The restaurant was packed. Thursday nights weren't usually so busy, but the weather was beautiful in early August and people used it as an excuse to get out and about. Rachel was rushing around the place like she was on a cooking show, dropping off dishes, getting refills, and taking orders just as fast as she could. Kaitlyn had called out 'sick' (she had told Rachel that she had a date with her out-of-town boyfriend), which left them down a waitress on top of it all.

"Got a group of five at 12." Hailey told Rachel as the girl walked back to the hostess stand.

She only nodded in response, passing the menus she'd just grabbed from her latest table to Hailey. After throwing the ticket up in the window, she fast-walked over to table 12.

A pair of blue eyes and dimples greeted her, but not the ones Rachel was familiar with. She knew it was one of Emmett's brothers based on the boy's looks, though not which one. All McCarty boys looked like replicas of each other, with only minor changes in between. And, as with Emmett himself, she'd never met any of the boys officially, had only heard about them. Apparently, she'd get to know another one real quick.

She pulled out her ticket book and greeted them. Her heart pounded in her chest the entire time, waiting for the McCarty to give her hell about Emmett or for her to do something embarrassing in front of him. "Hello, I'm Rachel. What can I get y'all started with to drink?"

When she got to the McCarty, she held her breath, still waiting for him to say something about her and Emmett. He never did though, ordering a soda and letting her move on to the guy beside him. Perhaps she'd been too self-centered and vain. He wouldn't care about her hanging out with his little brother. Hell, he probably didn't even know she had been going on dates with Emmett. Emmett wasn't necessarily the type to take relationships seriously…though he had taken their relationship quite so. That didn't mean he'd share details, or any information, with his family.

She brought all their drinks back with a renewed sense of calm about her. Knowing she wasn't going to be questioned or teased about her dates Emmett brought relief to her night. At least, a little bit. All she had to do was get through the dinner without looking like an idiot. That was something she could easily do. She'd been a waitress for the last three years. She knew a thing or two about the restaurant and serving people. As long as no one ran into her while she carried food or drinks, everything would be just fine.

Once she was able to make her way back with their drinks and they had been passed out, she fingered her ticket book again, "Y'all need more time with the menus or are you ready to order?"

"I gotta question for ya." The McCarty boy set down his menu, likely so Rachel could see the item he wanted to ask about. She leaned forward to try and view it better, but she hadn't needed to. "You Rachel Kenten?"

Well, so much for not getting asked about Emmett.

She leaned back, heart pounding a little harder as she pressed her lips together. She nodded, "Yessir."

The boy broke out into a mischievous grin, and he eyed some of his friends, "Oh boy, Rachel. You and me's gunna have some fun tonight."

"Why? You tip better than your brother does?" She had clearly been kidding, but was it wrong of her to kind of hope that was true? Her car started making a weird noise when she turned it on that morning, and she really didn't have money for fixes. Sure, her dad was a mechanic, but that didn't mean free car repairs.

He was just as good natured about her sass as Emmett was, chuckling along with his buddies, "'Course I do, girl! Ain't no hoodlum like he is. Tell me, what's a pretty girl like you hanging around a guy like Emmett for?"

"Someone's gotta teach him some manners. You McCarty boys could use a few lessons in that, right?" Rachel shifted her weight, face set in an innocent smile. A couple boys laughed, giving the McCarty a shit-eating grin.

"Yeah, he could, couldn't he?" The boy leaned back, pushing her insinuation off to just Em. "Don't worry, sweetheart. I won't give ya as much trouble as he does."

"Well, you're already failing at that." Rachel nodded towards him. "Your brothers got his order all picked out and ready for me by the time I get back with drinks. He doesn't hold me up from my job like you are."

He chuckled again, tipping his head back. "Well, damn, Kenten. Guess it's true what he says about you: got you smitten with him, eh?"

Rachel scoffed, rolling her eyes. Of course, that's what Emmett would tell people. "Yeah, your brother is quite the story teller."

"Exactly, good for nothin' liar." The boy smirked, "So again, I ask: what's a pretty girl like you doin' with my baby brother?"

"Well, some of us are stupid and like trying to keep bad boys in check, I guess." Rachel shrugged with a sheepish smile.

The boys laughed at her self-deprecation.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Rachel." One of the guys next to Emmett's brother said, "All of us go through a stupid phase. Like Henry and Katie Lewis."

She giggled along with the boys, more out of politeness than anything. Rachel had no idea who Katie Lewis was, but she was glad to get Henry's name out of the conversation shift. If she remembered correctly, Henry was the next youngest before Emmett. Personality wise, she could see that.

The whole conversation turned then, Henry and his friends sassing each other instead of Rachel. She was trying to find an in, so she didn't have to yell over the obnoxious boys. Thankfully, a different McCarty boy came to save her from herding the table.

"The hell is going on here?" Emmett asked in an accusatory tone. He sauntered up to the table and put his arm around Rachel's shoulders, narrowing his eyes at his older brother, "Trying to steal my girl, Henry?"

"Loosen up, baby brother. I was just askin' her some questions. Trying to figure out what the hell she sees in you." Henry smirked, his assault on his friend forgotten with the appearance of a better target.

