Thanks for all your reviews, guys! They mean a lot. Here is Chapter 4 (sorry to keep you waiting, but I keep forgetting that this story is here…)

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These Are the Days
Chapter 4: Unexpected Encounters

"Hey, Lindsey, phone."

Buddy poked his head into Lindsey and Madeleine's room, his voice a little dull; Lindsey guessed that he was probably on the phone with Dana and was interrupted by a call for her. She grinned.

"Okay." Lindsey got up to retrieve the cordless; she was afraid it was going to die on her with all the talking that had been done. "Hey."

"Hey yourself."

Lindsey's face broke into a happy smile. "Linny! What's up?"

"Nothing, just wanted to talk to you, and ask if you wanted to come hang out with us again on Saturday. A whole bunch of us are going to the movies and… I wanted you to come with us."

"Sure, I don't think we're doing anything that weekend."

"Cool. We'll swing by and pick you up at around six."

"Perfect."

There was a comfortable pause, and then Lindsey said, "So… I had a great time tonight. That band was awesome."

"Yeah it was. It'd be even more awesome if you were in it though. I could totally see you rocking out up there."

"Wow, you're giving me compliments left and right. Didn't know you had it in you."

"Yeah well… you're doing something to me, Lindsey. Can't explain it, but you're making me… feel things I've never felt before."

Lindsey blushed. "Oh, really? What kind of things?"

There was another silence, this one a little strained, and then he responded, "Guy things."

There were a million things that could be implied by that, Lindsey knew, but somehow the one that her mind got stuck on made her feel a little uncomfortable. Guy things? They were barely teenagers and he was going through that already?

"Well… thanks… I guess," Lindsey replied.

"You can't help it if you're hot," Linny's voice replied, and Lindsey blushed again. Wow. She wasn't used to hearing this kind of talk. Part of her knew she should stop right there and not even pursue this relationship, to just cancel the date and not ever talk to him again.

But a different part of her liked the attention she was getting, even if it was for obviously wrong reasons. She laughed and told him, "Well, I do try. For you."

"You're doing a good job, 'cause I notice."

"Good." She was about to say more when her handset started beeping annoyingly. "Hey, I have to go. Too many people have been using this thing and it's dying."

"Okay. Well, I guess I'll see you on Saturday, and I can't wait to see you."

Lindsey grinned again. "Back at ya. Bye."

"Bye." With many things weighing on her mind, Lindsey replaced the handset on its base for some well-needed charging, and sat back down on her bed. This was going to be interesting.

-- Saturday night --

"Mom! Have you seen my blue shirt?"

"It's down here in the laundry, Buddy! Natalie, where's my skirt?"

"I thought you wore it yesterday, Lindsey."

Lindsey poked her head out of the dryer. "No, I didn't! Did one of you wear it?" She glared menacingly at her sister and step-sister.

The two of them stole a glance between each other, and then pointed at each other. Lindsey rolled her eyes. "I do not have TIME for this! Next time you want to wear something, just ask!" She threw her hands up in the air and stomped up the stairs, nearly colliding into Buddy, shirtless, hair full of gel.

"Watch it!" Lindsey snapped. "Trying to go around impressing girls with your shirt off? There's nothing to see, nerd."

Buddy blushed a deep shade of scarlet, but said nothing and pushed his way past Lindsey. She rolled her eyes and continued to stomp up the stairs. "I have nothing to wear!"

"Why are you making such a big deal about it?" Taylor's voice asked from the next door down. "You keep saying it's not a date."

"It's not a date!!!" Lindsey yelled, slamming the door behind her and locking it, so that Madeline had to pound on it to get in, and even then, Lindsey didn't let her in. She glanced at the clock – five-fifteen. She had the urge to throw something. Lindsey picked the nearest thing up from the table and poised to chuck it, but then realized what it was. The phone.

She pressed three buttons: on, memory, six. This was her best friend Adrienne Garvey's number, and right now, she needed her best friend.

"Hello?"

"Dri! I need help. I'm going out in forty-five minutes and I have nothing to wear!"

"Linds, calm down. Seriously. You're going to give yourself high blood pressure if you keep doing that. Now, take two deep breaths, go over to your closet, and take something out of it."

"Okay, okay." Lindsey did as her friend told her and pulled out a sparkly green tank top. "Hey, this isn't bad."

"What'd you get?"

"The green tank we bought the last time we went to the mall."

"Oh, that's perfect. Okay. Do you have the jean skirt we bought with that?"

"No, one of my sisters wore it yesterday and now I don't know where it is! Even if I did, it's probably all stained and wrinkled."

"Okay. Okay, what about the white denim skirt?"

Lindsey rummaged around in her closet, ignoring her sister's protests, and found it. "Yeah, I got it."

"Wear that and the silver belt, put your hair up in a ponytail with the bangs to the side, and either tennis shoes or platforms, whatever you feel like."

"Dri, you are a genius."

"Yeah, that's old news."

The two friends laughed, and then Lindsey said, "Thank you so much. I need to go now before my dad threatens to break down the door."

