Axl opened the front door and was surprised to see Frankie and Mike standing there wearing surprisingly nice clothes. "Who died?" He asked, brushing past them towards the kitchen table.
"What are you doing here?" Frankie asked as she put one of her earrings on.
"Forgot some of my notes here. Plus it's easier to study here than at the apartment. There's less distractions."
"You'll have the house to yourself. We're headed over to Sue's boyfriend's house to meet his parents." Frankie explained. "Brick!" She yelled. "Hurry up!"
"Sue's boyfriend?" Axl said, not believing what he heard.
"Apparently they've been dating for more than a month." Mike said, sounding upset. "You know, I used to think it was irritating when she used to have them over here all the time, but I'm kind of upset she didn't tell us about him sooner."
"Well you know, I thought something was going on. She kept on trying to cover them up with makeup, but she's had some hickies on her neck lately."
"Frankie, I don't need to know that!" Mike sputtered.
Axl ignored them to rush off to his room. Brick was sitting on the bed reading a book. Rather than ask him what he was doing, Axl tore through the messy closet looking for a nice shirt to put on. He couldn't believe that Sue had a boyfriend. It was probably that idiot kid he had seen next to her at the yogurt place. He had been pretty close to Sue at prom, and Axl had thought something might have been up. However, he was distracted by what their plans had been for after the prom. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that Sue had successfully distracted him away from considering these thing both times by using the promise of sexual favors. How did she even learn how to do that?
"Brick!" Frankie yelled. "Hurry up! We're already running late! We still have to pick up Sue!"
Axl sprayed himself with some cologne before grabbing Brick's book out of his arm. "Hey!" Brick protested.
"I'll give it back to you in the car. Lets go." Axl walked out of their room.
"Oh, are you coming with?" Frankie asked. Axl nodded. "Well be on your best behavior. Sue kept us from meeting this guy for some reason. I don't want her to think that she has to keep secrets from us."
Frankie started fussing with his collar, but Axl slapped her hand away. "Let's go meet the loser that's dating the queen of the dorks." He said grumpily.
Meanwhile at the mall, Sally and Brad were trying to give Sue a pep talk while she looked through the bins of clothes Sally said she could wear to meet Zac's parents.
"They're totally cool." Sally explained. "I mean, I've known them since I was little. Lucy, his mom, is kind of a control freak, but as long as you smile and nod when she wants you to, you should be fine."
"And his dad's super cool too. He kinda seems like an angry woodland creature, but he's not terrible." Brad explained. "I mean, I don't know him that well, but-"
"As long as he doesn't get mad, he's cool." Sally interrupted. "And with company over I doubt he'll get mad."
"It's probably going to be different than your family." Brad explained. "Oh, get that one!" He exclaimed about the dress in Sue's hands. "It's not something you'd usually wear, but it would be cute on you."
Sue went to one of the dressing rooms and Sally and Brad followed along. "What do you mean that it will be different from my family?" She asked as she pulled the dress on.
"Zac's an only child." Brad explained. "So it's just him and his parents. Bu you've got Brick and Axl."
"Axl's not coming. He's back on campus to study for some test." She walked out of the dressing room.
"That's so cute!" Sally exclaimed clapping. "Keep it on, I'll just go ring it up." Sally ran over to the counter.
"I just mean your family dynamic is going to be different no matter who actually comes to dinner. Now come here, I'm gonna see if I can do something with your hair instead of this boring ponytail." Sue walked towards Brad and he started playing around with her hair.
By the time her parents came to pick her up, she had her hair back in a fancy braid. The dress Brad had picked out was a creme colored dress. It had sleeves that went to her elbows, but the part near her shoulders was lace. Sally had used a million different discounts on it so Sue only paid about ten dollars for it.
As soon as the car pulled up, she had a feeling something was wrong. When she got in the backseat she realized that Axl had come along. He was giving her the dirtiest look, so she turned to stare out the window. That didn't last for long because Frankie had a million questions.
"How long have you been dating… uh… What's his name?" She asked.
"His name is Zac." Sue answered. "He asked me out a few weeks before prom."
"Why didn't you tell us about him?"
"No reason. I didn't really think it was that big of a deal."
"You told us all when Brad got a girlfriend, how is you getting a boyfriend not a big deal?" Axl asked. "Not that I care, dork." He added.
"I kinda just forgot about it. I mean, I kept going out on group dates and I thought it you guys were curious you would ask. You never brought it up so I didn't either." Sue explained. "If you would've asked me, I would've told you guys. It's not like I was trying to keep it a secret."
Axl made some sort of huffing sound and crossed his arms. Sue was sure that he wasn't going to be here, and yet now here he was along for the ride. Soon she had to give directions to Mike so they could get to Zac's house.
Sue was the first to get out of the car, practically jumping out of the old vehicle. The rest of the family followed suit, but Sue was already knocking on the door while they were still walking up the drive. Zac opened the door and smiled at Sue.
"Wow, you look amazing." He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Sue smiled. "Did Brad do your hair?"
Sue nodded. "How did you know?"
"It looked like his handy work." The rest of the Hecks had caught up. "Nice to meet you all." Zac said with a grin. "Come on in." He opened the door wider so everyone could walk in. He shut the door once everyone was inside. Sue noticed Axl studying Zac.
Lucy appeared suddenly and there was a tall man with her. "Welcome." Lucy said with a large smile. "My name is Lucy, this is George," She said motioning to her husband, "and you already know Zac."
"Barely." Axl said hidden behind a cough. Mike chuckled.
