For the record: I know I've aged these guys a bit if you're one of those people who is just now reading this straight through... But I want to keep them all up with their "real life" ages so it doesn't get confusing. Hope that makes sense. Enjoy.
"I just don't think he's good enough for her."
"What?!" Carter let go of her guitar long enough to slap Taylor on the arm. She'd been playing him some of her new music and he was scribbling notes on a piece of paper, trying to come up with lyrics. So far he wasn't doing very well. Lyrics were Zac's thing but he wanted to help Carter with her music like Zac always did. "How can you say that my best friend isn't good enough for my little sister?"
"I don't know. He couldn't even think of a decent place to take her on their first date." He shrugged, remembering the hours Zac spent bugging him about where to take Melissa.
"I believe his exact words to me were, 'Nowhere is good enough for her'." Carter grinned. "Still think he's not right for her? Or are you just protective because you used to date her?"
Taylor knew she was just kidding. Carter never had any hard feelings that he and Melissa had once been an item. "No. I'm just protective because she's Meli. And we never actually dated. We just "went out". You know how that goes. We were too young to actually be dating. I don't think your dad would have let her. Coem to think of it... Has Meli ever actually dated anybody?"
Carter shook her head. "This would be her first real one. Which would be why Zac was so anal about where to take her." She giggled.
"Anal?"
"Yep." Her cellphone beeped and she took a minute to read the message. After she smiled Taylor shook his head.
"How many times is that boy going to text message you on their date? What's been going on all night?"
"That one was from Melissa. They're still driving around in circles trying to figure out what to do. They went to a bar for a drink and Zac's allergies made him go Commander Sneezoid. He sneezed in some guys drink and after getting into a yelling match, they got kicked out. Now they're just driving around again."
"Zac got into a yelling match with the guy he sneezed on?"
Carter smiled. "Nope. That was all Mel."
"Brilliant."
Her phone beeped again and she put her guitar down on the floor to check it. "No point in trying to play anymore. This is almost like being on the date with them. Oh this is from Zac. She suggested the bowling alley but they got there and it was packed. Now they're begging for suggestions."
"Tell them to hit a motel."
Carter tried to slap him again but he caught her arm and pulled her down on top of him on the bed. She laughed. "Are you trying to seduce me?"
"Never takes much."
She rolled her eyes. "You are amazingly self assured, you know that?" Her phone beeped again. "OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!" After checking it, she gasped, jumped off of Taylor and starting dialing.
"What? What's wrong?"
"Who the hell leaves a message like that?"
"Like what?"
"Taking Zac to the emergency room. Be back late." She threw her phone onto the floor in frustration. "Now she's not answering. I'm going to kill her."
"That's all she said? Taking Zac to the emergency room?" He picked up the phone from the floor and looked at the message. "She may have had to turn her phone off when they got there. If they're there yet. Or if he's hurt... maybe she can't answer?"
"Zac will." She tried to pull the phone back to call Zac's number but Taylor took it from her and wrapped his arms around her.
"Babe, stop wigging. If it was serious she would have told us to come. He probably just... I have no idea what he did but don't worry. He'll be fine."
Carter mumbled into his shirt. "I'm going to kill them both."
Taylor laughed. "I'll help."
Three hours passed and there was still no news from Zac and Melissa. Carter was sitting on the couch in Taylor's living room throwing pillows at the wall. He suggested she do this when she went downstairs, grabbed one of Diana's plates and aimed it at the refrigerator. "No frisbee with the good plates. Let's find something softer to throw." And he handed her a stack of pillows. He knew that sometimes the only way for her to relieve her anxiety was to throw things.
Finally, the front door opened and Melissa and Zac came walked in. Zac had his arm around her shoulders and her arm was around his waist. She appeared to be holding him up. Zac's hand and wrist were heavily bandaged.
Carter jumped up from the couch and threw her arms around Zac. He looked surprised and almost fell backwards.
"Whoa!" Melissa grabbed his arm to steady him. "Careful. He's really loopy. They gave him morphine."
"What the flaming hell happened?!" Carter practically shrieked. Taylor grabbed her by the waist and made her sit back down on the couch.
