One disadvantage to getting older was that it became harder to hangout with friends.

Gia didn't have a job right now. She did at the local supermarket but ended up getting fired when she got into a loud argument with her manager. So, she was let go and her mom hadn't been all that pushy in forcing her to get another one, so it wasn't exactly high on her priority list.

Many times, she would ask Stephanie if she was free to hangout but the answer was usually no, more often than not. When Stephanie wasn't working, then it seemed Gia had something to do. Like on Saturday, when Gia had a day with her mom. But she wasn't busy on Sunday and neither was Stephanie.

So, that afternoon, the two of them went to the mall to enjoy some junk food from the food court and to scope out some guys. Occasionally, they wandered through a store or two, although neither came across anything that caught their eye.

Stephanie was much less enthusiastic about the outing than she normally would be. She just kept thinking about Charlie and how he didn't have any pictures or...anything to remember his mom by. She wished she could do something for him. If it was her, she'd be absolutely crushed. Those pictures and home videos had been a source of comfort, especially during some tough times. She couldn't imagine having nothing.

"Alright, spill," Gia ordered.

They sat in the back of the food court with sodas and two baskets of cheese fries. Stephanie chewed the rest of her bite, frowning at her best friend. When she swallowed, she said,

"What?"

"Spill," Gia repeated. "You're acting like your dog died."

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "I am not."

"Oh, please. You've been moping since we got here," Gia scoffed, not believing her in the slightest. She looked at Stephanie intently. "So, what's up? Something's obviously on your mind."

"It's nothing," Stephanie stalled by taking an unnecessary big bite of her fries.

"Steph, I may be stupid but I'm not an idiot."

Stephanie blinked.

"Tell me what's wrong," Gia was looking somewhat concerned now. "You're never this spacey. Did something happen at work?"

Depends on what you mean by 'something'

"Well-"

"Was it Ted again?" Gia demanded. She disliked him as much as Stephanie did, maybe a bit more. "Was he being a jerk again?" Stephanie never got the chance to answer. She opened her mouth but her friend continued to talk. "How come he's not been fired yet? I'd hang myself before I'd work there. You should complain. Or egg his house. And his car. Look, if you want, I'll egg his house and car."

"Gia!" Stephanie rubbed her temple. "It's not Ted."

Gia looked greatly disappointed.

"I can still egg his house and car, right?"

Stephanie gave her a look.

"Oh, come on, Steph! Even if he's innocent this time, doesn't excuse all the crap he's done before."

"No," Stephanie said firmly. "We talked about this. No getting even with Ted."

Gia huffed. "Fine. Well, what is it, then? What's on your mind?"

Stephanie hesitated. She didn't want to give too many details away and break Charlie's trust. But she was dying to talk about it to someone. "You can't tell anyone."

Gia's eyes gleamed at the idea of knowing a secret. "Oh, yeah?"

"I'm serious," Stephanie didn't smile. "No one can know."

"What did you do?" Gia said eagerly.

"Promise me you won't say anything," Stephanie told her.

"Steph," Gia sighed. "You know I won't. Just tell me."

"Fine, fine," Stephanie knew it was illogical, but she glanced around anyway, as if someone was listening in. "Well, there's this guy-"

Gia whistled. "You've got a boyfriend and you didn't even tell me?"

"He's not my boyfriend," Stephanie told her.

"You really expect me to believe he's just a friend?"

"Harry's our friend," Stephanie pointed out.

"But that's Harry," Gia made a face. "We're probably the only girls that aren't family that will talk to him."

"Be nice," Stephanie rolled her eyes.

Gia and Harry were friends, although they did banter back and forth majority of the time. Harry didn't share Gia's carefree attitude on life so the two of them clashed. And Gia thought Harry was too uptight. Stephanie usually needed to be the mediator.

"That was nice."

"Anyway," Stephanie said pointedly. "He's not my boyfriend and I'm not interested in him. We were partners for a school thing back in fifth grade."

"And?" Gia said.

"And he moved away," Stephanie gave the same story like she'd done to Lacey. "But now he's back."

"Uh huh," Gia was giving her a look. "Question is, why's he on your mind? Is he dreamy?"

"Shut up," Stephanie hissed.

"Why so defensive?" Gia grinned. "Unless you think he is."

"He's not dreamy. It has nothing to do with looks."

"Is he ugly then?" Gia lost her smile.

"He's not ugly," Stephanie frowned. "He's not bad looking but it's got nothing to do with that."

"Then what does it have to do with?" Gia wondered. "And when do I get to meet the guy?"

"Never," Stephanie could imagine how that would go. Gia was just as bad as Lacey was when it came to guys. She would flirt with Charlie and she really didn't think she could listen to her best friend babble on about how hot she thought Charlie was or how epic their makeout session was.

"I'll see him at school," She said confidently. "Unless he's one of those homeschooled dweebs."

