“You did what?”

“You heard me.”

“Un-fucking-believable.” On the screen in front of me, I could see Sophie shaking her head in seeming disbelief. “What the hell did you go and start dating a Hanson fan for?”

With Sophie and I now living in different cities a couple of hundred kilometres apart, we rarely got a chance to talk face-to-face. Beyond calling each other on the phone, Skype was usually our best chance of having a proper chat. And that was exactly what we were doing that Friday evening.

“Isaac and Zac both dated and married fans, and I didn’t see you getting up in arms about it,” I said. I leaned back a bit in my seat, crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow at Sophie through my laptop’s webcam. “So what’s the big deal about me going out with one?”

“Probably because since day dot, you’ve attracted a bunch of nutcases who’ve only wanted you because of your last name. That’s why.” Here Sophie raised an eyebrow of her own at me. “Am I right?”

“Yes, but-”

“So therefore,” Sophie said, cutting me off, “it stands to reason that this fan you’ve gone and shacked up with is yet another nutcase.”

I scowled at Sophie, and she gave me the finger in response. “Charming. And for your information, not only have I not gone and shacked up” I made air quotes around these last two words “with anyone, but Ruby is most definitely not one of the crazy fans you hate so much. Besides which, you’ve met her already, and you liked her.”

Sophie frowned. “I have?”

“At my birthday party. I kissed her after I cut my birthday cake.”

“I didn’t know she was a fan.”

“Well, she is. And she’s already found out from Kate and Nikki how you feel about them. She’s worried about what you’ll think of her now that you know she’s a fan.”

“Oh, bloody hell,” Sophie groaned. “And she’s coming to the party on Sunday?”

“Yep.”

“I’m going to have to behave myself, aren’t I?”

“If you don’t want me kicking your arse at Need For Speed Most Wanted, yep,” I said, and snickered when I saw the dismay on Sophie’s face.

“You know I’m shite at racing games,” Sophie grumbled. “Why can’t you beat my arse at Mortal Kombat?”

“Because I’m shite at fighting games. I want to have at least a decent chance at beating you for once. But seriously, please be nice to Ruby this weekend. I’d really like you two to be friends.”

Sophie let out a sigh that sounded rather put-upon. “Okay, fine. I’ll behave myself while you’re here.”
“Thank you.”

Sophie smiled at this. “So what train are you guys planning to catch up here?” she asked.

Rather than answering straight away, I pulled up the CityRail website on my iPad and found the timetable for the Central Coast and Newcastle railway line. “I still have to talk to Ruby and see what train she wants to catch to Sydney,” I said as I scrolled through the timetable, “but let’s say…” I found the weekend Central to Newcastle timetable and scanned it for a train that would get Ruby and I to Newcastle in plenty of time before the Eurovision grand final. “The two-fifteen from Central – it gets into Cardiff at twenty-five to six.”

“That sounds good to me.” I watched Sophie pick up her phone and start tapping at its screen. “Okay, I just put an alarm in my phone so I can remember to pick you guys up from the station. Make sure you text me when your train gets to Morriset, yeah?”

“Will do. See you on Sunday.”

Sophie gave me a smile. “See ya Tay.”

Almost as soon as Sophie and I had finished our Skype session, I dug my mobile out of my pocket and texted Ruby. Skype? Want to work out everything for sunday if you’re up for it.

Gimme a minute, just got home from woolies, was Ruby’s reply a few minutes later. A couple of minutes later Skype chimed at me, and I clicked the Answer button. “Hey you,” Ruby said with a smile as soon as her face had popped up on my computer screen.

“Hey yourself,” I said. “I just talked to Sophie, she’s going to pick us up from the station in Newcastle on Sunday.”

“Awesome.” Here Ruby paused. “Does she know about me?”

“Yeah, but she’s promised to behave herself. I’m going to kick her arse on Zac’s Xbox at Need For Speed if she doesn’t.” Ruby snickered. “Are you okay with catching the three-fifteen from Central that afternoon?”

