“ You know, Ike, you really don’t need to be so nervous,” Taylor informed him.
“ Nervous? I’m not nervous. Who says I’m nervous?,” Isaac said as he frantically yanked a brush through his hair.
Taylor raised his eyebrows at him. “ Your hair, for one. You’ve been brushing it like Marcia Brady for the past hour.”
“ No I haven’t.”
“ Yeah you are. You’re going to give split ends to your split ends if you’re not careful.”
“ Ha ha, very funny,” Isaac said sarcastically, flinging the brush at Taylor, but hit the wall instead. Looking at himself in the mirror, he frowned and tugged on his beige cords, then his brown long-sleeved shirt, and then the blue shirt he wore underneath. “ I don’t know, should I do something different with this outfit?”
“ Ike, you look fine, will you snap out of it?,” Taylor said, gently shaking Isaac’s shoulders, “ You’ve been doing this for nearly two hours and it’s driving me crazy. I’m sure you’ll do fine, now chill out.”
Isaac sat down on Taylor’s bed and sighed. “ I guess you’re right. I just want Terry to have a good time.”
“ Well it’s not like you need to do anything to impress her. This is just Terry we’re talking about. She’s not shallow enough to judge someone just by their appearance or something.”
“ Well maybe I want to impress her. I also want to show her my romantic side.”
“ Um, hello? It’s dinner and a movie, not the prom.”
“ I know that. Hey, what time is it?”
Taylor glanced at his watch. “ 7:08.”
Isaac jumped up in a panic. “ She said she would be here at 7:00! What’s taking her so long? You think she might have stood me up?”
“ Isaac, sit down!,” Taylor said, pushing him down by the shoulders, “ She’s only eight minutes late. She’s probably finishing her hair or something.”
“ Nah,” Isaac said as he resumed his place on the bed, “ She probably just thinks of this as more like hanging out than a date, so she probably sees no reason to dress up or anything special like that” He looked up to see Taylor giving him a look. “ Okay, so maybe I am just a little nervous.”
“ You think?”
***************************************************
“ I don’t believe this! My first date, I’m so nervous!,” Terry cried, “ Guys, does my make-up look okay?”
“ You look good,” Felicia tried to calm her.
“ Yeah, you’re going to wow him,” Maddy added.
Since all three girls were going to the Hanson’s house - though for different reasons – they had decided to walk there together.
“ But what if he doesn’t like it when girls wear make-up? What if he prefers the natural look? I rarely ever even wear this stuff.”
“ You can barely tell it’s on. Trust me, I’m the one who did the make-up and I’m really good at putting that stuff on,” Maddy replied.
Terry grabbed Maddy’s wrist and looked at her watch. “ Oh no, it’s already past 7:00. What if he thinks I’m not going to show? I knew we shouldn’t have taken so long to leave my house.”
“ Will you stop? It’s only a quarter after,” Felicia said, “ Besides, you don’t need to freak anymore, we’re here.”
Felicia had barely pressed the doorbell when the door was flung open and there stood a smiling Isaac.
“ Hi guys. Terry, you look really nice,” he told her as he held the door open for the girls.
“ Thanks. So do you,” Terry smiled back, feeling suddenly shy.
“ Well, you ready to go?”
“ Yeah, sure.”
“ We’ll see you guys later,” Isaac said to Maddy and Felicia, “ My mom said to send you to her when you got here. She’s downstairs watching TV.”
“ Okay. Have fun you guys,” Felicia said and nearly laughed out loud when she saw how fast Isaac and Terry ran out. They found Diana, holding a sleeping Zoe in her lap and waiting through some commercials.
“ Hey Diana. I hear Zoe was sick today,” Maddy said.
“ Yeah, but she’s doing much better. I’ll just go ahead and put her to bed, since it doesn’t look like she’ll even be conscious for the rest of the night,” Diana said and quickly excused herself.
“ Hi Maddy! Hi Felicia!,” Avery said, giving each a hug, “ Mom said you’re going to be baby-sitting me, Mackie, Zoe, and Jessie tonight.”
“ You could say that,” Felicia agreed, “ But we’ll have lots of fun before you go to bed.”
“ Bed? I was hoping you would let me stay up all night.”
“ Dream on,” Jessica said, eyes glued to the TV.
