CHAPTER FORTY
MEL
Due to recent events regarding some cameras and the internet, Zac and Mel chose to take the red eye flight out of Tulsa. It proved to be a wise choice, as Tulsa International was practically dead that late at night.
Taylor had driven them to the airport and now Zac was at the coffee stand getting coffee while Tay and Mel had a moment alone.
"I hate when you leave," Tay said to her.
Mel laughed. "You act like I'm going to be gone for months. It's only a week. It'll go by so fast I'll be home before you can miss me."
"I already miss you," he told her.
"Well," Mel began to feel herself blush. "I already miss you, too."
Tay wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, saying to her quietly, "I love you so much. And I
wanted you to know that I made another appointment with my attorney this week. We finally have everything ironed out and I'm going to sign some papers. By the time you come home next week, the process should be started."
A grin spread across Mel's face as tears sprang to her eyes. This news was more joy than she could bear at
this late an hour. She hadn't even left the airport yet and she was already ready to come home. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to hear that. Now I don't want to leave!"
He smiled at her. "I'm anxious myself. I want you to have someone to come home to this time around. For good. Not just breaking into your house and making breakfast."
Mel laughed. "Well despite the exhaustion, I was kind of okay with that, too."
Suddenly their flight was called and Zac's voice was heard ringing out, "Okay, chop chop!"
"I gotta go. This will most definitely be an interesting week. Last time I traveled with Zac he was 17 and...well, you know..."
"Not much has changed, really. He'll either be really great or he'll grate on your nerves. It's hit and miss with him. You'll be fine."
With that, he kissed her deeply, taking her by surprise. Her knees felt weak as his tongue danced with hers and she placed a hand gently on his cheek as if to control the union of their lips. When their kiss broke, she hugged him, inhaling the scent of his hair and his skin as if she needed it to get her through the week.
"See you in a week," she said quietly. "I love you."
As Mel and Zac walked toward the boarding gate, Mel felt as if she were walking on air.
__________________________________________
There was no sleep to be had on their flight. It seemed like every time Mel began to doze off it was time for a layover. There were actually only two layovers on the flight but sleep was impossible, nonetheless. The layover in Atlanta was brutal on both of them. "I hate red eyes," Zac had complained.
Sleep-deprived with absolutely nothing to do in the middle of the night on a weeknight in Atlanta, Georgia, Zac and Mel spent three dreadful hours in the airport.
From Atlanta, Mel chose to upgrade their tickets to first class, seeing as it appeared that there were more
people on this flight and she knew that both she and Zac desperately needed any peace and quiet they could get. By the time they had boarded the plane, gotten settled, and took off, it was only a couple of hours till sunrise. Weary and delirious, they watched the sun rise somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.
Mel awoke to turbulence. Turbulence was not something a person wanted to wake up to and she began to show signs of a typical reaction. Her eyes shot open and she gripped the arm rests on her chair in fear. She sat up and looked over at Zac who appeared to be calm as a cucumber, reading some type of sci-fi novel. "Zac! Do you not feel that?" She hissed at him.
He smiled at her, amused. "It's just a little turbulence, it's not going to hurt you. Kind of like thunder--it sounds scary but it won't bite. You act like this your first flight or something."
Mel made a face at him. "I'm familiar with turbulence. It's just not a lovely thing to wake up to."
Zac shook his head and chuckled and went back to his book. "I think we're almost there anyway."
"Thank god," she responded. Within seconds it was over, followed by an announcement by the pilot, and within a couple of hours they were preparing to land in France for another layover.
As they got off the plane and entered the airport, Mel looked around in awe. Charles de Gaulle Airport was quite impressive. If they had to spend a layover in an airport, this was definitely a good one to spend it in.
"It sucks that our layover is barely over an hour," Mel said as she and Zac stood in the airport, surveying their surroundings. "My first time in Paris and I won't even get to see it. At least I can say I've been here, I guess."
"We're not spending our layover here," Zac said.
Mel looked at him, perplexed. "Do what?"
"No. There's something you gotta see. We're here for an hour and 45 minutes. Our destination is only 20 miles from the airport. If we hurry, we can make it there and back with a few minutes to spare."
