Ginger didn’t meet Zac again until November 22, 2000—exactly one year and six months later. She had forgotten completely about what he had said to her at the bookstore. She only remembered that she met up with him and he said something that made her want to get away as quickly as possible. But of course Zac didn’t forget. He was next to her now, walking along the sidewalk with her. She was trying her best to walk faster than him to get away, but his legs were longer and he kept up. “You know, Ginger, I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately.”
“So?”
“Why are you so rude to me?”
“Because, Zac, all I know about you is your name. You're a complete stranger to me and I feel like you're stalking me! How do I know you're not some crazy psychopath killer who's going to kill me?” she asked, looking over at him.
“Because I would have done it already." She stopped, chilled. She was lightly shaking. She couldn't tell if it was from the cold weather or from him. He was freaking her out. Over the past year and half she found out he was Zac Hanson, multi-millionaire with a top ten single and platinum album, but that didn't make her trust him any more.
"Zac, you're freaking me out. Please, just go away."
"One date. It's all I ask. If you want someone else can come along if you're so afraid that I'm going to kill you. It could be your father for all I care," he said. She shook her head. "Come on, Ginger. I can't get you out of my head. Just let me have one date. If you don't have a good time I'll let you go and I'll never bug you again." She sighed; she had to admit, he was good at this. Actually saying she could bring her father along? He must be desperate. "All right. One date. I'll meet you here tonight."
"Six?" he asked. She nodded.
"Fine."
"Dress nice." She turned away and walked down the street, away from him. She turned the corner to run into her house. She unlocked the front door and stepped inside.
“Hello?” she called out. Kristina came down the stairs and walked up to her. She smiled. “Hey sis.” Kris isn't technically Ginger's sister, the both of them were adopted. Kris was just a baby while Ginger was five.
“Where were you? I thought we were going to the mall to pick up some guys,” she asked, grinning. They'd always gotten along great, they shared a room and they've always been best friends. They really didn't have to share a room, there are enough rooms in the house for each of them to have their own, but it was their choice. When she first got there, she was terrified. She'd just lost her parents in a car accident a few weeks before and didn't have any time to cope with it before she was forced into another family to live another life. Kris comforted her right away and night after night Ginger found herself climbing back into Kris's room, so eventually they put in a bunk bed and Ginger never left.
“We don’t have to go to the mall to pick up guys,” she muttered in response to Kris's statement. Kris gave her a confused look. “I ran into Zac around the corner. He conned me into a date."
"You're going on a date with him?" She knew all about Ginger's insecurities about him, so she was just as surprised as Ginger was to accept to go on a date with him. "Why?"
“I gave him a chance, Kristina. I’m not all bad. He was so persistent and he looked so cute; I figured one night out wouldn't hurt me. It’s not like anything will come out of it.” They left the house and walked down the street. Neither of them could drive yet, so they were stuck walking everywhere.
They entered the mall and immediately headed for Gap. They're always in Gap. The only reason is that their good friend Roni works there, and as soon as Kris had picked out a pair of shorts, Roni popped up. “Those are so cute!” she said. “But not on you, on her.” Kristina gave her a look.
“Thanks, Roni,” she commented. Roni smiled.
“Sorry. You’d look better in the khaki one, the blue really brings out her eyes. Ginger, you have the prettiest eyes.” Ginger looked in the mirror and smiled. They parted from the mirror and looked around for a little while, but didn't find anything of interest. The two of them practically owned the entire store anyway, so there was no point in trying to look for new clothes. Kris complained of being hungry, so they headed over to the food court.
As they sat in the middle of the jumbled food court, Ginger noticed Zac in the far corner with his brother. “Zac’s over there, and if he spots us he’ll come over and con me into another date so let’s go,” she said.
“And I’m sure you don’t want that,” Kristina joked as they got up and quickly disposed of the trash. Ginger gave her a look. “Sorry.”
“I don’t know, all right? But all I know is I don’t want to see him until we meet again to go wherever the hell we’re going. I don’t even know! Oh well, come on. Let’s go to Victoria’s Secret, I don’t think we’ll find him in there.”
"Why don't we go to the makeup department? We could get you some new makeup to wear tonight."
"Like I want to look that pretty tonight for him. I'm trying to not make him want to go out with me again, remember?" Ginger snapped.
“Okay! Don’t have a conniption fit or anything. But we're doing it anyway.” They headed towards the Victoria’s Secret makeup department. As soon as Ginger got there, she noticed the clerks looked rather bored.
"Could we interest either of you for a free color consultation? We could find your perfect shades and make you look pretty for the rest of the day," one woman said, walking up to the two of them. Kris pushed Ginger forward.
"She will."
Ginger gave Kris a look, but before she could say anything, the woman had pulled her into a chair facing the back of the room and was searching through the various samples for a color that would look good on her. She pulled out a few boxes and turned to Ginger.
"Oh, you have the prettiest eyes!" she said. "I think this lavender would really bring them out." She prodded at Ginger with a brush. "Do you normally wear a lot of makeup?"
"Not really," Kris answered for her. "Just simple stuff. She's got a date tonight and I want her to look beautiful for him."
"I can speak for myself," she told Kris, giving her a look. Kris returned it and began to sort through a few things. "It's a pity date. I'm not planning on looking my best for him. He might con me into another one."
“Pity date? I’ve had plenty of those." Must be, considering you're thirty years old and still working in a mall… Ginger thought.
“Yeah. He’s been set on me for a year and a half now, and I’m getting sick of it.” She glanced over at Kris. She was smiling broadly. Kris was going to enjoy this.
