Early the next morning Taylor sat alone in the garage while the rest of the house still slept. He fiddled around with his keyboard for a few seconds before fingering the opening bars of "O Holy Night." His mother wanted him to play it on Christmas morning. Soon, though, he ventured away from the carol and started pounding out "Rockin' Robin" instead. Then, he stopped for a moment before letting his fingers glide along the keyboard again, softly playing a improvised melody. His sweet daze was shattered when the side door to the garage opened and Leigh-Ann walked in.

"Hi, Tay," she said quietly.

"Hey." He returned to his impromptu song.

"I was taking a walk and I heard you playing. I hope you don't mind."

"No, I don't."

Leigh-Ann slowly walked up to the keyboard. She was hesitant about saying much to him, for fear that he was still furious at her. "It was really pretty."

"Thanks." He didn't look up at her, but continued to concentrate on the music and the keys.

"Are you still really mad at me?"

Taylor stopped playing and looked at her. "No." He could see how nervous she was. He knew he still had a right to be angry with her, but he couldn't seem to hold a grudge. He had never been able to be mad at someone for very long. Besides, he knew that as much as she had hurt him, he had hurt her too, yet she still always managed to forgive him. In a way, he felt like he had been using her for the longest time. "Leigh, I still don't understand how you could tell that guy my personal stuff, but I guess I calmed down since yesterday. I'm not in the mood to be angry with anyone. It takes too much energy."

"Yeah, it does." She sat next to him in front of the keyboard.

"Why are you taking a walk so early?"

"I couldn't sleep last night."

"Because of our fight?"

"Well, that and...my parent's have been fighting a lot lately. They were at it all night."

"I'm sorry."

"What can you do, right?"

They sat in silence for a while before Taylor started to play again. The song was soft and melodic. Leigh-Ann watched as his fingers strolled up and down the keyboard. She always thought he had such nice hands. She knew that was a strange thing to think about, but she noticed a lot of little things about him. She loved the way some strands of hair would fall into his face when he was playing. And she noticed the look he gave whenever he finished a song. It was a satisfied look, like he was proud of what he had just done. She loved the slight smile he wore when he was enjoying every bit of the melody, and the way he closed his eyes at the intense parts of a song. She loved the way he held her hand, like he was afraid to hold on too hard and hurt her. She shivered when his shoulder brushed up against hers as he reached for the highest notes on the keyboard. He gently pressed the last few keys and let the sound of the notes flow and then fade.

"That was amazing."

"I think I'll call it 'Sunrise' seeing as it's barely 7:30. But it's not like I have the foggiest idea of what I just played. I could never play it again."

"I think that's what's so special. When it just happens once. It's about the moment."

Taylor pondered over her thought. "The moment, huh." He absent-mindedly slid his hand along the keys. "You wanna go out with me?"

Of all the things he could have said to her, she was the least prepared for that one. "What?"

"You're talking about the moment. Moments only happen once and I think that this is a great moment. You thought that I only needed you when I was depressed about Rebecca, but that's not true. You said that I was trying to make you take her place. Leigh-Ann, you already had, long before she died."

"I don't get you, Tay. She was supposed to be the love of your life -- up until then at least."

"I was 13 when I was going out with her. I don't think I could have had a love of my life. Yeah, I loved her as my best friend because that's what she was for a long time. But after we broke up we hardly spoke to each other. We hardly spoke to each other before we broke up, too. Because she had a new best friend, and so did I. People grow apart, and that's what happened. I'll always love her, but not how you thought I did."

"You are too deep for your own good."

"I know, we both think too much." Taylor scooted on the bench to face her. "So, will you go out with me? On a date?"

"Yes, I'll go out with you...on a date." She smiled and then blushed.

"What?" he laughed.

"Nothing. You're just so weird."

"And why is that?"

"You're moody. I mean...I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just that yesterday you wanted to basically throw our friendship away and today you're being all sweet to me."

"I'm Taylor Hanson, I can do that."

She laughed. "Don't let that head get too big now. My gawd." They sat in silence for a moment.

"So are you still in love with JTT?" he finally asked.

"Are you kidding? He's so out. I am now in love with Leonardo Dicaprio and Dawson from Dawson's Creek, James Van Der...something."

"Oh, okay. That's good. So you've taken those posters off your wall then."

"Yes, and I replaced them with all new ones! I still don't understand why you don't have any posters on your wall."

"I do."

"Yeah, a poster with the huge Hanson logo on it. I'm shocked you don't have a poster with your huge face on it."

"That would be utterly disgusting," he smirked. He felt very comfortable sitting with her and just talking. It's what he enjoyed most about Leigh-Ann. They could always talk, even if it was about nothing it particular.

"I thought you liked Gwen Stefani and Jennifer Aniston."

