"Josh, did Hannah say in her email if we needed to bring any sporting equipment?" Tyler asked as he took the corner too fast and ran into the doorjamb.

"'Graceful, Ty." JC tossed a third sweatshirt into his suitcase. "No, she did not comment on our sporting equipment needs. Why would we need to bring sporting equipment?"

"Well like a baseball glove or a Frisbee or something. Its the middle of the fucking woods, we're going to need something to do."

"I'm sure they will have all of that stuff there. If not, we'll go buy it. No sense in packing it. Besides, we're going to be on a lake with boats, jet skis, tubing. There will be plenty to do."

"Well how would I know? I've never been to the little house in the big woods before."

"Wow, great literary reference. You think you're so clever, don't you?"

Tyler grinned. "I don't think, I know. Why the hell are you packing three sweatshirts? We are only going to be there three nights."

"Hannah said it gets cold at night."

"And you can't wear the same sweatshirt more than one night in a row? You're such a fricken' girl."

JC sighed and ran a hand over his head. "You're right. I have no idea what I'm doing. How do you pack for this shit?"

"You listen to your girlfriend. I brought two pair of shorts, a pair of jeans, swim trunks, some T-shirts, and a sweatshirt, just like Hannah's email told us to." Tyler walked over to JC's suitcase and inspected it further. "Josh, what the hell is wrong with you. Why do you have a dress shirt and that damn vest in here?"

"We'll we're having dinner with her mom on Thursday night."

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure Hannah said jeans and hoodies were acceptable."

"She wore a dress to mom and dad's when I told her jeans were acceptable."

"You really are a fucking girl. So, what time does our flight leave tomorrow again?"

"We leave LAX at 10:00, get to Minneapolis at 3:00 p.m. Hannah's picking us up and taking us to her mom's house, where we'll have dinner. We'll stay at Hannah's for the night though because she has to wrap some stuff up at the bar."

"Awesome, I want to see that place."

"Then we leave for Brainerd at 8:00 on Friday morning."

"Shit that's early," Tyler whined.

"Its like a three hour drive so you can sleep in the car."

"So how's Hannah been? I haven't talked to her other than a brief email back when she sent the "what to pack" email."

"I haven't talked to her much lately either," JC replied while inspecting his suitcase and removing items he really didn't need. "She's been really busy at work, and I've been in the studio. Just a random text here and there."

Just as JC finished his sentence his phone buzzed, alerting him of a new text message.

"Well I'll leave you alone in case she wants to have text sex."

Tyler left the room and JC took a seat on his bed and grabbed the phone off of the night stand. He really hoped it was Hannah. It had been three days since they last spoke. He was used to daily e-mails or phone calls, so this three-day communication drought really threw him off. He kept telling himself that it wasn't a big deal and he's see her tomorrow anyway. He smiled as he ran his finger over the phone's touch screen, expecting to see an "I miss you," "I love you," or a "See you tomorrow!" He wasn't prepared for what he saw instead.

Saw you at the Chi show. Thx. In LA again. Drink later?

Tony.

Two and a half weeks later and Tony finally acknowleged with more than a head nod that he's seen him in Chicago. JC beamed. It wasn't fixed yet, but it was getting closer. A long talk over drinks was just what they needed.

Of course. Tell me the time and place and Ill see u there.

He sighed and took a seat on the edge of his bed. This is what he wanted to happen more than anything. All he wanted was for Tony to talk to him again and this was a start. He didn't care if Tony sat there the whole time and screamed at him or if he decked him in the face. Anything was better than the total lack of communication they had going now.

Eds. 10:30.

Of course Tony would pick Ed's. Just to torture me, JC thought. That was the bar where this whole drama went down in the first place.

"Was that my future sister-in-law?" Ty shouted from down the hall.

"Would you fucking stop staying that? No, it was Tony, actually."

Ty stopped in the doorway, a look of shock on his face. "Tony, really?"

"He wants to get a drink tonight."

"You gonna go?"

"Of course I'm going to go. Why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know. I just thought maybe you were done. You haven't talked about it in awhile. So I figured..."

"I've been trying to get him to return my calls and e-mails for the last 4 months, Ty."

Tyler looked surprised. "Oh."

"Hannah and I went to his show in Chicago and he saw me. I think that finally made him contact me."

"Well I'm going to be honest with you, Josh. I'm really glad you're making such an effort to get Tony to forgive your sorry ass. He's one of your few true friends. Your other friends are losers."

"Those are mostly your friends too, Ty."

"I know, but let's be honest. They're fun but they aren't real friends, you know?"

"I'm glad I wasn't the only one who has been thinking that. I've been questioning a lot of their shit lately."

"You better finish packing. Could be a late night for you, and it will be a long-ass day tomorrow. Tell Tony I say hey," and Tyler left JC to his packing.

