Tabitha wasn't for sure why she and the main cast of the play (except Carlos) were at Seb's barn late at night, but they still followed Seb over to an area of the barn, some of them holding lanterns to brighten up the dark place. They stopped in front of where some bales of hay were at. Ashlyn was holding onto Big Red's arm, Kourtney was checking her shoes to see if their was mud on them (and there was), and Tabitha stood between EJ and Maeve with EJ's arm wrapped around her waist.

Tabitha raises her eyebrows, glancing around them when she hears sheep bleating. "Why do I hear sheep but not see sheep?" Ashlyn questioned.

"Oh, that's Jimmy." Seb answers her. "He has social anxiety."

"Well, I'm team Jimmy. I don't camp, I don't glamp, I don't even sleep without a silk pillowcase." Kourtney confessed and some of them chuckled at her comment.

A sheep bleated again which apparently startled EJ because he let out a yelp, moving closer to Tabitha. Tabitha chuckles along with some of the others, wrapping her arm around his shoulders. "Awe, it's alright, EJ. The sheep aren't scary."

An embarrassed expression forms on his face as he looks at her. "You're never gonna let me forget that happen, are you?"

Tabitha smirks. "Nope."

EJ purses his lips together while nodding. "Cool."

"Listen," Ricky speaks up. "I'm sure Seb and Gina have a good reason as to why they brought us to Seb's barn so late, on a school night." He glances at Nini beside him with a smile. "Not that I mind a romantic setting."

"Romantic is debatable." Nini chuckles, playfully elbowing him. "But I like where you're headed."

"Okay, so, we gathered you guys here tonight 'cause I got this idea." Gina smiles. "And because we only have 48 hours to pull it off, it's going to take all of us."

Seb smiles at everyone. "The whole family."

Everyone looks at Nini with a smile. She smiles brightly. "Awe, you guys."

"So, I talked to Gina and we thought we could throw a big surprise party to celebrate the guy Carlos is." Seb continued.

"And a quinceañero he always wanted and never got." Gina adds. "It's a birthday party but seriously zhuzhed up 'cause Carlos is one of the good guys."

"Okay," Seb drags out the word, speaking after a moment of silence fell between the group. "Somebody say something because maybe this is a terrible idea?"

"No, Seb, this idea is amazing." Maeve quickly responded.

"Yeah!" Nini agrees. "I'm in!"

Everyone chimed in with their words of agreement and Seb sighed in relief. Ricky puts his hand in the middle. "For Carlos."

"For Carlos!" They all shout, putting their hands in the middle as well. They each raise their hands up at the same time. "Whoo!"

****

The next day after school Tabitha and Maeve were hanging out at the local café called 'Publils'. 

"Coffee, I love you." Maeve spoke, looking at her coffee that she just took a drink out of.

From her place across from Maeve, Tabitha chuckles. "And I thought I was the one obsessed with coffee."

Maeve rolls her eyes playfully. She looks at Tabitha with a teasing smile. "Okay, how are you and EJ doing?"

Tabitha blushes, shyly looking at the coffee cup she held. "We're actually pretty great."

"You guys are seriously the cutest," Maeve gushes. "It makes me kinda sick." Tabitha laughs a bit and rolls her eyes. "Have you guys said 'i love you' to each other yet?" When Tabitha grows quiet and fiddles with the bracelet EJ got her, Maeve gasps. "You haven't? Why not? You two are literally made for each other and you've been together for so long."

"I almost said it to him at Christmas but I caught myself." Tabitha admits. "I just..." She sighs, glancing at Maeve with a nervous expression. "I just don't wanna rush anything."

"You better not be questioning whether he loves you or not 'cause it's so obvious that he does." Maeve tells her. "You should say it sometime soon, okay? I mean, if you wait it might be too late when you say it. And you'll never know how he feels until you actually tell him those three words."

Tabitha sighs. "Yeah, maybe you're right."

"Hi."

They both look to their right to see a blonde haired boy standing at their table, looking at them with a kind smile. He looks at Tabitha. "Are you Tabitha Nelson?"

Tabitha shares a confused look with Maeve before looking back at the blonde-haired boy. "Yes. Um, who are you?"