"They're pretty cool. Did you read that in some magazine?"

"Actually, yes I did. It's not like you would ever admit to me that you had a major crush on some celebrity."

"I do have a major crush."

"On who? Pamela Lee?" she joked.

"Nope." He gazed into her eyes. "You."

At that point they both blushed and turned away from each other. Leigh-Ann got a burst of confidence and reached up and moved his head so he was facing her once again. She pulled her legs up underneath her to sit up higher on the bench. She quickly kissed him softly on his lips. Then he leaned down to kiss her again. Neither noticed when the upstairs door to the garage opened and Zac trotted down the stairs. He was halfway down before he saw them quietly kissing next to the keyboard.

"I guess you just don't have any will power do you?"

The two were startled and immediately broke apart. Taylor sighed in relief when he saw it was only Zac. "Hey, Zac. I didn't hear you."

"Obviously." Zac walked the rest of the way down the stairs and leaned up against the keyboard. "Now I'm going to have that picture in my head for the rest of the day."

"Sorry. It's not like we knew you were going to come down. I thought you were still sleeping."

Zac did look like he just woke up. He was still in the Star Wars pajamas that he wore to bed. His scraggly hair was flying in all directions. And the bags under his eyes seemed darker than ever. "I can't sleep." Zac walked around the keyboard and smoosed in between the two. Leigh-Ann almost fell off the side of the bench but Taylor reached around his little brother and grabbed her arm to pull her back up. Zac didn't seem to notice.

"Is there something we can help you with Zac?"

Zac looked up longingly at his brother and then at Leigh-Ann. "Help me?"

"Yes, is there something you want?"

Zac sighed. "No...why would I want anything." Zac continued to give Taylor the biggest puppy-dog eyes he could.

"Aw, man, Zac. Why are you so needy?"

Leigh-Ann got up. "I guess I better go."

Now it was Taylor's turn to sigh. "Yeah, I guess. I'll call you okay? You know, about the thing?"

Leigh-Ann smiled and buttoned up her jacket to go back out into the cold morning air. When the door to the garage shut Taylor looked back down at Zac whose head and arms were spralled out on the keyboard.

"Okay, Zac, what do you need?"

"Remember how you said that you would do 'anything' for me?"

"Oh gawd no," Tay mumbled as he rolled his eyes. "What do you want?"

"I need somebody to go out with me."

"What?! You want me to fix you up or something?"

"No! I already have a date."

Taylor was taken aback by this. Zac had failed to mention his date with Manda to anybody else in the house, for fear that everyone would make fun of him. He had sworn Ike and Jessie to silence. Although with Jessie it took about $15 to do it. She didn't seem to thrilled at the idea of him going out, although he couldn't understand why.

"Exactly who are you going out with?"

"Manda."

"Okay, now I'm confused. I thought you hated her."

"I do...I did. But Ike told me I liked her."

"And he's an expert?" Tay said sarcastically.

"That's not what I want to talk about. I don't want to go alone. I need you to come with me."

Tay could barely hold in the laughter. "You want me to chaperone your date?"

"No! I want to double date. You can find a girl. Just go to the mall and yell 'Taylor Hanson needs a date' and about 100 of them will come charging."

"You would be surprised at how much that doesn't appeal to me."

Zac ran his hands through his knotted hair. "Then ask Leigh-Ann. You two seem to be all mooshy...duh, of course you would ask her."

"I don't know Zac...what are you planning on doing with Manda?"

"We were supposed to go rollerblading, but I want to do something else."

"Like what?"

"Okay, I was watching Another World yesterday and..."

"Zac!" Taylor rolled his eyes once again at Zac. "Soap operas again?"

"Just hear me out, okay?" Zac sat up and tried to look serious. "I think I'm really getting into this whole 'date' thing. I wasn't at first. Actually the idea made me want to puke my guts out."

"That's beautiful..."

"Wait. Just be quiet for a moment. But I started thinking about it. And I was watching the soap yesterday and Jake had made Vicky this huge romantic dinner thing with wine and fish and cake and..."

"No."

"Huh?"

"Zac, you're 12. You are not going to make a romantic dinner for Manda, especially not on your first date."

"I know that! Sheeesh!" Zac looked at Tay like he was an idiot.

"Fine. Go on."

"I can take her to a fancy restaurant though. But not alone. And that's where you come in."

"What? You want me there so I can pay or something?"

Zac grabbed Tay's shirt and started shaking him. "No. I want you there for freakin' moral support! There is no way I can face that girl alone!"

"Chill, Zac," Tay said as he removed Zac's hands from his clothing. "Fine, I'll go."

"Thank you!" Zac grabbed Tay and practically squeezed the life out of him.

"Zac...you're choking me!"

