Stephanie sat her glass of water down on the table as she heard her phone beep. Picking up she instantly smiled at the text message she had received, it was a text from Paul. They had been dating for a week now.

"What is that smile about?" Allie asked as Stephanie texted him back quickly.

"Nothing" Stephanie replied innocently putting her phone back down on the table. Allie had invited her over to her house for lunch and now they were sitting and talking.

"Are you texting Paul?"

"No" Stephanie lied trying to avoid Allie's gaze so she couldn't tell she was lying but she caught a glimpse of Allie shaking her head disapprovingly.

"I thought you said I would have your full attention today"

"You do" Stephanie reassured her before picking up her glass of water and taking a sip.

"I've not heard from you all week because Paul has had your attention. I'm glad you two are finally together and I don't mean to seem like a needy friend but I've missed talking to you" Allie replied making Stephanie feel bad that she had been neglecting her friend.

"I'm sorry. You have my full attention; I promise" Stephanie said looking at Allie.

"So I haven't heard from you since your first date with him. How is Shane doing with you two dating?"

"He is doing a lot better with it but he still doesn't really like it because I'm spending more time at their apartment. He's caught us making out quite a bit and it makes him uncomfortable"

"I actually seen Shane the other day. I was getting ready for my shift and he was sitting at a table in the back. I went over him to say hello and he was kind of jumpy, he kept looking over his shoulder every couple of seconds. After he saw me he didn't stay very long. He's never acted like that towards me before and it was kind of weird"

"That is weird" Stephanie agreed wondering what was going on with him. Even though she had been around him a lot more she hadn't really talked to him unless it was them arguing over something. Maybe she had been in her own little world with Paul too much lately. Usually she was more observant and would have realized something was up with him.

"Maybe he was just stressed or something" Allie shrugged picking her cellphone up.

"I thought you wanted my full attention but you are going to text someone"

"Hey I was just texting Daniel about this beautiful place I found. I'm thinking about having the wedding there"

"Have you picked a date?" Stephanie asked as Allie put her phone away.

"No but I have been trying to look at places and dresses just to get an idea of what I would even want. Maybe you should go with me this week to help me look at wedding dresses. Who knows maybe you and Paul will be headed down the aisle next" Allie replied and Stephanie almost choked on the drink of water she had taken. It was way too soon to even think of something like that. Her and Paul had only been dating a week and she still had other things in her future to think about.

"Very funny. I've still got to think about graduating college"

"Have you two discussed anything about when you go back to college?" Allie asked and Stephanie shook her head.

"It hasn't come up. Besides we've only been seeing each other for a week and I'm not going back to college for a while. Who knows if we will still even be together by then"

"You can't think like that Steph"

"It's realistic Allie. I hope we are still together but you never know"

"Don't you think you two still need to talk about it?"

"We will but right now I'm just enjoying the time I have with him" Stephanie said with a shrug wanting to get off the subject.

"Okay. So do you want to go with me later this week to look at wedding dresses for me?"

"Of course I will" Stephanie replied with a smile.


A couple of hours later Stephanie pulled into her driveway and shut the car off as her cellphone begin to ring. Grabbing her purse and pulling out the cellphone she smiled when she seen it was Paul.

"Hello" Stephanie answered getting out of the car and walking to her house.

"Hey. What are you up to?"

"I just got home from Allie's. She wanted to have lunch with me" Stephanie replied stepping into her house and started heading for her room.

"Are you free tonight?"

"Hmm. I don't know. I'll have to check my schedule" Stephanie joked.

"Well if you are that busy…." Paul trailed off.

"I'm free" Stephanie replied laying down on her bed and stretching out.

"Good because Shane won't be at the apartment tonight. I thought you could come over and I could cook you dinner"

"You can cook?" Stephanie asked skeptically.

"Yes but if you don't want me to- "

"I want you to" Stephanie interrupted quickly and Paul chuckled.

"Does about seven work for you?"

"Yeah that sounds great"

"Okay I need to go pick up a few things and I'll see you about seven then"

"Okay see you soon" Stephanie replied before ending the call. There was still so much she had to learn about him and she couldn't wait to see him later. It also may give her a chance to catch up with Shane before he left, hopefully. Ever since Allie had brought up how she had seen him Stephanie had been wondering what was going on with him. It gave her a bad feeling that she just couldn't shake and it had her a little worried.

Stephanie tried pushing the thoughts away and got up from the bed grabbing her laundry basket to do some laundry and take a shower before tonight. On her way downstairs as she headed towards the laundry room she heard talking coming from the kitchen. When she had come in earlier she hadn't seen her parent's car in the driveway and she had assumed she was home alone. She ventured towards the kitchen curious to see who was in the kitchen she stopped at the kitchen door when she heard her mother's voice. It sounded like her voice was breaking up as if she were crying.

