They had all settled themselves into a booth and while the two couples occupied the bench seats the two single men sat on spare chairs placed at the end of the table. Having previously made their way through servings of burgers and fries(courtesy of Scout and Bella) they were now just finishing up their desert which consisted of several ice cream sundaes. The others fed themselves as Sean and Jake, sitting across from one another, engaged in a full fledged debate.

''And I'm saying,'' Jake said firmly, ''that 'Weird Science' can't be considered a Brat Pack film even though it was a John Hughes movie.''

''You're totally wrong, but okay.'' Sean shrugged and pushed his bowl of ice cream away with a self-satisfied grin.

''Wasn't 'Stand By Me' by John Hughes?'' Scout asked.

''No, it was based on a short story by Stephen King,'' Will said helpfully.

''What about 'The Breakfast Club'?'' asked Hamilton.

''Now that was John Hughes,'' Will confirmed. ''It is without a doubt the holy grail of teen angst. Every lame teen drama, book or movie borrows something of it. It is that engrained into pop culture.''

''Dude,'' said Sean, ''I so wanted to be Judd Nelson's Bender. Plus I always used to tell Will he reminded me of the nerdy Anthony Michael Hall character.''

''Hey,'' Will said, wounded by the comparison.

''The nerd was so cute,'' Jake said bashfully.

''Neo maxi zoom dweebie,'' remarked Scout.

''What?'' Hamilton asked out of confusion.

A tickled Bella declared, ''I can see Hamilton as Emilio Estevez' boy who can't think for himself, and Jake is so the Ally Sheedy character.''

''Oh god,'' hummed Hamilton, ''Ally Sheedy was so hot in that movie.''

''Bel, if I'm Ally Sheedy that just makes you Molly Ringwald so I don't know why you're laughing,'' said Jake.

''Molly Rindwald my ass,'' the other woman said playfully.

''Yeah, yeah, yeah,'' Sean shushed everyone. ''We've established that in the weird Breakfast Club parallel universe I'm the hothead, Bella's the popular girl, Jake's so obviously the freaky girl, Ham's the not-so-bright boy, and Will's the nerd. That cancels out all of the kids. So who are you, Scout?''

''Obviously, I'm the bad ass school principal in charge of all you little punks,'' Scout scoffed with mock bravado. '' 'You kids mess with the bull, you get the horns'.''

Cold fries flew at his face and into his lap as a result of his comment, but Scout merely brushed them off with nonchalance. ''I'm disappointed in you children. Really, I am,'' he huffed.

Everyone's mirth waned after a few moments and Hamilton noted the empty plates and bowls on the table with a hint of disappointment. ''Well...I guess everyone's done here, huh?''

''Not yet!'' Will exclaimed. He jumped up and began clearing their table of dishes and slowly began to walk backwards, toward the counter. ''Don't anyone leave yet. Give me five minutes. I'll be back.''

The others raised their eyebrows, but shrugged off their friend, who returned shortly carrying a tray displaying six cold glasses of Coke. ''I thought we should have a little farewell drink and since Friendly's doesn't serve alcohol, this'll have to make do,'' explained Will.

Jake groaned, ''Dude, can you be anymore lame?''

''Quite possibly yes. My lameness knows no bounds,'' said Will, seating himself and carefully placing a drink in front of each of them on the newly cleaned tabletop. ''Just take one and hear me out, okay.''

Jake peered down into her soda. ''I haven't had a Coke in ages.''

''Yeah,'' said Hamilton. ''Jake and I run at least three times a week, and water is much more efficient at keeping your body hydrated.''

Scout concurred and added, ''I once read an article that explained what acidic drinks really do to your teeth. It had pictures and everything. After that I never touched them.''

''Bella got me off of soft drinks,'' Sean said. ''She's on this whole kick about trying to set a healthy example for Matthew.''

''I can't count how many times I came in here and ordered a Coke back in the day,'' Bella piped up. ''I loved 'em, but do you have any idea what this stuff is made of?''

Will stared slack-jawed at his companions. ''Let me get this straight here. You're all seriously telling me that you're too old to drink a glass of Coke?''

The group scoffed, insisting it had nothing to do with age as they talked over each other. Once again they went about stating their reasons for abstaining from the refreshing yet sugary beverage.