"You locked your sister out again?"

"Yep."

"Awesome. Don't let her in until you're all ready. Call me later and tell me how it goes, okay?"

"Sure thing. Thanks again!"

"No problem."

Lindsey hung up the phone, changed, and then let her sister in the door. "Lindsey, what did you do that for?"

She shrugged. "Can't a girl get any privacy around here?"

Madeleine just shook her head.

"You look really good, Linds," Linny said as he opened the door for her. She could feel his eyes on her and felt semi self-conscious. Issuing a "thanks," she climbed into the Papadakis vehicle and set off for the movies. Buddy had left about fifteen minutes ago to pick Dana up, for which Lindsey was glad.

On the way there, Linny started absentmindedly playing with her hair. Lindsey smiled. She loved it when people did that. He lifted a lock of her long chestnut hair to his nose and inhaled the scent carefully. "It smells good," he declared. Lindsey laughed. "I hope so."

Her laughs died when Linny put his arm around her shoulders and started stroking the skin of her upper arm on her left side. She turned to look at him and found him staring at her in the same way she'd seen Buddy look at Dana before, but there was something different in Linny's gaze that kind of… unnerved her. But before she could think anything else, Linny suddenly leaned in and kissed her, drawing her closer to him using the arm that was already around her.

It thrilled Lindsey, but it also worried her. His friends were sitting right in front of them, and it felt like they were moving way too fast. Still, the feeling of being kissed overruled all her fears, and she returned the kiss willingly until a loud whistle from their right interrupted them.

"Bug off, man," Linny said, swatting his friend with his free hand, while Lindsey covered her face with her hands – she could feel herself blushing. She probably looked like a Christmas ornament with the contrast of her red skin and green top. He whispered in her ear, "Hey, don't worry about it. My friends do it with their girls all the time. They're just giving me grief – and besides, I couldn't help it, you looked so pretty just sitting there."

Lindsey still hid behind her hands, until Linny pried one of them off her face. "It's okay. They don't care, look."

Sure enough, his friends (a blonde one with brown eyes, and a dark haired one with kind of the same coloring as Lindsey herself) were now debating over some video game or something. Lindsey gave Linny a weak smile.

Lindsey, you need to act better than that or else they're going to think you're a nerd!

Her resolve strengthened with her smile. "Okay."

They got to the movie theater, and since Lindsey knew that her brother was there, she told Linny's parents that she'd go home with them. They let his friends pay for the tickets while they waited off to the side. As they waited, Linny dragged her to the side a little. "Hey, come over here," he urged her, leading her around the corner.

"Why?"

"So I can do this." He brought his lips to hers again, and wrapped his arms around her waist. Lindsey was surprised at first, but soon melted into Linny's embrace, wrapping her arms around his neck and letting her fingers venture into the hair at the nape of his neck. As their embrace deepened, she could feel Linny's hands roaming up and down her back, finding their way under her tank top, and it sent an involuntary shudder down her back. She could also feel his tongue asking for entrance into her lips, and she obliged.

Wow, he's such a good kisser. Wonder how many girls he's practiced on before me, Lindsey thought, with a little cynicism.

All of a sudden, everything happened. Lindsey heard footsteps in the background that broke into a run, a "Buddy, no!"; she pulled away quickly, but didn't let go of Linny, and turned to the sound – she saw her stepbrother running towards them at full speed, Dana right at his heels, and the next thing she knew, Linny was on the ground with Buddy above him, his fist poised.

"Buddy, what the hell?" Lindsey exclaimed, anger rising within her.

"This… bastard… all over you…" Buddy was so angry that he couldn't even talk. Wow, profanity. I'm proud of you, Barrett. She looked over at Dana, who was not looking happy at all, and said, "Help me get him off of Linny." She nodded and together, the two of them managed to get him away from Lindsey's companion (Lindsey suspected he would have resisted more, but he didn't want to hurt Dana).

Linny glared up at Buddy. "What was that for?"

"I told you if you ever hurt my sister, I'd sink the neighborhood on you," Buddy growled, his breath fast, his cheeks flushed.

Linny shook his head. "And I said I wouldn't. Did it look like she was getting hurt?" He shot a semi-smirk at Lindsey, who smiled back.

Buddy looked uneasily at his step-sister. "I guess not."

"Then why'd you have to do that?" Lindsey asked, now irritated. "Geez, you ruined a date for all parties involved. I'm sure Dana didn't have to see that."

Lindsey ignored the raised eyebrow Dana was giving her. "Now go, I'm sure you have a movie to catch."

Buddy held Lindsey's gaze for a long while, and then said, "We'll talk later." Then he turned to Dana and said, "Sorry about that. Let's go watch the movie." He offered Dana his arm, and she smiled at him shyly and took it. Lindsey rolled her eyes out of pure habit. "Wow, that is so sappy it's almost sickening," she muttered. Behind her, Linny laughed. "Definitely. Now come on, we need to go."

"Okay," Lindsey agreed, but not before stealing one more kiss from Linny.

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