Emmett rolled his eyes, not as keen to be teased when it was by his brother. "Why? Trying to get some tips on how to pick up girls?"

"Funny." Henry narrowed his own blues. "You best watch yourself. I know where you sleep."

Rachel shook her head at their antics, listening to the two go back and forth. With the boy's distracted, she took the opportunity to attend to the rest of her tables. Best to let the brothers get it all out in the meantime. But like a child who realized a sibling was playing with a forgotten toy, the boys at the table called out after her.

"She didn't even take our order!" Rachel heard Henry shout over the other protests, and she snickered at his outburst.

"I got a time limit, boys. Get it together for when I come back." She called over her shoulder.

She apologized to her new table and started getting their order together. Thankfully, the couple of girls were prepared and gave Rachel what they wanted without a long drawn-out conversation. While she wrote out her ticket, she noticed Emmett wandering to another table instead of sitting next to his older brother. She wrote a little faster then, thanking the two girls as she hurriedly grabbed their menus.

"No ma'am!" Rachel rose her voice at Em after she took a step away from the table, stopping him right before he grabbed the chair at the new spot. The sound of her loud voice caused him to look over, thoroughly confused.

He thought that she was just teasing him, and he smirked, "I gotta sit over here so I actually get some service!"

"No. No, ma'am." She ripped off the ticket for the table she'd just served and walked back over to him, her voice lowering as she got closer. "You sit at that table, then I have one extra table to clean. Go sit by your brother. I'll get y'all your own crayons so you can play nice together."

The boys erupted in laughter again as Emmett whined behind her. She wasn't listening to him though. After throwing the ticket up in the window, Rachel made good on her promise and grabbed two cups filled with crayons and a couple kid menus.

She dropped both items at the table for the McCarty boys and pointed Emmett to his seat. "Sit down." Her eyes scanned the table of boys, face set in a sternly pointed look, "Now y'all get two minutes. When I look at you, you better have your order ready, or you aren't eating. You, blondie, go." She looked to the boy on her immediate left. He snickered but got his order out with no side conversations. Each boy followed suit, obeying better than Rachel thought they would. After their orders were taken, the blonde boy asked, very seriously, for more crayons and menus.

She hadn't thought it to actually be useful, but all six boys at the table sat semi-quietly as they played each other in the various games. When they ran out of paper space, they used napkins, making their own templates instead. Aside from being loud and rowdy when one lost, they actually behaved fairly well, allowing Rachel to focus on the rest of tables without having to babysit McCarty's.

"I didn't think they'd actually like it." Rachel mumbled to the table of girls as she brought their food, having caught them staring and giggling. "Guess boys don't ever really grow up, eh?" She winked and headed back to the kitchen to get the boys their meals.

"Hey Rachel," Henry called to her as soon as she approached with the food. Her eyes flashed to him, but she didn't say anything as she set plates down. "settle a debate for us."

"Hot plate." She told Henry as she handed him his food. "Whatcha need?"

Henry shot Emmett a smirk, telling Rachel that there was no real debate at all. "Let's say there's a guy – let's call him Emmett." Rachel exhaled sharply, trying not to laugh already as Henry continued. "Now, let's say this Emmett guy, was trying to look cool and-"

"Ran into the locker room door staring at Taylor Thomas's ass. I heard this one." Rachel waved him onward. Dan rang the bell for her to pick up food and she needed to get it out of the window before she got an earful.

"No-…wait, Taylor Thomas?" Henry crinkled his nose up at his brother. "Really?"

Emmett frowned, just as confused at his brother, "Uh, have you seen her ass?"

Rachel pressed her lips together, cocking her head at him. Was she supposed to be upset by that? It sounded like the kind of thing Rachel needed to be (and was) a little hurt by. But did she deserve to be? Her and Emmett weren't official. And it's not like he had done it when he'd been hanging out with her…. But defending another girl's ass just seemed…wrong.

Apparently, the other guys thought so as well because they all began giving Emmett hell. The boy in question sputtered out a defense that Rachel really hadn't listened to.

"I have tables to attend to." She said instead, brushing them all off, "Call me when you get your story straight."

Dan shot her an annoyed look as she reloaded her tray with the new table of food. Not that she had it in her to care. It was probably for the best that he didn't verbally confront her. Though she didn't want to admit it, Rachel was simmering. And for no good reason.

Her and Emmett weren't together. They had only been hanging out every now and then. She didn't have any claim to him; she didn't have any right to be upset when he complimented another girl. In fact, she should've anticipated it.

Wasn't that what she had expected from him since the beginning? Emmett was a player. He 'loved' girls and left them faster than gossip could circulate around Gatlinburg. She knew he was only going to hang out with her until he got bored, then dump her for the next one. That was what Emmett had been doing since she'd heard of him. She should've just been grateful he'd given her the amount of time that he had.

But, she thought as she grabbed refills for the table with a plastered on smile, wasn't she the one at fault for getting to attached? Who could she blame but herself? She knew exactly what was going to happen by hanging around Emmett McCarty and yet, she did it. Foolish.