''Well, you can all go back to being adults tomorrow morning,'' Will hollered over them. ''But for now, humor me and drink your sodas, please. I want to make a little toast.''

The others moaned collectively at the thought of being subjected to one of Will's miserable speeches.

''This is important, guys.'' He waved a hand, shushing them as he continued, ''Because there are times in your life where you feel everything, every detail, every moment so crisply, so clearly. You don't realize it then, but one day you'll look back and see that it was your finest season. Now maybe each of you have your own special winter, or spring that you recall with affection. For me, though, the one I go back to the most is my first summer at Rawley. You were all there. You were all a part of that time in some way. I guess that's why it means so much to me that you all showed up this weekend.''

''I came up here with certain expectations. I needed to hear that I was on the right track, that my book was amazing and that any day now some publishing company was going to come knock on my door and I'd magically turn into some superstar literary writer. I didn't exactly get the feedback I was hoping for but I set myself up for that though and that's all on me. See, Finn used to tell people to exceed their expectations and for a long time I made that my motto. But now I'm starting to think that we shouldn't spend our lives thinking about who we should have, what we should have and when we should have it. Maybe we shouldn't set out to just exceed our expectations, maybe we should let go of them entirely.''

Will and his dramatic rolls were always tiring, but the others remained quiet, letting him indulge in one, final moment of nostalgia.

''Because maybe the minute you let go, you find what it is you were looking for all along. And I don't know about you guys but I'm more scared at twenty-five than I ever was at fifteen. But it's that good scared. The kind that reminds you that you're alive. The kind that reminds you that what you're capable of, what we're all capable of, is anything. So tonight we're all going back to the real world, but right now I just want to drink to,'' Will paused briefly, searching for just the right word, ''...our last night.''

Will raised his glass slightly, silently instructing the others to do the same. And they did, after several annoyed sighs and eye rolls. They let him have his moment, clinking their glasses together, against his own.

''How long have you been waiting to make that speech?'' Sean asked slyly.

''Three hours,'' Will answered sheepishly.

''That said I'm kinda glad that I got kicked out of Rawley when I did,'' Jake said smugly. ''I don't think I could've dealt with three years of Will's random touchy-feely speeches.''

They carried on for awhile there, laughing over nothing and everything. One after the other they recalled moments, stories, bits of the particular they remembered from the past. They retold them with amusement at how every fifteen year old at some point looks at the world believing themselves to be the only one under the sun to have ever been enthused by infatuation or crushed by heartache, the only one to feel the burn of jealousy or frustrated with the hand life had provided them. Their past was unremarkable in that it was the story of every teenager, regardless of setting and time, and yet that itself was what made it remarkable. That somewhere out there, there was another cluster of people, meeting each other, falling for each other, butting heads with each other and simply trying to make sense of one another.

It was there at the table that they realized that the magic of youth had faded. Adulthood, with it's own strangeness and discoveries, was waiting for each of them as Sunday drew to a close, as Monday became near. Eventually after a few more tales they put a halt to it all and cleared up. Once finished the group filtered out of the diner and back onto main street. They stood about in small clusters, chattering to one another as they prepared themselves for the inevitable procession of goodbyes.

''I hate to be the first one to say it, but we better go,'' Jake announced to the group with a sigh and looked to Hamilton, who dipped his head in agreement.

''Yeah,'' Hamilton added, ''Jake and I have some stuff we need to get to back home otherwise we'd hang out for a little while longer.''

The others nodded in understanding, and as Bella pulled Jake into a hug Hamilton took turns saying goodbye to the men, bumping fists and mumbling 'laters'. Finally after a few moments, a few more exchanges between the men and Jake, they began walking backwards across the street, giving the group one last wave and smile before turning completely and making their way to the gas station where the motorcycle sat off to the side.

''Come on, princess, let's go home,'' Jake said, bumping into his shoulder.

''Wait a second, so I'm 'princess' again?'' he asked as they reached the sidewalk.

''I thought you didn't like queen.''

''I don't, but like you said, it's a higher ranking. You can't just strip me of my new title without warning.''

''Princess is cranky now, I see. I'll have to put you down for a nap when we get home,'' she said once they arrived at the vehicle.

