"Welcome Class of 1972 of Conrad T. Jones High School. And let's not forget our families for joining us today. Now without further ado, let's eat!" an unknown woman exclaimed.

With that simple statement she left the podium and sat at her table. Seconds later waiters and waitresses filed out the kitchen area with steaming trays of food bringing them to all of the tables.

Over the next couple of hours all that could be heard was the din of conversation mixing with forks scraping and glasses clinking. People catching up with friends that they hadn't seen in years, people seeing friends that they had only seen last week.

However, at one table sat eight people. Two families. The mother's of those families had been inseparable all through elementary school, junior high, and high school. Due to the happenings of life they hadn't seen each other since they had graduated.

"It is so good to see you Lynn," Gayle stated matter of factly.

"33 years is just far too long to go without seeing you." Lynn replied. Their families sat there in an awkward silence eating the food that was placed in front of them. The two women, in their haste and excitement had forgotten the little detail of introductions. Catching up on the last 33 years of their lives was their priority at the moment.

After a few minutes they took it upon themselves to ease the silence.

"I guess they're going to be busy for the next few hours, so I'll just introduce myself. I'm Lynn's husband, Pat." A man that looked younger than he probably was started.

They continued around the table. "I'm Austin," a brown haired teen said. "I'm Kim," a blonde girl piped in. "And I'm AJ," chimed in a black haired girl that looked slightly older than the other two.

"I'm Gayle's husband, and just call me Buzz. There are our sons." Said a slightly distinguished yet impish man continued.

"I'm Neal," said a guy that looked like the spitting image of his mother. "I'm Billy," said a guy who was without a doubt his father's son.

As the night wore on, slowly people started drifting off to their respective hotel rooms. All reluctant to end the night yet excited about plans for tomorrow.

Well after midnight a pair of feet left a hotel room and padded down the hallway towards the elevator. AJ waited impatiently for the doors to open. She sighed then punched the down button a couple more times.

"You know pushing it more times doesn't make it come any faster," a voice from behind startled her.

She turned around and saw one of the guys from dinner that night. For the life of her though she couldn't remember who.

Taking a wild guess, "Neal, right?"

"Billy," he corrected.

"Sorry, I'm horrible with names. I got the right family though. I deserve points for that I think."

He smiled that smile that said 'sure'. Before they could say anything else that distinct chime sounded signaling the arrival of the elevator. "So where are you sneaking off too?" He asked following her onto the elevator.

"In search of food, but I'm not sure which floor vending machines would be on. You?"

"I needed a drink and I think saw something on either the 1st or 2nd floors."

They traveled in silence down to the second floor. AJ walked out and picked a hallway to explore. Billy sped up to keep up with her. "You know this would be easier if we just asked somebody," he commented when he caught up with her.

"And miss half the fun of exploring the hotel? Besides do you see anyone TO ask?" she looked at him.

After coming up empty on the 2nd floor they ventured down to the Lobby. The stairwell opened to a deserted hallway. It was weird, they hadn't said more than a few words to each other, but neither one felt compelled to fill the silence.

After coming up empty and with only one hallway left to roam, "I think that we're not meant to get that food or drink." Billy said.

"Think someone's trying to tell us that we don't need it. But if we don't find anything down here I'm walking across that street dressed just like this and going to that 7-11 I see." Five minutes later, AJ was standing at the end of the hallway in utter and complete shock. "What kind of hotel doesn't have vending machines? It's wrong. It's evil. It's gotta be illegal." Billy just looked on amused while she ranted. "Well I guess that means 7-11 here I come." She announced.

After she said that he just looked at her like she was kidding, "You can't be serious? It's nearly 2 o'clock in the morning." He finally took in what she was wearing. Black track pants that looked like she'd stolen them from some guy that was at least twice her size and gray sweatshirt that looked equally as oversized. "Do you even have shoes on?" He quizzed her.

"No, but they can't see my feet so I don't think that whole 'No shoes, No shirt, No service' thing it really going to matter. Look I'm fine going by myself it you don't want to." AJ said. Then after waiting a moment she turned around and left leaving him standing in the hallway puzzled.

After standing there for nearly 30 seconds dumbfounded by this almost complete stranger, Billy muttered, "Dammit". Then jogged down the hallway to try and catch up with AJ. He finally caught up with her as she was reaching the street preparing to cross. "You're really doing this aren't you?"

"I'm in NEED of peanut butter. It's something you probably wouldn't understand. So just let it be." She looked at seriously.

"Well never let it be said that I stand in the way of someone and their peanut butter," he laughed.

