"Are the other girls coming?" asked Lizzie, closing the den door.
"Uh, Skye is not coming," answered Debra. "She caught the flu for some reason."
"What about Andrea?"
"She said she's coming, but she needs to come before Tony and Madeline comes. Or else she ruins the plan. When I called her, she talked about going to Taco Bell. I told her to don't go because if she tries to come, we're not going to let her in until the date is over."
"But Andrea is Mexican; you can't stop her from her traditions."
"Her traditions? What--"
Suddenly, the door bell rung.
"Ooh, yay!" Lizzie squealed. "Tony is here!"
Lizzie sprinted pass Debra, who followed her, and went down the stairs. Lizzie looked through the peephole, seeing Tony dressed nicely, and opened the door.
"Hi," Lizzie greeted happily.
"Hello," Tony greeted back. "Is this your house? You know, for the date?"
"Oh, yeah. Come on in."
Almost hesitant, Tony awkwardly entered the house.
"It's okay," said Lizzie. "I'm not going to cut you up and eat you."
Lizzie closed the door once Tony stepped into the lobby. Tony waved at Debra who waved back.
"My den is upstairs," Lizzie said, "so follow me." She walked upstairs with Tony and Debra walking behind her. They entered the hallway, with Lizzie opening the door to the den.
"This is pretty cool," Tony commented.
"Thanks," Lizzie and Debra responded at the same time.
"I appreciate this. I do."
"And you'll appreciate this even more," said Debra, "once Madeline comes in ten to fifteen minutes." She said that while looking at her watch.
More than ten minutes later, while waiting outside of the den, Lizzie and Debra heard the doorbell. They smiled at each other before running downstairs. Lizzie looked through the peephole, seeing Madeline in a red mini-dress, and opened the door.
"Hi!" Lizzie and Madeline greeted at the same time.
"Where's your dress for the slumber party?" Madeline asked.
"Oh, I forgot to put that on," Lizzie shook her head. "I'll go upstairs and get it."
Lizzie moved out of the way, exposing Debra.
"Hey, Debra!" said Madeline.
"Hi, Maddie," Debra responded.
"Where's your dress? Remember? It's a prom-themed slumber party."
"Right, right. See, I was ironing my dress so I can put it on. You know, for 'selfies'. But I'm going to put it on now. Just come upstairs."
"O-Kay."
Lizzie and Debra walked up the stairs together with Madeline following them. They walked down the hall, towards the closed den door.
"Our dresses are in the den," said Debra.
"Yeah, you should see them in the den," Lizzie added.
She opened the door, letting Madeline enter.
Madeline asked, "Why are our--" She stopped once she saw Tony. When she turned around, Lizzie closed the door and placed a wooden chair that was next to the door under the doorknob. Madeline urgently tried to twist the knob to open the door but it would not open. She turned around and leaned on the door.
Tony had a confused look on his face. "Um, hi, Madeline."
Madeline made a quiet, whining noise come out of her mouth.
"Would you like to have a seat?"
Madeline made a hesitant face. Not too long, she walked over to the table. Tony got out of his seat and pulled out the chair for Madeline. Madeline stopped for a second then continued walking. She sat down in her seat with Tony pushing her in. He walked back to his seat.
"So how are you?" Tony asked.
Madeline looked at him wide-eyed.
"You look nice."
Madeline chuckled shortly. She looked down.
"So... these couple of weeks have been weird. Just to break the ice. No pressure but I just want to know what's up."
Madeline made a whining noise again.
Shortly, Lizzie entered the room with a pitcher of water.
"Good evening, everyone," she said. "I will be your waiter and I would like to know what do you want to eat."
Tony picked up his menu and opened it to look at it. "The only thing on this menu is Steakum sandwiches and celery sticks."
"Well, sorry, pal. I don't have steak and salad to serve so I put the closest option on the menu that I had. Show a little appreciation."
"Sorry."
"Would you guys like some tap water?"
"Sure. Thanks."
Lizzie poured the pitcher in Tony's glass, filling it halfway. She stepped over to Madeline to fill her glass.
"Talk," she whispered to her.
Madeline did nothing but stare at Lizzie, still anxious to be around Tony.
"Debra will be here to serve the food," Lizzie said before leaving the den and closing the door.
"So do you like Steakums?" Tony asked to break the silence.
Unluckily for him, more silence came along as Madeline just stared at him, unable to carry a response.
Lizzie sat the pitcher on the floor next to a little device that she, afterwards, picked up. She looked at Debra who sitting against the wall next to the den door.