"Sorry." Zac jumped up, renewed with energy. "All I need to do is call her and tell her that our date will be moved from 2:00 to...when do people have romantic dinners?"

"How should I know? Six o'clock?"

"Perfect." Zac stood and thought for a moment. "Where do people have romantic dinners?"

"Um, doesn't Mom and Dad always go to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse?"

"Yes! Perfect! Don't you need reservations?"

"Probably? But do you know what else you need?"

"What?"

"Mom and Dad's permission." Taylor stood up and patted Zac on the shoulder. He strode past him and up the stairs back to the house.

"Aw, man," Zac sighed. "One other thing I need...money."

"Alright Ike, you know the plan," Zac whispered to his older brother. The three brothers stood in the hallway preparing to confront their parents.

By that afternoon, Zac had managed to make reservations for six at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. The other two seats were for Ike and whoever he managed to get to go with him. Zac felt he needed more moral support than just Tay and his smoochy girl friend. This meant that Ike had no more reasons to put off asking Ginger out, something which he still hadn't done. Tay had convinced Leigh-Ann that this was a good idea, although he highly doubted that fact. He wasn't really in the mood to have both of his brothers right next to him during their first real date together. The thought seemed kind of icky.

"Tay, you have to stress the fact that I am very mature for my age. And Ike, play up that you're 17, I think they'll really go for that."

"Zac, this isn't such a big deal. Why do you make everything a huge project or plan?" Ike knew his parents would let them go if he went. But Zac loved his games, so he was ready to play along.

"Because this is a huge deal. Okay, are we ready?"

Ike and Tay looked at each other and sighed. "We're ready," Ike mumbled.

"Let's go."

The three strode into the kitchen. Their parents looked up at them. "Now what is this?" Diana said, spooning ice cream in her mouth.

"Mom, Dad, hear us out. We have a proposition for you."

Walker stared at Zac, who seemed to be completely serious. "Shoot, sport."

"Tonight, the three of us are going out on the town. We are going to a nice restaurant and we are taking girls with us. We are responsible, and we feel that you should let us go. Tay, do you have anything to add?"

Tay reluctantly muttered out his 'lines.' "Zac is so mature Mom, there is no way we could get into trouble," he said in a monotone voice. "Ike, do you have anything to add?"

Ike tried his best not to laugh. "Oh, yes, Tay. Mom, Dad, I am 17 now and would take very good care of my two younger, yet very mature, brothers. We would not be out late. And our dates are very responsible, well-mannered young ladies."

Walker tried to hide his smile and their parents just looked at each other. "Um...sure, okay."

Zac seemed shocked at how easy it was. "Really?"

"Yes, Zac. We trust you completely, bud." His dad softly punched him in the shoulder. "Who are you taking out?"

"Manda from next door."

"Nice girl. Okay, just leave us the number and name of the restaurant and go have a good time." Walker and Diana went back to their snacks.

Zac stood for a moment pondering whether he should be happy at the victory or confused at how easy it was. The two older boys turned and left, now that their part in Zac's little adventure was over. All they needed to do now was dread the long night they had in front of them. And Ike still needed to work up the courage to ask Ginger out. He knew that taking her out with his little brothers wasn't going to be a great first impression, but he just didn't want to go out with anyone else.

"Oh, Dad?"

"Yeah, Zac?"

"Can I have your credit card?"

Walker nearly choked on his ice cream.

"Ginger?"

"Yes, may I ask who this is?"

"So you forgot my voice already. You were just talking to me yesterday."

"Ike?"

"Yeah, it's me." Isaac layed on his top bunk with the phone in his hand. Taylor sat on the bottom bunk trying to drown out the conversation above.

"What's up?"

"Well, I have something I need to ask you and I think it will be easier now that we aren't face to face."

"Okay. What do you want to ask?"

"Yesterday I was going to ask you out, but it must have been something in the air or maybe I was tired from all that basketball, I just couldn't seem to form the exact correct words to do it."

Ginger laughed. "Something in the air, huh?"

"Oh, yeah. Tulsa weather, it will make you crazy sometimes."

"So you're asking me out now?"

"Actually, I'm asking you out for tonight. And it's kind of a strange situation." Isaac felt so relieved that he was able to get the words out without acting like a moron that he didn't mind telling her that the date was a triple date with his brothers.

"I'm free tonight. What's the strange situation."

"It will be a triple date...with Taylor and Zac."

"That should be interesting."

"So you'll go?"

"Sure. Why not. I haven't met your brothers yet and I really wanted to."

"Great. Um, I'll pick you up at 5:30 then?"

"Sounds good. I'll see you then, Ike."

After he hung up he leaned over the side of the bed and looked at Taylor who was drawing characters in his notebook. "Are you ready for this?"

"Not really, but a promise is a promise."

"One thing is for sure, it's gonna be a long night."