"So should we go join everybody else?" Julie finally asked, her head still resting against Adam's shoulder.

The vending machine hummed behind them; the empty dormitory still a world unto itself. It was the hide-and-go-seek of childhood, just scaled up for the adult universe.

She didn't want to leave. She didn't want to have to pry herself from Adam's embrace.

"Nah. Never."

"You just want to sit here in the dark forever, eating candy?"

"I can think of worse things."

"What if everybody starts to worry about us?" She reminded him, giving his thigh another squeeze as they sat there in the shadows of snack dispensers.

"We can wait until they start like, making true-crime shows about our disappearance, and putting up billboards to offer a reward and stuff. And then we can turn ourselves in, and collect the money. We'll get rich, and we'll have gotten to eat all of the candy."

"Is that your solution to all of life's problems?"

Adam shrugged.

"Hiding out with a bunch of candy and pretending to be a missing person?"

"Yeah."

"It is now that I realize what a good solution it would be."

"Dork."

"I mean, they've got all of the essential food groups covered here." He reminded Julie with mischievous smile. "Fruity candy. Sour candy. Chewy candy. Chocolate candy. Gum."

"Yeah, but they don't have any cake..."

He nodded thoughtfully.

"Okay, you're raising a valid concern there..."

"There is no cake here." She reminded him, laughing. "No gin. No champagne. We're lacking some of your real life-essentials."

"Fine. Fine. We'll come up with a better plan. But can we at least continue to be missing persons?"

"And why exactly are we wanting to do that?"

"I mean, for one thing, next weekend is the Hawk sleepover." Adam chuckled, shifting his weight to try to take some of the pressure off of his aching back. "Tucker is bad enough by himself, and Hawk sleepovers are like, eighteen of him."

"Yikes. You're hosting?"

"It's Tucker." He shook his head. "Even on a team full of assholes, the kid's an asshole. I think he's gotten himself banned from all of the other houses."

Still resting her head against his shoulder, Julie's mind drifted back to all of those discussions about Adam's own days as a Hawk; the stories mostly picked up in bits and pieces from Connie and Charlie in moments of exasperation. It was clear that for all of his good qualities, he was not going to be earning high praises from any former middle school teachers.

"So in other words, he's following in the family tradition?"

"Hey now!"

"I'm just saying I don't recall any stories of winning like, the Good Citizenship award or anything." She giggled, her hand still resting on his thigh as she nuzzled her face into his neck.

I really don't want to have to get up from this.

"Okay, you have a point there." He conceded, holding her as close as he could. Close enough to smell her shampoo. Close enough to feel her breath. Close enough to imagine that the last eighteen years had all been some kind of mistake. "I was definitely smarter about my shit, but I don't know if that was really a good thing or bad thing. With Tucker, nothing is going to fly under the radar, because he's going to act like Tucker. But that also means I'm stuck dealing with dealing with him acting like Tucker."

"That is a tough one." She smiled, giving his thigh another squeeze.

"It really is. I have no idea how people raise normal kids who are actually allowed in places."

"Yeah, I no longer wonder why my parents had a leash for Shawn."

Adam chuckled, thinking back to the sixth grader who'd decided to go for a swim in the mall fountain a day earlier.

"See, Will is the one who needs a leash. But that doesn't help me, because just as how Tucker always has to be as obnoxious as humanly possible, Will can't pass up an opportunity to be weird. So if I tried putting him on a leash, he'd probably start wearing a dog costume every day and barking at people."

"Nice"

"I swear. The kid is either going to end up in the NHL or a sheltered workshop. There is no in-between."

Julie laughed, her hand never leaving his thigh as they lingered in the glow of the Pepsi machine.

"What about Ben Goldfarb?"

Adam wracked his brain for a moment before recalling Ben Goldfarb, a kid from their graduating class who had moved to Brooklyn in hopes of becoming a "conceptual artist"-a career choice that reached it's zenith when he was paid $2,000 to paint himself silver and wiggle on the floor all evening at a studio in Williamsburg.

I guess it worked out better than anything I've done since high school...

"Okay, yeah, that feels like a legitimate possibility." Adam agreed. "I should probably reach out to ol' Ben and see what the market is like for silver people right now."

Julie shook her head.

"He hasn't gone by 'Ben' in forever. He had been G-Unit, but then he changed his name to Celestial Treadmill Shirtdress a couple of years ago. So I guess he goes by Mr. Shirtdress now."

"I can see why the Goldfarbs don't talk about him more often..."

"Yeah, poor Mr. Goldfarb. So happy when Ben got into Penn. So not ready for what would come next."

"Who doesn't dream of a silver son?"

"So close to the idea of the golden child, yet so, so far."

June, 2002

"I'm not ready to go back to New Hampshire. I think I just want to like, stay here. Forever."

Adam and Julie both sprawled across the couch, Julie resting on top of him as Laura slept in the next room.

.

Three stories below, taxis honked their horns as drunken bar patrons stepped out into the street, and couples continued their nightly shouting matches; arguments about dinner tabs and wandering eyes filling the summer air.

