Author's Note: Hello. Sorry for the wait. I know this is a rough time for all of us, and we are counting down the days to the 15th, but we can and will get through this hiatus together. I hope you like this chapter. I know it is a little short, but never fear, the next one won't be.

Chapter Ten

"Will you relax? Zoe said she'd take care of it."

Lemon shook her head, "I really screwed up, didn't it?"

Wade shrugged, "It happens." Lemon mumbled something that sounded like, 'I'm no better.' "Um, what?"

"I'm no better than her, am I? I was supposed to be watchin' Magnolia last night. This innocent, young thing needed me, and I just went off to do what I wanted."

It was not hard to figure out what she was talking about, "One night of screwin' up is hardly the same as runnin' out on someone for good." Lemon just looked down, "Lemon. Lemon, hey, look at me." She lifted her face, "You are better than her."

"Wade-"

"Let me finish. You look after Magnolia. That's not your responsibility, but you do it, and I know that you would never, ever, even consider abandonin' her. You may be one of the craziest people I've ever met, but you got a good heart. If she couldn't see that, it's her loss. She's missin' out on a pretty amazin' person."

Lemon smiled.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna use your bathroom."

After convincing Brick that Lemon just wanted some rest, Zoe came back in, "Okay, as far as your dad knows, we had a slumber party, and you're still tired because we stayed up so late. He's going to let you sleep in."

"Thank you." Zoe shrugged, "Hey, I just remembered something. You were comin' over to talk about a guy, right?"

She blushed. It seemed like a lifetime ago now that Jesse had asked her out. Maybe asked her out.

"I'll take the crimson tint on your cheeks as a yes." Zoe giggled a little. She was not usually the giggly type, but it felt kind of nice, giggling with a girlfriend. Lemon patted the bed, indicating Zoe should come sit with her. Zoe obliged. "So, who is he?"

"Jesse."

"Jesse, who's … you don't mean Wade's brother?"

Zoe nodded, just as Wade opened the door, "I took out the bathroom garbage so your dad won't find all the paper towels with vomit on 'em. Not that he's likely to go through the trash, but, you know, just in case."

"Do you mind Wade? We're kind of havin' a girl's moment."

Wade put his hands up in a well-excuse-me gesture. Then he went over to Lemon's bookshelf, "You got any comics? If you two are gonna gab about shoes or whatever, I'm gonna need somethin' to do."

"You know very well I don't, and thanks for the stereotype, but girls talk about other things." Wade just rolled his eyes and sat down at the desk chair, "So, what'd you say?"

"Well, I said yes. I'm just not sure if its, you know, an actual date."

Wade's head shot up.

"Well, where are you two goin'?"

"Um, a movie."

"And it's just the two of you?"

"I think so."

"Did he seem nervous when he asked you?"

"Um, not really. He sounded pretty confidant actually."

Lemon shrugged, "Well, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Confidence is the Kinsella way."

"Wait, what?" both girls had forgotten he was there.

"What?" Lemon asked, confused at his confusion.

"What are you talkin' about? And why is my name involved?"

"Relax, we're not talkin' about you. We're talkin' about Jesse." Wade's eyes got wide, "He asked Zoe to a movie."

"Did he now?"

"Apparently."

"Well. Isn't that … cute."

"I'm still not sure it actually is a date."

"Well, would you want to go if it was?"

"Ya know, I've had about my fill of girl drama. I think I'm gonna." He pointed in the direction of the door, "But, you know, it's been fun."

Zoe looked at him like he was crazy. That was his idea of fun?

"So?"

Zoe shrugged, "I don't … I mean, he's nice, and good-looking, but I've never really …" she trialed off.

Lemon's eyes widened, "Zoe Hart, are you tryin' to tell me you've never been on a date before?"

Zoe's face grew red. She felt like Lemon was judging her, and a part of her agreed, but Zoe was proud, always had been, "Well, it's not like we're thirty, or even twenty. There is no rule saying you have to start dating the minute you hit puberty."

"All right. No need to get upset." She was quiet, "And I'm guessin' that means you've never had sex either?"

"Lemon!" Zoe was half-shocked. Who asks that? After a minute though, she could not help but laugh.

"What?" Lemon asked, laughing a little herself, "It's just a question?"

"Well, like you said, I haven't dated so…"

Lemon shrugged, "That doesn't make it a definite. Some girls just have sex."

"Like who?"

"Well, almost any girl Wade's ever met."

Zoe laughed again. She still did not get how all the girls at her school apparently thought Wade was gods gift. For goodness sake, he was Wade! How could they look at him without seeing how crude, annoying, and obnoxious he was?

"All right, well, since you are so concerned about not knowing what you are doing, there is a simple solution."

"What?"

"Doubling."

"Excuse me?"

"A double date. It's perfect because you have somebody to turn to for advice, and there is less pressure, but it's still a date because everybody is paired up."

"Okay, well, who would I double with?"

Lemon laughed, "George and I of course."

Uh-oh. Okay, Zoe could maybe like Jesse, she wasn't sure, but George was still George, and considering the way she had been reacting to him since they met, she probably should not be in a date-like setting with him. She bit her lip, trying to think of a way out of it.

He was going to kill him. He was going to kill him dead and bury him sixty feet under.