“Yeah, that’s fine by me. What train were you looking to catch to Sydney?”

“You okay with changing at Thirroul?” I asked, and Ruby nodded. “In that case then…” I found my copy of the South Coast timetable and flicked through it until I found the weekend Bomaderry to Bondi Junction timetable. “Okay, there’s a couple we could catch. First one’s at twenty-five to eleven from Corrimal, we’d change at Thirroul and catch the five to eleven – that’ll get us to Central just before twelve-twenty. Or there’s another train from Corrimal to Thirroul just after twenty-five to twelve, we’d catch the twelve o’clock from there and get to Central at one-twenty.”

“The first one,” Ruby replied. “It’ll give us plenty of time – we could even catch the tram down to Darling Harbour and have lunch there rather than at Market City.”

“I like the sound of that,” I said, and Ruby grinned. I grabbed one of my notebooks off the shelf above my desk, found an empty page and wrote down our train times. “So how you want to play things? I can pick you up from your place that morning, or you can stay over tomorrow night – it’s up to you.”

“Staying over at your place would be easiest on both of us,” Ruby replied. “My place isn’t all that far from yours, I know, but it’s still out of your way – I don’t want to put you out.” She went quiet for a bit, and I was almost certain I could see her fidgeting. “Plus I was hoping I could cook us dinner – I do a great spag bol.”

“You can definitely cook us dinner,” I replied. “This is probably a bit of a weird question, but do you like the footy?”

Ruby’s eyes lit right up. “I love the footy. Been going for the Chooks since I was six.”

“Really?”

“Yep, really.” She studied me for a little while. “So dinner and the footy, then?”

“Sounds like the perfect date to me.”

The next afternoon, Ruby turned up just before five o’clock with Sadie in tow, laden down with an overnight bag and a calico shopping bag that was full to the brim with groceries. “I wasn’t sure what you had in the kitchen,” she said once Sadie had been let out into the yard. She set her shopping down on the kitchen island and started unpacking. “So I ducked over to Woolies on my way here and picked up a few things.”

I leaned forward over the island and peered into Ruby’s almost-empty shopping bag. “I’ll pay you back,” I offered, reaching for a bunch of parsley as I spoke.

Ruby waved me off. “Nah, s’okay, don’t worry about it. Call it thanks for cooking me dinner a couple of months ago.”

“Let me help at least.”

“You can definitely help.” She pushed an onion over to me. “Peel and halve that, and chop it up really finely. I’ll do the garlic.”

Between the two of us, we got just about all of the makings for Ruby’s spaghetti sauce on the stove within half an hour. “Parsley has to wait until it’s just about ready,” she said as we cleaned up. “That takes an hour or so.” I watched her gaze flick down briefly to her watch. “Should be done at about six-thirty.”

“So are you looking forward to tomorrow?” I asked as I finished wiping down the bench and island.

Ruby didn’t answer at first. “Yes and no,” she admitted finally. “I’m looking forward to going back to Newcastle and watching Eurovision, but I’m nervous as hell because…” She trailed off and gave a half-shrug.

“Because of the reputation the fans have,” I finished, and Ruby nodded. “Honestly, though? Sophie is literally the only one of my friends who has any real problem with the fans. Katie and Matt don’t mind you guys if you’re not too far over the top, which you aren’t anyway.” I rinsed the dishcloth out and hung it over the kitchen tap. “But like I said yesterday, she’s promised to behave herself. She knows what’ll happen if she doesn’t.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.”

“Wouldn’t expect anything less.” My gaze travelled over to the whiteboard that was mounted on the fridge. Written on it in my slightly-untidy handwriting was State Of Origin G1 5 June, with an envelope that had come in the mail a few days ago held onto the fridge with a surfboard magnet next to the whiteboard. “Okay, another weird question – when’s your birthday?”

“Eleventh of June,” Ruby replied as she gave the spaghetti sauce a bit of a stir. “I’ll be twenty-nine. Which is just a tiny bit terrifying because I’ll be thirty next year, and that scares the crap outta me.” She eyed me over her shoulder with an eyebrow raised. “Are you planning something?”