"It's great to meet you." Frankie said with a big grin. "I'm Frankie, Sue's mother, and Mike's my husband. Brick's our youngest," She said putting a hand on Brick's shoulder, "and Axl's our oldest."
Soon the group was at the table eating dinner. Some how Sue ended up between Zac and Axl. Frankie, Brick, and Lucy were on the other side. Mike and George sat on the opposing sides of the table.
Sue tried to just focus on eating dinner. There was some small talk but everything was pretty easy. They talked about prom and a few other things like their first dates and other details. Sue realized that all of their dates so far had been ones with the group. Thankfully no one asked about first kisses, but the thought made Sue realized that aside from kissing a few times, she really had not done a lot with Zac. Compared to what she had done with Axl, Zac and her were moving incredibly slow.
"So what made you ask Sue out?" Axl asked suddenly.
"Oh!" Zac seemed surprised by the question since Axl hadn't said much. "She's funny and cute and nice, and I found out she didn't have a date for prom. So originally I was just going to ask her to the prom, but I thought, go big or go home so I decided to just ask her out."
"Aww." Sue smiled. "I didn't know you thought that. I think you're cute and nice and funny too."
Zac grinned. "I didn't think you we're gonna say yes. I was really happy you did."
Lucy and Frankie were both practically cooing.
The rest of the dinner went over pretty nicely. Axl was strangely polite and charming. He didn't call anything lame, and he even helped clear the dishes off of the table.
While everyone got ready to leave, Sue and Zac snuck away for a few moments. "So that went well, right?" Sue asked.
"I think so. Your family seemed really nice."
"Yeah, yours too. I would go so far as to say that this went great." Sue smiled.
"So, I guess I'll see you Thursday for the group date, right?" Zac asked.
"Yep. Do you know what we're doing?"
"I do not. Probably the movies, since we're meeting at the mall."
"Sue!" Frankie called. "Everybody else is in the car!"
"Whoops!" Sue grinned. Zac linked arms with her and brought her to the door. Frankie had already made her way out to the car. The two were standing in the door opening. Zac leaned in and kissed her. It wasn't a long kiss, but it was still more than she was expecting. When they broke away, both smiled at each other. "See you Thursday!" He called as she walked out to the car. Before she opened the car door, she waved. Zac waved back as he shut the front door.
"His family seemed really nice." Frankie said conversationally.
"Yeah." Sue said reaching down into her backpack to grab her phone. She sent a quick message to Brad and Carly to tell them about the dinner.
By the time they got home, the family was eager to change out of their church clothes and veg out in front of the TV. Sue made her way back to her bedroom. Before she even had a chance to start unpacking her backpack, Axl was storming in and locking the door.
He crossed his arms over his bare chest. He was still wearing his jeans, but they were hanging loose on his hips. "So when were you going to tell me that you were cheating on me?" Axl asked with a little glare.
"Technically I'm cheating on Zac with you. I did get together with him first."
That was obviously the wrong thing to say because Axl's nostrils flared and he looked like he wanted to punch something. "What so I just got Zac's sloppy seconds?" He asked angrily.
"First of all, don't you ever call me that again. That's disgusting and rude and I can't believe you would accuse me of that. He asked me out first, that's what I meant. I've gone much further with you, but right now you're making me feel really stupid for doing that." Sue crossed her arms and turned her head away from Axl so he couldn't see that her eyes were getting watery.
Axl moved towards her. "Shit, I didn't…" He paused. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry. But you gotta see my side of this Sue." He started to argue. "I had no clue you were dating some other guy. You didn't tell any of us."
"So if I would've told you I had a boyfriend you never would've kissed me?" Sue asked, turning back towards him. "This whole thing started because you were pantsing me Axl. And boyfriend or not I bet you still would've done that." Sue collected her thoughts. "Look, it's not the best situation, but it's not like I've ever let Zac stand in between what me and you do. I left him on prom night to go with you. Obviously I like you better, it's just… And well, don't you think it's sort of a good idea for us to have some sort of cover?"
Axl groaned. "Ugh! Everything you're saying makes sense, but I'm still mad." He grumbled. "But you just don't get it. I got so mad just seeing you in those little shorts and there was no dude there then. Now I gotta think about some dude touching you and kissing you and it just makes me really mad." Axl frowned.
"Yeah, but.. I mean, I might kiss him sometimes, but you're the only one I come home to. Like, you're always going to be my first choice. I love you Axl, and when I said that I meant it."
Axl frowned, but he wrapped an arm around Sue to bring her closer to him. "Fine." He sighed and kissed her forehead. "I love you too dork." There was a brief pause. "I just can't believe that my sweet little sister is playing two guys at the same time." He groaned. "And one of those guys is me."
Sue just giggled. "Well get used to it." Axl started to grumble. "Hey! If you wanna keep leaving hickies on me then you're gonna have to deal with me having a boyfriend. There's no other way for me to explain them."
Axl frowned, but finally stopped complaining. "Alright fine. But this means you can't be mad if I get a girlfriend."
"Uh, yes I can. You never set any ground rules that I couldn't have a boyfriend. But since we're having this conversation, if you get a girlfriend, I don't wanna do anything with you anymore." Sue said. "But only while you're dating someone else. Once you break up we can do stuff again. I just don't want to be the other woman."
"But you're fine with me being the other man?" Axl asked, eyebrows raised.
"Pretty much." Sue said with a little shrug.
"You're the worst." Axl said, but he leaned down to kiss Sue anyway.