You're Not Like the Others

25 minutes later we arrived at Zak's house. It looked pretty big and the house had a double garage, healthy green grass, and a tall wooden private fence. I parked in the drive way and shut the car off

"Ready Abby?"

"Yeah" she answered smiling while bouncing up and down in her seat

I got out and let her out and we went up to the front door

"I wanna ring the doorbell"

I smiled and picked her up so she could ring the doorbell. She pressed the button and I put her down and we heard a dog barking at the door. A few seconds later the door opened

"Glad to see you again"

"You too"

"Daddy" Abby said while she ran and hugged Zak's leg

"Hey sweetie" he said and patted her head

I walked in the house and looked around. His living room walls were white rough bricks, he had a T.V mounted to the wall, a fireplace, some decorations, black leather couch, black recliner, glass coffee table, and a light colored carpet.

"What do you two want to drink?"

"What do you have?" I asked smiling

"I've got Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Coke, kool-aid"

"I want kool-aid" Abby said

"I think I'll take some coke"

"Ok, and before I forget, this is Gracie" he said petting the white dog with a black patch of fur over her eye

I bent down and pet her and she wagged her tail and licked my arm

"You're a sweet dog"

I then stood back up and Abby started playing with Gracie while I went into the kitchen with Zak

"Do you want me to help you with anything?" I asked

while he pulled two cups out of the cabinet, one of them had a lid

"I don't want my guests doing the work I'm suppose to be doing"
he then got in the refrigerator and got the coke and kool-aid. He poured them into their cups

"Here ya go"

"Thank you"

Abby then came in the kitchen

"Here you go Abby"

"Thank you, what kind?"

"It's a secret" Zak said smiling

"If I guess right can I get the Barbie Princess Palace?"

"Ab..." I started

"I don't see why not, but you only get one try"

I just smiled and shook my head and Zak looked at me

"What?"

"You're screwed"

"We'll see"

"Yeah, we'll see"

Abby then took a drink and swallowed it. She smacked her lips 3 times and I put my hand over my mouth to hide my smile

"So what flavor is it?" Zak asked

"It's Watermelon Kiwi" she smiled widely

I started giggling at Zak's expression. It looked like he wass trying to comprehend on what just happend

"I told you" I said while taking my hand off my mouth

"Yay, I get the Barbie Princess Palace" she said jumping up and down

"I guess you do"

"Promise?" she asked sticking her pinky out

Zak bent down and stuck out his pinky and they pinky promised. I smiled and my eyes started getting watery

He's so sweet I thought

"I promise I'll get it for you...now I've got to get the food ready for the other people that's coming over"

"Ok" she said and took off to lay with Gracie

"Are you sure you don't want me to help?"

"You can if you want, by the way what is that stuff that you brought over?" he asked while getting the hamburger meat out

"It's a dessert with cherries, cherry flavoring, marshmellows, and whipped cream in it, it's really
good"

"I'm gonna have to try some"

"You won't be disappointed" I said smiling

Just then the doorbell rang and Gracie started barking and Zak went to the door to answer it. When he answered it I heard a couple of kids and then I saw a woman, a man, and two kids. Abby came to me and held my leg

"Mary, Craig this is Kayla"

"Kayla this is my sister and her husband"

"It's nice to meet you guys" I said shaking their hands

"And these two are Chelsea and Mark" Mary said

"Look Abby, you've got some people to play with"

She then let go of my leg and went to Chelsea and Mark and they went to the living room. Then a few other people entered the house

"Hey Nick and Aaron" I said waving

"Hey Kayla" they said while hugging me

"Do you not know how to knock or ring the bell?" Zak said

"I told Nick to, but he didn't listen" a woman said

"Kayla, this is my wife Veronique"

"Hi, so how was that investigation with the guys?" she asked

"It was interesting" I said smiling

"The boys didn't give you any trouble did they?" Veronique asked

"No..."

"Wow that's surprising, my brother didn't give someone trouble?"

"Mary I don't give women trouble"

"I'm a woman and you give me trouble"

"That's because you're my sister, I'm allowed to give you trouble"

"Zachery Alexander..."

