Disclaimer: ... Song: Paramore "I caught myself" Adds & Reviews: Thanks a lot. I can't tell you how much it means to me. Beta-reader: rkolove, words? What's left to say? Actions! I'll start to build a monument for you. Maybe I'm done with it at the end of this story. Thank you so much!

"Hun, while you're at it, tell him about the party," Jay prompted.

"And I'm sure that you just want me to tell the part about you?"

"Which party?"

Randy, of course, had no idea which party we were talking about. Why would he? He wasn't there. I would have definitely remembered if I had seen him there. But I had never seen him with Adam before.

"We had a surprise welcome home party for Adam, the day he came home from rehab," Nat explained. "You were invited too, but you couldn't come. Remember?"

"Ah, yeah… I remember… Yeah, really, especially because a lot of people told me that I'd missed a pretty good party," he smiled. "So what happened?"

"We'll tell you later," Adam interrupted the story before it had even begun. "We made reservations for dinner, so we should probably leave now."

I sighed. "Don't you think it's a bit... ?" I looked pleadingly at Adam.

"No!"

I knew that resistance would be futile. I had no choice but to accept my fate.

"Go ahead!"

"Go? How funny! I'll laugh about it later, okay?" I sighed, as I was reluctant to turn around and let Adam cover my eyes with his hands.

Blind, and without crutches, I hobbled slowly in the direction where Adam guided me. With my arms stretched out I tried to discover the seemingly endless space in front of me. Even though it was an unfamiliar situation, I trusted Adam without any doubt. And to be honest, I liked what he was doing, even though I would never admit it to him. I giggled. What a pity that we weren't alone.

But what a luck that we weren't alone. Suddenly, I stumbled teetering on the verge of falling flat on my face. And what did Adam? His hands still covered my eyes, so I flailed with my arms desperate to grab onto something, someone... I grabbed an arm - an arm too smooth to be Jay's and too thick to be Nat's. I smiled gratefully in the direction where I guessed Randy would be.

"Adam," Randy muttered. "Be careful!"

"Y'alright?" Adam asked me. "We're almost there."

"Nothing happened. C'mon, I'm getting hungry here."

I was still holding onto Randy's arm even though I had the feeling he wanted to pull away. His arm felt tense. I could feel the coiled muscles, itching to spring into action and release themselves from my grip. Not being able to see, even for just a very short period of time, seemed to have an immediate effect on my senses. Or did I just imagine it?

"Thank you," I said quietly and his arm seemed to relax a little. "I take it you're helping me to achieve my apparent goal?"

He didn't answer but he let me hold his arm until Adam stopped.

"So, here we are. Ready, Brae?"

"Oh c'mon," I said with a mixture of excitement and impatience. "After all this effort you've put into organizing this, I wanna see!"

Adam let slowly removed his hands from my eyes and I let go of Randy's arm. Even though it had only been a few minutes, the sun blinded me that much that I couldn't see anything and covered my eyes again. I heard Caribbean music, and lots of laughter and chatter.

I knew where we were. There was just one place, one restaurant, that sounded like this. And I was amazed that Adam had rememberred it. I had mentioned it once when we had chatted about Miami and my upcoming time in rehab there, but he didn't know the restaurant and had never been there before. So how on earth did he know?

I almost jumped in glee as I finally saw that my assumption was right. "Thank you," I flinged my arms tight around his neck.

"You like it?"

"Like? I love it. It's the best place in the world. You'll see. C'mon!" I grabbed his hand and pulled him with me. And for a brief moment, it was just him and me.

I loved this Haitian restaurant, Tap Tap. The food was so good, so tasty. I don't think I had ever been in a better restaurant. I had been there countless times before and I'd always loved to go there again. The atmosphere was so relaxed. A nice place with excellent food. I could spend the whole evening there, with a man or friends. Somehow I had ended up with the best of both worlds. Or possibly the worst? More than I had wished for anyway.

Randy and I had barely spoken all day, but since we'd left Wet Willies, we ceased to speak at all. Every now and then we caught each other's eye, mostly with a questioning gaze. Luckily we had three friends with us who easily made up for our silence.

"We should throw a party for you too, hun," Jay seized the topic again.

I wasn't in the mood to talk about the party and Randy didn't look like he wanted to hear about it either.

"Please no surprise party because the last time the three of you surprised me, the end was a big surprise, in fact, it was the worst surprise ever," I said firmly, determined to convince Jay that I wasn't a huge fan of Canadian surprises anymore.