"Glad to hear it." Then she turned her attention back to the street. It was pitch black outside, except for the glowing light of the street light overhead and the neon lights of the oasis that lie before her. Being that it was 2 in the morning there were only a handful of cars out on the road. She stepped off the curb, and started jogging across the two lanes stopped on the median then jogged across the remaining lanes of traffic. Billy was a half a step behind her.

When they walked into the empty 7-11, the guy behind the counter nodded to the two late-night snackers. AJ made a beeline to the snack aisle in search of goal. While she was searching she heard Billy call from the other side of the store, "Did you want a drink too?"

"Dr. Pepper, please." She replied her eyes still scanning the shelves in front of her. Then she spotted it, an absolute pristine jar of JIF Creamy Peanut Butter. "Yes!"

Billy rounded the corner and saw AJ staring at something indefinable in her hands. She turned to him with this look that could only be described as triumphant. "The world is a BEAUTIFUL place," she announced to him. One of his eyebrows rose in question. "I have peanut butter."

"Are you really going to eat that?" He asked in disbelief.

She stared at him like he had just grown another head. "What do you mean, am I really going to eat this? Why wouldn't I eat this? Do you know what this is? This is peanut butter. One of the most orgasmic foods that's ever been placed upon this earth."

At her last comment he couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Okay, but are you going to eat only that?"

"No, I was considering chocolate syrup, but decided that tonight to go au naturale. There is nothing wrong with a 2 in the morning snack of straight peanut butter." AJ challenged defending her favorite food in her life, and probably in any other lives she had before this one.

"By the way, here's your drink," he said handing her the bottle of Dr. Pepper. "Are you going to be able to sleep tonight with all that sugar in your system?"

"I will be sleeping blissfully." She guaranteed. As they made their way to the cash register Billy grabbed a bag of chips.

They walked into the hotel a few moments later, and were again waiting in front of the elevator to take them back upstairs.

The next morning

"AJ, come on get up. AJ, I'm not playing around you need to get up. We're going to be late for breakfast if you don't get up in the next two seconds." Her mother was trying to wake up her oldest daughter. You'd think at 24 she would've grown out this. "Abigail Jane Carver, if you don't get up and get into the shower now, I'm going to bring the shower to you." Her mother threatened. "Fine, Austin come here will you. Get your sister will you?"

Austin picked up his big sister. The sleeping beauty lay limp in his arms as he carried her toward the bathroom. He put her in the tub as his mother directed him then stood as far back as he could waiting what he knew was going to happen.

In his head he started counting down, 5……4……3……2……1 then he saw his Mom turn the cold water knob as quickly and as hard as she could. Frigid ice water pelted AJ in the face shocking her awake.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" then followed by a string of choice words. Their mother didn't even blink an eye when she walked out of room saying, "Now, take a shower and get dressed.

Twenty minutes later AJ emerged showered and dressed still fuming at her mom. "I can't believe you did that Mom."

"I warned you," she replied putting on shoes before they trekked down for breakfast. "Your Dad and brother are already down there."

Walking into the large dining room that had been rented out for the reunion she could smell food waiting for her. Her family was sitting with the same family as last night. Hell, if she could remember their last name. She saw Billy looking like something that death had dragged in.

"You look about as good as I feel," she smiled at him. He just glared at her and then went back to eating his breakfast.

"Don't worry about it, he's not much of a morning person," Neal quickly explained seeing the look that flashed across her face.

"Normally, I'm not but Mom dumped me into the tub this morning and woke me up with cold water so I'm little bit more alert than I normally would." At that remark the whole table, well almost the whole table laughed.

"You're still doing that Lynn?" Gayle questioned her. At Lynn's mischievous smile Gayle just laughed. "You see whenever me and your Mom would decide to camp out your Mom would always wake me up in the middle of the night with a blast of water from the hose. It seemed I never quite learned my lesson. She managed to soak me more times than I care to admit to."

Before they were able to continue their conversation they heard a "tap tap" being amplified around the room. "This thing on? Good, it seems that everyone survived the night. Well we have variety of activities that you can participate in today. Ladies, the hotel has graciously obtained a few cute Swedish looking men to pamper us all day. Now don't worry guys, we didn't forget you we've got some great things for you to participate in as well. What they are I'm not sure right now, but I bet they're great."

From out in the middle of the group an unidentifiable guy yelled, "Do we get cute Swedish looking girls?" A ripple of laughter spread throughout the room.

Not fazed by the comment, "That's always a possibility."

After breakfast groups were breaking up to spend the rest of the day together. Gayle, Lynn, and Kim all decided to take up the opportunity of massages and pampering by Swedish looking men. AJ decided that she'd probably fall asleep wherever she sat down due to her lack of sleep last night so something active was going to be her thing for the day. Austin said that he could be found at the nearest basketball hoop.

