Ike waited impatiently in line. The lady behind the Texaco counter was screwing up everybody’s items. His foot tapped on the floor below.
“I need assistance!” The lady said on the brink of tears into the phone.
She started explaining everything that went wrong with her register.
‘I’m never going to get out of here..’ Isaac thought to himself. The line behind him starting to file it’s way back through the small station. Finally he cut right up past the four people in front of him.
“I got eleven dollars in gas on pump seven.” He said to the lady and handed her the exact amount then walked out. Glaring eyes watched as he left the station.
Ike was already late for classes. As he pulled into his parking spot across campus he noticed Nora walking on the sidewalk in front of him. He grabbed his books off the passenger side seat and raced after her.
“Hey, wait up.” He said coming up behind her. She turned around and smiled when she saw who it was. “Hello Isaac. Didn’t think I’d see you again.” She said with an impish grin on her face.
“Why would you think that?” He looked at her in all seriousness. She just shrugged and kept walking. The two of them made their way to Osborne Hall where, to their surprise, they both were heading for the same class. Ike didn’t really notice it but on his way home from his parents two weeks ago he was trying to remember where he had seen Nora before. Then it came to him. He remembered seeing her now familiar face in his Practical Medicine I class.
“God I hate being late” Nora said after a moment of awkward silence.
“I know! Mr. Kempt is going to find some in-just way to embarrass us when we both walk in.” Ike said laughing. “Like I need any more attention then I already get around here.”
“Haha, I HATE that. Especially when everybody laughs after he makes a rude comment.”
“Well You should be used to it.” Ike said trying to contain his laughter.
“Oh stop it!” Nora lightly shoved Ike off the sidewalk. She knew exactly what he was talking about. She was ALWAYS late... twenty-four Seven.
Mr. Kempt always made a comment upon her entering the room tardy. Sure enough the second Isaac held the door open for Nora and him to go in and take a seat. Silence fell over the room when the door sounded shut. Everybody’s heads turned..
“Nice to have you be joining my class today Ms. Murre and..” Mr. Kempt looked down at a sheet of paper on his desk. “...Mr. Hanson. Hmm, late.. once again. Surprise, Surprise.” Mr. Kempt said turning back to the white dry-erase board behind him. The class chuckled. Nora spotted two empty seats across from each other and motioned for Ike who was rolling his eyes to follow her.
They both sat down, looked at one another and gave each other the ‘I told you so.’ look. Turning their attention back to the professor they open their books and silently watched him scribble some notes onto the board.

After the long two hour class, Isaac and Nora grabbed their stuff and headed out the door to the cafeteria. Isaac was having so much fun with Nora. They didn’t know how much they had in common. They were laughing and carrying on.
“Isaac that is so funny!” Nora said giggling uncontrollably, a single tear running down her face. Isaac was telling her about the time He, Taylor and Zac broke into their neighbors house one night because they were hungry because they had ate all the food Walker and Diana bought to hold them over the weekend while they were out of Town with the little kids.
“You did not!” she screamed.
“I SWEAR!!” Ike yelled. “You should of seen the look on Harrison’s face when he walked into his kitchen at two o’clock in the morning and saw three young boys digging through his fridge!” Ike started in another fit of laughter. Nora was holding onto his shoulders trying to keep from
falling on the ground.
“You guys are so crazy! I would have paid money to see that!” She said now holding her stomach because it was hurting, she was laughing so hard.
“Oh god..” Nora tried to stop. “I can’t laugh anymore.”
“Hey..” Isaac started. “Forget cafeteria food.. wanna go out to eat?” He asked. “I know a really good place.” He stopped them right outside the cafeteria building.
“I didn’t bring that much money with me..” Nora said with a sorry look.
“Hey, It’s on me.” He flashed a smile at her.
“Oh?..” She debated. “All right lets go. Never really liked that shit anyway’s.”
Isaac laughed. “You can say that again! You think the higher your
academic level rises, the food will at least start to get a little better.” Nora smiled.
“Come on, lets get out of here.” He held out his arm. Nora looked up at him with a small smile. He gave her a cute little grin.
“Well, you coming?” He asked looking down at her.
“Yeah.. Lets go.”
They both walked across the small court yard arm and arm to Ike’s
Explorer.