"He'll be at school," Stephanie said.

"Great," Gia leaned back, glancing around the vicinity. There were no teenage guys in sight. Just some older couples and a mother with her baby. "So, tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"Don't play dumb," Gia wasn't fooled. "What's this guy like? What's his name and does he have a car?"

"His name is Charlie," Stephanie said, using a napkin to delicately wipe off some cheese at the corner of her mouth. "Brown hair, brown eyes. Little bit taller than me. And yes, he does have a car."
"Score!" Gia exclaimed, much to the disapproval of the young mother. She glared at the two of them, placing her baby in his stroller and walking off. "Steph, this is great! A guy with a car is practically a deal!"

"So?" Stephanie said, cluelessly. "Why should I care if he has a car? I have one."

"But I don't," Gia pointed out, disgruntled. Her mom was unable to purchase one for her and since she had a...bit of difficulty with authority-though, it was far better than when she had been in middle school-Gia was left without a car. She relied on Stephanie, who didn't mind at all. Harry didn't have a vehicle either. His parents believed it was much healthier for him to walk to school. Sometimes, Stephanie took him, too. Usually if the weather was bad or it was too cold. "I need a guy with wheels. It'll be so much easier to plan our dates."

Stephanie pushed her plastic spork around the container of fries. She wasn't feeling much hungry anymore. Those consuming thoughts about Charlie made her aptitude vanish. Gia noticed this and went quiet, waiting for her to spill.

"Charlie doesn't have a mom either."

Gia moved slightly in her chair. She was never any good at emotions or sensitive topics. Stephanie had exploded at her once when she spent over half an hour complaining about her mom, to which Stephanie had hurled it at her that she was lucky to have one. It made her friend stop in her tracks. Gia had never been as apologetic before as she was on that day.

"Oh. Well, that sucks."

Sucks isn't the word for it, Stephanie thought.

"She died when he was born," She rested her cheek on the top of her hand. "It's not even fair. He doesn't have any pictures of her or anything."

"Doesn't his dad or someone have any?" Gia said.

She went still. She couldn't mention Charlie's dad and what he had done. Charlie would be furious with her. "They don't have any," She came up with a quick lie. "They got lost or something after his dad put them away."

"Oh," Gia bought it.

"Yeah," Stephanie sighed. "It sucks. It really sucks. He doesn't have anything to remember her by."

"Doesn't he have any other family he can ask?'

"I don't think so," Stephanie couldn't recall Charlie ever mentioning any other family members. If he had any, they could have likely adopted him instead of the Marks. She supposed it was really only him and his dad ever since his mom died.

"Dang," Gia muttered. "I hate my mom sometimes but I can't imagine her gone."

"I wanna do something for him," Stephanie admitted.

"Like what?" Gia said.

"I don't know. Something."

"Like making him a card?"

"No," Stephanie didn't think that would do any good. No...it needed to be something better. A card sounded so lame. What would she even write on the inside? 'Sorry you don't have a mom but I hope this makes you feel better anyway'? "I don't know."

Gia shrugged. She turned her head, looking again. Sometimes she was her own worst enemy, namely when she was overly criticizing. "Too tall. Too short. Too fat. No muscles. Too old." She turned back to Stephanie. "There's no one here," She whined.

"You're too picky," Stephanie said.

"Am not. I have standards."

"What standards?" Stephanie said in disbelief. "He has to have a car and be hot. That's hardly a standard."

"Sure it is," Gia said. "Somebody has to drive us to our dates and I can't show up with someone ugly."

"Don't you remember what Mrs. May told us?" Mrs. May was their hippy English teacher they'd had in sophomore year. "She told us beauty is in the eye of the beholder and no one is ugly, the only ugliness is in their hearts."

"That's what the outer uglies say to comfort each other," Gia snorted.

Stephanie shook her head.

"Do you see that guy over there?' Gia was excited. "I'm gonna go talk to him. Hopefully I'll score a date for Friday. Be right back."

"Okay," Stephanie tried to smile as she watched her friend walk away. It dropped. She still felt bummed out. Word thing was, she didn't fully understand why this was bothering her. She'd known people who had lost family members; dad's, mom's, siblings, grandparents. This wasn't so rare that it only happened to them.

So why did she care so much?

Maybe it had to do with Charlie's whole circumstances. First his mom dies, then he has to live with his abusive dad for nearly twelve years. For so long, she'd seen him as nothing but a pest. She never knew the truth, never knew that he seemed perfectly normal at school, never knew that he suffered.

Maybe some of it was guilt.

Because she'd been one of the kids that made her dislike of him known. It was partly due to the fact that she had felt annoyed by him but also she didn't want the other kids to ostracize her for defending him. After he'd been taken out of school, she did stand up to the other kids-starting with Jennifer and Jennifer-without giving anyway anything, she'd told them straight up that they shouldn't be saying anything like that. They'd dismissed anything she said and never again did they freely speak to her. It was a small price to pay but she would rather be excluded from the popular group than to sit there while knowing the truth.