********

Already halfway through his second beer, JC sighed deeply and looked at his phone again. 11:10. Tony was 40 minutes late without so much as a text or a call. Defeated, he downed the last of his beer, pocketed his phone, and headed out the door. He was a half a block down the street when he heard feet pounding the pavement behind him.

"Hey, wait up! Sorry man," Tony panted. "My show ran late, and I forgot my phone."

"Oh yeah, um, no problem." JC was actually rather pissed, seeing as he had to catch a flight the next morning, but he let it roll of his back. He had no right to be the upset one right now. "So um, how ya doin'?"

"Good man. Its um, great to see you. Its been awhile."

JC swallowed hard, hoping the awkwardness of the situation would disappear.

"Yeah. Look, Tony..."

"Let's go grab a beer. No use hashing this out on the street."

Tony turned, and JC followed him back into Ed's. They each downed their first beer in seconds, hoping the bitter liquid would help them say what they really wanted to say. Two beers in, Tony finally spoke up.

"I was pretty convinced I was never going to talk to you again. But you're a persistant little fucker."

"I was a complete fuck. I know that now. I knew that then, the minute I said it. But I was too stubborn or whatever to admit what douche I was being."

"You were a complete and utter shit is what you were."

"I know," JC said quietly, as he motioned for another round of beers. It was a good five minutes before Tony spoke up again.

"I'm not saying I'm over it. But I'm getting there. I'm going to sound like a woman, but I kind of miss having you around. I mean you've been such a huge part of my life. I can't just forget about that."

"What can I do, Tony? I mean, first, I want you to know that I love Miri, I do. She's great and, I never meant to hurt her in anyway with the things I said."

"Well you won't do anything to make it up to her because she doesn't know. I made up some dumb story about why were were fighting. I couldn't tell her the truth."

"Fair enough."

"You'll make it up to me though. I don't know how, but you will."

"I will, I swear." JC paused and took a deep breath. "Look Tony, this is going to sound all zen-like and shit. So actually you'll probably be into it," Tony chuckled as JC continued, "but I've recently kind of forced myself to reflect and evaluate my life after I realized what a fucking loser I'd been acting like. I didn't like where things were headed. I'm working on purging the negative influences in my life."

"You can start with that fuckwad manager of yours. Seriously, half of the problems in your life are because of that incompetant loser and his cronies."

"I'm starting to realize that."

"Why the sudden realization?"

"Well after I messed up our friendship, I did some serious soul searching. Realized I was hanging around with loser, partying too much. And then there was Hannah..."

"The stunner that was at the concert with you?"

"Yeah, took her home to meet the parents."

"Woah woah, who the hell are you?"

"Hell if I know. I've known the girl two months and I've introduced her to my parents and dropped the L word. Its fucking weird, but it is right this time. I know it."

Tony reached over and patted JC's shoulder. "I'm really happy for you, man."

"Thanks Tony. I hate to cut this short, but its already 12:30, and I have to fly to Minnesota in the morning."

"What's in Minnesota?"

"She is."

"When you get back, you're telling me all about this girl."

"I will, man. I'm sorry, again - I'll be saying it until I die. Thanks for calling me though."

"Thanks for harassing me and making me realize I couldn't throw away more than 15 years of friendship."

Tony pulled JC into a friendly hug, and JC felt relief wash over him. Finally things were right again, and for the first time in years, he felt truly happy.

"Oh, Ty says hi." JC shouted back as he exited the bar.

"Yeah whatever. Tell that little fuck I want my guitar back. He's never going to learn how to play that thing."

JC let out a hearty laugh. "I'll tell him you said so."

Once back at his car, JC pulled out his phone and checked his e-mail. One message - from Hannah, finally.

From: hjanssen@janssenspub.net
To: joshua.scott@gmail.com
Date: May 26, 2007 at 10:47 p.m.
Subject: :D

How did we let three days pass without so much as a word to each other? This is unacceptable! So do you have any idea how excited I am for you to come here tomorrow? I have it all planned - dinner at my moms, then I thought we could walk down to Lake Harriet and catch the concert at the bandshell and pick up some Sebastian Joe's Ice Cream on the way. I can't wait to show you and Ty around my old neighborhood.

And the cabin, oh the cabin will be so much fun. So this is everyone that is coming: Me, you, Ty, my mom, uncle Rob and aunt Gwen, uncle Joe and aunt Sarah, my cousins RJ (Rob Jr.), Alicia, Max, and Mallory, and my uncle Rob might bring my grandma for a day or two - oh, this is all my mom's family by the way. And all of my cousins are in their 20s so Tyler will not feel like a third wheel at all. I probably told you this already, but I'm so excited. Clearly I'm rambling.

You're going to love Minnesota so much you're never going to want to leave!

Love you -

h.

JC beamed. All of the pieces of his life were finally falling into place.