The Job - A 3T & T Story

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven | Part Eight | Part Nine

Part One

Tanita closed the door behind her, took off her coat and yelled:

"Is there anyone home?"

"In the livingroom." her dad answered.

Tanita dropped her purse on the floor and ran in to him.

"Dad!" she screamed happily.

"Hey Kid! How was France?" Tito asked and smiled.

"Oh, it was so exciting! I was on the Eiffel Tower and we ate 'escargots'!" Tanita said.

"Escargots?" he asked "What´s that?"

Tanita gave him a mysterious look.

"It´s snails...."

"Snails!?"

"Yeah, it was great."

"Ah, so you liked it huh? he said and smiled his so well known smile. Well, I´m happy you´re home again safely!"

Tanita gave him a big hug and smiled. "Me too..."

She couldn´t brace herself any longer..........

"Hey dad, are the T´s home?" she asked and looked around the room as she thought they might have hidden somewhere to surprise her.

"No, they are in the studio, working on the album." Tito answered. "They should be home pretty soon."

"Ooh....." Tanita said really disappointed.

So her big brothers weren´t here to greet her this time either?

Tito, who understood how she felt, took her to the hall and picked up her purse from the floor.

"Let´s get the bags to your room and then we can order pizza or something." he said to cheer her up.

Then he took three of her bags, as easy as they had all been empty, and walked up the stairs. Tanita took the fourth and last and followed him up.

"Can you open the door for me please?" Tito asked and stopped at the door.

"Sure..." Tanita said, put down her bag on the floor and opened the door.

Her brothers jumped out from nowhere. "SURPRISE!!" they screamed.

"Wassup sis.." T.J. smiled and took her in his arms.

"Oh....Hi guys." Tanita said, so surprised she didn´t know what to say. "I thought you were in the studio, working on the album."

T.J. let go of her so Taryll could take over.

"Silly, did you really think that?!" he said with a laugh.  "Who do you take us for?..."

Tanita gave him a teasingly smile.

"Well, you can never be sure with brothers like you." she said.  "Now, where´s big, big, big brother T?" she asked.

"I´m here." she heard Taj´s voice from behind her.

She turned around and gave him a hug.

"Hi Taj!!"

"Hey Tani.....What was it like in France?"

"It was great!" Tanita smiled when she thought about all she had done during the last three weeks. "I have so much to tell you."

Part Two

......"and then they told me it was snails..." Tanita said and laughed. "I thought I was going to throw up or something." she put the last piece of pizza in her mouth and looked at her brothers.  God, she had really missed having them around.  Even though they were over protective and could be really stupid sometimes, she loved them very much.

"But you didn´t do any modelling then?" T.J. asked curiously.

"No, they wanted someone with long, straight hair for the job."

"Ah, and we all know you couldn´t match that." Taryll said with a grin and looked on his siblings.

Except for Taj all of them had short, curly hair.

"I know..." Tanita murmured and looked pretty depressed.

"Hey, don´t look so sad." Taj said. "Your time will come....trust me."

"I´d like to believe you." Tanita answered with a sigh.

Taryll felt kinda guilty and wanted to make his sis happy again.

"Hey Tani!...you wanna play 'Die Hard' with us?" he asked. "We bought it a week ago...."

"Yeah, sure." she answered and followed the other three to the livingroom.

Two hours later, when Tanita had yawned several times, the T´s told her to go to bed. As she was too tired to contradict them, she said Good night and went upstairs.

Taj, Taryll and T.J., though, ended up playing the game an hour more or so, before they went to bed as well, after all, they had to go to the studio the next morning.

Tanita woke up at 12 o´clock the next day. She headed to the kitchen to make herself some breakfast, when the phone suddenly rang.  She picked up the cordless phone at the third signal and said.. "Hello?"

"Hey sleepy head...so you decided to come up today after all." T.J. said and laughed when he realized he wasn´t the one to say this, coz he actually slept longer than her usually.

"Hey big bro." Tanita said while opening the fridge to see if she could find something eatable.

"Well, we just wanted you to know that we won´t come home for lunch today." T.J. said. "There´s too much to do here."

"OK...." Tanita answered without really paying attention to what he said.

"Oh, and I borrowed your new T-shirt....hope ya don´t mind."

"The one with Mickey Mouse on it?"

"Yep, that one." T.J. said.

"But I was going to use that as my night-dress." Tanita groaning.

"Yeah, I know....but I think it fits me better." T.J. said kinda giggling.

"OK then....I can play this game too..." Tanita said and went upstairs to T.J.´s room. "Now I´m in your room T.J.....hmmm....I´m looking around....can I find anything I like here you think?......Aaah, but what do we have here?...."

"No, what are you doing?" T.J. yelled on the other end obviously kinda worried.

Tanita laughed.

"I´ll take Yabo as my hostage until you get home tonight and return my T-shirt."

"Alright alright then." T.J. said and chuckled. "Hey Tani, I really gotta go now.

Seeya later!"

"Yeah, seeya." Tanita answered and hung up.

She went down to the kitchen and sat down by the table, this was her last day off before returning to school again the next day, so she couldn´t let this day pass just walking around in her pyjamas and watching TV.

"I think I´ll go down to the mall for a couple of hours." she thought to herself.

When she had eaten and taken a shower she went out and headed down the street towards the mall.

