Sean was smiling from ear to ear as he walked to the baggage carousel. In his mind he was plotting a course for the week’s worth of tourism, making lists of places he felt pretty sure he could get the guys into without making a scene, back up plans for different interests. If they liked art, the museums were good, but for anonymity, the galleries in Soho and Chelsea were better. One of the skyscrapers, of course, probably the World Trade Center. He could get them into the one closed to tourists, so they’d get the same view minus the crowds. Sean made plans all the way to his car, when it suddenly hit him. These weren’t some out of town relatives he was going to show around; it was Hanson. And he’d just spent the whole flight from LA chatting with the completely edible Taylor Hanson, who right now had his phone number and had promised to call him.

“You’re losing it, Sean.” He laughed at himself. Half of lower Manhattan, if asked to describe him in as few words possible, would probably answer with either “Tough as nails” or “Cold as ice” and here he was, sitting in his car, feeling downright giddy. “Well, hell,” he told himself,  “If Taylor’s brothers are anything like him, we’ll probably have loads of fun. Not to mention, the whole idea is to make this week as normal as possible, and I could use some of that as much as they could. It’ll be nice not being the one in the group most people are staring at for a change. As for Taylor, well, first of all, he’s way too young, plus, there’s no reason to think he’s anything but a straight guy grateful for some friendly company with no strings attached, romantic or business.”

Sean spent the next six days refusing to let himself fantasize about what could should or might happen if the Hanson boys decided to take him up on his offer.

After Taylor waved goodbye to Sean he quickly made his way to where his family was waiting and let himself be hurried into the waiting van. “So what was that all about, Taylor?” His mother asked.

“Oh, it was no big deal. That was the guy I was sitting next to during the flight. He was pretty cool. I was just saying goodbye and stuff. He offered to show us around the city if we had time, so he was just giving me his number in case we wanted to.”

“You didn’t give him a number, did you?” His father chimed in from the passenger seat.

“Of course not. I’m not nuts.”

“Well, you guys have to be careful. Let’s try to keep this trip as quiet as possible. We’re looking at a long tour schedule.” His father went on.

“I know Dad. He didn’t even offer me his number, I asked for it. He seemed pretty cool. It’s not like I told him where we were staying or anything. I just said I’d ask Ike and Zac and let him know.”

“Good thinking,” Ike added, “That way he doesn’t keep hounding you about it.”

“He wasn’t hounding me at all,” Taylor grew defensive. “He was really nice about it. He just said he’d show us around and we wouldn’t have to deal with crowds and stuff, then he dropped it. Look, it’s not a big deal. He doesn’t know where we’re staying, or where we’ll be this week, and it’s not like I gave him my cell phone number or something.”

“Okay, okay.” Taylor’s dad responded. “After that guy in Amsterdam, your mother and I are careful, but it looks like you handled things well.”

Taylor started feeling guilty about the whole thing. His family thought he just took Sean’s number as a way to “handle” Sean, but he really did plan to call him, and he was starting to think maybe he should try to convince his brothers that they should take Sean up on his offer.

Five days into their trip, the Hanson family was getting restless. The week was almost full of appearances. Busy enough to keep them pretty well exhausted, but with enough time off for them to quickly become bored in their suite at the Plaza. Taylor was not looking forward to next week, when the appearances would stop and there’d be nothing to do but wait for the concert. Judging by everyone’s mood, Taylor figured no one else was either.

“Hey guys.” Taylor sat up on the couch he was laying on watching TV.

“Hmm?” Both Isaac and Zac answered.

“I was thinking. That guy, Sean, from the airplane&ldots; He really was a cool guy. Maybe we should give him a call and see if he’ll still show us around a little.”

“Yeah, right.” Isaac said, turning back to flip through the channels again.

“Call some guy we don’t know and have him show us around New York City, of all places. Isn’t that how like every episode of NYPD Blue starts?” Zac added.

Taylor just stared at Zac coolly, annoyed that they thought so little of his ability to judge people.

Zac realized his humor wasn’t appreciated. “Seriously, we’d be mobbed. There’s a reason we never get to see New York, remember?”

“Well, Sean said he’d give us his personal guarantee that we’d be okay.” As he said it, he realized how stupid that sounded. “Well, he was sort of joking when he said it, but still, he was sort of serious too. I don’t think he’d take us anywhere that we’d be jumped by crowds. It’s hard to explain. He’s really down to earth, and seemed like he’d like to just show us around.”

