the only exception

 When the doorbell rang, a few minutes before six o'clock, Phoebe quickly grabbed her phone and sprinted towards the door, "I'll get it!"

To her disappointment, Hayley and Taylor had gotten there before her and already opened the door to greet Hayden. Phoebe watched as he tilted his head, "You're..." He trailed off, moving his eyes from "And you're..."

"Hi, Hayden!" Phoebe interrupted, squeezing between Hayley and Taylor to stand in front of him.

"Hey," He smiled, momentarily forgetting the two adults there.

"Well, aren't you gonna introduce us?" Hayley cleared her throat, earning a blush from Phoebe as she realized her and Hayden had kind of just been staring at each other.

"Yes. Right." Phoebe nodded, "Hayden, these are my parents," she faltered on her words, having only really called Hayley and Taylor her parents to her friends when they weren't around. Hayley and Taylor, however, couldn't suppress their grins at the title. "Uh, and this is Hayden. You met at the show, briefly."

"Nice to meet you guys again," he nodded at them, offering a smile.

"Same for you," Hayley offered sweetly.

"Well, are we ready to go?" Phoebe asked quickly, moving towards the door, but Taylor held out an arm to stop her.

"Now, wait a minute," he narrowed his eyes at Hayden, "Where are you taking her?"

"It's kind of a surprise," Hayden replied, smiling awkwardly at Taylor before glancing at Phoebe who was staring at Taylor with wide eyes.

"How are you getting there? Walking? You're not old enough to drive, are you?" Taylor questioned as Hayley tried to suppress an amused grin.

"I do drive, yes." Hayden told him, gesturing back behind him to the car.

"And how old are you?"

"Sixteen." Hayden answered, meeting Taylor's eyes with a steady look as the man raised his eyebrow.

"Alright," Taylor nodded slowly, turning towards Phoebe, "Keep your phone on you and let me know if you need me to come and pick you up."

"Okay, will do." Phoebe nodded happily, starting to walk out the door.

"Phoebe, be back by ten at the latest please!" Hayley called after her, "Text us and let us know where you are as well! Oh, and have fun, but try to be safe and make good choices!" She tried to squeeze as much parenting as possible in a few short sentences, earning an excited grin and thumbs up from the teen.

After watching them get in the car, Hayley shut the door and turned back towards Taylor, "Well, he seemed sweet enough, maybe we were wrong about him." Hayley tried, remembering the excited look on Phoebe's face.

"He's okay for now," Taylor decided, earning a grin from the singer.

"Being protective now, are we?" She asked as Taylor wrapped an arm around her shoulder and led them both to the living room.

"She's been through a lot, I just don't want her getting hurt."

Hayley smiled, nodding along, "I agree with you on that one. She's fourteen though, she's just figuring things out. Plus, I think if I don't try to make this into something positive I might go absolutely insane all night until she's home. I think it's best to give him the benefit of doubt, for Phoebe's sake."

"Yeah, yeah," Taylor agreed as Hayley turned and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"She'll be fine, we can't hold that fight against him forever."

***

The date turned out to be a lot sweeter than Phoebe had imagined. Hayden took her to see a movie and then afterwards they stopped by his house to get a blanket and the picnic basket he'd prepared for them to enjoy at centennial park.

There was a brief moment of annoyance when Phoebe brought up the fact that he'd lied to her parents about his age, but it was quickly forgiven as he explained he just wanted to be able to drive them himself instead of having to ask Henry.

By the time he'd brought her back home and walked her up to the door, her cheeks had hurt from how much she'd smiled throughout the night. She'd never really imagined Hayden to be one to pull the cheesy and romantic date ideas, but couldn't help but to love it.

"I had lots of fun tonight," Hayden grinned, only a few inches from her face.

"Me too." Phoebe grinned, and before she knew it he was stepping forward and kissing her, holding her face between his hands. She smiled into it, and wasn't able to wipe the smile off her face as he pulled away.

"See you at school Monday?"

"Yeah," Phoebe replied easily, her voice wispy, "See you then."

She watched him walk away and turned to the door, slowly making her way in.

"Hi honey, how was the date?" Hayley asked from the living room, using the remote to pause the TV and sit up from where she was leaning against a sleeping Taylors chest.

Phoebe couldn't help but to grin as she shrugged, "It was alright."

"He took you to the park for a picnic? That was sweet," Hayley smiled, Phoebe having updated her earlier in the day.

"Yeah," Phoebe grinned, her cheeks pink still from the kiss.

"So he's a good guy then, yeah?" Hayley asked, her voice quiet as to not disrupt Taylor who had fallen asleep not even 20 minutes into the film.

Phoebe nodded, "He is, I think."

"Well, that's good," Hayley smiled, relieved. "Did you eat enough? Do you want me to make you something before you go to bed?"

"No, I'm good. I'm gonna head up now, actually. Goodnight."

"Night, love you," Hayley smiled, leaning back against Taylor.

"Love you too," Phoebe replied, eyes softening at the sweet sight.