"Zac, you scarfed that whole thing down already? What are you? A vacuum?" Tay stared at Zac who had cleaned his plate, except for a few stray bones. Everybody else still had half their food on their plates.

"I was hungry."

"Really?" Tay lifted his eyebrows. "I thought that you just had something against the chicken."

Isaac leaned over and whispered to his little brother. "Why aren't you and Manda talking?"

"I don't know what to say."

"Tell her she looks nice. Girls dig that."

Zac looked over at Manda, who was slurping up a spaghetti noodle. "She looks kinda weird with that noodle in her mouth."

"Zac, you have so much to learn."

Ginger placed her napkin on the table and stood up. "I think I need to go powder my nose."

"Powder your what?" Manda muttered between noodles.

"My nose, would you girls like to join me?"

Manda had no clue as to where they were going, but she figured that if Ginger was into it, she should be too. The girls got up and Ginger led them to the ladies room.

"This is powdering your nose?" Manda watched as Ginger primped herself in the mirror.

"It's actually just an expression. You say it when you want to go to the bathroom and freshen up."

"And girls go in groups?"

Leigh-Ann pulled out her lipstick. "Yeah, my mom and her friends do it all the time. I'm not sure why. Safety in numbers I guess."

Ginger sat up on the counter. "Isn't this surreal?"

"What?"

"This whole date."

Manda jumped up next to her. "I don't know what surreal is, but it's definately weird."

"Doesn't Ike look handsome?"

The other two girls stared at her. "He should have worn his hair down. Ike looks better with his hair down." Leigh-Ann smothered the lipstick on her lips and smacked them together.

"True. Very true. But he still looks cute. How long have you been going out with Taylor?"

"Well." Leigh-Ann giggled. "We haven't really been going out but I'm hoping. We've been friends for awhile, though."

Manda looked at the older girls and sighed. Her date with Zac hadn't been going that well. "How do you guys do it?!"

"What?"

"Talking. It's so simple until you open your mouth and all this garbled crud comes out. I spent a half an hour talking to Zac about fabric softeners!"

"Calm down, Manda." Ginger put her arm around the frazzled girl.

"He's practically ignoring me. I don't even know why he asked me here in the first place."

"He's probably just as nervous as you are. I'm sure things will get better. Besides, this isn't a normal date. You would have had a better time if you guys were alone."

"Alone? If we were alone then we probably would have talked about such exciting things as mowing the lawn or math homework."

"I don't think so. Believe me, Zac likes you. Everything is going to be fine."

"Everything is not going to be fine, Ike. I'm drowning here."

"I thought that debate about Downey vs. Snuggles fabric softener was truly thrilling," Tay muttered.

"Ha ha. Very funny. And why were you listening to our conversation?"

"You are a foot away from me. It's not like I had a choice."

Ike gave Taylor a harsh look. "Tay, you're not helping. Zac, you just need to relax. You're thinking too much. It doesn't have to be as hard as you're making it."

"Aren't you the one that picked up the phone 20 times and dialed 6 digits of Ginger's number before actually pressing the 7th number?"

"That just proves that it's natural to be nervous."

"Or I'm demented like you."

"Hey, I'm the one trying to help you."

"Ike, I think he's beyond help."

"I am not!"

"Shhh, we are in a restaurant." Tay looked around to make sure nobody was witnessing Zac's pouting temper tantrum. He was disheartened to find that everybody was watching, including the man with the camera, who was still snapping photos. "I don't understand that guy. He's not using a flash. How does he expect those to come out?"

"I'm surprised the restaurant hasn't kicked him out by now. He hasn't eaten anything in a half hour."

"I don't like it."

"Hey, what about me?" Zac whined.

"Would you stop thinking about yourself for once?" Taylor threw his napkin on the table and got up.

"Tay, what are you doing." Ike didn't like this.

"I'm going to ask him to stop."

"That will just encourage him. We'll be in the tabloids tomorrow for sure if you do that."

"I'll be polite." Tay made his way over to the man, who saw him coming and put down the camera. Isaac watched, hoping that Tay wouldn't do anything irrational.

"Excuse me, but you've been taking our pictures for about an hour now, and it's kinda getting annoying. We're just trying to have dinner."

"It's a free country."

"But there is a thing called decency," Taylor leaned in towards the man.

Back at the table, Isaac couldn't stand to watch anymore. He got up and walked over to Taylor who was hovering over the man, who looked a good 80 pounds larger than Tay. "Taylor, let's just sit down."

"Yeah, boy, take your brother's advice. Sit down."

"I wasn't talking to you, sir."

"I want that film, Ike."

"Why? Who cares, the pictures won't come out anyway."

"Says you." The man pushed his way out of his booth and past the brothers, practically knocking Isaac over.

"Hey! What gives you the right?" Taylor grabbed the man's shoulder. The man turned around.

"Are you assaulting me?"

"What?! No."

"You grabbed me!"

"I just..." Taylor threw his arms in the air and the man snapped another picture.

The entire restaurant silenced and watched. A waitress came over. "Is there a problem here?"

"Yes, this Hanson boy is assaulting me."

"No I am not!"