Zak groaned and I tried to hold back my giggle as I saw a woman about in her 50s come in the kitchen

"That's no way to talk to your sister...especially when you have guests"

"But she started it"

"Did not"

"Did too...You know what? I'm not going to argue with you Mary, because I'm better than that"

"You just keep telling yourself that"

he just glared at her and I giggled alittle

"What so funny?" he asked smiling at me

I saw his mom out of the coner of my eye raise her eyebrow towards us

"You remind me of my cousins, they always argued just like you two"

"Is that a good thing or bad thing?" he asked

"It depends on how bad the arguing gets"

"Oh Kayla this is..."

"Betty" the lady in her 50s said coming up to me

"It's nice to meet you" I said nervously as she looked at me up and down

"Mom, don't scare her off"

"I'm not, I'm just looking...and I approve"

I looked at Zak and saw him blushing alittle

Oh how cute! I thought

"You're blushing Zak" Mary said

"I am not" he snapped and he and all the guys went outside to get the grill ready for the food

"I hope I didn't make you nervous Kayla"

"No, not at all"

me and the girls sat down at the marble topped island that he had in his kitchen

"When did you and Zak meet?" Veronique asked

"Well him and the guys had an interview at the news station and he came up to me after their interview"

"So lets get to the nitty gritty, are you and my brother an item?"

"Um..."

then I looked out the sliding glass window and saw a huge flame come from the grill and Craig, Nick and Aaron were laughing at Zak. I rolled my eyes

Boys will be boys I thought

I then looked back at the girls

"I honestly don't know"

"What do you mean you don't know?" she asked

"It's kind of a long story"

then the Abby, Mark, and Chelsea came running into the kitchen and out the sliding glass door

"Please tell us" Mary said

I looked at them and they waited for me to tell the story

"Alright, well long story short...I investigated with them, got to hear what they caught, my daughter had to go to the hospital and Zak came up to visit, obbsesed ex wouldn't leave me alone so I said Zak was my daughter's father and he went with it...Actually he's still going with it"

"That means he likes you" Mary said

"What happend to her father?" Betty said

"He past away a few years ago"

"Oh I'm so sorry sweetheart" Betty said rubbing my back

"How did he pass away?"

"Mary, that's none of our business" Betty scolded

then the guys came back in with plate fulls of food.

"Alright, it's time to chow down" Aaron said

Mary got up and made her kids's plate and I got up and made Abby's

"Kids, it's time to eat" Betty called from the door

and the kids came in

"Where are they eating Zak?" I asked

"There's a picnic table out there for the kids"

"Alright, come on Abby"

Abby followed me to the picnic table and she sat down. And Mary came out with 2 plates and Chelsea and Mark were right behind her

"Do you want anything else Abby?" I asked

"No"

"Ok"

"What's up Zak?" Mary asked smirking

I looked at her, then at Zak, and then back to Mary

What's going on? I thought

She looked at me and mouthed 'He's checking you out' and I bluched alittle. I then went inside to make my plate and Mary was right behind me. When I was done making my plate I sat down at the patio table with the others. Zak was on my right, his mom was on my left, Nick was on Zak's right, Nick's wife was next to Nick, Aaron was next to Nick's wife, Craig was next to Zak's mom, and Mary was next to Craig.
When we were done we all sat at the table and talked while the kids were running around playing

"What do you do again Kayla?" Craig asked

"I'm a meteroligist for the LVTV5 news"

Then Mary mouthed 'Aww' and then I felt a hand go on the back of my chair

"Kodiac moment" Aaron said

then Abby came to me

"What is it baby?"

"I gotta go to the bathroom"

"Ok, come on" I said getting up

"The bathroom's the third door on the left" Zak said

"Thanks"

Me and Abby went to the bathroom. I stood outside of the door while she did what she had to do. When she was done I opened the door and she went back to playing and I went back out on the patio sat sat down with everybody.

A couple of hours past and everybody was going home. I went inside and found the T.V on Disney and Abby asleep on the couch

"It looks like she's wore out"

I turned around and saw Zak

"It kind of looks that way doesn't it?"

he then went to a closet and pulled out a throw blanket and put it over Abby

"Did you have a good time?" he asked me while we went into the kitchen

"I had a wonderful time" I said

as he rinsed the dishes and I put them in the dishwasher. Once we were done with the dishes I sat
down at the island

"You want a beer?"

"I guess 1 wouldn't hurt"

he then got 2 and gave me one and he sat down next to me

"Zak, I've been thinking..."

"About?" he egged on

"Well, I think I'm ready to tell you what happend... to Abby's father" I said and looked at him in the
eyes.