Lou had made them promise not to bring any sort of embarrassing sign. 

Unfortunately, Ophelia had not listened. As Lou stepped out of baggage claim, the image of a model off duty in her black slacks, button down shirt, and heeled boots, her eyes fell upon an array of colorful balloons and a sign reading "Lucinda" in large swirly letters. Her cheeks heated up, but she found herself smiling at the reference to her always providing wrong names for reservations.

Ophelia squealed upon seeing Lou and passed the sign she was holding to Marc, who nearly dropped it with an 'oof.' Ophelia rushed forward, balloons still in hand, and enveloped Lou in a hug. Sure, maybe they had grown apart and maybe Ophelia couldn't shake the feeling that something was off between them since they went their separate ways, but she was going to put on a happy face and hope that some of her good energy extended to the others.

Lou hugged Ophelia back after her shock wore off, then pulled back and looked over her shoulder. It was just Ophelia and Marc, no Caspar, and she hated herself for wondering about his absence. It wasn't in her nature to ask, though, so she pushed thoughts of him from her mind and put on a smile.

"Good to see you, Lou." Marc smiled warmly as he sidled up beside Ophelia. He and Lou gave each other a brief side hug, more because they both expected it was what they should do rather then because they wanted to.

"Oh my god, this is your first time seeing both of us since Vallie's wedding." Ophelia's eyes widened, before going on to tease playfully. "Hasn't he gotten so fit? Look at his arms." 

A small bashful smile formed on Marc's face and he focused his attention on his feet. This struck Lou as odd, because he truly was in very good shape and the Marc that she knew in college surely would have flaunted it. He appeared more reserved and quiet, and something about that piqued Lou's curiosity.

"Oh, let me take your bag." Marc offered suddenly, reaching out to take the single suitcase Lou was wheeling with her. "Caspar's waiting in the car, so we probably should get going."

There was Lou's answer. The sound of his name rolling off of someone else's tongue sent a shiver down her spine that she did not have the time to contemplate. Perhaps she wasn't ready for this, perhaps she wasn't ready to see him and pretend for a week that everything was fine. Would she be able to look into his eyes and not think about their night together after Vallie's wedding?

The three of them walked side by side out of the airport and found Caspar waiting at the pick up area. Marc placed Lou's suitcase in the trunk amongst the rest of their luggage, while Ophelia and Lou slid into the backseat of the SUV. With Lou's suitcase taking up more room in the back, Ophelia found it hard to fit the balloons and sign she had insisted on bringing along.

"I told you we wouldn't have room for those." Caspar eyed her in the review mirror, before letting his eyes slide too Lou. Lou held the reflection of his gaze for a moment, and somehow she had forgotten how to breath. "Hey, Lou."

"Hey." Lou responded quietly, before looking away and breaking the spell. 

Caspar would be lying if he said he hadn't spent many nights thinking about that moment, about what it would be like to see Lou again. It wasn't like his life was on hold without her, of course, but he had often caught himself wondering what it would be like if things were different: if Lou hadn't moved away and if she weren't so scared of letting people in, and if he could ever believe that he was good enough for someone like her. He could try to be. He wanted to try. But some part of him knew she would never let him get close enough. 

In the two years it had been since they were altogether, a number of things had changed. Lou's hair had gotten longer, and she no longer bothered with regularly adding caramel highlights to her hair, though she never let herself think too long about why she had stopped doing little things that she once enjoyed. Ophelia had started wearing a new style of glasses that accentuated just how wide and doe-like her eyes were. Caspar had grown a beard and let his hair grow just a bit longer. Marc had begun working out, clearly, but kept his hair much shorter than he ever had in college.

Once they were all settled in the car with Marc in the passenger seat and Lou and Ophelia battling the balloons in the back, Caspar pulled out. The first hour of the drive was quiet and quite frankly, awkward. No one seemed to know what to say beyond a few short observations as they passed various fields and farmland. 

At about an hour and a half into their journey, Marc had leaned forward to turn up the song that began playing out of the speaker, right at the same time that Caspar reached a hand up as well. Their fingers brushed, and Caspar found himself quickly retreating his hand while Marc tried to contain a small smile. From the back seat, both Lou and Ophelia tried to pretend they hadn't witnessed the interaction. 

"We used to love this song." Marc coughed lightly as he recovered, slowly turning the dial up so they could hear it better.

"Yeah, I guess I still have it saved from college." Caspar nodded, pretending as if he hadn't specifically added the song to his road trip playlist.