Ike stepped in. "He wasn't doing anything and you know it."

"I know that you'll be hearing from my lawyer!"

"Sir, just calm down. Can I get you anything?" The waitress tried to appease the man, who was rubbing his shoulder and leaning to one side.

"My check, please. I want out of this restaurant. I've never seen such hooligans in my life!" He limped towards the front of the restaurant with the waitress following close behind.

"That is so bogus!" Taylor watched the man chew out the manager of the restaurant. He was pointing in Tay's direction and grabbing his shoulder.

Zac sat at the table in disbelief. He wasn't sure what had happened. He did know that Taylor couldn't have done anything to physically hurt that man.

"Ike, you saw it. I hardly touched him."

"I know, Tay." Isaac put his arm around his brother and led him back to the table. "We better just pay the check and leave."

The girls soon emerged from the ladies room and saw that the check had been paid and the guys were standing next to the table, ready to leave.

"What's going on? Why are we leaving?" Ginger looked at Ike in confusion.

"I'll explain in the van. We just have to go."

"That's just amazing. I can't believe people are really like that." Ginger sat in the front seat next to Ike, who was driving the girls home. He thought after the incident it would be better to cut the evening short.

"I know. It's hard to believe. Tay, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just...confused. You don't think he'll actually call his lawyer do you?"

Ike knew that there was a definate possibility that the man would call his lawyer. People like that love the chance to prey on celebrities. He was sure he just wanted money. But he didn't want his brother to feel any worse than he already did. "Nah, just forget about it. I'm sure nothing will come out of it."

"Hey, Ike, it's only 7:15. Do you think that you can drop Leigh-Ann and I off at Stone's?"

"How are you gonna get home?"

"We can walk. It's only a couple of blocks."

"Fine. Here, take the cell phone." Isaac threw the phone back at Tay.

Isaac pulled up Ginger's drive and she pushed in the code to the gates. As soon as they were up to the door Ike jumped out and ran to the other side of the van. He opened the door for her and helped her out. "Here you go madame."

"Why thank you, sir."

They walked up to the front door. "Look, I'm sorry about all of this. Next time will be better, I promise."

"So there's gonna be a next time?" She smiled.

"I hope so. I forgot to tell you that you looked beautiful tonight."

"Actually, you didn't. You told me that in the van on the way to the restaurant, and then again while we were eating, and then..."

"Okay, I guess I did. Must have slipped my mind." He looked down at his shoes.

"I had a really great time tonight."

Ike looked back up. "You did? Even though the evening ending at 7:30?"

"It's not the quantity but the quality."

"Can I kiss you?" he whispered.

She blushed. "Yes, you can."

Isaac leaned in. Suddenly, he felt the prescence of eyes watching his every move. He turned his head and saw Zac and Manda staring out of the van window. "Uh, I think we have a couple of prying eyes."

She looked over. "So, who cares?" She grabbed him around his shoulders and pressed her lips on his. For a second he was startled but soon he relaxed and kissed back. Zac and Manda sat in the van wide-eyed.

"Zac, that's a kiss. It almost looks like the ones on the soaps."

"You watch soaps?"

"Yeah, I watch Days of Our Lives and Another World."

"I watch Another World!"

"You do?"

"Well, my mom got me hooked."

"Look, they're still kissing."

"Don't they need air?"

"Guys, stop watching them. That's so rude." Taylor smacked Zac on the back of the head.

"Ouch!"

A few minutes later, Ike hopped back in the van smiling.

"Why, Ike, whyever are you smiling?"

"Like you don't know Zac. You were watching the whole time."

"Not the whole time."

After Leigh-Ann and Tay were dropped off at Stone's Arcade, the van headed back to Manda's house. When Manda jumped out of the van, Ike looked back and waved at Zac to go with her. He slowly followed her up to her doorway.

"Thanks for everything, Zac. I had a good time."

"You did?"

"Sure. I mean, maybe it could have been better."

Zac looked down and sighed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. I just meant that..."

"Don't worry, I know what you meant."

"Well, I guess I better go inside. I guess..."

"Yeah, um, yeah." Zac put his hands in his pocket and looked at Manda, who was fooling with her jacket buttons.

"Yeah." Manda stood for a moment. Then she slightly leaned towards Zac. Zac leaned in as well. Then he stepped back and smiled nervously. He dug his foot into the ground. He stepped back up and slowly leaned closer to her. He closed his eyes.

"Ouch!" Zac opened his eyes and began blinking irratically. "My hair! It's in my eye."

"Wait, let me get it." Manda began to pull at Zac's hair.

"Ow! You're pulling my hair out of the roots!"

"Gosh, sorry."

Zac pulled the stray hair out and began to rub his eyes. He sighed. This wasn't going the way it was supposed to. "Maybe I should go."

"Oh, okay."

Zac turned around and started to walk away. He stepped on a rock and his foot slipped under him. He fell flat on his stomach. Quickly, he jumped up and smiled. "I'm okay. Just fine!"

Manda rushed up to him. "Are you sure?"