After hours and hours of shopping, Tanita finally got tired and went back home.  She sat down on the couch in the livingroom to watch TV. She flicked through 20 channels or so, but she didn´t feel for watching cooking programs or anything like that. So she turned on one of the horror movies she and her brothers had taped a few months ago. This one was called 'Friday the 13th part VII' and was about a boy called Jason who had drownd in a lake and now his ghost, sort of, was out killing people. Tanita had seen this movie like 100 times so she didn´t really think it was scary any longer.

She turned off the TV and went to her room.

Suddenly the phone rang. It took a while before Tanita found the phone in T.J.´s room, but soon she did and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Helloooooo!! Is Taj home?!" a person giggled on the other line.

"No....Who are you?" Tanita asked and sat down on T.J.´s bed.

"I´m a faaaaaaan of your brothers..." the person chuckled. "No, it´s Kelly here....really..." she laughed.

"Oh, Hi Kelly." Tanita smiled. "Taj´s in the studio with the others."

"Still working on the album then?"

"Yeah....but the album is finished soon...."

"Yeah, I know." Kelly said. "Hey I gotta go now.....Tanita, can you please tell Taj that I called? I have a few days off you see...."

"Sure...." Tanita answered.

"OK...thanx."

They hung up.

Part Three

Tanita got up at 7 o'clock next morning, she took a shower and went down to the kitchen. She was greeted with a tired 'heeey' from Taryll who sat by the table and wrote something in his note book. Tanita stopped at the door with her mouth wide open.

"Oooh, it´s a miracle." she said breathlessly.

"What?" Taryll asked and looked around him.

"The Taryll Jackson is awake." Tanita said as she couldn´t believe he actually was.

"Haha...really fun." Taryll said kinda grumpy.

Tanita just laughed at him and sat down by the table she also.

"So, what are you writing?" she asked curiously.

"None of your business." Taryll answered with a teasingly smile.

"Come on...." Tanita begged and smiled to him. "I´m your little sister, you can show me anything."

"Nope..." Taryll answered and put the note book in his pocket. "Now, hurry up so you won´t be late."

"So you are going to drive me today huh?" Tanita asked.

"Yeah, poor me." Taryll said with a laugh.

Tanita justed smiled.

When she was done, she and Taryll hopped in his car and drove towards "Buckley High". Taryll looked at his sister with care in his eyes.

"You shouldn´t use that much eyeliner. You look better without." he said suddenly.

"Hmm....what?" Tanita asked and looked at him.

Taryll blushed a little.

"Oh, nothing." he said quietly.

Tanita turned up the radio and sang, slightly off-key, along with the song that was on.

"I long to see the sunlight in your hair.....and tell you time and time again.....how much I care...sometimes I feel my heart will overflow.....Hello......I´ve just got to let you know!....."

Taryll smiled at her and started to sing he too.

"´Cause I wonder where you are.....and I wonder what you do....are you somewhere feeling lonely.....or is someone loving you.......tell me how to win your heart......for I haven´t got a clue.....but let me start by saying.....I love you....."

"I love this song." Tanita said with a grin. "Lionel Richie is a great songwriter."

"Yeah, he is." Taryll said and parked the car in a parking lot. "OK...we´re at destination Buckley High....have fun..." he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"I´ll try....will you drive me home also?"

"No, I´ll let Taj do that..." Taryll answered.

"OK.." Tanita shut the door behind her and ran towards the big building in front of her.

During the lunch break, a tall guy with black hair came up to her with abig smile on his lips.

"Are you new here too?"

Tanita looked up at him, and she was caught. He was so good looking she couldn´t take her eyes off of him.

"No, I´ve been on vacation for three weeks." she answered still staring.

"Oh, OK..." he sat down beside her.

"I moved her two weeks ago, so this is my third week in this school.

"Cool..." Tanita said looking at his stomach trying to see if he had a sixpack or not.

"My name is Robert by the way....what´s yours?" he asked.

Tanita looked up and into his eyes.

"Tanita." she answered and smiled. "Nice to meet you Robert."

"Same to you..." he said and shook her hand.

As they were talking, Tanita noticed, the way he treated her made clear affection on her. She felt so special and beautiful somehow.

Tanita and Robert ended up talking till they had to leave for class.

"Robert Johnson..." Tanita murmured to herself happily as she went back to the school building.

Part Four

The weeks went on and Tanita and Robert spent more and more time together. And by the end of the second week it was time for their first real date.

Tanita knocked on Taj´s door.

"Come in" he said.

Tanita opened the door and went in.

"So, what do you think?" she asked worried. "Maybe I´m too fat for this

dress."

She looked down on the black, short dress that she had put on, and which fitted her slim figure perfect. Taj just stared at her....when he had gained the ability to speak again, he said....

"Wow.....You look terrific! C´mon the others gotta see too" he said, stood up and led her out of his room down the hallway to Taryll´s room.

"Come on in." Taryll said when they knocked at his door.

Taj opened the door and kinda pushed Tanita, in front of him, in to the room.

"Oh, my...." Taryll said and stared at her with his eyes open wide.

Tanita smiled, feeling more and more sure that this dress was perfect for the evening. But she was wrong....

"Are you going to go out in that?!" Taryll continued.

"What´s wrong with it?" Taj wondered as he couldn´t understand what Taryll got so excited about.