"I'm Marc." The blonde-haired boy introduces himself. "Marc Brooks."

Tabitha's eyes widen. Just then memories of her younger self and a young blonde-haired boy who looked similar to the one standing at the table she and Maeve sat at flashed in her mind. "Oh my gosh! I can't believe you're here." A relieved look formed on Marc's face and then he smiled, relieved and happy that she remembers him. Tabitha immediately stood up, pulling the blonde-haired boy into a hug. 

"Sorry to interrupt this," Maeve speaks up, gesturing to the hug. "But someone is confused and wants to know what's going on." Marc and Tabitha pulls away from the hug, looking at Maeve with amusement as she continues to speak. "I'm that someone, by the way."

Tabitha chuckles. "Sorry. Um, Maeve, you remember Marc, right? He was our best friend, like, all throughout elementary school and middle school."

Maeve looks at Marc, a surprised expression forms on her face. "O-Oh." Her face heats up as she awkwardly smiles at him. "Wow, um, great job growing up."

Marc chuckles lightly and he smiles at the two girls while Tabitha sits back down. "It's so great to see you two again."

"Same here." Tabitha smiles. "How long are you here for?" 

"I actually moved back here." Marc replies. "Permanently."

"That's great!" Maeve comments. "Oh, what school are you going to?"

"North High." Marc responds, furrowing his eyebrows when he noticed the cringed expressions on his two childhood best friend's faces. "I'm guessing by those faces that you two either don't like North High or don't go to North High."

"Both." Maeve answers before Tabitha could. "North High sucks."

Tabitha chuckles nervously, sending a glare to Maeve for her to shut up. Maeve just shrugs, taking a sip of her coffee while Tabitha looks at Marc. "What she mean is, well..." She sighs, her shoulders dropping in defeat. "Okay, yeah, North High sucks."

"Oh!" Maeve suddenly exclaims, startling both Marc and Tabitha. She grins at the two. "I just got the best idea ever."

Marc raises his eyebrow, tilting his head to the side. "You have good ideas?"

Maeve points at him, looking at him with a glare. "You, shush." Marc chuckles, raising his hands up in defense. "Okay, my idea is that you should transfer to East High!" Maeve smiled.

"Wow, that's actually a really good idea." Tabitha smiled.

Marc sadly smiles, feeling bad that he wouldn't be able to do that. "I would do that, I really would, but I'm living with my uncle and he works at North High." He shrugs. "He insisted that I went to North High, saying that me going to the same school he worked at would give us more time to bond or whatever."

"Oh," Maeve frowns a bit. "That's too bad." 

"But hey, at least you still live here which means we can hang out more." Tabitha said, trying to think of the positive.

"Exactly." Marc nods, getting his phone out of his pocket. "Speaking of my uncle, that's him. He needs some help at the school which means I have to go."

"Alright, we'll see you later." Tabitha waved goodbye. Marc waved goodbye to the two girls before he left the café. 

****

It was finally time for Carlos' quinceñero. Tabitha was at Maeve's house since they decided to get ready together. Everyone was dressing up for the surprise party since they wanted to go all out for Carlos. "Okay, finally done." Maeve said as she finished curling Tabitha's hair. The two girls were dressed and were done with their makeup, all they had left to do was their hair. 

Tabitha looks at the mirror with a smile. She wore a floral printed knee length dress with a dark brown colored vest, and light brown boots.

(down below is her outfit)

 "Thank you, Mae." Tabitha said.

Maeve smiles, flipping her own curled hair over her shoulder. "Thank you. Styling hair is one of my many talents." She sighs heavily and frowns at Tabitha. "Seriously, Tabi, I'm a catch, why am I single?"

Tabitha laughs a bit and stands up. "I don't know, Mae. Come on, let's get to Seb's barn. Don't wanna be late."

They eventually get to Seb's barn and help finish up decorating. Everything looked amazing thanks to Kourtney and Howie. Soon it was time for Seb and Carlos to arrive.

"Open the doors!" Seb shouted from outside of the barn.

Ricky and EJ went over to the big door of the barn and opened it. Carlos looks at everyone with a surprised expression. "Happy birthday, Carlos!" Everyone chorused.