"I'm not sure Tamara" Stephanie heard Linda say but she didn't hear Tamara's response. "I'm going to try and figure it out tonight"

Stephanie peeked into the kitchen to see her mother's back turned towards her and she had the phone to her ear. She wondered what they were talking about since she wasn't able to hear anything Tamara was saying.

"You don't need to worry. I'll be fine" Linda said her voice breaking a little. This made Stephanie worry even more and she couldn't wait for her mother to get off the phone. She needed to find out what was going on now.

"Mom" Stephanie said softly stepping into the kitchen and Linda turned around to look at her. Her eyes were red and puffy.

"I'm going to have to call you back Tamara" Linda said into the phone as Stephanie came closer to her mother and sat her laundry basket down on the floor.

"What's wrong?" Stephanie asked as Linda hung up the phone and wiped some of the tears from her eyes and gave her a small smile.

"Nothing you need to worry about dear" Linda replied getting up from her seat and went over to the refrigerator.

"Mom, please talk to me"

"What would you like for dinner?" Linda asked ignoring Stephanie's plea.

"Paul asked me to come over for dinner at his place. Mom you can talk to me" Stephanie replied watching her mom close the door to the refrigerator wondering how to get her mom to talk to her.

"That sounds nice" Linda said getting a wine glass out of the cabinets still ignoring her.

"Mom- "

"Steph, I'm fine. Like I said it's nothing to worry about. Your father and I just got into a little spat but we will work it out"

"I've never seen you get this upset over a spat. Let me call Paul and cancel our dinner and we will have dinner together" Stephanie said taking her cellphone out of her pocket.

"Don't you dare" Linda replied giving her a stern look "you go spend time with Paul and have fun. I'm probably just going to go out to dinner with Tamara."

"I'm really worried about you mom"

"There is no reason to be Stephanie. You shouldn't have to worry about what problem your father and I are having. Now I'm going to go call Tamara back and drink a glass of wine. You go get ready for tonight okay?"

"Okay" Stephanie replied knowing her mother wasn't going to say anything more. She was stubborn as Vince was just not as bad but Stephanie knew when to let it go. Stephanie watched her mother walk out of the kitchen as she wondered what in the hell was going on with her family.

After she got out of the shower Stephanie headed to her mom's room to check on her but when she opened the door Linda wasn't in there. Thinking maybe she had gone back downstairs Stephanie headed downstairs but she didn't see Linda in the living room or the kitchen but she noticed a note on the refrigerator. It was from Linda letting her know she had left to go out with Tamara. Stephanie sighed and looked at the clock noticing it was only six. She had a little bit before her dinner with Paul but honestly she didn't want to sit around at the house and wait. With everyone acting so weird it was stressing her out and she didn't want to sit and stress more about it. So with that Stephanie headed back upstairs to put on some makeup and fix her hair hoping her dinner with Paul would help her relax.


Arriving at Shane and Paul's apartment she knocked on the door. It didn't take long before the door opened and she was greeted by Paul's smiling face.

"Hey you're early"

"Yeah I hope it's okay" Stephanie said as Paul stepped aside so she could enter the apartment.

"Of course it is" Paul replied and shut the door behind her. "I'm in the process of making dinner"

"It smells really good"

"I hope you like it" Paul said as Stephanie followed him into the kitchen. She sat down at the kitchen table and noticed that plates were already set with glasses and a bottle of wine. "You can go ahead and have a glass if you want"

Stephanie grabbed the bottle of wine and opened it and poured a glass. With everything that was on her mind she would probably drink most of the bottle if Paul let her.

"When is Stephanie supposed to be here?" Stephanie heard Shane call from the living room.

"I'm already here" Stephanie called back before standing up to head that way. She needed to talk to him before he left to find out what was going on with him.

"Great" Shane said sarcastically and Stephanie rolled her eyes at him as she entered the living room.

"So…what have you been up to lately?" Stephanie asked watching him type away on his phone.

"Nothing much really. Just work, eat and sleep"

"I uh heard you were at the restaurant where Allie works not too long ago"

"Yeah I was getting something to eat" Shane replied putting his phone away. He apparently wasn't going to provide any more information than that.

"Allie said she came over to say hello and you acted weird towards her" She didn't really want to mention Allie had said anything but Shane was giving her nothing to go on.

"I was probably stressed about work" Shane said with a shrug.

"Was that all it was?" Stephanie asked trying to get him to open up to her.

"Yeah I'm sure. What is with the twenty questions?" Shane asked eyeing her with a curious look.