"Look! She´s practically naked!" Taryll said raising his voice, pointing at the dress. "Going out like that, is like inviting people to rape her."

Tanita felt the anger grow inside of her.

"What do you know about that?! she fizzed. Plus, you´re not my dad...so there´s not much you can do about it if I want to wear it."

She turned her back to him and yelled down the stairs.

"Dad?!!"

"Oh, no...." Taryll said. "I can´t let you wear that thing.....T.J.?!" he screamed.

T.J. who had heard the yelling from inside Taryll´s room, stood right outside the door when Taryll screamed after him.

"What are you guys yelling about?" he asked.

Taryll pointed at Tanita´s dress.

"How does she look in this dress?" he asked before Tanita had a chancesaying anything.

T.J looked at the dress and then at his siblings.

"I think she looks....." he started.

"Looks practically naked." Taryll interrupted.

T.J. scratched his head.

"Actually, I think she looks good." he said. "It´s a nice dress."

Tanita looked at Taryll with a triumphing smile.

"You see?"

Taryll shook his head at them.

"OK...fine....go out like that then. I don´t care."

Suddenly the doorbell rang.

"Oh God, it´s Robert." Tanita said. "And I´m not even ready yet."

"Go get ready then." T.J. said. "Let us take care of him til you are."

Tanita looked doubtful at first, but soon she understood she had no choice but let her brothers "help" her out.

"OK..." she said. "Just don´t ask him any of your stupid questions."

"Just do your thing, and we´ll do ours." T.J. said. "Come on...hurry...you don´t want him to wait too long, do you?"

Tanita ran back to her room.

T.J. went down stairs with the other two right behind him, opening the door.

Robert stood outside with a bouquet red roses in his arms. When he saw the three of them, he took a step back wondering if he had come to the right place or not.

"Is...is this Tito Jacksons´ house?" he stammered.

"Yep, this is his house." Taj said staring at him. "Come on in. Our sis should be ready in a minute."

Robert took a step inside and froze still, just staring at everything around him. The T´s, though, looked at him, quite suspisiously.

"Red roses." Taryll said suddenly. "For me?...Gee, thanx....."

He took the bouquet away from Robert and went in to the kitchen to put them in some water. T.J. and Taj smiled to each other and then they started bombard Robert with questions.

"Do you like action, thriller or horror movies?" T.J. asked.

"Well, I....." Robert started.

"What would you choose....." Taj asked. "Die for a lady....or let the lady die for you?"

Robert looked at him like he thought he was crazy.

"Uh?..." he said.

"Where do you live?" T.J. asked.

Robert started to look really frightened.

"Down at...." he said without being able to complete his answer this time either as Taryll interrupted him.

"I hope you take good care of our sister...coz she means everything to us." he said.

Robert took a deep breath as to gain more strentgh.

"Yeah, she means pretty much to me too." he said. "Is she ready soon?"

At this very moment Tanita came down.

"Hi Robert." she said and smiled. "Shall we go?".

Robert, who couldn´t think of anything better, nodded yes eagernessly.

"Have fun." Taj said. "And don´t forget to bring her home before 11 pm."

"He won´t." Tanita answered and laughed.

T.J. closed the door behind them and looked at his brothers.

"I don´t like him....what about you guys?"

Taj and Taryll shook their heads.

Part Five

Tanita thought that Robert behaved kinda weird during the evening. He barely touched her and he was very quiet. They had been to the movies already and now they were sitting in a down town restaurant.

"You have been no fun at all tonight. What´s wrong?" Tanita asked.

"Nothing´s wrong." Robert said without looking at her.

"C´mon....you can tell me." Tanita said trying to persuade him.

" I think I better drive you back home now, Tanita..." Robert murmured, put some money on the table and took her by her arm leading her out to the car.

"But Robert, we still have an hour before I must be home." Tanita refused. "And I don´t even want to go home now."

Robert looked like he was starting to get irritated on her.

"I don´t care!" he said. "Please, just let me drive you home" he continued a little nicer.

"OK....fine..." Tanita said and got in the car. "Drive me home then."

Robert sighed in relief and got in the car he too. Soon they were off....  Robert drove as fast as he could all the way back to San Fernando Valley. Tanita stared out of the window, looking kinda worried.

When they got to Tito´s house, Robert stopped the car and ran out to open the door for Tanita.

"See you on Monday, ok?" he said and got back in the car.

Tanita didn´t answer him, she went up to the house and stepped inside. As she took off her coat, T.J. came out to her with a sly smile on his face.

"So, how was your date?" he asked.

"Terrible..." Tanita answered and tried to get by him.

"Hey, wait...." T.J. giggled. "What do you mean with terrible...did he call you fat or something?"

Tanita pushed him a away and went in to the livingroom, where the rest of the family sat.

Tito motioned her to sit down beside him on the couch. She did and leant back on his arm.

"Dad why are boys so stupid sometimes." she asked, obviously refering to T.J.

T.J. who understood she meant him, just laughed at her and sat down in an armchair continuing watching the film that was on.

"What do you mean?" Tito asked.

"Robert acted so weird tonight, he hardly said anything to me....and he´s not usually like that." Tanita said with a sigh. "It was like he didn´t knew me at all."

"Maybe he didn´t feel so well." Tito said.

"Yeah, maybe." Tanita said not sounding very convinced.  She still thought it had to do with her.

