Kate put away her laptop, brushed her hair, and grabbed her purse. She hopped into her little VW bug, and headed over to Zac's house. She parked and strode up to the door, ringing the buzzer.
Zac
Zac was practically sitting on the door, waiting for Kate to arrive, and still managed to jump when the door bell rang. He opened the door.
"No, no I'm sorry," he said. "Whatever you're selling, we're not interested. We already have twelve."
Kate
"You mean you don't want the check for a million dollars from the Publisher's Clearinghouse? Okay, I'll keep it," she joked.
Zac
"No, no, you're probably trying to sell it for twice what it's worth," Zac grinned. "Come on in. oh, and say hi to the house. He likes it."
Kate
"Hello house," Kate said, following Zac inside. Kate always liked going to Zac's house,it always felt so warm and inviting and friendly. Except of course while what's-her-name the psycho had been living there, but she was gone now, so Kate didn't mind hanging out.
"So, Zac-Attack, what shall we do today?"
Zac
"Dunno, what do you wanna do?" Zac asked.
He grinned at her as he shut the front door.
"Video games?"
Kate
"Well," Kate replied, "We should probably eat first, because I always forget to eat when I'm playing video games. I do believe pizza was previously discussed."
Zac
"This is true. Whatcha want on your pizza? Anchovies? Peanut butter? Cod liver oil?" Zac inquired.
There was a silly expression on his face as he made his way over to the phone.
Kate
"Just plain cheese, please," Kate said. "And garlic bread." She looked around the house. "Anyone else home today? Or are the boys out painting the town red?"
Zac
"Boys are out painting the town red," Zac said. "And Elle is upstairs with the littlies."
He then took a couple of minutes to order in the pizza for them.
Kate
"Groovy," Kate said. "So, while we wait for the pizzas, what video games do you have?" she wondered. "I've gotten obsessed with DDR."
Zac
"I have something better," Zac declared.
He made his way to the lounge room, and to the games rack, ran his finger down the titles and pulled one out triumphantly.
"Mario Party!"
Kate
"Less of a workout, but still fun," Kate mused. "You're on."
Zac
"Whoo hoo!" Zac declared cheerfully, and went about setting up the console.
"What controller do you want? Black, bright orange...?
He held up all their colourful possibilities.
Kate
Kate reached for the purple controller.
"It's all pretty-like! I like to play as Luigi," she said, sitting on the floor. More room to stretch out than on the couch.
Zac
"Cool," said Zac.
He setup the party, and picked Toad. Then he chose Peach and Daisy as the AI players. A few more settings later, and the game began.
"Okay, we all jump up and hit the dice block to see who goes first," Zac said.
Kate
They played for a while, and while Kate was nowhere near as good as Zac, she held her own for quite some time. Before long, the pizza arrived, and they had to stop playing.
"I'm starving," she remarked, just as the doorbell rang.
Zac
"Hi Starving, I'm Zac," Zac said, grinning at her as he stood up.
He grabbed the money for the pizza, and bounded over to the door to complete the exchange.
"Mmm... yummy pizzary goodness," he said, breathing in deeply the lovely, freshly cooked pizza smell.
Kate
Kate followed the scent of Pizza into the kitchen, and barely waited for Zac to put the boxes down before she had a plate in her hands.
"Seriously. Pizza is one of the greatest things on the planet." She watched Zac. He really was very hot. He was one of her best friends, but she still thought he was gorgeous. If only he wasn't so slutty. At least he was settling down.
"You know what?" she said, between bites of pizza. "I admire you. I mean, a lot of guys, when a girlfriend gets pregnant, they bail. But you, even though you're young, you've proved yourself to be a great dad."
Zac
Zac shrugged.
"I was young and stupid," he joked. "But y'know... family values are important to my family, so, yeah."
He devoured half a slice of pizza.
"Also," he went on. "Pizza is clearly the fifth element, no matter what they tell you in the movies. Air, water, fire, earth and pizza."
He nodded sagely. Clearly he had been playing "Quest for Glory" recently.
Kate
Kate giggled. "Yes. Pizza rocks," she insisted. "Okay, so if Hanson rocks, and pizza rocks, does that make Hanson pizza?"
Zac
"No," Zac replied.
He ate some more pizza.
"Why would you want Hanson pizza anyway? It would just taste like freshly burnt CDs."
Kate
Kate laughed as she finished her pizza. She was feeling nicely full, so she went over to the sink to wash up her plate.
"So, what shall we do now? Watch a movie?" she suggested. "Or let's see, juggle hippos? Hunt monkeys? Paint the walls purple?" She didn't want to go home any time soon. She really liked hanging out with Zac.
Zac
"Nah, House can repaint his own walls," Zac grinned. "Let's watch a movie. But what movie?"
Zac walked over to his extensive DVD rack and put on an exaggerated pondering face.
Kate
Kate perused the movie collection. "Ooh, what's this one?" she asked, pointing to 'The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns' "I've never heard of this."
Zac
"That is the leprechaun version of Romeo and Juliet. Normally I hate Shakesphere, which explains why I didn't see the parallel until Elle pointed it out to me," Zac nodded. "Saku loves it. He thinks it's a hilarious comedy. I like it because of the leprechaun gels doing their fine Irish dancing. Leg action. Good times. It's rather long though. Two part TV movie."
Kate
"That sounds really interesting," she mused. "And I don't mind a long movie if you don't." In her head she was thinking Besides, that's 4 hours I get to spend on the couch with you. She didn't say it out loud though.
Zac
"Rightio then," Zac said.
He fished the movie out of the rack and set everything up.
"Popcorn?" he asked.
Kate
"Yes please," Kate said. "I'll be right back, need to use the washroom." She walked down the hall towards the bathroom and did her business. She found herself looking in the mirror as she washed her hands, scrutinizing herself. She quickly ran her fingers through her hair to get out the accumulated tangles, and made sure she didn't have any pizza on her face. Satisfied she didn't look disgraceful, she headed back out to the lounge room, and settled onto the sofa. She picked up a throw blanket and made herself comfortable while she waited for Zac to return.
Zac
Zac returned with some soft drink and glasses, and then went back for the popcorn (hence why he went to the kitchen in the first place). He poured some kernals into a bowl, dumped in some butter and grabbed the salt before returning.
"Ahh good you're back. That means I get to show off," he grinned at her.
He put the bowl of popcorn kernals on the table, concentrated briefly with his temperature manipulation on the kernals in and moments the kernals started popping.
Kate
Kate giggled. "Well that's why you do so well at tournaments, right? You have a small dose of kick-ass. Gotta watch out for that, though. You get an inflated head, and I'm gonna have to pop it," she joked.
Zac
"Just a small dose of kick-ass?" Zac asked. "Hmph!"
The popcorn finished popping and Zac dosed the popcorn liberally with salt and melted the butter, he sat back and hit the play button.
Kate
Kate reached into the popcorn bowl between them, taking a handful. Then she made the popcorn invisible.
"This is really good popcorn, Zac." She said, between mouthfuls.
Zac
"Thanks," Zac replied. "I made it myself."
He chuckled to himself.
"Now, just remember, just because it's invisible doesn't mean that I won't be able to find it. Mwahaha. Also, there are some unpopped kernals in there."
He grinned wickedly at her.
Kate
Kate grinned. "Okay," she said, making the popcorn visible again. She shared the popcorn as she watched the movie. She made herself more comfortable, leaning her head on Zac's shoulder partway into the movie.
Zac
Zac paused when Kate put her head on his shoulder, then relaxed. They were just two friends enjoying a good movie. No big deal.