The beginning notes of "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes played over the speakers, instantly transporting them back to their time in undergrad. The shared love of the song had sparked from Vallie's love of Dirty Dancing and many, many nights of her forcing the group to watch it. The movie and that song specifically had grown on each of them significantly, even leading to many nights at Callahans where Vallie would force at least one of them to sing it as a duet with her. 

When the male vocals started, Marc made a dramatic show of holding an invisible microphone and singing along as he turned in his seat to eye the others. Ophelia giggled loudly, nearly doubling over in her seat, while Lou was struck with the reminder that he was, in fact, a very good singer.

Marc felt light in that moment. Weightless, even. He didn't feel the weight of his family's expectations or impending deadlines crushing him. He did not feel like a man trying to hold the entire world on his shoulders. He just felt like a boy singing a cheesy love song with his friends, and he liked that. 

When the female vocals came in, Ophelia mimicked her friend's actions and used one of the balloons as a microphone whilst dramatically singing the lyrics. The two sang back and forth like that for the remainder of the song, pointing to their friends each time the lyric "And I owe it all to you" was sung. Each passenger in the car couldn't help but laugh and smile throughout, though Lou and Caspar never joined in on the singing themselves.

That song seemed to be the ice breaker for them. After that point, each of them took turns choosing various songs that would fill them each with nostalgia, or turning down the volume to share some story. None of them were thinking about how two years had passed or their current day to day lives or whether or not they would have to deal with Tyler upon arrival, because all of that seemed so distant. That car felt like a time machine, and they felt like the early 20 somethings who had once road-tripped to the lake house for spring break. Time had passed and they had changed, but that was no longer at the forefront of their minds. Now, they were just friends, as they had always been.

✩✰✩

Nadia's flight was scheduled to land in Philadelphia 30 minutes after Amory's, and he would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous. He had gone and picked up the rental car immediately after collecting his luggage, and was now sitting in the cellphone lot waiting for a text from her. He knew that by this time, the others would already be on the road, and that they probably would all arrive at roughly the same time.

He thought about texting one of them, seeing how the trip was going, before deciding against it. He would see them in a few short hours, and he didn't want to give away just how excited he was for that. Just how much he needed that. So, instead, he pulled up his individual text thread with Vallie. He found that in the time since her wedding, they had not spoken anything of substance. Nothing beyond a quick song recommendation or a meme that they thought the other would like. The realization that this girl whom he once held so close had now become someone so very far had hurt more than he had expected.

He was angry, though. Even if he didn't want to say it out loud. He was angry at Vallie for closing him out when she found Tyler, and for leaving him and the others in the dust to live her 'fairytale.' Maybe he was angry at himself, too, for not trying harder to make Vallie see that she deserved better. Maybe he was angry that he hadn't found his fairytale.

Before he could send her a message, he received a notification from Nadia. She informed him that her flight had just landed, so he gave himself a few more minutes in the lot before driving to the pick up area. When he saw her emerge from the sliding doors, he put on the hazards to the car and immediately hopped out to take her bags from her.

Amory wasn't sure what he had expected, but he had hoped that the pull towards Nadia he felt in college wouldn't still be there. When he gazed at her, though, hair messily pulled up in a bun and eyes heavy from the 12 hour flight, he felt like he was being knocked off of his feet. How had she remained so goddamn perfect? How had it been possible that all of her beauty was real, and not some exaggeration of his memory?

Nadia wasn't doing much better, if she were being honest with herself. When she moved away, she had effectively buried any thoughts and feelings she had towards Amory. Those things did not serve her, they were not realistic with the literal ocean that lay between them. Now, though, they were standing in front of each other and he was just as warm and attentive and attractive as she remembered and she couldn't help but think that if she were someone with a little less self control, she might be in trouble.

"Nads." Amory breathed out, taking her all in before pulling her into a hug. Nadia was quick to reciprocate, wrapping her arms around his middle and leaning her head into his chest. 

The embrace lingered just a little past friendly before the two pulled away. When they did, Amory coughed to clear his throat before immediately grabbing her two large suitcases and loading them into the trunk of the rental sedan. Nadia busied herself by getting into the passenger seat and shrugging off the jacket she was wearing. Airplanes were cold, but the air outside was warm and sticky and she needed to free herself of it.

