Disclaimer: I only own Kara, everyone else is property of Disney.
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Vida walked into her house later on that evening. The others had left work early since it was Vida's turn to lock up the store. Chip had offered to stay and help but Vida, still reeling from their earlier encounter, told him she'd be fine.
"V, is that you?" Came a voice from the bathroom where Vida could hear the shower running.
"Yeah, Maddie, its me," Vida replied as she walked to the bathroom. The door was partially opened, indicating Vida could come in. Vida walked in and sat on the toilet seat. "So, you and Nick are going out tonight?" She asked.
"Yeah, we're going out with Ben and his girlfriend," Madison replied.
"Ah," Vida said. "Double dating with the ex, do you think that's a good idea?" Vida asked. Madison poked her head out of the shower curtain and looked at her sister.
"Ben and I just went out a few times, I don't think that constitutes him as an ex," Madison said before slinking back into the shower. "Ben and I are just friends. It was hard enough to convince Nick of that, don't tell me I've got to convince you too," Vida laughed.
"No, no, I believe you," she said. The room fell into silence as Madison continued showering. "Hey, Maddie?" Vida asked.
"Yeah?"
"Have you ever sort of looked at something and saw something and were just convinced that that was what that something was……..only to suddenly start seeing that something in a whole new way?" Vida asked. Madison shut off the shower and stuck her hand out of the curtain, grabbing her robe and pulling back behind the curtain. A few seconds later, she pulled the curtain back, wearing the robe as she stepped out of the shower.
"What?" Madison asked as she grabbed a towel and ruffled it through her hair.
"Have you ever…"
"No, no, I heard you………I just have no idea what you're talking about," Madison told her. Vida sighed and got up as Madison left the bathroom and went to the room the two sisters shared with Vida right behind her. Vida flopped down on her bed.
"Okay, if I tell you something, do you promise not to tell anyone?" Vida asked. Madison looked up at her sister from grabbing undergarments from her drawer.
"Of course," Madison said. She went and sat next to Vida. "What's up?" Vida sighed.
"Well, after you and Nick left the store during that fight you guys had……..something happened."
"What do you mean?" Madison asked.
"I fell off the ladder," Vida said.
"Oh gosh, V, are you okay?" Madison asked, worried that she was hurt.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Vida assured her. She took a deep breath. "I didn't actually fall……Chip caught me," Madison's eyebrows raised at that.
"Really?"
"Yeah," Vida said. She looked down at her bedspread as her finger traced a thread along the top. "And……I don't know, ever since then, I've just……….Chip's just………..I don't know, he just seems……….different."
"Different, how?" Madison asked. Vida shrugged.
"I don't know……un-Chip-like……..and it's just……weird." Madison placed a hand on her sister's shoulder.
"Hey, if you want, I can stay here tonight and we can talk about this," Madison offered. Vida smiled gratefully at her sister.
"No, I'm okay," she said. "We can talk after you get back," Vida added, realizing her sister would probably want to talk about this in depth at some point.
"Are you sure?" Madison said. Vida nodded.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Besides, I need some quiet reflection time before I can even start to talk about it," Vida said. Madison gave Vida a sideways hug before getting up and getting dressed for the night. Half an hour later, Madison was till fixing her hair when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Vida said as she stood up and went to open the door. As she opened the door, she saw Nick standing on the front porch with a small bundle of blue colored daisies in his hand. He was dressed in blue jeans that looked like they had been matriculously ironed and a red undershirt under a black button down shirt. "Hey," Vida said, opening the door wide enough to let him walk through. Nick smiled and walked in.
"Hey," he said. Vida took note of the flowers.
"Nice," she remarked. Nick looked down at the flowers in his hand and shrugged.
"I'm thinking these will make sure there's no lingering Ben feelings," Nick admitted rather sheepishly, a little ashamed that he was still feeling a little jealous. Vida smiled.
"I'm sure there's nothing to worry about," she assured him. Nick nodded, taking comfort in her words.
"Hey," Nick looked up as Madison came out of her room and joined them in the foyer. Nick smiled at the sight of her. She wasn't overly dressed, wearing just jeans and a blue tank top with her long dark hair in a loose braid, but to Nick, she looked beautiful.
"Hey," he replied. "Uh, these are for you," he said, handing her the flowers. Madison smiled.
"Thank you," she said, she held the flowers close and took a gentle sniff. "They're beautiful." The two just stood there gazing at each other with Vida standing there. She smirked and shook her head.
