"I've never been on a real date like this before." Carter looked around the restaurant while she held Taylor's hand in the doorway.
"Really? What about when you went out with Todd?" Taylor asked her while the busboy led them to their table in the corner. He had called in the day before for reservations. He pulled Carter's chair out for her and waited for her to sit before he took his own seat.
"He just kind of waited for me after I was done singing at the club. I've never had anybody actually come to my door and pick me up. And do all this sweet guy stuff like you're doing."
"What cute guy stuff?" He asked, a little confused.
"Tay, you just pulled out my chair."
"Oh." He blushed.
Carter laughed. "Trust me, it's ok. I'm just not used to it. Zac and I never really... went out."
"I noticed that."
"I'm beginning to see why he dumped me." Carter laughed. "Sorry, no talking about Zac tonight."
"One more thing about him first." Taylor had been a little worried about taking Carter to dinner. "Was he mad when you told him we were going out tonight?"
Carter shook her head. "He didn't seem to be."
"Good." Taylor smiled before looking over Carter's shoulder and narrowing his eyes. "Hey here's a question for you... Isaac's in Pennsylvania visiting Beht, right?"
"Yeah. He won't be back until Sunday."
"I thought so." Taylor leaned a little to the side so he could see behind Carter, all the way to the front of the restaurant. "So why is Beth in here?"
"Huh? Where?" Carter turned around quickly to see Beth sitting at a small table. She couldn't see who she was sitting with. Only the top of his head. And it was definitely not Isaac. "What the hell is she doing here?"
"Yeah, that's what i just asked you?" Taylor laughed. "Who's she with?"
"It's a guy."
"I can't see him. What's he look like?"
Carter shrugged, gawking in a very obvious way at the couple. "I can't see him either. He has dark hair. I can only see the top of his head."
"Are they on a date? They can't be on a date. Beth and Isaac are practically engaged. Aren't they?"
Carter nodded. "I thought so. It could be like a brother or something. She wouldn't hurt Isaac like that."
Taylor let out a frustrated grunt before tipping his chair to the side a little, trying desperately to see who Beth was with. His chair tipped all the way over and he landed on the floor. "Ouch, dammit."
Carter laughed loudly. "Are you ok?"
Taylor sat back down in his chair. "Fine, fine. Very lucky I didn't have the tablecloth tucked into my pants."
"That would have been sweet." Carter turned around and her eyes widened with she realized Beth and her mystery man were holding hands. "No way."
Taylor noticed what Carter was seeing. "Should we go over there?"
"I don't think. Let's just wait and see what they do." She turned back to Taylor. "Unless this is ruining our date... is it?"
"Nah. It's kind of adventurous."
"Sweet." Carter smiled and turned around again. She was about to turn back to Taylor but suddenly, she saw who the other person was. He dropped his fork on the floor and when he reached down to get it, his yes met Carter for a second. He looked shocked, and then he quickly turned back around to face Beth. "I don't believe it..." Carter turned back to Taylor.
"What?"
"It's... it's... Satan." She stood up from the table.
"Satan? What?" Taylor shook his head and followed her as she marched across the restaurant to Beth. They stopped in front of their table and Taylor's jaw dropped. "Oh, that Satan." He whispered when he saw who was sitting with Beth. It was Tom.
"Hey." Carter smiled as she smacked her hand down on the table. "What's up." She stared into Beth's eyes.
"Carter!" Beth almost fell out of her chair. "Hi! How are you? I didn't see you here."
"Yeah. Right. Me too." Carter never blinked. "What the hell are you doing?"
Beth glanced at Tom and then looked up at Taylor as if trying to find a way to talk. Then, she looked back at Carter. "I, uhm, well..."
"Hi, Tom. How are you, Tom? Are you having a nice dinner, TOM?!" Carter's voice was getting louder.
Tom stared straight ahead at Beth, wishing there was a hole he could crawl into.
Taylor shook his head. "You know, you'd think if you were going to cheat on my brother, you'd do it some other place other than in his home town."
Carter nodded. "Which brings me to a very important question. "Where the hell is Isaac?"
"I, uh, don't really know." Beth sighed. "There's a lot I could tell you guys, but I don't think it's really your business."
Carter glared and Tom attempted to speak. "Shh. Satan, shut up."
Taylor grabbed Carter's arm and pulled her away from the table. "We better get away from them before Tom has to leave here in a body bag." He whispered into her ear as he dragged her back to their table.
Carter sat back down and glared across the room at Tom and Beth. "I can't believe she would do that to Isaac. What a bitch."
Taylor smiled at the waitress as she set their dinner on the table. Taylor had ordered speghetti with meatballs and Carter had a huge salad. They tried to eat, but they couldn't keep their eyes off of the other couple.
Beth had her forhead resting on her hand and Tom was shaking his head. Then, he leaned over and gave Beth a kiss. Before Taylor had a chance to stop her, Carter grabbed the biggest meatball from his plate, stood up, and threw it across the restaurant. It hit Tom in the back of the head. Tom froze for a second before turning around and glaring.
Carter gave Taylor a quick grin before standing up and walking back over to Tom.
