Impressed by his gall, I stared at the stranger, Gregor, for a long minute. But, there was something about his forthrightness that was appealing.

"I get it," he said after a minute, his confidence clearly wavering, "I'm a stranger and your parents told you not to talk to strangers, but we introduced ourselves. We're not strangers anymore."

I raised my eyebrows to invite him to keep talking.

"And, I'll tell you exactly what my plans are for our date … if you decide to go with me, that is. I would pick you up at six. I'd have flowers for you and flowers for your mother. I'd be a gentleman and shake hands with your father and assure him that you would be safe. Then I would take you out to the car and I would hold open your door for you while you got in. As we drive away, I would explain to you that I picked out Flora's restaurant because they have a wide range of vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, which is a requirement for me as a vegetarian. We'll get there and I will hold all of the doors open for you. I will show you your seat and pull out your chair. I will be charming and engaging as a dinner companion. Afterward, I will take you to a beautiful spot to sightsee that I have discovered in my month and a half in Amity. We will sit there and look at the sky, and we don't have to do anything more than appreciate its beauty." Gregor's eyes seemed to grow brighter as he added, "Of course, I wouldn't be a proper gentleman if I did that, however."

"No?" I questioned. I'd been swept away just by his description.

"No, because to be a proper gentleman I would make sure that it was an evening that you would enjoy as well. So, I'm going to ask you now, Sam, what would you like to do on our evening out together?"

For a moment, I thought about being offended that he'd already assumed that I was going with him. Then I realized that he was right; I was going to go on this date. There was absolutely no reason for me not to. I was a single girl with no attachments that would hold me back from having a night or two of fun.

I smiled at him and, instead of coming up with a completely new itinerary, I just augmented his pre-existing plans.

"I like lilies. My mother has a fondness for daisies. Be respectful to my father but keep in mind that I am in control of my own life and he does not own me. Opening car doors is nice but don't think it's a necessity all of the time; I am a big girl. I'm an ultra-recyclo vegetarian and I appreciate that you eat the same way that I do. I don't want to sit and stare at the stars. Perhaps we can find something a bit more exciting to do," I finished. Sitting and staring at the stars reminded me of long hours spent on my roof, wrapped tightly in the arms of Phantom.

Gregor smiled. "Any suggestions for something more exciting?" He asked.

"No. You've done a good job with planning so far, I trust you with this."

"Trust is important," Gregor agreed, then he took a step toward me. "May I see your cell phone?"

I pulled it out and tapped the screen a few times to bring up the window to enter a new contact. Then, I handed the device over and watched as Gregor entered his number and sent himself a message from my phone so that he would have my number.

"Perfect," he said with a grin. "Now, the only thing left for me to ask is when may I see you?"

I blushed, despite myself. Here was a polite, cute guy asking me out; a guy who had no secrets or ulterior motives; a guy who wouldn't hurt me in the end. In my time in New Orleans, I'd never focused on boys because, well, I was still reeling from my last break-up and because I was trying to recover myself as a person. Upon returning to Amity, I still hadn't expected to encounter a date but here was Gregor, looking at me so sweetly and innocently. It was hard not to be slightly smitten with him.

"The day after tomorrow," I replied.

"Six?" Gregor asked, and I nodded in response.

"I'll be waiting," I said, dry-mouthed as I turned my back on him and practically skipped down the hallway.

Was I nervous about going out on a date? Hell yes. I had never been on a real date. Before Phantom had stepped into my life, I'd never so much as held hands with a member of the opposite sex! As Phantom had told me that he was dead, and on top of that being the infamous protector of Amity, I couldn't exactly be seen in public with him. I had no experience in this field. All I had for help were my books and I knew that they couldn't be relied upon; I'd used fictional romances as my basis for what would happen with Phantom and I knew that you couldn't expect real life to be like the written word. Despite the fact that I was sure I was going to be awkward on this date, I decided that I wasn't going to care. I was going to pretend like I was wearing the perfect dress, hopefully saying the right thing, so that Gregor wouldn't be able to tell that I was a head case.

I was kind of over feeling like I was a head case anyway.

"Wow," Tucker commented when I sighted him out on the deck. "Look at what the cat dragged in."

"Meow," I retorted, chuckling. "Where is … he?" I asked.

"He and Kwan are racing each other across the lake. Mikey went with them to referee," Tucker answered.

"Why didn't you go?" I asked.

Tucker glanced at me, green eyes secretive. I knew immediately why he hadn't gone down with the other boys.

"Secret lover?" I teased and he nodded. "Who?"

"I can't say," Tucker protested, his dark skin going red with a blush.

I leaned closer to him, like we were devising some kind of top secret conspiracy plan. "You can trust me, Tucker. Besides," I tacked on, "you knew all about my secret lover."

Tucker glared at me, though there was no negative emotion behind it. "You didn't tell me about that, though. Besides, mine is worse."

