"What's wrong Taylor? Did Ezra mess up the whole thing?"
"It's not even about Ezra. He did perfect."
"Then what's wrong?" A long silence followed, Taylor with his back towards his brother. "I saw Daniela kiss you." Taylor said quietly, almost inaudible.
"What?"
"I saw Daniela kiss you." Taylor turned to face his brother. Isaac had seen this side of his brother plenty of times before. He knew what was going on in Taylor's head. He shook his head, and decided not to be an ass about this, even though it made him angry.
"Tay, you know you have Natalie. You love her. Daniela's just another pretty face. She's not for you. Natalie is, and you know that. I knew something was up when you told me on the phone earlier that you would mess around with her if you and Natalie ever got in a fight. Maybe after tonight, you shouldn't see her any more. At all."
"So you think she's JUST another pretty face, huh?"
"No, I don't think that about her, but you should. You have your connection and your life with Natalie. You shouldn't even be thinking about Daniela like you are. Only I can do that. Come on. Don't ruin this for me too."
"I'm sorry Ike, but it's just that she's so amazing. Looks and personality."
"I know. That's why you hooked us up. Please just let me have this without being mad at me." Taylor looked at Isaac, for a few moments, thinking things over. Replaying Isaac's words in his head.
"Okay, I suppose." He said defeatedly, shoulders sagging. "I'll try to get over her."
"Thank you Taylor. Is this over now?"
"Yeah. I think so."
"Okay. They're almost done anyway. Poor Daniela's probably wondering if we're all okay." They left the room to go rejoin Daniela, to find that the camera crew was done shooting, and Daniela was collecting Skyla and all her belongings.
"They're done now." Daniela informed them, kneeling down on the floor of the set. She noticed Isaac studying her ass, and Taylor looking away. She wondered what they had said. Usually Taylor would be soaking up the view too, but instead, he was turned away. She gave Isaac a "what's up with him?" look, but he just shook his head and mouthed "later". Daniela nodded and stood up. Taylor began to gather Ezra and his things. Daniela walked over to Isaac, carrying Skyla.
"Skyla, meet Isaac Hanson. Isaac, meet Skyla Vanders."
"Hi Skyla." Isaac smiled at her and shook her little hand. Skyla smiled at him and reached for his goatee. He let her touch it, and when she grabbed a fist full and began to pull, he laughed and gently removed her hand. She frowned, but that was all. Finally Taylor joined them with Ezra.
"So what's the arrangements for tonight?" Isaac asked.
"I drove our van, and it has built in car seats, so I can take Skyla whenever you're ready, and then when do you think you'll be picking Skyla up?" Taylor asked Daniela, but with that same boredom look in his eyes she had seen earlier.
"Well, what's your guys's schedules for tomorrow? Do you have to get an early start?" Daniela asked them. Taylor answered yes and Isaac answered no at the same time. Daniela raised her eyebrows at them.
"How about we pick her up at eleven tonight?" Isaac suggested. Daniela nodded.
"All right. I'm parked this way." Taylor turned and led the way. Isaac took Skyla's diaper bag from Daniela and hung it on his shoulder.
"Thank you Isaac." Daniela smiled at him.
"Welcome." They walked next to eachother the whole way to the van. Taylor pulled out the keychain and pushed the 'unlock' button, then another button, and the back door slid silently open. Daniela was impressed. Taylor put Ezra in his car seat and buckled him up, and set his diaper bag on the seat behind them, and then Taylor asked for Skyla. He strapped her in, and took her diaper bag from Isaac, and set that on the back seat also. He slid the door shut, and pushed another button to start the engine. He faced Daniela and Isaac.
"Thank you Taylor, I really appreciate you and Natalie watching Skyla for me. Say hi to her for me, will you?" She smiled at him.
"Sure. No problem. I'll see you guys at eleven then."
"Yeah. Thanks Tay." Isaac said gratefully. Taylor got into the van and closed the door behind him. Isaac and Daniela turned and started to walk towards Isaac's car. Taylor backed out slowly, then went in the opposite direction, towards the exit of the ramp. As soon as he was out of sight and hearing range, Isaac took Daniela's hand and smiled at her. Daniela smiled back.
"I'm sorry Taylor was so rude for the last twenty minutes. It's his way of trying to get over you, by ignoring you."
"Get over me? What did I do?"
"Nothing. Just being your beautiful self. He really liked you. I had to give him a hard and swift kick to the memory about him and Natalie. He's really jealous of me right now."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know. I didn't even try to flirt with him. I like Natalie too much."
"I know, and he knows, but sometimes he sees beautiful girls as challenges, but then he forgets he's already married."
"Oh. I see. Is it going to be awkward when we go out on double dates now?"
"Hopefully not. By that time, and with Natalie there next to him, he'll behave himself and act like a normal married guy."
"All right, I hope this doesn't put a strain on your guys's relationship either."
"Don't worry about us. We've been through stuff like this before, and we've found out being brothers and best friends is more important than fighting over girls. You know what I mean?"
"Yeah." Daniela stepped closer to Isaac. He hesitated, then slowly put his arm around Daniela's waist. "So what do you have planned for tonight?"
"Well, I was thinking that we could go to that really fancy restaurant, the...um...I can't remember the name of it...let me think...oh! Daniels. They do French. Do you like French?"
"Yes. Well, I've never really eaten french food, except for a couple occasions in my french class in high school."
"That's cool. I haven't been there yet either." Isaac let go of Daniela's waist, and grabbed for his keys out of his jacket and pushed the 'unlock' button. Isaac reached for the passenger side door of his 2004 BMW Z4 3.0i convertable -but the top was up- and opened it for Daniela. All she could do was stare at the beautifl car. Isaac waited patiently, smiling. He was glad she was impressed with the car. A lot of girls were. He knew most girls were suckers for convertables. After a minute of Daniela running her fingers along the curves on the door, she got in and caressed the cream leather seats. Isaac closed the door, then walked to the other side of the car and opened his door and climbed in. He smiled at Daniela, still caressing the interior of the car. Isaac hoped she'd caress him like that later tonight. He started up the car, and put his seat belt on. The sterio came on automatically, and the notes of 'Dancing In The Wind' started to drift through the speakers. As soon as some of the lyrics came back, Daniela turned to Isaac.
"This must be a song from 'Underneath'."
"It is." He turned it down a couple notches. He pulled out of his parking space slowly.
"Do you know where this place is?"
"I have a general idea, but I don't know the exact address. I'll call information for directions and the address." Daniela nodded, and listened to the song while Isaac pulled out his cell phone and dialed information. He ended up turning around while he was on the phone. Oh well. At least it wasn't rush hour, so traffic wasn't so bad. He got reservations set up, so they were expecting them. By then, they were almost there. You could see it from where they were. Isaac hung up, and pulled into the parking ramp. They didn't really get a chance to talk, but that would save more conversation for dinner. They found a spot, and got out of the car. Isaac waited at the back of the car for Daniela to catch up. He wanted her to be the first to catch his hand...he wanted to make sure she was interested. Sure enough, she reached for his hand and linked her fingers in his. He smiled at her, and she returned it with one of her own. They walked in silence to the door of the restaurant. The doorman opened the door for them. Daniela looked around at the fancy decor. Maroon velvet curtains lined the walls, with white Christmas lights accenting at the top, and around the plants on the floor. They approached the hostess booth.