He laughed, relishing the sight of her smile. He himself had been raised in a more structured, traditional household, and as a younger man he had often been put off by her fierce independence and left to struggle with the relationship and his place in it. Then again, he thought of his parents off somewhere in the middle of some therapy session, still trying to figure out how to function together. If structured and traditional hadn't guaranteed his own parents the perfect relationship then it wasn't likely to guarantee him one either. It was niave to believe that life and love were simple, neat, tidy, perfect, but that wasn't life, and that certainly wasn't Jake.

Nothing about this girl would ever be easy, and he realized how silly he had been to return to New Rawley thinking otherwise. He'd always known this and yet it was something he needed to be constantly reminded of; she was different. In a way he didn't mind the reminding, the push/pull of their relationship. Neither did he mind the occasional squabbles. In fact he actually thought them to be useful. The fact that she cared enough about what they had to even bother with a fight always warmed him because it meant she still cared. It meant that she still felt for him what he felt for her.

He had came to the conclusion that Will was right, patience and passion went hand in hand. And at the end of the day she was still going home with him. That alone was enough for him. She, alone, would always be enough for him.

''So,'' he started. ''I know you think I've been stalling today, and maybe to some degree I have been. I've just been trying to figure something out for myself and I have now. And when we get back home I don't want it to be about you owing me anything or me owing you anything so I'm thinking I should get this out of the way right now. 'Kay?''

''This as in...?''

''You, me, the ring. I don't expect you to have figured out where you stand in a day, but I've figured out where I am on it now.''

Her expression dimmed as if she were preparing to hear some ultimatum of sorts. ''Shoot,'' she said, sitting sideways on the seat of her bike as he stood before her.

''If your answer is 'no', Jake, if 'no' is what I have to live with for the rest of my life...I can deal. I mean, I'd be disappointed because it's something I want with you, but I'd find a way to be okay with it. I'd have to be because more than any of my expectations, more than any ceremony, more than anything, what I want, all I want, is you. You. In whatever way you'll give yourself to me.''

''Really?'' she asked, looking relieved, stunned.

''Really. And anyway, if I couldn't accept you saying 'no', then I'm really not worthy enough to say 'yes' to. I don't want to be that guy. I'm not that guy.''

She exhaled, pleased to hear his words. "In that case, I need to-''

''I don't need an answer anymore,'' he explained sincerely. ''Because I know what it is and I told you, I'm okay with no. I'm not saying that because of the shower or to rack up brownie points. I'm saying that because by the end of this,'' he gestured to their surroundings, the pavement, the sidewalk, the station, Rawley, ''we're going home together and if that's all this weekend amounts to...well, that's not exactly the most horrible thing in the world. I see that now.''

''And I'm totally glad you see it, too,'' she jumped in, ''but I pretty much blanked out during Will's speech and I did some thinking of my own.''

''Oh?''

''Yeah, see... this whole weekend, the reason I reacted the way I did was because we're not everyone else. We'll never be everyone else. That's why I love what we have. I'll never promise you that every day with me will be perfect or whimsical, and I certainly can't ever promise to never have another freak out again, but what I can be sure of is every morning when you turn over I'll be on the other side of our bed. That's all I know. I don't need you to be my boyfriend or fiancé or husband. Because you're so much more than a word, Hamilton. You've always been more. And at the end of the day what do they even mean? Right?''

''Right.'' He bit the inside of his bottom lip and nodded down at the pavement, preparing himself for disappointment. While he had come to terms with 'no', he really wasn't at all eager to hear it from her lips. He had hoped to cut her off before she went there, to spare himself the embarrassment, but here she was drawing out the process and for the life of him he couldn't figure out why.

''But then, then I look at you,'' she continued, all the while shaking her head, ''I look at you looking at me and all that goes out of the window and I start to think...that ring, it can mean anything we want it to mean.''

He squinted, unsure. ''You know, Jake, it's been a long weekend. You're gonna have to spell this out for me.''

''I could stay absolutely still with you for the rest of my life and be happy. If nothing ever changed, our life would still be pretty amazing but, well...I guess what I'm trying to say is where's the adventure in that. I'm saying why not redefine the terms of this stuffy institution? Why not jump in and break with tradition? I'm saying... Will you marry me?''

Suddenly he understood how such a question could render one speechless and how dazed she must've felt when blindsided by it the previous day. Throughout the weekend she had somehow turned a simple straight forward question into some overly complicated situation that scared and frustrated the daylights out of him. And what did she turn around and do after? The complete unexpected.

