"Hello?" Rachel called out as she shut the front door to Melissa's house behind her. "Mel? You here?"

"Yeah! Just a minute!"

Rachel heard the feint yell from somewhere in the house and walked in to the kitchen to wait. She put her purse and the folder she carried down on the table and walked to the counter where Melissa had their Keurig set up. She browsed the selection, loaded the machine up and grabbed a cup from the cupboard. As she waited for her drink, she browsed the papers hanging on Melissa's fridge hung by an assortment of magnets.

A new one caught her eye: ‘Me? Crazy? Don't make me come down off my unicorn and slap you!' and she giggled. It sounded exactly like her friend. It held up an orthodontist reminder slip for Briahna. Melissa's fridge wasn't that much different than hers. They had the same school flyers. Crazy magnets. A dry erase calendar that showed no free days because their kids had decided to participate in everything they could think of. Melissa often joked about putting a meter in her car. With two more kids, Melissa was constantly busy. McKenzie kept her driving everywhere with her many events, but it was nothing like Melissa.

The photos on the fridge hadn't changed in months, years even. A baby photo of Caleb remained in the same spot from when it was first put up two years previously. She knew there was a photo of McKenzie and Briahna. A photo of her and Melissa. A photo of the Fatones. One of just the Fatone kids. There was even a photo of the Fatone kids, plus McKenzie. ‘She's practically ours anyway,' Joey had said when he'd taken the photo. One photo caught her eye. It was new.

Rachel heard the Keurig stop, but she paid it no mind as she grabbed the photo that hadn't been on the fridge when she'd been by a few days ago. Her eyes widened looking at it. She recognized the event immediately, but it was a photo she had never seen before. It was Joey and Melissa's wedding. Kenzi was three and a half and had shared flower girl duties with three year old Briahna. In the photo she was wearing her flower girl dress; a white satin a-line gown with a sash that tied in the back. The sash was burgundy which matched not only the bridesmaid dresses but the groomsmen vests and ties.

In the photo, McKenzie was on the dance floor, holding on to JC's hands while standing on his feet. Kenzi had her head titled up grinning at JC. The groomsmen had all worn suits, but at the time the photo was taken, JC had ditched the coat revealing the burgundy vest over the white long sleeve button up. He was smiling down at Kenzi. Rachel had never seen the photo.

"Whatcha lookin' at?"

Rachel gave a small shriek and whirled around, sending some of the papers and magnets to the floor. "Jesus H. Christ Mel! Are you trying to kill me?"

Melissa cackled as she bent down to pick up the fallen items. "I stood in the doorway for a good five minutes and you didn't even notice. What were you looking...oh." She said knowingly seeing the photo on the fridge.

"I've never seen that before." Rachel took some of the papers from Melissa's hand and put them back up on the fridge. "In the two years I've lived here, you have never once changed any of these photos. Now you add this one," she narrowed her eyes at her friend. "What are you playing at?"

Melissa laughed at Rachel, turning away from her friend and headed to the Keurig. She removed Rachel's cup and set out making a cup for herself. "I'm not playing at anything. Briahna put that on the fridge a couple days ago. I don't even know why. It's too cute to take down."

"What is it with those two and old photos?" Rachel asked taking her coffee cup and sitting down at the kitchen table. "I can't keep Kenzi out of the photo albums and those photos she brought to Lance's the other day...."

"Those were funny," Melissa said taking a seat across from Rachel. "I can't really tease Joey because he's quick to pull out my less than stellar fashion choices. When you get a couple of the guys together, they are too busy poking fun at each other to notice I looked terrible."

"Not gonna crimp your hair?" Rachel grinned.

"Maybe for Halloween. We can go as a couple of 90s chicks."

"Right, you know you guys always do a family themed Halloween." The Fatones always had family costumes for Halloween. Last year they went as the characters to Scooby Doo. The year before they were characters from The Flintstones. One year it was Star Wars.

"We can always find a non family party to go to," Melissa pointed out. "Get a babysitter for the kids. Dress up, go out, and have a good time."

"What's a non family costume..."

"You could go as a hooker. Get yourself some thigh high boots...think Lady Marmalade music video. Hey!" Melissa gasped. "Better yet, go as one of the characters from the video! I bet you could pull off Pink. I'd say Christina but that hair man...You probably wouldn't even be able to hold your head up under the weight."

