But all he heard from Adam was a moan and he saw the covers move slightly to the side of the bed. He was about to jerk the covers off of him, but he heard the phone ring in the hallway. Knowing his parents were outside on the deck, he abandoned his task and went to answer the phone. It was Alyssa. With a smile on his face, he made his way back to Adam.

"Hey Adam, it is Alyssa," he said with a jeer. At that, his brother's face was immediately noticeable among the mess of covers and pillows on the bed. He staggered across the floor and past his brother to the hallway phone. Jason just waited by the doorway with his arms crossed and a huge grin on his face. Maybe he should have Alyssa call every morning and save everyone the 15 minutes it took to get Adam awake. Jason then made his way down the hallway to the downstairs. As he passed Adam, he turned and grinned. He loved teasing his brother about having a girlfriend since Adam had been very relentless in his teasing for the past four years since he met Kara. Adam at first did not notice Jason, but when he saw his grin he smirked at his brother.

It was not long before Adam joined Jason at the table for breakfast.

"Did you take your medicine?" Jason asked seriously as he started to eat his cereal and drink his orange juice.

"Yes, mother," Adam said sarcastically. He was enjoying his usual Captain Crunch Berries and Pepsi. "It sure would be nice to have a little privacy though."

Jason just looked up at him with a smile.

"You told her that I had not taken my medicine yet and I had to listen to the speech there too," Adam said. "So much for brotherly love."

"You have to take your medicine. Besides how would I live without my little brother around to aggravate and get out of jams? You keep my life exciting," Jason replied with a grin again.

Adam just ignored the comment and continued eating his breakfast. He hated taking medicine, especially since it made him sick if he did not eat enough. After a few minutes had passed, Adam spoke up. "We need to go out to Alyssa's house. The Cherokee won't start. It is probably the starter."

"In that case how are you going to get it to start without replacing the starter? We do have chores to do," Jason asked. "I mean, won't that take awhile?"

"I have an idea. I have read and have been told that if you hit on the starter just right, it will start one more time. So we are going to try that first," Adam said as he started to clean up his area.

"And just how are you going to get it here if you do get it started. You can't drive yet," Jason asked, finishing off his orange juice.

"Alyssa said that she could drive it over here and have Clara follow her because they are going to look at dresses today in San Diego."

"Dresses? I thought you two were not going to Homecoming?"

"I guess she wants to now."

"Well, well, it looks like someone is going to have to dress up. That sounds like a job for Mom!"

"Jason! Don't you dare!"

But it was too late. Jason had already called for his mother and upon hearing the news that her "baby" son was going to his first official dress up dance; she immediately started in about what he was going to wear and ordering Alyssa's flowers. She walked up to him and hugged him as he glared over at his brother.

"Mom, there is no need to buy new clothes since I will only wear them once. I will just borrow Jason's dress pants," Adam said. He did not want this to be a big deal at all. But his mother insisted that they were going to go and find him a nice set of clothes to wear of his own.

"One last thing before you go. I think Alyssa would prefer a set of flowers that will fasten to her wheelchair so she will not have to worry about carrying it or knocking it off. Is that okay with you? Also what kind of flowers would she like? I will have to order them this morning," Laura continued. She knew that Jason would take care of his own arrangements, but her younger son was new to this whole world of being a couple, not to mention that she really did like Alyssa.

"That would be nice Mom and I think she would like daisies and other wildflowers if that is possible to get," Adam said. He did like the idea of surprising Alyssa with the flowers. "Now can we go. "

As the boys made their way to Adam's Trans Am, he glared over at his brother. 'One of these days I am really going to get you back for this big brother. I don't see the big deal. It is just a dance, not a wedding."

"I had to go through this and so will you," Jason said as he started the car and started down the driveway. 'You see, mothers like these things, especially since she has two boys so she misses out on the dress hunting thing. It is all just a practice ground for the female species. It is all down hill from here Adam."

"What do you mean by that? Practice ground for what?"

"The biggest dance of all. A wedding!"

Adam just glared at his brother and then looked out the window. He was thinking about the duties of a boyfriend for which he thought was just dating and fixing her car. He could not help but think that he just now started dating and he already felt like he was married--- and he was only seventeen.

Adam was able to get the vehicle started and had Alyssa drive it to his house. They pulled it up into the garage under the house. Alyssa was really excited about going to look at dresses, but both her and her guardian were nervous about trying to make their way to the malls in San Diego. They were still new to the area. Laura gave them directions, but then Alyssa invited her along. Mrs. Kramer eagerly accepted the invitation and soon all three ladies were on their way. Adam just shook his head as he got his tools from the tool rack. Normally he worked on cars in the barn, but it was warmer in the garage and he knew that the job was going to be hard enough with his coordination problem without being cold. He was getting ready to examine the vehicle when Jason spoke up on his way upstairs. "I bet you that they look at wedding dresses too. You just wait and see."

