The only time that Natalie was this nervous about going to the Hanson's house before was when they just met. Now, with her and Taylor... she was just as nervous all over again.
Natalie hesitated briefly before ringing the doorbell.
Taylor
"Well look at that!" Taylor joked as he opened the door to see her standing there.
"This is the first time I've answered the door, isn't it?" he grinned.
Natalie
"Yeah, usually Ike answers," Natalie smiled. "What's with that, anyway?"
She moved to step inside the house.
Taylor
"He always beats me," Taylor shrugged as he closed the door behind her.
"But not today, I kicked him out this morning. Well ok he's spending time with Nikki, but kicking him out sounds better."
Natalie
Natalie laughed.
"Cool," she said. "Who's Nikki? Anyone I know?"
Taylor
"This girl Ike's dating. I've only met her a few times," Taylor shrugged.
"She's one of Zac's friends. Umm... want to see the fuzzles?"
His eyebrows rose, knowing they no longer had to sit and do nothing for an hour.
Natalie
Natalie smiled.
"Sure," she said brightly. "So Ike has a girlfriend."
She waited for Taylor to lead the way.
Taylor
"Apparently so," Taylor conceeded.
He made his way to the bedroom and opened the door, indicating for Natalie to step through.
"Hopefully this one goes better than the last few he's had."
Natalie
Natalie followed Taylor into the bedroom.
"Bad history with girlfriends, huh?" she inquired. "I have wondered, given things he's said in past interviews and stuff."
Taylor
Taylor chuckled softly.
"Maybe it's not for me to divulge."
He knelt down to the drawer, and soon raised an eyebrow.
"I count three fuzzles," he said in mix, "where's Dorian?"
Natalie
"Fair enough," Natalie conceeded.
She looked around.
"Umm, I don't know..."
Taylor
Taylor hesitated, then stood up again.
"Hush for a moment..." he said in mix, closing his eyes.
He tuned his hearing around the room, in search for the sound of small feet.
Eventually he opened his eyes again and headed for the wardrobe, quickly opening the door.
"Dorian?" he called in fuzzle.
The blue fuzzball soon appeared, looking about as embarrassed as a fuzzle could. Taylor spoke to him for a moment, before bringing him back to the others.
"He got shut in accidentally. I must have left it open," Taylor explained to Natalie, rolling his eyes.
Natalie
"Aww, poor Dorian," Natalie said sympathetically.
She reached over to give his head a scratch.
Taylor
"It's happened before," Taylor shrugged, somewhat eyeing her off for a moment.
He bit his lip at the awkward silence.
"Are you ok with this?" he asked suddenly.
Natalie
Natalie blinked.
"Yeah, sure I am," she said.
She chewed her bottom lip, looked back to Taylor thoughtfully.
"Are you okay with this?"
Taylor
Taylor hesitated, caught off guard.
"Oh, sure," he nodded, hopefully not too enthusiastically.
"I just umm... yeah. It's just not your conventional healing program is all."
He kept his eyes on the fuzzles, getting more embarrassed as the seconds went on.
Natalie
"No, it's not," Natalie agreed.
Then a sly smile crossed her face.
"But it's more fun," a slight blush crossing her face even as she said it.
Taylor
Taylor chuckled a little, before leaning over toward her.
"Best we get started then, huh?"
Then he locked his lips to hers.
Natalie
After a moment's pause, Natalie focused all her power into that kiss. There was almost a girlish pleasure in the idea that the most effective way to heal this guy that she had had a crush on was to kiss him.
Reluctantly, she pulled away after a time. She didn't want to overload him with her power.
Taylor
Taylor chuckled as she pulled away, sensing why she had.
"There's a reason I started in the bedroom," he offered almost tiredly, "I don't have to move far to a place I can sleep."
And with that, he quickly pulled himself up to the bed and indicated for her to join him.
"But if you don't want to spend the next hour or so alone with the fuzzles, we probably shouldn't continue just yet."
Natalie
Natalie smiled and joined Taylor on the bed.
"Okay," she said.
It was then that she noticed the fuzzles chattering and bouncing around rather excitedly, and she gave Taylor a curious look.
Taylor
Taylor just grinned and lay down onto his side.
"So, umm..." he began before shifting himself into a more comfortable position, "what have you got planned for next week? What days are you working?"
Natalie
"Monday, Wednesday and Friday," Natalie replied. "Apparently the middle of the day is the busiest time, because everyone comes in from their lunch breaks. I think that's a little weird, because the lunch break is for eating, and if they're having a massage instead of eating, they either have to eat during work, or have an extra long lunch break or go without. And going without when you're working is silly, because you need the extra energy to stay alert and concentrate properly... but I digress."
Taylor
"Want to stay over the weekend?" Taylor offered.
"And you can always come on Tuesday again. Or I could come on Thursday. Whatever."
Natalie
"Sure," Natalie replied.
Natalie figetted with the sheet for a moment.
"So, umm... how's things been? Y'know because I haven't seen you in a week and things will have changed so much."
Taylor
Taylor just shrugged.
"I feel like giving up on the rehab thing," he shook his head, "they probably won't let me see my friend at all. It's been ages. Otherwise, we've just been working in the studio."
Natalie
Natalie reached over and touched his cheek.
"I'm sorry about your friend," she said softly, and paused a moment before asking the question she was really interested in: "How's it coming? In the studio, that is."
Taylor
"Great," Taylor emphasised, "we've been waiting a long time to get this stuff recorded. And now it's like we can do whatever we want. We haven't actually done proper work on anything since the production for Underneath, and everyone knows how long ago that was."