This was nice.

It really was.

The magic hadn't disappeared; it had only grown stronger. This was where she was meant to be. Right here. Amidst the Ikea throw pillows and laminate parquet, curled up with a boy who smelled like Acqua Di Gio and soap. This world was the very best one, and she wasn't ready to leave.

"You want to spend the summer hanging out in the world's shittiest apartment?"

"It's not shitty. It's...nice. All of this is nice."

"Well, it's certainly nice having my best friend back." Adam smiled, brushing a strand of hair from Julie's face. "I'd been in New York like, four days, and I was already starting to miss Minnesota."

Julie nuzzled into his chest, the sound of his heart beating against her ear.

He was Minnesota; warm fireplaces and fluffy down blankets. Baked macaroni and cheese, and skating out on the lake.

"This really is your first time being away from Minnesota, isn't it?"

"It is. I mean, I went to Canada for hockey camp as a kid. And I was in Rochester for awhile after I got hurt, but that was like, an hour away. And obviously still in Minnesota. So yeah."

"I'm proud of you." She reminded him, still burrowed against him, his arm around her waist.

"Well thanks. But there's nothing to be proud of yet."

"There's so much to be proud of. You...you're incredible."

"Edible egg?"

Julie shook her head, her nose brushing against his sweatshirt. He really had become a better cuddle partner than ever; every inch of her being melting into his softer body.

"I think you've gotten weirder with every year I've known you."

"Just think how weird I'll be when we're like, 100."

"I'll be going around the nursing home telling everybody that I don't know you."

"Yeah, but then I'll offer to share my Jell-O with you, and you'll be okay with knowing me then."

She glanced up at him, her brows raised with curiosity.

"Depends on the kind of Jell-O."

"I'll get strawberry. Just for you. Even though I still say that green Jell-O is better."

"Okay, that just confirms that you've always been a weirdo."

"But it's so much prettier..."

"I don't think Jell-O is pretty."

"Green Jell-O is." Adam chuckled, still holding her close as the sounds of the city continued to play out below, the lights in the distance coming in through the window.

"Yeah. Maybe...leave that aesthetic preference to yourself until you really get to know people?"

"Darn. Guess I better work on a new resume tomorrow."

"Loser."

"I think you need to become a silver person."

Adam and Julie were walking back towards the arena, a flock of ducks flying overhead.

"Oh, totally." Adam agreed, fumbling with the lighter in his pocket. "I'd been trying to figure out what to do with my life, and if that's not the perfect answer, I don't know what is."

"I wonder what kind of paint they use..."

He shrugged, glancing out over the endless expanse of campus. At the canopy of trees above, and the brick walkway ahead, etched with the names of students' past. At the endless acres of manicured perfection that surrounded them; Edina's WASP paradise at its finest.

"Heh, talk about places that never change." He thought, a breeze blowing through the oak trees.

"I'm just hoping I get to wear clothes for this." He pointed out, gripping his cane as they approached an uneven section of ground. "Because I'm thinking Ben was naked, but like, Ben was 24 and on meth. I do not have the sculpted body of a 24 year old meth addict.

"Also, I'd like to add that to the list of 'phrases I never thought I'd have to say'."

"Some of those meth addicts do look pretty good." Julie agreed, slowing down as she realized he was struggling to keep up. "Like, not the meth-y meth-y ones, but the ones like Celestial Shirtdress."

"I'm loving that you're using his chosen name."

"I mean, we all have the right to be who we feel inside." She laughed. "He just...took a really interesting approach to that."

"I wonder if his parents call him Celestial Shirtdress now..."

"From what I remember of Mr. and Mrs. Goldfarb?" She shook her head, reaching over to pick a stray hair from his fleece. "I'm thinking that if they were the kinds of people who were really open to such things, he probably wouldn't be doing meth and changing his name to Celestial Treadmill Shirtdress."

"Please remind me of this next time I yell at the boys for acting like weirdos."

"Will do."

June, 2002

"That sounds nice."

"It should be."

"So what are you planning to do back in New Hampshire with the rest of your summer?" Laura asked; the fuchsia and chartreuse of her shift dress standing out against a sea of black-clad Manhattanites.

.

With a few hours until Julie needed to head back, Adam had decided that a trip to the 21 Club was in order.

.

Seated across the table from the two of them, Julie couldn't help but find herself taken back to the visions of that first photograph Adam emailed her; he and Laura in their matching pink Lacoste polos, drinking cheap beer in front of the Sigma Chi house.

Having once again coordinated-Laura in a Lilly Pulitzer print that featured giraffes drinking martinis, and Adam in a navy blazer and pink and green striped bowtie, it was hard not to think back to those original fears. The fears that suburbia would one day swallow anything interesting Adam had to offer the world; he and Laura forever sitting in a Volvo, discussing how scary all of those people in the city look as they headed to the car dealership for an oil change. It was hard not to think that that world was closing in on them quickly, the two of them somehow hurtling one another in that direction. The two of them somehow both dragging the other towards a taupe abyss in a way that neither of them could quite seem to control.