"Hey, Debra," she caught her attention, "before you get the food, do you want to see something?"
"Sure." Debra got up and walked over to Lizzie.
"See, I have this set which is a video camera and a mini television. How this works: you turn on the video camera and put it in a room. And with the mini television, you set it up and it will show presently what the video camera is recording. And right now, I have the camera in the den and if I turn this on..." She pressed a button on the TV which made it turn on, showing Madeline and Tony at the dinner table from a thirty-degree angle. "...you can see the date."
"That's really cool. Where did you get this?"
"I got it from a spy kit that I bought. And only for three ninety-nine. Such great prices!"
Debra smiled before walking downstairs to get the food for the dinner date.
"Madeline, is anything wrong?" Tony asked, after sipping his glass of water.
Madeline nervously smiled and shook her head.
"Really, if anything's wrong, you can tell me. I know we don't know each other that well but you can talk to me. We're friends. Right?"
Madeline opened her eyes even wider.
Soon, the door opened with Debra walking in with two plates of food, one in each hand. "Steakum sandwich and celery sticks for you, sir," she said, sitting a plate in front of Tony. "And a Steakum sandwich and celery sticks for you, ma'am." She put the other plate in front of Madeline. "If you need anything, don't. Enjoy." She walked towards the door. She then stopped and turned. "But if you guys want any dessert, I'll come back and give you pudding." She left the den and closed the door.
Debra sat down on the floor next to Lizzie who was watching the mini TV device. Lizzie pressed a button on it that turned up the volume.
"Can they hear us?" Debra asked.
"No, we need the walky-talkies for that."
As they watched, they listened to the conversation between the talkative Tony and the silent Madeline.
"This is actually delicious," said Tony after taking a bite out of his sandwich.
Madeline looked up and down a few times while poking at her sandwich with a fork.
"Your friends are really good cooks."
Madeline smiled very shortly.
"I don't want to sound like a jerk but I have a feeling that you're not really shy."
Madeline looked away at the wall.
"I mean you have amazing friends who set me up on this amazing date with you. This has to be the most amazing day ever. But I can't have an amazing time if you're not having an amazing time. So tell me, Madeline: I am offending you because I really like you and I don't want to give you the wrong impressions."
Madeline stared at Tony as if she offended him. "I-- I--" She then began to stutter. "I-- M-- Bleh. You-- I-- Uh... Huh. I-- Ee-- Murr-- Y-- Ah-hah-hah. Uh-huh. Uh... I-- Pfft! Uh-- I-I-I-I-I, uh-uh-huh. Gee-- Uh-- I-- Huh. Huh-huh-huh. Heh, uh-- I-- I-- Uh..."
"I don't think this is going well," Lizzie said, gluing her eyes to the screen of the TV.
Eventually, the girls started to hear Madeline blubber. While she does so, she sinks down her chair, slipping under the table.
"She's falling out of her seat like last time," Debra said softly.
As Madeline's head almost goes under the table, with Tony staring out of confusion, she stumbled off the chair and tumbled on the floor, grabbing on the tablecloth and making it slip off the table. Pulling on the cloth made the plate of food and glass of water fall on Madeline, with the sandwich falling apart and landing on her hair and the glass pouring all of the water in her hair as well. Madeline tightly closed her eyes as the water dripped rapidly on and off her face, making her black mascara run. Her mouth was opened to represent the shock she felt.
Seeing the incident made Lizzie and Debra jump back.
"Oh, white girl down!" Debra gasped.
Lizzie put the TV down and got up along with Debra and opened the den door to enter and help Madeline. They rushed over to her and kneeled down, trying to get her up.
"Are you okay, Maddie?" asked Lizzie, interlocking Madeline's arm with hers. "That was a big fall you took... not like I was there."
"This date was a bad idea," said Debra. "We're really sorry. Come on, we'll get you out of here."
"No, wait," Tony called, standing up. He picked up his glass and plate then walked over to Madeline to kneel before her. "Do you feel embarrassed?"
Madeline nodded, forming puppy-dog eyes.
After she nodded, Tony took his plate and flipped it over his head, making the sandwich and celery sticks fall on him. Then he quickly poured the whole glass of water over his head.
The girls looked at him in surprise.
"Now I'm embarrassed," he said. "We're both embarrassed."
Madeline smiled, not holding back.
"Aw, this is so sweet," Lizzie commented. "Such as romantic moment. Now which one of you guys are going to pay the bill?"
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