Tito saw the worry in her eyes, he gave her a kiss on the forehead and said, "Don´t worry about it ok." Then he went upstairs to his office coz he had to work on a few things before the next day. Tanita sighed again. "Why is he always so busy, he never really has time to listen." she thought. She watched her brothers, watching the TV.  It was like their eyes were stuck on the screen.  They would probably not take their eyes off the TV, even is someone dropped a bomb in the room. She sighed yet another time and went up to Taryll´s room and sat down by his keyboard. She couldn´t really play the keyboard, but she liked to just latch on the keys while thinking things over. This time Taryll heard the "dulcet notes" from downstairs and decided to go check what was up with his sister.

"Hey." he whispered when he entered the room.

"Hi Taryll" Tanita said and looked down on the keyboard again.

Taryll put a chair beside her and sat down he too.

"OK....what´s wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing...." Tanita answered in a sad tone.

"C´mon...I´ve seen this picture before." Taryll said. "You never play on my keyboard unless something is bothering you..."

As he said this Tanita usually gave in, telling him everything that was on her mind. She had always found it so easy to talk to him about things, coz he always let her talk without interrupting her asking stupid questions. But in the end, though, he would always give her advice and just be there for her, supporting her. And this time wasn´t any different.

"It´s just that I don´t feel appreciated any longer. Nobody takes their time to spend time with me.  You guys are working on the album all the time and dad is working too. It seems like I´m the only one, not having anything to do....and I hate it. I feel really lonely." Tanita said, she was about to cry now. "And when Robert was acting so weird tonight, I thought it was because of me." she continued.

Taryll nodded in agreement while she was talking. When she was finished, he gave her a huge hug, holding her really close to him.

"Don´t cry Tani." he said. "I just wish you could have told us this earlier.  Then we could have solved this out much quicker."

"But I didn´t want to be a burden for you." Tanita sobbed.

"You´re not a burden for us." Taryll said. "You´re our lil´ sis and you´re definately not supposed to feel left out like this."

As he said this, Tanita cried even more.

"Oh, I´m so ugly and fat. And I have short hair!"

Taryll couldn´t help smiling a little, he couldn´t quite see the short hair as a problem.

"No, you´re not ugly or fat, you´re really beautiful and I bet there are many people who like girls with short hair too. I know I do..." he said and twisted a curl of hers on one of his fingers.

Tanita gave him a weak smile.

"You really think I´m beautiful?" she asked.

Taryll chuckled. He somehow knew he was gonna regret this later on, as she would probably never stop talking about how beautiful she was after this last conviction.

"Yes, I think you are." he said.

Tanita gave him a happy smile.

"Thank you Tar. You´re not so bad yourself." she said and started walking to the door with a new silly kind of self-respect.

Taryll smiled at her and leant back in his chair. He thought that maybe T.J., Taj and him could take the next day off, just to spend some time with Tanita. After all she was their younger sister and deserved their attention....well at least some.

Part Six

The next day, the T´s took Tanita with them to the mall, as they knew Tanita loved shopping. It was a very nice day, the sun was out and the air was fresh. At first the T´s were brisked, trying things on for fun, looking at stuff and so on, but after an hour or so they ended up sitting on a bench trying to hide their boredom, while Tanita went in and out in shops by herself. Soon, she was done so they could move on.

"What ya wanna do now?" T.J. asked her.

"What do you guys wanna do?" Tanita answered. "We can´t spend time together only doing what I wanna do, we should do what we all want to do."

The T´s looked at each other.

"I want to go home and play some video...." T.J. said but was interrupted by Taryll kicking him.

"We can go to the movies and see that new film with Eddie Murphy." Taryll said instead.

"Yeah!" Tanita and Taj agreed with T.J. gruffing a quiet OK.

So "The Nutty Professor" it was................

After the movie the four of them went to McDonald´s to get something to eat. Taj ordered the food while the others took a table. When he came back he handed T.J. his Cheese burger, French fries and Coke, Taryll´s McChicken, French fries and Sprite and Tanita her French fries and milkshake. Then he sat down and started to eat of his McChicken. Tanita sipped on her milkshake, looking happily at her brothers.

"Thanx guys for today, it´s been great!" she said.

"No problem." they said smiling back to her. "We´re having a good time."

"When is the album finished?" Tanita asked.

"The album is finished." Taryll answered. "But we still have this photshoot, for the album, to do. And we are gonna write our 'Thank You´s' lists for the album as well. Plus, making our first video."

"Which song is gonna be your first single? Did you decide to have 'Why'?" Tanita asked very interested.

"No, not 'Why', we decided it would be best to have 'Anything' as the first single, as we don´t wanna ride on Michael´s fame." Taj said.

"Yeah...that´s probably the best." Tanita agreed. "Plus, I think 'Anything' is a better song."

T.J. raised his right eyebrow.

"You do?"

"Yes, I do." Tanita said honestly.

They finished their meals, got out to Taj´s car and drove back home.

As soon as they got in the house Taryll laid down on the couch in the livingroom and fell asleep. Taj went up to his room to rest he said, but he dozed off also.

"You wanna help me with my 'Thank You´s' list?" T.J. asked Tanita.

"Sure..." she answered and followed him up to his room.

They sat down in front of his computer. T.J. started the Microsoft Word program and typed, "Dad, Taj, Taryll, Tanita, Jill, Andrew", then he turned to Tanita.

