Disclaimer: I do not own Camp Rock.
Mitchie and Caitlyn's plan was not going quite as they expected. Everything started so smoothly - Peggy and Jason had both accepted the invitation to dinner at Nate and Caitlyn's, unaware that their friends wanted to set them up. Nate and Shane were mostly on board with the idea and had agreed to behave themselves. When Peggy arrived, Jason had given her an enthusiastic hug and commented on how wonderful she looked. It had been downhill from there.
After Jason had stepped back from hugging Peggy, Melody and Annabelle rushed over, vibrating with excitement.
"Hi Peggy," Annabelle said. "Do you remember me?"
"Of course, Annabelle," Peggy said with a smile.
"Peg-gee! See my room!" Melody exclaimed.
Caitlyn groaned. Melody always wanted to show every visitor her bedroom; it didn't matter if you had been there the day before, she still wanted to give you a tour of her room. "Melody, baby, Ms. Peggy just got here. Maybe you could show her your room later."
"Please, Mommy," Melody asked, her big brown eyes filling up with tears.
Peggy smiled at Caitlyn, "I honestly don't mind."
Caitlyn paused for a moment before looking down at her daughter and nodding. She warned her friend, "Just so you know, if you take Melody's tour, Annabelle will want to show you her room too."
Peggy laughed as Melody took her hand and started to lead her upstairs.
Normally Annabelle would have been following along behind trying to compete for Peggy's attention, but she had not seen Jason in a few weeks and was happy to have him to herself. She dragged her uncle off to play Candyland.
That was how the night had gone – somehow the girls managed to keep either Peggy or Jason or both occupied all night. Caitlyn and Nate had tried to distract the girls, but both of their friends seemed determined to thwart the plan. Jason and Peggy barely said a handful of words to each other, instead focusing on entertaining the girls.
Caitlyn breathed a sigh of relief when it was time to put the girls to bed, but then Jason offered to read the girls a good-night story. Mitchie watched Peggy as Jason and Caitlyn headed out the dining room to put the girls to bed. There was a soft, thoughtful look on Peggy's face. A minute later she snapped out of it and joined the conversation.
Caitlyn came back first after getting the girls settled into bed. She had picked a short book for Jason to read in hopes of getting him back down quickly. Peggy looked down at her watch and back up at Caitlyn.
"I had such a good time tonight, but I'm afraid I am going to have to head home soon. I have to be at the studio really early tomorrow," Peggy said.
"Really? Are you sure you can't stay a little longer?" Caitlyn asked. "We didn't get much of a change to talk with the girls around."
"Maybe we could get a babysitter and all get together another night," Nate suggested. His wife gave him a grateful look.
"That sounds great," Peggy said.
Jason came down the stairs as Peggy was saying goodbye. He looked at everyone gathered in the entryway with confusion. "What's going on?"
"Peggy's heading home. She has to be at the studio early tomorrow," Mitchie explained.
"Oh," Jason looked thoughtful for a minute. He looked Peggy in the eye and asked, "Would you like to go to dinner with me later this week?"
Peggy's eyes lit up and she smiled at Jason. "I would love to." She pulled her phone out of her purse and asked Jason for his number. After she was done, Jason put his arm around her shoulder. "How about I walk you to your car?"
He was humming happily to himself when he returned to the house a few minutes later. He walked up to Mitchie and Caitlyn and pulled them in to one of his famous group hugs. "Thanks, girls."
Mitchie and Caitlyn looked at each other and back at Jason. "What are you thanking us for?" Caitlyn asked hesitantly.
"For setting me up with Peggy. I'd forgotten how much I liked her."
"But how did you…" Mitchie started to ask.
"I'm smarter than I look, you know," Jason answered. He turned to Nate and Shane, "I think I have an idea for a new song I want to bounce off of you."
The boys headed down the hallway towards the music room. As soon as they closed the door to the soundproof room, Nate turned to Jason and smirked. He loved Jason like a brother, but there was no way he'd figured out the girls' plan on his own. "Annabelle tattled, huh?"
Jason grinned. "Yup. She didn't make it through the first game of Candyland."