Chapter 2....Party of Seven...
Chapter 2.......Party of Seven....
"Hey, I'm Ike." Isaac smiled as a girl around 13 answered the door.
"Hi, what do you want." She gave him a confused look.
"Um...my mom asked me to ask you if you or your sister wanted to baby-sit for us, we live up the street.....um the brown house." Isaac explained.
"I don't think I can, let me ask my sister." She ran inside. Isaac shrugged and sat on the front steps.
"Hey, did you need a baby-sitter?" A voice asked. Isaac turned to see a short redhead in plaid pajamas.
"Was that you're older sister?" Isaac asked confused.
"No, that's Lindsay, she's 13, why she's taller than me, I still don't know. I'm Megan." Megan stuck her hand out.
"Hi, I'm Ike." Isaac said shaking it.
"So you guys need a baby-sitter?" Megan sat down next to him.
"Right, from a half hour from now to around 8:30 tonight."
"Sure, sounds good to me."
"Thanks. Remember the brown house with the huge driveway on the left."
~*~
"Hey Zac." Lucy smiled and walked up the driveway in a blue cotton dress with little red flowers on it. Zac smiled back and gulped.
"Hi." He got up from where he was sitting on the porch and brushed his khakis off and straighted the J.Crew plaid shirt his mom had picked out for him.
"So where are we going tonight?" Lucy asked following him to the white wicker rocking chairs on the porch.
"Probably whatever my parents pick out, I have no say ," Zac said rolling his eyes and sitting down.
"Hey I like your shirt." Lucy smiled and sat down in the chair next to him.
"Yeah yo-ou look nice too." Zac said, gulping. His voice cracked.
Dammit, damn puberty, he thought.
Lucy looked down and snickered.
"Sorry, I hate this, everytime my damn voice squeaks I get closer and closer to sounding like Barry White." Zac sighed. Lucy laughed.
"Hey I think it's cute, don't knock it."
"You do?" Zac looked suprised.
"Sure, it's odd, but in a cute kinda way." Lucy shrugged.
"Cool." Zac sat back in his chair happy with himself.
~*~
"Hey what are you going to order?" Faith looked over Taylor's shoulder onto his menu.
"I'm not sure, I'm kinda in the mood for fish." Taylor shrugged squinting into the menu.
"Taylor hunny, can you see okay, do you need to get your eyes checked?" Diana asked noticing Taylor.
"No, mom I'm fine." Taylor mumbled burring his head in the menu.
"And then once when I was working in a fast food restaurant as a fryer, I dropped a whole thing of burgers...." Mr.Hanson rambled on with his "burger misfortune" story. Everyone had heard it at least a million times, but he was telling it to Zac and Lucy who looked bored out of their minds. Zac cracked a smile when Isaac, who was sitting behind Mr. Hanson started mimicking and mouthing along the words. Zac jabbed Lucy in the side, who looked up and smothered a giggle when she saw him.
"Funny, huh?" Mr. Hanson asked, who was in hysterics. Zac and Lucy knodded enthusiastically, holding back laughter.
"Isaac, stop that!" Diana scolded. Isaac immediately stopped and burst into laughter when Mr. Hanson turned to look at him.
"Oh give the boy a break, Diana, he thinks it's funny that's all." Walker said, hushing his wife and turning back to his story.
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Back at the house Megan was trying to call Lindsay. It took her about 5 wrong numbers to get it right.
"Lo'?" Lindsay picked up.
"Hey, it's me, you want to come over, all the kids are asleep and if something doesn't happen soon I will be too."
"Do you think they will mind?" Lindsay said.
"Well, if you don't I think I'm going to loose my mind I'm so bored."
"There has to be something for you to do."
"I'm too afraid to touch anything. I'll break it."
Lindsay laughed, " You probably would. I'll be right over."
"OK. We'll play Monopoly. Board games for bored people." Megan said, giving herself a look in the mirror.
"Bye."
"Laters."
5 min. later Lindsay knocked on the door.
"Shhhhhhhh! The kids are sleeping." Megan yelled contradicting her warning.
"Sorry. Wow they have a nice but small house...uh I mean cozy." Lindsay pointed out.
"That was the same thing I thought."
"Well, I challenge you to a game of Monopoly. We play until bankruptcy."
"I accept your challenge." Megan said while making a slapping motion.
They had been playing for 30 min when Isaac walked in.
"What are you doing home so early?" Megan asked.
"I wasn't in the partying mood." Isaac shrugged, even though going out to dinner with the rents didn't really qualify as "partying"
"Oh, well, this is my sister Lindsay." Megan said introducing Lindsay. Isaac shook her hand and did the nice to meet you thing then made his way upstairs.
"Oh, yeah, someone named Claire called and left this number." Megan handed Isaac the number.