"Her hair was crimped wasn't it?" Rachel asked, trying to remember the video. "You can go as her."

Melissa snorted. "Maybe 15 years and 3 kids ago. This little pouch," she said as she patted her belly. "Says Lady Marmalade I am not."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Stop. You look great after three kids...."

"How about bad girl Sandy from Grease? JC's eyes would probably fall out of his head once he saw you in those leather pants." She wiggled her eyebrows.

"Stop," Rachel said as a blush covered her face. "Why are we talking about Halloween anyway? That's like six months away."

"Never too early to start planning a good Halloween costume." Melissa took a sip of her coffee. "This year we can finally double date!"

"Double...whoa Mel. What are you talking about?"

Melissa rolled her eyes. "Me and Joey and you and JC."

"Mel, slow down... this thing with JC just started. It might not even be a thing by Halloween."

"Come on Rachel," she rolled her eyes again, shaking her head. "You two have finally hooked up..."

"We didn't hook up," Rachel interrupted. "It was just a kiss." She blushed just thinking about the kiss she and JC had shared Saturday in Lance's driveway before he got in his car and drove off.

"Just a kiss," Melissa mocked. "You couldn't even remember your name when you came back inside."

Rachel ducked her head, a small smile playing at her lips. The kiss had been everything she imagined and more. When it ended she had to pry her fingers from his shirt. She hadn't even remembered gripping it. The smile he sent her melted her heart.

Melissa squealed stomping her feet on the ground multiple times in excitement. "Finally after all these years.... And he made the first move! That should put your fears to rest! He made the first move! He told you how he thought you were cute back then. Proving that I was right when I told you that he felt the same way about you then as you felt about him. If you had just listened to me to begin with..."

"Yeah yeah yeah, I could have had everything I ever wanted."

"You said it. So," Melissa straightening and crossed her arms on the table, a grin on her face. "What's gonna happen next? He taking you out on the town? Showing you off? Telling the world he finally got his head out of his butt. Why the hell not?" she questioned when Rachel shook her head.

"Maybe eventually," Rachel shrugged. "But I can't go out this week, even if he asked me. Kenzi has piano. Track practice every day after school. Track meet. Girl Scouts. Plus we're flying out on Friday until next weekend."

"You don't leave until Friday. That means you have four days you can go out, including tonight."

"Tonight?" Rachel gasped. "Are you kidding me? I can't go out tonight! There's not enough time to get ready."

"It's noon. You have plenty of time," Melissa laughed. "I only need a couple hours to get ready. I spent more time getting Joey ready than I do myself."

"It's a school night anyway."

Melissa rolled her eyes. "Not for you. You can stay out all night long and let the cat drag you in in the morning," she wiggled her eyebrows at Rachel, laughing as she blushed. "JC's right. You are cute when you blush."

"Shut up," Rachel said looking away from Melissa. She grabbed the folder laying on the table and slid it across the table to Melissa. "I finished the drawings. I wanted to get them done for you before I left."

Melissa grabbed the folder and opened it up revealing the drawings inside. She leafed through them studying each one individually.

"If you make me take these with me to Mississippi Mel," Rachel warned as Melissa made noises as she checked out the drawings.

"I'll make a deal with you."

"A deal?" Rachel asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Go out on a date with JC and I will accept all of these as is without making you change a thing."

"That's blackmail." Rachel narrowed her eyes.

Melissa grinned. "Yup."

"What's the big push to get me to go on a date this week? Seriously. We just kissed two days ago. At this rate Mel, you'll have us married by the time I fly out to Mississippi."

"What time is your flight on Friday?" Melissa said as she started thinking.

"Just hold the bird seed," Rachel said getting flustered. "What changes do you want made? If I get started on them now, I could have them finished by the time I leave. Then when I get back, I can change them back."

"You suck."

Melissa closed the door after her friend an hour later. Caleb was up from his nap and sitting in his booster seat at the kitchen table eating his lunch. "Your Aunt Rachel is not getting off that easy," she told her son. She grabbed her phone from the table and pulled up her messages. Knowing she was probably committing suicide, she typed in JC's name.

* ~*~*

"Hey," Rachel smiled as she answered the phone. She reached out and turned the radio down in her car.

"What are you up to?" JC asked hitting the button to close the garage door and entering his house.