My bad sarcasm brought an ironic smirk to Jay and Nat's faces, Adam looked guilty and Randy, once again, had no idea what we were talking about. But it looked like he didn't care about it anymore. He only seemed to be half-listening. That obviously surprised Nat.

"Didn't Brae tell you how she got injured?"

That immediately caught his attention again. I could see that he was eager to know what had happened to me and how they were involved in it. But I wasn't sure if I wanted him to know.

I looked over to Adam. He was rocking his chair back and forth, obviously uncomfortable with the situation. I was sure that he didn't want Randy to know either but when our eyes met he gave me a small nod.

"You can tell him if you want."

I looked at the sign as we pulled up in front of a big arena: Ice Sports Forum Brandon Ice Skating Rink.

"What are we doing here?"

"I'd told you back at the hospital that we would take you ice-skating at least once."

What did I expect to do with three Canadians at an ice skating rink? I was on vacation and was now travelling through the country. I stopped in Tampa to meet my friends. And to have some fun. Looked like Canadians thought ice skating would be fun. I wasn't convinced.

"I have no skates."

"No excuse! You can hire some." It seemed like Adam couldn't wait to get me onto the ice.

I could skate on ice, no problem, but I hadn't done it for a while. Actually for years. I had preferred roller skating but it wasn't much different. Or so I thought. With shaky legs I made my way over to the ice. Walking on blades wasn't easy, especially when three Canadians, that looked like they were born in skates, were watching you the whole time.

I stopped at the boards, holding on so tightly, that my fingers turned white, as I watched Jay hop over the boards and onto the ice as if it was the most natural thing in the world. God, why me? And it didn't get better when I saw Nat gliding over the ice. I just stood there undecided and watched the throng.

"C'mon," Adam said holding out his hand for me.

I took it with a shy smile and stepped with him onto the ice. In under a minute, I was on my butt. With a little grin Adam lifted me up again and held my hand tight. When I struggled the next time he stopped in front of me. Unable to brake, I stumbled straight into him. We chuckled as I held on to him.

"Do you trust me?" he asked serious.

He still stood in front of me and held out both of his hands. I didn't even think about what he was doing; I just slipped my hands into his, placing my trust completely in him. He slowly began to move backwards, pulling me with him. I started to relax, my confidence gradually building. After a few laps Adam suddenly let go of me, but he kept on skating backwards in front of me. He was getting faster and I didn't want to lag behind.

Nat and Jay lapped us a few times. They were pretty fast on the way. They did a few laps together but then Jay tried to make Nat chase him down or whatever. Unfortunately for him, Nat had no interest in behaving like a kid, rushing around all over the place.

Jay was bored, too bored and that's how he ended up next to Adam and me.

"You're getting old. My granda skates better than you," Jay braked next to Adam and spattered ice over him.

I saw Adam's face. The annoyed expression said everything: he wanted nothing more than to show Jay who was the one who skated like a granda. But he didn't do anything other than to look at me.

"Go," I smiled. "I'll be okay on my own for a while."

Adam hesitated for a moment and watched me make my way around the rink for a bit, before he turned and chased after Jay. I had never seen two grown men behaving like 5-year-olds. Except for their height I saw no difference to the other kids.

"You learn quickly," Nat drew level with me, decreasing her speed dramatically.

"It depends on the teacher."

We skated a few laps together, chatting and laughing. I had to admit that it was quite fun and I was enjoying myself.

"When did you become such a loser?" Jay was braking in front of us as he shouted to Adam who was behind him.

Adam stopped a few feet away. "I'll show you what a loser looks like!"

He took a run up and sped towards Jay, the upper part of his body bent forward, aimed directly at Jay's torso. Too bad that Jay was standing in front of Nat and me. Jay ducked to the side as Nat darted out of the way too. Unfortunately, my usual sharp reactions hadn't made it onto the ice with me. I was stuck, staring at Adam, like a deer caught in the headlights, unable to move, waiting for the crash.

The next thing I remembered was the pain that I felt in my knee. The most intense and unbearable pain I had ever felt. And I immediately knew that something was wrong.

I paused and looked at Adam. I didn't want to tell the actual end of the story. I didn't want Randy to know. Nobody needed to know.

After Adam hit me I fell down to the ice. It was hard and cold. Adam had so much speed that I had slid over the ice until the boards stopped me. I covered my face with my hands as I laid motionless against the boards. Within seconds Adam, Nat and Jay were kneeing beside me.

"Brae," Adam said in shock as he moved my hands from my face.