He took a few steps away from her because he was pretty sure he might start coughing up his burger. Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of the others still standing about on the sidewalk on the other side of the street in front of the diner, watching, mouths agape. When they realized they were spotted they quickly looked away and tried to busy themselves skidding sneakers against the pavement and whistling to the sky above their head, trying to play clueless in the most obvious of ways, like they were cartoon characters.

''Wait...wait...'' Hamilton nervously said, trying to wrap his head around what was happening as he looked back to Jake. ''Back up like five-hundred feet. What did you just ask me?''

She shrugged. ''I asked you the question that I didn't really give you the chance to ask me. Maybe this isn't how you pictured it, but you said you didn't want to hear my answer just yet so...I'm asking you for yours. We've never fit inside the box so why should this moment be any different?''

''You don't make any kind of sense.''

''When have I ever?''

''You are the most complicated, contradictory person I have ever met,'' he exclaimed and waved a hand at his side, still in disbelief. ''So, what, all of this back and forth, running around, freaking out, all of that has come to this?''

She winced, as if trying to gauge his reaction. ''Yeah.''

''And after all that about needing time to process, I finally get to the point where I'm all about giving you time and just being okay with 'no' you go and do this. Why couldn't you have just said 'yes' and not freaked out to begin with?''

''I don't know. Remember, freaking is kinda my thing.''

He stepped over towards her and the bike, placing his face inches from hers. So tempted to kiss her, shake her and run from her all at once. ''You are just so...God, I don't even know what you are.''

''I'm just me, Hamilton.''

And with that he moved in and kissed her as fiercely as he could; so far beyond caring about tradition or conventionality, about the setting and atmosphere because his other half was asking him to spend the rest of his days with her. She was asking him.

Since purchasing the band he had tried to imagine the perfect setting, the perfect moment in which everything fell into place. He'd gone through countless elaborate scenarios in his mind, but in the grand scheme of things all he really cared about was her answer, her bond, her hand in his. It didn't really matter how they had gotten here, just that they were here. At this point. And she wouldn't have brought them to this point if it wasn't something she actually came to want for herself. That meant more to him than any conventional thing ever could.

''So what was that?'' she asked when, after what felt like ages, he withdrew.

''Well, that wasn't a no and it wasn't a yes,'' he said cryptically as he looked to the sky. ''I need time to think about it. I don't know about you, but I've been proposed to twice this weekend.''

''Wait, what?''

''Yeah, I don't know how to break this to you, but Calhoun offered me his hand in marriage yesterday.''

''I hope you're joking,'' she said, eyes widening in amusement.

''In an odd way, I'm not.''

''Well, in that case I have to kick his ass,'' she said sarcastically. ''I knew I saw him looking at you longingly that first night in the tent. I can't just allow him to step in on my boy like that. Rude is what it is,'' she concluded with faux seriousness. ''Now I understand how Sean must've felt back in the day when Scout had his sights on Bella.''

''You, Scout. This princess,'' he pointed to his smile, ''has options, Jake, and I feel like I should consider them both cautiously and-''

''Okay, I get it. You're giving me a taste of my own medicine. But I'll tell you what,'' she began to barter and placed her arms atop his shoulders, ''if you give me an answer, any answer, right now I promise to let you drive home.''

He ran a thumb across her cheek and then over her lips. As if his answer could be anything else. ''Jake, you know what my answer is. Of course I'll marry you. I mean, I'll live in sin with you, I'll ride bitchpad for you, I'll jump off a cliff with you. As long as it's with you...I'm ready for whatever happens. That's my answer.''

''Wow,'' she said, looking slightly alarmed, but pleased nevertheless. ''Like...wow.''

He grinned like a fool and was thrilled to see her grinning right back at him. This was all he could've ever asked for and as easy as it would be to stand there in amazement for another hour, another day, he suddenly became preoccupied with a thought.

''And now that that's dealt with, can we please, please go home now?'' he asked eagerly, leaning in to brush his nose against hers.

''You just want to get back on the road because you'll be riding front.''

''Well, yeah, but I also want to hurry home because,'' he paused, blushing and turning urgent. ''Well, to put it bluntly, I really, really like you, what are you doing this weekend and I need to know where this relationship is going like now-now.''

She raised an eyebrow at his coded remark. ''Ditto.''