“Sound’s weird to me.” Isaac grunted. He was probably thinking about the Amsterdam affair, when a young guy offered to show them around the historic parts of the city and ended up leading them to a square filled with screaming girls. It turned out he had a friend of his charging girls $10 each to find out where he was going to take them. Aside from the physical danger of being almost attacked by that many fans, many of whom had been waiting there for hours and were in quite a frenzy, they boys were mostly upset that the guy had befriended them just to cash in.

“He’s not, really.” Taylor defended Sean again. “He’s really nice, and it’s like he doesn’t even notice we’re famous. I didn’t even think he recognized us until an hour into the flight. It’s hard to explain, but it’s like us being celebrities isn’t a big deal.”

Neither of his brothers seemed very convinced, so Taylor decided to drop the subject. He’d call Sean tomorrow and thank him for the offer anyway. He knew he’d never get out of the hotel alone, and probably wouldn’t go out alone if he could anyway, so it looked like they’d miss out on New York once again.

After flipping through the channels three more times, Isaac felt his boredom rising to frustration. “Ugh, I can’t take this for a week. How sure are you that this Sean guy’s not really some screaming fan or psychopath?”

“I’m positive Ike. I wouldn’t have even mentioned it otherwise.”

“And he’s willing to just show us around? Just like that? We don’t have to do anything, or pay him or endorse something?”

“Nope. He said he was going to be in the city anyway. He didn’t ask for anything.”

“Okay, I’m too bored not to say yes, but if asks for ANYTHING, or if I get even the hint that he’s nuts, we come back the hotel, okay?”

“Of course. He starts asking for favors, or getting weird, and we grab a cab and head back here.” Taylor agreed. He’d already planned on that anyway. Sean seemed nice enough, but Taylor wasn’t stupid.

Sean had just managed to convince himself that Taylor wasn’t going to call when the phone rang.

“Hello, Sean? It’s Taylor Hanson.”

“Oh! Hello. I’m glad you got a chance to call. How’s your week been?”

“Ugh.. busy. We’ve been going nuts between photo shoots, magazine interviews, talk shows&ldots;.” Taylor trailed off, suddenly feeling very self-conscious.

“Yeah. I saw you guys on Letterman. That was a great performance.” Sean tried to make it sound flattering without going overboard. In reality he had been drooling through the whole thing watching Taylor, but he obviously couldn’t mention that part.

“Thanks. It’s always fun doing his show. But enough about work, I’m calling to take you up on that offer, if it’s still open.”

“Of course it is. I didn’t really think you’d be able to, to be honest. But like I said, I needed to do some stuff in the city, and a friend of mine is lending me his apartment while he’s away, so I’ll be there anyway.” Sean replied. That wasn’t the entire truth, but close enough. He didn’t want Taylor thinking this was an inconvenience, and the apartment was in fact his own, not a friend’s, but he didn’t want to have to explain how or why a poor grad student had a Central Park view apartment.

“Cool.” Taylor responded. “So what’s the plan? You’re in charge. Just tell us where and when to meet you. We’ve got a shoot all day tomorrow, but after that we’re free until the weekend”

“Well, I can just swing by the Plaza and we can go from there, if you want.”

“Oh, uh&ldots;” Taylor hesitated.

“The word around town is that you guys were at the Plaza, and since I went to high school with the general manager’s assistant, I called her and asked if it was true. I hope you don’t mind. I mean, I wasn't stalking you or anything.”

Taylor gave a small laugh. “Nah, it’s okay. We’re just not supposed to tell anyone where we’re staying.”

“Yeah, I understand that. The only reason I checked up on the rumor is to find out if there was a way to get you guys out without being seen. After all, I did give my word, right? And the good news is, there’s an old security tunnel they still keep open for some high profile guests. Apparently Kennedy used to use it when he was in town on a date. They don’t really use it much any more, but Lisa said if I promised to have dinner with her next week, she’ll let us borrow the key.”

“Oh, wow, that’s terrific! There’s sort of a crowd outside the hotel already, and I was getting worried that we wouldn’t be able to escape.”

“Just leave it all to me.” Sean joked. “Monday around noon sound good?”

“Sounds great. We’ll see you then.”