"You hit me with a meatball!!" Tom yelled at her.
Carter shrugged. "That, was for being you, you fucking sped!" Carter screamed before grabbing Tom's plate of speghetti.
"HEY!" Tom tried to grab it back from her but he wasn't fast enough. Carter raised it above his head and flipped it over.
Taylor covered his mouth with his hand as he watched Tom's jaw drop. His hair, shoulders, and front of his shirt were covered his sauce. Carter grinned.
"Oh, so now you want to throw food?!" Tom stood up, grabbed a handfull of speghetti off of his shoulder and threw it in Carter's face. She gasped, grabbed a glass of water from the table, and threw it at Beth.
"What'd you do that for?!" Beth jumped up, acting as if she'd been hit with something radioactive or poisonous.
"You're the one that dumped Isaac for HIM!" Carter "He's not even worth it! How you could do that?!"
Taylor tapped Carter's shoulder. "You know, there is a possibility that we're jumping to conclusions."
Carter nodded. "But we're not. Are we?" She glared at Beth. "See, she can't even deny it. Bitch dumped Ike."
"Alright, fine." Beth grabbed her plate as if not wanting to be out of the fight. She threw it, plate and all, at Carter. Carter ducked, and of course, it hit Taylor on his chest.
Before anybody had a chance to react a tall man who they assumed to be a manager jumped between all of them. "Ok, that will be enough. We're not running a nice restaurant here just to have all the food be on the walls." He turned to Carter. "Ma'am, I'll have to ask you to leave."
"WHAT?!" Carter pointed at Tom. "BUT THAT DIPSHIT STARTED IT!"
"Wow, I haven't heard anybody use the word 'dipshit' in a long time." Taylor chuckled.
The man pointed to the door. "Ma'am, please don't make me escort you."
"Yeah yeah." She grunted. "The food was great by the way."
"Sir, are you with her?" The man asked, eyeing Taylor.
Taylor looked down at his sauce stained, white shirt. "Would you believe me if I said no?" He laughed and grabbed Taylor's hand, pulling her to the door.
Carter stopped at the door and pointed at Tom again. "Don't even think I'm finished with you yet. I'm so going to kick your ass."
Taylor stayed silent until they were halfway home. Then, he laughed loudly. "I can honestly say, I've never had a date quite that fun."
"Yeah, I'm sorry I went and screwed it all up."
"You didn't screw it up. It was fun."
"But you didn't even get to finish your dinner." She said, almost too seriously.
Taylor laughed again. "You're great, you know?"
"Yeah, I know."
"Well, I'm hoping we'll get to have another date. Maybe at a place not so nice?"
Carter nodded. "Definitely. I'm a pretty cheap date. Take me to the hut and I'm happy?"
"The hut?" Taylor nodded. "Right, Pizza Hut. Ok then. How about Pizza Hut sometime this week?"
Carter nodded. "It's a date."
They pulled up in front of their house and Carter's attention was drawn to Isaac's car. "Hey, he's home..." Carter turned to Taylor. "Would you mind if I went to find him? You don't have to walk me to my door or anything." She smiled.
Taylor nodded. "I know you won't be happy unless you know he's ok." He leaned forward. "That's the best thing about you."
Carter smiled and gave him a light kiss on the lips. "I'll see you later then." She ran up the front stairs and into the house, Taylor followed her. He went to his room, and Carter went up the attic stairs to Isaac's room.
She knocked lightly and waited for him to invite her in. Then she pushed the door open to find him sitting on the bed, staring at the door. "Hey." She smiled and sat down next to him. "So, I ran into Beth tonight."
"Quick and to the point."
"Sorry."
"It's ok." He took a deep breath. "I know all about her and Tom. I got to her house and she wasn't there. But she left me a note."
"How nice of her."
"Yeah." He sighed. "She said they were in Tulsa visiting Tom's relatives. And she's sorry, she still loves me, but she's been holding back feelings for him and some other shit that just sucks a lot."
She nodded. "I'm sorry."
Isaac nodded back and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small, velvet box.
"Oh my. I'm really sorry."
"Yeah. I guess I was stupid that I didn't see it coming. Even more stupid that I thought she'd say yes..."
"So she has no idea that you wanted to propose?"
"Not a clue." He held the box out in front of her.
"What? What do you want me to do with it?" Carter looked nervous.
"Could you just... hold onto it for me? That way, if I ever think about her again or start talking about her, you can shove it in my face and remind me that I'm a sped."
Carter laughed and took the box. "I'll hold onto it for you. But only until you find a new girl. A great girl that deserves you and isn't... more than a thousand miles away." She smiled. "And you're aren't a sped. You freakin dork."
He laughed and for the first time in a long time, gave her a big hug. "Thank you..."
"Anytime." She smiled at him. "You're one of my best friends. I'm always here."
"Really?" He didn't know what to say.
"Yeah... you didn't know that?"
"No, I didn't."
"Well now you do." Carter gave him another hug. "By the way, I threw a glass of water in Beth's face and dumped Tom's dinner on his head."
"Nice."
"Yeah, I know." Carter laughed and went back downstairs to find Zac and tell him about everything that happened.