"Sitting at the school waiting for Kenzi to get done with track practice. Sometimes I swear she's not mine. I can't play the piano worth a lick and she runs... for fun." She shuddered just thinking about it. She shuddered for an entirely different reason hearing JC's chuckle in her ear.

"You know there is no way you can deny her. She's a spitting image of you."

"Yeah, I guess that doesn't work in my favor huh?"

"Not even a little bit," he laughed. "Kenzi keeps you pretty busy."

"I spend more time in my car waiting for her to be finished with various activities than I do using it for anything else. I usually use the time to sketch out ideas for my next projects. Before Caleb was born, I think Mel actually wrote an entire book using all the times she was waiting for Briahna. Now she shows up late, slows down and Briahna has to just kind of jump in the car while it's still moving."

"Is that how you're passing the time? Sketching?"

"Playing Candy Crush," she said with a laugh. "I've been stuck on this level for ever!" A smile graced her lips, hearing JC laugh. "Since we're leaving on Friday for a week, I finished up all the drawings for Mel and dropped that off today. Nothing is pressing, so everything can wait until we get back."

"So you're free for dinner?"

Rachel froze in her seat at JC's question. She narrowed her eyes thinking about the conversation she had at Melissa's earlier. She must have been silent for a long time because she heard JC call her name. "What did you just ask me?"

"I asked if you're free for dinner." JC said slowly. At this point he was concerned that he should have listened to his head after the text conversation with Melissa. She had basically ordered him to ask Rachel out to dinner this week and she had preferred right now. He had his reservations about asking her out to dinner and had planned on doing it once she returned from Mississippi.

"Why?"

"Because I like to eat dinner. I'm assuming you like to eat dinner as well. I figure maybe we can do it together."

"Did Melissa put you up to this?" Rachel questioned. "I swear to God I'm gonna take Caleb out for the afternoon, feed him ten pounds of sugar and then drop him off at Melissa's feet."

"If you don't want to, you can say no..." JC said, his heart sinking. After Saturday night he was sure they were in the same place with regards to their relationship. Now though, he wasn't so sure.

"What? Of course I want to go out to dinner with you!" Rachel nearly shouted, his words and tone penetrating through the anger she felt for her meddling friend. "I'd love to! I just..."

"You just what? What's going on?"

Rachel blew out a breath and rubbed her face. She needed to get a hold of herself. "You make me nervous."

"What?" JC paused, his arm gripping the refrigerator door where he'd been ready to pull it open to grab a bottle of water. "I make you nervous? Why do I make you nervous? We've known each other for years."

"That's exactly why," Rachel spoke trying to figure out the words she wanted to say. "We've known each other a long time. I... JC...I don't know if you knew, but I had a serious crush on you when we were younger. Crush probably isn't even the right word... I was in love with you.  I had so many dreams about you and me and the life we'd have together. All these dreams and I couldn't even get up the nerve to tell you that I liked you," she scoffed, shaking her head. "And then..." she could feel the lump rising in her throat. "Then," to her embarrassment, her voice cracked. She closed her eyes and shifted the phone away from her mouth. God, she was a mess.

"Rachel," JC dropped his hand from the fridge door and rubbed that hand over his face. His heart wanted to sing from the top of the world's tallest building hearing Rachel confirm that he'd be right all those years ago.  He thought Rachel had feelings for him, but it wasn't something he'd bet on. He liked keeping it unknown for fear of finding out the truth and that truth not being what he wanted - what he wished for. Everyone told him to go for it, from Joey, to Chris, to Justin. Even Lance told him. He drug his feet, putting it off. Then it was too late.

"I'm sorry," Rachel wiped away the tears that had fallen down her cheeks. "But now, here we are again. After all these years we've landed back in front of each other. Everything I felt back then when I was a silly 19 year old girl, I feel today. It's like nothing had changed. It makes me nervous. This is so important to me. I don't want to mess this up."

"Rachel," he leaned back against the counter. He wish he was having this conversation with her face to face instead of over the phone. "Did it occur to you that I feel the same way? That a dorky 22 year old just might have been in love with that silly 19 year old girl."

"I didn't allow myself to hope," Rachel said softly. Looking out the windshield, she could see Kenzi walking toward the parking lot in the distance. She was walking with two other girls and they were laughing. Each had duffle bags slung over their shoulders and water bottles in their hands.