"Why don't we chill out and let them sit. They look like they've had a rough night."
"Thanks." Melissa smiled gratefully and helped Zac into the love seat across the room. She sat down next to him and rested her hand on his knee. "First of all, sorry for the lame message. Zac dropped his phone when he fell and broke it and mine was going dead from all the text messaging. I wasn't even sure if that one would get to you. Then once we were at the hospital I didn't even think to use the pay phone."
"So what happened?" Carter asked, staring at Zac who was leaning to the side with his head resting on a pillow.
"Well, it started with us walking out of the bowling alley and it ended with Zac slipping in a puddle and falling backwards through the plate glass door."
"Holy hell!" Taylor and Carter yelled at the same time.
"Yeah. He's quite graceful. He's lucky. His head is what actually broke the glass but his arm went backwards and he ended up with about 100 stitches in his hand and wrist. it kind of looks like somebody tried to commit suicide while having a seizure. It should leave an interesting scar."
"But he's ok?" Carter asked, almost laughing because Zac was already asleep on the loveseat.
"Yeah. He's just doped up... wow I think this will go down in history as the worst first date ever. Who knows if he'll ever want to try again."
Taylor kissed Carter on the cheek, stood up and walked over to wake up his brother and help him upstairs to his room. "Well, I guess I'll try to get him to bed. I'll be back down in a few minutes. I think he just needs to sleep."
Melissa nodded. "Thanks." She sighed as Taylor disappeared with Zac and plopped down onto the couch with Carter.
"Sorry your date was cut short."
Melissa nodded. "Sorry I almost gave you a heart attack."
Later that night, Zac woke up in his bed completely confused as to why his hand was throbbing. Then, everything came back to him. He mumbled to himself and crawled out of his bed. He felt miserable. He'd ruined the date. The only thing he wanted to do was wake up Melissa and apologize to her. However, when he got out to the balcony, he found her sitting indian style on the porch swing with a blanket over her shoulders, Carter's walkie talkie sitting next to her.
Zac smiled and sat down next to her. "What's with the walkie talkie."
"I've been turning it on every few minutes to make sure you were ok. You know... still sleeping. Why aren't you sleeping?" She asked, pulling the blanket off of her and using it to cover them both.
Zac used his good arm to wrap around her. "I just woke up and I wanted to come see you. Why are you out here?"
"Couldn't sleep. I wanted to come over and sit next to you while you slept but I thought that might be pathetic."
Zac laughed. "So is sitting out here by yourself with a walkie talkie."
"Yeah, well. That's me."
Zac sighed. "I'm sorry the date sucked."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Melissa asked, sitting up straighter, Zac's arm falling away from her shoulder.
"We didn't even get to do anything. I spent all week trying to think of something that was good enough for you. I thought, mini golf, movie, bookstore, walk in the park, picnic... nothing was good enough. Then I go and fall into a window and you get to spend the rest of the date in the emergency room with me."
Melissa smiled and touched his cheek lightly. "With you. That's really all I wanted. We could have spent the evening in a dumpster as long as I'd have been with you."
"Dumpster, eh? I'll keep that in mind for next time."
"Next time?"
Zac laughed. "Oh course. I heard you talking to Carter and Taylor downstairs. I was out of it but I wasn't asleep. You're crazy to think I wouldn't want to go out with you again."
Melissa yawned. "Good. Well, since that's settled. You should probably go back to bed. You're supposed to rest. You whacked your head really hard on that window."
Zac shrugged. "I'm ok. Really."
"I don't care." She stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Sleep!"
He laughed, grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down. Then, forgetting that one of his hands was injured, he wrapped both arms around her and hugged her. "Stay here."
"Here?"
"Please?" He smiled and kissed the top of her hair. She smelled better than anything he had ever smelled before and while he knew it was silly, he didn't want to leave her for the night. "Just stay here."
Melissa smiled, looked up at him and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Ok."
"I thought you didn't kiss on the first date?"
"First date was over about 3 hours ago."
"Oh. Good." He laughed, kissed her one more time, and then relaxed on the swing with her in his arms. There was nowhere else in the world he wanted to be.