Buzz and Pat were talking then looked at their remaining children. "We're going golfing, which ones of you want to join us?"

Slowly, they all said that they'd play a round. There was a hotel shuttle that was running people to and from the nearest golf course a couple of miles away. Once they got to the clubhouse the Dads went to go set up a tee time while the kids went to go try to find out which clubs they wanted to rent. On her way to the clubs, AJ got distracted by one of the most grotesque sights she'd ever seen.

"Hey, where'd AJ disappear to?" Neal questioned. Billy looked up just noticing that they'd lost her.

Then, suddenly without warning one of the funniest pictures showed up. "I. Think. I. Need. This. Hat." AJ said seriously with a straight face. The hat in question was a fuchsia, lime green and orange plaid golfer's hat with a white pom-pom on top.

"That hat is AWESOME!" Neal said taking the hat of her head and putting it on his.

"Don't think so buddy, that hat is mine." She said putting the hat back on her head. Then she noticed Billy staring at her he looked like he was trying desperately not to fall down laughing at her. She walk slowly and surely up to him looked him dead in the eyes and deadpanned, "What you don't like my hat?"

That ended his battle for him, and he laughed uncontrollably for awhile before managing to say, "I think your hat looks like a leprechaun threw up on you." She just grinned in response.

"Abigail, what in the hell do you have on your head?" Her Dad asked staring amused at his oldest child.

"Well in the words of Billy over there, I have a hat that looks like leprechauns puked on me." She stated trying not to laugh while looking at her Dad's expression. "But I figure if we're going to golf I'm going to look damn good doing it in this hat."

"We've got some time to get clubs before we tee off." Buzz said, highly amused at the sight before him. This girl looking like there was absolutely nothing wrong with the hat she was wearing while ignoring his two sons cracking up behind her.

Some time later they were at the tenth hole. Billy was up next; while he was bent over placing the ball on the tee AJ dropped her ball. As she went to pick it up, she heard a 'thwack' and the world went black.

When her world finally went back into Technicolor she was lying on her back and four concerned faces were looking down at her. "Whhaaat," she managed to murmur.

"Babe, I always knew you had a hard head but we didn't need to test it out," her Dad said relieved.

"What happened," she managed to get out more clearly a second time. Everyone turned and looked at Billy.

"I didn't look behind me when I went to swing, and my club hit you in the forehead knocking you out cold. I can't tell you how sorry I am." He said looking truly mortified.

"I'm sorry my head got in the way," she joked. Seeing her sense of humor still intact everyone breathed a small sigh of relief. Slowly they helped her to a sitting position. "Whoa," she said the world starting to spin around her. After sitting for a few more minutes and letting the world come to a full and complete stop, she managed with the help of her Dad, to walk over toward the golf cart.

"We can stop playing and go back to the hotel, if you're not feeling up to it," Buzz offered.

"Nah, you guys keep playing I'll be the Official Scorekeeper and Wearer of the Leprechaun hat."

"Speaking of the Leprechaun hat," Billy smiled and placed the hat back on her head.

She grinned, "I'm feeling better already. I really think that the Leprechaun hat has magic powers."

"Magic powers?" he questioned.

"Mmm-Hmmm" she confirmed. "Magic powers."

"BILLY! Would you like to finish your turn?" Neal interrupted.

"I think you're safe now, my head isn't blocking your way anymore."

He just shook his head as he went back over to the tee.

Thankfully they had arrived at the eighteenth hole just in time for a late lunch. Everyone was famished. They all piled into two golf carts, the guys refusing to let AJ drive. While they were riding, a bizarre noise was heard from Neal. AJ just stared at him, "What was THAT?"

"I told you I'm starving! My stomach is going to start eating vital organs if I don't feed it soon." Neal responded.

Billy rolled his eyes, "You are SUCH a drama queen."

"At least I don't knock out innocent girls attempting to play golf," he shot back. The insults flew back and forth for a couple minutes while AJ just sat back completely amused by these two.

When it came time for them to get out of the carts and go eat, everybody rushed over to AJ to help her. "GUYS! I'm fine, I'm not an invalid. Just a little bump on the head." AJ adjusted the Leprechaun hat on her head and followed them to the clubhouse.

It wasn't until they were seated that everyone noticed that she was still wearing her hat. "You are now the coolest person ever, because you wore that hat in here." Neal declared slinging an arm around her shoulders. Neal and AJ continued to talk about the magical benefits of owning a Leprechaun hat.

It was the last night of the reunion they were having a farewell dinner. The last couple of days had been great. AJ, Neal, and Billy had hung out almost continuously for those days. Towards the end of the meal, the woman, whom AJ had never quite learned her name, reappeared up at the podium.