Okay, maybe that was not completely fair. He had given Jesse the go-ahead to date Zoe if he wanted; he just never thought he would actually go for it. Or if he did, he didn't think Zoe would say yes. Why would she date his brother? What could she possibly gain from that? Jesse was a lot like Wade, and Zoe clearly had no interest in dating Wade, so why dip into the Kinsella gene pool at all? He didn't get it. He wasn't sure he wanted to.

Here's what he was sure of; One, he wanted to kill Jesse. Two, hearing Zoe say she might be going on a date had felt like a huge rock was on his chest, pinning him to the ground, and he could not breathe, or get up, or call out for help. Three, he did not want Zoe to go on a date with his brother.

He felt like he had to do something, anything to prevent this, but what?

He could crash the date, try and sabotage it, but A, if he did that, he'd have to watch his brother putting the moves on Zoe Hart, and watch her possibly respond in kind, and B, he did not want to give Jesse the Jackass the satisfaction of knowing this bothered him.

He needed a plan. Normally, Lemon was the person to go to when you needed a plan, but this was not something he wanted Lemon, or anybody, to know about.

Zoe took a deep breath, she hated that she had to do this, especially so close to the time of the "date," but she had been racking her brain for hours, and she had not been able to come up with anything better. She picked up the phone. It rang once, twice, three times.

"Hello." She did not know the voice. It sounded strange, sort of gravelly.

"Hello, um, is this … is this the Kinsella residence?"

"Residence?" she heard the man wheeze.

"Is this … is Jesse there?"

"Jesse? What do you want with Jesse? Who uses words like residence? Is this a legal issue?"

"No I … um, could you just, just tell him Zoe called and that I can't … that is, um, are you sure he isn't there?"

"Who said he wasn't here?"

"Is he?"

"Beats me."

Zoe sighed. She would love to just tell this man, who by his wheezy voice she presumed was the drunken Mr. Kinsella, to tell Jesse she had to take a rain check on the movie, but she didn't really trust him to pass on the message, "Could you check?"

"Sure." She waited, but she could still hear him breathing into the phone, "Well, would you?"

"Why should I?"

Who's on the phone?

Zoe heard somebody ask. She wasn't sure if it was Wade or Jesse. They both had that southern drawl, and they were brothers, so they sounded kind of similar.

I am!

She heard him cackle.

I meant on the other end.

It was said with great agitation. It sounded … she was pretty sure it was Wade.

Some girl. Callin' for Jesse.

Okay, so, definitely Wade.

There was a pause.

Give me the phone.

You ain't Jesse.

His father said with a laugh.

Just give me the phone.

Why?

Because whoever is on the other has been hangin' on while we been arguin', and if they haven't hung up, they're probably pretty pissed. It's better if you let me deal with whoever it is, you just … just take a shower, you smell like road kill.

I smell fine.

No, you don't.

Here, take the phone, I'm gonna go … do, whatever.

Dad. Dad! Shit.

Poor Wade. Zoe couldn't help but think. But she remembered that when she had asked him not to pity her, he had asked for the same courtesy.

"Hello. Hello, you still there?" She was a little startled when she realized he was talking to her. She had felt like a spectator, and suddenly, she was part of the story.

"Hey." She said.

"Zoe?" Okay, apparently he already knew her voice.

"Yeah."

She heard him clear his throat, "Um, how, uh … how much of that did you hear?"

"How much do you want me to have heard?"

She heard him snort, "What's up?" he asked, deciding to move past the topic, which was fine with her.

"I was actually calling for Jesse. Is he there?"

There was a long pause, "Yeah. Yeah, he's around here somewhere."

Before she could say anything, she heard Wade call out Jesse's name.

Hey.

Hey. Phone.

You're in a good mood.

Whatever.

"Hello?"

"Hey." Zoe said, relieved to be done with her rousing game of phone tag.

"Hey Zoe. Good to hear from you."

"Not so good actually." She started.

"What do you mean?"

"Um, I kind of have to … that is, I know today we were planning to-"

"Oh. I see." He sounded the words out. He sounded kind of disappointed, but not heartbroken, which was good.

"It's not that I don't want to, it's just today's not-"

"This wouldn't have anything to do with Wade, would it?"

"Wade? What? No? Why?"

"No reason, I just thought-"

"Look, I am so, so sorry. It's not that I don't want to go out with you, it's just there are forces at work beyond my control and … I'm sorry, I'm babbling."

"No, it's okay. It's, um, it's cute."

She smiled in spite of herself, "Thanks."

"I don't want to pry, but you mind if I ask about these forces beyond your control?"

Zoe hesitated. How could she explain without letting on about her crush on George, "Um … well, it's just …"

"It's okay. You don't have to go into it. I'd just like to avoid it in the future."

"Yeah, that would be good." There was a pause, "Jesse?"

"Yeah?"

"Was this going to be a date?"

"Did you want it to be?"

"I don't know."

"Me neither. Maybe we could try again. You know, after we straighten that out."

Zoe nodded, and then remembered he couldn't see her, "Okay."

"Okay."

Author's Note: Like I said, not the longest, but hopefully enjoyable. In any case, it sets up a couple of things for up coming episodes, and don't worry, we have not heard the last of Jesse and Zoe going on a date.

Let me know what you think and have a good day.