"Oh, thanks. I'll call her now." Isaac said with a smile. He ran upstairs.
"Fine I'll show myself out." Megan said talking to herself.
"What about your money?" Lindsay asked Megan as she gazed up the steps to where Isaac had just disappeared.
"I'll get it later. You should have seen him before they left. He was really bummed. Anyway he didn't seem to like me very much." jerk, She added in her thoughts.
As they walked out Megan heard the conversation between Isaac and Claire.
"Hey, yeah I'm fine, yeah I miss you too Claire, you talked to Zac...Oh....oh I'm so sorry, yeah me too."
Megan shut the door as quietly as she could and walked home.
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The next day Megan stopped by the Hanson's house to get the money for baby-sitting. As she neared the house she heard the three oldest children of the family. She saw that they were playing hockey, so she walked up to them and said," I'm sorry to be rude but I was never paid last night."
"Ike was supposed to do that." Taylor said with an annoyed tone.
"Sorry I'll go get it now." Isaac ran into the house to get the money.
Zac and Taylor looked at Megan and noticed that she had a school bag on.
"Was it your first day of school?" asked Zac.
" Yep, it was OK." Megan shrugged.
"Just OK?" Taylor raised an eyebrow, even though he had been homeschool he had been informed the Tulsa public schooling was one of the best in the state.
"Well, I kind of got lost." Megan admitted.
"Oh, we understand," Taylor and Zac smiled at her and then at eachother. A somewhat unnatural motion that made Megan feel uncomfortable
"I'm really sorry." Ike apologized running out of the house.
"That's okay," Megan smiled taking the money.
"Hey maybe we can show you guys around the neighborhood sometime." Zac said as he pointed to his brothers.
"That'd be cool, well I've been go home and get going on this damn homework. C-ya'll later." Megan waved and started down the driveway.
"Hey Meg!" Taylor yelled, "Tell Linds I said hi!"
"Will do." Megan knodded and walked off.
"How do you know her sister?" Isaac asked on their way back to the porch.
"I don't know, she was walking down the street this morning, I guess on the way to the bus stop and she asked me if I saw her sister, we have a little chat, and I for one am quite proud that I have taken myself out of the way to greet the neighbors." Taylor said smugly.
"I wish you would take yourself out of the way." Isaac muttered, catching Taylor's grammar mistake.
"She seems nice." Zac sitting on the porch, and taking off his blades.
"Right." Isaac said and looked off into the direction Megan had taken off from.
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"Helloooooo!" Zac burst into the den screaming.
"What the hell Zac?!" Taylor turned around from where he was sitting with Faith.
"Hello my loving brother and what are you and fair Faith planning on doing this morning?" Zac asked dancing around them.
"Stop it Zac, you're scaring us, now go outside and.....frolic or something." Taylor said pushing Zac out of his way.
"Yes, yes dear brother you're right, much too glorious a day for me to be spending it inside." Zac sang and pranced outside.
"Oh my lord, I am now convinced, he is NOT my brother." Taylor buried his head in a pillow.
"Then what is he?" Faith laughed.
"I think my parents found him on the doorstep, he must have dropped from the sky."
"From the heavens?" Faith suggested looking up at the ceiling.
"No from a mysterious space craft that the government forgot to tell us about, I'll bet they have secret agents all over trying to find him." Taylor explained, finding himself believing it even more with every word.
"Yes, I'm sure, and the X-files are just home videos of what "really" goes on with the FBI." Faith rolled her eyes.
"Or maybe...."
"Taylor, stop, you're going to convince yourself that your brother is an alien and will be terrified for weeks, so do yourself a favor and stop before you're started."
"I already AM afraid of him," Taylor stated and sat down next to her.
"Well, then go and....frolic or something." Faith snickered.
"Heeeeellllll no." Taylor shook his head and smiled.
"I wonder if he's actually doing it.." Faith looked out the window.
"I'll bet he is," Taylor turned around. "Well, is he?"
"No...he's not even out there." Faith shrugged and turned back to face Taylor.
"He's not? He'd better not being eating all our food again, do you have any idea how much that kid eats?"
"He's a 13 year old boy, it's normal get over it."
"I didn't eat that much when I was 13..."
"Yeah and look at you." Faith pointed out. Taylor looked down on himself.
"What? I think I'm a good size for my age." Taylor stretched out the hem of his tee shirt.
"Right, a size 0 in girls...that's totally normal." Faith rolled her eyes.
"I'm not a size 0 and I don't wear girl's clothes." Taylor protested.
"I never said you did, I just needed something to size you up against." Faith shrugged.
"You can check the size of my pants right now, if you want." Taylor smirked.