"Wait." Carlos says, his eyes widening. "This can't be happening."

"It is." Seb smiled.

"I'm not wearin' a party outfit." Carlos frowned.

"We got you covered." Seb reassured him. Carlos smiled in response.

Everyone gathered where the seats that are made of the bales of hay are at in front of the stage. Tabitha and Maeve sat on a bale of hay beside where EJ had a video camera set up. He had decided on joining the AV club and Tabitha was proud of him with all the work he was doing that night. EJ's job was to record the performances that would be put on, work the sound system, and record the video messages for Carlos.

Nini and Ricky went up on stage with microphones and Big Red had shined a spotlight at them causing Ricky to squint at the bright light. "Hey, everyone!" Nini greets. "I think I kinda you know..."

"It's Carlos' quinceñero!" Ricky finishes her sentence. He looks to the right of the stage. "Gina, get on up here."

Gina takes Nini's and Ricky's place on stage while they go to sit down. After testing the microphone headset Gina wore, she started to say a speech. She explained how they don't always see eye-to-eye while running rehearsal, but she realized how alike they are after Seb showed her a video of Carlos in 7th grade dancing his heart out in his room. She pointed out the difference between them is that she would've never put out a video like that into the world and left it up on Instagram after some of the comments Carlos got.

"Anyways, um, tonight I'm recreating your dance..." Gina continues. "Because we might not share a choreography brain, but I think you know we share a dancer heart." Tabitha furrows her eyebrows, sharing a confused look with Maeve when Gina's voice starts wavering. "No matter what happens tomorrow or the day after that, we just keep on dancing."

She walked over to where a rope was hanging and held onto it. "Role the tape."

EJ pressed a button on the sound system while Gina pulled on the rope and a white sheet fell down. The video that Carlos posted in 7th grade appeared on the white sheet. Young Carlos explained how it was almost his 13th birthday and how in some countries that makes him a man. He also demanded he would get the following gifts for his birthday which included a new phone, a Tony award, and someday a quinceñero. Right after young Carlos finished dancing with the blanket that was on the edge of his bed the video was paused and Gina stood in front of the white sheet.

Two dancers pulled away the white sheet as Gina started preforming. Gina's performance of her song 'A Dancer's Heart' was truly immaculate. Everyone enjoyed the performance and towards the end of the song Seb guided Carlos over to the stage and Gina brought Carlos up on stage. She brought him over to the center of the stage, putting a crown on his head. Everyone cheered loudly for Gina as she and Carlos hugged.

"I love you!" Carlos tells her and Gina smiles. Carlos smiles. "Day one."

Tabitha gets up and went over to Gina after she got off the stage. "Gina! That was fantastic!" She complimented, pulling the girl in for a hug. 

Gina laughs a bit and hugs her back. "Thank you, Tabitha!"

"Please, do tell. How do you feel?" Tabitha asks her, pulling away from the hug. She playfully elbows Gina. "Pretty great, huh? You should after doing a performance like that one."

Gina sighs and smiles a bit. "Honestly, I feel like I've done everything I needed to do here."

"Cool." Tabitha smiled even though she was a bit confused by Gina's answer.

"Wait..." Gina furrows her eyebrows, tilting her head to the side. "Was that...Just you asking how I feel? Like, for no reason?"

"I care about you and I wanted to know how you felt." Tabitha shrugs. She looks at her with confusion, tilting her head to the side. "Is-Is that okay?" She cringes. "Maybe I should've asked you if I can ask you that. I didn't think I should. Please tell me I didn't make you uncomfortable or something like that. I'm sorry."

"No, no, you're fine." Gina quickly assures her, stopping the girl in front of her from rambling. "It's just..." She takes a shaky breath. "I-I'm not used to having a lot of people care about me and ask how I feel." She wasn't for sure why she was telling Tabitha this, but she felt like they were close enough of friends that she felt like she could trust Tabitha with this kind of information.

"Oh." Tabitha nods, a look of realization on her face. "Well, you're, like, one of my best friends so be expecting that a lot from me, okay?"