************

Hey, why are you out here?” Taylor asked approaching Abby and sitting next to her on the wooden deck swing. He had helped his Mom clean up dinner, leaving Abby sitting at the table talking to Mackenzie.
When he had finished they were both gone. After wondering around the house he finally saw her sitting out on the back deck, legs pulled up to her chest and staring into the dark night.
“Hi.” She smiled as he sat next to her. She lay her head on his shoulder and spoke again. “It’s so relaxing out here.”
Tay laughed to himself. He always thought it was funny how girls would just go and sit some place alone, nothing in the world stopping them from leaning back and disturbing their deep thoughts. “Yeah it’s nice.” he said looking up at the moon.
“I love the woods..” She trailed off. Trees surrounded them. A good size in ground swimming pool lay off the deck to the left. Hearing the water lap around made the atmosphere perfect. Almost like it was a beach, but no fresh salty smell.
Tay looked down at Her. She was definitely thinking about something.
Her eyes were glazed over and she had a worried expression on her face.
He lifted her chin and lay a soft kiss on her lips. She was surprised by it but after a second gently kissed him back.
“I’ll be right back! Don’t move.” He said getting up. After a minute Tay came back out the sliding door with a flashlight. He grabbed her hand.
“Come on. I want to show you something.” Abby hopped up and brought her arm around his waist as they walked to the edge of the woods. A small path lead along side the end of the woods. Taylor switched on the flash light and led the way.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“You’ll see.” Tay said looking down at me and smiled.
Together we followed the path up an incline. When we reached the top, a lawn of grass stretched down a big hill. The bright full moon glistened off the water of a big lake. It was more then beautiful. There were no words
to describe.
“Oh Tay...” I said bringing my hand up to my mouth in awe.
“Thought you’d like it.” He said smiling. The moon made his bright blue eyes sparkle.
“Like it?.. No.. LOVE IT you mean. It’s so beautiful.”
He grabbed my waist and turned me towards him. After a minute of
staring at each other he spoke. “Are you happy with what we are now?”
I looked at him with a confused expression. Not understanding what he was asking. “What do you mean?”
“What I’m saying is..” He paused for a minute. “Do you want more?” He thought for a second then rephrased again. “I mean, Is it okay with you if we’re more then what we are?”
I knew what he was talking about. And I totally respected him for asking.
Tay was the kind of guy who took things slow. Didn’t push them. He
asked permission before making any sudden moves.
I looked up to him for that. That’s what made him the caring, kind, loving Taylor I knew.
I smiled up at him. “Yeah, I think I want that too.”
A grin spread across his face. His lips quickly brushed over mine. I
deepened the kiss. Taylor slid his tongue across my teeth. Opening my
mouth, our tongues did those familiar twirls. I loved his kisses. They were magical. Each and every one. I was definitely ready to move on.
We broke apart after a little while. “Thank you so much for bringing me here, Taylor. I needed this break. And your family.. they’re so great. They took me in as if I was one of you guys and that makes me feel wanted. Loved. I owe you so much.. but I have nothing to give.”
“Baby. You are loved. By me and by everyone else who knows you. What’s
there not to love?!” He said giving me a questioning smile. “...And you don’t owe me anything. YOU are more then enough!”
“I love you.” I said bringing him into a hug. I never wanted to let go.
Taylor hugged me lightly against his side. Arms looped around my waist, we watched for a minute as the moon rose higher in the night sky.
I yawned. Taylor noticed and grabbed my hand. Folding my fingers in with his. “Come on. I’ll tuck you into bed.” He said smiling. I nodded.
We slowly headed back down the little path to the big house at the edge of the woods.

