"Time to go!" Bethany said as she threw open Dyson's door a week later. He jumped up, saw it was her, and rolled back up into his bed.

"You need to open a window," Bethany said with her nose plugged. "It smells like the gym."

Dyson groaned and turned over in his black and gold covered bed. "Nobody asked you to come in here."

"Please, if this," Bethany picked up a stray sock hanging from a gold, sequined lampshade, "isn't a cry for help I honestly don't know what is."

"Are you saying my room's a mess?" Dyson pretended to be shocked and clutched his chest. "I'm hurt."

"Such a diva!" She teased. "Now get out of bed and pack."

"Hmmm." Dyson rubbed his chin. "Let me think about it."

"Don't worry sweetie." His mom popped her head into the room. "I have his bag already downstairs."

"What?!" Dyson glared at his mom. "Traitor."

"I'm not a traitor. I'm just selfish. If you leave then I get the house to myself for a whole week. It'll be a girl's night every night." She started to dance around, the light from the hallway bouncing off her bald head. She looked better than she had in weeks.

"First," Dyson stuck a finger up in the air. "I am offended that you look so amazing while you are kicking me out of the house. Second, you better not have a dance party without me."

Then he brandished his third finger. "And third, if I do this for you Bethany," he looked straight at his friend. "You owe me."

"Deal!" Bethany cheered along with his mom.

"Except for the dance party." His mom shrugged. "If I've done nothing else right, I have at least taught you the importance of never passing up on a time to dance."

"Fine." Dyson pouted. "Now leave so I can get dressed."

He listened to Bethany and his mom chatter outside as they made their way downstairs. He glanced out his window to look across at Caleb's room. The curtains were drawn but he imagined they weren't. He knew the room probably better than his own. And from this view, he would be able to see the dark dresser, the door to the hallway with at least fifty different stickers on it.

"What the hell?" Caleb looked at his door. "Dyson, did you do that?"

Dyson pretended to be just waking up as Caleb got up from his bed. Dyson stretched on the futon that they had for when Dyson slept over. He had to stifle a laugh as Caleb got closer to the door.

"Dys!" Caleb sounded more annoyed.

"Sorry." Dyson yawned and stretched. "What's up?"

"This." Caleb pointed to the new sticker on the door.

Dyson squinted. "Good job!"

"Yeah, I can read it myself. What I can't do, is explain why it's here." Caleb turned on his best friend.

"I guess someone thinks you did a good job." Dyson shrugged and bit his lip to keep from laughing. He had been sneaking in for weeks putting different stickers on Caleb's door. He had even gotten Ruth involved so they could appear when he was out of town. Buying the discount roll of stickers had been the best $5.00 he had ever spent. Every time Caleb found a new one he sent a picture to Dyson, demanding that he admit it was him.

"Come on. Dyson, I know it's you. Just say it, please. It's driving me crazy!" Caleb ran his fingers through his hair and glared at Dyson.

"We're still on this?" Dyson asked, acting offended. "I don't even know where I would begin to pull off a prank such as this."

"Easy." Caleb counted off the steps on his fingers. "One, You buy stickers. Two, you put stickers on the door. Three, you continue step two until your friend snaps and kills you."

"Woah, slow down." Dyson held up his hands. "You lost me at the word easy."

Caleb yelled and ran at Dyson with his hands out in front of him.

Dyson yelped and jumped up on Caleb's bed. "Now, listen here. Calm down. Why on earth would you want to kill me? Even if it was me, which it wasn't, you should be thanking me. I mean they are motivational stickers."

"I knew it!" Caleb cheered. "It was you!"

"Okay." Dyson used one of Caleb's white curtains as a white flag to wave his surrender. "It was me. You're welcome."

"I have to pay for a new door, dumbass." Caleb chucked a pillow at his friend.

Dyson dodged the pillow. "What? Why?"

"Because the stickers won't come off." Caleb pointed at the ripped sticker he had tried to scrape off at the top corner of the door.

