The Orange Ballerina had newspapers spread up and down all of the walls.  The place barely looked the same, when the four couples walked inside.
   "Whoa, what happened here?" Mary's eyes wandered along the walls.
   Jake came up, "Hey guys!  Did ya notice my redecorating?"
   They stared at him.  Kari finally asked, "What's the newspaper for?"
   A wide smile crept across Jake's face, "It's our new wallpaper.  I got this idea that the kids that come here can sign on the walls, to sort of make this place their own.  But I needed a cheap way to be able to replace it when there's no more room, so I decided on using the old newspapers.  When the walls are full, we can just put another layer on.  Then they can just sign it again.  Ingenious, huh?"
   "That's amazing how you come up with these things," Kari shook her head, also smiling.  "I like it," she admitted.
   "Me too," Vicki and Mary said simultaneously.  They looked at each other and giggled.
   Jake finally looked the gang over.  "Hey, you guys look marvelous.  I see some of our employees are starting to pair up," he grinned, winking at them.  Turning to Peter, Jake instructed, "You take good care of Flower, Pete."
   "Aye, aye, sir," Peter saluted.
   Flower rolled her eyes, "It's all right, Jake.  Peter's a perfect gentleman."  She was gazing into Peter's eyes when she said this.
   "Oh, he is?  Maybe he could give you guys some lessons," Jake teased the other three.
   "Ah don' have to take none o' this abuse," Mike held his arm out for Vicki, "Shall we?"
   "Certainly," she smiled.  They walked over to a large table in the middle of the room and sat across from each other.
   Micky came over, "Don't ya wanna sit next to each other?" he asked, as he pulled out a chair for Mary.
   Mike glanced up at him, "Then Ah can't look at 'er."
   "Oh," Micky responded.  "Suit yourself," he sat down next to Mary.
   Mike ignored Micky, and reached his hand across the table to meet Vicki's.  He tenderly stroked his thumb on the back of her hand as they stared into each other's eyes.

   Davy arrived with Kari at the table, and he scooted a chair out for her.  She thanked him, sat down, and he pushed it back in.  Davy sat next to Mike, across from Kari.  Vicki leaned over and whispered to Kari, "Just relax."
   "I was about to say the same to you," Karisma whispered back.

   Micky, also sitting next to Mike, held Mary's hands in both of his.  For a while they didn't say anything, but sat and gazed.  Micky eventually lifted his right hand to Mary's cheek and kissed her again.

   Peter sat on the other side of Kari, Flower right beside him.  His dimples never seemed to go away; he was smiling the whole time.  Flower sipped her water, then said to him, "It's so groovy to finally meet your friends, Pete.  I really appreciate you taking me tonight."
   "Your welcome," he said, "Any time you ever want to come by is great.  All of the girls live a few houses down from us, so we can all easily go out together."

   Jake stood on the bandstand, "Well, since this is a staff party, all of you guys are part of the staff."
   "Really?" one of the male employees kidded, sarcastically.
   "Some of you will be longer than others," Jake deliberately looked at the man who made the remark, but had a humorous glint in his eyes.  Continuing, Jake spoke, "And since all of the people here having the party is the staff, we have no staff to organize the party."
   A few people groaned, wondering if Jake was saying that they had to clean up and do everything themselves.  Instead, Jake said, "But I solved that problem easily by hiring caterers.  I don't know if any of you guys have hired caterers before, but they're expensive, so you better have fun tonight.  I ain't wasting this money for a lame party."
   Everyone laughed, and a few people shouted a, "Sure thing, Jakey boy!" or something or other.

   Flower pulled her uncle aside real quick to ask him a question.  When she came back to the table, she had a marker.  "You guys wanna be the first to sign the wall?" she asked the group, holding up the marker.
   "All right!" Kari grinned.