I was 14 years old. It was the summer before I started my freshman year at Nathan Hale high school.
I had lived in Tulsa almost all my life, moving from New Jersey when I was 3, but there was always something new to discover. I discovered the jewel of this small city, the fleck of golden sunlight among the crowded streets. On June 20, 1997, I met Taylor Hanson.
I had always been a fan. Whether it was at Mayfest, where I saw them for the first time, or playing outside the Blue Rose Cafe. I never thought of him in a romantic way. Maybe it was because he was just a face in my memory. I was always shy and when they played at my school or at the Blue Rose all my friends would run over to try to talk to them I would hang back and leave. I never had the courage to talk to him or his brothers, Isaac and Zac.
They had recently "hit it big" and released a CD with Mercury Records. Their first single was at number one and they had already been on quite a few national TV shows. I remember on May 5, 1997, I was watching the Rosie O'Donnel show when I should have been studying my Spanish. Something made me look up. There he was, the face imbedded in my memory, that had changed and matured as we grew up, chatting away with Rosie as if she was an average person you'd meet on the street. They hadn't been back to Tulsa since then.
On the day Taylor and I met I woke up early. By 10:30 I had showered, dressed and was on my bike riding downtown to check out a new store. When I got there I chained up my bike and walked into the store. I was browsing through the racks of clothing, debating whether or not to buy a silver tanktop and wondering who on earth would wear leather pants when a voice behind me spoke.
"You should get that. I think it would look really nice on you."
I spun around and found myself staring at Taylor Hanson, who was holding the same leather pants I had just been contemplating.
"Hi, I'm Taylor," he said, his bright blue eyed sparkling under the fluorescent lights.
"I know, I mean I'm Alexis, um, Lexi."
"Nice to meet you Lexi. What do you think of these pants?"
"Well, honestly, I was just wondering who on earth would wear them." I just stood there like a moron. All the emotions I'd never let loose to that random face came pouring into my heart. "I, I guess I'll get this too," I said dumbly.
If only I could have predicted the future. To know what would happen between us, the magic we seemed to share, maybe I wouldn't have been so scared. It wasn't because he was Taylor Hanson, although I'm sure that didn't help, I was always shy around guys. I pushed my shyness aside, ignored the pounding in my chest, and asked him what he was doing in Tulsa. He reminded me that he lived here.
As we walked to the register to pay for our clothes we got to talking.
When we were parting ways that afternoon on the ride home we made plans to meet again the next day. Then it became the next, and the next.