"Well, maybe you should have thought of that before covering it in stickers." Dyson shrugged and got hit in the gut by a boot. "Ouch!"

"Oh did I hurt you?" Caleb looked like he felt guilty then smiled. "Good."

"That is no way to treat your friend or boots. I'm keeping them." Dyson clutched the boot to his chest.

"Dyson, come on!" Bethany called from downstairs. "We're already running late."

"Coming." Dyson shook his head and looked at the pair of boots that were his favorite now. He pulled on a pair of dark jeans, the boots, and a brightly colored shirt. As he ran out his door he grabbed his gold jacket.

"I'm here!" He sang as he slid down the stairs then his smile faded when he saw who was standing with Bethany. "Adrian."

"Dyson." Adrian didn't look much happier.

"Both of you stop it. This is going to be a great week!" Bethany hugged both of them.

"Yes, so much fun." Dyson rolled his eyes. "I mean look at what he's wearing."

"Hey, he's hot. He can wear whatever he wants." Bethany smacked Dyson. "And let's not forget that you thought pink pants were a good idea last week."

"Wait." Dyson gasped. "You said you liked them."

"No. I said, interesting choice." Bethany smirked.

"You're just jealous that you couldn't pull them off." Dyson walked past her making sure to smack her with his coat. "Let's go before I realize how bad of an idea this is."

"Is he always like this?" Adrian asked as Bethany laughed and followed him out the door.

"Yeah, kind of." Bethany smiled. "You'll learn to embrace it."

"You're lucky I like you." Adrian wrapped his arms around Bethany as he walked behind her. He kissed her neck and she leaned into him.

"I like you too." Bethany turned in his arms to look up as his blue eyes that looked just like the lake by his vacation home. "Thank you again for this."

"If it helps them then it's going to be worth it." Adrian watched as Dyson looked up at Caleb's window.

"It will. It has too." Bethany kissed him then dragged him to the car. "Dyson you get the back."

"Yes, Adrian. You get the back." Dyson said then froze with a hand to his chest. "Wait. I get the back. I never sit in the back."

"Fine, you can have the front." Bethany winked at him and got in the back.

"Um?" Dyson gave Bethany a confused look to which she smirked.

"Adrian is driving." She laughed out loud. "This will be a great ride."

An hour later they were pulling into the driveway and talking like they had always been friends. Adrian and Dyson were talking about some boxing match and Bethany was pretending to care, just like she always did with Dyson. She would have rather talked about something she could add to but she was just happy to see Dyson talking again. He wasn't just acting, he was enjoying himself.

"No, he wouldn't have won." Dyson shook his head.

"Yes, he would have. All he needed was a timeout." Adrian argued. "Even Caleb agreed."

And with that one name, it all ended. Dyson rolled his eyes and got out of the car. "Caleb doesn't know a thing about fighting."

The car door slammed shut and Dyson walked towards the lake. It was partially frozen and beautiful. Bethany sighed and smacked Adrian. He yelped.

"Great job." She berated.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking." Adrian groaned.

"No. It's fine." Bethany said in apology. "You're trying so thank you."

Adrian nodded and watched as Dyson chucked rocks onto the ice. He really was enjoying the trip. Caleb always had talked about Dyson to him, but he hadn't believed that they could ever get along that well.

"Do you really think this is the best idea? Maybe we really should just enjoy a nice vacation up here." Adrian shrugged with a smile.

"No, they need to talk. If they don't then it will always be like this and we will never have our friends back." Bethany got into the front seat of the car after setting Dyson's bag on a patch of dry ground.

"Shouldn't we warn them at least?" Adrian asked feeling guilty when he saw the curtain up in the guest room flutter. It was Caleb who they had driven up with the night before. They left him saying that they had to get groceries.

"Yeah, cause that would go well." Bethany snorted. "Let's go before Dyson realizes that we're not staying or Caleb comes outside."

"Fine," Adrian backed out of the driveway and drove towards the small market that was only a couple of miles away to get the groceries they needed for the week.