A/n: Yeah, yeah, you two are so annoying! Seriously I don't post because I don't know if I'll ever get this stupid story done! Here's a bit more (sorry cat, no u & mike remember MARTY'S STORY)

Chapter 3

Is THAT Going To Work

That evening I called Tristan around 8:45. He picked up and said, “Hello?”

I said, “Hey T.”

He answered, “Marty how was it? What were they like?”

I said, “It was okay Tristan, they were like Molly and Joe.”

He said, “Seriously?! Just like them? Your mom is a loud mouth brat who loves to be the center of attention. And your Dad is a computer nerd who is so quite no one ever hears him.”

I said, “Pretty much except my Dad isn’t into computers. He’s into football!” I heard Tristan give out a loud whoop of joy.

Tristan said, “Awe Man, Marty I gotta meet this guy!” I let out a long sigh of relief. “Marty? What’s wrong?”

I answered, “Nothing, glad you want to meet them! Cuz they want to meet you.”

He paused then said , “Me? What about the rest of the gang come on I use to be a rotten kid.”

I said, “I picked you and Tati because I don’t want to tell the others just yet. I’m trying to figure out just how to tell Danica.”

Tristan started, “Ooh, you like her, you want to Kiss her you want to Hug her.”

I screamed at him, “Well yeah! Got a problem with that?” Tristan wasn’t expecting me to admit it to him. He tried to say something but couldn’t.

Then he said, “You like Dani? Little Miss I don’t wear frills and curls?”

I sighed and said, “Well yeah, I do.”

Tristan said, “Oh now that I got to tell her!”

I answered, “I think she knows. She was asking me yesterday to go skating and I said, ‘Is Tristan, Mike, or Molly comin’ or is this a date?’ Then she says, ‘Ah! So you’ve finally picked up on the fact I like you! Very good Marty! No actually the whole gang’s comin.’ So that was our conversation.”

Tristan said, “So she likes you back?”

I fired, “We always have, but never went for anything.”

Tristan wisely said, “Don’t let her get by Marty, if you’ve loved her forever then go for it.”

I said, “I don’t know Trist. I love her and all that but....”

He said, “But what? You love her so go for it! You’ve got nothing to loose! She likes you too, usually that’s half the fight.”

I said, “Oh by the way, Since when did you become Tatiana?”

He laughed and said , “Nah ever since I talked to Sky and changed my life around it seems I’ve become a different person all around. Of course asking Tati for advice constantly you almost predict what she’ll say. She’s a great mentor for all 7 of us.”

I said, “Tell me about it. She’s been a life saver for all of us at one time or another. I love how she touches the lives of everyone she helps.”

Tristan imputed, “Yeah I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who’s disliked Tati’s personality. Okay her talent is envious of most skaters in her class. But that’s her talent! Not her personality!”

I laughed and said, “Yeah but it’s amazing how much older she seems! She acts as old if not older than Sky.”

Tristan said, “Yeah, I think that’s why she was a bit hesitant to go to the Christmas Dance with Sky. She thought he was too old for her and so did her parents. Eventually I think they all realized age is a number and Tati has her head on straight.”

I said, “ You know it'd make life so much easier if Tati admitted she's fallen head over heels in love with Sky!

Tristan said, "Yeah I know! Seriously it'd do her some good!

I said, "And Added bonus: Sky is so good to her.”

Tristan said , “Yeah, I try to be that good to Sabrina. It’s hard! He practically bends over back ward for her! He tries to give her the world.”

I said, “Yeah if they ever date and break up, heaven forbid, Tati will be so spoiled on him that she won’t find another guy.”

“That’s for sure, so about this meeting... Where do we all want to go?” T. asked.

I said, “Melody, that’s my Mom, says we should go to the mall. She and Tati can go off and my dad and us.”

Tristan said, “Sounds good. How about Thursday night. No football for me. I don’t think Tati has practice that day, you can check.”

“Let me call her then I call you back okay?”

He said, “Yeah sure talk to you then Marty.”

I said, “Later Bro.” Tristan laughed and hung up. I looked it was 9:16 P.M. on my alarm clock. I dialed Tatiana’s cell.

It rang and her breathless voice answered, “Hello?”

I said, “Tatiana! What’s wrong you’re all breathless!”

“Just performed and placed first! Gabrielle still has to go though. I feel really good about this! So what was today like?” She answered gasping for breath.

“T. IT’S SO SCARY! They act just like Molly and Joe. Cept my Dad likes football instead of computers!”

She laughed and sarcastically said, “Oh boy! You lucky dog!”

I said, “I know, oh Tati, guess what.” She actually thinks when you tell her to guess.

She answered, “Hmmm, they want to meet all of us.”

I said, “Not exactly. I told them a little fib that everyone wouldn’t know how to act or act differently so I wouldn’t have to tell the rest of the gang.”

Tatiana said , “So you nominated Trist and me to come with you next time.”

I said, “Something like that!”

She said, “Fine when do we want to go?”