"Are you crazy? It'll take us at least half an hour to get out of this airport!"
Zac looked around anxiously then turned back to Mel. "Wait here."
"What?" she called out as he hurried off in the opposite direction.
"I'll only be a minute," he called back.
A minute turned into twenty when Zac met back up with her, a little out of breath. "Okay," he said. "I bought us three hours."
"How did you manage that?"
Zac looked at her blankly. "That's not the point. The point is, I bought us three hours so we need to get moving."
He turned to leave and, without a choice, Mel followed. "Where are we going?"
"You just have to see it," he said.
Close to an hour later, they were standing on the greens of Champ de Mars, staring up at the Eiffel Tower. Mel was certain that her jaw dragged the ground and that she was probably drooling but she didn't care.
"It's practically a crime to be in Paris and not visit the Eiffel Tower," Zac said as he stared up at the structure alongside Mel. "It may seem so cliché when you think about it but when you're actually here--it's completely different feeling entirely."
"I never thought I'd see the day..."
"I thought the same thing the first time I laid eyes on it. So...after this initial shock wears off, we're going to the top. After THAT shock wears off, we're going to go eat some French pastries and then head back to the airport."
Barely able to take her eyes off the tower, Mel slowly turned her head toward Zac. "This is the best date I have ever been on," she whispered excitedly. "And I don't even want to have sex with you!"
Zac laughed at her. "Trust me, the feeling's mutual."
They opted to take the lifts to the top as opposed to climbing since their exhaustion would not allow them any
of the extra energy required for such a feat. Mel was in awe all the way up and she was relatively silent as she took it all in. When she did speak, it generally comprised of squeaks and squeals and giggles and pulling on
Zac's shirt and pointing to everything like a gooney tourist. She had absolutely no shame.
When they reached the observatory, Mel was silent. And relaxed. And completely awestruck. The view was spectacular. She could literally see Paris as far as the eye could see. With Zac standing next to her, she
giggled and found herself saying, "Yanno, if you look close enough, Paris looks a little like the Millenium Falcon from here."
Zac looked over at her and grinned. "See, this is why we're probably soul mates. I thought that the very first time I stood up here. Everyone else thinks I'm crazy."
"Maybe they're the ones who are crazy."
Mel took a step forward and somehow mustered up the bravery to look straight down over the railing and the
view churned her stomach and made her a little dizzy. She immediately took a step back and looked out ahead of her to collect herself and keep from passing out. She was feeling woozy. She probably could have gone the entire time not knowing exactly how high up she was.
Zac saw her and smiled. "Yeah, by the way, don't look down."
"Yeah, thanks," she responded, her voice full of sarcasm.
Not ready to leave, but time leaving them no choice, the pair descended the tower and were met by a small
group of girls at the bottom. Apparently word had gotten out that Zac Hanson was at the Eiffel Tower and some fans had gathered in hopes of a meeting. It was a small group, but Mel was surprised to see them,
nonetheless. Zac didn't seem surprised at all and Mel found herself having to remind herself that they did have fans outside of the United States. She guessed that since she never thought about Zac as a star, it occasionally slipped her mind that instances like these were bound to happen when traveling with him. Or even either of his brothers, for that matter.
While Zac graciously signed autographs and posed for pictures with his adoring public, Mel stepped away on her own and snapped a picture of the tower to send to Jason. Within minutes, she was surprised to get a response. "What are you doing in Paris?"
She texted back, "Doing a little sight-seeing."
"I thought you were coming to Ireland?"
"We're on our way to Tuscany to look at a house. Then coming to Ireland."
"Who's with you?"
"Zac."
"Just Zac?"
Mel was a bit taken aback by the last text. What if it wasn't just Zac? What was it to him?
"Yes, just Zac," she texted back. "Don't tell Drew. Her birthday is in a few days, it's a surprise."
"Didn't know that. Noted. Can't wait to see you."
Mel sighed, not knowing what to say next. She knew this would happen. Deep in the back of her mind,
she knew this was coming. The awkwardness. The weirdness. She never wanted any of that. Jason knew about the recent developments with her and Taylor, and he respected them. It was okay to be anxious to see your best friend of the opposite sex just platonically, right? Even if you did have a sexual history? This week would be the ultimate test.