"Anyone else I know?"

Tanita chuckled....both T.J. and her knew he had many many other friends.

"Well, let me see.....hmm....No, I think that´s about it." she laughed.

T.J. gave her a flashing smile then he looked at the screen again, typing Kimberley, Anthony, Yabo....

Tanita smiled.

"Q-Boy, Jay, Kelly, Freya, Denise...." she continued while T.J. typed. "Opi, Kevin, LouDawg, Kris."

"And Nikki, Brad and Lars too." T.J. said.

"Yes, and Mike, Bill and Rexy...."

"Everyone supporting 3T" T.J. said suddenly.

"What?" Tanita asked.

"I wanna thank everyone supporting 3T." T.J. explained.

They came up with a few more names more until T.J. started to write little notes kinda to his closest friends. Tanita got bored and left, she figured it could be a good idea to wake the other two up. She went downstairs to the livingroom and jumped onto Taryll, shaking him.

"Hey, you´ve been sleeping for an hour now....Get up!" she yelled.

Taryll tried to get her off of him.

"No, quit it...I´m tired." he said sounding kinda groggy.

"Get up Taryll!" Tanita continued.

"Noooooo...." Taryll refused. "Go bother someone else."

Tanita let him be and decided to call her friend Gwen instead.

"Hello, Gwen here." Gwen answered the phone.

"Hey Gwen. It´s Tanita, what are you doing?"

"Oh, Hi Tanita. I´m not doing anything at all, just wandering around in the house." she chuckled.

"Wanna come over?" Tanita asked.

"Yeah, sure why not." Gwen answered happily. "Is T.J. there?"

"Yes, he is. He´s the only one of the T´s whose not sleeping actually." Tanita said and laughed.

Gwen had had a crush on T.J. since she had first met him, and somehow Tanita found that so unbelieveable. Course, he was good looking....all three of her brothers were, but she just couldn´t look at them in the same way her friends did.

"I´ll be there in 15 minutes." Gwen said.

"OK...see ya."

They hung up.

****

15 minutes later, the doorbell rang.

"I´ll get it!" T.J. yelled and ran down to the hall, opening the door.

"Hi T.J.!" Gwen said and smiled kinda shyly.

"Hi Gwen..." T.J. smiled back. "Come on in."

"Thanx..." Gwen said and stepped inside.

Tanita came down the stairs and gave her friend a hug.

"Hi..." she said.

"Hi..." Gwen said and hugged her back.

"Let´s go up to my room." Tanita said and dragged Gwen upstairs with her, before Gwen had the chance to refuse.

In Tanita´s room, Gwen sat down on a chair and opened the rucksack she had brought with her.

"I brought "Toy Soldiers" with me." she said and gave the video tape to Tanita."

"Thanx..." Tanita answered. "I bet T.J. will be really happy now!"

"Yeah, hopefully." Gwen said and thought about how much she like him.

"Let´s give it to him right away." Tanita smiled and dragged Gwen towards T.J.´s room.

*knock knock*

"Come in!" T.J. yelled from inside.

SIZE="2"> Tanita opened the door and pushed Gwen into the room. T.J. stood in the middle of the room with only his pajama bottoms on. As Gwen noticed his bare chest and sixpack, she felt her heart raise and she took a step back just staring at him.

"Calm it." Tanita whispered when she saw Gwen´s face.

"Hey girls." T.J. said with a smile, he was obviously not thinking of how he was dressed.

"Gwen took "Toy Soldiers" with her, for us to borrow." Tanita said as she understood Gwen wasn´t going to say anything.

"You did?!" T.J. asked Gwen surprised

Gwen nodded.

"Yes." she said. "I brought it with me."

"Thanx, that was very nice of you...." T.J. said with a smile. "Where is it?"

"Here..." Gwen said and handed him the video tape. "You may have it as long as you like."

"Thank you Gwen." T.J. said softly, smiling kinda teasingly and kissing her on the cheek.

"You´re welcome..." Gwen stammered.

T.J. put the video tape in the VCR and pressed play, then he sat down on his bed to watch the film.

"OK...you may leave now." he said jokingly, pulling the covers over himself.

Gwen and Tanita left and went back to Tanita´s room.

"Oh God......" Gwen sighed.

"What?" Tanita asked as she closed the door behind them.

"Oh, nothing." Gwen answered looking really depressed.

Tanita sat down on her bed, grabbing a teddy bear looking at Gwen with compassion in her eyes.

She knew how Gwen felt, that was for sure.

"Boys...can´t live with them, can´t live without them..." she sighed.

"You have the same problem too?" Gwen asked. "With whom?"

"You know....the new guy....Robert..." Tanita said thinking of Robert´s brown friendly eyes.

Oh, his mouth and the funny way he moved it when he laughed. His hair....

"Earth to Tanita!" Gwen kinda yelled and Tanita came back to reality, realizing she was spasmodicly hugging the teddy bear.

"Oh, sorry...what were you saying." Tanita asked.

"I said maybe we should make a vow..." Gwen continued.

"A vow? What kind of vow?"

"Well, we promise each other that within the last three days we have to tell the boys we like exactly our feelings for them. Although it´s at a venture."

Tanita thought about it. Maybe this was the best way to straighten things out between her and Robert. She really did want to know his feelings for her, did he think about her as a friend or did he think about her the same way she did about him.