I said, “ Well we were looking at Thursday night. Going to the mall. My mom would go with you and look at what ever you want. I promise I won’t let her make you get a makeover!”

She said, “Fine with me, Marty! I got to get some new skating gear anyway! Or it might just be that I have to use the nice gift card all of you got for me! Thursday huh? I can go what time?”

I said, “Somewhere around 6:30 we’ll pick you up. Or is it closer from Tristan’s for you? I mean can we pick you up from the rink?”

She answered, “I don’t have afternoon practices on Thursday. I have em Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On the other hand, I’m going to Sky’s for dinner. So can you pick me up from his house? It’s closer for you.”

I said, “Yeah it’s close to Tristan. He’ll be at football till 5:00 so he’s gonna get picked up at 6:00 it’ll only take 15 minutes from his place to Sky’s. I call you before we come, to give you some forewarning.”

She said, “Okay see you on tomorrow.” See, we were all going to watch Tati perform at the Jr. Olympics tomorrow night.

I said, “Talk to you sooner I bet Tati. Good luck.”

She said, “Thanks! Oh really got to go! Gabrielle is performing gotta watch bye!” She hung up. I hoped she’d do good. It was the Jr. Olympics. Sky was there watching her I knew. It was the preliminary night, but he insisted on going. I stared at the ceiling for a second then picked up the phone again and called Tristan.

Tristan picked up, “Marty?”

I said, “Yeah, It’s me. I just talked to Tati. She said Thursday is fine. Can we pick you up at your place around 6?”

Tristan said, “Sure! Fine with me, but won’t that be a haul for you? From My place to Tati’s?”

I said, “No, Tati’s going to be at Sky’s for dinner.”

He said, “There has to be something going on there that we don’t know about.”

I said , “Well a lot happens behind closed doors Tristan. And we’ve known something’s been going on since he asked her to the Snowball. I know they said it was friends but I think Tati wants it to go farther. Did she tell you what song she was using tomorrow night when we’re all there?”

Tristan said, “No, but I never asked.”

I answered, “Things I’ll Never Say”. You know what that song says. Cause I’m feeling nervous, trying to be so perfect cause I know your worth it. Come on! Tati wants more than she’s letting off!”

Tristan said, “Mike is going to have the hardest time keeping a straight face!”

I laughed and said, “Why is that anyway?”

Tristan said, “See, at camp Sky told Mike he liked Tatiana and Mike said it’d never work. And Mike loves seeing Sky act so different around her. I laugh cause he’s so unnatural around her cause he’s nervous.”

I said, “SO that’s what it’s all about!”

Tristan replied, “Yep! Well Marty gotta go do a stinking bloody ladder on the treadmill! Oh fun, fun, fun! See you tomorrow.” I laughed and hung up. I had one more number to call it was only 9:30 so I figured they’d still be awake. I dialed the number on the sheet that Melody handed me.

I heard it ring twice then Melody’s voice answered, “Hello?”

I said, “Melody? Hi it’s Marty.”

She positively screamed in my ear, “MARTY!”

I said, “Yeah it’s me. I talked to my friends.”

She said, “And?”

I asked, “Is Thursday night good?”

Melody said, “Oh that’s fine what time?”

I said, “Well Tristan wants picked up at 6. If we pick them up here you could be here by 6:30.”

Melody said, “Oh no! We’ll pick them up.”

All of a sudden my Mother’s voice said, “Well invite them to dinner then Marty.” I turned around and she was standing in the door way.

I said, “What about Gretch?”

She said, “She knows now. Grandma told her.”

I said into the phone, “Why don’t you come to dinner then?”

Melody said, “That sounds great so we’ll arrive at your house at 5:00 then?”

I said, “That sounds great see you Thursday.” I hung up the phone and stared at my mother.

She said, “Melody is really nice huh?”

I nodded and said, “Molly.”

She stared puzzled at me then said, “Sorry son?”

I said, “She acts just like Molly. He acts like Joe. They’re both so different.”

She said, “It’s good you can relate them to your friends.”

I said, “Yeah, I like them a lot!”

Mom said, “That’s great Marty! I remember just yesterday you were so enraged. You had me scared Marty, real scared.” She started fingering my hair. She only ruffles it and I have a fit trying to fix it. I remember when I was little she’d do this in front of my classmates and I’d get so embarrassed. I probably still would, but now I wasn’t. It was a chance to look back to when most of this stuff wasn’t on my shoulders.

I whispered, “I just didn’t understand Mom. That’s why I went and talked to Tati. She really cleared my head up. She made me laugh and calmed me down.”

My Mom said, “About?”

I said, “She was joking if I moved in how Molly would torture me about my horrible fashion sense every morning waiting for the bus.” My Mom started laughing too.

She said, “I love Tatiana! Really I do! Tell her I want to adopt her whenever she’s ready!”

I said, “Everyone loves Tati, Mom. And I don’t wanna another sister!”

She said, “Tomorrow night’ll be fun eh Marty?”

I said, “Sure will. Sky’s getting a surprise too!” She smiled and walked out.