Finally, she texted back, "Can't wait to see you, too." She hadn't lied.
_______________________________________________________
When Zac Hanson makes plans, be they spur of the moment or not, he doesn't disappoint. After the
spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower, and even the equally spectacular grounds of Champ de Mars, he took her to a gourmet French cafe. There, they drank cappuccino and sampled a smorgasbord of different goodies, from crepes to canolies to petit fours to croissants and everything else in between. This wasn't generally Mel's idea of lunch but she was in Paris and she didn't care.
As she ate, Zac aimed his phone at her. "What are you doing?" she asked him.
He laughed. "Letting Tay see your true colors."
"Oh please. He knows my true colors and then some."
He turned his phone around and showed her the picture he had just taken of her with a mouthful of pastry.
"Don't you dare."
He took his phone back and hit the button. "And, done," he said, smiling.
"I hate you."
Zac reached across the table and placed a truffle and a macaroon on her plate. "Try these and then decide if you hate me or not."
Mel looked at him in despair. "Zac, I can't eat another bite."
He raised his eyebrows. "You won't regret it," he coaxed in a sing-song voice.
Once again, Zac Hanson did not disappoint.
_____________________________________________________
Stuffed and happy, Mel and Zac boarded the plane that would take them to Florence, Italy. As they settled
in their seats, Zac unbuttoned his pants to release his stomach and then smiled, patting his stomach happily.
Mel curled up her lip in disgust. "You're such a pig."
He looked at her from the corner of his eye. "You think I'm a pig now? Just wait till we get to Italy."
"How can you think of food at a time like this?" Mel asked, referring to her own stuffed stomach.
He looked at her in wide-eyed disbelief. "Do you not realize who you're talking to?"
She sat back in her seat silently. He had a point. Everyone knew that if there was food involved, Zac would be somewhere nearby.
Once they were in the air, Zac laid his seat back a little. Patting Mel on the wrist, he closed his eyes. "Hush now, I'm napping."
Mel rolled her eyes and flipped through one of the French magazines she'd picked up. This was going to be
a long week.
____________________________________________________
MEL
Due to recent events regarding some cameras and the internet, Zac and Mel chose to take the red eye flight out of Tulsa. It proved to be a wise choice, as Tulsa International was practically dead that late at night.
Taylor had driven them to the airport and now Zac was at the coffee stand getting coffee while Tay and Mel had a moment alone.
"I hate when you leave," Tay said to her.
Mel laughed. "You act like I'm going to be gone for months. It's only a week. It'll go by so fast I'll be home before you can miss me."
"I already miss you," he told her.
"Well," Mel began to feel herself blush. "I already miss you, too."
Tay wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, saying to her quietly, "I love you so much. And I
wanted you to know that I made another appointment with my attorney this week. We finally have everything ironed out and I'm going to sign some papers. By the time you come home next week, the process should be started."
A grin spread across Mel's face as tears sprang to her eyes. This news was more joy than she could bear at
this late an hour. She hadn't even left the airport yet and she was already ready to come home. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to hear that. Now I don't want to leave!"
He smiled at her. "I'm anxious myself. I want you to have someone to come home to this time around. For good. Not just breaking into your house and making breakfast."
Mel laughed. "Well despite the exhaustion, I was kind of okay with that, too."
Suddenly their flight was called and Zac's voice was heard ringing out, "Okay, chop chop!"
"I gotta go. This will most definitely be an interesting week. Last time I traveled with Zac he was 17 and...well, you know..."
"Not much has changed, really. He'll either be really great or he'll grate on your nerves. It's hit and miss with him. You'll be fine."
With that, he kissed her deeply, taking her by surprise. Her knees felt weak as his tongue danced with hers and she placed a hand gently on his cheek as if to control the union of their lips. When their kiss broke, she hugged him, inhaling the scent of his hair and his skin as if she needed it to get her through the week.
"See you in a week," she said quietly. "I love you."
As Mel and Zac walked toward the boarding gate, Mel felt as if she were walking on air.
__________________________________________
There was no sleep to be had on their flight. It seemed like every time Mel began to doze off it was time for a layover. There were actually only two layovers on the flight but sleep was impossible, nonetheless. The layover in Atlanta was brutal on both of them. "I hate red eyes," Zac had complained.