Natalie
"Yep," Natalie grinned. "Oh. this is really exciting. Okay, you're so going to think I'm some silly, teenybopper girl, but I'm seriously looking forward to this album so much."
Taylor
"If that's what makes you teeny, then we must teenies as well," Taylor chuckled, "because we're looking forward to it too. It'll actually be the first thing we've done together in a long time for a start."
Natalie
Natalie giggled.
"Yay," she said cheerfully. "Well, I'm glad you guys are back together and recording and stuff."
She chewed her lip for a moment.
"Hey, could I come see you, when you're on tour?"
Taylor
Taylor hesitated, a little confused.
"Of course," he insisted, "if there's nothing stopping you."
Then he bit his lip.
"Do you want to do dinner next Tuesday?" he asked suddenly.
"Not here though. I mean, I want to take you out. On a... date- type thing. If you're ok with it."
He blushed.
Natalie
Natalie felt her face going a little warm.
"S-sure," she said. "I'd love to. That would be great."
They were so going to have to do something about this whole blushing business.
Taylor
Taylor grinned.
"Great," he said.
He glanced down at the fuzzles, before reaching down to let Mya and Xanthe climb onto his hand.
"Of course you can always come over earlier," he added, "just... let Tony know when."
Natalie
"Okay, yeah," Natalie said. "Sounds good."
Natalie found herself looking around Taylor's room then. She had been in it before, but she never really looked to see what was actually in there.
"I like what you've done with your walls," she mused.
Taylor
"I had a lot of free time stuck in the house," Taylor shrugged.
"And I can't always be inspired to write music 24/7. I just had to do something to pass the time."
He sighed.
"I did a lot of painting while the band was on hiatus too."
Natalie
Natalie nodded.
"Well, I like them," she said. "They're very cool. Have you got any others? Or are these it?"
Taylor
"Oh there's more," Taylor assured.
"Most of them are stored at Mom and Dad's. I had some more where Ike and I were living before, but they were destroyed along with the building."
Natalie
Natalie nodded.
"Cool," she said. "I'd like to see them sometime... that is, if it's not too much trouble."
Taylor
"They'll probably stay right where they are. I'm thinking of moving these ones back there too," Taylor admitted, looking around at them absently.
"But I don't doubt that you'll get to see them if you want to."
Natalie
"Okay, cool," Natalie said again. "But you'll paint new ones, right? Otherwise then your walls would be bare, and your room wouldn't look nearly so cool."
Taylor
"Well I don't know how long we'll be staying here, but I'm definitely not going to stop," Taylor assured.
He moved Xanthe and Mya so they were on the floor again, then sat up properly.
"I guess we should get round two over and done with," he shrugged, "forgive me if I pass out. Hopefully I won't, I mean I managed not to last time..."
Natalie
"I'll try to control it," Natalie replied.
She sat up a bit, then paused: this kiss should heal the last of it. In this kiss, all that emotional damage should end.
A little nervously, Natalie leaned over and kissed Taylor.
Taylor
Taylor couldn't help but smile as soon as their lips touched.
He reached his left hand up to hold her cheek, concentrating. And slowly, he began to feel a sort of release...
Natalie
Natalie found herself focusing more on the kiss than on her power, but in this instance, her power seemed to have a mind of its own. She felt it flood through his system, dispelling all remnants of Taylor's pain.
Her hand slid to the back of his shoulder, just above his shoulder blade.
Taylor
Taylor could feel it go, but he wasn't willing to stop just yet.
He leant forward a little, enticing her to lean backward.
The excited squeals of the three young fuzzles didn't even register in his ears.
Natalie
Natalie rolled backward so that she was now lying on her back. Now free, she moved her other hand to the back of Taylor's head.
With the healing all done, her power went back to dormant mode.
Taylor
After a good few minutes, Taylor stopped and just looked down on her for a moment.
"I really miss you when you're not here," he said suddenly, raising his eyebrows pathetically.
Natalie
Natalie looked back at him with adoring eyes.
"I miss you too," she said. "You have no idea how much I look forward to every Tuesday. The rest of the week seems to drag on."
Taylor
"I know what you mean," Taylor agreed.
He bit his lip, considering for a moment.
"How about... you know what days you're working, right? If it's three days a week, why don't we rotate the other four?" he suggested, "I could come to Georgia two days a week, and you could come to Tulsa. It'd secure Tony's job at the least."
Natalie
Natalie frowned a little.
"Yeah... we could do that..." she said slowly. "Don't mind me, I'm just figuring out the logistics in my head. Because, y'know, I'm working Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. And I wouldn't want to interfere with your recording... Don't get me wrong, I love the idea."
Taylor
"We can record 24/7," Taylor shrugged, "I highly doubt that you'll ever get in the way. Personally I think you'd help if anything."
He collapsed one of his elbows so he could lay next to her on the bed.
"You could come here Tuesdays as usual. I could come to Georgia on Wednesdays. Weekends could be a free-for-all?"
Natalie
Natalie nodded.
"Cool," she said. "Sounds like fun."
She rolled over to look at Taylor and put a hand on his cheek.
Taylor
Taylor smiled at her for a moment before putting his hand over hers.
"I hope you don't think we're rushing it," he said.
Natalie
Natalie chewed her lip, then shook her head.
"No," she said warmly. "No, I don't."
She paused, rememebering that his past history with girlfriends was more eventful that hers.
"You don't think we're going too fast, do you?"
Taylor
Taylor shrugged.
"I don't know," he admitted honestly.
"But it feels right. Doesn't it?"
Natalie
Natalie nodded.
"Yes," she said. "Yes it does."