MJ O'Neill sat up in his uber comfy kingsize bed, and stretched.

Yawning, he got up and put on his slippers and dressing gown, and headed down the stairs to make himself some pancakes for breakfast. He glanced at the clock in the hall, and growled. He'd overslept by two hours and he had a full day ahead of him shopping and then meeting Abby-Joanne and Gracie for a drink at the Smoothie Shack in the mall at 2.

He decided he didn't have time for pancakes, so he took a box of fruit loops from the cupboard. Once he'd finished his breakfast and his cup of coffee, he got showered and dressed, and then checked his e-mail.

"2 new emails. Cooly," He clicked in to his inbox and saw that the first message was from Abby and the second was from Circling The Drain's blue haired bass player, Kodence McKenna, aka Kodie. They had only met twice, but she was one cool chick, and they'd exchanged e-mails the previous day.

He'd made quite a few friends in only a week, and he'd joined Abby's band as the drummer. He was popular in school and hung out with a group called The Cliffhangers.

He wasn't over Sam Carter yet but he found himself rather attracted to Abby Everett-Roper, also known as AJ. There was one problem though, he was also attracted to her best friend Gracie, who happened to remind him of Sam. "So what does Abby have to say then?"

Mj,

Cant wait to c u later the mall it will b cooly. I enjoyed spendin time with you last nite we all did.

I'm so glad u r my new drummer I was really stressin over who it would b. Nearly had to hire my sis and that wouldn't have been gud!!!

U were talkin bout getting a dog y don't you let me come with u and we can find 1 after mall. We can ditch Gracie after she wont mind and go off by ourselves. What do ya think?

-AJ

"We're all in the gutter, some of us look at the stars."

He grinned to himself and hit the reply button. He said that he'd love to go dog hunting later. He read the message from Kodie, and sent a longish answer to her e-mail, and then logged off.

He put on his jacket, locked up and then started the journey to town. It was half an hours walk, which was no problem for someone as fit as Johnny.

He arrived at the mall at 11:30. Looking around, he decided his first stop would be the coffee shop.

While he was drinking, he made a mental list of what he needed to get:

1x Dog for company

1x Guns N Roses greatest hits

5x Candles (incase I actually get a chick at my place)

1x Simpsons Season 4 DVD Box Set

4x Lounge Cushions to match sofa

4x Sets of Bed Linen for bedrooms

3x Sets of blue towels for bathrooms

Plus anything you see in Home Furnishings that takes your fancy.

His house was kind of empty at the moment, lacking anything really personal. He had done his best to make it more homelike, but it still seemed cold.

He had decided the night before that he would get a dog for company. And he would call it Homer.

And that he would go on a shopping spree and buy some clutter. Books, CDs, vases, paintings, that kind of stuff.

And here he was.

Abby and Gracie were talking about the new boy when they saw him coming their way. "Speak of the devil," AJ grinned, standing up and jogging up to him.

"Hey MJ, let me give you a hand," she told him, grabbing a couple of his shopping bags. "Sit down, put those under the table," she said.

He had been struggling along with eight shopping bags. He wondered how his ex-wife...rather, the original Jack's ex-wife had used to manage.

He followed her instructions and shoved them under the table, and then he sat down between the girls. "Am I late?"

"Nope, we were early," Gracie replied, slurping on her strawberry and banana smoothie.

"Gracie couldn't wait to get hers. But I was polite and I waited until you got here," Abby said. "So, what would you like? I'll go order."

"Uhh, I'll have what you're having please," he replied, taking some small cash from his pocket and handing it to her. She nodded, and went off to the counter to order. Gracie grinned at him.

"So...what you been doing?" He asked.

"Not much. I slept over at Cassandra Frasier's last night. She was quite taken with you," The blonde replied. "Says you were really sweet."

"Oh..." Cassy having a crush on him was so...weird. "Thought she had a guy...Tim?"

"That was ages ago," AJ said as she delivered his smoothie. She sat back down and made a start on hers. "She's dating Will at the mo. Won't last long though he is such a jerk. Why?"

"Oh Cassy is totally crushing on MJ," Gracie replied.

Johnny noticed AJ's face fall. "She seemed nice, but she's a cheerleader. And she's 18, and, I have my eye on someone else."

"No one ever turned down Cassandra Frasier, bloody hell boy!" Gracie exclaimed, almost choking on her drink. "I think he must be crazy." There was a pause while they all worked on their smoothies and then she asked, "What did you buy?"

"Oh...new bed linen. Aunt Jolene had given me some money and a list of things to get. Some towels, some vases and stuff. You know, homey stuff. Boring," he said, rolling his eyes. "But she did give me $30 for myself."