I snorted, trying to keep making light of the situation I'd had with Phantom/Fenton. If I faked like I was over it, maybe I really would get over it.

"I slept with a guy I thought was dead. You're going to have to try really hard to one up me on that."

Tucker shrugged, fiddling with the bottom of his bright green t-shirt.

"You know I have a point," I pushed, my curiosity burning intensely.

In all of the time I'd been talking to Tucker, not once had he mentioned having a girlfriend. He'd never mentioned a crush, a hook-up, any sort of romantic entanglement that I could think of. I could think of no reason why he wouldn't talk about her, even vaguely, except, maybe that he was ashamed of her. But I couldn't see Tucker dating a girl that he was ashamed of. In fact, I was surprised at Tucker's secrecy. On more than one occasion, he'd implied how harsh he'd been on Fenton's secrecy and how he still hated it.

"Why the secret?" I asked, finally.

Tucker rubbed his jaw, sighed, and I knew that he was going to confide on me. I felt a thrill that he trusted me enough to tell me these things.

"She's older than me," he admitted.

"How much older?" I asked.

"Two years," he answered.

It wasn't what I'd been imagining when he said that she was older. I thought that Tucker was dating some woman twice his age and that was the reason for the secret. But two years older was no big deal. Tucker was eighteen which would make her twenty; college age. Immediately, I began to scope out the people around us. Tucker had already told me that she was at the party.

But the only person I could see that wasn't twenty-five plus or a teenager that I'd attended Casper High with was Jazz.

"Oh my god," I gasped aloud, realizing that I had unintentionally figured it out.

He was dating Jazz; his best friend's sister.

Oh my god.

"Jazz?" I whispered under my breath.

Tucker's blush deepened. "Maybe," he mumbled.

"It's cute," I told him.

"You think?" He questioned.

I nodded, though I couldn't imagine that it was a conventional relationship. Jazz was too, well, anal and Tucker was too much of a jokester. Still, I could see it. Tucker would help Jazz have fun and not be too focused on the serious aspect of life while Jazz would be able to make Tucker see that there was a more serious side of life. Either way, if they were able to have a healthy, functioning, relationship I was completely supportive of them doing it.

"I do," I answered. "I'm assuming the secrecy is because neither of you have told Fenton yet?"

Tucker shook his head, confirming my thoughts. "He's just … been torn up over the two of you and Jazz and I couldn't bring ourselves to tell him about us. We're going to, soon."

"Good luck with that," I told him.

"I'm going to need it," Tucker sighed. "Danny would kill for Jazz, no questions asked."

"Why am I killing for Jazz?" A familiar voice behind me rumbled.

I tensed, my body reading itself for flight or fight, and I forced myself to ignore both possible responses. I anchored myself to my spot on the deck. I was not going to run away; I was not going to act like a scared victim. Neither, though, would I fight him. I was going to stand here and ignore him. I was standing here for my friend Tucker and not the riff-raff that Tucker associated with.

Tucker turned, leaning his back against the deck railing. I echoed the action.

"Just sayin' how protective you are," Tucker answered, "You know, if Jazz was ever in trouble."

Fenton's blue eyes darted to his red-headed sister, who was seated with a blonde girl that I'd seen around the tutoring center with her.

"She's okay, though, right?"

Knowing him so well, though I'd like to pretend otherwise, I caught the genuine worry in his voice as he inspected Jazz for any sign that she was anything other than fine.

"Oh yeah," Tucker answered. "She's all right. We were speaking hypothetically."

"Big words," I muttered underneath my breath.

"Ass," Tucker accused, jamming his elbow into my ribs.

"Bite me," I snapped, shoving his arm away from my side and back to his.

"You're a kinky little thing, aren't you?" Tucker joked while I stood there, slack-jawed.

I had never been accused of being kinky in my life. The fact that he did it front of the only guy I'd ever had sex with was worse.

"Whatever."

"So," Tucker said, his voice changing tones as well as topics, "Sam."

"Tucker."

"Why were you so happy when you showed up a minute ago?"

"Oh…" I mouthed.

I didn't really want to tell Tucker that I had a date – I'd just be opening myself up to teasing and criticism of the boy who'd asked me – and I really didn't want to tell him with Fenton standing right there, even though I was pointedly not looking at him and ignoring his presence. Still, Tucker was staring at me expectantly and I just knew that Fenton was doing the exact same thing.

"I kind of have … a date," I grumbled.

"Aw, how cute," Tucker said, patting me on the head.

I'd been staring at the ground but, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fenton turn around and turn to walk away.

"Who?" Tucker asked.

"Gregor," I answered promptly, feeling better about talking about it since Fenton was leaving.

But, as soon as the name was out of my mouth, Fenton whirled around.

"Vlad Masters' nephew?" He exploded. "Sam! You fucking can't!"

Let's just pretend this wasn't late, okay? Life has been kicking my ass lately and I'm sorry.

I don't own anything recognizable. Thanks to my betas: Forever Sky.

~TLL~