He laid a few more brief playful kisses on her before gently pulling her hips forward and off the bike seat only to turn and place himself onto it.

''Come on,'' he patted the rear seat, gesturing for her to hop on.

She groaned playfully, ''You're really holding me to this? Even after I got up the nerve to man-up and ask you?''

''Hey, deal's a deal,'' he said slyly.

''Alright. Fine,'' she said with a sigh as she situated herself behind him. ''Let's go. Before you change your mind and leave me to run off and live happily ever after with Scout.''

''Don't tempt me,'' he teased.

---

Several yards away, across the street the others silently watched the dark haired couple drive off, back to their own strange little world.

''What was that?'' asked Will, who seemed to be the only one out of the loop.

Sean and Scout shrugged wordlessly leaving Bella to speak up, ''That was Lady and The Tramp living happily ever after.''

They didn't spend much time discussing the others. Instead they began saying their own goodbyes and as Sean and Will started their exchange, Bella embraced Scout, pulling him into a hug. This time there was no space, no hesitation.

He couldn't remember the last time he had held her in his arms, properly, that is. But as painful as it had been, as hollow as it had once left him, he didn't regret a single moment of their past. By having faced it he had also somehow released himself from it. He wondered, had he found his resolve, his relief, his peace with what would never during these last few days or had his heart been slowly and quietly repairing itself without his knowledge during the past several years. Either way he wasn't sure that it mattered anymore.

''Listen,'' he said softly, making sure the other men didn't hear, ''I'm sure you have Sean and Will and all the rest, but... if you ever need anyone to just talk to, if you ever need help with figuring out...''

''I know,'' she said, fully aware of what he was trying to get at, at what he was trying to offer her, a shoulder, a hand. ''Maybe some day.''

With a nod he left the matter at that, not wanting to cross a line. ''Other than that, though, if you ever want any advice on the garage, feel free to get ahold of me through Will. FYI - I'm still owed a free squeegee job.''

''One of these days you might want to think about swinging into town and cashing in on it.''

''Until then, I guess...'' he made a small gesture with his hand, flicking his wrist, not quite a wave.

''I'll see ya when I see ya.''

With a single nod and smile he replied, ''when I see you.''

They moved away from each other, stepping back to find Will and Sean, who had already finished their own little farewell. The blond couple gave the two single men one last wave before walking across the street, several yards over to the gas station where Charlie emerged with young Matthew in his arms. Bella quickly took the tot from him, eagerly placing a kiss to his cheek. She bounced him up and down a few times until she finally let him settle into her embrace as Sean watched on at her side. Her life, Scout saw, was so much more than just content. And more than anything, he believed his could be too.

''I take it someone got you back into the loop?'' Will asked there from the sidewalk.

''Yeah,'' Scout answered.

''And you're okay with that?''

Scout, still staring at the scene across the street from them, didn't answer, which prompted Will to leap into speech with, ''Like I said, there's a reason I didn't tell you about it and-''

''Hey,'' a completely unbothered Scout halted him with a wave of his hand, ''no worry. Remember what I said Friday? That hearing that she's moved on and seeing that she's moved on are two different things.''

''Yeah.''

''Well, they are. They're two very different things. Obviously hearing that she had moved on hadn't done me any good... seeing that she's moved on, though, is something I needed to do. Now I've done it. I'm okay with what I found. What about yourself?''

''What about myself?''

''Well, like you said, you came here with a set of expectations. You were expecting this grand, epic show of support for your book, but-''

''-but that isn't how life works,'' Will interjected,'' and that's okay. Maybe success will come when I stop being so desperate for it.''

With that Will led him away from the curb and over to his vehicle. Soon Scout was settled in behind the steering wheel while the other man buckled up in the passenger's seat.

''Also,'' Scout began sheepishly, ''I know I made a big stink and gave you a lot of grief early on about being dragged out here this weekend, but...thanks. I needed a little break from my life.''

''Maybe we all did,'' Will said reflectively. ''Life is more like a novel than you think. Before a certain story concludes, you have to run into some characters again and wrap up some loose ends. You know?''

''That I do.''

Scout started the car and within a few minutes he was driving them both down main street. He watched the town slowly fade in his rearview mirror and then returned his gaze to the road before him, at the life ahead. And all he saw was possibility.