Sleep-deprived with absolutely nothing to do in the middle of the night on a weeknight in Atlanta, Georgia, Zac and Mel spent three dreadful hours in the airport.
From Atlanta, Mel chose to upgrade their tickets to first class, seeing as it appeared that there were more
people on this flight and she knew that both she and Zac desperately needed any peace and quiet they could get. By the time they had boarded the plane, gotten settled, and took off, it was only a couple of hours till sunrise. Weary and delirious, they watched the sun rise somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.
Mel awoke to turbulence. Turbulence was not something a person wanted to wake up to and she began to show signs of a typical reaction. Her eyes shot open and she gripped the arm rests on her chair in fear. She sat up and looked over at Zac who appeared to be calm as a cucumber, reading some type of sci-fi novel. "Zac! Do you not feel that?" She hissed at him.
He smiled at her, amused. "It's just a little turbulence, it's not going to hurt you. Kind of like thunder--it sounds scary but it won't bite. You act like this your first flight or something."
Mel made a face at him. "I'm familiar with turbulence. It's just not a lovely thing to wake up to."
Zac shook his head and chuckled and went back to his book. "I think we're almost there anyway."
"Thank god," she responded. Within seconds it was over, followed by an announcement by the pilot, and within a couple of hours they were preparing to land in France for another layover.
As they got off the plane and entered the airport, Mel looked around in awe. Charles de Gaulle Airport was quite impressive. If they had to spend a layover in an airport, this was definitely a good one to spend it in.
"It sucks that our layover is barely over an hour," Mel said as she and Zac stood in the airport, surveying their surroundings. "My first time in Paris and I won't even get to see it. At least I can say I've been here, I guess."
"We're not spending our layover here," Zac said.
Mel looked at him, perplexed. "Do what?"
"No. There's something you gotta see. We're here for an hour and 45 minutes. Our destination is only 20 miles from the airport. If we hurry, we can make it there and back with a few minutes to spare."
"Are you crazy? It'll take us at least half an hour to get out of this airport!"
Zac looked around anxiously then turned back to Mel. "Wait here."
"What?" she called out as he hurried off in the opposite direction.
"I'll only be a minute," he called back.
A minute turned into twenty when Zac met back up with her, a little out of breath. "Okay," he said. "I bought us three hours."
"How did you manage that?"
Zac looked at her blankly. "That's not the point. The point is, I bought us three hours so we need to get moving."
He turned to leave and, without a choice, Mel followed. "Where are we going?"
"You just have to see it," he said.
Close to an hour later, they were standing on the greens of Champ de Mars, staring up at the Eiffel Tower. Mel was certain that her jaw dragged the ground and that she was probably drooling but she didn't care.
"It's practically a crime to be in Paris and not visit the Eiffel Tower," Zac said as he stared up at the structure alongside Mel. "It may seem so cliché when you think about it but when you're actually here--it's completely different feeling entirely."
"I never thought I'd see the day..."
"I thought the same thing the first time I laid eyes on it. So...after this initial shock wears off, we're going to the top. After THAT shock wears off, we're going to go eat some French pastries and then head back to the airport."
Barely able to take her eyes off the tower, Mel slowly turned her head toward Zac. "This is the best date I have ever been on," she whispered excitedly. "And I don't even want to have sex with you!"
Zac laughed at her. "Trust me, the feeling's mutual."
They opted to take the lifts to the top as opposed to climbing since their exhaustion would not allow them any
of the extra energy required for such a feat. Mel was in awe all the way up and she was relatively silent as she took it all in. When she did speak, it generally comprised of squeaks and squeals and giggles and pulling on
Zac's shirt and pointing to everything like a gooney tourist. She had absolutely no shame.
When they reached the observatory, Mel was silent. And relaxed. And completely awestruck. The view was spectacular. She could literally see Paris as far as the eye could see. With Zac standing next to her, she
giggled and found herself saying, "Yanno, if you look close enough, Paris looks a little like the Millenium Falcon from here."
Zac looked over at her and grinned. "See, this is why we're probably soul mates. I thought that the very first time I stood up here. Everyone else thinks I'm crazy."