"That's okay, I'll take a rain check on that one, now let's go find Ike, I wanted to meet those new girls across the street."
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Zac had already thought of Faith's plan and had rounded up everyone. He stood in from of a map of Tulsa, in military gear, with Avie's little silver baton which he was using as a pointer. Everyone had crowded in the boy's room and they were sitting on the bed, and were also all convinced that Zac had definitely lost it.
"First we'll hit the Woodland Hills mall, and then..." Zac slapped his pointer around on the map.
"I do believe he's really gone off the deep end this time." Lucy mumbled. Faith silently agreed.
"Is there something you'd like to share with the rest of the group Miss.Lucy?" Zac
asked.
"No, not really, you just look like you're ready to join MASH." Lucy wrinkled her nose at Zac's attire.
"Well no one really asked you now did they?" Zac pointed out straightening out his jacket.
"Well no one really asked you to turn Tulsa into Battleship but you have." Lucy shrugged.
"Fine then, does anyone else have any better ideas?" Zac asked, with his arms crossed.
"Let's go to that new cafe, you know the one with the computers, that should be cool." Faith suggested. Everyone agreed to that, Zac looked a bit disappointed but went along with it.
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"I like Tulsa a lot better then I did before, I haven't really been able to see in this area..." Megan smiled looking around at the scenery in the park.
"Yeah, when dad told us we were moving to Tulsa I thought we'd end up in hee-haw or something." Lindsay laughed.
"Well it's pretty uptown around here, but outside of Tulsa you need a cowboy hat." Taylor smiled and ran to keep up with Faith who was eager to get to the new cafe.
"Will you stop with that damn thing." Lucy muttered. Zac followed behind her kicking a hackie sack around.
"No way, I'm just getting a hang of this thing." Zac said constipating on his game.
"Zac! Stop it!" Lucy pushed Zac out of her way as he almost crashed into her, trying to keep up with his game.
"Stop it..." Zac mimicked her. Lucy glared at him and kicked the hackie sack away from him, Zac crashed onto the ground.
"OH FUCK!!!" Zac screamed.
"How many fingers?" Lucy laughed standing over him.
"I've got one for you." Zac mumbled reaching for her outstretched hand, which disappeared once he said that.
"Hey Zac, you okay?" Lindsay yelled back to Zac.
"No." Zac shot Lucy and look and stood up.
"Hey guys, this is it!" Taylor said, once they were standing in front of a tall cafe with
a large " @ " symbol on the sign.
"Whoa." Lindsay stared dumbfounded at the building.
"Dude this is cool." Taylor pushed past everyone and walked through the door, with everyone else following. The Mighty Bosstones blared from the speakers and waiters
in jeans and tee shirts with "@ the cafe.com" written on them running around serving lattes and cappachino on round trays with the "@" symbol on them. IMacs in all colors lined the walls with several chairs and couches around the same area. There was a long bar with a neon sign that said "Juice Bar".
Taylor sat down on one of the couches and watched a guy perform a poetry/keyboard performance on the small illuminated stage. Faith was however uninterested so she followed Megan to get a drink at the Juice Bar. Zac headed over to a few computerized video games and Isaac reluctantly joined Megan and Faith. Lindsay and Lucy strayed over towards a large area where they sold books and computer games and other unusual items, more than likely to have the "@" symbol on them.
"Ew gross!" Megan slammed her menu shut.
"What?" Isaac looked at her.
"Okay, tell me this, who in their right mind would drink a carrot/chocolate drink?"
Megan shook her head in pity of whoever would.
"You're right, that's sick." Isaac raised his eyebrows and returned to his menu.
"I think I'm going to get a berry power shake." Faith said examing the menu.
"Raspberries, strawberries, vanilla, ginseng extract, bee pollen extract....." Isaac rambled on.
"Okay...maybe not, I'll have an orange juice."
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After about two hours at Cafe they had all headed back, with free mouse pads. They all headed back to the Hanson's and ended up in the den.
"You know, it's called a little over board." Lucy stared at the round orange mouse pad she was given with the huge "@" on it.
"You're right." Zac agreed and used his blue one for a coaster.
"Well that was cool." Faith said smiling across the room at them.
"Yeah, it was." Isaac said turning on the TV.
Faith looked at her watch, "I gotta use the restroom, I'll be right back." She stood up and walked around the corner into the hallway with the restroom, Isaac stood up and followed her. The rest just watched and sat quietly taking a break.
Isaac tugged Faith's arm and pulled her aside and spoke quietly, "Hey, Ya know when you talked to me about you and Taylor dating and so forth? Because ya know I wasn't OK with it because I thought our best friends title would fade because it would always be you and Taylor and we would never hang out anymore?"
Faith nodded.