"How come she sent you?" Abby frowned.

"Because she's working. She works weekends a lot - never see her. Fine with me though, you know. I have lots of space," He lied. "She says she's at work, but I think she might actually be meeting a secret boyfriend or something.

"Eww...old people dating!" Gracie exclaimed.

Around 3, Abby and Johnny went off in search of a friend for him. "You know, I used to have a labrador. Best kind. Cutest."

"I like Jack Russels myself," he said, with a grin, "You remember that kids show...Wishbone? I used to love that. He was dressed up in these little doggie outfits acting out things like Huckleberry Finn."

"Oh yes my little sis used to watch it," She laughed. "He was cute. Plus, Eddie from Frasier."

"Oh yeah! That's it, I'm getting a Jack Russell," he decided. "So, AJ..." He began.

"Yeah?"

"Uhh, I was wondering, if you'd like to...uhh...I was thinking..." He stuttered. "Maybe you would like to see a movie with me?"

Her face lit up, and she nodded eagerly. "Yeah, I'd love to. I was waiting for you to ask me all week. I was kind of worried that you'd like Cassandra or Gracie better. They are much better looking than me."

"I wouldn't say that," he said, stopping and turning to face her. He took her hand and smiled. "I think you're really special. That first day on the steps, I thought, wow. What a girl."

"Really?"

"Really," He nodded. "Hows tomorrow?"

"Umm..." she paused, trying to think. Her mind was still processing the fact that he'd actually asked her out. 'Oh. My. God.' "Yes. Yes," She finally replied. "Tomorrow is fine. We can check the times on the way back."

"Cooly. And you can pick the film. I'm not one of those jerks that wants to go see an action movie. Well, not unless you want to," he said as they started walking again.

"I'm sure we'll find something," she winked, keeping hold of his hand as they walked. "So what are you going to call your ," She nodded. "Mine was called Noodle. Don't ask me where that came from. My sister is a freaaaak."

MJ laughed, "What's your sisters name?"

"Piper Marie Jessica Rose Everett-Roper," Abby recited. "It's longer than mine! See, my Dad wanted her middle name to be Rose after his mother, and Mom wanted her middle name to be Marie, after her mother. Jessica was her mother's first name. And Piper was just one that they actually liked!"

"Piper Roper? Ooookay," MJ grinned. "Poor thing. You got the better names."

"Yep," she agreed. "Thank God."

The next day, MJ walked up Abby's drive and knocked on the door. Her sister answered, "Hi, you must be Piper," he smiled. She was an odd looking thing, gawky and way too thin for his liking. She was dressed in a pink shirt and a mini skirt of the same colour.

She nodded, waved him inside, shut the door and then disappeared. He heard her yell "ABBY! YOUR BOYFRIEND IS HERE!" as she went up the stairs.

He walked up and down the hall uncomfortably, as he waited for Abby. From the noise upstairs he could tell she was agonising over what to wear. He could hear the wardrobes being opened and closed every few seconds.

After a few minutes, she finally came down the stairs. Her hair was up, and she was wearing some make-up. She was wearing a denim skirt which flowed down to her knees, and a white and blue cheese cloth top, with sandals. "WOW!"

"Thanks," she grinned. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she stepped forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I thought we might go see that new Bruce Willis movie?"

"Oh, yeah, I really wanna see that!" He nodded, eagerly. "Shall we get going?"

There was a call from the living room, "Abby, dear!"

"Yes mother?" She called back, with a sigh.

"Bring that young man in here," Her mother told her. Abby shrugged and took MJ's hand, leading him in to the lounge. "Hello, you must be Jonathan?"

"Please, call me Johnny, Jonathan was my Dad," Johnny replied, giving her his best charming look. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Everett-Roper."

"And you," She replied. "You're in Abby's class?"

"Yes, yes, he is," Abby nodded. "Mom, can we go now? We're going to miss the movie and if we do, we'll have to wait a two hours for the next showing!" She was lying.

"All right, dear," Her mother nodded. "Have fun. Nice to meet you, Johnny."

Once they were out of the door, Abby laughed. "I'm so sorry for that!"

"For what? She just wanted to meet me," Johnny replied. "She seemed nice. I bet you you'll never, ever meet my Aunt Jo."

"Come on," She grinned, pulling him down the drive. "We're going to be late if we don't get going."

"Then let's go," He said, nervously. 'Don't. Screw. Up. O'Neill.'

Sorry folks, it's still a little dull I know...but I have this big plan, and it will take some ground work. Please come back – and it's true, feedback really does make you write faster!