"Mom is not going to marry me off at age seventeen let alone age twenty-one," Adam said with an attitude.

"No it is not that. It is the fantasy thing that goes with it. You know like Snow White, Cinderella and not to mention Aurora," Jason said chuckling.

"Aurora?"

"Sleeping Beauty. Don't tell me you have forgotten all that Walt Disney stuff." Adam just rolled his eyes at his brother and started to lift the hood of the Cherokee. The last thing he heard from his brother was the singing of the song from the movie Snow White that the seven dwarfs sang going to the gold mine and the closing of the door.

Adam just rolled his eyes and went back to his work. He knew it was going to take him longer than it used to, but he was happy that his hands seemed to cooperating a lot better.

After completing the starter job, Adam decided that he was going to go ahead and change the oil as well. It was about 2400 miles since he had last changed it when Alyssa got the Cherokee. Since their father had already left to meet with his friends for a night of fishing, Adam asked Jason if he would drive him into town. So the boys went into the Emerald Beach Hardware for motor oil. Jason was glad to see Adam being able to do some of the things he used to like to do, like working on cars. Adam also felt like he was really starting to get his life back together. He could not drive, but at least he could keep the cars in his life running.

The boys got the oil and carried on a friendly conversation with Mr. Hartley, the hardware store owner. Mr. Hartley, or Randy as he was known, was the town's mechanic. He even worked on Mr. Kramer's cars when it was a job that Adam was just not familiar with enough to do. Randy was a friendly man in his mid-forties, a devoted husband and father of two children in high school.

"I am glad to see you back in business Adam," He said smiling at his once apprentice.

"Thanks, but since I never get paid I would not call it a business," Adam replied.

"I hear that you are going to the dance with that new girlfriend of yours," he mentioned casually in the conversation. 'I think that is super because you are both nice boys."

"Thank you Randy. Is Jonathan and Rachel going?" Jason asked.

"Yeah. Rachel and her mother are going shopping tonight for the perfect dress. I guess Jonathan and I are just going to hang out since all of the women are in San Diego," Randy said sarcastically. "I would hate for the census to take place now since half the population is out of town."

"Just a better excuse for all of the male species to have a big party!" Adam said with a chuckle. All three of them laughed at that since they all knew that Emerald Beach was a very small town.

"Easy for you to say, you are not married younun'," Randy said with a laugh. "We would never explain ourselves out of that one!"

"Well we had better get back to the house. I want to finish it tonight," Adam said picking up the box of oil and the filter.

"See you later. If you ever need any help, please call me," Randy said going to the back area of the store. Both boys waved good-bye and headed home.

It was late afternoon, but it was still daylight. Jason was playing his Garth Brooks CD as Adam cringed at the twangy music. Adam was watching the coastline when he looked ahead. He saw a small, but very dark stream of smoke ahead on the right.

"Hey Jason, look," He said.

"What?"

"Isn't that smoke?"

Jason leaned forward to see through the windshield. He then saw the small puffs of smoke. "I hope that it is not the start of a forest fire. It has been too dry lately."

Jason followed the smoke path. Forest fires were always a threat, especially when you lived in the country around wooded areas. But as he followed the smoke, he noticed that the smoke was in the direction of their home. The closer that he got to the Kramer house location, the closer that he came to the smoke. Jason started to drive faster. Both boys feared what they were going to see and soon their fears were confirmed. As they drove up the driveway, flames could be seen shooting out the one side of the garage. Adam felt his stomach sink as Jason reached for the cell phone and dialed 911. Before Jason could stop the vehicle, Adam was out and running towards the garage. His only thought was of his Alyssa's beloved Cherokee that was specially fitted for her, not to mention that the presence of the car in the fire would possibly blow the house up completely. Jason put the phone back down and stared ahead in horror.

"Adam! Don't go in there!" Jason yelled as he saw his younger brother run into the garage that was full of flames on the one side. But his warning fell on deaf ears. Adam had already disappeared into the dark smoke. Jason knew that he could not just stand around and wait for his brother to reappear. He was running to help Adam when he felt a sudden surge of heat. The he was lifted off the ground and flung on his back. The loud bang thundered through his ears and it was then that he realized what had happened. There had been a small explosion. He could hear the distant sound of sirens approaching and that gave him some relief. He could still see the top part of the house so it was possible at least the house could be saved. But when he raised his head and looked at the garage, he felt his stomach sink. There was no sign of his younger brother and flames were fiercely shooting out of the garage door. As Jason slowly got up and the firemen arrived, little did they all know that someone was watching with pleasure.