"How bout this place?" Ike asked, pulling into the parking lot of a big store."

"Sure honey. This place looks great." Leigh said, she was sitting beside him.

Kirstie and Zac looked at each other from the back seat. "Honey?" Zac mouthed to her. They both giggled.

"I wonder how long they have been going out?" Kirstie whispered to him.

Leigh was a very pretty girl. She was thin and tall, just a little shorter than Ike. She had long black hair and was wearing black pants with a gray sweater and a silver necklace. The four of them got out of the car and went in. When they first starting going out Ike had found a paper in her room that she and her friend had apparently been drawing on. Leigh had wrote 'I Love Taylor Hanson.' This was before they had met so Ike just thought he must have been her favorite, like a lot of other fans.

"Zac look at this ring." Kirstie said, admiring it through the glass inside the store. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah, that is pretty." Zac said. Then he looked over at the price. "Woah, um, how about I get that for you when we get married?" He laughed. The ring was gold with heart shaped diamonds all around it. The price tag read: 'On Sale, $899.'

Kirstie smiled. "I didn't say I wanted you to buy it for me. I just said I liked it." She kissed him on the cheak. "I'm going to go look for the bathroom. I'll meet you at the front of the store, k?"

"Sure. I'm going to go find Ike real quick, it's getting late." He replied.

Kirstie started walking through the store, looking around. Married? Was he serious? Does he really want to marry me someday? She smiled and thought how much he meant to her. Then Taylor crossed her mind. She spotted the bathroom and pushed the thought away.

After going to the bathroom she walked back to the front and spotted Zac. "Where's Ike and Leigh?"

"They're paying for some stuff." He smiled and took her hand. She leaned back against the wall beside of a bulletin board. After a minute Zac let go of her hand and look at the board, then at her, then back at the board.

"What are you doing?" She asked, thinking he was just being silly.

The bulletin board was filled with small poster of missing people. Zac read one of them, "Kirstie Hall, 16 years old, from Memphis Tennessee, has been missing over a month. She has supposedly been seen in Arkansas and Oklahoma. If you see her please contact the police or call this number immeadiately..."

"Oh my God." Kirstie said turning around quickly and looking at the paper. "Oh... my... God..."

Zac put his arm around her. Then they noticed another customer had been watching them. He looked at Kirstie and at the picture. They both just stared blankly at him. He turned around and ran towards a cashier. Then Zac saw Ike and Leigh coming towards them. "Ike! We gotta get the hell outta here!"

"What?" Ike said looking around, people had started to stare. "What are you talking about?"

"Just trust me! Come on!" Zac yelled at him. Ike grabbed Leigh's hand and they all ran outside. They got in the got and Ike started to pull out.

When they finally got out on the road Ike asked, "So? What was that all about?"

Kirstie just began to cry and Zac hugged her. "There was a paper in there with Kirstie's picture on it. It had 'Missing' in big letters above it, and some guy saw us looking at it." She started to cry a little harder and Zac rubbed her head and wiped the tears off her face. "He ran over to someone at started pointing at us."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm sure everything will be okay." Leigh said, looking sadly at Kirstie.

Zac quickly looked up at Ike. He nodded, "Yes, I told her. But it's alright, she isn't going to tell anyone."

After they dropped Leigh off and reached home, Kirstie had calmed down, just a little.

"Hey Ike, go in there and distract mom and dad. I don't want them to know she's upset.

Ike got out of the car and went inside. Shortly after, Kirstie and Zac followed. Zac kept his arm around her. When they got inside, he walked her over to the couch and told her to sit down. He said he'd get her a drink and hurried into the kitchen.

Taylor had been sitting on the couch the whole time. But he was upset, his arms folded across his chest, he didn't pay attention to them. Until she sniffled and he noticed something was wrong. "Hey, what's the matter?"

She leaned over on him and tried to keep from crying anymore. "There was a missing poster, and my picture was on it, and some guy saw." She tried to speak loudly, but it just came out as a whisper.

"Oh. Well don't worry. We have to leave soon anyway." He said, looking down.

"Huh?" She leaned her head back and looked up at him.

"We're going to Los Angeles in a week to finish up the next album." He frowned

"Well that's good, isn't it? And at least nobody will find me." She looked at him and he still didn't say anything, just nodded his head. "Tay? What's the matter?"

"It's just... Ashley didn't get to come over today. And she can't come over on Christmas Eve because her mom won't let her. So we're going to trade gifts tomorrow."

"Well, hey, tomorrow isn't that far away." She smiled at him. It was the first time she had smiled since they left the store.

He forced a phoney smile. "Yeah." He said. "I haven't told Ike or Zac we're leaving yet. Dad just told me this morning."

"Alright. You want me to tell them, or do you want to?" She asked

"I guess it really doesn't matter." He looked back up at her, trying not to look so sad.

Kirstie knew something was really bothering Tay, but she didn't bug him about it. She just him a hug and went to the kitchen to look for Zac.

On to Chapter 18 ~ Time Alone
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