.

"Nothing too exciting. Are you looking forward to taking advantage of the city all summer?"

Laura nodded, the pearls around her neck contrasting against her tanned skin.

"I am. I think we're going to take the train to Greenwich next weekend, if we have time. They have the nicest shopping there."

"Yeah." Adam agreed, reaching for his drink as Laura began to cut his steak into bite sized pieces. "I think I might need a couple of new ties."

"Plus, we can check out the architecture. You'll love all of the colonials."

"That does sound nice."

"There are so many colonials." She smiled, putting the fork and knife down once she finished cutting the sirloin. "It's great. I think you'll really like it."

"Okay, perfect. Because I miss colonials. And trees."

"I'm happy to report that they also have lots of trees in Connecticut."

"Sweet." Adam chuckled, reaching for a bite of steak. "Seriously. Trees are good. Pretty excited about all of that."

Laura shook her head.

"I think you get more excited about those things than any person I know..."

"Well, come on." He smiled, his blue eyes sparkling in the candle light. "I was a tree in the kindergarten class play. I'm just getting back to my roots here."

"Okay, that was a good one. Also, I feel like you would have been really good at that."

"A good tree?"

"Yeah."

"Not really." Adam shook his head, fumbling with his fork for a second as he tried to scoop up a bite of potatoes. "Mrs. Hudson made the mistake of making Jordan Ser a tree, too, and we had these branches that were like, really good for hitting one another with. So, we started off trying to be good trees, but then I got bored and hit him in the head with my branch harder than I meant to, and then before long we were chasing one another off the stage and out the door. And then, ironically, I got so caught up in yelling at him that I forgot to watch where I was going, and I ran into a tree."

"Okay, remind me that when the time comes, we're going to have to adopt."

"You don't want to have a tree who cuts his head open running into a tree?"

"Exactly."

"Heh, yeah, come to think of it, that is around the time my mom finally gave up."

Laura shook her head.

"Good ol' Bunny..."

"I know, right? Between Scott, Susan, and I, she was really living the dream."

"Meh, I can think of worse things than dealing with you." She smiled, reaching for her drink.

"So...dealing with Scott?"

"Well, he's definitely his own person..." She agreed, her glass of gin and tonic sweating in the summer afternoon as Julie sat across, taking note of the time.

Two more hours until I have to go back.

"Indeed he is."

Charlie shook his head; his mind at a loss for how it could be so difficult to keep a bunch of adults wrangled into one place.

For the last half hour, he'd been searching for Adam and Julie, his texts all going ignored as they basked in their shared nostalgia. Seven texts, four phone calls, and two attempts at Facebook messenger had all been in vain; phones no longer quite so important now that the two high school lovebirds had one another. Even Connie's attempts at getting in touch had failed.

Now, however, they were back at the arena.

Captain Duck could finally account for the whole flock.

"Ah, so here are our two escapees!"

Julie smiled apologetically.

"We were just exploring campus. Seeing what's changed."

"They re-did the flower bed by the central courtyard awhile back. And they repainted the door to the library."

"That's all they've done in the last few years?" Julie laughed, her hand still millimeters from Adam's as they stood side by side.

"No. That's all they've done since we graduated. They repainted the door in '03."

Adam chuckled, taking full advantage of the gains made in physical therapy as he wiggled his fingers in search of Julie's.

I may not be able to open jars, but this isn't bad.

"Fuckin' Eden Hall..."

"Yup. WASP thrift, at its finest." Charlie agreed. "Last year, the entire staff had to sit through three months of meetings briefing us on the fact that they'd be updating the flower beds, and that we should try to keep students off of them while work was in progress."

"And how did that go?"

"How do you think it went?"

"Glad to hear nothing has changed." Adam smirked, thinking back to what an uphill battle it must have been to keep a bunch of fifteen year olds away from something specifically marked 'Keep Away'.

"That was the mistake right there." He thought, his mind going back a couple of decades. "If they wouldn't have said anything, $20 they could have gotten the whole thing updated without anybody even noticing."

"Heh, yeah, the hockey program may not be what it used to be, but the rest has stayed exactly the same as it ever was."

"This place can't do anything without me." Adam shook his head, laughing.

Charlie nodded thoughtfully.

"I wasn't kidding about the assistant coaching position."

"I don't know..."

"I mean, you don't have to decide by tomorrow or anything." Charlie added, rubbing the back of his head. "Just, you know. Slot's open. Pretty sure a lot of people would love to have you back. Myself included."

"Thanks, dude."

"You're welcome."

"So there's really a demand for coaches who can't skate, huh?" Adam chuckled, staring down at his caramel colored loafers, and a blade of grass that was poking up through a crack in the concrete nearby.

"If they know as much about hockey as you? Yes."

Author's note: Sorry for being away so long; life got in the way of writing for a bit. But to anybody still reading this, thank you.