“I am now. How would you like to come with me to the first State Of Origin game in a couple of weeks?”

Ruby dropped her spoon in the pot of sauce and turned to look at me with her eyes wide. “Are you serious?”

“Deadly,” I replied. “The way I see it, we both love the footy. I mean, we go for the same team. Which is awesome, by the way.” This earned me a smile. “It makes sense for us to go to the footy together.” I eyed her with one eyebrow raised. “You do go for New South Wales, right?”

“Of course I do,” Ruby said, sounding indignant. “I’m not a traitor.”

I held my hands up defensively. “Okay, okay, just asking. Zac and Nikki go for Queensland, that’s all – it’ll be nice to see those two even more outnumbered than they are already.”

This time Ruby snickered. “Oh, I bet.”

“So what do you say? You up for cheering on the Blues with me?”

“Hell yeah I am. I’ve never seen a game live – I usually just watch on the TV. It’ll be fun screaming things I normally just yell at the idiot box.”

“It’s loads of fun. Very different to the broadcast games because there isn’t constant commentary, but the other supporters more than make up for it. You wouldn’t believe the sorts of things I’ve heard yelled out at the Roosters’ home games.”

“If it involves any reference to the Warriors being a bunch of sheep-shaggers then I am way ahead of you,” Ruby said, and I burst out laughing. “I probably shouldn’t say that within earshot of their supporters but fuck me it’s funny.”

It wasn’t long at all after that before dinner was on the table. “So what’s the verdict?” Ruby asked once we were seated, each with a bowl piled high with fettuccine, spaghetti sauce and parmesan cheese on the table before us.

“Well it looks pretty damn amazing,” I replied, and proceeded to twirl some of the pasta and sauce around my fork. “And it tastes phenomenal,” once I had swallowed my first mouthful.

“Oh thank goodness,” Ruby said. She sounded very relieved. “I was hoping you’d like it.”

“You’ll have to give me the recipe later on.”

“Oh yeah, for sure.”

Soon enough, a comfortable silence had settled over us, one that was broken only by the scraping of forks against bowls, a car or two driving along the street outside and a train rattling along the nearby railway line. Neither of us spoke a word until we’d both finished eating. “You in the mood for some ice cream?” I asked as I got up from my seat at the table.

“Always,” Ruby replied. “What did you have in mind?”

I went over to my piano and picked up my wallet, phone and house keys from its top. “Well, the takeaway place across the street is probably closed by now,” I said as I crammed my wallet into one of my pockets, “but the servo up near the high school should still be open. I was thinking we could walk up there, get some ice cream and walk back. Up to you of course.”

I clearly didn’t have to say any more than this, because when I looked up from putting my wallet away Ruby was waiting at the front door for me, arms crossed and one foot tapping on the floor. “Come on slowpoke, you want ice cream or not?” she asked, before grinning at me and heading outside. I let out a quiet chuckle and followed her, closing and locking the front door behind us.

---

“Tay!”

Even despite the sounds of nearby traffic, people milling around on the station platform and the crackly station PA, it was hard to mistake that voice for anyone else’s. Seconds later its owner slammed into me so hard that I nearly fell off the platform.

“Jesus fucking Christ Soph,” I croaked out as Sophie did her best to squeeze the life out of me. “You need to lay off the coffee, seriously…”

Sophie poked me in the side as she let go of me, and I pushed her hand away. “It’s nice to see you too, Taylor,” she groused. Her gaze slid over to Ruby, who was sitting in her wheelchair a couple of metres away with Sadie’s lead held tightly in her hands. “You’re Ruby, yeah?”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ruby nod. I could quite easily tell how nervous Ruby was, and I supposed I couldn’t really blame her. Not when I knew that Sophie didn’t like Hanson fans all that much. Though as far as I was concerned Ruby being my girlfriend trumped her being a Hanson fan any day of the week. “Yeah, I’m Ruby,” she replied, her voice shaking almost imperceptibly.

