Steve sat at his office desk staring at the picture on his computer. Of the five people in the photo along side of him, his eyes were on one individual in particular. Her beautiful smile radiated off the page. Her jet-black hair was in a high ponytail over her head. The emerald-green eyes shined and danced as she had one arm around him and the other around her identical twin sister. The picture was sixteen years old and of all the people in the photo she was the only one that hadn't aged past that day.

There were six of them and they shared everything together from classes to lunches to weekends. They were inseparable; friends for life; until that one fateful day when Karen had been taken away from them in the blink of an eye. He hadn't been strong enough to pull her from the raging water that sucked her down under the rocks in the river. He would have died with her if Jack and Craig hadn't jumped in and pulled him back from going down after her. He could still hear his girlfriend Carly screaming hysterically as she watched her twin sister disappear.

They were just two weeks shy of graduation and the group hadn't been together since her funeral sixteen years earlier.

He read the email a second time, inviting him to a reunion at a place called Eagle Lake, someplace in Northern California. The invitation was more of an encouragement, expressing their hopes of seeing him. The email came from Julie, or Jules as they had always called her. Last he heard she and Jack were still married. They were high school sweethearts and wed not long after graduating from college. Steve was in the Seals by then and hadn't received the invitation until after the wedding had already taken place. He'd only spoken to them twice over the years, mostly because communication to the outside world was not something that was easily done, or that's the excuse he allowed himself, especially when it came to Carly.

The email mentioned that Craig owned the house on the lake. He was the only one of the four that Steve had seen over the years. They met up once not long after he'd moved back to Hawaii when Craig had been in town on business. He had just gone through a nasty divorce and stayed over a couple of extra days at Steve's house and they just hung out like old times.

He wondered if that trip was the fire that started the reunion idea. Whoever started it, they had been wise to pass the reins on to Jules. She was and always would be a cheerleader at heart, and would stop at nothing to get the gang back together. He could sense it in her email to him. She kept it brief, but made subtle hints such as she would rather catch up in person than over an impersonal computer or that they weren't getting any younger, life was too short. He smiled at the thought of her and Jack. She was the head cheerleader and Jack was Steve's wide receiver on the football team. They were a match made in heaven.

He wondered if Carly was going to be there. She was the only one of the four he hadn't spoken with since Karen's funeral, and even that day they had barely acknowledged one another. He had so much guilt over losing his grip on Karen and she had so much sorrow over losing a piece of herself in her twin's death. It had been difficult for all five of them, but Carly and Steve had taken it the hardest. The fact that they had been together as a couple for only a few weeks before that took backseat to everything they were dealing with. They had never broken up; they just stopped seeing each other all together. He worked over the summer and then in the fall left for the Navy. He knew she had been accepted to UCLA, she and Karen both had, but he heard a couple of years later that she had dropped out her first semester and moved back home. Last he heard she was married, no kids.

His eyes roamed the photo, remembering each person fondly. They were his family those last couple years of high school. He never would have made it after moving to LA from Hawaii without them. He had met Craig and Jack first and then of course Jules who had brought on her fellow cheerleading partner Karen and her twin sister Carly who opted for swimming instead, 'less of an attention getter,' he thought.

Carly looked identical to her sister, but personality wise, they were completely opposite. Karen was outgoing and loved the attention she would get from pulling pranks at school, nothing harmful, usually just something spirited, like taking balloons with their high school colors and filling the opposing football teams locker room with them, or at half time at the football games she would target a teacher, and with a microphone in hand she would seek them out in the crowd, asking them random questions about the game to see if they were paying attention. It became a Friday night ritual and the crowd loved not only her questions, but also her quick replies, which was like watching a comedy show. The fact that she was incredibly beautiful didn't hurt either. People were drawn to her. The staff at the high school let her get away with most of her high jinx because her good nature and kindness were just as apparent.

And then there was Carly, just as beautiful but unlike her sister, she didn't like the attention. She was often mistook for Karen and told Steve one time that she was contemplating wearing a big C on clothes, like the girl did in that old TV show so people would know she wasn't Karen. He was one of only a few people who could tell them apart. It took some time and they would even try to fool him, but he would always catch on after a couple of minutes and call their bluff. While Karen was a cheerleader, Carly was a swimmer. Her senior year she took first in State as her sister stood on top of the stands with the rest of them and screamed the loudest, cheering her on as she won on the final lap. Even though they were opposites there was never any rivalry between them, they were best friends. Jules completed the sisterhood by being a little more like Karen personality wise, but considered Carly her true best friend.

Steve, Craig and Jack all met the beginning of their junior year. It was Steve's first year at the new school and when he beat out the starting quarterback on the football team, Jack had become his wide receiver and Craig was his offensive guard. The three hit it off immediately and soon the six were inseparable. The only two who dated were Jack and Jules, who had been together since freshman year. The friendship among the other four became more like a family bond and none of them wanted to jeopardize the friendship. They all dated others who tried to implicate themselves into the tight-knit group, but eventually understood that that was impossible, and soon it would just be the six of them again. It had gone on that way until senior prom when Steve asked Carly.

Karen had offers months before and Jules had Jack. Steve knew of Carly's shyness outside the group and held off asking anyone until she had a date. He had been approached by a couple of girls who had hinted around that they were available, but he waited to see what would happen with Carly first. Two weeks before prom when most everyone was already hooked up he joked around at a party that they should go together. They both laughed it off at first, but by the end of the night, he had her convinced and the plans were set, they were going together.