"Yeah, ok...deal.." she finally said with a shy smile on her face.

"Three days...." Gwen said looking seriously.

"Three days.." Tanita repeated.

Part Seven

2 days had gone and neither Tanita nor Gwen had dared to do anything of what they had promised each other. Tanita was slightly irritated with Gwen as she couldn´t see why it was so hard for Gwen to go up to T.J. and tell him her feelings for him. And Gwen was irritated with Tanita for not talking to Robert either.

”Hey, at least you know T.J. is a nice guy.” Tanita said. ”If he don´t have the same feelings for you as you for him, he will at least tell you that in a nice way, trying not to hurt your feelings.”

Gwen looked at Tanita with a ‘if-it´s-that-easy-do-it-yourself’ look on her face.

”It couldn´t get much easier for you.” she said looking at Tanita with her darkbrown eyes. ”It´s obvious he likes you, so all you have to do is tell him you feel the same for him......Simple!”

Tanita sighed...

”But what if he suddenly doesn´t like me anymore. I mean, maybe he has got another girl?!”

Gwen gave Tanita a playful punch in the arm.

”Yeah...right...that´s why he keeps staring at you...You must be blind Tani.”

”Oh...” Tanita smiled. ”Alright then...I will tell him today.”

”Good.” Gwen said. ”And I will just go around wishing T.J. will find out I have feelings for him and then feel the same thing as I do.”

”Why shouldn´t he..” Tanita said. ”You´re only one year younger than him, you have blond hair and brown eyes, which I know he loves. And he thinks that you´re a really nice girl.”

”You think so?” Gwen asked sounding quite self conscious.

”I know so.” Tanita assured her.

The day passed by kinda slow, so when Tanita finally came home, she gave a sigh of relief leaning back in the couch closing her eyes.

”So, how was your day at school?” Taj asked.

”Boring.” Tanita answered looking at the screen.

Taj was watching some old home goodies he had filmed many years ago. This one included his three siblings and a few of his friends, pretending to be a famous pop band, traveling all over the world doing live shows and getting interviewed by Taj himself. Tanita couldn´t help laughing when she saw her 9 year old face and T.J. on the screen. As T.J. was only 1 year older than Tanita, he must have been 10 at the time. The two of them were kinda hugging each other on the film, proclaiming their love for music and how much they loved to tour. Tanita giggled as she listened to what T.J. said to the camera.

”Taj I didn´t know you had kept them for so long.” she said.

”I didn´t either.” Taj said. ”I just found them in a box under my bed.”

”Have Taryll and T.J. seen them yet?” Tanita wondered.

”No, not yet. They have been out all day.” Taj replied.

Tanita stayed long enough to see one more home made video, before she left to take a shower.

An hour later she was done and had put on her light blue, silk pajamas. She walked downstairs again, to see all her brothers watching the videos of themselves.

”Hey, Tanita...we just saw this video with you and me on it.” T.J. kinda yelled.

Taryll and Taj also turned to her with smiles on their faces.

”Yeah, they are really cool.” Taryll said.

Tanita came into the room and sat down on the couch between Taryll and a big, brown teddy bear.

”Who´s this teddy bear?” she asked and put it up.

Taryll looked at it.

”A little something Nikki gave me.” he said. ”She wanted to be the first fan to give me a teddy bear..heh..”

”Cute.” Tanita remarked. ”A present from your first and only fan.”

T.J. smiled a little where he sat on the floor.

”Yeah, I said that too...” he smiled. ”But before I knew it I was pinned to the floor with a monsterlike Taryll over me, telling me to take it back.” he laughed.

”And you did too.” Taj said smiling. ”

T.J. smiled.

”Hey, I´m a nice bro...” he giggled.

”Yeah, sure you guys truly are the best.” Tanita said sarcastic and jokingly.

Taryll kinda pushed Tanita a little, smiling to her.

”Yes, we are....you should be grateful, having brothers like us.” he said.

”Yeah, you´re God´s gift to me huh?” Tanita said teasingly. ”How come I feel you´re such pains in the butt then?”

Taryll grabbed her arms and drew her down to the floor, sitting on top of her.

”What did you say?” he said, trying to act like he was mad or something.

Tanita tried to break lose.

”Hey let go of me Taryll....Mr. Teddy Bear Lover!” she yelled smiling up to him.

Taryll just looked down at her with his usual determination shown in his face.

”Taj would you care to help me a little?” he asked.

”With what?” Taj said. Both him and T.J. were kinda sitting back in their arm chairs, excited to see what Taryll would do.

”Just come here.” Taryll said.

Tanita suddenly understood what they were gonna do.

”Noooo!” she screamed, still smiling. ”Don´t you dare tickle me!”

But that was exactly what Taryll and Taj did. After a few minutes, though, T.J. decided to go help his lil sis. After all, the two youngest should stick together. T.J. threw himself over Taryll and started to tickle him he too. Taryll yelled to Taj to help him with T.J.. So, Taj let go of Tanita and turned to give Taryll a hand, but then Tanita caught Taj, tickling him as well. And so they continued tickle each other for 15 more minutes, before all of them were so exhausted they ended up in a heap on the floor.

”OK, thanx...now I have to go take a shower again.” Tanita said kinda smiling.

”Oh, you´re welcome...” T.J. said. ”That´s what brothers are for.”