Tears of pain and despair were running down my face. I was crying, sobbing. Not only because of the pain but I knew that I was hurt. When Adam lifted me up I burried my face at his chest where even more tears tried to wash pain and fear away.

As I came back from the memory, I looked over at Adam again. I knew that he didn't like to be reminded of how he had injured me. His shy, embarrassed and apologetic smile, full of shame and guilt, touched me somewhere deep inside of me, but obviously it didn't touch Randy.

He pressed his lips firmly together and you could see the little muscles around his nose, mouth and jaw twitching uncontrollably. His brows were pulled down and together. His brow was furrowed, a deep frown line appearing on his forehead. He breathed through his nose and his nostrils quivering with every breath. I could almost see the anger seeping out of him as he frowned at Adam, but his voice surprised me. Calm, quiet. It was unnerving. It looked like he had to force himself to stay quiet.

"You speared her?"

"No!" Adam was upset.

"Of course! And what a Spear," Nat explained to Randy. "Definitely not a very nice one!"

"How could it have been nice if it was meant to hit me?" Jay asked.

Randy looked at me. I just shrugged with my shoulders. Now I was the one who had no idea what they were talking about.

Adam didn't say anything. He looked like he was just waiting for it to be over.

"It was a stupid accident. It wasn't Adam's fault," I came to Adam's defence. "We've had this discussion a thousand times and I don't wanna have it for the thousand and first time!"

There was no question about who would go with who for the journey back. Randy immediately went to Jay's car.

Adam and I drove in silence. Not really in silence. I flicked through the radio channels to find something acceptable but we didn't speak for a few minutes.

"… you got it, you got it, some kind of magic, hypnotic, hypnotic, you're leaving me breathless, I hate this, I hate this…"

I looked at Adam. He was going to leave and leave me behind. And I had to admit that I hated this, just like the bad feeling in my stomach.

"It was such a beautiful day. Thank you," I tried to smile. "Are you going to visit me again?"

He smiled as he continued looking at the road. "You know I wouldn't want to do anything else," he sighed. "But we have so much work at the moment," he glanced at me. "I told you that we're going to Europe?"

"Eh, yes. Sorry, I forgot. Such a pity you can't take me with you."

"Can't think of a better travel guide. But you'll be home in Germany after rehab."

"But then you'll be back in the US. I'd like to show you my favourite places in Germany some time."

"And I can't wait to see your favourite German places with you," he smiled his breathtaking smile before he drove into the parking lot of the rehab centre.

"I'll see you very soon!" Adam whispered into my ear as he hugged me for his goodbye. "Promise. And I'll call you tomorrow, and I can Skype from Europe too."

Why did Adam have to hug me like that? Lord, why did I have to wear my over-sized shirt that barely coverred my shoulders? Why did his hands touch my skin? Jeez... His hands. I was always making fun of them, teasing him with telling him that he had hands like a girl, just bigger. But secretly I loved his hands, his fingers, long, slight and somehow slender, for a guy. Strong and yet strangely gentle. I couldn't get enough of his soft touch, but why the hell did he have to follow the line of my shoulder blade with his fingers? Why did he have to make me shiver in his arms once again?

I watched them all say their goodbyes, getting ready for the drive home. I didn't want them to leave. I didn't want him to leave. I wanted him to take me with him. I just wanted to capture this moment. His voice. His touch. His scent. I inhaled for the last time before I finally let go of him.

Randy and I stood together in front of the centre, waving and watching our friends drove away. When they were out of sight Randy and I looked at each other. I felt so uncomfortable. I didn't know how to handle this. Maybe we should have talked about the day's events but I couldn't get my thoughts together. I needed some time and ever since Wet Willies he looked like he needed more than time. I wanted to know what was wrong. I wanted to know what happened. But maybe we would get the chance to talk in the next days. So we simply walked in silence back into the centre.

"Braeden," he began, his voice hinting that he wanted to tell me something.

I didn't feel ready for this but if he wanted to talk right now we should do this. I looked patiently at him, waiting for him to tell me what he was thinking.

He just forced a smile. I knew that he wouldn't tell me what was on his mind. "Have a good night," he simply said before he turned around and left.

I watched him leaving me too. Great. Why did all guys leave me? Guys! I couldn't stop thinking about the whole day and how two guys were driving me crazy, each of them in his own special way. What happened to Randy and why was Adam so strange? Guys! I really had enough of them. I had more important things to care about than guys. I was in the rehab centre for my recovery. Maybe, no, doubtless, Nat was right. I should focus on my recovery, and everything else could wait till after rehab, especially guys.