/

It was late in the Tanner house.

Being it was a weekend, everyone had something that they'd been doing; Joey had a date night with his girlfriend, Aunt Becky and Uncle Jesse were taking the twins to see some kiddy show, Michelle was hanging out with some friends, probably to vent about how embarrassed she was yesterday and strangely enough, Dad had to leave for a while.

He didn't elaborate on what it was that he had to do, just that he'd be back later and told Stephanie, who was yet again staying home alone, to be safe and don't answer the door to strangers. She suspected he had another date but this time, knew better than to say it out in the open where Uncle Jesse could hear and try to help him.

She hoped she was right; Dad needed to get out there again. It'd taken a lot for him to feel like he wasn't betraying Mom by seeing another woman. It was time to move on and be happy again. He'd done so much for her and her sisters, putting everything on hold to raise them. She wanted him to find that special woman, the one that made his heart skip a beat and palms to sweat. He needed to find love again.

And maybe that love was with Vicky.

Oh, how she hoped so. They'd worked so well together. The way they'd been reminded Stephanie of how her Dad was with her Mom before the accident had taken her away from them. That was a kind of love that he deserved to have again. That was what Stephanie wanted so badly for him.

The door creaked open. She'd been sitting on the couch, idly watching television while everyone else was in their rooms, sleeping or otherwise. She wanted to wait up for him, just to make sure he got home safe. It had been many years since that earthquake had made her fearful of losing him and while she didn't feel an overwhelming amount of fear that he wouldn't make it back, she just liked to see it for herself.

Dad was facing the other direction-possibly at someone else? Totally. He waved and grinned, freezing when he came face-to-face with Stephanie. She waved from her spot on the couch. He cleared his throat. "Hi sweetie. What are you still doing up?"

She kept eye contact as she threw a handful of popcorn into her mouth. "Just watching the music video awards."

"Oh," Dad was trying to act normal but failing miserably. He was way too nervous. "That's nice."

"Yeah, so who was that?" Stephanie wasted no time in asking.

"Huh?" Dad had a deer in the headlight look to him. "Who was that? Oh, it was no one."

"You were waving...to no one?" Stephanie clarified.

"I wasn't waving," Dad tried to say. "No, no. I was just trying to get the neighbor's dog off our lawn."

She rolled her eyes. "Give it up, Dad."

He sighed in defeat, going over to sit beside her on the couch. He pulled her close, arm wrapped around her. She leaned in, feeling safe and content. "I guess I can't hide it any longer," He said. With a chuckle.

"Are you seeing anyone?" She said with hope.

"I am," He confirmed.
"Is it Vicky?"

He didn't respond right away. "Now don't get your hopes up-" he started to say.

She beamed, giving him a hug. "Dad, that's amazing!"

"Thanks, honey, but we just started seeing each other again."

"Do you think you'll get engaged again and actually get married?" Stephanie asked.

"Hold up, Steph," Dad said. "We haven't been seeing each other for long. If we do get married, it's a while off."

"Why? You guys know each other," Stephanie didn't see a problem with it. She'd totally support her Dad and Vicky if they ever decided to get married right away and skip the whole dating process.

"Yes," Dad conceded. "But we want to take everything slow."

"You took it slow the last time."

He smiled, kissing her temple.

"How come you haven't told anyone?" Stephanie said, looking in his eyes.

Dad sighed again. "I don't want to get their hopes up. Especially Michelle. I don't want to keep bringing women in and out of your lives. She was so excited when she thought Vicky and I were getting married. What if it doesn't work out this time? I don't want to disappoint her."

"You won't," Stephanie said in earnest. "Dad, can I ask you something?"
"Of course," Dad said. "What is it, Steph?"

"Are you nervous?" Stephanie bit her lip. "About it maybe not working out with her?"

"Is it that obvious?" Dad said wryly. "Oh, sweetheart. I'm a nervous wreck when I'm with her. It's like I'm a teenager again. I haven't felt that since I met your Mom."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Stephanie said.

"Yeah. Yeah, I suppose it is, isn't it?" Dad smiled.

Stephanie snuggled closer like she had when she was a little girl. She remembered those days, when her Dad had been her hero-and he still was-and being by his side meant all her fears, all her worries would fade away. "You deserve to be happy, Dad. We all think so; me, Michelle and DJ. We want you to be happy like when you were with Mom."

"I want that, too, Steph," He whispered. "You have no idea how much I want that."

"Then get it with Vicky," She said. "She loves you. You love her. There's nothing stopping you guys but yourselves."

"When did my little girl get so wise?"

They shared a tight hug.