"Here, let me put these in some water," Vida said, taking the flowers from Madison. "You guys go and have fun," she added, giving her sister a gentle shove in Nick's direction. The couple laughed softly and said their goodbyes as they exited the house.
"Your chariot awaits," Nick joked as he took her hand and led her off the porch. Madison was surprised to see that instead of Nick's motorcycle, there was a silver SUV parked outside. "The back wheel on my bike was acting kind of weird so my sister let me borrow her car," Nick explained. Madison nodded. "So, where are we going?" He asked, leading her to the car and opening the passenger side door for her.
"Ben called and said we should just meet at the Rockporium and figure out what to do from there," Madison informed him. Nick nodded and shut the door once Madison was seated in the car before going to the drivers side and getting in.
"Well, off we go," he said as he started up the car.
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A few minutes later, Nick pulled up in front of the darkened store and saw Ben standing there with a girl with blonde hair done in a boy-ish cut with long bangs swept to the side. She wore a black skirt and a white shirt.
"That must be Kara," Madison remarked as Nick parked the car and the two of them got out.
"Hey guys," Ben said, waving them over. Nick took hold of Madison's hand as the two of them walked over to the others.
"Hey," Madison said. She gave a smile at the girl next to Ben. "You must be Kara," she said, sticking her free hand out to the girl. She gave Madison a friendly smile.
"You must be Madison," she replied, shaking Madison's hand. "You know, Ben talks about you so much, if I was the jealous type, there'd be problems." The two girls laughed together. Nick frowned and instinctively squeezed Madison's hand. Madison looked at Nick and gently ran her thumb over the back of his palm.
"This is Nick," she said, introducing him. Kara nodded and shook his hand as well.
"I told Kara that with how much Madison talks about you, Nick, she shouldn't have to worry about anything," Ben joked.
"Ben!" Madison chastised, her cheeks turning chrimson at Nick hearing that she talked about him a lot. Nick laughed, suddenly feeling a little at ease.
"Well, where are we off to now?" Kara asked.
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The four of them ended up going to the bowling alley down the street from the store. Ben and Nick went to secure the lanes and rent shoes while the girls stood not to far off conversating and selecting bowling balls for themselves. Nick looked at Ben as they waited for the attendant to come back with the shoes and took a deep breath.
"Listen, man, I'm sorry about earlier today," he said. Ben shook his head dismissively.
"Hey, its cool." Ben said, patting Nick on the back. "I'm sure if the situation was reversed and I saw my girlfriend hugging and talking to some guy, I wouldn't exactly be Mr. Nice Guy either, so, no worries." Nick nodded. "Besides, I really don't think you need to worry about anything," Ben added.
"What do you mean?" Nick asked. Ben cast a look over to Kara and Madison as the two girls laughed about something.
"That girl really cares about you," Ben told him. "I mean, even when we were dating, I could tell there was someone else on her mind," Nick understood what he meant and couldn't help feel a slight twinge of pride at that knowledge. "But, its cool. I mean, if it hadn't been for Maddie being into you, she and I probably would've tried some stupid long distance thing……..We'd both be miserable and I wouldn't have ended up with Kara," Ben concluded, gazing at his girlfriend lovingly. Nick's face lit up with a wide smile, finally feeling totally assured that there was no competition for Madison.
"Here you go," the attendant said as he reappeared with the four pairs of bowling shoes. Ben and Nick thanked him and went off to join their girlfriends.
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"It was really nice meeting you," Madison said to Kara as the two couples departed a few hours later.
"Same here," Kara said. "Don't forget to get my email address from Ben the next time you guys talk, okay?" Madison nodded and the two girls hugged.
"It was great seeing you again," Ben said as he and Madison hugged.
"Same here, have fun at the wedding tomorrow," she said. After they hugged, Ben and Nick shared a friendly handshake before Ben and Kara walked to his car and drove off. Madison turned to Nick and put her arms around his shoulders.
"Did you have fun?" Nick asked. Madison nodded.
"Yeah, did you?"
"Yeah," he said. The two leaned in and shared a brief kiss. "Ben's a nice guy," Nick said as they got into his car. "And Kara's pretty hot." Madison's eyes narrowed as she gave him a hard glare.
"Excuse me?" She asked. Nick chuckled and leaned over the drivers seat to give her a deep and slow kiss.
"Just kidding," he told her once the kiss ended. Madison's jaw hung open and she playfully smacked his arm.
"That's not funny!" She exclaimed as Nick chuckled while he pulled away from the store and drove Madison home.