"Well, I'm still waiting! When are we going to hang out by ourselves as best friends again, I need that especially now when I miss Claire so much." Isaac explained to her.
"Well, How about tonight? Just you and I and a movie, what do ya say?" Faith asked.
Isaac smiled and nodded, "I would like that, what movie?"
Faith smiled, "I dunno sweetie, but I really gotta pee or else its gonna be all over your floor." She chuckled.
"Now that's the Faith I remember! OK, go pee, I'll look at the movie's section of the paper." He smiled and then walked back into the living area, Faith stepped into the bathroom.
"What was that all about Ike?" Taylor asked.
"Oh nothing, Just had to ask her something, that's all." Isaac explained sitting back down with the paper.
Taylor looked at him, "Oh, OK." Taylor didn't quite trust him for some reason, Isaac and Faith had been best friends for as long as they can remember, and he never liked the idea of him and Faith going out together, and he was sure sometimes he was trying to break the two of them up, but so far things were going OK, so he didn't want to jump to anything. He sighed and laid his head back.
Faith walked back in and saw Taylor with his eyes closed and head laid back, she smiled and then motioned for everyone to be quiet. She quietly tiptoed over to Taylor and then leaned down ever so quietly and then kissed his neck.
"What the?" Taylor said opening his eyes and putting his head back up, then he saw Faith standing there smiling, "Oh its you, well thetas OK then." He smiled and took her hand and pulled her down on the couch with him. They smiled and then looked at Lindsey, Megan and Isaac sitting on the other couch, Isaac's face looked disgusted.
"Next time guys, Get a room please! I mean seriously, watching my best friend and brother kiss and makeout is not a pleasant thing." Isaac explained.
Lindsay and Megan smiled at Taylor and Faith, "Well I think its cute, but then again, I'm not related." Megan said. Smiled at them and then looked at her watch.
"Hey Taylor, can I speak with you for a moment in private, please?" Faith asked.
"Sure." He said standing up and walking with Faith to his room. They got into his room and Taylor shut the door, smiled, and walked he over to his bed.
Faith smiled and shook her head, "Get real Taylor, that's not why I wanted to talk to you in private in your room." She smiled blushing.
Taylor laughed, "I know I was fooling around, what is it?"
She nodded, "OK, I'm going to have to cancel our little movie date tonight."
"How come?"
"Well, Ever since I had that talk with Isaac and told him we would still always be best friends and do stuff together, just him and me, I haven't done anything with just him and I, and so I told him that tonight he and I would go and see a movie, I hope that's OK, you and I have seen plenty of movies together, and Isaac needs me right now, he mentioned Claire to me and so, How could I say no?" Faith explained.
Taylor nodded, "OK, I understand, I just hope this is not some plan of his to steal my girlfriend!"
"Taylor, are you OK?" She felt his forehead.
"I'm serious! He has never liked the thought of us together, maybe he likes you secretly." Taylor said looking down.
"Taylor, hunny, no, trust me, he would not like a girl who has belched and barfed and farted and all that sorta stuff in front of him, very unladylike." She smiled.
"I dunno, I would still like you if you farted on my face." He smiled.
Faith shook her head laughing, "Just trust me OK?"
He nodded, "Sure."
"Thank you sweetie!" She gave him a hug and then kissed him on the lips.
He smiled, "Yea." They both walked back out and into the living room. They noticed that Zac and Lucy were watching a movie and Isaac was putting his new bright green mouse pad under his mouse. Megan and Lindsay were nowhere to be seen.
"Were we in there that long? Faith asked.
Isaac chuckled, "No, but like as soon as you left they realized they had to get back because Megan had to baby-sit for someone and Lindsay was going with her, and these two ordered Urban Legend from Pay Per View, we're forbidden to talk." Isaac rolled his eyes and pointed to Zac and Lucy who were staring wide eyed at the TV.
"Geez, you sure do miss a lot in less then 5 minutes." Faith smiled.
Isaac nodded. He heard the phone ring.
"I'll get it." Taylor smiled and went to get the phone. Faith smiled and watched him go and then looked at Isaac.
"Did you get a movie time? Taylor is OK with me canceling on him, so its all set! Where to and what time?" Faith asked.
"Home Fries with, one of my many fave beauties, Drew Barrymore, at 8 o' clock! So.. We have, " he said looking at his watch, "A half hour to get there, shall we?" He asked smiling.
"We shall!" Faith said laughing, she walked into the kitchen and gave Taylor a quick kiss on the cheek and motioned for him to call her, he was on the phone with someone, so he smiled and nodded and continued talking to them, she smiled and waved and then walked out and then left the house with Isaac to see the movie and spend time with him and pry details from him about Megan and what was going on in that disgustingly romantic mind of his.
o Back to the prologue
o Continue to Chapter 3......
