Saturday afternoon, Leigh called me to make sure we were still on for the evening. I assured her that everything was still set.
"Good. Oh, but, my mom's going to be driving us," she told me.
"Why is that?"
Leigh giggled. "Abby's grounded."
"For what?"
"Oh come on. I know she told you about what happened the other day. After she got home, her dad grounded her for yelling at me and then just leaving me behind. Serves her right. She was acting like such a bitch." I remained silent. "Anyway, we're gonna have a great time tonight! Some of my buds are going to meet us at the restaurant. Is that okay with you?"
What? This was the first I'd heard about other people coming along on the date. "Well, I guess it's okay."
"Great! Well, I have to be going. I need time to primp. We'll be there to pick you up around quarter to six." She hung up the phone before I had a chance to say good-bye.
I spent the rest of the afternoon dreading the impending date. Ike noticed and commented on it.
"Not looking forward to dinner, Tay?"
"Is it that obvious?"
"Yeah. Actually, it is. If you don't wanna go, why don't you cancel?"
"Because I'd feel bad."
"I don't get it, Tay. Leigh is really cute and nice. Why aren't you looking forward to tonight?"
"I don't know."
Ike smiled knowingly. "I bet there's another girl, isn't there? Hmmm. Could it be Abby?"
I glared at Ike. "No, it's not Abby. I barely know her."
"I'd say you know her just as well as you know Leigh."
"Shut up, Ike."
"Fine. I was just making an observation."
"Well, just keep them to yourself, please."
Ike was silent for a moment, but then continued. "You know, Tay, there's nothing wrong with liking Abby. She's a nice girl. She's got no sense of direction, but she's a nice girl."
"Yeah. She's really nice. But you know what? She's only going to be here for the summer."
"Aha! So that's what's holding you back! You don't want a summer fling! That's pretty sweet Tay. Does that mean that you really have feelings for Abby?"
"Don't mock me, Ike."
"I'm not."
"Look, it doesn't matter how I feel about Abby. I'm already going on a date with Leigh. They're going to be stepsisters soon. How would that look if I dated one, broke it off with her and started dating the other? I couldn't do that to either one of them. It wouldn't be fair."
"You're too sensible for your own good, Tay," Ike said, shaking his head. I quickly brushed my hair and turned to Ike.
"How do I look?" I asked.
"Fine."
"All right. I'm going to go downstairs to wait for Leigh." I walked down the stairs and sat in the living room. About ten minutes later, the doorbell rang. I went to answer it.
"Hi, Taylor!"
"Hi, Leigh."
"Ready to go?"
"Yeah." I yelled to my mom that I was leaving and I walked out to the car with Leigh. I climbed into the back seat, greeting Leigh's mom.
"Hi, Mrs. Thompson. How are you doing?"
"Hi, Taylor. I'm just fine. Thanks for asking."
On the drive to the restaurant, Leigh prattled on and on about some new movie that was coming out and about how cute the actor in it was. Yawn. I frankly didn't give a shit, but I didn't tell her that. Leigh's mom told us that she'd be back in about two hours to pick us up. I just hoped that I could last that long.
Once inside the restaurant, Leigh spotted her friends who were meeting us.
"They're here!" she cried, running to meet them. I followed at a slower pace. "Hi, Jenny, Michael, Lisa, Jon. This is Taylor. Taylor, this is everybody."
I smiled and nodded in their general direction. Leigh and I sat down at the table and ordered our food. It seemed that everyone except me had known each other since about elementary school. They talked about really boring things: who was going out with who, why some girl broke up with some guy, about some teacher they all hated. I don't know how I stayed awake.
"Hey, Taylor, so you're in a band, aren't you?" Lisa asked me.
"Um, yeah."
"I thought you looked familiar. My little sister really likes you guys!" She giggled. "Could I get your autograph for her? I mean, I really don't like your music at all, but hey, she'd like it a lot."
The girl really lacked tact. "Sure." I signed a napkin and handed it to Lisa.
"Thanks a bunch."
That was pretty much the last time anyone talked to me at dinner. I couldn't help noticing the fact that Leigh ignored me and spent most of dinner making goo-goo eyes at Michael. I wondered why she'd even bothered to invite me along.
I was extremely glad when I glanced at my watch and discovered that Leigh's mom would be coming to pick us up in a few minutes. I paid the bill for the dinner and then Leigh and I went outside to wait for her mom.
"I had a really great time tonight, Taylor," she told me.
"Really? I was sure that you'd forgotten I was even there."
"What are you talking about?"
"Never mind."
"No. Tell me."
"Well, fine. You spent all your time talking to Michael and ignored me. Why did you even ask me out if you like Michael?"
Leigh smiled. "I do believe you're jealous, Taylor."
"Not even. I'm just pissed that I wasted a perfectly good evening. I could have been doing about a million other things. And all of them would have been a hell of a lot more fun than sitting around listening to you and your friends gossip about people that I don't even know."
Leigh glared at me. "Why are you being such an ass? You didn't have to come, you know."
"Well, I didn't think I was going to have such a miserable time."
"You know what? I think I know what your problem is. You like Abby. Well, I have a news flash for you, buddy. She doesn't like you. She hates your music. Abby told me herself that she's part of an anti-Hanson club. The only reason she ever talked to you was to try and get you to say something stupid or incriminating so she could write about you. To put it plainly, she hates you. So, don't even bother thinking about trying to hook up with her. She's a cold fish anyway."
"You're such a bitch," I said. I started to walk away.
"Wait! Where are you going?" Leigh cried.
"I'm walking home. I don't want to spend a single minute more with you."
"But-"
"Shut up. I don't ever want to see you again!" I turned and began the two mile walk or so back to my house. I finally got home around 11:00. My mom was waiting for me in the living room.
"Jordan Taylor Hanson! Where have you been? I've been worried sick!"
"Sorry mom. I decided to walk home."
"I know. Leigh called me and told me some of the things that you said to her. I want you to go over to her house tomorrow and apologize. Besides that, you're not allowed to go anywhere. You're grounded for the next two weeks."
"Why?"
"Because you were rude to Leigh and also because you were incredibly stupid, walking home by yourself at night. I thought you had more sense than that." My mom shook her head.
"Sorry mom."
"Just go to bed, Taylor."
Sighing, I climbed the stairs and went up to my room. Ike and Zac were already asleep. It seemed odd to me, but then I remembered that both of them had been up at 5:30 in the morning. They'd been on Zoe duty this week.
I got ready for bed and then climbed into the bottom bunk. As I lay there, listening to the sound of Zac's soft snoring, I thought about what Leigh had said. She couldn't be telling me the truth about Abby. Hadn't Abby told me that she liked our music? And Abby couldn't hate me. She'd always been really nice to me. I didn't know what to think. I decided to talk to her tomorrow when I was forced to go apologize to Leigh. Oh what fun that would be.

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