"We did everything wrong back then," JC continued. "I don't want to do that now. I thought you were the one that got away. But like you said, here we are again. I'm nervous too. If you don't see that, then I'm better at hiding it than I thought. There were moments on Saturday where I felt like that dorky 22 year old again. I'm asking you to have dinner with me because I want to spend time with you. Texting and phone calls are great, but I want to be with you."

"Are we moving fast?"

"Moving fast?" JC asked incredulously. "Rachel, it's taken me 15 years to ask you to dinner."

Rachel giggled at JC's tone. "I see your point."

"At this rate I'll be nearing social security before I get to second base," he quipped with a smile on his lips. It did his heart good to hear Rachel's soft laughter in his ear. It was a much better sound than her tears.

"You've barely gotten to first," she teased, her voice light and airy.

"Come to dinner with me and I'll make sure I'm solidly on first."

Rachel shuddered as his voiced dropped. She gave slight shriek when someone slapped the passenger window. She was so startled at the sound, she dropped her phone. It fell to the floorboard at her feet. Looking at the window, she saw McKenzie grinning. The other girls she had been walking with, were already gone. She'd been so engrossed in her phone call, she hadn't noticed her daughter closing in.

McKenzie opened the door laughing. "You nearly jumped out of your skin!"

"I outta ground you," Rachel said watching her daughter climb in the passenger seat. Her duffle bag went to the floor board and her water bottle between her legs as she pulled the door shut and fastened her seat belt.  She leaned down and grabbed her phone. The call was still connected. "You still there?"

"I'm still here. Are you okay?" JC asked worriedly, forcing himself to relax back against the counter. When he heard Rachel scream, he had straightened up, tense.

"Kenzi scared about ten years off my life," Rachel answered. "Didn't even see her coming."

"Who are you talking to?" McKenzie asked before she took a drink of her water. She used her shirt sleeve to wipe her forehead.

"JC." Rachel watching her daughter's eyes light up and couldn't contain the smile on her face.

"Can I talk?"

"You mean you don't need to immediately get on your phone and text someone?" Rachel teased. "Kenzi wants to talk to you." She said into the phone before handing it off to McKenzie. Since her daughter was talking, she put the vehicle in reverse and back out of the space.

"Hi JC!" McKenzie grinned into the phone.

"Hey Kenz," JC smiled hearing her voice. "How was practice?"

"Great! Feel like I can run a couple more miles," she laughed hearing her mother groan. "I shaved an entire minute off my 1600 meter run!"

"Wow! That's great!"

"Can't wait for our meet on Thursday! Can you come?"

"Kenzi!" Rachel hissed, giving her a sideways look as she turned out onto the main road and headed home.

"Where is it?"

"It's at John F. Kennedy High School. Mom can tell you where it is."

"I'll be there." JC promised. He was working in the studio this week with John Popper, but he'd see if they could do a little rearranging.  With Rachel and McKenzie going to Mississippi, he would have all weekend and next week free with no popup track meets or spontaneous dinner dates.

"Awesome!" Kenzi grinned. "He said he'd come!" She looked at her mom, the smile huge on her face. "You'll let him know what time and how to get there, right?"

Rachel sighed and rolled her eyes, but she was unable to keep the smile off her face. "Yeah, I'll tell him."

"Mom said she'll tell you the time and where to go," Kenzi relayed the message. "You guys could probably just meet up and ride together. I have to take the bus to the meet."

"McKenzie!" Rachel groaned as she came to a stop at a red light.

JC laughed into the phone. "I'll talk to your mom." Deciding to use a little manipulation to get what he wanted, he asked McKenzie the question he'd been trying to get Rachel to answer. "How about I take you guys out to dinner tonight? By the time I get over there, that should be plenty of time to get cleaned up after practice right?"

"Of course!" McKenzie agreed immediately, nearly bouncing in the seat with excitement. "That will give us plenty of time!"

"Plenty of time for what?" Rachel questioned, sparing a look in her daughter's direction. She switched lanes to drive around a slower car. "What are you guys talking about over there? Kenzi?"

"JC's gonna take us to dinner. By the time he drives over here, we'll be home and changed."

"Kenz..." Rachel said but her daughter was already back on the phone with JC. The smile on McKenzie's face hadn't dimmed at all from the moment she started talking to him. She tried to be mad at the underhanded move, but she couldn't. Truth was, she was bouncing in her seat excitement as well. She couldn't wait to see him.