“ Yeah, you are going to be in that bed in less than two hours,” Diana told her as she came back into the room. She turned to Maddy and Felicia. “ She’s had too many sweets today, so she’s kinda wound up. But she knows that she’s supposed to listen to you. She and Mackie need to be in bed around at 9:00 , but Jessie can stay up until 10:00. Zoe shouldn’t be any problem, but here’s the cellular phone number,” she handed them a slip of paper, “ and Jessie can also help you if you need it.” She leaned in and spoke quietly. “ Jessie hasn’t been in a very good mood today, so for the most part, I would just ignore it. I think she’s coming down with something along with Zoe. As for Avie and Mackie, they have just been either hyperactive or just plain bored”
“ All right. What time will you be back?,” Maddy asked.
“ Around midnight. I’m sure you guys won’t have any trouble, though you may feel pretty tired before long,” Diana smiled, “You’re welcome to sleep in the guestrooms after the kids are in bed.”
“ Thanks, we’ll keep that in mind,” Felicia smiled.
After kissing her children good-bye, Diana left with her husband, leaving Felicia and Maddy with three, suddenly very restless kids.
“ I wanna watch ‘The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh’!,” Mackenzie exclaimed, grabbing onto Maddy’s hand.
“ I’m so sick of that video. If I have to watch it one more time I’m gonna break it in half,” Jessie said.
“ I like that movie,” Mackenzie stuck his tongue out at her.
“ Oh real mature,” Jessie taunted.
“ I’m hungry. Can I have some spaghetti now?,” Avery asked.
“ You have to wait for dinner like the rest of us,” Jessie told her.
“ Yeah, you have to wait for dinner like the rest of us,” Mackenzie mimicked his big sister.
“ Quit saying what I say, Mackie!,” Jessie said.
“ I will if I want to,” he returned.
“ Guys, stop it,” Felicia said, “ Mackie, we’ll find a movie that we all agree on, Jess, just ignore him, and Avie, we’ll be eating in a bit.”
“ But when?,” she whined.
“ Your mom told me dinner was in the oven, so we’ll be able to eat when the timer goes off, which should be in less than ten minutes,” Maddy told her.
“ Let’s watch ‘Lady and the Tramp’!,” Mackenzie exclaimed.
“ No, ‘The Lion King’,” Avery interjected.
“ Forget Disney, what about ‘Romeo and Juliet’?,” Jessie said.
“ Ew! I hate Leonardo DiCaprio!,” Avery gagged.
“ He’s better than N’Sync.,” Jessie said.
“ I don’t like N’Sync.”
” You do so.”
” No I don’t, I just like their music,” Avery defended herself.
“ Yeah right, you were saying yesterday how cute Justin is. Leo, on the other hand, is fine!”
“ These two are like, what, eight and ten and they’re already arguing about guys?,” Felicia whispered to Maddy.
Avery perked her ears up and the sound of the timers buzz. “ Dinner’s ready!,” she shrieked and took of towards the kitchen.
“ Ave, wait! Let me get that!,” Maddy ran after her.
“ Mackie! Look what he did!,” Jessie exclaimed, pointing to the stack of videos he had pulled down.
“ I was just trying to find a movie,” he said defensively.
” Oh Mackie,” Felicia groaned, but stopped when she heard a cry from upstairs. “ Sounds like Zoe woke up,” she sighed, “ Jess, don’t yell at your brother, just please pick up the videos while I go take care of Zoe. Mackenzie, you help her put those away. We’ll find a movie later.”
This is gonna be a long night, she thought.
***************************************************
Erin peered into the kitchen and saw Maddy stirring the dish of spaghetti while Avery watched hungrily.
“ Mackenzie, you have to set them up-right, don’t just throw them in the cabinet!,” Jessie yelled from the next room.
Damn, I wonder what’s up her butt?, Erin thought, noting Jessie’s unusual moodiness. She turned back into the room and bunched the pillows under the covers of her bed once more, making sure it looked realistic enough to fool anyone into thinking she was actually in the bed. Stepping from her room and softly closing the door after her, she quietly tip-toed through the kitchen and into the living room and walked past the still arguing siblings, both of whom were unaware of her presence.
In fact no one noticed as Erin slipped through and out the front door and disappeared into the night.