Taryll chuckled a little.

”Well, go take a shower then.” Taj said and sat up.

”Yeah....” Taryll said.

Tanita sat up without a word and ran upstairs to the bathroom. Suddenly the doorbell rang.

”I´ll get it.” Taj said.

He got up and ran to the hall, opening the door. Outside stood Gwen crying.

”Is Tanita there?” she sobbed.

”Yes, she is. Come in..” Taj answered. ”What has happened Gwen?

Taryll and T.J. joined them, they had heard Gwen from inside the livingroom.

”Why are you crying?” T.J. asked really concerned.

”Is Tanita there?” Gwen asked again without answering any of their questions.

”She´s upstairs taking a shower.” Taryll answered. ”I´ll go get her.”

He turned around and walked upstairs to the bathroom.

T.J. and Taj helped Gwen get her coat off and then they led her to the couch in the livingroom, sitting down. Gwen just cried and cried, she was obviously very upset over something.

”Is it a guy?” Taj asked worriedly.

Gwen had been a friend of Tanita´s since they were both 7 years old and the T´s cared for her like a sister.

”No...” Gwen answered. ”....it´s not a guy...”

Taj and T.J. looked at each other.

”Are you hurt?” T.J. asked.

Gwen didn´t answer she just kept on crying. T.J. kinda rubbed her back and looked really worried. He really wanted to know what was going on, why Gwen was so sad

Suddenly the phone rang, Taj got up and answered it. It was obviously an important phone call, coz he motioned for T.J. to take care of Gwen until Tanita came down, and then he walked up to his room with the phone to his ear.

”Gwen tell me what´s going on.” T.J. said.

Gwen burried her face in a pillow and cried even harder.

”It´s my parents.” she whispered.

”Your parents?” T.J. asked.

”Yeah....” Gwen sobbed. ”They´re are gonna divorce...”

T.J. put his arm around her, he definately understood how she felt, he had already had to deal with his parents divorcing and that had been quite hard on both him and his siblings.

”I know it´s hard Gwen.” he said. ”Maybe they do this for your and your brother´s best. I mean, it can´t be easy for you guys, hearing your parents argue all the time...and...”

”It´s not for our best!” Gwen yelled, interrupting him. ”It´s my dad who´s leaving us, he has been cheating on my mom for a long time and has a child with this other woman, whom he has chosen to marry now!”

”What?!” Tanita said from the door as she entered the room, she had come there just in time to hear Gwen´s last words.

Gwen and T.J. looked up at her, both surprised to see her stand there.

”I´ll leave you two alone.” T.J. said and went out of the room leaving Gwen in tears on the couch and Tanita not knowing why.

”Gwen what´s wrong?” Tanita asked. ”Taryll practically dragged me out of the shower telling me you were here crying.”

”My parents are getting divorced....” Gwen answered. ”...because my dad has a child with someone else...”

Tanita sat down beside her on the couch, looking kinda shocked.

”Oh my...” she said.

”Dad told us this afternoon....James went totally mad, he hit dad and then he took the car and disappeared...” Gwen continued.

”Didn´t he say anything?” Tanita asked.

”Who? James?”

”No, your dad.”

”No, he just stood there...” Gwen answered. ”It was like he didn´t care at all.”

Gwen started to cry again, Tanita tried to comfort her the best she could.

”You can stay here if you want to. We can call your mom and tell her you´re here.” she said.

”Oh, can I?!” Gwen said wiping away her tears.

”Yeah, sure...” Tanita said. ”Hey Gwen, I´m sure everything will work out OK, even though it´s hard now.”

”Yeah, I suppose so..” Gwen said quietly.

Part Eight 

Three hours later, T.J. got in his car and drove to Gwen´s parents´
house.
He stopped the car, waiting for Gwen.
A few minutes later she came out of the house, closed the front door
behind her and went to the car and
hopped in.

”Hi T.J.” she said kinda shy.

”Hi...” T.J. replied smiling to her. ”So, you think you can help me?”

”Yes, I think so...” Gwen said.

T.J. took a quick look in the reverse mirror before driving out on the
head street again.

”That´s good..” he said. ”Let´s just hope they let us borrow her for a
day or two.”

”I´m sure they will.” Gwen assured him.
 

The days carried on and T.J. and Gwen spent almost every day with each
other.
Tanita was happy for them, as they really seemed to enjoy doing things
together.

The other day when she and Taj had been out walking one of their
neighbours´ dogs, they had spotted T.J. and Gwen on the other side of
the street, hand-in-hand and with huge smiles on their faces. Just
seeing this made Tanita so happy for the two of them. She had always
thought, walking hand-in-hand was a great way of showing friendship and
care for someone else. And she knew both Gwen and T.J. cared for one
another.

Gwen´s company made clear affection on T.J.
He was just happier than ever. Nothing could make the smile on his lips
fade out.
And as he didn´t had as much spare time as before, he wasn´t as much of
a pain in the butt as he used to be, for that his siblings were very
grateful to Gwen.
 

”OK, sweetie...seeya tomorrow.” T.J. said in a childish voice and hung
up the phone.

He had been on the phone for an hour, just talking to Gwen.

”Hey, lovebird. Have you finally hung up the phone?” Taj said as he came
into the room.

T.J. looked up at him.

”Yeah, you need it?” he asked.