“Trust me, I know the feeling," the woman said. "I think you should go with the jezebel, it really compliments your eyes. Are they natural?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh you're so lucky. I’ve been wanting violet eyes for years now.” Ginger shrugged, and glanced at herself in the mirror the woman was holding up. She did look good. Before Ginger put the mirror down, she spotted Zac walking by and put the mirror down quickly. She put it back up slowly, peeking at him.
“Is that him?” she asked, motioning to the person walking next to Zac. She shook her head.
“The one next to him in the blue shirt,” Ginger said. She nodded, then her eyes grew.
“That’s Zac Hanson!” she said. Oh, no… “You have Zac Hanson lusting over you?” Ginger nodded. “You’re going on a pity date with Zac Hanson?” Have you said the name Zac Hanson enough, lady?
“Yeah…so?”
“He’s got money, honey! You don’t go on a pity date with him! You try to milk as much money out of him as you can!” Ginger shook her head.
“I seriously don’t care about the money. It’s just he’s really annoying and having him lusting over me isn’t that much fun. I just think he shouldn’t be lusting over anyone cause he hasn’t been here in a year and a half and I don’t think he’s going to go out of his way for me.”
“Well you could at least milk some cash out of him before he leaves! You don’t pity a celebrity, Ginger.”
“You’re a nice role model. Go on a date with a someone just so you can take his money and then run.” She nodded. “I don’t think so…” Ginger glanced at her nametag, “…Gina. If I happen to get something like that out of this then I do. But I will not date this boy for his money.”
There was a silence. She noticed Gina not looking at her, but looking past her. She turned around and Zac stood there looking a bit surprised. He must have heard everything. Kristina was off to the side, her eyes flicking between the two of them. “How long have you been there?” she asked.
“Ever since she said my name,” Zac asked, pointing to Gina. “I don’t mind that it’s a pity date because you pretty much made that clear when I asked you, but it’s rather strange that you disagree with her.”
Ginger got out of the chair to face him. “Why is that?”
“I figured you’d be like everyone else I met and take my money. Why are you so different?”
“Because I don’t care about money. It’s not an issue to me." Zac nodded, then turned to walk away. “You’re just going to leave? No pleading for another date?” He turned around.
“I’m not going to plead. I got one date, that’s enough for me right now. If you have a good time then I’ll ask you again. Don’t get all rude at me for liking you." He walked out of the store and out of her sight. Ginger made a face and turned away.
At 6:15 Ginger was sitting on the curb, waiting for Zac to come along. Every twenty seconds she found herself looking at her watch. He said six o'clock and he wasn't there yet. At 6:30, when he still didn’t show up, she got up and was about to walk home when she heard his voice. “Hey!” he yelled. Ginger turned around, her hands on her hips.
“I’ve been waiting a half an hour, Zac! I normally wait five minutes and if the guy doesn’t show up then I leave!” He smiled.
“And what makes me so special that you waited a twenty-five minutes more than you normally would?”
“I knew that you’d be devastated and I actually care about how you feel.” She started fixing his collar. “So why do I have to be so dressed up? Where are we going?” He didn't seem to be mentioning what happened in the mall earlier, so that was a weight off her shoulders.
“We’re going to a theatre show and dinner and there’s a dress code. I’m sorry I’m late, I couldn’t find a tie to wear and I still don’t know how to tie one.”
She giggled. “Where’s your tie?”
“In my pocket.”
“Well are you going to make me get it or will you get it for me?” He rolled his eyes and took a tie out of his pocket. “How old are you now and you still can’t tie a tie? I figure you'd know something like this by now.” She tightened his tie after finishing tying it for him. He loosened it. “Stop that.” She tightened it up to his neck, cutting off circulation. He loosened it again.
"Don't try to hurt me now, it's not good."
“Whatever. So how are we getting there? Is someone driving or will we have to walk?” He smiled.
“I’m driving.” She shook her head.
“No way, you’re not turning 16 for another year. You can’t drive legally.” He held out his hand for her to take.
“It’s never stopped me before.” She sighed and took his hand. He led her over to a car parked down the street, and even opened the door for her. She gave him a smile.
“By the way, brownie points aren’t to be counted tonight,” she told him as he got into the driver’s seat. He smiled.
“Ginger, I’ve been raised to open doors and pull out chairs, there’s no such thing as brownie points.” He started the car and pulled out onto the road. The drive was steady, surprisingly.
“I see you’ve done this a few times before,” she told him. He shrugged.
“I learned a while ago. My brothers let me drive whenever we’re going somewhere.” She smiled, it was pretty much all she could do. It was dreadfully boring in the car for the rest of the way. She didn’t feel she had the right to turn on the radio, so they sat in silence. Already she was having second thoughts.
Why am I even here? I don’t know this boy! Mom always told me not to talk to strangers and I'm on a date with one. God I hate cars… She shivered. Zac noticed. “Are you all right?” he asked. She nodded.
“Yeah, I just was thinking about something and it got me freaked out a bit.”
“Can I ask you what that would be?”
“Yeah, you can, but I’m not going to answer. It’s something you don’t need to know.”
“All right, but if you don’t tell me enough about yourself tonight then I’ll have to ask you out again.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Zac glanced over to her, then back to the road. The theatre was coming up ahead. She shivered again. Her parents died in a car wreck. It was another reason why she walked everywhere. She didn't like cars.
“Is there something wrong?" he asked. "Do you really want to do this? If you don't I can take you home, it's no big deal.”
“Yeah, I want to do this. There’s nothing wrong. It's not you. I—I just really don't like being in a car. That's all."
"All right…" He looked like he didn't believe her. But instead of questioning it further, he shut his mouth and pulled into the theatre. He found a parking spot near the entrance. He got out first and opened the door for her. She found it hard to be herself with him being so polite. He took her hand and led her inside, and throughout the whole evening, he never let go of her hand.