"Maybe they're the ones who are crazy."
Mel took a step forward and somehow mustered up the bravery to look straight down over the railing and the
view churned her stomach and made her a little dizzy. She immediately took a step back and looked out ahead of her to collect herself and keep from passing out. She was feeling woozy. She probably could have gone the entire time not knowing exactly how high up she was.
Zac saw her and smiled. "Yeah, by the way, don't look down."
"Yeah, thanks," she responded, her voice full of sarcasm.
Not ready to leave, but time leaving them no choice, the pair descended the tower and were met by a small
group of girls at the bottom. Apparently word had gotten out that Zac Hanson was at the Eiffel Tower and some fans had gathered in hopes of a meeting. It was a small group, but Mel was surprised to see them,
nonetheless. Zac didn't seem surprised at all and Mel found herself having to remind herself that they did have fans outside of the United States. She guessed that since she never thought about Zac as a star, it occasionally slipped her mind that instances like these were bound to happen when traveling with him. Or even either of his brothers, for that matter.
While Zac graciously signed autographs and posed for pictures with his adoring public, Mel stepped away on her own and snapped a picture of the tower to send to Jason. Within minutes, she was surprised to get a response. "What are you doing in Paris?"
She texted back, "Doing a little sight-seeing."
"I thought you were coming to Ireland?"
"We're on our way to Tuscany to look at a house. Then coming to Ireland."
"Who's with you?"
"Zac."
"Just Zac?"
Mel was a bit taken aback by the last text. What if it wasn't just Zac? What was it to him?
"Yes, just Zac," she texted back. "Don't tell Drew. Her birthday is in a few days, it's a surprise."
"Didn't know that. Noted. Can't wait to see you."
Mel sighed, not knowing what to say next. She knew this would happen. Deep in the back of her mind,
she knew this was coming. The awkwardness. The weirdness. She never wanted any of that. Jason knew about the recent developments with her and Taylor, and he respected them. It was okay to be anxious to see your best friend of the opposite sex just platonically, right? Even if you did have a sexual history? This week would be the ultimate test.
Finally, she texted back, "Can't wait to see you, too." She hadn't lied.
_______________________________________________________
When Zac Hanson makes plans, be they spur of the moment or not, he doesn't disappoint. After the
spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower, and even the equally spectacular grounds of Champ de Mars, he took her to a gourmet French cafe. There, they drank cappuccino and sampled a smorgasbord of different goodies, from crepes to canolies to petit fours to croissants and everything else in between. This wasn't generally Mel's idea of lunch but she was in Paris and she didn't care.
As she ate, Zac aimed his phone at her. "What are you doing?" she asked him.
He laughed. "Letting Tay see your true colors."
"Oh please. He knows my true colors and then some."
He turned his phone around and showed her the picture he had just taken of her with a mouthful of pastry.
"Don't you dare."
He took his phone back and hit the button. "And, done," he said, smiling.
"I hate you."
Zac reached across the table and placed a truffle and a macaroon on her plate. "Try these and then decide if you hate me or not."
Mel looked at him in despair. "Zac, I can't eat another bite."
He raised his eyebrows. "You won't regret it," he coaxed in a sing-song voice.
Once again, Zac Hanson did not disappoint.
_____________________________________________________
Stuffed and happy, Mel and Zac boarded the plane that would take them to Florence, Italy. As they settled
in their seats, Zac unbuttoned his pants to release his stomach and then smiled, patting his stomach happily.
Mel curled up her lip in disgust. "You're such a pig."
He looked at her from the corner of his eye. "You think I'm a pig now? Just wait till we get to Italy."
"How can you think of food at a time like this?" Mel asked, referring to her own stuffed stomach.
He looked at her in wide-eyed disbelief. "Do you not realize who you're talking to?"
She sat back in her seat silently. He had a point. Everyone knew that if there was food involved, Zac would be somewhere nearby.
Once they were in the air, Zac laid his seat back a little. Patting Mel on the wrist, he closed his eyes. "Hush now, I'm napping."
Mel rolled her eyes and flipped through one of the French magazines she'd picked up. This was going to be
a long week.
____________________________________________________