“I’m not gonna bite, don’t worry,” Sophie said, before smirking. “Unless you ask me to, that is.”

“Sophie, be nice,” I warned her.

“I am being nice!” Sophie protested, and I raised an eyebrow at her. “Okay, fine, I won’t bite even if you ask me to. Mattie would kill me if she saw bite marks on anyone but her, anyway.” She stuck her tongue out at me. “So are we headed off? I left Katie and Matt at your mum and dad’s, they’re going to send out a search party if we don’t get back soon.”

“We’re going to the shops after that, right?” I asked, bending down to pick up my duffle bag as I spoke.

“Stupid question,” Sophie replied as she led the way out of the station. “We don’t have anything to eat or drink during Eurovision yet. Well, we do,” she amended as I followed Sophie to the station lift. “But I doubt your mum and dad would appreciate us rooting through the pantry.” She looked back over her shoulder at me for the briefest of moments. “Especially when you’re capable of putting away more munchies than the rest of us put together.”

“Good point,” I conceded.

Before too long, Sophie had driven us out to my parents’ place. As I got out of her car so that I could open the front gate, I could see Matthew and Katie waiting for us on the stairs that led up to the verandah of the house. Even from a distance I could see that Katie was just barely managing to hold herself back from running over to the driveway, and I grinned to myself before giving her a wave. This seemed to be her cue as well as Matthew’s, and the two of them started heading down the yard toward the gate.

“It is so good to see you,” Katie said once Sophie, Ruby and I were out of the car. She gave me a smile before pulling me in for a hug. “How’s TAFE going?”

“Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few months, you know how TAFE’s going,” I said, earning myself a poke to the ribs. “What the fuck, Katie?”

“I want to hear it out of your mouth, Jordan Taylor Hanson,” Katie said, sounding eerily like my mother, and I scowled at her.

“Don’t call me that, you’re not my mum,” I retorted.

“I didn’t even poke you that hard, anyway,” she continued, as if I hadn’t said a word.

“Do you talk to Ava and Jackson like that?” I asked.

“They’re my kids, of course I do. Especially when they’re being little shits.” Here Katie stuck her tongue out at me. “Come on, spill. How’s TAFE?” Right before I could open my mouth to answer, her gaze shifted over my shoulder to where I knew Ruby stood. “And who’s this?”

I didn’t answer straight away. Instead I walked back to the car and led Ruby over to where Katie and Matthew were standing. “Guys, this is Ruby McCormick – she’s my girlfriend,” I said to introduce her.

“Isn’t she the girl who nearly made you pass out onstage in Wollongong?” Matthew asked.

“I also rammed into him with my wheelchair first day of TAFE this year,” Ruby said, sounding a little more confident than she had at the train station. Here she smirked. “Knocked him practically on his arse.”

This, of course, made Sophie, Katie and Matthew all burst out laughing. “Yeah, okay, let’s all laugh at Taylor again,” I grumbled.

“Oh come on Tay, lighten up,” Katie said once she had stopped laughing so much. “Ruby, I think I adore you. I wish I could have seen that.”

“I was pretty mortified after I did it,” Ruby admitted. She was turning pink as she spoke. “It was an accident, I swear – I’d never do it intentionally.”

“If we’re all quite finished laughing at me, we should probably head over to the shops,” I said. “Sophie’s right, Mum and Dad would prefer it if we didn’t go digging through the pantry.”

Ruby had soon let Sadie off her lead, and once I had taken our gear inside we all headed off to Garden City. “I hope you don’t think you’re going for Denmark again this year, Taylor,” Sophie said as she chucked a U-ey in the driveway and started heading back down the road.

“I’m Danish, Soph,” I reminded her. “Of course I’m going for Denmark. Shouldn’t you be going for Slovenia anyway?”