”Yes....” Taj said looking nervously at his watch. ”I need to call
someone about that thing we´re going to do on Saturday.”

”I just spoke to Gwen..” T.J. smiled. ”She´s already fixed everything we
asked her to.
The only thing we need now is the permission from the crew.”

”Yeah, that´s why I need the phone T.J.” Taj said smartly. ”Now hand it
over to me, please.”

T.J. handed him the cordless phone and layed back in his bed closing his
eyes and smiling kinda goofy.
It was pretty obvious what he was thinking of.

Taj left the room with a funny look on his face, he had never seen T.J.
like this.
He was happy for him though.
 

”If you had had sex with a guy and a few weeks later noticed that your
period was late, what would you do?” Tanita asked Taryll.

Taryll chuckled.

”I don´t know...hehe...I´d probably be amazed that I actually had sex
with a guy, as I´m certainly not gay and then I´d wonder how I, of all
people, could bleed one week every month, without noticing it myself.”
he answered in an ironic tone.

Tanita, Taryll and Tito were playing a board game called ”Girl Talk”, in
the kitchen.
”Girl Talk” had been a birthday gift from Taj to Tanita on her13th
birthday.
Of course, all questions were made for girls, and as 4/5 of the family
were men, none of them were able to answer the questions properly. But
that only made it funnier when they played it.

 Tanita and Tito laughed.

”OK, you did answer the question..so you get one point.” Tanita smiled.

”Yep, I did...didn´t I...” Taryll said very proud of himself. ”Now it´s
my turn to ask...”

He picked up the little green book, which all questions were written in,
from the table and opened it.

”Dad, this is a dare kind of...” he said mysteriously.

”What is it??” Tanita wondered, trying to look over Taryll´s shoulder.

”Hey, don´t climb on me like that.” he objected.

”So, may I hear the dare tonight?” Tito sighed.

Taryll nodded.

”OK, here it comes....You gotta call a guy and sing a song for him.”

Tanita giggled.

Tito almost looked frightened for a moment.

”Wha...what?...A guy!?” he mumbled.

Taryll was trying to hold back his laughter, he found it really funny
seeing his dad so confused over such an idiotic dare like that.

”Yes, a GUY.” he said with a teasingly smile. ”Now go ahead and call
someone dad.”

”What if I refuse?!” Tito said turning to Tanita. ”What happens then?”

”You get a mark in the book..” Tanita replied.

”OK, mark me then...I´m not going to call anyone in the evening and sing
to them.” Tito said, sounding definite.

Tanita marked his failure in the book and then layed the pen back beside
her on the table.

”OK, my turn...” she said and rolled the dice.

Part Nine

The next day was a Thursday.

Taj, Tanita and Taryll all got up at around 10:00am and went down to the
kitchen.
When they entered the room, they saw T.J. sitting there already, eating
and reading his book, ”The White Boy Shuffle”.

”Man, why are you up this early?” Taryll said getting a glass for
himself.

T.J. finished the page he was on before he answered him.

”Me and Gwen are going to the Art Museum.” he replied.

”Ha! You going to the Art Museum...I can´t believe I´m hearing this.”
Taj said in a teasingly voice.
”You don´t even like art T.J. So, where does this sudden interest come
from?”

”From Gwen.” Tanita smiled. ”She loves going to museums.”

”You can´t get to me.” T.J. said defending himself. ”Nothing can get to
me, I´m in a good mood today.

The others smiled to each other.

Tanita poured some cereal in her bowl and started eating.
Taryll and Taj, though, looked kinda worried.

”T.J., you haven´t let the special part of you rule yet, have you?”
Taryll asked, trying to hide his meaning from Tanita´s ”innocent ears
and mind”.

T.J. looked confused for a moment.

”My what?!” he asked thinking.

”If you haven´t but have that in mind, remember that you have to be sure
that the time is right and that you must protect your investments.” Taj
continued on after Taryll.

T.J. looked even more confused. He had no idea what his brothers were
talking about.

”Protect my investments?” he mumbled.

Taryll gave Taj a ‘how-should-we-say-this-to-him’ look.
Taj who was as clueless as him, shook his head, showing he had no idea
of what to say so T.J. would understand their meaning.

T.J. looked curiously at them.

”What do you guys mean by protect my investments?” he asked.

Tanita who had understood their point a long time ago, gave a deep sigh.

”Taryll, he´s 17, he knows what he is getting himself into, and as we
are having this conversation, I don´t think he´s a virgin either.” she
said. ”Were you when you were 17?!”

All three of her brothers´ faces went red. They looked away, scared that
she would notice it.
Tanita realized how embarrassing the whole situation was for her
brothers, so she finished her breakfast faster than fast, so that they
could have some time alone to talk. As soon as she had left, T.J. turned
to the other two looking kinda angry.

”Why do you ask me things like that?” he said. ”I know what to do and
how to handle things myself. I don´t need any of your help.”

”Sorry, we were just worried....now that you´re with Gwen and all.” Taj
said quietly. ”You´re only 16 respectively 17 years old.”

”But that´s not a reason to why you had to embarrass me in front of
Tanita.” T.J. continued staring angrily at his brothers.

”Yeah, we realized that...We´re really sorry.” Taryll said.

”You should be.” T.J. said still pretty upset.

 To Be Continued.....ASAP.

Written By: KB
E-mail: kb3t@hotmail.com