oh hey, this is my brother Zac. Zac, this is my roomie, Tobias."
Tobias just nodded slowly, that weird look not leaving his face. Zac grinned at him, then turned back to me.
"C'mon, oh almighty picky one. I wanna enjoy our last night of freedom before all the studying starts piling up."
I nodded. The photos could wait. Maybe. At any rate, I grabbed my jacket and followed Zac out to Isaac's room. He was waiting outside the door with his arms folded across his chest.
"Really Zac, you cough up a fuss about me taking my time and then you take forever getting Taylor. Do you realise what I could have been doing in that time? I could have folded my underwear!"
We stared at him. Then Isaac's serious expression gave way to a silly grin.
"Oh man, I wish I had a camera then," he chuckled. "I mean, c'mon, who folds their underwear?"
"Ike," I replied. "In this world, there's bound to be someone. I'm just relieved it isn't you. So, where are we gonna make our mark tonight?"
"Somewhere we don't want to go again," Isaac suggested. "Zac is in a... mood tonight. So, if we're gonna get kicked out, it has to be somewhere we don't wanna return."
"Aww c'mon -" Zac began.
"Y'know," I said to Isaac, "that's probably a very good idea."
"It must have been a novel experience for you, Ike," Zac quipped. "C'mon dudes, lets blow this popsicle stand."
"Zac, if you want to spend tonight vandalising, you should have left me to my underwear," Isaac grinned.
Zac whacked him over the head. I smirked and then we finally got out of the dormitory.
"So, which way, which way..." I mumbled.
"Any way except the one we came," Zac replied.
"So long as we don't get lost."
"Oh we won't get lost."
Several hours later:
"We aren't lost," Zac was insisting. "We know exactly where we are. It's just that... where we are is lost."
"Ok, let's try to retrace our steps," Isaac said.
"Ike, we've been trying that for ages already," I pointed out.
"Hey, I don't see you having any brilliant ideas."
"Hey, at least I didn't get us lost in a place where there is nothing to get lost in. Or kicked out of for that matter. Zac."
"Hey, don't look at me."
"Why not?" Isaac asked. "You're the one who's been dragging us around."
Then I saw it. A phone book.
"Whoo hoo!" I yelled and hurried over. "What street is this?"
They checked the street signs and told me, and I turned the pages to the maps in the middle. After checking the street name in the index I found where we were. Then I groaned.
"What?" asked Isaac.
I pointed to the next street.
"It's just down there. The dorm is just down there. We've been walking around in circles!"
There wasn't much talking on the way back from there.