“Can’t. They got knocked out in the first semi.” She pulled her car up at the end of the road, flicked the right blinker on, and looked both ways before turning into Black Hill Road. “Haven’t decided yet who I’m going for tonight. I’ll probably throw a dart or something at that map your mum and dad have on the wall of the study.”

“So how is this going to work anyway?” I asked. “I mean, there’s no point all of us going to Coles and then the bottle shop. Especially if we’re going to be back before it all kicks off.” I glanced at my watch. “It’s just gone five past six, so we’ve got a bit less than hour and a half.”

“We worked it out last night,” Katie replied from her spot in the backseat, sandwiched between Ruby and Matthew. “Matt and I are going to hit the bottle shop while you, Sophie and Ruby go to Coles. We’ll hit Woolies after the bottle shop if there’s anything you three can’t find.” I watched in the rear-view mirror as Katie started rooting around in her handbag. “Made a couple of lists too. We’re going to have enough food and drink to feed and water a small army.”

The five of us split up once we got to Garden City, with Matthew and Katie heading over the other side of the shopping centre to the bottle shop that was next to Woolworths. “Katie gave me one of the lists,” Sophie said as she led the way over to Coles. She pulled a folded-up piece of paper out of a pocket of her jeans and held it up. “It shouldn’t take us too long to collect everything.”

“So how long have you and Taylor known each other?” Ruby asked Sophie as the three of us started wandering Coles’ aisles.

“Nearly twenty-three years,” Sophie replied. She stopped pushing the trolley about halfway down aisle six and checked her list before pulling a 24-pack of Pepsi off the shelf. “Been best mates since just before Year 2 – he sneaked off on his bike one day during our summer holidays and rode all the way over to my place. He got in a hell of a lot of trouble off his mum and dad for it, and I decided right then and there that he was my new best friend.”

Ruby let out a low whistle. “Damn.”

“Yep. Been through a lot together, us two.” She studied Ruby for a little while. “Did you really almost make Taylor pass out during a show?” she asked.

“Unintentionally, but yeah. We sort of bumped into each other at a pizza place before the show – I lost my phone and my walking stick, and he found them for me. Once the show got underway he spotted me in the crowd, and after he got his act together he spent the rest of the night sneaking glances at me. Didn’t see each other again for almost two months, which is when I knocked him over at TAFE. Rest is pretty much history.”

Sophie seemed to be taking this in for the rest of the time we were at Coles. It wasn’t until we had left the supermarket and were waiting for Matthew and Katie that she opened her mouth again.

“I’m impressed,” she said to me, her voice pitched so that I was the only other person who could hear her.

“Stop the bloody presses,” I snarked.

“I’m serious. She’s much calmer than I expected. Especially seeing as she’s a Hanson fan and all that.”

“They’re not all teenies, Soph.”

“I’m beginning to realise that.” She gave me a small smile.

“Thanks for not hating her on sight.”

“Well I did promise you that I would behave myself today. And I always try to keep my promises.” She pulled her ponytail forward over her shoulder and started playing with it. “Does she know about…you know?”

I nodded. “Told her a week before my birthday. She didn’t know before then.” I shrugged. “She has her own health issues so I don’t blame her for not finding out before now.”

“I can feel my ears burning!” Ruby called out as she walked up behind us. Sophie jumped almost a foot in the air, and I very nearly burst out laughing. Sophie’s response to this was to scowl and give me the finger.

Once we were all back at my parents’ and had demolished the pizzas we’d ordered for dinner, Ruby and I holed ourselves up in the kitchen while Sophie, Matthew and Katie went downstairs with a stack of plates and most of what we had bought at the shops. “Are you sure you’re okay with this, Mum?” I asked as I popped open the microwave. “Us taking over for a party, I mean.” As I said this last part, I tore open the wrapper around the popcorn and put the packets inside into the microwave.

“Taylor, you aren’t a teenager anymore,” Mum said, her tone faintly chiding. “Of course your father and I are okay with it. Just don’t break anything, and please try to keep all the noise downstairs.”

