"It's raining out." Ike replied.
"You look like a drowned rat." Zac pointed out.
'So what happened with Lynn?" Taylor questioned.
"Well, I'm not quite sure. When I got there she wouldn't let me in. After I convinced her to she ran up-stairs and left me alone. When she came back down, we talked about her family, and she told me about her mother. Her mom was murdered when Lynn was 7. Anyway, then she started to cry."
"She cried?" Zac asked. "Geez Ike, what did you do to her?"
"I didn't do anything. But I think someone did do something to her."
"What do you mean?" Taylor asked.
"Well, when she was crying, it wiped off her make-up, and she had a black eye. Then when I asked her about it, her father came home and she kicked me out. I'm guessing she didn't want him to see me there, casue she made me go out the backway."
"Do you think he did it to her?" Zac asked.
"I don't know. Guys what should I do? If I tell mom and dad and it turns out to be nothing more then her falling down or something, she's going to hate me. But if I don't tell and her father did do it, then he could do it again, only worse next time."
" I don't know what to tell you Ike. Maybe you should just wait and ask her next time you see her. You don't want to jump to conculsions. Trust me Ike, if you accuse her father of something he didn't do, she's going to hate you." Taylor pointed out.
"But if something is going on, you better find out fast cause we're leaving in 10 days remember?" Zac reminded his brothers.
"I know.I guess I'll do it tomorrow."
"Oh man, you got me!" Taylor screamed.
"Ha-ha-ha. WE are the masters of paintball!" Zac said happily, while giving a high five to Caitlin.
"We won again!" Caitlin said excitedly.
"Hey, Ike, why don't you play this time?" Taylor suggested.
"No thanks. I don't feel up to it."
" Aw, come one man, you can't just sit here and worry about Lynn all night. You have to do something to keep your mind occupied. Paintball is a great way to relive stress cause you get to take it out on others!"
"No thanks. I think I'm just going to go watch a movie or think of ways to ask Lynn about her eye."
"OK, fine then,be that way. We'll just play without you. Come on guys, let's pick teams"
"OK, I'll take Caitlin, Mike, Ryan, and Austin." Zac said.
"No way, you had Caitlin both games! That's not fair. When you two get togehter, you always win." Taylor wined.
"That's because we make a great team." Zac smiled
"You like her, don't you?" Taylor whispered.
"What?! Of course I like her. She's my friend."
"No, you really like her don't you?"
"Well, kind of." Zac said shyly.
"So go for it. Ask her out."Taylor encuraged(sp?) him.
"I don't know. She's a really good friend and I don't want to mess that up."
"Zachary Walker Hanson, are you being shy? I've never seen you shy before!"
"I'm not being shy, I'm just being careful."
"Yeah, right. Look just ask her to go to the movies or something. Tell her that we're all going, then when we get there, me and Ike will bail and leave the 2 of you alone."
"Do you think that will work?"
"Yeah, go for it!"
"OK, if you say so."
"Listen, I'll take care of everyone else, so you can talk to Caitlin in private."
"ok."
"Hey, does anyone want food?" Taylor asked,knowing full well that a bunch of teens that have been playing paint ball for the past 2 hours whould be hungery. Everyone began to go inside.
"Um Caitlin? Can I talk to you for a sec?"
"Yeah sure.What's up?"
"Um, well I was um.. wondering, um see Tay, Ike and I are going to the movies tomorrow, and ah... I just wanted to know if you wanted to come too?"
"Well, what movie?"
"Ummm.........." Zac tried hard to remember what movies were playing, but he couldn't. His mind was blank. He looked over to where Tay was standing by the door, listening to their conversation. "Deep Impact" Taylor mouthed.
"Um.. Deep Imact." Zac said, thankful for his brother.
"Ok sure."
"Really?" Zac's eyes lit up.
"Yeah, really. Now can I go get some food?"
"What?"
"Food. You know, stuff you eat?"
"Oh food! Um, yeah go ahead."
As they walked into the house, Zac looked at Tay and smiled. "I owe you one." he whispered.