Gina looks at her with a bit of surprise since she didn't think Tabitha thought of her as a best friend. She was glad because she was starting to think of Tabitha as one of her best friends. A wide smile tugs on her lips. "Okay."

Tabitha pats Gina on the shoulder, excusing herself from her after seeing EJ waving her over. "Hey," EJ greets, kissing her cheek when she's beside him earning a smile from her. "You ready for your video message for Carlos?"

"Sure." Tabitha smiled and went to sit down on the bale of hay in front of where the video camera was set up. 

"You look amazing, by the way." EJ complimented, looking at her with a smile.

Tabitha smiles, feeling her face heat up. "Thanks. You look handsome, by the way."

EJ smiles, glancing away quickly. Tabitha didn't fail to notice the blush rising up on his cheeks. EJ looks back at her a few seconds later and chuckles, gesturing to their outfits. "Did you realize that we look like we color coordinated our outfits?"

Tabitha glances at his outfit and then at hers. Her eyes widen and she laughs a bit. "Wow, I had no idea." She looks at him with a smile. "Guess we really are meant to be."

"Yeah." EJ nods, smiling back at her. "We are."

After her video message for Carlos was done, Tabitha went to sit beside Maeve again on the bale of hay, noticing that Seb was nowhere to be found. She then remembered that Seb was going to preform a song for Carlos and she guessed he was getting ready for that.

When Carlos asked where Seb was at a truck was backed up in the barn by Mike, Ricky's dad. On the trailer was a white grand piano with a lantern sitting on it. A microphone was by the piano and Seb was sitting at it. Everyone cheered for Seb and he waved at Carlos who looked at him with surprise.

EJ had set up the video camera in the right area to record Seb's performance. Seb said his speech and went to play the piano. Just when he pressed some of the keys he stopped and looked back at Carlos, quickly adding, "Oh, and I hope it's not disappointing to the King of Fashion that I'm wearing the same suit I wore to Homecoming. My parents said that I have to wear this suit 'till I grow out of it."

Some laughter filled the air after he said that. "Okay, here goes." Seb smiled and began playing the piano.

After his beautiful version of the song 'The Climb' by Miley Cyrus, Carlos went up to the trailer where Seb had moved to the edge of it. Seb bent down to Carlos' height and they hugged as everyone cheered. When they pulled away from the hug, Carlos smiles. "Where did you come from and how did I get so lucky?"

Seb smiles. "Wasatch County and you just are."

Shouts for Carlos to do a speech are heard once they pulled away from the kiss they shared. Seb got up and grabbed the white microphone, kneeling back down beside where Carlos stood and handed him the microphone. "Um," Carlos takes the microphone, looking at everyone with a wide smile. "I'm not sure how I can thank you all for this. I've never been accused of being speechless." Everyone laughed at his comment and he continues to smile while he speaks. "I can't thank you all enough for just getting me. Everybody should have people who just get them."

"Carlos, we love you!" Maeve exclaimed. Tabitha smiled, yelling the same thing after Maeve said that, followed by everyone else and Carlos grinned. 

Carlos lets Seb use the microphone whenever Seb reached for it. "I've done a little research, and if this is, in fact, your quinceñero," Seb glances at everyone with a smile, gesturing to Carlos. "Then he must choose his madrina." He leans over to Carlos, whispering, "That means godmother."

Seb gives Carlos the microphone back so he can tell everyone who he chose as his madrina. "Honey, I'm not that bad at Spanish." Carlos remarked.

"One, two, three, not it!" Kourtney yells. When everyone looks at her and laughs she just shrugs. "I got enough jobs as it is already."

Carlos sighs before he speaks again, smiling at everyone. "I choose, as my madrina..."

"I can't believe he picked Miss Jenn as his godmother." Maeve said, glancing over to her left. "I think it looks like Miss Jenn is happy about Carlos' choice."

Tabitha looked in the direction Maeve was looking at, seeing she was looking over where the video messages for Carlos was set up. EJ was recording Miss Jenn's video message. Miss Jenn had mascara running down her face because of crying so much. Don't worry, they were happy tears.

Tabitha chuckles lightly. "Yeah, it does."

"Oh, there's Seb!" Maeve stands up from sitting on the bale of hay she and Tabitha sat on. "I wanna tell him how great he did with preforming."