Once Amory settled himself back into the drivers seat, he was quick to put the car in drive and peel away from the airport. He didn't speak, because he didn't know what to say, and that was odd for him. He was someone who could play football in front of millions of fans and do interviews in front of a room of people. He was someone who could spark up a conversation in a room full of people he did not know. Still, here, in this little bubble with Nadia, all the words had been stripped from his brain.

They only had a little over an hour drive, which was nothing compared to the other group's journey. Throughout the beginning of it, they found themselves making idle small talk. Little things about how the Lions were looking for the upcoming season (though of course Nadia was only being polite while asking, and Amory was only being optimistic when saying "we might actually have a shot this year"), or Nadia's job and her upcoming move to Vienna. Nadia was itching though, itching to bring up all the things she had noticed in the last time the group had been together, and to learn all the things she had missed during her time away.

"So, do you keep up with any of the others?" Nadia posed the question casually, drawing her legs up in the seat and leaning her head against the window.

"Honestly?" Amory glanced away from the road for one second to look at her. "Not really. Aside from Marc, I've hardly spoken to anyone the past few years."

"Not even Lou? Or Vallie?" Nadia raised her eyebrows. She was perceptive, even if others didn't see her as such.

Nadia had always had a sort of organization of their friend group in her brain. She assumed the others saw it too, but they were all too resigned to act like everyone was just the best of friends. She felt each of them had a ranking, a favorite amongst them, even if they didn't want to admit it to themself or others. Like, for example, she felt that if it came down to it, Vallie and Ophelia would always choose each other, no matter the other options. Amory would struggle between Marc and Lou, but both of them would easily choose him. Her and Caspar were on the outskirts, of sorts. In the early years, Caspar would have chosen Vallie while she wouldn't have chosen him, and in the later years he would have chosen Lou or Marc with the same result. She didn't know who she would pick if she had to decide who to have by her side, that's why she was always so content to show up late and keep her distance and let the cards fall how they would.

"Not really, honestly." Amory coughed awkwardly. "Lou and I took such different paths. We're both so busy and almost always on different sides of the country, so it's been hard. Vallie... Well, Vallie seems to be in a different place in her life."

Nadia made an 'o' with her mouth, understanding instantly. Clearly, she realized, Amory was still hung up on Vallie's nuptials. She wondered briefly if it was a jealousy thing, before reminding herself that in all their years as friends, Amory had never paid that sort of attention to any of the girls but her. The reminder filled her with a surprising sense of warmth.

"Do you think it will be weird then?" Nadia cocked her head to the side, eyeing the man up and down.

"I'm not sure." He answered honestly, thinking back to his conversation with Marc a week before. So much had changed, but he was determined for this week to go good. "I've already decided though that if it is weird, I'm just going to slip away to the lake or whatever."

"Hm." Nadia nodded, thinking about his response. "And do you mind if I join you?"

Amory's cheeks warmed, and he found himself hoping that Nadia couldn't tell. Some distant part of his brain told him that of course she could, because Nadia could always see everything. She had always seen right through him. So, he swallowed, put on his usual, charming smile, and nodded. 

"I wouldn't mind the company."

The remainder of the driver went a lot more smoothly, with the two talking as easily as they once had. Amory was even able to forget himself for a moment, to allow himself to laugh and talk with the girl next to him and not think about his teammates or Vallie or Tyler or change and just be in the moment.

That was, until, they pulled up the driveway to the Wright cabin and found only two cars parked there. One he recognized easily, it was the same old beat up car that Caspar had been driving when they were in undergrad. The other, though, was a muddy old chevy truck that he was certain Vallie never would have chosen. So that left two options: the hopeful option being that Vallie had simply used Tyler's truck, while the more realistic option was that Tyler was there with her.

Amory tried desperately to pray for the first option, but his hopes were quickly squashed when he saw a flash of Tyler through the living room window.

---

They're there!!! Let the games begin :)

I'm so excited to write their individual interactions with each other, but I find that I'm kind of wordy when I write characters in group settings and I worry that I lose some of their individuality in those settings and I hope that's not the case. 

I'm really excited for the next chapter and the chapters to come, with each of them all together and in the cabin. :) I do want to remind though that this story is a mystery, and there will be mature themes, so keep that in mind going forward! When I feel more serious warnings are warranted, I will try to give a warning beforehand. 

Mmmm question of the chapter, what do you want to see the characters do as they bond on their vacation? I have things plotted out, like the typical campfires, lake swims, hiking, etc., but is there anything else you'd like to see or what you're most looking forward to? :)