Everyone is thrilled!

“What?” was the collective gasp.

“I’m taking Heather on a date tomorrow,” Zack stated proudly.

“Really?” Chloe beamed.

“Yup!” Heather glowed.

“AWW!” the girls all sighed.

“Oh my God, Guys! I’m so happy for you!” Ashley replied as she gave her friends a hug.

“Seriously, Heather? I mean look at him. Are you blind or just dumb?” Brandon teased.

“I’d say I’m a little bit of both,” Heather giggled as she leaned in and kissed Zack in front of their friends.

“I’m sorry Heather, but Zack is my friend. If you hurt him, I’ll have to break both your legs,” Kurt teased his cousin.

“So where are you taking her?” Victoria asked.

“We’re going to canoe out to the islands in the lake and have a picnic, watch the sunset and camp out overnight,” Heather said.

Once again the girls all went “AWW!”

“You planned it our perfectly, Heather,” Gavin chimed in.

“Wasn’t me. It was all him,” the brunette informed everyone.

“Wow, Zack. Never pegged you to be the romantic type,” Brandon ribbed.

“Well, good luck to you two!” Victoria toasted.

“Thanks. Heather’s gonna need it if she wants to keep up with me,” Zack laughed as he kissed Heather’s hand.

The meal continued as the small group laughed and joked at each other’s expense. While the food on the table dwindled, the mood at the table remained jovial. Zack and Heather were in constant contact throughout; they were either holding hands or playing a gentle game of footsie under the table. Ashley even caught Heather running her hand up Zack’s thigh. It reminded her of what she and Brandon had been like when they had first gotten together.

“You two look so cute together. I can’t wait to see what our sisters say when they hear the good news,” Ashley smiled.

“I think Taylor is gonna flip,” Zack exclaimed.

“So I gotta ask: What was it? How did you get her to say yes, Zack?” Brandon asked.

“Luck. Pure dumb luck. And a quarter hidden behind someone’s ear,” he responded.

“Huh?” the rest of the group replied.

“OH MY GOD! The little girl at the mall!” shouted Victoria.

“Yup! Heather’s a sucker for guys who are good with kids,” Zack informed everyone.

“Wow! That was so long ago,” Victoria pointed out.

“Yeah, I just couldn’t get up the courage to say something to him until now,” Heather admitted.

“Whaaaaaat?” several of the teens shrieked.

“Heather Ravers not having enough confidence to talk to someone she liked? BULLSHIT!” Brandon giggled.

“No, it’s true. The few times we were alone together, I always choked,” she frowned.

“So what made this time different?” Gavin asked.

“Well, to build up my confidence around him, I had to make sure we had plenty of alone time together. So I rigged the contest for the room assignments,” Heather confessed, “I watched how Zack folded up the paper with his name on it. He folded it twice, while Kurt and Gavin each folded it once. It wasn't too hard to find his.”

“You sneaky bitch!” Kurt teased.

“All’s fair in love and war!” Zack declared and then pulled his girlfriend in for a kiss.