"Well first I want to thank the Class of 1972 the best bunch of kids to ever rule Conrad T. Jones High School! Go Roadrunners!" The entire room erupted into some weird bird call sound in response to that. "This year was our largest turn-out since graduation. Let's just not go another 33 years before this many of us gets together again."

Later that night, the three were hanging out talking about nothing. "So how were you able to take so much time off of work?" Billy asked her out of the blue.

"I actually quit my job, because I going to be starting grad school in the fall."

"Really, where you going?"

"University of Minnesota." She said taking a drink of her Dr. Pepper. "Why were ya'll able to make it?"

"Off season," Neal replied.

"Starting a new job next week," Billy answered. "Actually not that far from the university."

"Really? That's cool; we should definitely keep in touch then." She commented. Before they went their separate ways they all exchanged phone numbers and E-Mail addresses.

AJ sat in front of her computer staring at a slip of paper in her hand. Should I? It wouldn't kill me right? What's the harm? Then before she could make a decision the distinctive voice came ringing out of her speakers "You've Got Mail." That caught her attention.

From: Hey

Hey there,

First of all I have to say, interesting E-Mail name. Knowing you there's a perfectly reasonable explanation right? Well I was just making sure you and the Magical Leprechaun Hat made it back okay.

Billy

AJ laughed out loud at this E-Mail. She quickly hit the reply button.

From: Re: Hey

Hi,

First of all, thank you for your concern about the Magical Leprechaun Hat, both the hat and I made it back safely in one piece. I give all credit to the hat, because as we know it does have magical powers. Secondly, yes the E-Mail address has a story behind it. If you've ever seen Empire Records (favorite movie of all time) you'd understand, but if you haven't you need to rent it. But there's a line in the movie that goes "Damn the Man, Save the Empire".

AJ

As the days progressed, they continued to E-Mail almost daily. They talked about everything and nothing. What was happening in their daily lives. A funny story that had happened that day. Then one day, as Billy sat down that evening to look for his ever present E-Mail from AJ a little window popped up on his screen.

DamnTheMan: Hey there

SlapShot81:Hi

DamnTheMan:How you doin?

SlapShot81:Not bad, busy with work. You?

DamnTheMan:Pretty good, busy packing and getting ready to move

SlapShot81:So you have an apartment or dorm?

DamnTheMan:Guess it's sorta a dorm. They have graduate housing that I'm going to be living in. It's basically a studio apartment on campus which is nice.

SlapShot81:Definitely

SlapShot81:So when do you move up here?

DamnTheMan:In 2 weeks. I can move in the last week of August, then classes start right after Labor Day.

SlapShot81: Cool, then we should have time to hang out before you get busy with classes.

DamnTheMan: Yeah, you'll be able to show me around town and stuff

SlapShot81: Let me know when, and I'll call in sick that day

SlapShot81: I'll pretend to be on my death bed or something 

DamnTheMan: Just don't blame me when you get fired okay?

SlapShot81: Agreed

DamnTheMan: Hey, gotta go Mom's yelling at me to help her. Talk to you later okay?

SlapShot81: Yeah, see you soon

DamnTheMan is no longer available:

Billy finished checking his E-Mail, then signed off his computer. Seeing AJ again should be pretty interesting he thought. It was never boring around her. He needed to come up with some things for them to do while he was showing her around town. Golfing was definitely out of the question he laughed to himself. He didn't think she'd trust him around a club anytime soon.

Two weeks later, AJ headed north on I-35 she had just crossed the state line into Minnesota when her cell phone started ringing. Keeping one hand on the wheel, and with the other hand fumbling through junk that had collected on the passenger seat until she could find the object in her search.

"Hello?"

"AJ?"

"Yeah,"

"Hey, it's Billy"

"HEY! How are you? Should you be working right now?"

She heard laughter on the other end, "Lunch time, I'm good. So where are you?"

"I just crossed the state line, so that means we're in the same state again."

"God help me…"

"Shut up before I hang up."

"You wouldn't dare..." he challenged.

AJ smirked to herself then flipped her phone shut, effectively ending the conversation. Billy just stared at his phone when he heard the dial tone. He couldn't believe she'd actually hung up on him. He dialed her number again and waited for her to pick up.

"I can't believe you actually hung up." He muttered.

"You said I wouldn't dare. Well I actually do need to go, cause I'm running on fumes here at the moment. So unless you want to come find me and help me push my car, I'll talk to you later."

It was after dinner when AJ finally reached the University of Minnesota campus; she pulled into the parking lot that faced the building where she was going to be checking in.

When she walked out there was a familiar guy leaning against the hood of her car.