Rachel avoided the McCarty table until absolutely necessary. Even then, she kept things short and sweet, grabbing cups quickly in order to avoid conversation. Henry never did finish his story, though he and his other friends did give Emmett a little more hell for something Rachel couldn't quite catch…or didn't care to catch.

Once the boys were all paid up, both McCarty brothers appeared to linger by the table to chat with Rachel as she cleared their table. She tried to ignore them as best she could, picking up plates and busying herself so they'd leave. No such luck.

"Y'all need something?" She asked when she could no longer avoid facing them.

Emmett shot Henry a shifty look, "Do you need something?"

"Just to ruin your chances with her." Henry shrugged, still wearing his smirk. His hands were placed casually in his pockets, as though the awkward tension was completely natural for him. Maybe that was true, especially considering how many girls Emmett dumped.

"Funny. Jerk. Get out of here." Emmett elbowed his brother, looking desperate to get Henry to go away.

Rachel wasn't interested in any of it though. "I will gladly get out of here." She said as she turned to hide back in the kitchen. The sooner she could get away from the situation the better.

"Wait, Rach!" Emmett was faster, lightly grabbing her arm to spin her back around. "You wanna go out tomorrow night? Dinner?"

Seriously? There was no way he was asking her that. She stared at him for a moment, waiting for him to laugh or say he was joking. When he didn't, she took a long, slow breath. "I'm busy."

"Okay, well how about a different day? When are you free?"

Henry chuckled and kicked Emmett's shoe, "Wouldn't ya rather ask Taylor Thomas?"

Rachel gave Henry a pointed look, pressing her lips together as she nodded. Apparently, the older McCarty knew what was going on. Then, so did Emmett…or, so Emmett should've.

"What are you talking about?" He asked his brother instead. If it hadn't been for the genuinely confused look on Emmett's face, she never would've believed him. He turned back to her, concern filling his eyes, making them look duller than normal, "Are you mad at me?"

Henry laughed, muttering an 'Oh my God' at his brother's stupidity. Rachel didn't even know what to say, staring at Emmett with a slacked jaw and furrowed brows. There was no way he was that dense. Unless he truly didn't see anything wrong with it because that's what he always did with girls…?

"Wait," The lightbulb finally flickered, "Are you mad at me about the Taylor thing? Because I was in high school when I did that. Remember, I ran into the locker room door. The locker room at school."

"You weren't in high school when you said her ass looked good tonight." Rachel snapped, raising her voice slightly.

And then there was light. "Wait, that's what you're mad about? Oh, come on, Rae Rae. I didn't mean anything by it!"

"Right. Just like how you didn't mean anything by it when you jumped from Maya to Ashley to Amber…to Mandy…to Sara."

"Yeah, let 'em have it, Rachel." The peanut gallery went off again, drawing Rachel's attention.

"What are you even doing here?" She snapped at Henry, "Can't get a girl of your own so you gotta live vicariously through your brother?"

Emmett snickered, pressing his lips together as he eyed his brother.

"And you," Rachel turned back on him, his face falling as she did, "You wanna praise Taylor's ass so much? Why don't you go kiss hers instead of mine? Stop wasting my time."

"You better keep kissin' this one's ass. Gotta come around more, Rachel. Ain't many people who can keep Emmett in line like that. Know my brothers would love to see it." Henry grinned before punching Emmett's arm. "Enjoy your fight. Let me know if y'all break up. I'll bring her home instead."

Rachel scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Keep dreaming, Henry." Her eyes flashed back up to Emmett's face, "I have work to do."

"I have ass kissing to do." Emmett nodded, then added quickly, "Your ass, of course. Not Taylor's. Yours is much nicer."

"Were you dropped on your head as a baby?"

Emmett smiled. "No." His look turned more thoughtful, eyes gliding up to the ceiling. "Though my brothers did push me down the stairs in one of those baby-walker-things."

Rachel reeled. What the hell did she do with that? What was he doing?

"Emmett."

"Look, I'm sorry." He rubbed his face with his hand. It was promptly brought back up to his hair, fingers running through the curly locks. "I don't like fighting, so I was just trying to lighten the mood. I'm sorry. But I really didn't mean anything by what I said earlier. I wasn't thinking and it just came out of my mouth." When his eyes met hers again, they were far more sincere, a softness to them that Rachel had only seen when he spoke of his nephews. But even that look…was different somehow.

"I meant what I said earlier," He continued, "Like, not earlier tonight, but earlier as in, the Fourth of July fair. I'm keeping you around a long time, Rachel. I mean, I've never had a girl put Henry in his place like that. That was hot." Emmett smiled at her then, the tense air dissipating as though he willed it away.

And somehow, he took her foul mood with it.

"So…" He leaned into her, lightly nudging her, "Dinner Friday?"

"Depends. Do I have to listen to how pretty other girls are?"

"Just how pretty you are."

"I'm busy."

Emmett frowned, clearly not expecting that response, "Wait, what?"

It was Rachel's turn to smirk then, satisfied at her little victory. "I work 'til close. I suppose I am free Saturday though."

The signature dimpled smile came back. "Perfect. I'll see you for breakfast?"

"Sounds like a date."