“Will do,” I said, snapping off a quick salute before closing the microwave door and turning it on.

Mum smiled and reached up to ruffle my hair. “And if you need either of us, you know how to get in touch. Zoë’s at a friend’s for a sleepover, and your dad and I will be home by midnight.”

“Taylor! Get your arse down here, it’s about to kick off!”

“Yeah, yeah, hold your damn horses!” I yelled back. Sophie’s voice had been barely audible over the sound of popcorn popping in the microwave, and I’d had to raise my own voice just so she would have a chance at hearing it downstairs.

Mum let out a chuckle at this. “I’ll leave you all to it then. Have fun.”

“We will,” I said with a smile.

“The natives are about to riot,” Ruby called out to me as Mum left the kitchen, and I looked over at her. She was perched on one of the chairs at the dining table, running a finger around the rim of the glass of water that sat on the table in front of her. “We’d better get down there.”

“Hang on, the popcorn’s almost finished…” Just as I finished speaking, the microwave started beeping at me. “Speak of the devil. Can you find a bowl or something to put all this in?”

“On it,” Ruby said, and she got up from the table. I nodded at the cupboards next to the drawers, and moved aside just in time for her to come up beside me. A bit of digging around produced one of Mum’s big mixing bowls. “Will this do?” she asked as she held it out.

“Perfect,” I said, earning myself a smile.

The very first thing Ruby and I saw on the TV as we joined the others downstairs with the bowl of popcorn and a stack of glasses was the first Eurovision performance for the evening. “Oh look, it’s Courtney Love’s little sister,” Katie said from her spot on the floor as I closed the door behind us. “Oh sweet, popcorn!”

“And she can actually sing,” Sophie said. She grabbed a handful of popcorn out of the bowl and tossed a couple of pieces into her mouth. “Sounds a lot better than she did in last night’s preview too,” she added.

“So have we missed much?” I asked as I settled myself on the lounge and put the bowl of popcorn down in a clear spot on the coffee table. Ruby sat down next to me, drew her feet up onto the lounge and shifted herself closer to my side.

“Nah, just all the intro crap and Petra what’s-her-bucket opening the show,” Matthew replied. “Bugger-all really.”

“Awesome.” I leaned forward and scooped up a handful of popcorn, quickly popping a piece into my mouth.

During the first commercial break, after France, Lithuania and Moldova had performed, conversation turned to the topic of mine and Ruby’s relationship.

“So how long have you two been going out?” Katie asked over an ad for RocKwiz.

“Two months,” Ruby replied. “Since a few days after Tay’s birthday. We got ice cream and went for a walk, and just before we headed back to the car he asked me out.” A chorus of ‘aww’s rose up from both Katie and Sophie at this.

“Have you met Nikki and Kate yet?” Katie asked, and Ruby nodded.

“Yeah, they’re awesome. Gave me some really good advice about dealing with the fans now that I’m in the inner circle.” I felt her shift a little. “The fans scare me a little now, if I’m being honest. I was always a little nervous around them, but now…”

“Yeah they freak us out a little too,” Matthew said. “You do get used to it eventually, don’t worry. It helps that they’ve mellowed out a lot over the years. There’s still crazies out there but there aren’t as many as there used to be.”

“Shh, it’s back on!” Sophie said, and threw a piece of popcorn at Matthew. “Shut up!”

"You could be nicer about it,” I clearly heard Matthew grumble over the commercial break ending, but he soon quietened down.

“So what do you think?” I asked Ruby quietly while Julia and Sam were interviewing some of the Eurovision performers.

“Of your friends?”

“Yeah.”

Ruby didn’t say anything at first – I figured she was contemplating her answer. “I like them. Sophie might take a bit of getting used to, though.”

“Yeah, I kind of expected that to be honest. But I’m glad you like them. I’m pretty sure they like you too.”

“Oi, quiet down in the back!” Sophie said, evidently having overheard Ruby and I. I threw a handful of popcorn at the back of her head before settling down to enjoy the rest of the show.

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