"Nothing" Stephanie replied "Have you talked to mom today?"

"No. Why is something wrong?" Shane asked with a panicked expression.

"Everything is fine. Or at least that is what she said. I found her crying and talking to Melanie's mom on the phone"

"Did you ask her what was going on?"

"Yeah but she wouldn't explain. The only thing she said was that her and dad got into a spat"

"Oh" Shane said as she heard Shane's phone beep.

"That's all you have to say?" Stephanie asked feeling confused.

"Well if that is all she would say then maybe that is really all it was" Shane replied before turning his attention back on his phone.

"But- "

"I've got to go. Don't worry about it Steph. I'm sure everything is fine" Shane said before making his way to the door and leaving. It felt like everyone was trying to hide something from her as if she couldn't handle the truth and it was becoming very frustrating. She wasn't a kid anymore and whatever was going on she was going to get to the bottom of it. Even if she didn't like the outcome but right now she was going to try and focus on her dinner with Paul.

"Is everything okay?" Stephanie heard Paul ask and she turned around to look at him.

"Yeah. I think it is"

"What do you mean?"

"My family is just acting weird today. Has Shane said anything to you?" Stephanie asked and Paul shook his head.

"Shane really hasn't had much to say lately. I'm not sure if it's because he is mad at me or he just hasn't had anything to talk about"

"Or maybe it's because I've been around too much lately that he hasn't had a chance to talk to you" Stephanie replied before taking a drink of her wine.

"Whatever it is I'm sure it's not because of you" Paul said giving her a kiss on the lips. "Now come and eat"

"Okay" Stephanie replied following him back into the kitchen and sitting down at the table.

After dinner they were through with dinner Paul cleaned up and even though Stephanie offered to help Paul refused. Not really knowing what to do Stephanie headed to the living room and got comfortable on the couch and turned the tv on. Paul was able to take her mind off of everything and she was feeling a lot more relaxed than she was earlier or maybe it was the wine she consumed. Either way she was just happy that she had Paul to keep her sane tonight. Flipping through the channels Stephanie found a romantic comedy and settled on it as she waited for Paul to finish up in the kitchen.

"Of course you choose to watch something like this" Stephanie heard Paul say as he came into the living room. She had kind of zoned out into her own little world while watching the movie that she hadn't realized he had finished up in the kitchen.

"Are you going to try and take the remote from me again?" Stephanie asked arching her brow.

"Maybe if it leads to what it did last time" Paul replied with a smirk making her blush at the memory. He sat down next to her on the couch and acted like he was going to try and snatch the remote away from her but she moved it away from him quickly.

"Nope you're not getting it" Stephanie said shaking her head.

"Fine you can watch your chick flick" Paul replied resting his arm on the back of the couch behind her. It kind of surprised her that he gave up so easily especially from his comment just a couple of minutes ago. It was starting to make her doubt that he wanted her that way considering he hadn't really tried to move past anything but making out. If he didn't want her that way though why would he keep asking her out? Not long ago it seemed he tried to make sexual advances towards her or maybe it was her imagination? She wanted it to go further considering how he had made her sexually frustrated for weeks now but she didn't want to be the first one to make the move.

"So what time will Shane be home?" Stephanie asked crossing her legs.

"I have no idea. He didn't really say much except that he was going out" Paul replied looking at the tv and made a face "can this movie get any cheesier?"

"It's better than the scary movies you watch"

"You just don't like them because you get scared easily"

"I do not" Stephanie replied looking over at him.

"Do you seriously not remember the night me, you and Shane watched that scary movie?" Paul asked and Stephanie nodded her head.

"For different reasons then you do though" Stephanie replied with a blush and turned her attention back to the movie.

"Actually I hardly remember any of that movie because I was pretty occupied with you" Paul said grabbing her arm and pulling her over on to his lap. Stephanie giggled and put her arms around his neck as he wrapped his arms around her before her lips met his. She deepened the kiss as she felt his hands slip underneath her shirt and unclasp her bra. Then his hands moved around to cup her breast and she moaned but it was cut short when she heard the front door open. At the moment she really hated Shane for interrupting them yet again.

"Oh God" Shane said looking away and making gagging noises. "Give me a minute and I'll leave. Then you two can go back to doing… I don't think I can even say it" Stephanie sighed frustrated now that the mood between them was probably ruined. She narrowed her eyes at Shane but he had his hand up to the side of his face blocking them out as he headed to his bedroom.

"Come on let's go" Paul said motioning for her to get up.

"Where are we going?" Stephanie replied standing up.

"To my room where we won't be interrupted again" Paul replied standing up and grabbed her hand leading her to his bedroom. Once they were inside he closed and locked the door behind them.