His eyes moved to her image on the computer. She was just as beautiful as Karen but her body language was just the opposite. She had to have known she was pretty, but she couldn't bring herself to revel in it the same way that her sister did. It was almost as if she were uncomfortable in her own skin. He wondered if she was still like that. Thinking back now he remembered how she used to stay close to them at parties. She could be just as fun as Karen but in different ways. She was more like one of the guys than one of the girls. She could drink the three of them under the table and enjoyed the gross, dirty jokes. She would play in the touch football games unlike Karen and Jules, who would sit on the sidelines and cheer her on. His thoughts went back to prom night, standing by her front door at two o'clock in the morning dropping her off. They talked for a couple of minutes feeling slightly awkward for the first time all night. He smiled, remembering how he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do, kiss her or hug her; after all it was prom. The uncomfortable moment was interrupted as Karen opened the door after being dropped off a few minutes earlier.

"Hey, Dad says you have to come in," she announced with a wicked grin, "so hurry up and kiss before he comes out here and tells you to come inside." She closed the door again.

Carly didn't hesitate and quickly reached up and kissed him right on the lips. She might have said 'Goodbye' or something to that extent but all he could recall was wanting another one. He reached out before she had a chance to go inside.

"Wait," he whispered and pulled her back out by the hand and really kissed her.

He looked up over the computer as Danny entered the office.

"Geez," Danny chuckled, "what's with the smile?" He came around the side of Steve's desk setting some folders down. "You need to sign off on these."

Steve ignored the first comment, picking up a pen.

"Is that you?" Danny squinted, leaning over toward the picture.

"Yea, my senior year."

He whistled, admiring the girls, "Was that your girlfriend?" he pointed at Karen who had her arm around him.

"No. We were all just really good friends."

"Twins?" he said, giving him a look, "and you never hooked up with that?"

"I told you, we were just friends." He didn't feel like divulging he and Carly's relationship and then having to explain why they broke up if asked. He wanted to keep that to himself.

Danny looked closer, "Is that the guy that stayed with you a couple of years ago?"

"Yes. Craig." He signed the last report and closed the laptop.

"Where did the picture come from?"

"It's group of people I used to hang out with in high school. They want to get together next month someplace up by northern California."

Danny sat on the edge of his desk. "Are you going to go?"

"I don't know. Probably not."

"Why not?" he pushed.

"Because it's for two weeks and…" he raised his hands, "it's in California."

"So."

"So? Well that's a long time and it's along way."

"When was the last time you took a vacation?" he held his hand up before he could answer, "Wait I know. Never! Not one time since I've known you have you gone anywhere off this island."

"I went to Maui last year," Steve reminded him.

Danny rolled his eyes, "That was for two days. That's not a vacation. That's a weekend." He crossed his arms, "Do you not want to see these people?"

"It's more complicated than that."

"How so?"

Steve pushed back away from his desk and away from the interrogation, "It just is." He walked past him.

"Got some skeletons in the closet there?"

Steve turned around sharply, "Bad choice of words. Just drop it."

Danny nodded and shrugged," Ok."

Steve heard the knock on the front door and as he came around the corner of the kitchen he saw Danny walking in with a six-pack of beer and a smile.

"I thought you might be thirsty, so I stopped by."

"Well aren't you the Good Samaritan," he said crossing his arms, knowing that he was there because of their last conversation at the office. Sometimes he was a pain in the ass.

Danny set the beer on the coffee table and took two out, twisting off the top and handing him one. "It's about one of the girls in the picture isn't?"

Steve took the beer but didn't reply, giving him the stink eye, knowing he going to badger him to death.

"That's it, isn't it?" he lifted his beer like it was no big deal, "You were young. Did you get your heart broken by one of them?"

Steve picked up the six-pack and walked towards the backdoor, "Yes, but not in the way that you think." He knew he wouldn't get rid of him until he just came clean.

Danny followed him outside, grabbing the bag of chips sitting on the counter.

"Holy shit," Danny groaned, "I didn't know it was like that." He looked over at Steve who just stared out over the water. "I'm sorry man."

He just nodded slightly, acknowledging him, "Now you understand why it's not so easy for me to go."

"It doesn't seem to me that anyone blames you though, otherwise why would they invite you?"

"They don't, but I'm not sure I can face Carly, because I think she might."

"Do you really think they would set you up for an ambush?"

He looked at him peculiarly, "No!"

"I didn't think so." He shrugged, "Besides, this might be a good chance for some closure on the whole thing."

"It happened sixteen years ago. I closed it."

Danny huffed, "If you closed it, then you would have already bought your plane ticket and taken the days off."

Steve looked over at him annoyed, "Wow, that was a great diagnose Dr. Fraud."

"Thank you," he replied pulling out his cell phone and opening it to Google, "so are you going to fly Hawaiian or Alaska?"

Steve took a drink of his beer, "Hawaiian," he replied caving in. He really did want to see everyone, but was nervous about Carly. "Are you sure you don't want to tag along just to make sure I don't need another session?" he said sarcastically.

"Nah. I wouldn't want to interfere in your personal life."

"Oh no," Steve growled, "that would be so unlike you."