************

“Baby? Did you ever wonder if anybody’s doing this exact thing
we’re doing right now?” Kari asked. Her fingers combing through Zac’s long blonde hair. Zac and her were spiraled out on top of each other on the big white leather couch in the sun room early the next morning. The aroma of pancakes and sausage filled the air. Zac’s head lay on Kari’s tummy.
His eyes were closed. Never had he felt so relaxed. It was his day off
work, Kari had come over and woke him up at nine thirty with a kiss. He was taking in all he could before heading back to the job on Monday.
“I hope. Or else what would this world be coming to?” He turned his head and looked up at her big brown eyes. Bringing her in for a soft kiss. Her hands rested behind his neck and he moved up more so his arms were propped up on either side of her body. Their kisses became deeper with each breath. Zac’s hand wondered up and down Kari’s body, from playing
with her small loop belly ring to her chest.
“Ehem!” Came a voice from the doorway.
Zac jumped and Kari quickly withdrew her hands from the back of his neck and shifted out from under him. Diana looked at the two teenagers harshly, then spoke.
“Zac, can I talk to you for a minute in the kitchen Please. She turned and walked away just as quickly as she must have came.
“Damnit!” Zac swore.
“Oh god..” Kari said holding her hand up to her head. “Zac?..” She said looking at him for reassurance.
“It’s ganna be okay. I’ll just go talk to her real quick. Everything will be fine! Don't worry.” He looked into her eyes and gave a little nod.
Zac knew he could calm his Mom down. He was the king of getting in
trouble. She always went easy on him. But he wasn’t all that sure this time around. Zac crossed his fingers behind his back and headed for the kitchen.
Diana leaned against the counter holding a glass of orange juice to her mouth. Mackie and Avery were sitting at the table across the big white tiled room talking while awaiting their breakfast.
Zac approached his mom and stood in front of her. “Mo-” He started, but she cut him off.
“Zac we have children in this house! Now either take it somewhere other then here or don’t do it at all!” Do you hear?. She said scolding her son almost below a whisper.
“Yeah. I’m sorry. We got carried away.” He said looking down at his shoes.
“Your a big boy now. And I expect you to respect what I have to say. Now I’m saying NOT HERE! Your still under my roof and until then watch where you choose to fool around. You two should be happy I’m letting you be together here as much as I am. I never would have thought about letting Isaac and Taylor! I know it's different now, But don’t push your luck! Got it?” With that Diana walked to the stove and flipped the remaining pancakes.
“I’m so sorry Mom... It won’t happen again. I promise.” Zac said, He totally understood what his mom said. He should have been more aware.
Diana turned her head and looked in his direction. “All right, Now get out of here. Breakfast will be ready in five minutes. Go upstairs and wake up Taylor and Abby for me.” She gave him and understanding smile. She wasn’t going to be so harsh. She knew what he was going through. She was seventeen at one time too.
“Okay” He said walking back to the Sun room to get Kari then go wake up some late sleepers.

************

Beep! Beep! Beep!

“Damnit Ike! shut off that fucking alarm!” Daron yelled from the heap of covers on his bed.
Isaac’s eyes flew open at the sound of his room mates loud voice. It took him a minute to register what Daron was so upset about. Then reality set in. Sitting straight up..“Ugh.. Sorry.” He said dragging himself across the room to his computer desk. Ike hit the button on his alarm to quieted it.
Looking around the messy room, he grabbed his towel that was draped
on his desk chair.
Daron stirred when he heard Ike rummaging around the room. He sat up and saw him heading for the door.
“Where you going?” He asked groggily.
“Shower.” Isaac responded, then closed the door behind him.

Isaac stepped into the warm stream of water. He put his hands against
the tiled wall putting his weight against them. He could barely stand up.
He was so tired. A smile crept on his face as he remembered back to last night.
Nora called him just needing some notes that she had missed during
their first class, but ended up on the phone for god knows how many
hours. They were only four buildings away from each other, but they found everything to talk about. He was beginning to like her more and more each time he thought about her. There was something about her that put him at ease. He liked her, even though he barely knew her, a talk here. Talking to her was like breathing. It just happened. He hadn't known anyone like that in a long time. He didn't know what to do next, but he knew it would come to him eventually.
He wouldn’t mind a girlfriend at this point. To have someone to confide in. He missed being with girls. He never really had a girlfriend but he was open to anything. Now that he was here and all settled in he felt ready. Right now, all he could think about was Nora, and the sooner he finished his shower the sooner he could see her. Isaac leaned back into the now steaming water. His hair soaked it up. His now short bark blonde hair soaked up the water. He closed his eyes and took in the warmth. Today was the last free day before the beginning of another long week.


“Hey!” Isaac greeted Nora at her door. He held up a daisy from behind his back.
Ahhh Isaac, Thank you.” She said smiling. “Let me go put this into some water and we’ll head out.” Holding the door open for him, she
disappearing into her small bathroom. Moments later she returned with her purse over her shoulder and the vased daisy in hand. She placed it on the small table in front of the television.
“All right, Lets go.” She smiled warmly.
Isaac reached for the door handle, but stopped.
“You look really cute.” He said flashing her a flirty grin.
“Thanks.” That made her feel good. Nora felt so comfortable around Ike.
She had only known him a couple weeks. Was that a bad thing? Was
everything going to fast here?
‘Wait a second! we’re just friends.. right? What the hell am I thinking?!’ She pushed the thought to the back of her mind.
“Now come on, the restaurants will start serving lunch if we don’t hurry.
And I want those pancakes!” Nora laughed.
The two headed down the second hall steps and out to the parking lot.
“Where too?” Isaac asked once they were both inside the car.
“Well I was thinking around the lines of Perkins!” Nora said licking her lips at the thought of pancakes with strawberry topping. Whipped cream! LOTS of whipped cream!.
“Then Perkins it is.”