"Okay," Tabitha nods, standing up as well. "I'm gonna go talk to EJ."

Tabitha went over to EJ, hugging him from behind. "Hi."

EJ chuckles, his lips forming into a smile as he held onto her hands. He knew who it was since he heard her voice and there was only one person who would hug him like that. "Hi, Tabs."

Tabitha let go of him and he turns around to face her while she speaks. "So, it seems like you're doing pretty great with the technical stuff."

"Yeah," EJ nods, intertwining his hand with hers which made her smile. "I honestly didn't think I would like the AV club, but it's actually not that bad. And it's helping me find my story." He sighs heavily. "Which was one of the reasons I didn't get into Duke."

"Well, I'm proud of you." Tabitha tol him, squeezing his hand.

He smiles widely at her. Hearing that from her meant a lot to him. "Thank you." He raises her hand up to his lips, kissing the back of it. "I'm proud of you too." 

Tabitha looks down as she smiles, feeling the blush creep up her neck. "Thank you, EJ."

"Oh, also," Tabitha looks back at him. "There's someone I want to introduce to you." EJ tilts his head to the side, raising his eyebrows as a way to silently encourage her to continue. "Not like, right now, but soon. Marc, he moved back to Salt Lake City permanently. We talked today at one of the cafe's here. We were really close when he lived here." What went unnoticed by Tabitha was the way the smile on EJ's lips fell when she spoke about Marc. "I thought that maybe you two should meet."

"Was...Um," He bites his lower lip, rubbing the back of his neck. "Was he, like, an ex-boyfriend of yours?"

"No, no, no, no." Tabitha quickly answers and EJ nods, feeling less nervous and worried. "He was mine and Maeve's childhood best friend. That's all."

"Okay." EJ nods. He smiles a bit. "Yeah, I'll meet him."

"Great." Tabitha grins. She goes on her tippy toes to kiss his cheek causing EJ's smile to widen. "I'll let you get back to work." Tabitha walks over to where Maeve was talking with Carlos and Seb, joining their conversation. 

EJ's shoulders drop in defeat, his smile falling as well. He glanced to his left when he felt a presence beside him and saw Mr. Mazzara was standing there, looking at him with raised eyebrows. EJ assumed he overheard his conversation with Tabitha. "I'm not jealous." He outstretches his arms dramatically. "I haven't even met the guy yet and besides, she said they were just childhood best friends so I shouldn't be jealous."

Mr. Mazzara nods, looking at him with an amused expression. "Right. You look like someone who's not jealous to me." EJ frowns, crossing his arms while he looked at the ground. Mr. Mazzara sighs. "Look, you trust her right?" EJ looks at him, replying without hesitation. "Of course I do."

Mr. Mazzara smiles. "Then you shouldn't be worried or jealous about anything."

EJ sighs. "it's a lot easier said then done."

"Don't worry." Mr. Mazzara assures him. "I have a feeling you two will last forever."

EJ tilts his head to the side, his lips curling upwards a bit. "You have done well tonight." Mr. Mazzara told him, deciding to change the topic.

EJ nods, smiling a bit as he puts his hands in his pockets. "It felt good to do this."

"So, now that you turned the camera around, who was the most interesting person you've interviewed so far?" Mr. Mazzara asked him.

EJ's eyes scanned the barn, looking for one person in particular. A bright smile tugs on his lips upon noticing her now talking with Gina. Butterflies form in his stomach when Tabitha locks eyes with him and smiled back at him. 

Watching this interaction, Mr. Mazzara nods and smiles. "Yeah, I thought she might be your answer."

The night went on and everyone enjoyed their time with each other. Soon the group (minus Gina, she was sitting on the steps of the stage on the phone) was formed in a circle in front of the stage, dancing to whatever song that was playing over the sound system. 

Tabitha laughs while EJ twirls her around. He smiles at her, thinking her laughter is the most beautiful sound he has ever heard. When he twirls her back into his arms, she blushes upon seeing he was already looking at her with a smile and she couldn't help but smile back at him.

A/N marc is finally introduced yay :) also if it's not obvious by now i love tabitha & ej so much !