"Yeah, sure," he said sounding a bit confused.
"Ok, see, Zac and Alisha are now officially boyfriend and girlfriend," Gwen started.
"Ok...so what's your point? Anyways, Zac is so happy that Alisha said yes. He thought she only wanted to be friends," Taylor laughed.
"Tay, she has a boyfriend. Besides Zac," Gwen mumbled.
Taylor didn't say anything, he only dropped his jaw.
After a bit of silence, Gwen said, "Tay, please don't tell Zac."
"Gwen," he started, "I have to. He'll be crushed if he finds out later."
"Taylor," Gwen whispered and gave his a kiss on the lips, "just let Alisha take care of it." They continued to kiss passionately, not aware that Zac was standing by the screen door.
"Hey, stop stalking me!" Katy exclaimed sarcastically as she walked up behind Ike at the library.
"Ok, c'mon," Ike laughed, "this is like fate or something! We're always running into eachother now!"
Katy looked at him thoughtfully and the corners of her mouth lifted. "Mind if I sit here?" she asked referring to the empty chair next to him.
He pulled it out from under the table and said, "Sure, I'm getting lonely anyway." He gave her a warm smile.
The talked on and on about everything and nothing, and the time passed by. Katy glanced at her watch and saw that it was already 1:30. "Hey, well, I'm gonna grab something to eat, you wanna join me?"
"Sure!" Ike replied and stacked his books, leaving them on the table. The two walked out of the library and Ike said, "Let's take my car."
She's seeing someone else, Zac kept repeating to himself, there's someone else besides me. I know what to do to make her admit it, he suddenly thought.
Zac was sitting in his tree house alone, contemplating about what her heard Taylor and Gwen talking about. He heard footsteps on the wooden ladder of the tree house and looked up and the blond head that was rising. "Hey Lish," he muttered.
"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked, noticing his sad face.
He took in a deep breath and sighed. "Alisha, I gotta tell you something," he said slowly.
"What is it," she asked, suddenly alert.
He sighed again and replied, "I'm...I'm seeing someone else." Oh God, he said to himself, this plan better work.
Alisha grew very pale. "What?" she managed to choke out. A feeling of total shock swept through her body. "But why did you...I mean....Zac...oh my god," she stuttered.
'I'm so sorry," he whispered.
"Zac," Alisha said quickly, her heart beating rapidly, "I...I mean...me too."
"What do you mean?" he asked cautiously.
She put her head down and replied quietly, "I'm seeing someone else too."
Zac tensed up and stormed out of the treehouse. "I know," he said as he climbed down.
Alisha was right behind him. "What do you mean you know?"
"Alisha," he sighed exasperatedly, "I heard Gwen tell Taylor, ok? I know you're already going out with some guy. I'm not seeing someone else, I just said that to make you admit that you were."
Alisha's eyes grew wide. "What?!"
"Lish, this probably isn't going to work out between us," Zac said as he hopped on the grass.
"No Zac, please, you don't understand. I never thought you really liked me enough to see me again after that night we met. My friend's friend asked me out and I thought of you right away, but Zac, I never thought I'd see you again. If I did, I would have said no," Alisha explained.
"Then why didn't you tell me about it before?" he asked, his eyes intent on hers.
"I didn't want to hurt you. Zac, when you asked me out I was ecstatic. Happier than when Jason asked me out," she said. "Zac, I was going to tell Jason that we need to break it off when I got back."
"You were?" he whispered.
She swallowed and nodded. "Yeah," she said quietly. "Zac, I'm so sorry," she continued and walked closer to him, a tear running down her cheek.
He put his arms around her. "It's ok," he whispered, feeling guilty about lying to her. He gently kissed her cheek, then her lips.
"Zac," she managed to choke out, "I'm sorry." He just lightly kissed her face. "I'm so sorry," she said again.
"Shhh," he said, "it's ok. Just don't do it again," he added, mostly joking.
"I won't, I swear."
"C'mon," he suggested, taking her hand, "let's go inside." The two walked across the lawn hand in hand, with Alisha's head on Zac's shoulder.
"So do you know what you're going to do when you get out of college?" Ike asked Katy.
"Umm..well," Katy started, "I'm definitly gonna try to get a job doing broadcasting of something like that. Actually, I really want to work at MTV."
Ike and Katy had been sitting at the restaurant for about an hour and a half already, just babbling on and on. They were definitly falling for eachother.
"Shoot," Ike murmured, "I'm so sorry, but I have a class soon."
"Oh, that's ok, I have a job interview later anyways," Katy replied.
Ike paid the bill and the two walked out to the parking lot to Ike's car. He started the engine and pulled out of the lot. They continued their conversation all the way to Katy's dorm.
"Well," Ike said, "I really had a good time."
"Yeah, me too," she replied and smiled.
"We should do this again sometime," he suggested.
"Sure!" Katy exclaimed with enthusiasm. "Hold on, here's my number." She pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from her bag, and scrawled out her number in neat handwriting. "There ya go."
Ike glanced down at the paper and said, "Thanks! I'll call ya sometime!"
"Ok," she said, "bye!" As she walked off she said to herself with a laugh, he's never gonna call me.
Gwen and Taylor were sitting on the floor of his room, skimming through news clippings and other photos of when Hanson was younger.
"Tay," Gwen laughed, "you were so cute when your hair was short!"
"So you're saying I'm not cute anymore?" he joked.
"No, I'm not saying that," she answered, kissing him on the nose. "You're still cute!"
"Good, I don't wanna think that all of a sudden I lost my cuteness!" he said sarcastically.
"Relax Tay, you won't loose your cuteness!" she assured him.
"Good," he replied with a smile. A few seconds later he said, "Hahaha, Ike's teeth used to be so screwed up!"
"Tay," Gwen laughed, "you're so mean!"
"I'm joking, I'm joking!" With that, he pulled her closer and kissed her intensly on the lips.
"Whoa," she whispered, "I wasn't expecting that."
Taylor grinned mischeviously and kissed her again. She returned the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck. They continued their kissing session not noticing the time pass by.
Zac and Alisha were both on the couch, discussing their relationship. Alisha's head was in Zac's lap and he was fiddling with her hair.
"Zac," she said, "I really want to make this work out."
"Yeah," he said in a hushed voice, "but I don't want you to have to choose between me and what's-his-name."
"Jason," she supplied. "And Zac, I'd rather be with you."
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yeah," she replied and paused. "Zac," she hesitated, "whenever I was with Jason I could only think about you."
"Really?" he asked with a smile.
She nodded. "I'm sorry about before when you asked me out and I said no. I didn't want to start something I couldn't finish."
"It's ok, it doesn't matter now."
They both just sat their, enjoying eachother's presence (sp?). The rest of the world had stopped, so it seemed, and it was just them. Just them sitting there, everything revolving around them.
"Well," Zac sighed with a laugh, "as long as we're talking about this stuff, anything else you want to tell me?"
Alisha was silent.
"Lish?" Zac asked, detecting that something was wrong.
"Yeah," she whispered. "There is something else I need to tell you."