"Yup. Absolutely okay! Just a little rock. Nothing more. Just fine. Yeah..." He felt like crawling into a hole and dying. Suddenly, Manda grabbed his shoulders and pulled him down. She leaned up and kissed him on the lips. Then she smiled, giggled and ran towards the door and into the house. Zac stood in the driveway stunned. He started to head back to the van when he saw that it was gone. Isaac had drove it next door and left him in front of Manda's house.

"Sweetheart! Zac! Are you going to stand there all night?"

Zac looked up at his mother, who was standing in his yard next door.

"I'm coming." He slowly made his way back home, still trying to figure out exactly what had happened. He touched his lips. "Wow."

"No, over there! To the right, Leigh! More, more to the right." Leigh-Ann held up the laser gun and tried to aim at the video asassins that were jumping around the screen. "Okay, you got him. There! There's one to the left now."

"I see him, I see him."

"No, not there! Oh!"

"Damn! Got me. You wanna play again?"

"Nah. I want something to eat."

"But we had dinner."

"Always room for a snack." Taylor grabbed Leigh-Ann's hand and pulled her to the food court area of the large arcade. "I am so hungry for fries."

"I want a soda." She handed him a wad of dollar bills.

"No, on me." He shoved them back at her.

"Tay, it's just a soda."

"We're technically still on our date, which I invited you on. So it's on me."

"Okay. Then I'll also have a cheeseburger, a large fries and a chocolate shake."

"You're kidding right?"

She winked and sat down at a table. Tay sat down with the food a few minutes later. "There is no way you're gonna be able to eat all that."

"Sure I will. Who won that pie eating contest last year at the fair?"

"Jimmy Ridge."

"Well, yeah, but who came in second."

"Patti Chui, I think."

"But I beat you."

"Only because I had the flu and threw up after eating two bites." Taylor shoved a handful of fries in his mouth.

"You're not a very pretty eater."

"Huh?" he mumbled with his mouth full.

She laughed. "Point made! Didn't your mom ever teach you that it's impolite to talk with your mouth full?"

Taylor swallowed. "Yes, she did. But I don't see my mom around, do you?"

"You are encorageable."

"I'm what?"

"Nevermind." She sucked down her chocolate shake. After gulping that down and eating half her cheeseburger, she felt like she was going to throw up. But she didn't want to admit to Taylor that there was no way she could eat the rest of the food. She picked at her fries and tried to look like she was still hungry.

"You can't eat anymore, can you?" he laughed.

"I'm eating!"

"You're picking, not eating. You're so strange; I love that."

She threw a couple of fries at him. He picked them up and stuffed them into his mouth.

"Okay, fine. What do you want to do now. We've played all the games. We've eaten tons of food, and we've stared at all the weird people here."

"I dunno. Actually, it is getting late. I don't want to be walking you back too late. There's some freaky people out around here at night."

"Aw, always my knight in shining armor."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't get too sappy on me now."

Walking back, Taylor put his jacket around Leigh-Ann's shoulders, completely ignoring that she was carrying her own.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"Taylor?"

"What?"

"We're on a date. We're going out. Can you believe that?"

"Yeah. Weird, huh. Us, on a date. Together. Who would have thought?"

"I did. For a long time I did."

They walked up to her doorway and she leaned against the door.

He fidgetted around and leaned up against the door next to her. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"For coming with me tonight. Even though it was with my brothers."

"I love your brothers. They're almost as cool as you." She turned to face him.

He smiled and blushed. "Almost."

From inside the house they heard a crash. "That's enough, Audrey! I've had enough of you! You just broke that lamp!"

"You've had enough of me?! I can't believe you just said that! You've been coming home late every night! Do you offer me an explanation?! No!"

Taylor gazed at Leigh-Ann, who looked down and frowned. "My parents."

"Yeah. I know." He could see that she was getting embarrased. "Parents fight. My parents fight sometimes."

"Not like that. It's okay, really." She gave him a weak smile.

"If you ever wanna talk, then..."

"I know, Tay. I'm just...I'm not ready, 'kay?"

"Okay." He stared at her for a moment. Noise and yelling kept coming from the house. She flinched every time one of them screamed. "Look, Leigh, you wanna stay at my house tonight?"

"I can't. I mean, your parents wouldn't like that."

"No, it's okay. You can sleep on the couch. It's very comfortable. Zac sleeps there sometimes...when he's mad at one of us."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Maybe you better tell your parents. I wouldn't want to worry them."

"I'll...I'll call them from your house. I don't want to go in there now."

"Yeah, okay." Taylor gently grabbed her hand and folded his fingers around hers.

By the time they got to his house, everybody was asleep. Quietly, he made up the couch with blankets and pillows. "There, that should do it," he whispered.

"Thanks, Tay."

"No sweat. You should call your parents now."

"I will. Go on. Go to bed. I'll be fine." She got under the blanket and layed back, holding the phone in her hands. Taylor leaned down and softly kissed her. He started to walk away. "Taylor?"

"Yeah." He turned.

"I had a really great time tonight. Thanks for our date."

He smiled and left the room. Leigh-Ann gazed at the phone. She picked up the reciever and paused. "I don't think so," she whispered. She hung the phone back up and put it on the coffee table. She turned over and closed her eyes.