Poster's Note: This is one of Lola's Digest-based stories, so you will find that Iola is happily alive in this one! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. And as a reminder, we don't own the Hardy Boys, Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Syndicate do. As always, please refer to the author's profile for more information about her.

CHAPTER 1

The young girl was trembling with excitement. In a few minutes her boyfriend would be arriving. Boyfriend – Iola Morton smiled to herself. She liked the sound of that word, Joe Hardy was her boyfriend. Brushing back her hair and pinning it back with a hairpin. Iola studied herself in the full-length mirror, admiring the new changes in her body. She had grown a few more inches and now stood 5'3". Nervously chewing on her lower lip, the pretty girl wondered if Joe was going to like the change.

Iola hadn't seen in Joe in almost a month, as he had gone to California on vacation with his family. Today would be the first time that she saw him since he came back. Iola's older brother Chet had talked their parents into letting them have a swimming party at the lake located a quarter mile behind the barn. As she admired herself in her new bathing suit, Iola wondered if Joe had gone through any changes as well.

*thecrush*thecrush*

As he slipped on his new T-shirt, Joe smiled when he noticed a slight snugness. Flexing his arm, the young teen proudly felt the hard muscle. Being small for his age, he had always felt a little too thin and scrawny. Joe always wanted to be like his big brother, Frank – Frank was tall! Frank might not have a 'body builder's' body, but he did have a lean, muscular build. Joe's Aunt Gertrude said that Frank had a 'runner's' body.

The boys had been excited when Fenton told them they were visiting an old family friend. The Taylor family had a small ranch in central California, near the San Fernando Valley. Bob Taylor had promised the Hardy brothers a lot of fun, but when they arrived the Hardys learned that Mr. Taylor was short-handed. Joe and Frank had some familiarity with cleaning out the stalls in the barn from helping the Mortons on their farm. They volunteered to help the Taylors, assuring Mr. Taylor that they didn't mind, when he protested. Frank pointed out that he and Joe would still be able to go riding and they had pretended to be cowboys when they were younger!

Joe couldn't wait to show off his muscles to Iola! The young boy looked up when he heard a light knocking on his door.

"You ready to see Chet and the gang?" asked Frank.

The older boy smiled at his younger brother. He was still amazed by how tall Joe had grown in such a short time. His little brother had had a growth spurt and now stood six feet tall, just an inch shorter than Frank.

Joe grabbed his swim trunks and beach towel off the bed.

"I'm all set!"

"Hurry it up, Dad is going to let me drive!"

"Man, I can't wait to get my learner's permit," sighed Joe with some envy.

*thecrush*thecrush*

Iola had been staring out the window, waiting anxiously for Joe to arrive. When she saw the Hardys' car approaching she ran out the front door and stood on the front porch. The raven-haired beauty felt her breath catch in her throat when Joe got out of the car. Iola had always thought that the younger Hardy was cute – but now he was gorgeous!

As Joe approached her, Iola found that she had to crane her neck just to look into his blue eyes. He smiled at her, his eyes sparkling like two sapphires. Iola returned his smile as she took his hands in hers.

*thecrush*thecrush*

Frank couldn't believe what his brother was about to do. Last summer Chet had put up a tire swing in a tree near the edge of the lake. If you swung out far enough you could jump into the lake from the swing. Now, most people would be standing in the tire ring but not Joe! He stood on top of the tire!

Frank held his breath as he watched his little brother on the tire swing, getting the swing to go as high as it could. When it reached its highest point, Joe jumped off and flipped forward before he splashed into the lake. Frank let out a sigh of relief; he almost jumped in fright when a hand touched his shoulder.

"Sorry Frank, didn't mean to scare you."

"That's okay, Chet. You weren't the one who scared me!"

Chet nodded as he looked over at Biff, Tony and their other friends who were cheering Joe on his stunt.

"I think I've changed my mind – I thought it would be better to have a younger brother like Joe. But I think I'll stick with Iola – at least she doesn't shorten my life span with stunts like that!"

Frank laughed and patted his friend on the back. "Joe may make my job as a big brother a little hard but…" Frank smiled fondly at his brother, "he's worth it."

Joe saw his brother standing with Chet, and waved to them. "Come on, Frank – let's see you try that trick!"

"You can't pass up that challenge," said Chet as he playfully shoved his friend forward. Biff, Tony and Phil began to chant Frank's name as they egged him on.

Joe stood grinning at his brother, but when Frank came to his side, Joe grew serious. "You don't have to jump if you don't want to."

Frank gave his younger brother an appreciative smile as he put an arm around Joe's shoulder. "And have you tease me about it the rest of the year? I don't think so!"

Joe put his hand on his chest and gave his older brother a shocked look.

"Would I do that to you?!" he asked, with as much innocence as he could muster.

Playfully shoving Joe aside, Frank went over to the tire swing and got on. He didn't start off on the top of the tire, but waited till he got the swing going before he stepped up. Timing his swing just right, the older Hardy boy jumped and executed the same dive. When Frank surfaced and started swimming back to shore, he wasn't sure who was cheering the loudest, Joe or Callie.

*thecrush*thecrush*

Mrs. Morton had provided the teens with a light snack to hold them over until lunch was ready. Mr. Morton was going to grill some burgers and hot dogs. An hour after eating the snacks, the group of teens headed back to the Morton home.

"Mmm – you can smell the food cooking from here!" Chet said with an appreciative sniff.

"Did your Mom make her famous potato salad?" asked Joe.

"Yes, and she almost had to padlock the refrigerator to keep Chet from eating it!" Iola laughed.

"I was just trying to sample it – I had to make sure it would pass the Joe Hardy test of approval!"

Everyone burst out laughing as Chet tried to appear very serious.

"Remind me to thank your Mom for keeping Chet away from the potato salad!" Joe told Iola as he took her hand in his.

When Chet saw Joe take his sister's hand, he opened his mouth to tease her – but then he noticed the happy expression on her face and changed his mind.

*endofchapter*endofchapter*